Okay, sorry if that chappie was sad. But it's going to get better very, very soon.

Like, now.

I'd like to give late credit to Evanescence for the song 'Hello', at the beginning of the last chappie! I realize I didn't really say that in the last chappie except at the end.

I do not own Animorphs (no friggin' duh!) But I do own Kaetila and the little boy in this chapter.

And the Yeerk.

Ahem. Anyways. Sorry I haven't updated in a while.

Enjoy!

Kaetila

I lie there, the Yeerk almost gone.

He was dying.

I was getting flashes of his past hosts.

Mostly humans.

Two men. One woman. Farther back, a Hork-Bajir. A Gedd.

They had all fought him. Even the Gedd, though he cowered at first, ultimately, seeing his life go by, he fought.

I felt their sorrow at being used. Being helpless.

I saw their anger at their lives being used by someone else.

And I felt shame.

Because I knew that had they seen my life, they would have felt anger.

I had served myself completely, and had only thought of me, and had never cared to make anything out of myself. I had only cared of the petty present, when I should have thought about my future. When I should have thought about making myself into something useful, using my health to help others, I served myself completely.

(No...) The Yeerk said, shocked. (It can't be...I...I was just promoted...I...)

(So was I...) I thought softly.

(You...you...won't live...) He said.

(No.) I told myself, honestly. (I won't live.) And I felt my whole body relaxing. I would die.

(You...won't... live....) He let out a weak, cruel laugh.

And the Yeerk left me.

And I felt him slide slimy from my ear. He lie there next to me for a few moments, and then, I felt him disintegrate.

I lie there for a few more hours, staring at the sky.

A cool breeze was blowing.

To guide me into the next world. I thought, with a slight smile.

The sun glared down. I was so hot. Fever burned my nose and eyes and forehead.

As I thought of my life, and the life that I had lived, and all that I had done, I thought,

I deserve this. This is the death of a coward. A slow, and miserable death that any coward deserves.

You weren't a coward. A voice in my head said. A voice deep in me.

No, but I was a whore.

I began to cry with that thought.

What is the use of regretting it now? The gentle voice insisted. You still have life! You can still live!

(No.) I thought. (No reason to.)

But do you really want to die either?

I lie there ignoring the voice, and deciding to sleep.

Come on! You can do this! You're not a little aristh anymore, remember?

I smirked. Don't remind me, I know I'm not innocent.

You are NOT a whore anymore! You are a PRINCESS!

I opened my eyes with that thought.

(I am.) I said, realizing.

You must live! This new voice said. You must prove to them! You don't want them to say that you died because you were weak, do you? You don't want them to say you died because you were a weak female do you?

(By the stars in the sky no!) I yelled, feeling the life blood pumping through me again.

Then don't just lie there! You are free now! You can use your freedom like you never did before! You can change! You don't have to die, you don't have be the way you were before either!

(Yes!) I said. (Yes!) I thought, weeping happily at having found the life in me again.

I struggled against the rock.

No avail.

(Oooh noooo!) I groaned. I couldn't even feel my legs.

So weak...so hungry...

( I will live!) I told myself.

I struggled against it.

No way. There was no way I could do this on my own.

Call for help. Maybe...maybe the Andalite bandits would hear!

Maybe anyone would hear! If the Yeerks heard, they would free me, and I could fight back! Morph kafit bird and flee before they could take me.

I laughed at that, but mostly at myself.

What was wrong with me? I felt incredible! I felt happy, truly happy and ready to live. No matter how bad it got in life, I would live on.

Because I had already been through the worst life offered.

Rape. Slavery. Violence. Injury.

And I had still lived. It had only made me stronger.

(But this is insane!) I said, laughing.

Maybe it was, but I was really, really enjoying insanity then!

With that enthusiasm, I began to call out.

(Please! Help me!) I called. (Help!) I'm trapped!)

I lie there for several more minutes, calling.

After about ten minutes, I heard crashing noises in the woods above me.

And before I realized what was happening, a young human stood, at the top of the ledge above me, looking around. He wasn't looking down, so he didn't see me.

"That was so weird!" He exclaimed. "I heard a voice in my head! Man, I must be crazy!"

He began to turn around.

(NO! Please! Don't leave me here!)

He stopped. He turned back to me. He looked down.

His eyes widened.

"Holy crap! What the-"

(Please! Don't be scared! Help me!)

"You...you were the one talking in my head! Calling for help!" He began to move down the ledge as he said this, scuttling and sliding down the hill right by it. He came to stand near my head.

"But...what are you?"

I decided this was not a Controller. He would have surely known what I was, had he been one.

No reason to lie...

(I...I am an Andalite. We are a race from the stars.)

"Aliens? Oh man! I knew it! Dude! Jeremy is so not gonna believe me! Oh man! This is so cool!"

I stared at him. Ah well. Help was help. So what if he was a little...mad?

(Please help me! I am trapped under this rock!)

"Yeah. I see. Uh..." He looked around. "Hmm...hey, are you okay? I mean, can you like, breathe and stuff?"

I stared. Breathe and stuff? (Yyyes...I can breathe...) Otherwise I wouldn't be alive...

"Well... I'll try to move it!"

The young human began to push at the rock above me. He struggled. He almost moved it a little.

Nothing changed. I sighed.

(Oh no...) I groaned. Then I thought. (I'll try morphing.)

The Yeerk had known that morphing would not help us. The smallest morph I had was a kafit bird. And wedged in as we were, that probably wouldn't have helped.

But unlike him, I was willing to try.

I did.

Well, it didn't change much. I was still wedged in, though now I had more breathing room. I also had much more energy now. And my wounds were gone. I found I was able to focus more on the task at hand.

"Hey! Where'd you go? Oh man! It disappeared!"

(No! Don't leave! I'm still here!)

He peered over the rock at me.

"Wha? You have a bird form? Oh cool!"

I was puzzled. (Humans can morph?)

"Morph? What's that?"

(It's...ah...it's where you can change shape. To any animal you touch.)

"Oh cool man!"

(Well...I still can't get out! Isn't there something else you can do?)

He seemed to be thinking. "Ah...erm..."

He got it. "Oh! Okay! Um...wait just a sec.!"

He began to run off up the hill again. I felt panic rising in me.

(Wait!) I cried. (Don't leave me!)

"DON'T WORRY! I'LL BE BACK! I PROMISE! I JUST HAVE TO GET MY BASEBALL BAT! IT'S BACK AT THE CAMPGROUND!"

(Baseball bat?) I tried out the phrase slowly. I was very confused.

Baseball? We had games on my planet involving balls, but what did such a game have to do with bases? Did they play it on a military base? Bats? I thought bats were winged Earth animals! How was a tiny mammal with wings going to get me out of here?

( I could acquire it!) I cried happily. Bats were smaller than kafit birds...maybe...I couldn't remember!

The rock was huge, and frightening as a kafit bird, I demorphed.

I sucked in my breath as it grew tight around me again. Exhaled a little.

I lie there a few more moments.

Suddenly I began to get a strange sensation.

On my left leg...

It was where it had been before...I hadn't been able to feel anything...but now...

There were little things...moving in my fur...and...

(OW!)

Biting me!

(Ah!)

They were biting my leg!

(Eeeh! EEEEEh! OH! OWW!) I began to struggle.

(Help! Hurry up! Oh please! Hurry up little human!) I cried.

"I'M COMING!" He yelled as he came pulting through the forest and sliding down the hill again. I feared he would fall and hurt himself and I'd be overtaken by the pinchy bitey creatures and be alone and trapped again, but he maintained his balance and health to my surprise.

Precarious creatures humans are; waddling about on two legs!

He raced to me. "What is it?"

(Some things are biting my leg! AH!)

He peered behind the rock that imprisoned me.

"Oh CRAP! THOSE ARE ANTS!"

(Ants? What are ants?) I cried.

"You really, really don't want to know right now!" He assured me. I stared at what he was holding. It was a strange, metal, cylindrical object that shined in the hot sun, and the cylinder narrowed down as it reached a part where he gripped it in his hands.

He jammed this strange object between the rock that was pinning me, and the one next to it. He pulled back, pushing the rock on top of me, to my left!

(Of course!) I cried. (OW!) A lever! What a little genius!

He pulled. "Help me!" He cried through gritted teeth.

I strained up against the rock. I tried to wiggle onto my stomach so I could push up against it with my back, but only got to my side. My leg pulled away from the mischievous creatures the little human had called 'ants', but now some from my left leg were transferring onto my right, and my right was quite close to where my left had been!

(No!) I cried, feeling like weeping. (Ahh!) Oh the pain!

The little human struggled. He looked about to cry to. He pulled. The bat bent a little. He saw it, stopped, but then kept pulling.

The rock lifted!

I squirmed forward!

Still stuck!

With a small burst of near final energy, I struggled forward anyway, scraping and scratching my side, belly, and back against the rock walls around me.

I popped out from between the rocks.

("YES!") The human and I cried in unison. He let go of the bat.

My tail blade was still stuck! Ah!

I pulled on it roughly, pulling it hard. The human left his bat in the crack between the rock, and jumped to my side to help me, and grabbed onto my tail and pulled with me.

I felt it break, (AH!), but kept pulling until it came out.

I fell onto the ground, finally free of my prison.

"Your tail!" He said, pointing at it.

(It's alright. I can morph.) I said. (It will fix the injury. AH!) I cried again. What the-

Ants! They were still on my legs. I groaned in agony.

"Quick! I know where there's a stream!" He said. "Follow me!"

He ran to my right, going deeper into the forest. I followed quickly.

"It's right here!" He said, triumphantly. "Jump in! It'll drown them!"

I did.

(Ah,) I said, relieved as they began to come off of my legs, slowly, but surely. I kicked my legs around in the water.

The little human stood chuckling at me, or to be more precise, my sigh of relief.

I swam about in the water, happily, so relaxed suddenly.

I hadn't felt water all about me in so long. It reminded me of my thirst. I drank deeply, though away from where all the ants had drowned, moving upstream from them.

I was right at the base of a small waterfall, going over the ledge off which I had fallen.

It was all so serene and beautiful. The little human sat and watched, smiling, while I treated myself and went under the spray of the waterfall.

Oh it was so incredible and beautiful.

Not a bad start to the first day of my new life as Princess Kaetila...

Okay, no more updates 'till SOMEBODY REVIEWS!!!