A/N Okay, okay, I'm sorry, but this just wouldn't leave me. Not at all. So it's here, it's on the screen and out of my head, and now I can think about other things.

Unlike how I prefer to do things, this story will update as it is written. There is a plot, things will be moving toward an end, but chapters will be presented non-linearly and may at times be character studies as much as anything else. The story is less about where the kids are going than how they're getting there and what's happening to them.

The story takes place some time after The Attack (#26). The exact timing will be established later.

Read this at my Archive of Our Own account if you want to see the crummy sprite art that'll be accompanying some/most/all of the chapters.

Disk one: Genesis

Chapter one: The Streets and All the Trees

Your name is MARCO. It is not your BIRTHDAY today, but you are going to get a gift anyway. You and all your friends. From Santa Claus. A blue SPACE WIZARD Santa Claus with a DORKY NAME.

You're not specifically expecting this to happen, but it's six in the evening and nothing WEIRD has gone down yet today, so you figure that it's about time for something to happen already. This is why you're checking your watch every few minutes, incidentally.

You really don't know what you're going to do if you go to bed tonight without anything WEIRD having happened.

You have a variety of INTERESTS, all of which are VERY COOL. You like READING COMICS. You like PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, which you are definitely the BEST at. You most certainly do not like FIGHTING A SECRET GUERILLA WAR against your ALIEN WOULD-BE OVERLORDS, but seeing as how there are in fact PARASITIC BRAIN SLUGS everywhere you suppose that you're just going to have to deal with it.

On the bright side, another alien gave you and your friends the power to change into other kinds of animals, which is VERY COOL, probably even on the level of Spider-Man.

And then you became pals with that alien's brother and son (and the son… wasn't an alien? yeah…), but that's ANOTHER STORY.

You have some DADDY ISSUES because your father fell into depression after your mom died and you basically had to raise yourself. He's better now, though. You have some MOMMY ISSUES, on account of her not really being dead but actually just INFESTED with one of those PARASITIC BRAIN SLUGS that got mentioned earlier. She hasn't gotten better yet.

Screw this. You just have ADULT ISSUES, okay? This is why you pretend to be dumber than you really are, because you've noticed that adults will ignore you if you're NOT IMPORTANT, and if they ignore you then they can't be a PROBLEM.

Your Web Access America username used to be Cassie98, but that got confusing (JUST AS PLANNED) because one of your other friends has that same name, so you changed it to WGorilla99, which is a reference that none of your friends will ever get because not even Jake has read that comic.

Especially not the friend that's an alien (and also blue, but not a SPACE WIZARD).

MARCO: Stop thinking about yourself and look at your watch again

You note, with equal parts satisfaction, worry, and annoyance, that the minute hand on your watch has only two minutes ahead. And if that weren't enough to be suspicious, the second hand has stopped moving altogether.

Also, the pigeons that like to take a crap on your feet are pretty frozen. You'd be lying if you said that wasn't a big hint as well.

You weren't expecting the SPACE WIZARD before, but the whole TIME FREEZE-Y THING is kind of his CALLING CARD so you're ready for anything. Or so you'd like to tell yourself. Honestly, all you know is that you know nothing when it comes to this guy. One time you had to save a planet of PARASITIC BRAIN SLUGS THAT LIKED SHOPPING, which was such a ridiculous adventure that you finally had to put up your "I think I can accurately expect what this guy is gonna do next" hat for good.

MARCO: Watch out for EXPLODING CHOCOLATE MILK

You don't know where the thought of that came from, but you reckon that it's not a bad idea. After all, every time you've thought that the last CRAZY couldn't be topped, the universe sidled up over to you and said

"Hello.

"I'm the universe.

"And I'd like to prove you wrong."

So far, the score is something like Marco: 0, Universe: ∞

And it doesn't disappoint this time, either, because here comes the universe's top SPACE WIZARD, the Grand Poobah of Eight Colors, Astro Smurf himself.

You wonder if his skin is stuck on the blue setting or something. Like, seriously. What is up with that?

"I have an offer that you can't refuse," he tells you, and that's when it all falls apart for you because oh no, now he's making pop culture references.

Who approved this? You do not remember giving Astro Smurf permission to do this. This is your shtick, if it's going to be anybody's.

At least your friends are here, so you can sort of, like, spread the crap around and you don't have to deal with all of it yourself.

Oh dear Stan Lee, he's opening his mouth again. What's it going to be this time?

MARCO: Be Astro Smurf

You are now Astro Smurf.

Your name is, or was, AZURE LEVEL, SEVEN SPAR, EXTENSION TWO, DOWN-MESSENGER, FORTY-ONE. This was a pretty unwieldy for casual use, though, so you were also called TOOMIN. You like this one better.

You don't deserve it.

You kind of live in a BLACK HOLE, but that is PRETTY COMPLICATED STUFF, honestly. In fact, you are pretty sure that if you chose to tell your whole backstory to these kids it would take TWO HUNDRED PAGES to get to that part, and are even surer that none of you have that kind of time. You'll probably tell it to a DEAD PERSON some other time. They always have time.

You like the word TIME, which has two really nice-sounding consonants at either of it and is also PRETTY IMPORTANT. You are very big on meddling in the development of ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS, which you are pretty good at because you once played a lot of sessions of a game called just that. This was back when people called you Toomin, but now the games are SERIOUS because they're played with real people. You played under the name ELLIMIST, which you chose because it sounded KIND OF BREEZY.

Right now probably seem like a DASTARD, which you think is a kind of upper class-sounding bastard. In your defense, you do this because your opposite number is a RED-EYED PLANET GUY called CRAYAK. His interest, just so long as we're dumping heaps of information here, is building a UNIVERSE OF CONFLICT, PAIN, and TERROR, and whoever kicked the bum out of the galaxy that he came from was content to leave Crayak alone like some kind of INTERGALACTIC TRAILER TRASH.

But who are you kidding? You are definitely a DASTARD. A really big one, as long as you're being honest here. Just a nicer one than the other guy is.

After all, you were playing ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS FOR REAL before you ever met the RED-EYED PLANET GUY.

You take a moment, longer for you than for them, before you speak again. You take this, to allow them to speak between themselves and to allow you to gather your determination together.

It is as once so much easier and harder to do this, seeing them in the flesh. Not just theirs, but to see them, if only partly, from the vantage point of flesh yourself. Or something like unto it.

"So tired..." You smile. "Do you remember when I offered you a way out?" you ask them. It seems so long ago to you, but things happen differently to you than to them. "I said that you and your loved ones could be relocated on another world, safe from the Yeerk invasion."

"We didn't agree then," Jake says. "What makes you think we'll do it now?"

You shake your head.

"This time it's different. What I want to know is, how much do you love this world?" Your eyes settle briefly on Aximili, but you move on before he notices.

"Enough to stay and fight the Yeerks, Ellimist," Cassie responds immediately.

"To beat them, of course. To save your world," you say, nodding gently. "But what if the way to win lay in not fighting?"

Cassie's face betrays her confusion. "H-how..."

The Yeerks will never leave unless they are forced Aximili asserts.

"This is true," you acknowledge. "But Crayak and I have come to an... understanding. We have made a deal, one that should satisfy you."

"Since when is Crayak making deals?" Marco asks. "I don't remember the Howlers being very diplomatic."

"As things are going, you will win," you tell them. "Within the limits of the rules there is nothing that Crayak can do to win. I have convinced him of this."

"So he's just going to make the Yeerks leave or something?"

"As with all things, both of us must give up something of value."

Understanding starts to reflect on Jake's face. "Us. You want to give us up... But why?"

"You will win. Have you thought yet about how I have said nothing of the number of casualties? The cost?"

You can feel Cassie's thoughts reverberating. She feels guilty for not having done so. She carries so much, and so undeservedly. But that is how they all are.

That is why you must do this.

"Some of you will die and some of you will live. After you have defeated the invasion you will be in a position to hinder other plans of Crayak's. As you will, if you are not removed."

"So by taking us out now, Crayak doesn't lose anything that he won't anyway," Jake muses. "What about the other Yeerks?"

"Our deal does not extend past what happens here, but the Yeerks need your world very badly. They need many more host bodies than they have, and if they lose Earth then they will not be able to recover from the loss. It will take time but their defeat will be inevitable." You pause. "It will not help that most of the leadership stationed here, including Visser Three, will not survive."

"So the Yeerks get the boot here and pretty soon they're going to lose everywhere else, too?" Rachel asks. You confirm this before she continues. "Alright. I'm in." She slips her hands into her pockets. "So what's Crayak going to do with us?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

You love the surprise that you see on her face.

"You are leaving, but Crayak is not taking you. You will be beyond his reach." You retrieve six CDs from the air and hold them between the fingers of a hand that suddenly looks slightly less human. "You could call it a game, if Crayak and I may call our war a game. But if it is so then it is a deeper game, a deeper game from before the dawn of time. Older than this universe.

"It does not belong in this universe. Indeed, it took Crayak and I both to retrieve the power that is in these CDs and reconstruct it so that it could work, despite its... foreignness."

So much blood.

"What is it?"

"It has been called by many names. Sbarn. Scarb. Sgrub. But the name that is intended for this world," you tell them, "is Sburb."

You tell yourself that the screaming you hear is only in your head. This is true, but it does nothing to help.

What is its purpose? Aximili asks.

"It will bring you to a new place. There, you will have one last evil to destroy." You give one of the CDs to Rachel; her hand was already outstretched from the instant that you revealed the game to them. Jake and Marco follow. The others remain thoughtful, not rejecting it but still too focused on listening to think to take a CD from you. "You will defeat it. You will save many worlds as you do so and then, having proven yourself worthy, you will make your final journey and travel to a new universe totally beyond the reach of this one. That is what Sburb is for: the making of universes. And Crayak will never be able to reach them."

You distribute the last CDs.

"Even if you do not succeed, you will have defeated the Yeerks simply by agreeing to play the game. But if you do succeed, and I am confident in your abilities, then you will have ensured that, no matter what happens here, there will be a universe that will never know Crayak. A more peaceful universe, if you are willing to nurture it."

There is little more to be said. You leave them soon after, warning them that they would have to begin the game at separate houses and telling them that all the rest, they can learn on the way.

You are proud of them, these six children that so readily agreed to leave their world forever to save it. So, so proud of them.

And so ashamed of yourself.

You did not lie to them about your motives, or the game, or its consequences. Not exactly. But you left many things unsaid. They would have refused your offer if they knew the terrible cost that would have to be paid, so you made the decision for them and told them only those things that would make it seem almost their duty to play the game.

Your name is not TOOMIN. You do not deserve that name. The face that once claimed it would turn his face away from yours in shame. You are only ELLIMIST now, the great PLAYER OF GAMES. You are not a good person. You know this. You do not deny it. This is why you are here today, seeking a small parcel of redemption through the salvation of six children that have already been hurt so much and will only continue to suffer if they do not leave this game of yours that you and Crayak are playing.

But how can you realize any kind of redemption for yourself when you are willing to purchase their salvation with an ocean of blood?

(You tell yourself that the screaming you hear is only in your head. This is true, but it is a presage of the screaming that will shortly come to pass.)

ELLIMIST: Be the Dying Girl