CHAPTER 2: Consciousness of regret
Ax

I was grazing in the land by myself. I wanted to be alone. My own people had been on my mind more than ever. My shorm, Tobias, had told me it was because I was beginning to lose sense of myself, or grasp the hope that my people had come. He told me I had changed, and now I looked at my people with a different outlook. I debated this as I stood alone.
I was so deep in thought I did not hear or noticed the crunching of leaves. I'm not sure. Maybe I did, but just thought it to be an Earth animal.
But it was no Earth animal, as I had found out later.
The crunching of leaves came closer, but still I did not notice. I did not notice until I felt a presence there, looked up, and across the meadow, in the midst of trees, stood the human girl.
I jerked up, and anger washed over me. She was the same human girl I had seen at the Yeerk pool. The same one that had pointed at me and shouted 'Andalite!'. The same human-Controller.
I began running toward her with agility and speed I had never had before. Anger does these things to you. Right now, I wanted to kill her. To rip her weak human body apart, to see her cry out as my tail struck through her.
It was sick, the thoughts I had. War changes people. And war had changed me. What I was planning to do was insane, as Marco would have said. But my thoughts bubbled up from my mind again.
What they did to Elfangor. How they had killed him.
How Elfangor's death had change Tobias' life. How, also, Tobias was trapped in that Yeerk pool, and then, trapped in the morph.
What they did to my friends.
What they did to me.
I was running full speed now, soaring over the grass. The girl turned and began running through the trees.
With abrupt diagonal turns, running full speed, she ran.
I would catch her in one of the human's Earth minutes or so.
I now had come to the end of the meadow and had entered the trees. Ahead would be the mountain, and a gorge that I loved to stand at and watch the Earth's burning sun set.
Through the trees I bounded, and if anything got in my way I cut it without hesitation. My hooves beat hard on the cold, dirt forest floor. The leaves of trees and bushes whipped at my face as I sped through them.
I could see the girl clearly, now. It would only be a matter of seconds.
Then- a trick!
Just as I was about to grab her arm, she swerved to the side and picked up speed again.
I was still running quickly, and so I had to stop before I ran into a tree, change direction, and build up my speed again.
By then I had lost sight of her through the depths of the trees.
But I still heard her. I still heard her feet beating on the ground, her hair swishing side to side, and her heavy breathing.
She was heading toward the gorge.
Which was lucky for me, for I knew a shortcut that I could take.
Perfect.
I slipped in through the familiar pathway through the trees that I had made from going this way many a time. I knew these parts of the woods. There was no way the human-Controller could get away.
I would find her.
And I would kill her.
I soared over the trees and rocks that normally would make anyone trip if they didn't know or see where they were going, and stopped just as I came to the gorge.
I looked around. I could not see her.
Maybe she had not yet come. I hid amongst the trees and waited for her.
One Earth minute passed. Then another.
I heard the high-pitched sounds of the birds of Earth, the buzzing of various Earth insects, and... the breathing of a human girl.
I tried not to make a motion that I had heard her, but I knew.
I heard her above me. Which meant she was in one of the trees. But which one?
She had obviously made it here before I did. I suspected she had heard me coming; I had been careless while I was gliding through the trees; panicked, and had to find a place to hide, quickly.
What could be better than hiding in a tree?
I got up and pretended to look angry at not finding her.
Yeerk filth, I muttered to myself and those around me. I made sure the Yeerk had heard what I said. I suppose she took another turn. What am I standing around here for?
I dove in through the trees again, but this time, did not go far. I stayed behind some leaves and bushes, where I could see her, but she could not see me.
I heard her breathe a sigh of relief, and then begin to climb down the tree.
I did not think before I acted. For if I had, I would not have gotten myself into such a mess, as I would soon learn.
I felt the anger wash up over me again. I leapt over the trees.
She saw me coming.
Too late!
I would never be able to reach her with my tail. So I used it to slice the tree down.
It would be so easy. It would come crashing to the ground instantly, for it was not a very strong tree. Then, with the human on the ground, I would be able to decide her fate.
And I would have killed her right then had I not realized that the tree was pretty tall.
And the gorge was right there.
And as the tree bent over, so did she.
I heard a cry for help. There she was, hanging for her life by a limb of the tree, high over the gorge.
The gorge was relatively deep, as well as steep. One side was completely vertical, which was the other side.
The side she was hanging over was diagonal, but anything that fell on it would most likely slide. Down, down, down, to the bottom of the gorge.
"Help me! Please," she begged. "Help me!"
I started to turn away. She would surely die. Not my problem. But then, hearing her pleas, I remembered Aftran.
I remember the first Yeerk that, out of all of us, Cassie gave compassion for.
The Yeerk Cassie had risked her own life for to make peace between each other.
She had realized that there was still a conscious, human girl there that treasured life, and felt pity.
It was a bold thing to do. But she understood the ways of life.
And in the end, when Aftran had kept to her promise by staying in the Yeerk pool, been found out, and was about to be interrogated, Cassie risked her life alone to save her. And we all ended up trusting Aftran, and gave her the power to morph one single time, to be free from the Yeerk pool forever.
I could not just walk away. That would be savage and cruel. And I was not a savage and cruel Andalite.
I turned toward the tree. I had not cut it down completely, as I had expected, and it hung down from one thick root.
One snap and it would all be over.
One swish of a tail, and I would not have to worry about that Yeerk anymore.
She would be gone.
But so would the human.
I walked over to her, and held out both of my weak, Andalite arms.
Grab on! I yelled.
She stared at me with awe, suspicion, and fear. Who wouldn't? "Why would you want to help me?"
I sighed. She was wasting time. Don't ask. Just reach for my hand before I change my mind.
She reached forward, and just touched the tip of my hand. Not enough! Just not enough.
She drew back, tired, and hung helplessly down. Her shoulders were stiff from fatigue. "I cannot do it."
At least try I muttered. Or would you like to prove to me how much of a typical Yeerk you are? Why was I attempting this? It was foolish. But my conscious would bother me about it for the rest of my life if I did not do it. What about afterwards? I would deal with that later. I could save the human. Get rid of the Yeerk. I ceased to think about it any further. I was forced to concentrate on the present, then.
She began to swing the branch. It cracked. She took one last swing toward me, just as the branch snapped.
She screamed. I reached forward and grabbed her hands.
But I made a mistake. I should have used my tail instead of my weak Andalite arms.
Her weight was too great for me, and I was definitely not ready for that snap. My legs lost their balance, and she pulled me along with her, down into the deep gorge.
We slid down the rocky side, the dirt rising around us, filling and choking our lugs.
A burning sensation came as my body rubbed roughly against the gorge, and I suspected I was bleeding uncontrollably.
My hooves scraped over the rocks, and began chipping.
The human-Controller was still holding on to my hand, but she began squeezing it tightly without knowing it out of fear.
I looked down, and all four of my eyes began to water from irritation of the rocks and dirt. I closed the eyes on my head, and raised my stalk eyes. Over the dirt cloud, I saw a ledge.
Keep hold of my hand, I told the Yeerk, which was unnecessary considering she already had latched herself on to my hand.
She nodded, and the ledge came up closer.
It was coming up... up...
Up!
I slanted my hooves and skidded on the ledge. More clouds rose up around us, but we were slowly coming to a stop.
Unfortunately, the Yeerk had not seen in time, and was not expecting the ledge to be there.
With the unstable human legs, she tripped, stumbled, and fell.
Over! She was over the ledge!
She yanked down on my weak Andalite arms again. This time, I was ready.
I swung my tail over, right next to where she was.
Grab on! I yelled to her.
"This is useless! It will not work!" she yelled back.
Why not?! I demanded.
She pointed to something. "The ledge will break. It is already starting to crack under your weight!"
I was about to answer, when I heard a crumbling sound. I spun around and saw pieces of rock breaking down.
Wh- I began, when the ledge just crumbled to bits and pieces of rock.
AUGH! I yelled.
"AUGH!" the human-Controller agreed.
We descended down, tumbling and falling now instead of sliding in result of the uneven, rocky surface. One of my stalk eyes scraped against the rock, bruising it shut. My back right hoof bent back so far I heard a crack! and after the agonizing pain I felt I knew it was broken.
Tumbling and turning over rocks, I waited for the end to come, for the bottom to finally rush up at us and end our suffering.
Finally, the ground did come. In four seconds, about three more tumbles on the sharp, rocky surface, and we would be able to rest.
One! My hooves kicked out and scraped against the rocks.
Two! I completely twisted around and a sharp rock jabbed into my side.
Three! The end was near, and I saw a tunnel. Everything around me dimmed, and I saw nothing.