Title: The Twins
Title: The Twins
Author: Alexis Steele
Fandom: Animorphs
Characters: all the majors
Genre: Alternate Universe, after #23 The Pretender
Series: First story in the "Descendents of the Ellimist" Chronicles
Summary: Tobias is about to find more family than he can deal with
Notes: This fic was my first attempt at fanfiction back in 1999. It has been lying dormant in notebooks and my computer until I pulled it from the Net in 2004. Looking back on the fic about a year ago, I realized that I had a lot of interesting ideas that I wanted to portray in this fic – eventually to become a series – and that I wanted to pick them up again, but I had some major changes that needed to be done to my OC, Shayla. She was a blatant Mary Sue, and now she's become an attempt to see if I can write a competent OC without her becoming a Mary Sue.
And, while I will be following more closely to the events that occurred in the book series, I will always see the characters as their TV counterparts. Let's face it, ladies, the TV series might've deviated a lot away from the books, but it definitely gave us some nice eye candy to glance at. I will also be extending the timeline of the story to five years, instead of three. Therefore, the Animorphs have been fighting the Yeerks for over two years.
Normal speech denoted with "…". Thought-speak denoted in ((italics)). From this chapter onwards, there will also be periods of telepathy written. Telepathy will be shown by ((bold-italics)).
Each chapter heading will tell you who is narrating this part of the story. If you don't see a character's name in the chapter heading, assume that the character from the previous chapter is still narrating.
Disclaimer: With the exception of Shayla and any other minor OCs, all the other characters are the property of K.A. Applegate and Scholastic Books. All feedback is greatly appreciated
Chapter 8: Shayla
Hi. My name is Shayla. I think you know the drill better than I do at this point. So, no, I'm not going to tell you my last name, or where I live, or any other pertinent information like that. I suppose you want to know a little more about me. Well, I suppose I could fill you in on a few details of the events in my life up to this point.
Walking to school with my brother and meeting his friends was one of the greatest moments in my life. The greatest was finding out I actually had a brother, because it cleared up so many things in my life. See, I've always held this belief that I had more family living out in the world somewhere, but whenever I would tell someone about this, they were more likely to dismiss my ideas as a childhood fantasy.
I could tell by his reactions that Jake wasn't ready to trust just yet, even if I was Tobias' sister. I watched him as Tobias was telling them the story. He was just like any other leader, analyzing what's being said and staying out of the conversation as much as possible. I knew why too. Thanks to Tobias, I now know all about the Yeerk invasion, including the Animorphs' recent encounter with David. Do I think he deserved what he got? Absolutely, the guy tried to murder my brother. That's crossing the line. I think Jake still feels personally responsible for the entire situation with David, even though everyone agreed to allow David to receive the morphing power.
I couldn't get a full reading on Marco. At first, he seemed to favor Jake, but as the story went along he started shifting back and forth. He'll probably wait and see what I'm like during a battle. Rachel was just as skeptical about me as Jake; though she started to warm up to me as time went along.
Cassie was the only person who seemed to believe me from the start. Maybe it was because she knew there was finally someone in Tobias' life who actually cared for him. But whatever the reason, I'm grateful for her silent support.
It's never easy living in foster care, but it's not like I ever had a choice in the decision. I was brought to the children's home two weeks before my second birthday. I have always known I was a special child, even from the age of four. I knew this because what other four-year-old could read the minds of others around her.
Yes, telepathy was my first gift. I was living with this couple from Connecticut at the time and I began to see images in their mind. I found out that they were fugitives from New York and that they had changed their identities. Of course, not knowing what I saw, I asked them about it one day. Consequently, I was returned to the children's home and they fled. I quickly learned how to block my telepathic abilities because I wanted to be able to fit in with a nice family. But every time I moved in with someone during that first year, I would accidentally read somebody's mind and end up right back where I started -- at the children's home.
I have known Natalie since I arrived at the children's home. We were both brought to the children's home on the same day. I think we grew into such a strong friendship because we had such a similar background -- neither of us remembered our parents. Anytime one of us was in trouble; usually the other wasn't too far behind. Another reason for our close relationship is our closeness in age. Only one day separates us from each other. We've considered ourselves twins from the age of three. When I started developing my abilities, Natalie never ran away from me, just like any sister would. We wore the same clothes and even requested, as we got older, that if one of us was being taken into a foster home, then the other had to come too. That only worked once.
As I told the Animorphs, I acquired my ability to change into animals at the age of eight. All of my abilities came to me on the eve of every fourth birthday. So I knew I was going to receive another ability. I just didn't know what it would be. I was living at the children's home at the time. Natalie was there too. The children's home usually has parties for us, but I was in the local hospital for an undisclosed reason.
While I was in the hospital, Natalie came to visit me almost every day, whenever the director would allow it. During the times she wasn't at the hospital, she had found the time to bake some cupcakes for us. The director had kept them hidden from the other children for her. Natalie asked the nurse if we could eat them and the nurse said it was all right. After we had the cupcakes, we exchanged gifts. We had gotten each other the same gifts -- stationary, envelopes, and pens to write with. That was because I was going to be living with a new foster father when I got out of the hospital.
Well, anyway, that night, Natalie had managed to sneak in the calico cat we had rescued from an abandoned cardboard box. (Actually, we named the cat Toby and I was the one to suggest the name. Toby died three years ago. When I arrived in town, I found a calico cat, starving to find some food. I took him home and also gave him the name Toby.)
Anyway, I was casually petting Toby when I felt a strange tingling go through my hand. Natalie asked me what was wrong. Then, I got an image of Toby in my head and just started staring at it. The next thing I knew, I was changing into Toby. At that point, Natalie screamed. At the same time, she became entranced by the spectacle occurring before her. The first thing to change was my eyes. They became a lot sharper and I could see in the dark. Then I began to shrink to a quarter of my size. I watched and heard my normal hands and feet as they crunched and squished into the paws of a cat. The last thing to change was I began to grow fur.
After the change was complete, I was staring at a copy of myself. Then I felt this strange urge to fight the other cat – Toby -- for dominance. (As I understand, Tobias calls this the instincts of the animal mind.) I began to chase after Toby in the room. I chased Toby around the room and Natalie chased after us. It took Nat over an hour to recapture Toby. Luckily I got control of the animal's mind shortly after that. I started to speak telepathically to Natalie while in Toby's form until, finally, I saw the image of myself again. I concentrated on the image and began to change back to my normal self.
All I can say is wow. The exhilaration I felt as a cat was overwhelming. But I discovered one slight side effect -- my clothes were on still lying on a pile on my hospital room bed. Natalie handed me my clothes and I quickly redressed before the nurse on duty came in to tell us that visiting hours were over. Except for the missing clothes part, I continued to develop this ability. I quickly learned how to include tight clothing when changing. For the few days I had remaining at the children's home, I experimented with other animals. Each time, Nat would keep an eye out for other kids. When I was done, I had acquired a chocolate Labrador retriever, a parrot and a hamster that belonged to some of the other residents at the children's home.
A week after I was released from the hospital, I was packing up my stuff to go and live with my new foster father, Mr. Reynolds. He even agreed to let Natalie come along with us. After I told him that Nat and I were like twins and inseparable, he said the more the merrier. Mr. Reynolds was a really sweet man. He had become a widow when his wife died of cancer earlier that year. He and his wife never had children and he wanted to know what it would be like to have a daughter to help him with his work. He was getting two for the price of one. Mr. Reynolds was a veterinarian.
Natalie and I loved helping out with the animals that came into his clinic -- an old farmhouse he remodeled before his wife died. Natalie enjoyed it because she is a nature nut, while I liked it because it gave me the chance to acquire more animals than I could at the children's home. I began to acquire everything that came into the clinic. At one point, I was worried if maybe there was a limit to how many animal forms I could keep in my body.
During the time we lived with Uncle Reggie, as we started calling him, I learned how to morph loose clothing. I also decided to tell Uncle Reggie about my abilities. He's the only foster parent I ever told about what I could do. He asked me how I came about these abilities. I told him that every four years, I gained another gift. He seemed very curious about it. He asked if Nat had any powers like that. I told him that she didn't. He said that was unfortunate.
Through Uncle Reggie's animal hospital, I was able to acquire many animals -- a wolf spider, a female wolf, a great horned owl, a merlin, a seagull, a raccoon, a skunk, and a rabbit. One day while at the zoo -- Uncle Reggie sometimes helped out with exotic animals too -- Natalie and I snuck off so I could acquire more exotic animals. That day I got a polar bear, a panda bear (they can be very dangerous. Just try attacking one of their cubs, you'll see), a cheetah, a black jaguar, and a white Bengal tiger (I've always been fascinated by them.)
Natalie and I had been living with Uncle Reggie for two years when he started the process to adopt us. We even celebrated our ninth, tenth and eleventh birthdays with him. Our ninth and tenth birthday presents were the normal type of presents -- clothes, jewelry, books, et cetera, but the more interesting gift came on our last birthday with him. Natalie and I both received one present -- a necklace.
Each necklace had a mythical creature surrounded by our spirit animal. Uncle Reggie told us that the mythical creature was our personal protector. Mine was a dragon surrounded by two dolphins. There were four gemstones in the places where the animals' eyes were located, two opals, one ruby, and one emerald. Natalie's was a phoenix with two wolves surrounding it. But whereas the gems for the wolves' eyes, one amethyst and one diamond, were similar to mine, the gemstone in the phoenix was centralized in the mythical bird's torso.
The strangest part of the gift was that we had no clue what these gemstones symbolized, except for the opals, which was the birthstone for the month of October. Uncle Reggie said that he would explain the significance of the other gemstones once the adoption papers were finalized and we were his daughters, but made us promise never to take the necklaces off -- a promise I've kept to this day.
Unfortunately, the night before the papers were supposed to be finalized, Uncle Reggie mysteriously died. That day, after we came home from school, Nat and I found Uncle Reggie on the couch, sleeping. We tried shaking him because it was time to head over to the lawyer's office, but he never did. The autopsy claimed that he died in his sleep. Natalie and I thought otherwise.
See, the night before he died, Uncle Reggie had a visit from a very strange woman. They spent hours alone in the kitchen, arguing. Nat and I didn't want to disturb them, but we listened in on their conversation. I was really shocked when she said she wanted to take her daughter home with her. But Uncle Reggie told the woman, Loren, that she would have to be patient for a little while longer. Loren stayed over the night and left before we were up for school the following day. We asked Uncle Reggie who the woman was. He said it was her sister.
Besides meeting that strange woman, Nat and I had a feeling that someone didn't want us to learn about the origin of our necklaces. We were so devastated by his death, not only because we would miss him, but also because it meant we had to return to the children's home once again, a place we thought we would never have to return to again.
About three months after we returned to the children's home, Nat and I were separated from each other again. She was sent to a family in Seattle. I was sent to a family in Florida. I wrote to her every week, telling her how my life was, but more importantly, what animals I had acquired. While living with this family, I visited SeaWorld numerous times. During those visits, I acquired an orca whale and a dolphin. I never had the chance to test out the orca morph because I was sent back to the children's home three days later after living with my foster family for only six months.
I was alone now. I hated being shipped around to different parts of the country. Sometimes, I realized that I would be in a particular animal's shape for hours at a time. But I would always return to my normal self. So I was shocked to learn that Tobias had become trapped after being in a morph for only two hours. My average time in a morph is three or four hours. Natalie even allowed me to acquire her once, while we were living with Uncle Reggie. Then I would morph her and we would literally be twins for that amount of time. Morphing became my favorite ability because I could go into that morph and forget about my troubles.
There is something in my past I hope the Animorphs never find out. Just like Tobias was with his uncle, I was abused while in one of my foster homes. I know how it feels to believe you're alone and that no one will save you, the pain of knuckles burying into your flesh and knocking you out until the instant before death. I know the pain of no one believing your story.
Eventually, the school nurse where I was living at the time believed my story and I was removed from the abusive environment. When I was returned to the children's home, I began to distrust everyone, except Natalie. I became fearful of the next hand that was coming close to my body. I flinched whenever someone touched me. Uncle Reggie taught me how to trust someone with my heart again.
It was at the age of twelve that I gained my last ability. At least, that's what I told the Ellimist. (I'll explain later.) This was my healing ability. Again I was at the children's home, but Natalie wasn't living there anymore. The family she had been living with in Seattle adopted her. I wrote to Nat every week, sending Christmas cards, birthday cards, letters, anything. She repeated the same thing until about a year and a half ago.
In her final letter, she didn't seem like her old self. She was telling me how her family was moving because her father was being transferred, but her tone in the letter wasn't the same. She seemed cold and distant. She was telling me about this new organization she and her boyfriend were involved with. I became worried when I didn't receive my last letter from her. We always received our letters on the same day each month. But that soon changed when I moved shortly after receiving Nat's last letter.
Anyway...back to the healing thing. There was an accident on the playground. Two children had collided with each other while playing football. I ran over to see if I could help since Uncle Reggie had taught Nat and I CPR and basic First Aid skills. I was searching for serious injuries on one of the children when my hand brushed one of his scrapes. All of a sudden, the bruise disappeared. Everyone else on the playground saw what happened and were amazed. From that point on, I couldn't get any privacy. I was constantly hounded by people who wanted me to heal their wounds. This badgering continued until I was placed with another family two weeks later.
Remember when I said I wasn't completely honest with the Ellimist. Well, I didn't word it that way, but it's true. You see, I did receive another power. It was about a year ago. I wasn't expecting it because it didn't come on my birthday like my other abilities. Even I'm afraid to use it. It's way too powerful for any one person to possess, much less a teenager. This ability I'm talking about is the ability to erase memories. Now you see why I refuse to use it. It's too easy to abuse this gift. I remember the words the Ellimist said during the ceremony: "And with it accept the responsibility that goes along with these abilities." Well, this is definitely one power that needs an extremely responsible person.
I was living with the same family from shortly after I received my healing ability. They were always acting really weird. Every three days they would go to this special meeting called the Sharing. They were always trying to recruit me, but something in the back of my mind told me to stay away from the place. (Now I know I made the right choice.) One night, my foster father caught me while I was morphing. His wife was away at a bridge tournament. He started screaming in some strange tongue. The only word I remember clearly was 'Andalite'. (And that's how I first learned about the invasion.) I never understood the words, until now, but I rushed over to him and pressed my hands on his head. I said 'you will forget what you have seen here', and just like in Star Wars, he did. He never brought up the subject again. Shortly after this incident, I was being sent back to the children's home. My foster parents said things weren't working out the way they had planned. I had only been back at the children's home for about a month until I moved in with the family I am living with now.
My foster parents now are Andrew and Frances Cooper. They also have an eighteen-year-old daughter named Christi. The parents, at least, are nice. Christi is another story. I think it's because she's always been an only child and now she has to compete with a sibling in the house. Now Christi is trying to get me into trouble with her parents so they'll send me back to the children's home. So far, her strategies aren't working, but what will their reactions be to Tobias? Would they take him in, too, or will I be forced to leave, with no home to go to? Or worse, will we be sent to live with Tobias' abusive uncle or good-for-nothing aunt? I would find out tonight. But, convincing the Animorphs that I can be trusted, enrolling and getting by controllers on my first day, and trying to convince my foster parents to take in yet another child would be hard enough. I will handle one situation at a time. After all, I'm only human.