A/N: For anyone who's interested, the climax of the story – the event the whole story leads up to – is in this chapter. Hope you find it:P This chapter was written long ago, and I hope you enjoy it!

The next chap of The Hunt should be here soon... having problems with dates and consistency. But I know how to fix them. Should be up either later or tomorrow.

Dedicated to John Boucher for teaching me what, exactly, the climax of a story is.

And to my mom, for giving me very early on the love of writing and reading.

Visser Three's Journal

" 'I love you' is a difficult thing to say – but sometimes it goes without saying." – Anonymous.

Chapter 16
Retrievals

July 1st.

Dear Journal,

Darkness… the darkness was everywhere. I had been walking around and around in circles, for what seemed like a thousand days. It was the third day – rather, night – of Councilor Two's and my search: By now Visser One could very well be dead… Although wouldn't that be a good thing for me? I guess so… But maybe not. I just didn't know, and didn't really care anymore.

It was an hour later, one whole hour, when I finally heard something… At first it was just a faint sound, like it wasn't my ears hearing it, but rather those of someone else… But soon enough, it became more and more audible… And I recognized it. It was the sound of crying. Someone was crying silently, shakingly. In pain.

And I immediately knew who that someone was…

I silently walked up to Visser One, sitting alone in the mud about fifty feet away. She didn't see me, of course... It was almost pitch black out here. Thankfully for me though, Andalites have decent nighttime vision. I could see her trembling, shaking. I could see her blood and tears drowned away in drops of heavy acid rain.

I knelt down beside her in the dark as well as I could with these damn Andalite knees (Gee, THANKS Alloran! I swear he does it on purpose) and gently stroked her long black hair. She jerked away.

" You don't think I've had enough of this torture!" she screamed in anguished rage. " You want Yeerk secrets? You'll never get them from me! You hear me? NEVER! Just kill me now! Kill me and just let it end! Let it end…"

( Shhh! ) I exclaimed in thought-speech. ( You fricking dapsen! It's only ME! )

For a moment there was only silence. Silence, except for the far away echoes of Visser One's screams...

And then...

" Visser Three?" she asked in an even voice, though I was not disillusioned: I could still hear it crack here and there.

And then, she sighed and spoke again. And as she did, this voice was nothing but broken.

" Oh lords..." she whispered. And then she added, in a louder, shaking voice, " I never thought I would say this, but I'm so glad you're here!"

She threw her slender, exhausted arms around my thin Andalite shoulders and squeezed tightly. Slightly shaking, and remembering a night so long ago, I wrapped Alloran's pitiful Andalite arms around her waist. And I held her. I held her for a long, long time, lightly stroking her rain soaked back as she cried and hurt from the horrible torture she had just endured.

Yes, I agree with you, Journal! This was completely against my beliefs. My life's rules! Never give in to the devil, no matter how great the temptation may be! But all that was washed away in a second... Washed away in the purifying acid rain of the Yeerk Homeworld.

We stayed like that for what seemed like a decade. But eventually, Visser One's tears slowed. She looked up at me, her eyes sadder than I had ever, ever seen them, as the now-light rain swept away the teardrops which ran down her cheeks.

" Why are you here?" she choked. " Why would you save me?"

( Hey, ) I said. ( I hate you. Very much, actually. I might end up torturing you myself one day... But no matter how it is you see me, even I'm not that cruel. No one deserves that kind of suffering at the hands of that filth. Not even you. ... But I do hate you. I really do! Seriously! )

" Oh, shut up." Visser One said.

I blushed. My mind worked to find an answer to that, but it simply couldn't. Not even now.

" Don't worry," Visser One said softly. " No one ever has to know what happened here. No one ever has to know you came to save me. Think of it as my payment of debt to you for coming."

( Well, okay... ) I said. ( But I'm not sure I trust you. )

" I never asked you to trust me, did I?" Visser One said.

( I suppose not, ) I said, smirking my usual smirk. ( But Iniss will know about this. He always knows. I don't know how he finds out, but if he threatens to tell anyone, I'll have to threaten him to cut his legs and tongue off so he won't be able to. )

Visser One smiled and wiped away her last few tears.

---

Bringing Visser One back was not an easy task…

First of all, she had to get up, which was not easy for her: The Andalites who had tortured her had given her severe head wounds. Seemingly, the wounds had affected her Yeerk self. She was losing control of her body, though it was on and off. She would definitely need serious treatment as soon as we got back to the Empire building. But would she last that long?

Once she was standing up on shaking legs, wincing in pain, I supported her with my tail so she wouldn't fall. Then, I looked her straight in the eye and sighed.

( Visser One, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but get on my back. ) I said.

" What?" she exclaimed.

( Get on my back, ) I repeated.

Visser One seemed taken aback. " You're sure?"

( Visser One, ) I rolled my eyes. ( This is kind of an emergency. )

She shrugged and looked over at me before walking up to my Andalite host and hoisting herself (with the help of my very flexible tail of course) onto my back. I calculated the situation, and realized with relief… she wasn't even that heavy.

I smiled interiorly. Maybe this would be easier than I thought!

I carried Visser One all the way back to the Empire Building. When we arrived, I knelt down and waited for her to climb off my Andalite back... but nothing happened. I shook slightly, forcing her to roll gently down onto the ground below.

( Visser One? ) I asked in private thought-speech, not wanting anyone in the building to overhear. ( Hello! )

She said nothing. My blood iced up for a moment. Was she dead? That seemed impossible... But who knew? The many impacts of my running could have hurt her in places she was already wounded.

I leaned closer to her, and soon realized she was only sleeping. She must have fallen asleep on the way without my noticing.

( Huuuh... ) I sighed. ( Here we go again... )

I morphed to human (which I won't describe with utmost precision like those stupid retarded Andalites), and while the changes occurred I found myself looking down almost dreamily at my arch-rival, sleeping soundly on the rainsoaked ground, her spilt blood staining her clothes and even the unconcealed parts of her skin, which of course were much more numerous now that her clothing had been unavoidably ripped and torn by her torturers.

Yeeeah… About the dreamily thing. It isn't what you think. Really. I was just so tired from searching endlessly that my eyeballs were practically popping out of my head. And it wasn't just because of the morphing!

Fully human, and strangely annoyed (I wonder why), I lifted Visser One up from the muddy ground with my now-strong arms, and headed for the entrance.

As I walked closer, the main door slid open soundlessly.

I got to room number three -- my room, of course -- and decided it might be best not to leave Visser One alone with her injuries. It was pretty plain to see she was very badly hurt: Her shirt was almost completely bloodsoaked, and she had diverse cuts and bruises on her arms, face and neck. Also, there were blood patches here and there on her legs. My human morph's hands were wet with her blood.

I clumsily opened the door to the room and walked quickly over to my bed. I laid Visser One's blood ridden, sleeping body down, thinking I could change the sheets tomorrow.

I walked into the bathroom with my hands on my head. The mirror showed me things I didn't want to see: Even in my human morph I had apparent dark circles under my almost expressionless eyes. I had practically died of extreme fatigue over the last few days. And for what? To find a person I didn't even care about!

My mind is messed up.

I need help.

Maybe Iniss has a degree in Yeerk psychology I don't know about… Maybe the incredible dumbness is all just an act! … Yeah, right, dream on Visser Three… When the sun comes out tomorrow morning (which it most certainly won't), Iniss will be smart.

I examined myself in the mirror, turning myself around to see at every angle. My body had lost its usual arrogance and vigour. I was an old, sagging being. Like Alloran, except about FIFTY TIMES WORSE.

I sighed. As much as I wanted to just be tired and blame everything on my overly stressed life, I couldn't. I just couldn't, which made me angry. Frowning and frustrated, I looked back into the mirror, and, knowing Visser One wouldn't hear me, I turned away and slammed my fist as hard as I could on the opposite wall.

" What is wrong with me!" I yelled. " WHY DO I CARE SO MUCH!"

I let my hand fall back down, helpless, as I listened to my angered voice echoing off the walls of the bathroom. Then, feeling a sudden boredom, as if the room was too calm, too quiet, I quickly left the now-eerie place and entered my bedroom once again.

To my great relief, I soon noticed Visser One was still sleeping. She hadn't heard anything, then. I sighed and walked over to the bed. I sat down next to Visser One and looked upon her calm, momentarily innocent face and couldn't help but notice her expression: her features were strained even as she slept, her face seemed so pained, so hurt… I felt a pinch in my heart I could not yet comprehend.

Almost subconsciously I started stroking the side of her face with my hand. That flawless, beautiful face I used to look at every single day, in the same way. The familiar, hated face that managed to stay hard as a stone, never cracking, despite all the trauma this one creature had gone through in her life. I felt strange all of a sudden, but ignored the feeling as I was too tired to really ever notice.

Suddenly, as I looked on, Visser One's eyes opened. I jerked my hand away, by a learned reflex. And then, before I could say or do anything else, she screamed. She screamed so loud, I'm sure at least the Yeerks in the east side pool heard her. And her face writhed in horrible agony.

I sat on the bed with her and laid her down gently, stroking her face and her neck. I told her the pain would pass. I told her she would be okay. I told her a lot of things, and I had no clue if any of them would prove to be true. But it was the best I could do to comfort someone who had been through torture. Even if that someone just happened to be my worst enemy.

Suddenly, Visser One turned onto her stomach and clutched her head with both her hands, trembling like a leaf. The tears returned, then, as they stung her eyes and fell onto the blood-ridden sheets below her.

That's what I had figured. The Andalites had starved her. Now, although Visser One had been trained excessively during her Visser training to be able to last up to six days with no Kandrona, her many external -- and possibly even internal -- injuries obviously made it much harder for her to stand the lack of food.

I didn't know what to do. Bringing Visser One to the Yeerk Pool now was completely out of the question. The less people who knew I had rescued her from certain death, the better. I couldn't bring Visser One to the Yeerk Pool without causing an absurd commotion. It would be all over the headlines. All over the Uninet. I could just imagine the headline… " Visser One Found Alive… by Worst Enemy Visser Three?"

Well, I'd have to tell Iniss. It would just be cruel if I didn't… Hopefully I'll be able to tell him before his self-starvation takes its toll and I lose my pillow-fluffer.

But right now, none of it mattered. Not really… See, I'd found Visser One. I'd rescued her from a horrible death at the hands of the Andalites who were now in attack mode on our planet. And now I was trying to soothe her, calm her down, hoping she would forget the horrible pain.

And I still didn't know why.

" What? … Visser Three?"

" Yes. It's me."

Her eyes fluttered. She was barely alert, drifting in and out of consciousness.

I couldn't let her fall unconscious again, she may die. Although… Didn't I want her to die? Yeah. I did. Did. Big did. As in PAST TENSE of the word "do".

Don't question me. Please. Just don't ask.

I held out a hand to cradle her silent face as it fell, exhausted, to the side. She looked up at me with eyes gone red from both crying and the loss of blood.

" Thank you for helping me," she whispered almost inaudibly, gone far beyond her strength.

" Do you feel better?" I asked in response.

" Not really," she admitted, casting me a weak smile. " But I try to ignore it."

I smiled back, then, with my human mouth.

" You'll be better," I said softly. Then I rolled my eyes self-mockingly. " You always are."

She laughed, a soft, weak, yet still pleasing sound. A tear rolled down her cheek as she gazed up at me again, settling inevitable silence between us. Her gaze overcame me with utmost bliss, as I helplessly lost myself in it.

And then, at last, I understood.

" Visser One?" I said.

" Hmm?"

" There's something I've been meaning to tell you…" I went on.

" What?"

" It's that…" I blushed and turned away. " I, um… That is, I think I… um."

" Go on," Visser One prodded.

I sighed deeply.

" Never mind."

I could feel her looking at me, but I did not turn back. I was afraid that if I did, I would do something stupid. Something that could make this whole situation even worse…

I can't believe I'm even thinking about it! I cursed myself. Injuries, remember?

" Yeah," I said, sighing again. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. " Never mind."

" Okay," Visser One whispered.

That's the thing I like about Visser One: Unless it's something extreme that directly concerns her, or that could be used to mock me, she is never, ever curious about anything. She just doesn't give an Andalite's ass.

So I guess I got lucky.

Because what I was about to say, as you may have guessed, a) directly concerned Visser One, and b) could be used to mock me.

I didn't find the courage to turn back. Not yet.

" Visser Three?" Visser One asked.

" What?" I asked.

" What will we do?" she asked again. " … About you saving me?"

With a sigh I turned around and lay down next to her, on the other, still-clean side of the bed.

" I don't know," I admitted. " We'll figure something out."

She just gazed at me, still looking worried. She was right, of course. Who cared how things had mutually changed between us? We had to keep up our public reputation for as long as it took. Without that, our own personal reputations would certainly go down the drain into life in hell…

Until my return,

Esplin 9466.

---

Well, there it is! Chapter sixteen! … Hope you all enjoyed that. :)

Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter, and I hope you liked this quick update! Stay tuned for more! ;)

As for the climax, it can be summed up in one line of the chapter. Please have a guess at it in your review! I will reply to tell you whether or not you got it. :) Should be quite obvious. Good luck and please do review!