hL? (I have no idea how you spell it) do you mean use the idea for 'children', or use my actual characters? Cause the 'children' of the Animorphs has already been used countless times. I just had an idea like that.

Alex

We wandered on, barefoot, none of us really knowing where we were going. I don't think any of us even cared. We'd all seen the worst fates imaginable for our parents, and…

I was amazed no-one and nothing came to blow us up. We saw the fighter zip off in another direction after we left, but not the Yeerk ship. My guess was they'd disabled it. Hopefully.

But what I'd seen… Nicole's dad, Yeerked. My mother… looking like she'd cheated death… the injuries she had… it looked like something had hit the side of her head with a blunt object, because the blood caked the entire left side of her face… it was a wonder she was still alive… was she? Had she died in the last… however long it had been since I'd seen her? And the others? How many of our parents had been captured? Yeerked? Tortured until they… until they…

"Look!" Seth cried suddenly, pointing upwards. We all looked up to see the Karma beginning to descend towards us, but not too close to avoid landing on us. Then, out stepped my aunt. Phoebe. She ran towards us, a very solemn look on her face.

"I… I had a vision, while you… about them… I'm so sorry"

"Shut up" Seth hissed "Just… shut up and leave us alone"

I saw Sean grab his arm and start to whisper something in his ear, but Seth shook off his grip. The look in his eyes was deadly. I'd never seen him so… angry. But… I guess you could say I didn't blame him. I felt almost exactly the same way. Almost.

"I'm sorry. Did you… what happened?"

"We…" Elfangor took a deep breath then continued "We managed to fight them off. Probably… not enough to… make a… Aera!" he suddenly ran to his sister, and began to cry in her arms. She soothed him gently.

(With the help of what we considered to be the resistance, we were able to disable the ship, and destroy the land forces. We also aided in helping two members of the resistance to escape) Kay said formally, although I could tell he wasn't as confident as he once was.

"Were there more?" Toni asked suddenly.

"More what?" Phoebe asked.

"Did you see more of… of our parents? Are they all captured, or are some of them still free?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't see much more than…"

"Don't lie to me!" Toni suddenly screamed, grabbing Phoebe's tattered shirt collar and lifting her up a little. Phoebe's face hardly registered shock.

"Toni, I don't think hurting her is gonna-"

"I don't give a shit Nicole! My father is the only family I have left! Stupid goddamn mother left me to… that sl… and… if he's dead, or… or Yeerked… I want to know. TELL ME!!"

"Toni!" Cody grabbed her from behind, forcing her to let go of Phoebe. I couldn't say I was glad though. I secretly wanted to scream my lungs at her myself. Evil little cockroach was using us…

"Let go of me Cody!" Toni spat "You don't know what it's like! You've got both parents who love you like you're their-"

"Look, you're not alone as you think you are. You have us as well… remember that" he said soothingly, holding her as best he could from behind, her arms thrashing wildly. Finally… and this surprised all of us, even me… she turned around and let him hug her, digging her face in his chest. Then, she cried. Toni, of all people, actually cried. It was terrifying to see.

I turned my gaze away from them, a little embarrassed, and looked up at the hatch. In the shadows, I saw a small glint of brownish-blond hair. Dustin. The guy who we met just after Phoebe. And he looked ticked. I guessed he and Phoebe had some sort of more-than-friendly bond going on. I could have been wrong though, after all, what I'd just seen and done… my mind was all a mess at that moment.

"Come… come on all of you. We… we can get you separate quarters for the night, ok? I think you all need some space" Phoebe said haltingly, looking more embarrassed as she looked and Cody and Toni, who were still very close. Cody's hand was on her back, and I could tell she was gritting her teeth, trying to stop herself from crying. Now that was the Toni we all knew.

Blindly, we let Phoebe lead us all to individual quarters, and for the first time in almost two months, I actually had some privacy.

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Well, turns out to actually get our 'privacy', a whole lot of scientists and stuff had to be kicked out of their rooms. I didn't mind. Frankly, I didn't care. I just sat on the bed, and put my head in my hands for… well, I don't really how long I stayed like that, but it felt like an eternity. My head was throbbing, and even though I knew I needed sleep, I just… I couldn't. My mind wouldn't let me.

I kept going over the past days events. Sure, shape-shifting to tiger was cool when you just had your buddies around, but in actual war… I'd lost myself. Animal mind or not. I just… I wanted payback. And then the thing with Nicole's dad… and Nicole, being so unbelievably cold… it was just too much to take in at once.

And what about my dad? Was he all right? And… the rest? Who had been turned, and… who hadn't? That was the real question. You couldn't trust anyone anymore…

Could I trust my mother and Ithiell? Were they just playing a part? Or… were they actually warning us? I couldn't tell. No one could, according to what dad once told me.

Finally, I flopped down on the bed, grabbed the pillow, stuffed it over my face, and screamed and swore blue murder. I could've kept going like that for a full hour, but after a while… you kind of need some air.

I pulled the pillow off my face, and just lay there taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself. It didn't seem to be working very well though.

I stuck the pillow behind my head, and just lay there looking up at a blank ceiling for god knows how long. I think I might have slept, I don't know, but when I woke up something was beeping.

I bolted up, and realised it was the door.

"Come in" I said in a croaky voice, brushing my hair back with one hand. The door slid open and Megan stepped into the room, wearing the clothes we'd all left here the other day on. I did too, and I was glad I had. The room somehow felt so cold now…

She looked at me, pleading and guilty, like she used to when she had a nightmare and woke me up when we were little. I smiled, and patted the bed beside me. She came and sat down gingerly, looking up at me. She was scared, and she wanted me to help her get rid of the fear.

I know what you're thinking; telekinesis or something. Well… let's just say that after a while, brother and sister don't need words. And the look in her eyes told me everything.

I put my arms around her and hugged her. She reacted immediately, digging her face in my chest and bawling. Her own arms nearly squeezed the life out of me, but after a while you get used to it from her.

So I hugged her, wishing I could make my own fear and worry go away as easily. Not long after, there was another… well, beep… at the door.

"Yeah" I called, sounding more like myself, despite the fact that Megan was still holding on like a vice. Turns out, twins do think alike. Michelle came in, looking a little surprised at first, but then smiling and nodding, coming all the way in and letting the door shut behind her.

"Hey. I… uh… was hoping I could talk to… but Megan's… is she…"

"Look, it's what I'm here for" I sighed, and she sat on the other side of me.

"Alex, do you think… do you think they made it?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to think anymore"

"He thinks moms been Yeerked" Megan said, surprising both of us. She sniffled a couple of times, then pulled away from me.

"Alex? You can't be…" I cut Michelle off.

"I am serious" I said curtly "We don't know if they were telling the truth or not. I could have been just a lie, a…"

"Alex, our mother was beaten to a pulp! I don't think even a Yeerk would go as far as to…"

"What if they did it before she was Yeerked? See, you never know what clever plans these Yeerks have up their sleeves" Megan said, surprising me again.

"Meggs, when did you get so intuitive?" Michelle asked, looking like she was about to fall over from a heart attack. I wasn't far behind her. What Megan said… it was true. You never knew…

"No" This time, I actually surprised myself.

"What?" Megan and Michelle both said at the same time. For a split second, it sounded creepy.

"That's just stupid. They have to go to… they went to the fighter right? To allies. And our parents are all smarter than that, and so are the Chanaibens. They'd check if they'd been Yeerked or not. And they'd hold them until they knew for sure. I mean, you don't come out of a Yeerk ship and not be thought of as a hostile"

"Megan? I think our brother's actually smart"

"Michelle!" I chided, punching her playfully. She pretended to be really hurt, then punched me back. Megan shook her head.

"You two" she said, but smiled as she did. Then she tickled me. Actually tickled me! I tickled her back, but found I was outnumbered. It soon became like a mini 'tickle-rumble' between the three of us.

Eventually, we all gave in, and just lay on the floor (because that's where we'd ended up) and just tried to recover, laughing the whole time.

"It's your fault" Megan gasped, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Hey! You started it Ginger Meggs!"

"Ginger! Hey, I resent that!"

"I agree. All you need is hair dye and the freckles. Totally" Michelle said, looking at me and laughing. I laughed with her. Soon, it started to hurt a little.

"Stop it! Laughing… laughing this much hurts" Megan said, still laughing but holding herself a little.

"Didn't stop you from getting me now, did it?" I replied, fighting back more insane laughter.

"Well, you deserved it!"

"And how did I deserve it?!"

"I-" Then came a knock on the door. An actual knock. We all struggled up, the giddy feeling leaving us.

"Come… come in"

The door slid open, and in stepped Nicole. She looked angry and determined.

"Nikki? What's…"

"Meeting in my quarters in one hour. We need to talk about this"

"Nicole, I don't…" but it was too late by then. She left, and the door slid shut behind her.

"Holy heebie-jeebies! What was all that about?" Megan said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I don't know. But I'm… she's not going to keep on like this. I won't let her self-destruct"

"Neither will I" Michelle added, looking at me and winking.

"Yeah. I guess… in an hour we find out what she wants"

Sorry if this chap was boring. I just thought I'd show you a bit of family love between these three characters. Hope you liked it though…