(A/N) Sharina, thanks for reviewing again. Guardians of the Elements is going great. Tabatha, nice to see you again. Thanks for reviewing. Alanzia, thanks for reviewing. Anonymous, thanks for reviewing again. Elski, thanks for reviewing, and for the support. And you make an excellent point with the visser having them all trapped. But, like you said, if he did infest them there would be no story. In other words, I couldn't come up with a reason for it. You caught me ( As for you, TheSilverWolf, the review system is supposed to be used for a person to give constructive criticism, not to flame someone if you have a problem with their writing. I thank you for taking the time to review at all, but writing MARY-SUE!! A hundred times over is not only childish, but a waste of yours and my time. It is also a waste of space. And if you presume to call Stella a Mary-Sue you obviously do not know the whole story. If you have something helpful to say to improve my writing I will gladly accept it but if this is all that you have to say, then I would suggest that you keep such comments to yourself. Oh well, I suppose that you are entitled to your opinion.

Follow the Star Chapter 3: Searching for an Answer

It had been five days since the incident at the underwater Yeerk base. It was now the evening of the fifth day. Cassie said that we should be expecting snow. If it did end up snowing then Ax, Gwyn, and I would have to move into Cassie's barn. At least until Ax and I finished building what he called a scoop. It's what Andalites call home. As far as I could gather it was a giant hole in the ground with a cover over it.

Now I was flying through the night sky, over the forest. Marco, Jake, Rachel, and Cassie would all be at home now, sleeping. Tobias would be in his meadow. Ax and Gwyn were back at our little clearing. Whereas, I was just out flying by myself, heading to a place where I could be alone with my thoughts. A lone cliff that towered above the sea. Ax and I considered it to be our special place. We often went there just to be alone or to talk. It was the first place where I had really tested out a morph. I had asked Tobias to bring Ax and I there so I could try out a little scheme of mine. I had jumped off of the cliff and morphed to peregrine falcon at the last minute. Even now, months later, the memory was still fresh. That feeling of free falling.

When I arrived I didn't demorph right away. When I was in morph I didn't feel the pain of the virus. The effects of the virus hadn't yet shown up on the surface, but they were there. I could feel it as my internal organs slowly disintegrated. Not enough to kill me just yet, but enough so that I could feel the agony. Thus far I had managed to keep my symptoms hidden from Ax and the other Animorphs. I had to keep it hidden for as long as possible so that they wouldn't ask questions.

Eventually my time limit ran out and I had to demorph. As I returned to my own body the pain also returned with it. My muscles seized up with pain. My skin was even paler than usual because there was less blood in my system. It felt like there were a thousand knives stabbing me all over my body. The chill of death was slowly creeping into the corners of my mind. The pain was intense but I kept myself from crying out. There was nothing that could save me now except for that antidote. But it was twenty miles away at the bottom of the ocean. I couldn't get it without risking Ax's life.

To divert my mind away from the pain I let my mind wonder. I mulled over the many battles that I had fought since I had joined the Animorphs. We had helped start a colony of free Hork-Bajir. We had met up with the Chee Androids. They had become powerful allies. We had learned that not all Yeerks were ruthless conquerors. Some were in favor of peace with the humans. We had met one Yeerk, Aftran, who had willingly sacrificed a life with sight and pleasure so that one little girl could be free. We had also seen the morphing power misused by someone other than Visser Three. David.

I had been the first to find the morphing cube. It was the reason that I lived in the forest now. But the Ellimist had come to me during a battle with Visser Three and made me swear to rehide the cube. I had done just that and a few months later David turned up with it. Visser Three had discovered him and he turned both of his parents into controllers. We had made David into an Animorph. But he ended up betraying us on a very important mission. He tried to throw in his lot with Visser Three but we were able to stop him. Visser Three offered him a way out. He told David to meet him at the ruins of his old house. Jake knew that we had been betrayed and he had Tobias follow David. Jake, Ax , and I followed them. Jake and Ax got lost, but I managed to keep up with them. That final conversation with David still haunts me.

* * *

When I flew in through the hole that used to be David's window, the first thing that I saw was David in human form, sitting on his bed. A crumpled pile of feathers lay next to him. Tobias!

"What have you done David?!" I shouted as I morphed back to human.

"Oh, you mean Tobias? He's dead if that's what you were wondering."

How could he be so casual about it? He had just taken a life for no reason at all. What had Tobias ever done to him? As I stared at the lifeless red-tailed hawk I began to remember my own parents. They had been killed too. For no reason at all.

"Hurting innocent people is something I don't tolerate." I hissed.

"People? What do you mean people? He was just a filthy animal. I would never kill a human."

"How could you betray us like this? You don't really believe that Visser Three will free your parents? He's a ruthless murderer!"

"Don't be stupid. I'm not really going to turn myself over to him. But I do want something from you."

"What?"

"The morphing cube. Why don't you join me Stella? We're not so different. I've watched you. You're no Animorph. You're just like me. Dragged into this whole war against your will. Forced to live in the woods. What does being an Animorph have to offer you?"

"I'm nothing like you, David. I don't know what you are but you're the one who is no Animorph. What kind of twisted human being are you?"

"You want to know who I am. Then you'll know yourself."

"No! That's not true!"

"Oh, no? Aren't you just like me? Using the Animorphs for personal means."

"What do you mean?"

"You're not part of their group. As soon as Visser Three is dead you'll pack up and leave. What happens after this is all over? What sort of life is there for you now? There's nothing to hold you to them."

"You're wrong!"

"Oh, right. Your precious little Andalite. There's nothing to hold you to him either. As soon as his friends show up, what do you think he'll do? He isn't going to stay here. He'll drop you in a second. These Yeerks seem like the winners in this little game and you guys are wasting your time trying to stop them. Are you sure you're on the right side?"

"At least I have chosen a side." I answered, trying not to let him know that his words had hit their mark.

"Come with me, Stella. The Animorphs don't really care about you. They'd turn you over to the Yeerks in a heartbeat. No one cares about you. You'll never belong to him."

Slowly, I sank to the floor.

"No! It's not true!" I cried out in a choked sob.

"Why fight it? Why not give into the truth?"

"Please, don't do this."

"Just give me the morphing cube. Let it end here. You can be free."

I had fought many battles. Why was just one boy able to bring me down after all that I had been through? Was it because he spoke the truth? No! It couldn't be! I could not let him defeat me. I couldn't give up without a fight.

"Clever little psychology trick but it won't work on me." I said as I began to morph to rattle snake.

"So who do you think will win? Rattle snake or golden eagle?" he said as he too began to morph. { Well that just depends on who's faster, now doesn't it? } I answered.

I didn't even give him a chance to finish morphing. As soon as my fangs sprouted and filled with poison I sprang. I clamped my jaw down on his feather-covered forearm. I pumped my snake venom into his system.

Before I knew what was happening he had grabbed me with half-formed fingers that were slowly melting into wings. For as long as he had power in his hands he strangled me. When the fingers finally disappeared he flung me across the room. Life barely lingered in my snake body.

{ I guess that answers that question. } David sneered as he winged his way over to me. He raised his eagle head over me and lifted me up in his jaw.

{ No. No, you can't- }

{ Can't what? Eagles eat snakes. I'm not going to lose one bit of sleep over this you know. } he said this without a trace of emotion as he clamped his beak down on me even tighter.

I let my human mind overcome the calm snake instinct. I blacked out. Blacked out from the terror of being eaten alive by a fellow Animorph.

But just as my conscious mind faded I heard a voice in my head.

{ DAVID! PUT HER DOWN NOW!!! }

* * *

Jake had saved my life that night. It turned out that it hadn't been Tobias lying dead in David's room. It had been an innocent red-tailed hawk just minding his own business when David attacked it. David had nearly destroyed us all and gotten clean away with the morphing cube. But we trapped him in the end. Trapped him as a rat. As a nothlit. The others seemed haunted by what we had done to him but I wasn't. In my opinion it was no more or less than he deserved. He had dug his own grave.

It sounded harsh, even to me, but I had become a harsh person ever since I first heard the word Animorph.

But since then not a day has gone by when I haven't wondered. Did I do the right thing? Could there have been a way to save David from the path that he chose? Was it my fault that he had gone so wrong? Maybe if I had disobeyed the Ellimist and kept the morphing cube he would still be human. Why had the Ellimist wanted things to go so badly? Who had condemned David to that fate? Had it been the Ellimist? Or had it been me?

And what of his last words to me? Was he right about me? Was I no better than he was? If the notion ever entered my head would I use the morphing power for evil? Did I have the strength to resist? Could I succeed where David had failed? Was that same greed planted in my own heart?

* * *

I do not know why I woke up, but when I did the first thing that I noticed was that Stella was gone. Gwyn was still wrapped up in her blanket but Stella's was empty. I immediately began to morph to northern harrier. I knew where she had gone.

As soon as the morph was complete I shot off into the sky. The moon was hidden and the night was dark, but the way was familiar to me. Stella and I sometimes went back to that cliff. More often she would go there by herself. I had expressed my concern for her going off by herself but she didn't seem to notice. There were still places inside of her that even I could not reach.

Why had she left on this night? What was wrong now? She had seemed unusually quiet ever since the battle at the Yeerk base.

The flight to the cliff took an hour. When I arrived I saw Stella sitting very close to the edge of the cliff, staring out to sea.

{ Stella, why are you out here? }

She didn't answer. She simply continued to stare blankly ahead.

{ Stella! }

"Huh? Oh, Ax. Sorry, I- I didn't see you land."

{ Why are you out here tonight? It is awfully cold. } I said as I began to demorph.

"I was just.........thinking."

{ About David again? }

"Yes. How did you guess?"

{ I do not know. }

With that she turned her face away from me again.

"Ax, was it my fault?"

{ Was what your fault? }

"David. He came into the Animorphs the exact same way that I did. Could I maybe have understood him better? Turned him around."

{ No Stella. What happened to David was not your doing. He chose his own path. }

"But could I have prevented it? And........if not, am I no better than him?"

{ How could you even think that? Look what David chose to do with his life, and look where it got him. You, on the other hand, have used the morphing for good. There was.........a darkness in him that he could not escape. }

"Maybe there's a darkness in me too." she said sadly.

{ Stella....... } I didn't know what else to say. There was only one thing that I could think of that would comfort her. So I started to morph to human. My many fingers melded together to form stronger human fingers. My arms increased in power and my blue fur became tan human flesh. My stalk eyes receded into my head to be replaced with brown human hair. My face split to become the mouth and my human nose sprouted. My tail became limp and receded into my spine. My forelegs receded into my chest. For a moment I stumbled about on my two puny human legs. But I quickly regained my balance. As soon as the transformation was complete I sat down beside Stella.

"Ax........are you happy here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that you miss your family and your home and all of that, but......are you happy here? With me?"

"So long as you are here, Stella. I will be happy on Earth."

"I mean when the Andalites do come. Would you leave me here if it meant seeing your people again?"

I hesitated for a moment before answering. Would I choose Stella over my own people? Love over duty? It was a question that no Andalite warrior should have to answer. We are taught to believe that duty comes above all else. If I had fallen in love with an Andalite female she would have understood that. But Stella was human. What could I say to this question?

"If the time does come...........then I will choose you." I answered softly.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked. She doubted my sincerity.

How could I prove to her that her love meant more to me than just about anything? That I valued her life above my own.

The answer struck me like lightening.

I gently wrapped my human arms around her shoulders and turned her head to face mine. I gazed deeply into her storm gray eyes.

"This." As I spoke I drew her face ever closer to mine. The look in her eyes became vague and faraway as we joined our lips.

She surrendered herself to my touch. As I tightened my grip on her shoulders she brought up her hands and ran one of them through my hair. The other one she placed on the back of my neck. As her hand met with the bare flesh of my neck something that felt a lot like an electric current swept through my entire body.

When we broke apart for a brief moment and I gazed back into her eyes a memory drifted to the surface of my mind. A memory from a thousand light years away and many Earth months in the past. On an Andalite ship called the Ascalin.

* *
*

My human friends and I had morphed an Earth bug called mosquito in order to complete a mission. But when we were all in morph we suddenly found ourselves in Z-space. We would have died except that an Andalite ship, the Ascalin, happened to be passing by. It saved us. The ship was captained by an Andalite called Samilin-Corrath-Gahar. The humans had been taken to the sick bay and were being held there. I had gone to visit them.

"So let me get this straight. Suddenly we're a bazillion miles from home and we're about to get dragged into a serious shooting war where the good guys are outnumbered three to one?" Rachel asked me.

{ Yes. }

"Cool. What can we do to help?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, even for you, Rachel, that is just sick." Marco said.

{ You can do nothing. I told you the kafit bird morph that Visser Three used is from my home planet. That means our side may be infiltrated by Yeerks or their allies. We can't trust your secret to anyone. If you do get back to Earth somehow, you won't survive if the Yeerks find out who you are. }

"If you get back to Earth? Meaning you won't be going back with us?" Cassie asked with a sad sort of smile.

Even before the question had left Cassie's mouth Stella had turned away from me. She walked away from the group and did not turn back. I tried to go after her but Rachel was already on me again.

"I have news for you, Ax. If there's some Yeerk butt-kicking being done today, I'm in on it."

{ We have to follow the captain's orders. }

"Says who?" Marco asked. The challenge in his voice was plain to be heard,

{ I am just a lowly Aristh. Like a human cadet. I have to follow orders. } I answered weakly. { You have to understand. You are no longer my prince, now that I am back among my own people. } I told Prince Jake.

{ Maybe you need to think about who your people are now. } Tobias told me privately.

{ I'm not you, Tobias. I'm not a nothlit. I'm not one species trapped in the body of another. } I tried to argue.

{ No. But I don't think you're just a lowly Aristh anymore, either. And whether you like it or not, you're one of us. }

{ The captain has ordered that until the situation is stable, you must all remain here. In this room. Please do not attempt to move about the ship. } I told them gently.

As I was turning to leave Stella turned back to me. It nearly broke my hearts to see the hurt look in her eyes.

"Will you come back?"

{ Of coarse. } I told her as I took a step back towards her.

She shook her head remorsefully.

"You're lying. You've made your choice." She said sadly.

I had hurt her. I had hurt her more deeply than anyone would ever know. I had promised her that I would always stay with her. Now at the first test I had betrayed her. But how could she expect me to make such a promise? I couldn't just stay on Earth forever.

But as I looked back at her I began to see how she could cling to such a futile promise. Everyone that she had ever loved in her life had been taken away from her, one by one. At first she had been hesitant to accept my love for her. Maybe she was afraid that if she committed herself that I would just leave her like everyone else had. And I had gone and proved her right.

For a long while the two of us just stood, staring at each other. Suddenly she stepped towards me and flung her arms around me.

"Please, don't leave me. I need you." She whispered as she clung to me.

I hugged her back, wishing that I didn't have to leave. But I finally, reluctantly, pulled myself away from her. I took her face in my hands.

{ I will come back for you. I promise. } I whispered privately to her.

As I backed away from her I saw a single tear fall down her cheek. I was the only one to see it.

* * *

It turned out that Captain Samilin was a traitor. He sided with the Yeerks. He ended up getting himself and the entire crew of the Ascalin killed. No one survived but my human friends and I. We ended up performing a dangerous mission to help the Andalite forces destroy the only continent on planet Leera. As far as I know we saved the Leerans from the Yeerks. We had made it back to Earth safely. But since then Stella's faith in me had been completely shaken. She had been strangely distant towards me since we returned. We still had those small, stolen moments, but it wasn't the same. That fear of being abandoned had returned. She seemed almost afraid of me nowadays.

Even now, as I held her in my arms I could feel her trembling. Was it from cold.........or fear?

How could I ever gain back her trust?

"Stella, are you all right?"

"Of coarse. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're trembling." I pointed out.

"I'm not trembling." She flat-out denied it.

"We should probably be getting back."

"Maybe." She said reluctantly.

Suddenly I began to feel little droplets of water all over my body. I looked around but it didn't look like it was raining.

"What's happening?"

"Huh?" Stella wondered. She began to look around too. She raised one hand up into the air and turned her face skywards. Then she began to giggle.

"Oh, Ax. It's only snow. It's the first snow of the season. Doesn't it snow on the Andalite home world?"

"Very rarely, actually. My home is mostly tropical or temperate. It only snows on the northern and southern most points of the planet. Few Andalites ever see snow." I explained.

"Oh. Well, it's a pretty common thing here."

With that I began to demorph.

"Now we really should be heading back. If it's not cold now it will be soon." Stella said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

{ Yes. We need to get to Cassie's barn. But we will need to stop and get Gwyn. } I said as the last of the transformation was completed.

"Right." She said as she began to morph to peregrine falcon.

I followed her example and soon there was a northern harrier and a peregrine falcon winging through the falling snow.

When we arrived at the clearing it was already snowing hard. We both demorphed and Stella woke Gwyn.

"Gwyn. Wake up. We need to move to the barn now." She said as she shook her cousin gently awake.

"Barn. Animals?" Gwyn asked as she climbed out of the sleeping bag.

"Yes, animals. But you have to help me carry our things."

Gwyn just smiled sleepily and tried to pick up her blanket.

"This isn't going to work. Ax, would you mind morphing to human and helping me carry the stuff?"

{ No, of coarse not. }

By the time I had finished morphing Stella had managed to pack all of her meager belongings into her backpack. She rolled up the two sleeping bags and handed one of them to me. She slung the backpack onto her shoulders and picked up the second sleeping bag. She took Gwyn's hand and led the way through the forest. We didn't speak the whole way there.

When we finally reached Cassie's home I saw that the fields were covered with a thick blanket of snow. My breath came out as a cloud of steam. Cassie had managed to leave the barn door unlocked for us. Relief coursed through my body as we entered the warm barn. My feet were practically numb from walking through the snow. Stella led he way up to the loft. I hesitated for a moment at what Stella called a ladder.

"Stella, how does one climb this contraption? Tra-puh. Trap-shun."

"It's easy." She said as she climbed back down and took the second sleeping bag from me. "Just follow me and take it one step at a time."

With that she scaled the ladder and disappeared into the loft. I grabbed the ladder rungs with a death grip. Then I took a step onto one of the lower ones. I grabbed the next rung up and took another step. This went on for what seemed like hours. I half expected the ladder to fall over at any second.

But I finally reached the top and stumbled breathlessly onto the loft. I lay there for a few minutes, breathing very hard in sheer relief. I eventually climbed to my feet and looked around for Stella and Gwyn. When I finally did see them my heart nearly stopped beating.

The sleeping bags and the backpack lay in a corner. Stella had collapsed just a few feet from them. She was lying on her stomach, not moving. Gwyn sat beside her, trying to shake her awake.

"Stella!" I shouted as I knelt down beside her.

I turned her onto her back. She was sweating profusely and her breathing was ragged. She was shaking uncontrollably.

"What happened?!" I asked urgently.

She didn't answer. She just stared sadly back at me with her gray eyes. As I pulled my hand away from her arm I saw her skin seemingly shift and distort itself.

"AAAH!!" she cried out in pain. As I stared down at her in horror her legs began to twist and distort until they looked more like tentacles than human legs. It wasn't morphing. It was out-right mutation. There was only one thing in the universe that I knew of that could cause such a change. That liquid in the injections. How had I not seen it? How could I have been so foolish?!

"Quantum virus." I whispered in utter horror and fear.

* * *