A/N: That's right! I'm still alive! I'm sorry I couldn't get it done sooner, but we've had a really hectic few days. First my Brother's final exam results came, and we we're all to nerve-racked to do a thing- but he did really well so we had to celebrate, and then my older sister was only FF6 (I have a SNES Emulator on the PC) And she asked how to save, but when I showed her, I accidentally saved over my own file. I had over 20 hours of gameplay...D'oh! Plus everything's been really chaotic trying to get ready for the new school year. We're back tomorrow...They're mixing all the forms around, as I think I mentioned in an earlier chapter, I'm worried that I won't be with my friends...I probably won't get this done today, but I'll put it up as soon as I've finished it, possibly Thurs, Fri or even Sat! Anyway, sorry to keep you all hanging...Couldn't really have had worse timing, could I? ; (That is meant to be a sweatdrop!) Anyway, I'll go type 8 now...

KP: Yours is always the first review I get! I liked the pizza scene to...I like Pizza. Mmm... I hope those stitches come out soon...Don't worry though; I don't think this chapter's going to make you laugh...

UKHoneyB: Sad! I don't like you any more...I've been to ALL the bookshops and ALL the libraries around, and they still don't have them! Right...(Rolls up sleeves) This means war...I will find those books!! But first, the chapter. Anyway, I knew some smart kid would know the time difference...Thank you! Have a waffle. (Gives UKHoneyB a waffle from seemingly unlimited supplies.) The Pizza (may) be explained at a (much) later date, and Maya will be right now! As for Tobias...I'm sure he'll find some way to get his revenge...MWHAHAHA!!

Anonymous-cat: Yep, they work together. Alliance / Allegiance...I don't know...hmm...what's the difference? Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway! You know what I mean! Originally, Ax playing Hide-and-seek wasn't planned, but...Well, when I sit down at a keyboard and start to type, I don't even think about it! I divulge and elaborate and exaggerate and shorten and lengthen and cut bits out and add bits in...and then I look over what I've typed and it's like: 'WTH?! How did that happen?!'. Heh, I tend to ramble, I guess. When we have to write stories in English I get a bit carried away, and I've usually ended up writing twice as much as anyone else in half the time. Unfortunately, my already terrible handwriting and spelling has got even worse, and it's practically illegible. I probably have the worst spelling skills in my class. On this page so far (Before Spell check) there are 9 mis-spelt words. Stitches, libraries, sleeves, Alliance, Allegiance, lengthen, Unfortunately and illegible. Told you I was a dire case...Thank goodness for Spell Check!

East Coast Ryder: You spilt water...? It wasn't that funny! Glad you liked it, though. Scooby's meant to be my friend and she hasn't even read it yet... (Hands ECR A towel)

East Coast Ryder, Korean Pearl, sorry about the short responses. For once I don't know what to say...

Disclaimer: Okay, I don't think I've exactly been keeping up to date with these: Me no own, you no sue.

Eight: A Girl and her Yeerk. (Maya)

"I guess it's time I told you guys about my past, huh?" I asked weakly, trying to smile. They didn't smile back. I can't tell you what they were thinking. I couldn't tell. I can't tell you what I was thinking either. I think maybe I was just hoping that this wasn't happening.

"I think that would be best." Simone said, without the slightest hint of compassion. I swallowed a few times. It was dumb! These guys, or Simone and Sierra at any rate, were my friends! I shouldn't keep stuff from them. And Marco, well...Marco.

"You going to start?" Marco asked "Because I'm really not interested in your domestic battles. I'm just waiting to go home."

"I have been honest with you guys." I said to the twins. It sounded desperate, even to me. "I just...omitted certain truths. I was worried you wouldn't trust me..."

"Just get on with it Maya." I nodded.

"Well...You guys know me and Chris knew each other before we met you guys." Slight nods. "I suppose it starts...ends...there."

The room was silent. Simone and Sierra were looking at the floor. Marco was studying the 'Wall of Shame'- dubbed so by Chris when he was in a particularly good mood. I glanced up at the wall my self.

The entire side of the room was taken up with photos. Photos of Taxxons, Hork-Bajir and humans. And one Andalite. Shots we'd managed to grab of the Vissers. And yet...There were a whole lot of gaps on that wall. Visser 12 was one of them. I followed Marco's gaze. Visser One. We hadn't managed to get a name for her yet. Just the face. She was pretty. I bet she had a lot going for her before she was made a slave. Even through the picture, she looked the most alive person I had ever seen. Was that her? Or was it the Yeerk?

A small cough from one of the room's occupants pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled wryly. No escape this time, Maya. I glanced at Marco.

"I told you some of us here were from right at the start of it all, didn't I?" I asked him. "Remember I mentioned those scout ships? They had instructions. The Yeerks needed to find out if humans were suitable hosts. They decided the easiest humans to test would be a child- They wouldn't put up a fight. And who'd believe a little kid if they started talking about seeing a monster? So, they wanted a kid. And it happened that I was the one they chose." I tried to keep my voice light hearted, even when I was painting my soul up on the wall for them to sneer at.

"Lucky you." Marco quipped. I sighed.

"Lucky me." I agreed. "I was seven at the time. I got separated from my mom when we were out shopping. You know how it is. The slightest thing will catch your attention. Well, you know, I did that whole crying thing for a while, but it didn't really take."

"I can't really imagine you crying." Marco commented. His focus was on me now. I think he could see how this was going. He was trying to keep it a little more friendly. The atmosphere in the room was terrible- cold, and yet my mouth was still dry. I was glad of his conversation. It kept me from drifting to far into the realms of memory.

"No. Well, my favourite film at the time was 'Baby's Day Out.'." I broke off "Did you ever see that film?" No one answered. It was like, get to the point. I swallowed. The worst part was coming up. "Anyway, I decided to go and look for her. I went down an alleyway, and the next thing I knew, I had a slug being forced down my ear."

"What? They had landed there?" Sierra and Simone still didn't say anything. Still didn't look at me. I wished they would. Marco has one intense stare. I looked at him, and he suddenly looked away, perhaps sensing my discomfort. I nodded.

"Yep. And I just happened to stumble on them." I stopped, unwilling to go on.

"So, then what happened?" Sierra asked. I looked at her, startled. She didn't sound mad, just curious. And she was grudgingly looking at me. Simone was to. I smiled back. Sometimes I forget how the twins understand anyone and everyone. Usually before you understand yourself, as well.

"Yeah, don't leave in suspense..." I grinned at Simone. She tried to look stern. "Uh-uh. Don't you be going for that Houdini complex again." She waved a finger. "This time you're telling the full story." Ah. Maybe not forgiven then.

I knew I was avoiding the issue, even in my thoughts. I felt ever so slightly resentful towards them. I already spent six years going through this! Why do you want me to go through it again?! I sighed. That wasn't the right way to think. I remember I was going to go through every detail...change of plan. I wanted to get it over and done with ASAP. Out of thought, out of mind. Yeah right, Maya. Like you're ever going to forget it. Like your past will ever stop haunting you in your dreams.

"Sooooo...Before the Apocalypse happens..." Marco prompted.

"Guess what. My mom never found her little girl. I was just one of thousands of kids lost in the city every day.

My Yeerk was low ranking, in case anything went wrong. He had previously been a guard. And now, he was suddenly in the limelight. Everyone was watching him. Just a guard, maybe, but he had dreams." I looked up, trying to asses what they thought all this. "Ambitions, as it were. With this new, nimble fingers," I subconsciously waved my fingers. I tend to gesture a lot with my hands when I'm talking. Go figure. "So much more flexible then the Hork-Bajir's...that's what he said. Which meant he could get back to what he most enjoyed- mechanics." Marco raised an eyebrow.

"You sound as if you knew it very well." He shrugged, when he caught me looking at him. He had deliberately said it. Trying to make it less personal. I looked him in the eye.

"You try having something in your head for six years," I replied coolly. "Using your body for it's purposes. Trying to convince you how resistance is futile. Trying to force you out of your own mind. You see if you don't know everything about them." He needed a comeback.

"Them?" He asked, daring me to change what I said.

"Them." I confirmed. The Yeerks were living. They weren't inanimate objects. And maybe I needed to keep them a little more real to stop myself going mad.

What is right and wrong? He asked me. How can you define something that exists only in minds? How can you say I'm wrong when you can't even tell me what's right?

"Maya?" I shook my head, trying to clear it.

"Sorry. Anyway, he was good. He taught me everything I know." I said it just to irk Marco. He knew, and seemed to find it funny. I envied him. I wish I could find humour at this point. "And as my body got older, and my fingers became less clumsy, and he got used to 'his' body...well, he just got better. Any Blade ship that needed servicing, He was the one they pulled into space. And, well, as for me...I didn't give up hope...I guess I had nothing else that the Yeerk couldn't take away from me. So I took a back seat. And I watched him as he did his work, because if I was rescued, I wanted to get every last bloody one of them off my planet!"

"That information proved invaluable to us." Sierra begun. Simone continued for her.

"We've done so many sabotages on Maya's knowledge I've lost count." She commented. "But that still doesn't explain..."
"The wheels." Sierra completed. Sometimes I get the creepiest feeling those two are telepathic...

"Those came later. See, although he was the best mechanic around, he got no glory. And that's what he wanted. He was just trying to earn his five minutes in the sun." I expected comments like Oh, so now you're feeling sorry for it?! But none came, so I continued. "It was only mighty warriors that got promoted...And then...Then Visser Three came to Earth to begin the full scale invasion. But he knew the Andalites would stop them. The Andalites were outnumbered, outmanned and outgunned. The Yeerks won many battles, despite what propaganda the Andalites spewed to their people."

"You make them sound like the Helmacrons." Marco snorted. I snapped back to the present long enough to become baffled.

"Who?"

"Never mind. Anyway, you better not let Ax hear you say that."

I shook my head. "I'm not saying that. The Andalites won a fair share of battles- the Yeerks could win the all out brawl, but in tactical manoveres, the Andalites ruled the roost."

"Now that, you can say to Ax. But you may want to cut out the metaphors. With Ax, they're more trouble then they're worth."

"I'll bear that in mind. Apart from their 'Superior Planning Capabilities', aka, being smarter, the Andalites only had one advantage-"

"The morphing power." Sierra and Simone said together, but it was Marco that pointed out the obvious and the direction I was heading in.

"So V3 wanted this Technician dude to duplicate it."

"Exactly. However, the Andalite forces were impenetrable. All the stealth missions failed. So he had to start from scratch."

"He worked for almost a year on that project. Analysing, experimenting...he barely slept." I shook my head "His need for glory was all-consuming. Eventually, Ten months later, he had the final designs."

"Ten months...?" Sierra wondered. "Isn't that a bit...fast?"

"Would you keep the Visser waiting?" I asked by way of an answer. "Anyway, that's where it all went wrong..."

"He had been given a team of scientists to work under him. He didn't trust any of them. The Yeerk society is an untrusting one. And his mistrust- Paranoia- paid off. Sure enough, one of the underlings betrayed him. His name was Judans, funnily enough. He called my Controller a traitor, claiming that he was working with the Andalites, sabotaging the project in return for immunity from prosecution when the Andalites won.

There was no trial. He was to die, 'just in case'. A quick death though, as V3 'Liked him'.

This particular Yeerk was especially vengeful. He didn't want to die for a crime he didn't commit- fair enough, I guess. He knew that even if he did escape, he wouldn't last long. So he gave his guards the slip, and went back to the lab. He committed the sabotage he was supposed to have done."

"Wouldn't the others have noticed?"

I shook my head. "No. That's the beauty of it. They all thought the designs were perfect- and they were. Perhaps a little different to the Andalite version; but I wouldn't know- I've never seen one. Anyhow, he just made a slight alteration in the formula. Not one there was as smart as him, and he knew it. I'm not complimenting him," I said hurriedly "It's just a fact. The smart thing about this sabotage was that Sap would still work."

"Huh?" The twins asked.

"Sap?" Marco echoed.

"Sap." I repeated. "S-A-P. It stands for Stolen Andalite Power. Originally, it was going to be Stolen Andalite Technology, Sat, but they were somewhat big on word play."

"Okay..." Sierra said. "Project Sap. Great. But how is it smart if he keeps it working?"

"Think about it." I said. "This usurping little turd thinks it still works- but he's going to check it all over before he gives it to the Visser- claiming he's fixed it. So he left Sap working- but there's a catch." I cleared my throat. Might as well tell the whole truth. "Actually, he pulled the idea from my brain. He wanted revenge, I wanted to kill the Yeerks, it was a win-win situation."

"What was the catch?" Marco asked, eyes shining at the thought of a scam.

"It worked...for a while. Just long enough for the Visser and his cronies to try it out. Then...it stopped working. "

"So then the Visser would blame the Yeerk that lied?" I nodded.

"But it didn't work. As far as we knew, the project had been abandoned."
"But obviously not anymore." Marco commented.

"No. not anymore." I agreed.

"Well, you've started." Simone said "You may as well finish. How did you get free from this Yeerk, then?" I began to shrug- then remembered I was supposed to tell them everything.

"Do I have to...?" I groaned.

"Look, you may be allergic to pity, Maya, but I think you owe it to us." Sierra commented.

"Well, the long and short of it is that the Yeerk was going to be given a quick death, but after he evaded capture...That went out the window. He was sentenced to death by Kandrona starvation. They just gave him a tiny bit each day, so that it took him longer to die."

"Is that all?" Marco laughed harshly "He got off easy."

"Did he?" I asked sweetly. There was silence for a moment, and it was so quiet that when the penny dropped in their minds you could practically hear it.

"Man..." Simone groaned. "They did this to you?"

"Who'd you think did 'this' to me?" I asked curiously. "I believe they crushed my legs by running them over with some heavy machinery. I wasn't conscious enough to pay attention. Sorry."

"You shouldn't be sarcastic about things like that!" Sierra scolded. "It's not funny!" She looked so disgusted, I had to laugh. Marco was smirking to.

"So, then what happened?" He asked.

"I thought you weren't interested in our 'domestic battles'..." I teased.

"Yeah, well, until you wrap this up, I can't go home." He shot back "And besides, I doubt we'll be going back when all hell is breaking loose over here, so I'll probably be hanging around a while. Pretty soon, I have no doubt we'll all be running away from certain death again. So I'll take every break I'm given, even your life story." We stared at him, wondering if he was ever going to take a breath. (A/N: Not that anyone ever looks at me like that...) "I mean," He continued "We were just going shopping. Shopping, for heaven's sake! I mean, I go shopping like, twice a year, not including the arcade, and I still end up on a suicide mission! What's next? I mean, what, we're going to fall off the escalator and end up in Narnia? Hogwarts? Everworld?! Man!"

We all just kinda blinked at him. Then, he and I both started laughing.

"Okay, that sounded completely pathetic..." He groaned.

"Everworld?" I echoed "Everworld? You actually read those books?"

"My dad makes me. He says they'll 'Boost my imagination'." He rolled his eyes.

"Well, tell him not to bother. You should read her other series."
"She's done another series?"

"Uh-huh. Everworld's alright, but the other one's better." Sierra coughed.

"You know, we are still standing here." She said. Marco tilted his head.

"Didn't I say that already?" He asked "Yesterday, I mean?"

"I don't know, you were the o-"

"And back to the point!" Simone yelled, getting us all to shut up. "So what happened? How did you get rid of the Yeerk, and how did you meet Chris?!"

"Woah, chill." I said. "They beat me up, and just before we both died, they lobbed us out onto some remote roadside somewhere, so my death couldn't be connected to them. In a nutshell."

"And..." Sierra prompted.

"And...that's where it gets a bit hazy." I finished lamely. But it wasn't completely true. I had been oblivious to the outside world, but just before my body shut down for repairs, I had had the last conversation with the slaver that was in my head. But I wasn't ready to share that with them, not yet.

"And that's where I come in." Chris's voice came from the doorway. "Hey, everyone. My shift finished." He came and sat down at the table with the rest of us. "Anyway, I knew about the Yeerks at that point. On the run from them, actually. Anyhow, that's not important. I was heading down this remote road to nowhere in particular, when I found this half-dead girl lying in the gutter. And next to her was something that was undeniably a Yeerk. I watched it as it shrivelled up and disappeared. Then I took Maya here and got her patched up."
"And stole a wheelchair for me." I teased, nothing it was a sore subject.

"I sent them the money as soon as I had it." He pouted. "You couldn't walk Maya! What was I supposed to do? Leave you flat on your back?" I punched him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I was just heckling. Pay no heed, oh big bro."

"Please don't tell me you're related." Marco groaned. Chris laughed.

"Not in blood, no." He said. I rolled my eyes. That old chestnut. Needless to say, I went along with it.

"Not by birth." I said obediently. Hey, I bet every family has dorky little traditions. Ours started after we had met up with the twins and rescued our first person.

"Not in any court room in the world." Sierra added, sending me a Oh-This-is-so-dorky, Why-the-hec-are-we-doing-this-again? Look.

"But we are in everything that counts." Simone sighed, wrinkling her nose.

"So. Am I forgiven for keeping secrets?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Sierra said.

"Alright." Simone agreed. "It's not like we hadn't practically guessed anyway..." She added.

"What?" I demanded "You made me go through that and you already knew?!"

"Of course." Sierra sighed "You're not as good at lying your way out of things as you like to think, Maya."

"Yeah. I mean, come on. You know everything about Yeerk technology that there is to know. It's not like they teach that in school."

"Damn you and your unusual perceptiveness..." I muttered, causing them to collapse into giggles. "Besides, you're not that good at it yourselves."

"What do you mean?" They asked together. I grinned evilly.

"Oh, nothing, my telepathic friends." Okay, I'll admit it was a complete stab in the dark, but I sounded like I knew what I was talking about. And from the looks on their faces, my stab had hit the target.

"Okay, we'll have to practise secret keeping." Simone said, eventually.

"No, we won't." Chris said "From now on, no more secrets, okay?"

"Does that mean you're going to pour your soul out for us? I asked, poking him in the stomach. The look on his face made us all start laughing again. Simone and Sierra got up to leave.

"Well, we've got stuff to do." They said "See you later."

"Are you going to talk in usion all the time now?" Chris asked. "It's kinda creepy..."
"Consider it revenge for working out our secret." They grinned, turning to the door.

On the way out, they stopped next to Marco and whispered something in his ears. He looked a little shocked, and, laughing, the twins left.

"What did they say?" I asked.

"I-" Marco began. Just then, Jake came through the door. He glanced at the clock.

"It's still morning then," He laughed. Then he looked round at us. "What have I missed?" He asked. I glanced at Marco and Chris.

"I don't care what you say!" I yelled, resting my head on the table "I am not going through that all over again!"

"What have I missed?" Jake wondered, coming to sit with us.

A/N: Well, that was an uphill struggle. And I know it's Sunday, not Saturday...sorry. It's not my fault the dumb music teacher gave us an essay within in the first two days...Oh, Me, Scooby, Chloe, Esther and Heather all got into the same form! We're all in the express band! I mentioned it in a previous chapter, I think...

Waffles, Scooby, Chloe, Heather and Esther: (High fives)

Scooby: Ya know, this means you're one of the smartest kids in the year...

Waffles: (Contemplates that) Yeah, I guess it does...

Scooby: The smartest people in this generation will be running the world in ten or twenty years...Now there's a scary thought.

Waffles: I'm gonna rule the world! Wheeeeeeee!!

Scooby:... I think I'll emigrate to Mars.

A/N: Well, well done us! Speaking of 'Wells', how many times did Maya say 'well' in this chapter? Speaking of speaking, there was too much in that chapter, wasn't there? (Answers on a postcard to the usual address) I mean, jeez, why don't we have an alternate word for 'Well'? And 'Anyway' was just as bad...Ah well.

Sorry for it taking so long!!

Waffles