I do not own Familiar of Zero or Animorphs

If I owned Familiar of Zero, Louise would be slightly nicer

If I owned Animorphs, I'd make a sequel with a new character cast (though I'd leave Cassie as a retired mentor figure)

"Ram the ship."

Those three words were the last order I would ever hear from Jake.

A morbid thought for a twenty-year old, I'm sure most people would say. But my life has been far from normal. When I was thirteen years old, an alien crashed down in an abandoned construction site that I and a few friends had been cutting through as a shortcut. The alien, Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul of the Andalite race, warned us about the Yeerks, a parasitic race of alien slugs who were discretely invading Earth. He gave us one of the greatest treasures of his race, an Escafil device—or as we called it, the morphing cube—which would give us the power we needed to resist the Yeerks long enough for Andalite reinforcement to arrive.

Then he died, eaten alive by Visser Three, who quickly grew to be our most dangerous adversary.

Elfangor had sacrificed his life giving Earth the chance to defend itself. And although I didn't know it at the time, that was the first and only time I met my father.

Over three years after that event, we finally managed to defeat the Yeerks. Many people died. Soldiers and civilians, friends and enemies. But the loss that hurt us the most was the death of one of our core members. Rachel, our blonde adrenaline-junkie, died assassinating her cousin, Tom, who was the host of a dangerous Yeerk commander.

Tom was Jake's older brother.

Yeah, we were the universe's punching bag.

The war brought an era of peace, but the next three years were hard on the few surviving veterans. I had gone to live away from civilization, but Jake managed to track me down for suicide mission regarding the whereabouts of Ax, my fellow veteran, uncle, and best friend.

Six months of travel brought us here, aboard The Rachel, traveling through Kelbrid Space, a region of the galaxy beyond Andalite authority. A being known as The One was puppeteering Ax's body, threatening the destruction of everything and everyone we loved.

We knew our mission.

As the ship barreled towards the cosmic entity, I felt no fear. I had been a dead man walking for far too long. If my death saved the lives of others, I could die with a smile on my face. I shifted into my human form, feeling the small curl on the sides of my lips. "Rachel," I said softly. "Who knows, maybe we'll finally see each other again."

I watched my death come with calm open eyes, which is why I noticed the glowing green circle floating in front of me. I turned to the rest of the crew: Jake and Marco, my old comrades, Menderash, an Andalite subordinate of Ax, and Sergeant Santorelli and Jeanne Gerard, two of Jake's students. All of them looked onto our imminent death, but none seemed to notice the obvious glowing circle floating on our ship's bridge. Symbols danced along the inner rim of the circle, a pentagon and five-pointed star appearing in the center. I stood, mesmerized. I couldn't even guess the function of the strange sigil, but with my death imminent, it was unlikely that it would matter. I refocused my attention on the shifting abomination were approaching, wearing the face of my closest friend. The circle started glowing even brighter as the being's body filled the entire view from the ship.

And we crashed.

The Tristan Academy of Magic was one of the most important places in Tristan. Famous for training generations of aristocratic mages, not just Tristan natives, but also students abroad, any mage who graduated from this Academy was guaranteed success in any career they decided to pursue. Failure was not option. Not unless you were willing to have your family's name dragged through the mud for producing a talentless disgrace.

To most mages, this only meant that they had to apply themselves properly in their education. As long as they didn't spend more time ogling their peers instead of minding their studies, they didn't have much to worry about. The rare exception to this rule was one particular student: Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Or, as she was often called by her classmates, Louise the Zero.

Strolling through the academy grounds, a small group of first year students were exchanging the latest gossip. "Did you hear?" one student whispered conspiratorially. "Louise the Zero caused an explosion in class yesterday."

"Again?" another asked with haughty laugh. "Which professor would let her cast anything in a classroom!"

"The new one, Professor Chevreuse."

"What a pity. Did she get punished?"

"Apparently, no," a third student cut in. "I heard from Montmorency that Louise was excused because everyone had warned the professor not to let her cast a spell. Because the professor ignored the warnings, Louise was held unaccountable for her actions."

"Such favoritism."

"I know right? Especially for a useless Zero."

"She may be the Karin of the Heavy Wind's daughter, but at this rate they'll let her get away with anything short of murder."

"She isn't even a true mage."

"Can you believe she's supposed to be a year ahead of us?"

"She's a disgrace to her family."

A distance away from the gossiping group, a short girl with long, wavy pink hair stood up from her seat. Unnoticed by her peers, she slipped away to another part of the academy grounds. The Familiar Summoning Exam would be starting soon, and her late appearance wouldn't do her grades or reputation any favors. Not that her reputation had much left to lose. Her rosy pink eyes were forced into an impassive gaze, but she could feel tears begging for release.

"About time you got here, little Louise," came a haughty laugh that was poorly hidden from behind a dark, German hand. A tall redhead beauty gave Louise a poisonously teasing smile, her hazel eyes alight with amusement.

"Zerbst," Louise replied curtly.

Kirche von Zerbst drooped her lower lip in an exaggerated pout. "Why do you have to be so cold? After all this time we've spent together, you haven't warmed up to me at all. You're nothing like my dear Tabitha." She wrapped her arms around the mentioned girl as she said this. Tabitha was small a blue-haired girl, standing even shorter than Louise. The hug from behind smothered the back of Tabitha's head into Kirche's exposed cleavage. But the blue haired mage didn't react in the slightest. Instead, she continued reading from a small book she held in one hand.

"I would like nothing more than to be as far away from you as possible," Louise said in a prim and condescending tone. "Ugly cow."

Before their conversation could delve into a traditional trade of banter, a senior voice rang out across the courtyard. "Good morning, students!" Professor Colbert, the teacher supervising the exam, greeted the young mages. A pair of glasses perched on his nose, and the only hair on his head was a patch of brown that wrapped around the back of his head. "It's time to begin the Familiar Summoning Exam. Who would like to be the first to summon their familiar?"

Though it was called an exam, the Familiar Summoning was more importantly a rite of passage. As the ceremony was a gift by Brimir, the Founder, to all the countries of Halkegenia, it was nigh impossible to mess up. A noble could not call themselves a mage if they were unable to summon to perform the ritual.

One by one, the students stepped forward to summon their familiars. Some summoned mundane creatures, like dogs, cats, and frogs. Others, such as Kirche and Tabitha, summoned magical creatures—a Salamander and a Wind Dragon, respectively. At last, Louise was the final person left to summon her familiar.

"Well, Louise," said Kirche. "Let's see if your familiar will be comparable to my Flame." The buxom redhead stroked her salamander's head affectionately.

"My familiar will be the greatest that ever existed," Louise declared. "None of your familiars will even compare."

"Oh?" Kirche asked with a predatory smile. "I'd like to see that."

"Begin whenever you're ready, Miss Valliere," said Professor Colbert.

Louise took a breath, and focused. The familiar summoning spell matched familiars based a mage's affinity and willpower. Even though she had no affinity for any of the elements, hence her unofficial title, Louise the Zero, she knew that her willpower was unmatched. No matter what anyone said, she would summon her familiar. She would succeed with at least one spell in her life. And with that success, the door to becoming a proper mage would be opened to her. "My familiar that exists in this vast universe!"

"Is she really trying to cast a spell?" Montmorency, a girl with blond ringlets, asked.

"Louise's spell is a reflection of her creativity," Guiche, a young man with curly blond hair, said with a nod.

"Still a Zero," Montmorency huffed.

Louise deafened her ears to their words, focusing only on the spell she was casting. "By the pentagon of the five elements, answer my summons, and appear before me!"

To absolutely no one's surprise, an explosion sprouted a few feet from Louise's extended wand. The sound ripped through the academy grounds, startling an old headmaster who had been using his mouse familiar to sneak a peek up his secretary's skirt. "That was certainly a loud one," he idly commented.

Mocking laughter spread around the courtyard.

"Another explosion?"

"As expected of a Zero."

"Think she'll finally be kicked out?"

"Probably. Someone without magic can't stay at a magic academy, now can they?"

"Wait, what's that?"

As the smoke of the explosion cleared away, a slender form was revealed. It was a boy, clad in nothing but tight black boxer shorts. He was scrawny, young, and otherwise unimpressive. Cold brown eyes stared from behind a curtain of dark, dirty blond hair that messily swept across his face. The boy turned his head slowly from side to side, not unlike an animal surveying its surroundings.

"You summoned a commoner boy!" Guiche laughed. "How embarrassing."

"Where are his clothes?" Montmorency asked, turning her face away.

"Honestly, Louise, if you wanted to see a male body so badly you could have gone for one that was worth looking at," said Kirche with a sly smile.

"I wasn't!" Louise protested hotly. A blush of embarrassment and anger colored her cheeks to match her hair.

"Well, he does seem to be as lacking as a man as you are as a woman," Kirche teased. "With your lack of feminine charm I can see why you would get a guy to match."

"Sh-shut up!"

As the buxom readhead mercilessly teased the stuttering pinkette, Tobias processed his new situation. His brown eyes, frozen in a slight glare, carefully surveyed his surroundings. It was clear that he was not in a spaceship about to crash into the body of his best friend being puppeteer by a cosmic entity.

That was good.

He had no idea what anyone was saying, where he was, or what was going on.

That was bad.

Overall, the good outweighed the bad.

That was good.

Still, he needed some answers. And preferably some silence. He couldn't tell what the suspiciously robed youths were talking about, but their rapid screeches were painful to his ears. Also, what kind of place had humans coexisting with monsters? Did none of them notice the dragon the size of a small house? And there was a creepy floating eyeball. Were they invisible? No, some students were looking at the mind-boggling creatures and giving looks of awe and jealousy. Was this a competition where people showed off their creepiest pet? Too many questions, and not enough answers. Also, why did some of the people looked like they died their hair with pastels? Tobias had been prepared to die, but he was not ready to deal with whatever was going on here.

"Looks like your familiar doesn't have much going on upstairs, Louise," said Kirche, circling a finger by her head. "I wonder what that says about you."

"Shut up, Zerbst!" Louise was completely red in the face by now.

Tobias, tired of an argument he could not—and did not want to—understand, decided to interrupt. Given that he was morphed into human form, he tried projecting his voice with thought-speak. {You, girl, can you hear me?}

Louise jumped looking around frantically. "Who said that?" she asked in alarm.

"Said what?" Kirche asked. "That you're lacking in certain areas?"

"No!" Louise hotly protested. "I thought heard something—"

If Tobias had to explain the difference between thought-speak and telepathy, the best comparison he could make was the difference between a radio broadcast and a phone call. Thought-speak could be accessed by as few or many stations—people—as the broadcaster wanted. But the broadcaster could only project thoughts, not receive them. Telepathy, in its truest form, was a direct mental link, like a phone call. It could even be upgrade to a group call, allowing multiple people to share and respond to the next work. In order to achieve the same effect with thought-speak, everyone had to be linked into the broadcast and have the ability to broadcast on the same wavelengths.

In short, thought-speak was a largely inferior version of telepathy, with its major weakness being made known when trying to communicate with someone he could not understand. He considered making a wide broadcast, but that would probably more confusion, which would slow the speed of communication.

Seeing the pink haired girl looking around in bewilderment, Tobias decided to provide some direction. {I'm standing right in front of you, robed girl.} With a startled jump, Louise turned to the blank-faced boy, who met her eyes with a piercing look. {Nod if you can understand me.}

Louise gave a hesitant nod. "H-how are you doing that?" she asked. Then she looked around. "Who is doing that?"

"What are you talking about?" Kirche asked. The Germanian's smug smile had dropped in place of a look of curious confusion. Louise was easy to tease because her reactions were explosively predictable. But the Tristan native was giving a very unusual reaction. It was as if the shorter girl was reacting to something else entirely. The majority of the surrounding students were still laughing at Louise, not even noticing that something was amiss.

Louise flushed, looking from Tobias to Kirche. "You can't hear that?" she asked Kirche.

"Hear what?" Guiche asked.

"Looks like one too many explosions have rattled poor Louise's brain." said Montmorency in mock pity.

{Girl, I'm right here,} Tobias thought with a scowl.

"Shut up!" Louise hissed at him.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Valliere?" Professor Colbert asked. The bespectacled man had been silently observing Louise's odd behavior, but now he was starting to realize something was wrong.

"Someone is making me hear a voice in my head!"

{Girl, I'm talking to you. Also, standing right in front of you. Look at me.}

"Stop doing that!"

"Let me see," said Colbert. Wind magic was the most likely culprit. A Whispering spell could be used to give quiet messages to other mages, but it could also be used to prank others by projecting voices. "I'll cast a Magic Detection. Tell me when you hear it again."

Since the girl was clearly starting to panic at this point, Tobias decided it was best to calm her down. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he had a good guess what a normal person would think in such a situation. {You're not crazy; I am speaking to you through your mind.}

"There it is again!"

Colbert frowned as his grip on his staff tightened. "I detect no magic," he said in concern. It was nigh impossible that any student could cast a spell on Louise that would bypass his Magic Detection. But it was also clear that Louise was not faking her reaction to an unknown voice. "What are you hearing?" he asked.

"He said he's speaking to me through my mind."

"Who?"

"My familiar, or so he claims," Louise said, scowling in Tobias's direction.

Seeing that she was calmer—angry, but at least not screaming—Tobias decided th at now was a good time to say his piece. {I have no clue what you're saying, so just shut up and listen,} he said flatly. {Only you can hear me, and no, I cannot read your mind. Also, no, don't interrupt,} he intercepted as the young mage opened her mouth. {Like I said, I can't understand a word you're saying anyway. I speak English, and I think you're speaking Spanish or French. I didn't really get an education, so I can't tell the difference. If you could find someone who speaks passable English to translate, that'd be great.}

"You dare order around a noble?" Louise asked indignantly.

{Like I said, I can't understand what you're saying. But yelling isn't going to help, so be useful and go find someone who can translate for me.}

"Miss Valliere, what is he saying?" Colbert asked. By now the other students had realized that something—though they couldn't tell what—was not right. The mocking laughter had died, and they were all shooting puzzled glances at Louise and Colbert.

"My familiar says he's an uneducated plebeian who speaks only Angliss, and he needs a translator," Louise replied.

"So, he can speak?" Colbert asked.

"Apparently," Louise huffed. "But I've never heard of Angliss before."

"Neither have I," Colbert confessed. "Fascinating. I detect no magic, but to be able to talk without words is unheard of. I wonder where he came from, and if he would be willing to share how he learned such a technique."

"Professor?" Louise asked, puzzled by the enthusiasm in her teacher's voice.

Colbert cleared his throat and regained his professional demeanor. "Yes, my apologies, Miss Valliere," he said. "I have a spell that's normally used to help understanding between dialects, but it may be helpful here." He pointed his staff at Tobias, whose normally stern gaze was now tinged with wariness. "Translation!"

Tobias felt something pass through is throat and ears. It wasn't painful, but it was a strange sensation, like an ethereal breeze passing through his head.

"Boy, can you understand me?" Professor Colbert asked.

"Yes." The answer was curt, and the voice was brusque to match. Tobias sounded like someone who had a severely sore throat, or someone who had not used their voice in a very long time. His voice was pitched to match his age—which Colbert figured was somewhere in his early teens—but it also carried the harsh edge of someone who seen the darker side of humanity.

"How dare you try to order me around!"

Tobias didn't flinch at the sound of someone screaming at him. Turning his head in a straight pivot like a raptor, he eyed Louise as a predator observed the yipping a lesser beast. "Took you long enough," he said.

Louise gaped at Tobias's sheer audacity. "Who are you, commoner, to speak to me this way?" she fumed. "Do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't," Tobias replied impassively. "Does it matter?"

"I'm a noble, you plebeian! Do you have any manners?"

Tobias's stoic expression did not change. "Not really."

"Y-you—"

"Perhaps it would help if you explained the situation, Miss Valliere," Professor Colbert suggested. "I don't think he's from Tristan; he might be from Germania or Gallia."

Tobias was not acquainted with either of those countries—though the former sounded vaguely familiar—but he didn't bother to correct to the balding man.

"Fine," Louise grumbled. "My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, and you, peasant, have the honor of being my familiar."

"Tobias."

"What?"

"My name is Tobias," Tobias clarified.

"That's all you have to say?" Louise asked incredulously.

"No," he replied. "I have many questions." Much, much more than he would like to have in a situation such as this. "But to stay on topic, what's a familiar?"

Louise still looked annoyed but decided that clarifying would be more productive than more reprimands on his manners, or lack thereof. "A familiar is a mage's lifelong companion," she replied. "Every mage forms a bond with a creature, and that creature serves them until death does them part."

"I can't tell if that's slavery or marriage."

This caused Louise to sputter a collection of words that fervently and incoherently denied both assumptions.

Kirche snorted, drawing the two's attention. "You're such a cutie," she said to Tobias. "It's not often that I see a little boy bold enough to talk so casual to a mage."

Tobias met her eyes, then looked down at her chest, raised his gaze to her hair, before once again meeting her eyes. "Mage as in magic." Despite it being worded as a question, he said it as a statement. There was no other way to explain how she had fiery hair all the way to the roots and the hourglass figure of a disproportioned doll.

"Of course!" Louise exclaimed, completely missing his subtext. "How do you not know this? Were you raised under a rock?"

"I've had very little contact with people for the past seven years of my life. Especially the past four years or so," Tobias admitted freely without an ounce of pride or regret. He said it as a simple fact, as easily as one would say the sun is shining or grass is blue.

His casual admittance gave Louise pause. "Oh, well, I suppose I will forgive you for your ignorance this time," she said. "But you will learn proper manners while I am your master."

"Why would I want you to be my master?"

"What do you mean by—" Louise took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "Of course, you probably don't realize what an honor it is to serve as a mage's familiar."

"It is unheard of," Professor Colbert added. "I don't recall any mention of such an event happening. This is history in the making!"

Tobias gave the Professor a look that could be vaguely described as "curious". Of course, it was hard to tell, given his facial muscles gave little away, and his eyes seemed fixed in their perpetual glare. His head swiveled back around towards Louise. "Explain why I would want to be the novel pet of a brat like you."

A chorus of "oohs" rang out across the courtyard. Louise clenched her fist tightly around her wand and pointed it at Tobias. "I've had enough of your insubordination!" she snapped. "You will obey me like a proper familiar, or I will have to discipline you."

Tobias couldn't remember much of what magic was supposed to do. Even as a young boy, he hadn't had much opportunities to enjoy childhood fantasies. But given the threat Louise made, he figured that the stick was designed for something besides hitting people. "Does that stick shoot fire?" he asked.

The expression on Louise's face could curdle milk and set it on fire to boot. "Fireball!" she cried.

"Miss Valliere," Colbert interjected hastily. "At this range—"

Before he could finish, a massive explosion blew up the place Tobias had been standing. Emphasis on the past tense, because the boy hadn't survived an alien war without learning to trust his instincts. By the time Louise's explosion ripped through the place he had been standing, he had landed in a roll a good several yards away. A wall of fire had been erected in front Louise and Colbert, which the professor let down once the danger had passed.

"—an explosion would be very unsafe for everyone involved," Professor Colbert finished. He was realized to see Louise's summon to be unharmed, though he did wonder how the boy managed to evade the blast without receiving so much as a singe on his near naked body.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Tobias asked.

There was a coolness in his tone which made Louise uneasy, but her pride came first. "That was a lesson in obedience," she said. "A familiar should not disobey their master's orders."

"Actually, Mrs. Valliere, you have yet to complete the ritual," Professor Colbert reminded her. "You still need to seal the contract."

Louise internally felt like slapping herself for missing that obvious detail. "Stupid familiar, distracting me," she grumbled. "Come here so we can finish this."

Tobias looked at Louise straight in the eyes. "No." He turned and started walking away, glaring at the nobles in the circle, who awkwardly stepped aside to let him through.

"Where do you think you're going?" Louise demanded. "You can't just walk away!"

"I'd fly away if I could," Tobias replied without turning around. "What kind of masochist would sign their life away to a sadist who would blow someone up at the drop of a hat? Go find someone else to be your explosion dummy, preferably someone who's into that sort of thing. Or something that won't explode in a shower of blood."

Louise looked a little queasy when Tobias offhandedly mentioned how badly that explosion could have gone. "But you can't leave!" she insisted.

"I must concur," said Professor Colbert, who moved to stand in Tobias's way. "The Familiar Summoning Exam is a sacred ritual. Leaving it incomplete would be sacrilege."

"And?" Tobias's tone conveyed the vast extent he cared about their traditions.

"It would disgrace the teachings of the church and the Founder!" Louise shouted.

Tobias gave Louise a blank look. "Who?"

"Argh! You're an insufferable, insubordinate, rebellious familiar!"

"If I heard the old man correctly, I'm only your familiar after we finish whatever contract you need," Tobias replied. "Not sure how you got a floating eyeball to sign a contract, but you'll have to find something else to sign yours. I'm leaving."

"I insist that you are not," said Professor Colbert firmly.

A shiver went through the students, something easily dismissed a sudden chilling wind. But for Colbert and one student that had tasted the threat of death, they could recognize the unbridled bloodlust emanating from the harmlessly plain-looking boy. "Move," Tobias demanded, frost dripping from his voice.

Colbert was starting to question who or what Louise had summoned. These were not the eyes of a child, traumatized or otherwise. These were the eyes of someone who had killed before and would easily do so again. "As Louise is your summoner, you are obligated to serve her," he insisted. Just in case, he tensed his grip on his staff. He wasn't sure what the boy was capable of, but given that he had apparently communicated to Miss Louise with his mind, the man had to be ready for anything. It would be a shame if he had to kill Louise's familiar, but the safety of his students was his first priority.

To the old man's surprise, his words made Tobias drop his all traces of his previous hostility. "She summoned me?" the boy asked.

"Obviously, I did," Louise affirmed. "A mage has to summon their familiar. The Founder gifted us with a spell that seeks out the most perfect familiar for each mage." She gave him a dirty look. "I can't believe out of any creature I could have summoned in the universe; I got an annoying commoner like you."

Tobias's face twitched. "Were you expecting something like a bird, or perhaps an exotic creature?" he asked.

"I was hoping for something rare and powerful that could best a dragon," Louise grumbled. "Instead I got stuck with you."

Tobias's shoulders shook as he stifled a chuckle. Thankfully, having spent over three years without properly using his human form left his audible amusement as an unrecognizable sound. Even after cheating death, his life was still a cosmic joke. {Tell me, why should I serve you?}

Louise narrowed her eyes. "Stop speaking in my head."

{Answer the question, then we'll see.}

A scowl came over Louise's face, but she realized that Tobias wouldn't be cowed by harsh words alone. "I already told you, it's an honor to serve as a mage's familiar. Even though you're a commoner, you'd be a novelty, at the very least."

{Let me clarify, why should I serve you? Specifically.}

"Because I summoned you!"

{And? You brought me here, but what's stopping me from being another mage's familiar? Or just not becoming a familiar at all?}

Louise's first instinct was to scoff, but the thought made her pause. Her familiar had shown no sense of understanding—or caring for—social standing or respect. Demanding that he follow her due to obligation alone was doomed to fail. And while no mage would try to steal another's familiar, if he walked off instead of completing the ritual, not only would she have the dishonor of being the first mage in history to have a familiar reject her, but she would also lose her only chance to become a proper mage and bring honor to her family. Without a familiar, her last hope would fly away, and she would be stuck as a disgraced, unmentioned child. At that point, it would be better for her family if she didn't exist in the first place. Not even being married off would save her family from the results of her failure.

Tobias had asked the question out of cold logic, but he was surprised to see the genuine pain and fear in the girl's eyes. For a moment, a tug on his heart made him feel like he was the bully, when it was clearly the other way around. He would not let himself be swayed so easily by someone who could have killed him in a fit of anger.

Actually, given the force of the explosion, he probably would be able to heal off the damage by morphing long before he died. Apparently, her "Fireball" was more of a smoky concussive blast than a destructive orb of fire. But it was the principle of the matter.

Finally, Louise spoke. "I must become a mage to being honor to my family," she said in a low voice. "I cannot do that without completing my contract with you as a familiar. I don't know what you value, but I can assure you that as my familiar you will have the honor of serving a noble of the house of Valliere. Anything you need can be afforded, and as long as you work hard you will be rewarded."

Tobias let his expression relax a bit, but he still reserved his final judgement. "Honor. Family name. What do those mean to you?" he asked aloud.

"A mage's honor and family—"

{I wasn't asking about mages,} he cut her off, once more reverting to thought-speak. {I asked about you.}

Louise blinked. "I-I will become a mage worthy of my parents, siblings, and ancestors," she said, even quieter than before. "I will not be an embarrassment that disgraces them. I will become a proper noble, not a Zero like everyone thinks I am."

Tobias's brown eyes stared into her pink ones. His expression revealed nothing, remaining firm as the seconds passed. Louise found herself unconsciously fidgeting under the intensity of his gaze but willed herself to stare back with as much determination as she could muster.

Finally, Tobias nodded. "Okay."

Louise's eyes lit up, which she tried to cover with a small cough. "Of course," she said. "I knew you'd see it my way."

"Sure," Tobias deadpanned. "Do you have a pen, or do I have to sign with a fingerprint of blood?"

"What are you talking about? That's disgusting!"

"Guess that's not the right type of contract," he said with a shrug. "Show me what I need to do."

Louise stepped forward. "You should be grateful for this," she said. "This is the only time you will get this honor from a noble."

"Just do it before I change my mind," Tobias said drily.

Louise huffed. A treacherous part of Tobias's brain saw the gesture as cute, but he forced himself to not be swayed. He had to remember that she was a dangerous sadist.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact with Tobias, Louise pulled his face close, and pressed her lips to his.

Tobias didn't flinch. Surprised, he was. But despite the gesture, he didn't feel anything personally. Still, he had to ask, {What are you doing?}

Louise pulled away, her face only having the faintest blush. "It's a part of the ceremony," she explained.

"Strange," Tobias commented.

Then pain burst from his left hand. A hissed escaped his clenched teeth as he lifted his hand up to examine it. Letter-like symbols, written in a language he couldn't read, etched on themselves on his hand in a flash of light. "What is this?" he growled.

"Just the runes branding on to your skin," Louise replied.

Tobias had to question if he heard that correctly. "What?"

"It'll be over soon," Louise said calmly.

Tobias, meanwhile, was doing his best to not panic. It had been years since he had felt pain like this, and his instincts were screaming at him to demorph. Demorphing was always easier than morphing. Morphing required consciously picturing the animal you were turning into. Demorphing could be done the same way, but with enough practice, it was closer to pressing the "undo" button. The problem was, he wasn't changing. Despite putting his full focus into "undoing" his morph, no feathers erupted from his skin and no beak formed on his face. Tobias's eyes flew open as the pain and shock overwhelmed his mind. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Tobias collapsed.

This chapter was originally planned to be 4k or so words. As you can see, that did not happen. Probably for the better.

I'm a big fan of the Animorphs. It and Warriors by Erin Hunter were the stories that encouraged me to start writing fanfiction, with Animorphs particularly inspiring me to write crossovers. And Tobias is my favorite character from the series. He has tragic backstory, shows the most signs of trauma, and is still a nice guy underneath all his scars. Granted, this is post-epilogue Tobias, who is a jaded hermit who has given up on pretty much everything at this point, but his normal self is still buried deep inside him. And who better to help him shape up than a tsundere abusive loli?

Actually, no, Louise is a terrible person for him to deal with. This is a train wreck. That's why I wrote it.

I did take some liberties for this set up, as per usual. Louise was a bit more subdued than she normal is, but I think Tobias is unnerving enough to break her noble facade when it comes down to it. Tobias agreed to basically be a pet of a sadist, but he'll explain why on the next chapter. Trust me, there's a good reason, and I gave a hint in this chapter.

General Note: This a part of a series where Louise Summons various people to be her familiar. Updates will depend on author inspiration and audience response. This is personally one of my favorites out of the 12+ I'm working on, but I'll prioritize whatever people want to see more, which is currently my personal favorite "Louise Summons a Pokemon Trainer".

This A/N has gone long enough. Please, share your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you. If you liked it, tell me why. If you didn't, tell me what you think went wrong. Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!