Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Reviewer Responses—(LilManiac: Well, I don't know...but since you asked so nicely...:) Hope you enjoy the chapter!) (Lilyofthevalley: Thank you for your stellar review! I'm not sure I deserve the praise, but I will endevour to earn it...)

This one is a little weird, folks, because it was an attempt to show the more serious side of Marco. Just read the entire thing before you judge it, please. (Begs) A fair amount of angst and maybe a little OOC, but I'd appreciate any advice you have by the end of it...

Chapter 8

Cassie is insane.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm all for saving the trees and the flowers and the cute fuzzy animals. The wilderness is a great place. I like to think that my ability to survive in the wild has improved in the last couple of years; at least I no longer look around for a place to plug the coffeemaker in.

But come on.

Singing?

Here we were in the middle of nowhere tromping through slime and bugs and poison ivy and whatever else this God-forsaken patch of bracken felt like throwing at us. And she was singing "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" at the top of her lungs.

"IF you go down in the woods today…"

Various groans arose from our little group as she started into her third repetition.

"…you'd BETTER go in DISGUISE…"

Rachel finally couldn't stand it any longer. Pressing her hands to her ears, she yelled, "Cassie, will you please STOP THAT!"

Cassie grinned at Rachel, and opened her mouth. "If YOU go down in the woods today, YOU'RE in for a BIG surprise…"

Jake shook his head. "I never should have taken her to see that movie…"

The light finally dawned. "You don't mean…"

"Yup. Now every time we get close to a Yeerk establishment, she starts belting out the most annoying song she can think of, hoping to see the controller's heads explode." He winced as she hit a particularly high note. "You should have seen her on the bus yesterday."

"For EVERY one that ever there was…"

Laughing, I left Jake and Cassie and drifted towards the back of the group. Cassie's untrained voice followed me.

"…will gather there for certain BECAUSE…"

I reached the woman following us. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

She grimaced. "The climb, I can't complain about, but the ambiance leaves a certain something to be desired. How does she have the breath to sing like that?" I smiled as she went on. "More to the point, how are you doing, sweetheart?"

"…to-DAY'S the DAY…" Cassie's voice, never particularly on key, was now echoing eerily through the still air. Behind us, the bushes rustled.

My smile froze. Time froze.

This wasn't right.

"Honey?" My mother asked, concern furrowing her brow. "Marco, are you all right?"

"…to-DAY's the DAY…"

Staring in horror, I backed away from her. Hork-Bajir began emerging from the bushes. "You aren't Mom."

The face of the woman in front of me went blank.

"Why, whatever are you talking about, Marco?" Eva's mouth said. Then a look of annoyance flashed across her face as, like a broken record, Cassie bleated out another verse.

"…the ANIMORPH'S war has END—"

There was a flash of a dracon beam. Someone screamed. I think it was Jake.

The Yeerk nodded Eva's head in appreciation to one of the Hork-Bajir controllers before turning back to where I stood, staring at the spot that Cassie had occupied only moments before. It forced my mother's lips into a smile of malicious amusement as it resumed speaking.

"Whatever are you talking about, Marco dear? Come, give your mother a hug."

It was madness. There was no time to morph. We just ran, tripping, dodging, weaving. I saw Rachel fall in front of me, but there was no time to stop and help her, just run, run, the complete madness of survival. Behind me I heard the anguished shriek of a red-tailed hawk as Tobias spotted Rachel's still form. Heard Ax call "Tobias, no!" Heard the sickening sound of a blade hitting flesh, the dying cries of a wild bird.

And just as suddenly, I went down. Through the red haze surrounding my vision, I could see Jake and Ax dashing away wildly through the trees. In moments they were gone. A few Hork-Bajir trailed after them at an impossible speed. The rest drew up around me, their blades held at the ready. Visser One walked forward.

Brring.

The yeerk that controlled Eva placed a cool hand against my cheek, and murmured, "My poor little boy." I tried to draw away from her but found I couldn't move. Whimpering, I stayed where I was as she placed her dracon beam against my temple.

Brring.

"Poor, poor little boy. Did you really believe that she cared for you? Loved you?" The cold, mocking eyes stared deeply into my own. "Your 'mother' had been crushed out of existence before you were born, you fool."

Brring.

My chest was heaving in an effort to breathe between the sobs that racked my body. Her fingers tightened on the trigger as she kneeled down in front of me. I heard the whine of the charging beam…

"Poor little fool…"

The safety clicked off.

"I was the only mother you ever knew!" In the split second before the beam hit, I heard laughter echoing in my ears…

Brring.

Brring…

Gasping, I sat up…and nearly hit my head on the wood above me.

I was home. I was alive. I was…

Curled up under my desk?…what was I doing there?

Brring.

And what was that noise?

Brring.

Oh, yeah.

Brring.

The phone.

Brring.

Brr…

"Ughh." I grunted into the phone.

"Hey, Marco, it's Jake."

Still caught in the death-throes of the dream, I blinked. "Huh?"

I heard a sigh on the other end of the phone. "Jake, Marco. You know, your best friend?"

"Oh." Groggily I shook my head. "What time is it?"

"Almost twelve. How late were you up last night, anyway?" Without waiting for a reply, he went on. "You know that essay we were working on for Foreman's class? Well, there's been a development. Turns out you were right about the main character."

What main charac…oh. Shit.

"You know, there used to be a time when I was glad my best friend was phoning me." I grumbled.

"Ha, ha. You want to get together today to work on it?"

"I don't know, Jake. You already know how I feel about the 'main character' …why don't you just keep on going the way we planned?"

"Marco. We need to talk about this. Now."

I closed my eyes and groaned. "Give me time for breakfast, at least. Even five minutes?"

"Ten. At the basketball court. And, Marco?"

"Yes, oh enlightened one?"

"This time, try to remember the basketball?" The receiver clicked.

"Funny." I muttered to him over the dead phone line, and began to crawl out from under my desk. Halfway out I paused. My room was absolutely trashed. Had I really done all that in my sleep?

My knee came down on something sharp, and I yelped, pushing myself out from under my desk with my hands. Turning around, I glared at the inanimate object that dared inflict such damage to my person. A picture frame, the glass now broken. I didn't have to look to know whose picture it contained.

It was actually a good twenty minutes later when I showed up on the court, the basketball tucked under my arm and a massive bandaid around my knee. Jake was already there, looking bored. He gave my knee a look of pure disbelief before greeting me.

"Marco…?"

I threw the basketball to him with a chest-high pass. It smacked into his hands. "Look, Jake, skip the pleasantries. You and I both know why you wanted to talk to me. So spill."

Jake sighed and nodded.

"Erek has been able to confirm the other Chee suspicions. Visser One is the one the council of Thirteen has sent to oversee whatever this new plan is. She is supposed to arrive for the Sharing meeting any day now. She could even be in orbit now." He slid off the bench and began pacing restlessly, the ball in his hands.

"The yeerks are counting us as more and more of a threat. They are becoming less sloppy and far more deadly each time we engage them. Everyone is going to have to be on the ball for this mission."

I snagged the ball back from him. He looked at me. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, oh lord and master." I began dribbling the ball in a circle.

"Darnit, Marco!" Jake slammed his hand to the wire fence. I looked up sharply and nearly lost control of the ball. "Be serious for once in your life. I need to know if you can handle this. Not if you could handle it or will try to handle it. If you aren't one hundred percent sure that…you know what, won't affect your judgment, you should stay off the mission."

Be serious. Be serious? "Jake, I'm a kid who grew up with the leader of an alien army for a mom. A kid who's best friend can turn into a dog, and a kid who spends most of his time saving the world. My life is insane. If I tried to take it seriously, I'd go insane." The basketball rebounded off of the pavement and slammed into my shredded knee. "Damn."

The laugh I was expecting never came. When Jake next spoke, he was deadly earnest.

"Marco. Why didn't you morph that cut away?"

That made me pause. Why hadn't I?

Because, perhaps, it was a pain that I could control, I could cause, and then just as easily, remove? Unlike a certain other hurt that had recently taken over my life.

"You know, sometimes I hate you," I growled.

Jake smiled crookedly at me. "What are friends for?"

We glared at each other for several minutes. Or rather, I glared at Jake as he looked back at me. Then I laughed.

"You've been taking lessons from Cassie, haven't you?"

"Well," Jake smiled sheepishly, "she did kind of help me…"

"Jake, I can handle it. I promise you. I'll be there for the rest of you." I could do it, I knew. Whatever my personal feelings were, they would to come second to the mission. They had to.

Jake punched my shoulder lightly.

"Mind you, I'll still whine and complain every step of the way."

This time it was Jake that started laughing.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Marco. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Man, did I have fun writing that! Which of course probably means it's not half as good as the rest…(sigh)…oh, well. I know that most people consider dreams a cheap cop-out, but I think they're great for exploring the suppressed, unconscious fears of a character. Sorry about the length. I actually had more written, but I couldn't think of a way to tie it into this chapter. Hopefully I'll get it up soon.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it!