A/N: Double upload this week. TWO chapters posted together.

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EIGHT

I came to lying in a congealed puddle of blood. I was cold. Soaked. Water was spraying over me in a continuous mist. My skin felt numb.

«Good.» Aftran said. «You're awake.»

I blinked, put a bloody hand to my face. "Wh— did we go over!?"

«Yes.» She said simply. «You broke multiple bones. Several ribs lacerated through the skin, which is where most of the blood came from.»

"Jesus, Aftran! I could have died!" I sat up, absolutely caked in sticky, half-drying blood.

«Yes.» She sounded stressed. «You could have. And I would have died with you. I was overeager. I slipped; that's all it took. It was my fault.» She sounded, felt, genuinely apologetic. I considered whether that was for me or for herself. I was still so surprised she'd unbent far enough to apologize that I forgot to be angry.

I said nothing, looking around. The waterfall pounded in a curving curtain onto the rocks in front of me, barely brighter than the rock beneath it and behind. I snorted, taking in where I was, looking around behind me at the little I could see in the dark. I was behind the waterfall? What was this, a Disney—

I froze as my eyes fell on the metal handle of a familiar weapon. It was half-hidden behind a rock.

No. Absolutely not. That was not her stupid Dracon beam that just happened to be here. I refused to believe it.

"Surely not." My voice said out loud at the same time. I could feel how elated Aftran was, but also how leery she felt, her shock and suspicion.

I had a sneaking suspicion, myself. Deep down in my heart, I had this feeling. Aftran was busy obsessing over finding her weapon. She wasn't paying attention yet.

She walked my body forward. Walked to the back wall of the rock face, maybe three feet away from the back of the falls. The spray was less intense here. She bent down to pick up the weapon from where it lay and stopped. Stood back up, stared.

My fury at confirmation— at seeing this perfect nonsense— made me want to scream and kick and cry. The Dracon beam wasn't behind a rock at all; it was laying halfway into the dark, hidden entrance of another cave.

A completely concealed cave. Behind a waterfall. That I had just happened to find, that I fell into. Of course it was. Of course– of course it was.

I was getting really angry. Really, truly, deeply, furiously angry. Because I had this feeling like I'd been maneuvered. Manipulated. Played.

I felt Aftran turn her focus to me, uncomprehending. I felt nauseated. Dizzy. I focused on the owl; I didn't like this morph too much anymore, It came with recent bad memories. But of all the animals I had access to, the owl had the best eyes.

Aftran watched me, silent, apprehensive. My mood was all over the place, a confused mix of absolute rage and disgust and betrayal and disillusionment. Because I already knew— I knew what I was going to find, and here I was flying in to find it anyway.

I took off the second the morph was done. Flew over the Dracon beam on the ground. Turned a tight right into the cave along the curved entrance. I was mad. It came through in my flying.

Aftran was in my thoughts, looming and present and thoroughly creeping me out. «That's—» she said, shocked, following my anger. Following my suspicions. She went tearing through my memories while I flew a tight arc around the cave, feeling the steady crossbreeze ruffle my feathers.

It was mostly dry. The ceiling was maybe fourteen feet up, gently bumpy. The angled hidden entrance blocked most of the moisture; the back two-thirds had a ridge and higher elevation than the rest. I couldn't see too well in the dark, even as an owl, but it looked like a phenomenal place to hide something critical.

Like, say, a defecting Yeerk's self-contained portable Yeerk Pool.

I wondered bitterly if this cave had even existed before this week. If it had been here for centuries, or if it had only carved itself into being once I was infested and Karen was dead. I felt spiteful. I felt sick.

«The Ellimist is a myth.» Aftran said disbelievingly. «A story for gullible beings.»

«You've seen my memories.» I said flatly. I wasn't in the mood. I hung a tight left and blew back out behind the waterfall. Landed on the ground. Started to demorph. «The only reason we took out the Kandrona downtown was because the Ellimist helped us. The only reason we have the Hork-Bajir valley is the Ellimist. They– He– It's why Tobias can even morph again.»

She was silent. Pensive. Uncertain. I knew she'd seen it, I'd watched her speed through my memories. But I also knew what she was feeling: it was one thing to know that an immensely-powerful being existed who messed with reality to tweak events to its liking. It was another thing altogether knowing that it was messing with you, that it was manipulating your life. The feeling was immensely frightening. And angering.

I pushed past my discomfort, made myself think back: the fight. My choice to kill. Aftran following me as Karen. How much had been happenstance and how much had been orchestrated? Had she been put in my path for something like this to happen?

I didn't know. I didn't want to know.

Aftran leaned over from where I sat, human again. She picked up the Dracon beam. Twisted the power level down. Aimed it at the water rushing downward. Fired.

Nothing happened.

She dropped it to the ground with a harsh laugh. I could feel her disappointment and anxiety. "Of course." My voice said out loud, sounding half-hysterical. "Why would it work after I actually found it?"

She picked it up again, walked into the incredibly coincidental hidden waterfall cave. Threw it down on the ground. Walked out. Got me drenched walking away from the falls.

«I am not looking forward to negotiating with your former teammates.» She told me. Her emotions were a tight ball of stress and worry. She started to morph.

I felt abruptly stupid. Of course that's why she wanted the weapon. Insurance. A way to even the odds when my friends showed up. A way to help keep them from dragging her off and killing her.

I took over flying as soon as she got off the ground.