A/N: To make up for my month-long absence, I've decided to condense the earlier-mentioned 'three chapters' into one single chapter comprising three different voices. Think there were enough cliffhangers previously, don't you? In other words, I present to you:

the finale.

(barring epilogue).

Enjoy (:

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

::Tobias::

"Tobias, honey, you need to make up your mind. Cheeseburger or pizza?"

"Can't I have both?"

"No, I only have one hour before I have to go back to the office for some crazy meeting..."

"What meeting, mom?"

"It's not so – AHHH!"

"MOMMY!"

"AHHH! OHMYGOD OHMYGOD..."

"MOMMY!"

"Did I – oh my God! Tobias, stay in the car – NO, I SAID, STAY IN THE CAR!"

"AHHHH!"

The screaming was so loud, so painful... it was reverberating within me. I couldn't see anything more than the flashes of a boy being struck on the windscreen and disappearing from sight.

"AHHHH!"

But nobody heard me.

"Tobias? Tobias! It's okay, the boy's okay... Tobias? What's wrong, honey?"

I tried to speak, but she couldn't hear me.

"Tobias? Don't scare me! Tobias!"

She was holding onto my face, shaking it, her eyes staring at me in horror...

"TOBIAS!" The grip was so strong; I tried to struggle, only to find that the face before me was –

"Jake?"

I was in the basement of The Sharing.

"What's wrong with you?" Jake demanded. "We're trying to find Rachel and you zone out on me?"

"Sorry man," I whispered, clutching my head. "Something just – never mind." I could hear footsteps, loud and clear and piercing. "Crap, we gotta keep moving!"

Somehow, we couldn't find anything else; the maze of walls led us back to where Jake had first entered, with the screens.

"Dude, I morphed into an ant to get here, but you can't –" Then Jake stared at me. "Oh my – what the hell?"

A lattice of feathers were growing on my arm. I could feel tears prickling at my eyes as I watched them materialise.

"I thought you couldn't morph," whispered Jake, his voice filled with awe.

"I knew it from the second I could hear you outside that door," I said, as I began to shrink. When I finally got my bird body back, there was a tingling sensation in me as my brain switched back into its familiar mode.

This was me.

"You can morph directly from that?" asked Jake. Something in his voice made me think he was asking it because he knew what he was asking. There was something about him now that I couldn't quite put a finger to. But in any case...

Turns out I could morph from bird again. Whatever David had done was falling apart now, and I was relishing it. Jake and I morphed into ants and scurried our way up to the ceiling, through the floorboards and back up into another room. The ant eyes are pathetic, but we could somewhat make out the surroundings.

‹The wall is open,› said Jake, suddenly. ‹I didn't even know there was an opening here. It just looked like a narrow control room.›

I demorphed slightly just to get my hawk eyes back. My heart ran cold as I noted the similar corridor leading down from the opening. ‹Three guesses; he kept Rachel in there and now she's out.› Then I strained a bit. ‹Those dudes are coming up from there. This corridor leads downstairs; we need to get the hell out of here!›

‹This way!› Jake scurried out under the door.

That was it. Jake was more confident. More in control.

I would have smiled if I had a mouth.

I morphed back and followed suit, into a scene which to be honest, scared the hell out of me.

And that was how I found myself stuck in a corner as an ant, praying that Jake's formulated-within-ten-seconds-plan was going to work out. Hearing Rachel gasp and Marco shriek in terror was not helping; I desperately wanted to demorph, charge out and rake somebody's eyes. Specifically: Visser Three's stalk eyes, because he was morphing now.

But somebody was in a position to do something. Somebody who had taken advantage of Visser Three's complete distraction with the whole situation to crawl up his back. The morphing process would probably help to disguise any weird sensations...

‹Sorry I'm late to the party.›

Magri/David jerked back, his eyes wide with shock. Visser Three – midway in morph – was equally stunned.

‹I'd advise you not to move any further, Visser, or you might crack some bones while morphing. You see, I'm kinda growing on you too.›

Visser Three responded so quickly that he nearly fell over trying to turn and see what was on his back.

‹ANDALITE!› he roared.

‹Try to shake me off again and I'll grow some teeth and sink it into you.›

"This is none of my business," said David, sneering, as he cocked the trigger again.

‹Oh, it's plenty,› said Jake. It was my cue now; I scurried to the back of the sofa. Everybody was paying attention to Visser Three and the mysterious intruder now, while I was beginning to demorph. ‹You see, I'll be a bit more careful with where I was aiming that thing.›

"Oh, you don't scare me, big Jake," said David, but that elicited an immediate response from someone at the back.

"Jake?" It was Tom. "As in. My host's brother? But –"

"SHUT UP!" David was exasperated that everything was stalling. "That's it, I'm not going to –"

‹What's the point of all this then, huh?› asked Jake. ‹Taking away people's memories. Changing their personalities. Is this just about revenge? I heard Marco telling me you went to the Radio Shack with your parents the other day. Maybe you were trying to get parts for your great CCTV stuff. But maybe you were also there for a little Family Day.›

I could almost hear David swallow hard.

‹Someone tell me what this is all about, I'm stuck in mid-morph, you FOOLS!› screeched Visser Three.

‹And in case you didn't realise, David,› said Jake. ‹I'm starting to remember.›

I didn't know if there was any reaction on David's part, but the next reaction that he had was a look of sheer horror as I emerged from behind the sofa. I blew past his face, but my talons were raked fully.

David screamed as he dropped the Dracon beam.

Somebody fired something, but there was a roar from Visser Three and immediate silence followed.

And then there was chaos.

-.-.-.-.-.-

::Cassie::

I was flapping my damndest, but it seemed to take hours to make it to The Sharing. Why wasn't Omniscient Omnipotent Alien making this easier for me? Was he about to drown me in guilt? Was he –

Something in me was aching terribly.

My friends, all of them, were in danger right now. Maybe they were dead. Maybe they were Controllers.

What had I done?

This was all my fault. I had ruined David and now he was back for revenge.

No, Cassie, don't be stupid. Rachel was the one who got rid of him, not you. You spared his life.

No, you banished him to an eternal existence of lost humanity.

My owl eyes spotted The Sharing, and everything vanished from my mind as I zoomed in on the target. I tucked back my wings, spilled air and –

They came out of nowhere. With the dim streetlights, all I could see was a ball of black hurtling towards me as I flew towards the building. I tried to halt and bank a sharp left, but there were too many of them. Their beaks were jabbing at me, their glinting eyes were boring into me and I screamed.

But no one heard me.

Suddenly, it was all quiet.

I stared at the emptiness before me.

"Hello?" I whispered, well aware of how pathetic I sounded.

There was a faint glimmer of light in the distance. I made my way to it, feeling a stronger sense of energy as I walked towards it. At the same time, the aching in me grew stronger, and I clutched at my chest.

Then somebody appeared in the corner of my eye. I gasped involuntarily.

David walked towards the light, his footsteps uncertain.

"No!" I cried, but he didn't listen. He walked on, and I gave chase. Eventually, he stopped and I did, too.

"David..."

"You know what I want," said David, but he was facing the light.

"And what will you give in return, young boy?" A voice came from nowhere. It wasn't even in my head, it was just there.

"It's fun for you, isn't it?" David sneered. "You get to play your game. I get to play mine. It's a win-win situation."

"It's also a complicated game you're trying to play," said the voice.

"I'll make it easier. I'll tell you what you should do specifically," said David. "I want them to suffer, so I want to take away something that makes them who they are. I'm sure that's a game of complexity you'll enjoy."

"What do you know about the universe, David?" the voice asked.

"It's a dog-eat-dog world out there," said David, coldly. "Spare no one. Rely on no one but yourself. Isn't that your mantra too? I can sense it, being in this state of limbo between life and death. You want to outdo your kind."

"It's only one of them," said the voice, sounding slightly annoyed. "There's only another of us left."

"So do we have a deal?"

"No, David!" I cried out.

This time he heard me. He turned around to glare at me incredulously. "Cassie? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Don't do it, David," I said, as I jogged up to him. "You said it yourself. Rely on no one but yourself. What kind of devil's deal are you trying to make here?"

David's eyes flashed. "Don't school me on your morals, Cassie. I seem to remember a time when I listened, and my whole life was changed." He leaned closer, his features hardening. "And not for the better."

"You want your life restored, don't you, David?" I whispered. "You want your family to be back together again. But these aliens? They don't make deals like that so easily. This being has no more family. All he wants is to win. And you're exchanging everything in this game..."

"That's all I've got, Cassie!" David exploded. "You don't understand because you and your perfect little squad still have each other, and still have your goddamn family!"

"And you choose to put the entire fate of humanity at stake for what you want?"

"YES!" David glared at her. Then his lips twisted cruelly. "Yes."

"Then you're naive. You can't protect yourself against the Yeerks with this kind of deal. You want to twist fate? You can dabble with the Yeerks timeline. They will land on Earth and with no resistance from us, they will spread faster than an infectious disease. And you and your parents won't be able to fight against them, even if you preserve your morphing power."

I saw it. I saw the flicker of doubt in his eyes. He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut in again.

"So you might figure out a way to get more people involved to put up the resistance. But can you really do it? You'll get mired in it again, and your parents will get mired in it, and you are going to lose everything again. Do you really want to go through all that pain again?"

"What would you know about anything, Cassie?" David demanded. "You're always so sure you have a way out of things, but look where it got you." He sneered. "Peace movement, my foot. That's your weakness, Cassie, you let your logic and humanity get the better of you. You –"

"Me coming here to tell you this, is living proof of why your plan will fail!" I gripped his arm, and he shook it off furiously. "I come from the time when you've messed everything up and your family is in the hands of the Yeerks!"

David stopped short. He stared at me. "What?"

He looked back at the light, where the voice said, "I'm bored to death here. You Earthlings are so complicated. Five seconds to make up your mind, young man. I've no patience and I've got other playthings."

"NO!" David cried, and he whipped back wildly to Cassie. "No, you're lying to me, I can do this. I can –"

"David, for once," I whispered. "Let it go."

"Five..."

"No, I can't!" David screamed. "This is all your fault! Rachel's fault! And damn it, it's all Marco's fault!"

"Four..."

He was still screaming. "I hate every single one of you! I'm going to make all of you pay! I'll –"

"...make your parents pay too?" I stared at him. "I promise you, David, we will rescue your parents and they will be okay."

David stared back at me, his lower lip trembling.

"Two..."

"David, we are your hope, not him, not anybody else."

"One..."

-.-.-.-.-.-

::Marco::

It's over.

I close my eyes. This is the end of everything.

I will die, not at the hands of an arrogant Yeerk, but at the hands of a broken David.

And a bombed plan by my good friends.

Figures.

The sound of the Dracon beam reverberates in my ears, and I jerk in reaction. The pain will come soon. It's already hit me and I will feel a dull ache, followed by a crushing sensation that will suffocate me...

That's how it is in the movies, right? I will win an Oscar in Heaven, there's no doubt about that.

At least I get to be myself there, not some dull, unamusing piece of shit here...

But there's still a whole lot of noise going around me.

What the –

"NOOOO!"

Rachel?

Rachel, for God's sake, if you're dead, can you not scream in my ear? I still want to hear the applause I get when I win that Oscar.

‹What are you talking about, Rachel?› There's another familiar voice. Tobias. ‹He deserves to die!›

I open my eyes. I'm human again.

Okay, I shouldn't have opened my eyes. Because now everything before me is just totally screwed up, and by that, I mean seriously screwed up.

"Can somebody tell me why there're Dracon beams floating in the air, a few guys frozen in dramatic leaps only seen in cheesy romantic shows, one – wow – one frozen quasi-Andalite, and –"

I stopped short. A Hork-Bajir had his arm curled round David's neck, the wrist blade poised and glistening. I looked the other way; Jake was demorphing into a human, sliding off Visser Three's hideous mid-morph, while Rachel was clutching at her chest and oh my God...

"–and why Rachel is crying?"

"I think there's a more pressing question as to why the hell time has stopped," said Jake, his teeth gritted. "Looks like an Ellimist game to me."

"Jake?" It clicked in me. "You remember?"

"Everything." His gaze was lingering on one of the frozen Controllers. Tom.

"Tobias, let him go!" whispered Rachel.

‹Rachel, are you kidding me?› The Hork Bajir gripped David harder, making him thrash about and swear. ‹This guy has screwed all of us a million times over and he's not surviving here anymore than he is surviving in our reality!›

"Don't be like him," Rachel said, hoarsely. "Remember Taylor?"

"I feel like myself again," I said, even though I was still trembling from the after-effect of a Dracon beam point-blank at my cockroach face. "Jake remembers stuff. Tobias can morph. But there's still something definitely wrong with Rachel now."

"No, nothing's wrong with me!" Rachel turned a full-blown glare at me, and I shrank back. "I just –" Her face cracked again.

So did Tobias'. I'm not really sure what's going on right now, but I'm not letting some Romeo and Juliet storyline overtake this moment.

"If Tobias is not taking him out, I will," I said, and strode forward.

Rachel gasped, but then another voice broke in.

"No, you won't."

I stopped and threw up my hands. "Cassie, it's a really bad moment to be turning back into your old self now!"

Cassie appeared in view with Ax, who was fully Andalite. But her gaze was on David, who sneered upon seeing her.

"Hello, Cassie. Feeling the pinch now? Or is it a tidal wave within you?"

"It's over."

David narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

‹Your deal has fallen through, David.›

"What?" David's eyes were blazing. "NO!"

I love to play games, David. You're right about that.

"Okay, who just spoke?" I held up a hand. "If it's God, he should do the right thing right now."

"You little turncoat!" screeched David.

You let your emotions get in the way, David. You want people to lose their humanity so that you can gain yours, but it never works this way. You already lost yours when you made the deal.

David's eyes were wide with horror.

By extension, the universe should get rid of you because you didn't hold up your end of the bargain. I cannot continue with this.

"No..." David whispered, now frightened. "Don't..."

Get rid of you and your lost soul.

"No!" screamed David. "I don't want that!"

You're lucky that Cassie found a way so that you regained your humanity.

David stared at Cassie in complete bewilderment.

"I promise, David," said Cassie. "Your parents."

David sucked in a deep breath. Then his eyes narrowed. But before he could say anything, he just disappeared.

Into thin air.

Tobias backed away, shocked.

"Cassie?" I said, slowly. "What did you do?"

"It's just over," replied Cassie, tears in her eyes. "I wasn't sure... but he proved it. I mean, we'll never know if he repents or whatever, but at least I found a shred of humanity in him."

She turned to Rachel. "And you."

But Rachel's face was stone-cold now. She continued staring into the space where David had been standing.

Cassie crossed over to Jake and put her arms around him. They didn't have to say anything; Jake just leaned his forehead against hers, then pressed a soft kiss on her lips. He pulled back slightly to look at Tom again, but then Cassie hugged him tightly, whispering something in his ear, and he didn't look anymore.

Tobias demorphed, then morphed back to human so that he could take Rachel into his arms too. Her cold look melted slightly as he buried his face in her hair.

I looked at Ax, who lowered his head slightly. There was a grim satisfaction emanating from him, but at the same time, there was still a sense of heaviness. He probably knew everything behind this already, and we would hear the story from him later. Consequences, as always. Everything that shifts in this universe has consequences, he once told us. And we would bear it.

But for now, I was glad. Relieved.

Time to go home.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Cassie, I'm actually glad you are the anomaly. Because you are also the loophole that I could use to end this. Time does not seem to bother you much, does it?

Don't look so grateful. You may see yourself as having putting things right – I see this as cutting off a deal that would have been detrimental to me. I am rational as you are emotional. That still sounds like we may make good partners one day.

Aximili, you are right. I play these games for my own selfish use. But I will never stop doing that, because it's my nature. Maybe if you meet my brethren again, you will mock me before him. One day, I will grow stronger and return.

And then, my games will be for all to play.

A/N: Stay tuned for the epilogue!