Author's Note: After the third (yes, third) time re-writing this baby here, finally, is the chapter everyone's been waiting for.
To make a long story short -- I've lost this entire chapter twice while typing it up, have rewritten it thrice, and also got my second bought of whooping cough in two months.
What I really want to mention is that this is almost the end of part one of this series. After Rachel, Cassie and a surprise character's chapters, I'm going to start on Chronicle Two. Yay! Enjoy.

Threads of Fate
Chronicle One

"Life's just full of surprises." - Anonymus

Chapter Sixteen
-Marco-

I could hear Jake's throught-speaking echoing in my head. Ready?
Let's do it! Rachel's voice echoed out to all of us. She was excited about of all of this, though I had no idea why. I was starting to think the girl might be missing a few floors upstairs. Not that I minded much.
At least her gung-ho-ness gave me something to make fun of, which made this whole thing a hell of a lot easier. Yeah. I chimed in. Xena's waiting.
oh, shut up. Rachel grumbled--but just to me. Besides, Xena? That show is so old!
Yeah, but nothing beats a chick in a leather suit. I told her.
Men. Rachel said, her voice filled with amusement and contempt.
Now, everyone remembers the plan, right? Jake asked.
No. I got hit by a 2-by-4 and lost all my memory. I muttered, making my voice light so that Jake knew I was kidding. He wasn't the kind of guy you wanted getting mad at you, you know what I mean? He wasn't a bully, but her was big, and you knew he wouldn't take crap from anybody. Not even from his best friend in a past life.
Did I mention that my life has become super-weird as of late?
Anyway, long story short, we ran through the plan one last time just in case anyone had forgotten any cruicial details, then we took flight.

The six of us were flying to the mall to check up on some rumors.
Rumors that a new Yeerk Pool was being built. A place where little slugs from outer space can crawl up into your ear and take over your mind. I'm not kidding. There's already one in town, underneath my high school.
The Chee, a peaceful race of androids that work at revealing the Yeerks, had received notification that the mall had closed down yesterday.
Saturday. The day we had all gained our morphing power, six days after I had my first flashback. It was hard to believe that it'd been such a short time.

Can I just say these birds morphs are so cool? Tobias gushed for the millionth time.
He was flying as a red-tailed hawk, one of the many birds over at Cassie's barn, where Erek had driven us to get morphs for the mission.
We were going to avoid being seen by anyone in town until Monday, to keep the Yeerks off our trail. Erek had a hologram around us the whole time we'd been acquiring. I nabbed an osprey.
My morph's cooler than yours, Birdboy. I told Tobias. And I think it was true. I mean, nothing in the world could have beaten this vision.
Yeah, right. Tobias scoffed. A hawk could kick your feathered butt any day.
You wanna test that? I asked. I swear, if a hawk could've grinned, it was doing it then.
Guys, we don't have time for this. Jake said. Besides, falcons can kick both your butts.
oh yeah right! I shouted. If Tobias and I tag-teamed on you...
Then I'd help prove Jake right. Ax, of course, also in a dangerous falco9n morph.
Like you'd beat us. I said. Piece of cake. Ax replied.
'Til Cassie and I decided jump your feathers. Rachel said as we started to fly over the mall roof. Right, Cass?
Cassie laughed. Right--watch out!

TSSEEEW! TSSEEEWW! TSSEEW!

Beams of red light filled the sky. Beams aimed right at us.

I watched as one of them struck a car in the parking lot. The car evaporated.

oh my god! I screamed. They're gonna kill us!
Everyone, retreat! I think it's pretty obvious the Yeerks are here. Jake ordered.
I was all too glad to follow his command. I powered every muscle in the osprey's body to flee. I could see the others doing the same.
TTSSEEWW! Like a crack of red lightening, the red beam shot through the air.

And shot me in the left wing.

Pain! Pain unlike anything I had ever experienced as a human. A loud sharp cry came out of my beak, both from the pain and my sudden loss of balance.
Because, as I realized when my lazer-focus eyes saw the left side of my body, I was now lacking a left wing. And I was plummeting to the ground, quick.
Marco! I heard the others screaming. I also heard, through the blinding pain, two other voices. Human.
"You should have just killed it, Iniss." A male voice. Sort of familiar.
"Why? That bird will do it for me." Said a girl's voice. Wait. What eagle?
I felt another explosion of pain as sharp talons dug into my feathered back. Don't worry, I've got you. The owner of the talons said. Rachel.
"Plus, now that birdie gets a nice juicy meal. See, Temrash?" The woman asked.
The male sighed. "I suppose, though you know can't just scare birds away with Dracons, right? Humans will notice disappearing birds."
Marco, are you okay? Rachel asked. Aside from almost dying, you mean? I drawled.
Duh. Rachel snipped as we continued flying away.
"I've got to get back. My brother--host's brother, I mean, is getting home tomorrow. Our parents are probably worried." Said the guy.
"Our parents?" The girl snapped. "The host's parents." The guy amended.
"See you at school, then." The girl said. "I've got to fix this baby up for Visser one."

Visser One? I wondered. Who's Visser One?

~~~

"Visser Thee's boss. The real head honcho when it comes to Earth."
Erek was sitting with the six of us at lunch today.
Jake and Rachel had forced him into promising to explain after we got back from our adventure at the mall, five birds and one very tired boy.
"So she's in charge of operations?" Cassie asked, forking a piece of lettuce. Erek shook his head. "No. She gave control over the invasion over to Visser Three, but she's still able to check on his progress. He's got to make himself look good, make it seem like the planet's crumbling on her knees." Erek said.
"Sounds like when I clean my room." I joked. Everyone giggled. A little.
I think we were all freaked out. I know I was, but I was trying not to think about last night.
"So, the boss is coming to make an inspection, am I right?" Ax asked.
"In a manner of speaking. I doubt that Visser One is going to come down to Earth herself--Visser Three's been wanting to take her down a few knotches for a long time now, and the less time spent with Visser Three is all the better for her. If I were you guys, I wouldn't about Visser One, at least not yet. Your problem is that new Yeerk Pool. I'd suggest you find some way to shut it down and fast. Ignore the politics and get rid of the place." Erek said, all in a rush. Like he wanted to get off the subject.
Rachel nodded to herself. "We could get some heavy-duty morphs and rip that place apart."
"Wouldn't that make the Yeerks suspicious?" Tobias asked her. Rachel frowned.
Call me an asshole but that made me want to do a happy dance.
I'm not going to lie -- I like Rachel. She's crazy, but beautiful.
I guess I should mention that to her sometime. Well, the "I like her" part, anyway. But I haven't yet. I mean, blurting out "I want your hot body!" in the middle of a fight or after some kind of flashback just doesn't seem tactful to me. But I will tell her. Soonish.
I'm just going to wait for some peace and quiet. But I think my prospects for boyfriend-dom are good. I mean, she did save my life. And she hangs out with me. And, here's the big part: she tolerates my jokes.
So that's a lot more points that most girls.

I'd just have to get her away from Tobias for a while. She may not realize it, but the guy's got the dopey-eyes for her. I can sort of tell, knowing the feeling myself. Lucky for me he doesn't seem her type. I hope.

Then the bell rang. We all got up to throw away our trash and grab our stuff. Jake dashed out of the cafeteria with his Biology book. Rachel headed off to German, Tobias to History, and Cassie off to her own Biology class.
That left me alone with Ax, trying to stuff all my books into one itty-bitty bag. Goody.
"You're not gonna be late, are you?" He asked me.
Distracted, I shook my head. "No. Besides, Ms. Rosenberg never counts me absent."
Ax laughed. "I wish my coach was the same way."
We both slung our backpacks on. Ax over both his shoulders, me over my right.
"Oh yeah, how's um, how's that basketball thing working out for you?"
"Good, good." Ax muttered, pushing the cafeteria doors open to free us both.
"Awesome." I said.
We started making our way into the building. "Yeah, it is."
"Cool." I mumbled, following Ax's long strides to the building. "Can I say something?"
"Depends." He muttered. I laughed, then just spilled it out. "Sorry."
"I didn't like you, and I didn't trust you." I said. "And I'm not sure if I do or not right now, but we're in the same boat, so..."
"You were right not to trust me." Ax whispered. I looked up only to see him determined not to meet my eyes. "If it wasn't for the flashbacks, I probably would've, well, y'know." He mumbled. "Given us up."
"Oh." I said, my voice sounded dull even to me.
"Sorry." Ax whispered, running a nervous hand through his hair. Then a tiny, almost instinctual smile split onto his face. "My class's this way."
This is gonna sound odd, but he had a nice smile, when I thought about it.
"Oh. Well, see you, Ax." I said, giving him a quick wave.
He gave me one back before he trotted down the opposite hall.

It was far from a reconciliation between us, but it was a start.

And the truth is, I felt better for it.

~~~

We'd all decided to go hit the mall again on Tuesday.
But not as birds and not at night. None of us wanted to try our luck against those red beams again.

"Someone's a sour grape today." Dad teased as I flung the door open.
I tried to scowl at him, but it changed into a smile.
I shrugged. "I hard a hard day at school." I lied.
Dad laughed and ruffled my hair. "Well, how 'bout some pizza, then?"
"You're serious?" I shouted. Dad nodded. "You are the best dad ever."
"Yeah, well, I got my first paycheck." He muttered. I know it sounds corny, but I was proud of him. It felt good to see him get his life back after all these years. It was the next best thing to having my mom back.
"Aweome." I said. I wanted to hug him, but duh, I didn't.
"I'll go order that pizza. You go--go hang or whatever." He said.
I ran upstairs and flung my door open, awaiting TV's warming glow.

Instead I leapt fifty feet in the air.

Standing there, in a tight spandex shirt and blue Day-Glo shorts, was Jake.

It took a lot of power not to slam my door. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"
"And while we're on the subject, how did you get here?"
Jake shrugged. "I morphed. Remembered the place from when Tom picked you up, demorphed in the closet."
"Oh." I muttered. Then I glanced sideways at him. "What are you doing here?"
Jake sighed and looked down at the ground. "I need to tell you something."
I stepped away from him, even closer to the door, so I could heard Dad. "Shoot. What?"
"You don't have to go on Tuesday if you don't want to."
I whirled around to look at him. "Very funny."
"I mean it." Jake kept his eyes off me. "It's dangerous."
"Are you nuts?" I yelped. "I mean, hey, not placing myself in life-threatnening peril, I'm all for that; but the yeerks are messing with my mall."
I was lying, of course. Truth was, even if I didn't like it, I knew the world was at stake. The other, who were turning into my friends despite myself. My Dad. The Yeerks could destroy all that but I didn't want them to.
Jake didn't laugh at my joke. I felt a chill go down my spine.
"Because, I can assure you that I won't die." I told him. "I'm death-proof."
Footsteps started thumping their way up the stairs. "Shit, it's my dad! Hide!"
Jake ran into my closet and shut the door tight. Dad swung the other door open, and looked at me with a pen and a pad of paper in his hand.
"What kind do you want?" He asked. "Um, Pineapple-Philly Cheese Steak." I said.
Dad jotted it down. "Thanks, monkey boy." He said. Then he went downstairs.
After a couple of moments, I closed the door and let Jake out.
"You wanna stay for a bite?" I asked him. His face coiled in horror.
"And eat that thing you dreamed up? What, you think I'm sucidial?" He asked.
Jake instead opted to morph back to birdie (blech) and let me have my moments peace.

But, I later realized, he forgot to tell me why I could skip the mission.

~~~

We were roaches.

Disgusting, disturbing, indestructable, hyper-fast, awesome roaches.

Woohoo! I shouted, scampering around Ax and Tobias, just to bug the heck out of them.
Stop it, we're supposed to be looking out for Controllers. Tobias muttered.
We're supposed to be looking out for Controllers. I mocked.
C'mon, it's not like I, Super-Roach Boy, am gonna hit you. I added.
They both got real quiet after that. It didn't occur to me to wonder why.
We're in position. Jake reported. Cassie, Rachel, demorph now.
His thought-speak was a little hard to make out but that could've been because he was a whole huge parking lot away from us.
Jake, d'you wanna be in the military? I asked him. 'Cause you've sure got the attitude for it. Demorph, now! Get shot now! Kiss my ass now!
I was teasing him, duh, but Rachel didn't like it. Shut up, Marco. She said.
Admit it, you just can't stand the sound of my sexy voice without--
Vibrations! Ax cried, getting all of us, even me, back in the game.
I guess Jake, Rachel and Cassie were busy demorphing because we didn't hear from them. But I could feel and that was plenty. My little roach body was shaking with vibrations. All my inner roach wanted to do was run.
Didn't sound like such a bad idea to me.
Then the vibrations stopped, and I could make out voices.

The same female and familiar male I heard two days ago.

"You know, I wish some birds would fly by, or maybe we'd see a cat." The girl said.
"Why's that?" The guy asked, sounding like he wasn't listening.
"Frying that bird relived a lot of stress. I figure a cat must be better. I mean, I'd shoot the host's, it's so annoying, but then she would cry."
"You're saying you care about that?" The guy asked. The girl laughed.
"'Course not, host-lover." She teased. "It's just that crying isn't enough for me."
"I see." The guy whispered. "Wait, you didn't tell me we had a visitor!"

More vibrations! My roach body was flying up and down with each new pulse.
Ax, Tobias, and I crashed into each other. OW!
What the hell is going on? I asked no-one in particular.
Something is disrupting the naturalistic balance in this area. Ax said.
In English? I pleaded.
Something very strange is happening. Ax told me, in a talking-to-idiots-voice.
Gee, whoda thunkit? I mused.

But then the vibrations stopped in their intensity. There was the sound of something, like bricks maybe, hitting the cement. Then the vibration stopped altogether. Followed by the click of, I swear to god, high heels.

"Salutations, honorable leader and servant of the council." The guy and the girl murmured.
"You can stop with the formality, Iniss. Temrash. Just call me Visser One."

My heart turned to ice.

I didn't see her, but I didn't have to. I knew that voice.

I had to be imagining it, but I knew I wasn't. I knew who that voice belonged to.

My mother.

Let the Angst Begin! (Reader's Response - the correct one this time!)

Patrick Blah - You guess right about the slashiness, though the actual slash won't show up until Part Two. Glad you liked the Tobias/Ax scene, too.

Lavendarangel - Glad you liked the ending and I'm just gonna say Jake was asleep because it's easier that way. As for the M/A stuff--I'm just gonna say the close friendship interpretation works...for now. And, hey, dun worry -- the next chapter will chock-full of T/R.

Wicked-Wytch - **does the favorites list happy dance** Glad you like that Ax is human, and the Loren/Ax/Tobias stuff, and what M/A? Why, there's absolutely NO hinting at THAT whatsoever. And no T/R and C/J either, for that matter. =P
And I really don't know yet what the Chee's role will be in this fic. It'll probably be a lesser role than what they had in the series, though. I'm almost certain of that.
Sorry this chappie took a long time, too. Hope it was worth it.

Neri - **hands over the 200th Reviewer Award** Orlando Bloom is nice, though I prefer Elijah Wood, myself. Guess it's just 'cuz Elijah's so sweet...**swoons** Anyway, OOPS. I always thought Cassie's parents owned the Gardens. **runs off to fix that**
Now that you mention it, I guess Tobias's situation is a lot like Kreacher/Shmeigal's. Never thought of it that way before, though.
And NOW Rachel is next, followed by Cassie, followed by someone who's identity I'm not giving away yet...and what two peepers? Did I mention someone other than Erek? **grumbles** Crap, I should really look over the stuff I don't rewrite...whoopsie!

DJ Eagel - Sorry the FFN community is boring and I'm glad you liked the last chapter.

Dysphoria - The Andalite body is a morph. And in two chapters, you'll know who gave Ax that morph. Hope you liked this chapter.

dragondolphin1990 - Wow, you read all of the chapters nonstop? Um, that's...wow. I'm flattered. Thanks, I guess. I'm glad you liked the fic so much. And don't worry, Tobias now has a red-tailed hawk morph.

Queen of Shadows - 'Sokay, I understand about the not reviewing -- I haven't written in a while because of computer problems. Glad you liked it, and hopefully the next one'll be quicker, since I am NOT going through three writings again.

A.S. Amalon - **puts on the enraged face** What do you mean, you stopped reading?! Nah, I'm just kidding. =P Glad you liked the chappies and also, thanks for reminding me to mention this ficcie on anirarepair.

freak show - Don't worry, I'm a-okay! And it was mostly the school that cut out of my time -- though the being sick part didn't help. Drunky-donkey-monkey? I like that. Sure fits Tobi's uncle. I thought Ax took the Andalite thing pretty well, too. And hey, webmonkey's an awesome site--I'm glad it's helped you out.

D.H. L'Orange - Glad you liked the chappie and, yeah, I think Ax is probably pretty seriously freaked out right now. I sure would be. Erek, actually, knows everything about the Animorphs. But whether or not he'll tell them is another story. And the Ellimist...well, I'm keeping quiet about him for now. =)

RasberryGirl - Wow, you haven't reviewed in a while! **hugs** Glad you like where the story's going--and I agree with you that Rachel probably cares a lot more for Marco than she knows -- though I like to think of it as more a sister/brother kind of love. But I do like the idea of Rachel pining after Marco, that's just great. =) And I'm glad you liked the Erek thing, and the Cassie/Ax scene. I'm planning to touch on the C/A quasi-friendship again sometime soon.

Freak Apple - I guess it's a good thing you'll tolerate my cliffies, since I write a lot of 'em. And I'm glad you liked this chapter -- and you should write THE HOSPITAL. But I'd rather you write that M/A fic, mm-hm. In fact, I'm willing to do something drastic to get you to write that...like maybe never ever updating this again...or something like that. =P Nah, I'll just pester you about it a lot. That's easier. Oh, oh, and I wanted to ask -- can I interview you for the fanfic author interviews I'm doing at Anifandom? Pleeeassseeee?

To whomever read this with the old reviewer's response: I'd saved the responses to my computer since my laptop (which I wrote the chappie on) didn't have internet access. Unfortunately, I ended up pasting the wrong responses (these are from, oh, chapter thirteen or fourteen, I think). Sorry, sorry, sorry!