3 years forward…

Jade

I opened the car door, and stepped out into the beautiful afternoon sun. Marco did the same. I moved my sunglasses up onto my head, looking around at the scenery. It was breathtaking. No wonder Ithiell wanted to meet here. I smelled the sea not to far away, and saw the large cottage, where Ithiell stepped out, looking grim. I ran to him, and threw my arms around him.

"I'm so sorry"

"It's… I'm ok" I pulled back and looked into those big green eyes of his. He looked back at me, sadly.

"Uh, hey Jade!" Marco called from the car. I turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Forget something?" He asked, then opened the back of the door and pulled out our one year old son.

"Well, you can bring him, can't you?" I called back, then turned to Ithiell. He was smiling.

"Like father, like son" he said and looked down at me "He'd better have your mind when he grows up"

I laughed a little "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't…"

"Jade! Hey!"

"Now what!"

"He just…oh eeeeewww!"

"Yeah? So? Fix him up then. I'm not going to do it all the time"

"But… oh, but…"

"Hey, I didn't create him myself, you know"

"Uh… oh"

I guess I should back up first, before I go on. We were married (which I know you were all wondering about) and our son's name was Alejandro. Well, on his birth certificate. I called him Alex.

The next few months, after we got back home, we all kind of rushed right into the marriage thing. Even Robert, believe it or not. Her name was Sammy, and they just happened to meet one night at a party Amanda's brother, Connor, had been hosting. I guess you could say love can strike anywhere.

Marco, believe it or not, gave up his gigantic mansion and we moved into an average two-story house. He still kept his millions, but gave a quarter of it to Cassie and Amanda's projects (working on expanding and keeping the Hork-Bajir territory, and some national forests) and two thirds of what was left to help the poor and homeless. Not that he didn't still have enough to buy a small island…

The eleven of us were no longer terrorist targets. They had resumed to trying to bomb the Whitehouse and places like that. But by then the major terrorist targets had force fields, and no one could get in without a thorough checkover. In fact, we were all old news. It had been about seven years since we were 'big' news. The hype about that was over with.

Jake had gone into the military along with Robert and Rachel. The three were still training some special forces people and that. I guess nothing ever changed with those three. Once a warrior, always a warrior.

Tobias was still unsure of his future, although he was training as a fighter pilot, the last I heard. He was born to fly. With wings or not, the sky would always belong to him.

Ax was made a War-Prince, for all his bravery. Ovatt and Kayleese could vouch for that. By the way, they had a cute little daughter. I don't remember what they named her, but it was a beautiful name.

Rtaia was honoured in her own culture, along with Ithiell and Lowri, and the Chanaiben crews. Inaad…well…

Sadly, on this day, we were reuniting for a funeral. For Inaads funeral. She had gone on a scouting mission in something a little bigger than a fighter, and was destroyed by a rogue band of Ternians. The word was she'd fought till the very end. She never gave in, not even when her ship was breaking up…

Marco managed to change Alex (whinging the whole time) and we went inside where the others were waiting. Plus a few other Chanaibens. I quickly found out that four were Ithiell's grandparents. And a few cousins and stuff.

I was handed a drink by Jake, and then he handed one to Marco, still holding Alex propped up with one arm. He nearly dropped him, but I managed to grab him with my spare hand and take him. Now, he was balanced neatly on my left side, and his little hands curled around and took hold of a chunk of my shirt. I didn't mind. He put his head on my shoulder, and I rocked him gently to sleep.

I looked around the room, and spotted Cassie. She was holding her daughter on her lap. One arm was wrapped around the little girls waist, the other sipping her drink.

"I thought we were going to have the funeral first" I heard Marco say to Ithiell.

"No. The tradition is that we drink the sacred liquid first, then fly out to the area where Inaad is to be buried" I heard Ithiell choking on the words. Soon, I saw his grandmother go over to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. She said something in Chanaiben, then led Ithiell away for a moment.

"Hey" Tobias said, greeting me. He was holding his son in his arms. The strange thing was, all of us kind of had kids around the same time. Tobias's son was about two months younger than Alex.

"Hey. Where's your cup?"

"Finished it. Didn't taste too good"

"Uh-huh" I took a sip, and realised what he meant. It was way too sweet. Tobias kind of laughed at my reaction, and I just pulled a face at him. He laughed some more.

Cody, Tobias's son, was reaching out and trying to touch Alex. Alex was still sound asleep. Tobias took Cody's little hand in his own and turned his attention back to him.

"They are so cute, aren't they?" Sammy appeared beside us, holding her daughter.

"Yeah, sort of" Robert joined us. I noticed Ithiell was next to Amanda, taking one of their twin boys and holding him. Then the last members of our little band arrived.

Ax and Rtaia strode through, with their Andalite daughter in tow. Lowri entered soon after that. She was on her feet, and making funny wheezing sounds while she looked up at her father. She didn't have that deadly tail yet, only a kind of tail like Ithiell's. They'd named her Aerionna, after Rtaia's mother. I had a feeling she'd live up to her name in the future.

Tobias and Sammy got swept up when Rachel and her Chanaiben counterpart went by. Soon, it was just me and Robert.

"So"

"So" I replied.

He smiled at me "I'm glad we're all here now. Thanks for…"

"No, thankyou Robert. Without you, I'd never have… you know" He smiled at me, then put a hand gently on my son's head, then pulled it away and went over to collect his daughter. Jake soon swung by again, a little more grim than the others. He pulled me aside, and talked in a low voice so no-one else could hear.

"So, what the Ellimist showed you…"

"I… I don't know Jake. But… if it's true… they'll have the best of all of us"

He seemed to consider this for a moment, then smiled and nodded. We finished our drinks, and then it was time for the funeral. Sammy and a couple of Ithiell's cousins would stay and watch over our children. We all took to the air, with Tobias being carried by Lowri, and the rest of us shifting or morphing. We flew out and over the water, for a few miles. We then reached a small island, where, with eagle eyes, I saw the casket that she was going to be buried in. And… I saw her body.

We spilled air from our wings and went down, with Jake and Robert rocketing past us, making me feel like I was standing still. We became human, and Lowri let Tobias go. Some of the other Chanaiben males did the same, letting go of the females. One of Ithiell's grandfather went to stand in front of us all, as we all took our seats.

It was hard for everyone, especially Ithiell. But Amanda and Rtaia were in either side of him, each holding one of his hands. Finally, it was time for Ithiell to speak.

"What else can I say about my sister? She was brave, strong, and… I will miss her dearly" I saw him fighting back tears, and I had to resist the urge to go to him. But… when he continued, he was strong again "She was my other half, my Unami. My sister. But… I just want to say this. She may be dead, but at least… at least she died free"

That was true. She died controlling her own eyes, moving her own hands, feeling her own terror and being able to act on it. Which is what we all wanted from the start. To die free.

When it was over, we all stayed to talk a little.

"Yeerks will never be able to hurt her again" Ithiell said softly as the eleven of us stood in a loose circle. Amanda took his hand and squeezed it.

"Hopefully, they'll never come here again" Jake said, an arm around Cassie. She had been crying, and was still doing that a little. Sadly enough, so was I. Marco arms were around my waist from behind, nuzzling my neck. It was comforting… at least a little.

"Yeah. And if they do, we'll… well, they won't last five seconds on this planet again. Not with us here" Robert said, hands in his pockets. Rachel nodded, smiling that devil-may-care grin she always seemed to have.

The other Chanaibens lifted off, and left us to talk.

(The Andalite council has made sure to keep a very close eye on the Yeerk home world. Anything that tries to leave that planet will be destroyed)

"That sounds good" Tobias muttered.

"But… what do you think happened to the Blade ship?" Rtaia asked. Ax shrugged.

(I do not know. Perhaps we will never hear about the Blade ship ever again)

"Maybe it's been destroyed" I suggested, shrugging as best I could with Marco still attached to me.

"Maybe. I guess we'll never know" Jake said sadly, sighing.

"Well, as long as we get at least another ten years of good luck, I'm not complaining" Marco said. We all agreed. The past three years had gone well, for all of us. We actually had kids now, and that, in itself, was wonderful.

Yet… I still knew… it might be over for us, but something big was going to happen in the future, and our kids would all be a part of it…

THE END!!

Haha! How did you like that?? I had a sudden BURST of inspiration last night, and this is what I came up with. Hope you all enjoyed, and if you're wondering about their kids, go check out The Yeerk Reinvasion so you know. BYZ!!