Author's Note: I am so sorry this took so long. The only way I can really explain it is Writer's Block, (not to mention I was banned from my account until today **attacks FFN censors**) I had to even change the setting of part of this chapter completely because I couldn't write anything about it...but I hope it's a decent chapter! And I'm thinking I may have to stop answering questions about the plot for a while now. =P
Also, if you've got the stomach to read it, I've written a story about a Taxxon-Controller which is called Desperate Freedom. Just a warning -- it is R rated for a reason.
Be Stupid Chapter Nine: When Marco Thinks
Privately Marco didn't think Chris Tompson was much better than a televangilist. Granted his crusade was a different kind, but that was more or less the only difference. Except for one other thing -- it was easy to see how Chris Tompson had gotten his fans. He was cute.
There it was, plain and simple. People listened to him solely because of the way he looked. Chris Tompson had light blonde hair that was constantly messy-looking, but in an attractive way. Compounded with icy blue eyes, yes, it was easy to see where the man had gotten his support.
Marco continued recycling his reasons for disliking Chris Tompson over and over in his head. At least it was keeping him from thinking about the thing that was really disturbing him.
Main reason for not liking Chris Tompson? Marco asked himself. Knowing that he'd just gotten Ax into deep shit.
Of course, that opened up the fact that Ax was lying here in a hospital, which in turn opened up a lot of worries and questions that Marco really wasn't sure he wanted to think about. So instead he thought about Chris Tompson.
"As you can see, this just further proves that Andalites are a menace to society. If one supposedly trustworthy Andalite can attack a young boy with such ruthlessness, how can we possibly trust any of them?" Mr. Tompson was asking a young newswoman. Judging by the look on her face, she could come up with no answer to Chris Tompson's question; so Tompson just continued talking. "Then as it has also been revealed that the Andalite shown here on this tape has been here on Earth for quite some time without reason makes me wonder if even this Andalite who was assumedly an ally of the Animorphs is even trustworthy himself." Tompson smiled satisfactorily.
Marco heard Cassie make a sound of disgust. "You'd think Ax doesn't even have a name the way he keeps calling him 'That Andalite'! Typical Tompson." All the boys looked at her in surprise, and she shrugged.
"Sorry, but you'd be surprised at how much I hear about him...it gets irritating." Cassie sighed. There was a moment of awkward silence in the before Ax finally decided to speak.
"That is all right, Cassie. Ie. There are many on my homeworld who feel the same way." He said.
Then suddenly a young man had entered the doorway. He had slightly tanned skin, brown eyes and strawberry blonde hair. All four heads in the room swiveled to look at him and the poor man fidgeted under those glances. "I...I need to check up on my patient." he meekly said.
"I'm really sorry, but I kind of need you all to be out of here." He insisted as politely as he possibly could.
Cassie took the hint and gave Jake and Marco a not-so-subtle shove near the door. Jake grabbed Marco's arm and pulled him out of the room. Damn, Jake had been working out lately! A moment later Cassie joined them.
"Jeez Jake, did you have to pull that hard?" Marco complained, rubbing his poor bruising arm.
Jake frowned as he pretended to think about this. "I don't know Cassie, did I?" He asked. Cassie now pretended to think. "Well maybe...after all, I don't think Marco would have left if you hadn't." The black girl added, now donning a "perfectly innocent angel" look.
Marco scowled at both of them -- faking it, of course. "I'm never getting a break." He said it as if it were a fact.
Unfortunately, the grins on both his friend's faces were proving him to be completely right.
Marco shook his head. He needed to get around a bit, he wasn't a big fan of hospitals as it was (this one was particularly creepy with its spotlessness) and he had to admit that he was already feeling kind of tense. Not that he was seriously worried about the fact that his -- well, boyfriend -- had nearly chopped a kid's arm off or any of that.
Nope, no worries. Marco tried to convince himself, even though he knew it was a losing battle.
"Jake?" Marco called. The big brunette turned around to look at him. "What?"
"Didn't I leave something in your car?" Marco asked.
Jake looked at Marco, trying to think about that. "Um, maybe..." Then Jake not-so-subtly jerked his head at Cassie as if to remind Marco that they would be leaving her to wait alone.
"You wanna come with?" Marco asked, almost wincing at the reluctance in his voice.
Cassie shook her head, grinning a little. "Nah, I'd rather not. Jake's car has got to be such a mess I couldn't ever get out alive. You two go on, I'll wait for that doctor...nurse...guy to let me back in."
Marco mentally sighed in relief. It wasn't that he didn't like Cassie, not at all. It was just that he was afraid that with Casssie along, he might actually have to think about everything that had just happened with Ax and he didn't want to do that. Yes, he was going to delay the inevitable as much as possible.
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So therefore Marco and Jake walked along the disturbingly spotless white hallways of the hospital. Neither one of them said a thing to each other for the first two hallways they went through. Until the two of them finally reached some elevators, which were fortunately not white.
Jake was the first to walk in and Marco followed. The doors closed behind them when Jake pressed the button labeled with a "one".
The two longtime friends resumed their silence for a few seconds more. Finally, though, Jake had to say something..."Marco?" The brunette tentatively asked, shifting his eyes away from the short one. "Can I ask you something?"
Oh great. Marco thought. This is all probably Cassie's doing. She must have told Jake 'to make sure I was okay' or some crap like that. Damn it! But what came out of his mouth was "Sure, big guy."
Jake inhaled, probably thinking about how to word his question. "What I wanted to ask was...why him?"
Marco frowned and studied Jake a moment before speaking. "You're not about to profess your undying love for me, are you?" He warily asked, stepping back a bit from Jake; who shook his head.
"No. Nothing like that. It's just that...and don't take this as meaning I object or anything, but I can't see why you chose, well, Ax of all people. I'd just like to understand, that's all." Jake looked relieved at saying this.
Marco was not relieved, however, as something unsettling suddenly hit him -- kind of like a thunderbolt. "Why?"
His voice sounded strangely strangled, even to him. Jake nodded, casting his best bud a glance. "Well, yeah. Unless you don't..."
Marco shook his head and turned his eyes away from Jake. "It's not that it's too personal." Marco laughed.
Then the laughter just seemed to fade away with a sort of tension filling its place. "It's that I...I don't know why."
Jake looked at his best friend in surprise. "You don't?" Marco shook his head, and the elevator doors opened again.
There wasn't anything more to be said on the matter.
Then Marco nearly ran into Jake, who had stopped walking. Peering to the side of his way too tall friend, Marco saw why and he became scared. Forget scared -- he was worried, panicked, and in shock.
"Not her!" Marco wailed. "Jake, save me!"
This of course, caused the blue haired diva to turn around and almost drop the white package in her hand. Marco noticeably paled. "Marco!" The bluehead chirped, waving gaily. "There you are!" Then Marco turned white.
Then the Andalite nothlit looked at Jake, who Marco was clinging onto for protection. Her eyes darkened, as she seemed to be visualizing the reasons they were together. She then promptly placed her package on the floor and seized Marco by the collar. The look in her eyes reminded him so much Rachel -- and in such a bad way...
"Why..." Tilopid demanded, glaring at her poor victim. "Are you not in Aximili's room?!"
Marco felt like he'd shrunken at least three feet as he cowered under the scary lady's icy glare. He was attempting to speak and explain things, but his mouth didn't seem to like the idea of moving right now.
Then Marco heard a voice. It was a very good voice, a saving voice..."We were kicked out." Jake stated.
Tilopid blinked, turning her eyes on Jake. "Oh. I see." She said, then picked up the package and dumped it in Jake's hands. "Well, could you give this to Aximili when you can? Tell him I stopped by."
Tilopid then winced as she looked at Marco. "Sorry, I thought that you were...well...doing something I would have to kill you for." She explained with an apologetic smile as she finally let go of Marco's shirt. Marco took a long deep breath of air as Tilopid walked on out. After a moment, Jake commented on this. "We attract crazies."
Marco decided to just give a long, tired nod in agreement. It much easier than speaking.
With that done Marco and Jake traveled out themselves, Jake still holding Tilopid's package. Eyeing the package suspiciously, Marco decided to just ask Jake point-blank. "What the heck is in there?"
Jake shrugged, opened the box, and looked inside. Then he grimly nodded and looked Marco in the eye.
"Cinnamon buns." That was all that needed to be said.
There may not have been anything to say about the relationship between Marco and Ax, but there were thoughts and Marco had plenty of them to fill up his head now. He couldn't escape them if he tried. Silently, Marco swore to kill Jake -- never mind that he had no logical reason to do it, except that he didn't want to do this.
With that one question, Jake had caused Marco to realize something.
There wasn't any obvious or simple reason that he felt the way he did now. He just knew that he cared about Ax.
The thought, to be completely freaking honest, scared him. To top that off he didn't really have any idea of when all this had started -- was it that morning when he'd bolted from Ax's apartment? After that, when he'd realized what an ass he'd been? Or was it sometime even earlier than that? Did it even really matter? He had no idea.
And now...well, Marco prided himself on not being a total idiot. It was obvious that something very wrong was going on with Ax. Marco had no idea what that was, either. Even so, he was going to find out.
So what's causing all this? Marco thought.
As Marco was wondering he suddenly got a very strange image in his head -- of something with an almost elfin appearance melting into Ax's face, but not Ax's face...a very distorted, wrong version of his face...
"Where did that come from?" Marco said, the words flying out of his mouth before he thought them.
Jake turned around. "Where did what come from?" Marco blinked and shook his head to try and focus.
"Nothing...I was just seeing things." Marco said. Jake frowned and took a good, long look at his best friend but he decided that maybe it'd be best if he didn't say anything.
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Marco and Jake carried on their dutiful trek to the hospital parking lot, and therefore to Jake's car. The parking lot of the hospital was immense, close to the size of a football field. There was a vast scattering of varieties of cars all over the place, some old and junky while others were brand sparkling new. Inside of that mass of car, somewhere, was Jake's Jaguar...
"Now what are we getting out of here again?" Jake asked as he pressed a button on his keys that caused the trunk to pop open.
Marco put on a devilish smile as he dived for the open trunk, slammed what looked like a pirate hat onto his head and pulled out two wooden swords. "These," he said, "Are what we're getting." Jake just gaped and Marco's triumphant look collapsed. "What? It's a gift for Ax, and stop staring at me!" He screeched.
Jake sighed and shook his head. "You are getting weirder every day."
Marco laughed. "Must be the company I keep." Without a flash of warning, Jake's eyes widened. "Marco..."
"The company you keep? What company that is." The voice wasn't a familiar one to either Animorph.
Marco turned around to see a big burly guy who was now holding him down by the shoulder. "Who...?"
Then with a sickening smack, the guy's fist slammed into Marco's face. Marco moaned and cradled his face with his hands, aware of the blood pouring onto his fingers and the aching pain in his head. Jake let out a strange half-yell, half-growl and tackled the guy; shocking all three people present. Marco forced himself up onto his feet, his hands still clamped over his hurting nose. However, both his eyes were opened now and he was getting a full view of the image of Jake on top of a huge redheaded guy, Jake looking rather calm about the whole thing -- angry, but calm. With his fist raised up just in case.
The redhead scowled at Jake. "You goddamn prick! Who was I to expect less from the leader of the traitorous humans that brought alien scum onto our soil?" He asked, laughing at his question.
Marco found himself remembering Visser Two. Then his eyes locked onto the black armband the man was wearing, donned with the word ALLIANCE in white. "Oh. You're one of Tompson's guys." Marco commented, looking over at the redheaded guy (who Jake was still pinning down). "And Jake's a goddamn prick? Funny coming from the man who likes to nail innocent people in the face." Continuing, Marco added more. "You know, I could sue you for plenty of money right now...I'm a little low on cash, come to think of it."
Marco couldn't help smirking as he saw the guy's face blanch. "Lucky you I can morph. Fearless Leader, I think you can stop straddling the poor man now."
Jake got off the guy and even pulled him off the ground, but kept a hold onto the guy's shirt collar.
With a scowl, the guy glared at both of them. "Fuck you assholes. Fine, let me go! It's all over the news, though, about that Andalite bastard being kept here at this place. We will do something about it. Long live humanity!"
Looking disgusted, Jake threw the guy off of him. "Leave." Jake said. "Just get out here before we press charges." With one last final scowl, the man ran off out of the parking lot -- nearly getting run over by a pale violet car...manned by a woman with bluish hair. By this time, Marco had let go of his streaming nose and threw off his shirt, shoes, and jeans, revealing his morphing outfit underneath. Call it habit.
Marco had begun the changes at this point, his skin bulging out and becoming tough -- muscular. In mere minutes, he'd taken on the form of a massive gorilla. However, just as quickly he had begun to go back to his real form.
Marco picked up his shirt and jeans, put them back on and did the same with his shoes...and of course the pirate hat and the shoes. With a long, drawn-out intake of breath Marco turned to his worries.
That redheaded idiot had said that the Human Alliance did know that Ax was staying here now. Not a comforting thought...
Marco ran his hand through his hair, took a shaky breath and walked back to the hospital with Jake.
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Marco and Jake walked through the elevator door to floor five, and finally combed their way to room 119; Jake holding a box of stale cinnamon buns and Marco dressed as what could only be described as a modern-day pirate.
They found themselves looking in the room at a very irritated Cassie. Her mouth was set into a firm, tight line and her eyes looked like they could spout fire. "What took you so long?" She asked.
Jake had nearly grabbed the wall for protection. Marco was very alarmed by the fact that he couldn't see Ax anywhere. "Um...Cassie?" Marco asked. "Where...what did you..." He stammered. Cassie smiled at him.
"Don't worry, he's still alive. He's just in the bathroom demorphing right now." Marco placed a hand onto the wall to steady himself before he collapsed with relief. Cassie was downright terrifying when she was mad.
"Marco...what's with the...um, outfit?" Cassie asked. Marco rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Don't ask."
At that moment the bathroom door opened and out stepped Ax. He looked around the room in human eyes.
Why he was still human was a mystery to Marco, considering everyone here knew what he was.
Not that it mattered very much...or that he objected to it, either. For the time being, though, Marco decided that might not be an appropriate line of thought -- after all, Jake and Cassie were still in the room.
Marco then tossed Ax one of the swords (he'd shoved them in his beltloops). The Andalite caught it and shot Marco a confused look. "Call it a gift." Marco explained with a shrug.
Ax smiled just a little bit at that and then placed the sword onto his hospital bed, next to Cassie.
"So Ax, how long are they keeping you here?" Cassie asked. Ax frowned as he thought about the question.
"Well..." He began, but he never did get to finish his sentence because at that moment something went flying through the window, finally halting itself before it went crashing into the floor.
Everyone in the room stared in shock at the thing that just went hurtling through -- Tobias.
To you nice, nice people who actually waited for my fic...
Lauren - FF.net is starting to tick me off, too! I'm not gonna say anything, but if you think it's bad that Ax was beating people up..get ready to start feeling really sorry for him. I'm sorry this took so long!
Myst - Wagh! ** author collapses to the ground because she's not used to being huggled** I guess you're right, Andalites probably could reach dollar bills...I hadn't really thought about it. Anyway, yep, I was implying Ax has a food obsession. Poor boy, he's a foodaholic. Once again, sorry it took so long! I hope you didn't forget too much of the story! And Dodging Menace kicks serious bum.
Amy Angelblade - Hi! **waves** Yep, Marco kissin' Ax...ain't it weird? =)
Forlay - Whoa...double-review. And just for you, there is lots of Tilopid and pastries. They're even together in the same scene! And if you want to believe the landlady fed Ax pastries, I won't stop you! (Wow...I just mentioned pastries three times in a row. That's kinda creepy.) As much as I'd love to have Tilopid chasing away the mean voice, I am sorry to admit the following chapters are not going to be exactly happy, per se. I love making Marco freak out, it's so much fun! Now, whether or not he'll be having more reason to freak out...you'll just have to see. ;)
Doctor Strangelove - Then Ax appeared, dark things happened, and it was good. =P Yes, expect Marco to become "concerned" quite often from this point on...um, not obsessive concerned, though. That could be bad. Lookie! I brought the swords back! See? Swords! I hope my family problems work out, too. At least it hasn't been affecting my writing...no, I got writer's block instead. **sigh**
**hands everyone bags of Halloween candy and their own Marco and Ax plushies.**
Tilopid, Cassie, Jake and landlady plushies are optional. Have a nice night!
