The Difference

Chapter 13 - Report

(Sarah)

The silence…

Again, the emptiness. It had not changed since I had last been in it - it was still endless, boundless, and so devoid of… everything. No bottom, falling, simply falling… and not caring.

You return again… The voice, a voice in the abyss. Do you know where you are now?

Who… who are you? I could sense no one, but I was not alone. How… how I had come to be in this place? I remembered no Gate…

You travel between worlds, between the dimension you call home and the dimension where you fight.

Who are you?!

I am no one you should concern yourself with. I offer only advice before you reach your destination - trust in those who surround you. You cannot truly call anyone "friend" unless you trust them.

What do you mean? The continuing loneliness dissolved before I could receive an answer, and now I stood in a familiar room, surrounded by strikingly familiar objects. A large wooden desk took up the space beneath the large picture window, truly the only window in the room. Papers and books covered the entire surface of the desk, leaving room only for a pot of Northern Black roses. Only one person I knew kept Black Roses - everyone else viewed them as a sign of ill omen.

"Well, I was wondering when you would arrive." I whirled, guilty that I had been caught in this place where few visited. Caster Hannah leaned nonchalantly against the back of a reading chair that sat in the back corner, a book in one hand and reading glasses in the other. "You know, when he told me you were safe, but needed elsewhere, I lost my temper and said some things I never should have said to him - given, it was not the first time I have gone off the handle at the Ellimist, and it probably will not be the last."

"The Ellimist?" Several pieces fell into place at once and it all made sense - the Gate, the formation of it, where it lead to, the memories the Animorphs had of me - all because of the Ellimist. This was not some random event - he had planned for it.

Shock, and utter confusion, were the only things that kept me from exploding then and there. My sister, my friends, the hell we had gone through, because of some Ellimist… thing?!

"Caster… I do not understand." She shook her head, tossing the thick chestnut curls that lay about her neck.

"I cannot say I do either, but my only guess is that is has something to do with your lineage and the capabilities you four possess - Alay is the highest Weapon level for your age group, you close behind her, and your Casting gives you a distinct advantage, especially combined with your skills as a Weapon. As for Emily and Sadie… I need no tell you how much they are capable of. You know, at least, Emily's full power." I rubbed the scars on my right arm and nodded slowly. I had been on the bad end of Emily's full power once, when her seharai raisha had awoken…it was also the last time I had ever cried because of physical pain.

"Caster Hannah, I am not sure what the Ellimist has told you, but it is much harder then it seems," I said slowly. "Shall I make a report?" She laid the book on the seat of the chair and the glasses on top of that, then nodded. "We arrived in the other world is two groups, possibly more - I was alone. I awoke in a barn, surrounded by several people, and non-people, all of who knew me. Would you like me to describe them?" Another nod. "There were four humans - Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Cassandra, also known as Cassie. They seemed to know me, but, obviously, I knew nothing of them. Caster, this will sound insane, but these people, this world, is based almost completely on the forbidden books, the Animorphs. Truly, that is what these people call themselves, Animorphs. And the Yeerks… they are evil. They seek to conquer the Earth of the other world and, if all is true as I know it, they had already taken over much of the universe." A strange look flashed in her eyes, but she nodded, a sign for me to continue. "Also in the barn with me were Tob'ias, who I heard before I saw, and Aximili, an Andalite."

"Andalite?" she repeated, sounding only slightly surprised. "Andalite… and? What is he like?" I brushed a strand of hair over my ear and straightened my necklace.

"Nothing like we were taught. I was wary of him, based on what I had learned, but he was not like that. He is very kind natured, though a bit untrusting, and is a good… ally." I had almost slipped and said "friend". Weapons do not make friends on missions - we make allies only. Friends get in the way. "Also, Tobi'as is what the Andalites call a nothlit - though he can morph into his human form, he spends much of his time in the form of a bird."

"Tobias… where have I heard that name before…?" She shrugged. "It would not be the same person, anyway. Okay, now, what have you learned so far about the Yeerks?"

"They only last three days between feedings - much shorter then here. Their highest level of power is the Council of Thirteen, just below that, the Vissers, then the Sub-Vissers. Visser Three, coincidentally, is also an Andalite - he lives up to the stereotype we were taught, but that is because of his Yeerk, not because of the host." She nodded.

"I have long suspected that the true nature of the Andalites was something less then we had thought - but it is too late now, unfortunately." She was silent a moment, deep in thought. "And the others? You said you were separated." I tried not show my nervousness - how does one explain to one's superior that her two best Casters were on the opposite team?

"… Controllers, Caster. They ended up as Controllers." She drew in a short breath and the calmness in her grey-blue eyes was very suddenly anger.

"All of them?" she asked carefully. I nodded, then shook my head.

"Alay is now free - it took a lot of work and half of me thinks I am death-dreaming right now because of it. I was not in the best of health when the battle ended…" She arched an eyebrow.

"I was told by the Ellimist you have the morphing power, as do the rest. You were not Shattered, certainly not by Alay…" I chewed on my lip and finally looked away. I could not… Morphing was out of the question. To lose myself in the form of another creature… it would be injury to my highest Goddess. Caster Hannah said nothing, then sighed. "Sarah, I realize this is a trial for you, but you cannot continue to fight without at least using the morphing power to heal yourself. You do not have a Caster Healer with you, nor you do you have the time to wait for your injuries to heal naturally and I certainly believe Kithier would want to you to live to defeat your enemies." My head jerked up and I looked at my sister's teacher in wide-eyed shock. How had she known? "Do not look so surprised, daughter of Tyler. I know how Teslahani are prone to think - your father and I are the same age group, no?" I had forgotten that - my father and the Head Caster had grown up together in the Academy. They had also been partners, until some strange, unknown (unknown to me, at least) quarrel had arouse and they seperated, Caster Hannah to the Academy to be Head Caster and my father, ultimately, to Sehar in the Teslahani state of Hathen, to serve on the Senate. "Sarah, you must alter to fit the situation. If morphing will help you all return safely, then you must morph. Otherwise…" Casters have a way of dressing you down all the while making you feel like you have not done anything wrong, simply stupid. Caster Hannah, being the Head Caster, was particularly skilled in this - but I knew I was receiving a lecture for my stupidity and bowed my head to show I understood. I had been on the business end of several Caster speeches and knew exactly how to respond to them. Indeed, any student in the Academy, or any one not the Head of a Department, knew exactly how to respond to such things - simply bow your head and show the utmost respect and shame for what you have done, whether you did it or not.

There was a knock at the door and it opened before Caster Hannah said anything. My aunt, brown hair askew, blue eyes livid under her nenshakigan, barely paused to greet her Head of Department before rushing in and scooping me into a hug.

"Nades sheca, sheca fahed," she whispered harshly. "Thank the gods and goddesses you have arrived back safely." I returned the embrace, feeling guilty that I had not really returned to stay.

"Jaia, mitala Eryn," I answered quietly. "Ia…"

"She is not done with her mission yet," stated Hannah coolly. Eryn released me and whirled on her head of state with a look only a surrogate mother could manage - one of total betrayal, and yet, completely rage.

"Her what?! You're letting her go back?! Have you lost your bloody mind, woman? For the love of Laerten, she's your gods damned-"

"Caster Eryn!" I cringed, hearing the heat in Hannah's voice. If anyone could get through her usually calm nature, it was mi katala Eryn. It took a great deal of patience to be Head Caster, and a very even temper, just as it took an even temper to handle the Casting elements needed to be Head Caster Healer - but just because Eryn could Cast Heal did not mean she was always even tempered. She was my father's sister, after all, and my family has long lineage of short fuses.

Eryn gaped like a fish for a moment, then her jaw snapped shut and she had the decency to look ashamed. I sensed there was something I was missing but… I was not about to get between them.

"Forgive me, Head Caster," she said quietly. "I overlooked my place. But-"

"There are no buts, Caster Eryn," said Hannah in a voice of steel. "Sarah has made the decision to stay and the others would agree with her. She has chosen her first mission as a full Weapon and she will carry it out with the help of Weapon Alay and the Animorphs." I was so intent on not getting in the middle of the argument, I almost missed what she had said.

"C-Caster Hannah?" She looked at me and smiled, the anger replaced by joy so quickly it made my head spin.

"Yes, Weapon Sarah, what I said was true. By choosing to stay, you have proven that you are capable of feeling more for others then you do for yourself - that is the true spirit of a Weapon. And, by not abandoning her Caster, despite the grave consequences, Weapon Alay has proved that she is also capable of such things. You are Weapons now, in name and in heart." Suffice it to say, all I did was stand there, wide eyed and dazed. A full Weapon…

Caster Hannah left her spot in the corner and breezed past my aunt, who looked as surprised as I probably did, and picked up my right hand by the wrist. The Academy Cross stood out against my skin - training with Marco had given me quite a tan, something worthy of the Southern summer cattle herders. She pressed two of her fingers against the mark and I felt ice shoot through my skin.

"By the rank I have earned from the Academy Masters and that has been gifted to me by the Council of Eleven, I name Weapon Sarah, first Weapon of the last of the Pre-invasion generation." Ice turned to fire and a shooting pain ripped through my body. I stood and waited it out, not crying, keeping myself calm against it - after the hell Alay had put me through, it was nothing. A Weapon, a full Weapon - Alay was going to be ecstatic.