Hopefully this chapter does some good :)

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Sean

I walked out into the daylight, off the medical ship, looking around again at the destruction. It seemed to have doubled since we took up the fight.

Chanaibens were starting to go through the rubble, pulling their possessions, as well as loved ones bodies out, and everywhere I saw the pain this war had caused. The hurt in the eyes-

I collapsed on a piece of a wall, leaning forward and putting my hands on my knees. This world would never be the same. The joy, the happiness of the people here, my people...

I sighed, feeling tears prick my eyelids, shaking my head and wiping them away with my forearm. I couldn't get emotional now, not after-

"Sean?"

I looked up to see my father there, sitting beside me almost gingerly, almost like his presence would upset me more.

"Dad, all these people... what do we do now? There is-" I stopped, seeing a little girl beside what I thought was her father, pulling out the body of a female Chanaiben. The little girl ran to it, holding the body tightly.

I looked away, unable to keep the tears from falling down my face. This wasn't fair!

All because... the Yeerks...

A hand landed on my arm, making me look back up at my father through blurry eyes.

"Son, we will rebuild. You weren't here when the Terinan wars took place. This place was starting to become like this..."

"It's still not fair!" I let out a strangled sob "No one... should have to...to.."

"I know" He put his arm around me, and I wiped my tears away with what was left of my sleeve. I looked back out to where others were sorting through what was left of their homes, and we both fell silent.

"Sean, I never wanted you or your brother to ever see this side of war. It is raw, it cuts deep, and it makes you a different person. But as much pain and sorrow as you see around you, you and Seth and Alex and the others turned the tide of this war. You saved us, as well as more people than you can ever count. See that there" He made me turn my attention back to the little girl, who was now holding her father tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"Dad-"

"They're alive because of you. I know it's not the best outcome, I know you wanted more people to... but they survived"

"A little girl lost her mother because those of those Yeerk bastards" I spat, suddenly angry and standing up, needing to move. I walked away, hearing my dad follow.

"Hey!"

We both turned around to see Seth running up to us. I was suddenly angry at him.

As he reached me I pushed him hard, making him stumble and fall to the ground.

"Ow, Sean, what the-"

"If you hadn't become that damn Chudnit! If you..." I screamed angrily, throwing my hands in the air and turning back around.

"Sean! Don't even" My dads voice was curt, and I knew if I kept going there would be consequences.

"The hell was that for!" I heard him get up, and I turned to him and dad.

"You... if you..." Suddenly all that anger was gone, and I collapsed on my knees, feeling like I needed a week of sleep.

"I don't know what to do" I muttered finally, seeing my twins sneakers come up to me.

"Well blaming me isn't going to help" He replied, and I saw a hand in front of my face, grabbing it and letting him pull me up.

I looked at my brother, nodding. He knew why, and he understood.

I guess that was a good thing about having a twin.

"Boys, come with me. I need to show you both something" Dad opened his wings, indicating that we shift. We were going somewhere.

We looked at each other, shrugging. I shifted into the form of Elfangor, and Seth became a Chudnit.

We all took to the sky, flying over the death and destruction below us. It pulled at my heart again, almost making me want to cry. Seeing all this was...

It was worse than any nightmare.

(Dad, where are we going?) Seth asked.

"You'll see. It will all make sense soon"

"Very cryptic of you" I muttered in Elfangors voice. I still couldn't believe that he had risked his life to save Kay. I remember seeing him fall, Aerionna standing over him in the last fight.

Thoughts whirred around in my head until they all became a blur. Our first fight, the last, the hope, the fear...

The pain.

(Hey, stay with us bro) Seth told me, making the funny little sounds of the Chudnit.

(I... did we really do enough?) Was my response.

Seth fell silent, then (I think we did all we could)

"Almost there" We both turned our attention to our dad as he began to descend. We both followed him, shifting back when we were finally on the ground, finally seeing that we were near what I thought was a camp.

"Dad?" I asked, seeing him almost smile at me.

"Come, I think you need to meet some people"

We followed him, both of us sharing a look, confused as Chanaibens, humans and Andalites appeared from the makeshift homes they had built, some wary, others what I thought were smiling. At us? I wasn't sure.

"Ithiell? Is that you?" We turned to see a Chanaiben female come towards us, who I recognized as our cousin Kahlai.

"It is me. And my sons" He indicated to Seth and I, and Kahlai turned to us, smiling and coming to hug us both.

"I am so glad to see you are both alive"

"I...we..." Seth scratched his head, shrugging and not knowing what to say.

"I'm surprised we made it out at all"

"Sean!"

"What?"

"Not cool"

Other people came out, some of our cousins, some people we didn't know, until they were almost surrounding us.

"Uh dad..."

"Boys, these are just some of the people you saved. There are camps like these scattered around the planet. We tried to make sure they were no where near the Yeerk ships, or the fighting when we started setting them up. And we weren't alone in doing so" He indicated to a very large Andalite male, almost as big as the War Hero Aximilli. He did that thing with his eyes, smiling at us.

Then, he bowed.

(Young warriors, you have come far and accomplished so much. We owe our lives to you. Your bravery cannot be matched by the strongest soldier)

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

Seth then did something I never expected him to. He bowed back at the Andalite.

"We are honored, but your gratitude is misplaced. We all did our part in this war, sir"

Maybe he was growing up after all.

It was then three little Chanaibens came racing up to me, skidding to a stop and looking up at me with big eyes.

"Uh... hi" I knelt down, coming eye level with these three little ones, all of them smiling at me.

"You save us" One of the little girls said.

"You hurt bad guys" The boy piped up.

"You go pow!" The third did a little punching motion towards me, and I couldn't help but smile.

"I guess so" Was my response, and one of them came up to me, almost nose to nose as I stared into those big eyes, which were still so full of wonder. I had to admit it, she was adorable.

"Tank yew"

I couldn't help it. Tears poured from eye eyes as I wrapped this little kid up in my arms, both relieved as well as crushed by this little girls words.

"You're welcome little munchkin"

I knew then. I knew why dad brought us here. He wanted us to see that hope was not lost on this planet.

Not by a long shot.