"Don't count on it!" Amy snarled at the black shape in front of her.
The shadow of Gaal only laughed and raised a dark hand, sending streaks of lightning toward Amy, as if to torture her. Her mind flashing to Luke Skywalker suffering at the hands of Emperor in Return of the Jedi. The white and red pup dove away and the lightning passed into the nothingness behind her.
"You are evil," Amy said firmly and bravely, "and we are beautiful! Lovely! You are responsible for what happened to Megan and Margot!"
"The war MUST COME!" Gaal answered, and swung at Amy, grabbing the small pup before she could dodge, "and now I have you!"
++++++
Ulysses nervously sat still with Sarah beside him as Jensen paced in front of him. The current statues of Megan and Margot stood calmly. Zack was holding Roger down, and Kaylee and the triplets stood by quietly, although the triplets were horrified by what had just happened. Jensen had had two pack members turned into statues for absolutely no reason.
"Master..." Julie gasped, "why did you do that?! Megan and Margot had freed Ashley. They'd done well for the Pack."
"Did I authorize the attempt?" Jensen questioned.
"No."
"Then they disobeyed a direct order," Jensen answered, "they were supposed to helping us evacuate. Instead they ran off and could have been killed! Suppose the police had shot them!"
"And turning them into statues is better?" Fran asked, while Darla noticed the office mirror was smashed, and Abbey was gone.
"And you've chased Abbey away!" Darla added.
That made Jensen stop, and Julie turned to look at the mirror.
"Abbey!?" Jensen gasped, his earlier rage gone, now replaced by a sense of guilt.
"She probably went to a different room," Zack spoke as he glanced to see June cradle his unconscious daughter.
"Why?" Roger said weakly, looking at his sister's marble form, "Why Master? She loved you. She did it for you. And you did this to her."
"She betrayed him," Zack growled.
"I..."
Jensen was unable to continue as Julie slapped him, knocking him back a few feet.
"How dare you do that to a Pack mate! And frighten your own daughter!" Julie yelled, with Fran and Darla nodding in agreement.
"Master!" Zack and June gasped.
"Jensen!" Kaylee gasped as well.
"Stand down," Jensen said slowly, his anger gone and rapidly being replaced by guilt. He didn't want his pups afraid of him.
+++++++
The pride was resting as Serenity waited for the cascade of turns that would signal the Pack's freedom. Mary had settled into her mother's lap with Trevor and had only begun to drift off when both were startled by something they couldn't sense.
"What was that?" Trevor asked softly.
"I don't know," Mary said, "but... it didn't feel good..."
"Jensen?" Trevor wondered.
"No, not Jensen," Mary answered, "The curse, I think. Like it's suddenly become ten times as powerful as before..."
Trevor was unable to answer as Abbey came running out of lounge's mirror in a great rush, and landed face down on the floor and skidded into Arael. The lioness jumped in shock at being hit by something, and nearly swung a fist down when she noticed it was the five year old glass pup.
"Abbey!" Mary cried out and leaped up, awakening the other lions, and then noticed that Abbey was whimpering, her glass tail, low.
"Abbey, what is it?" Mary asked.
"Statues... Father... Angry..." Abbey cried, gripping Mary in a hug.
"What?" came the question from nearly every lion there, but catching the pup's panic.
"What happened, dear?" Felicity asked as she came to kneel next to the pup her daughter was comforting.
"I think the curse had Jensen do something that frightened her," Lexi commented, "no kid ever behaves that way unless they've seen a parent betray them, and it's the curse's fault besides."
"We should have gone with them," Gabriel said, "We could have restrained them!"
"Maybe," Bobbi spoke nervously, "but she's too shaken up. If we go... I doubt she can help us."
++++++
Meanwhile, in the Curse World, Gaal grasped Amy's soul tightly, giving a dark and evil smile.
"And now I have you, and you'll live in your nightmares forever!" Gaal growled at the pup.
Amy struggled as determination burned within her. This thing was evil and the cause of ALL the evils in Glendale! She couldn't let it win. It would destroy her family. She had to save them! She had to! Her soul told her so...
And with that thought, her red brush-like markings suddenly began to glow with a bright inner light. The light burned Gaal and made her release the pup, and Amy landed calmly and serenely before the shadow of one of the three witches. Her mind suddenly cleared by her determination. She knew who she was... who she had been.
+++++
Years ago, a young Shinto priestess, Ami, sat quietly in a dark cell with only a small window. She had long practiced white magic in the hopes bringing peace to the world and ending the conflicts between nations... yet she could sense a strange destiny in the future, one she couldn't understand. She tried to discern it in her temple when Imperial soldiers arrested her, for daring to speak out against the "will of the Emperor".
And so she sat in her cell as her country fought a losing war with the United States. As large four engine bombers reigned fire down on Japanese cities. As the famous American Mustang fighter flew from Iwo Jima to attack Japanese fighters and strafe ships in Tokyo bay and protect the bombers. She was sad, as her attempts to end the government's policies had failed, and now everyone was paying for it... but yet, her mind told her, this wasn't her destiny. She was needed elsewhere... but she didn't know where, and as a great flash of light erupted outside her cell... the Priestess knew she wouldn't be able to find that out in her present life...
+++++
"Congratulations!" a doctor at Glendale's hospital said years later, "it's a boy!"
The new born infant was handed to the mother who had just given birth. Cleaned and dry, and wrapped in a blue blanket.
"He's handsome," a male voice said, "What will you name him, dear?"
"Randy," the new mother smiled, "Randy."
The infant baby, Randy, was lifted up to his mother's now exposed breast and began to suckle. Meanwhile, the image of the Japanese priestess from Hiroshima, Ami, twinkled in the boy's eyes. The reincarnated soul within him finally realized her destiny. He had been born into a place shadowed by a dark curse, and one that would only get darker in the coming years, as Trevor was yet to be a flicker in his parent's eyes, and Queen's grandparents hadn't been born yet. And inside her new form, Ami sensed that her destiny was to fight this curse... and the boy she was reincarnated as would one day become something beautiful, and in the curse's darkest moment, there would be a light...
+++++++
"What have I done?" Jensen asked with a whimper.
Two of his pack were statues, Megan's turn forever locked in it. He didn't know it but Margot's turn had been used to free Megan. And on top of the scuffle over all of this... one of his youngest pups had fled, to the police station. He sensed it. She was in no danger, but he could feel her fear... her fear of him.
"You've destroyed us! Betrayed those who loved you!" Roger cried, his eye's still on Megan's statue.
"You scared you own child!" the triplets yelled together.
Kaylee was silent, torn between her growing friendship with the triplets, her love for her mate, and her fascination with statue transformations. Jensen only whimpered. He couldn't believe what he had done, what he had ordered, out of the blue.
June was silent. She had little interest in Roger's pain at the loss of his sister, and the loss of Margot troubled her little, but the fact that her daughter was unconscious before her was the real thing... and for that she felt some anger at Jensen for starting the fight and at Zack for mindlessly following. It was only when Amy's red brush-like marks on her fur began to glow that she noticed something.
++++++
"How could you...?" Gaal gasped in pain at the now glowing pup before it.
"The same way you hurt the good people of Glendale," Amy answered, "Magic. I am Priestess Ami Yakamatsu. I have strove for peace since my birth in 1917 through my death in 1945, my reincarnation in 1970 and my recent rebirth as Amy of the Big Bad Wolf Pack. And you Gaal and your evil are destined to be destroyed by that which is good and beautiful!"
Gaal was shocked at this. Certainly no one but her coven knew magic. The great white wizards of Europe vanished before she and her coven members were killed as the Western world gravitated toward science. The most powerful of them, Merlin Ambrosius died shortly after Arthur Pendragon of old age. But then, Gaal had no experience with oriental culture and possibly even no knowledge of a place called Japan.
But, Gaal was determined to win. She had begun her end game to insure that the Pack and the Pride fought, making both miserable when Jensen's wolves and gargoyles through strength of numbers drove the lions off. This little white and red pup was not going to stop her. She fired off another blast of dark lightning at Amy.
Amy didn't move as her red brush marks began to glow brighter. The lightning was attracted to the glowing fur and was quickly absorbed into the light, doing no harm to Amy.
"You fail to realize that evil can not triumph so long as there is someone free to fight it," Amy spoke, "You've enslaved the Pack, you're trying to enslave the Pride, but you could not enslave me. It is my destiny to stop you!"
Gaal roared with rage and rushed toward Amy as a brush suddenly appeared in the pup's paws. With a few quick strokes, Amy brushed the word "fade" in Kaji, and sent the image flying into Gaal. It knocked Gaal down, but the shadow of the dead witch managed to get up, seemingly unhurt.
"And what was that supposed to do?" Gaal taunted.
"What it is doing," Amy answered, "You and your sister spirits are fading away. Going back to the way you were before Jennifer Smith became Jensen."
Gaal looked back at the pup and then noticed something. The entire Curse World was growing brighter. Gaal then looked at herself and saw her dark hands start to fade away... seemingly into nothing.
"No!" Gaal spoke panicked, "NO! IT CAN'T END THIS WAY! IT CAN'T!"
Gaal rushed toward Amy again the shadow vanished in a massive flash of light that rocketed through the curse with tremendous force.
+++++++
"What is this?" June spoke as Amy's body continued to glow, and began to glow brighter.
"I don't know," Zack spoke, letting go of Roger as the sight of his daughter glowing was too much.
There was then a sudden flash of light that came out of Amy with tremendous force. It threw all of the present wolves away. Jensen against one wall. Kaylee and Julie were thrown through a window. June, Fran, and Darla were merely knocked down. Zack and Roger were knocked back against another wall, and Sarah and Ulysses were thrown into a bookcase. Ashley and Anne were thrown down the hall leaving the statues they had only gotten as far as the doorway to the office to start to glow with the same light Amy was glowing with.
There were then two soft thumps as something hit the floor.
++++++
"This is a nightmare," Gill spoke as Abbey had finally calmed down enough to explain what had happened.
"He didn't mean too, he didn't mean to," Abbey cried.
"I'm sure he didn't," Serenity tried to comfort the glass pup, "Inside his mind, I'm sure he didn't..."
"It's the curse," Trevor said to Abbey, finding it strange that he was now comforting the pup to make her happy and feel Jensen's parental love again, but then he had once rejected Queen out of hand, but had actually come to love her, "the curse did something. We'll find a way to free him and your family will love you again."
"Really?" Abbey asked.
"We'll go now," Brian told the pup, "we'll free him and you can have your family again."
But every turn holder or victim in the Pride, and Serenity was suddenly wracked by the shock wave of Gaal being destroyed in the curse world. They all saw a great flash of light go in front of their eyes.
+++++++
As Jensen's eyes fluttered opened, something flashed before his eyes. Kyle's call. His transformation. His revenge against him by making him Kaylee. His transforming his parents and having them transform Kaylee's parents. His turning of Martha into a four armed, two headed monster. His transformation of Alice, the creation of the pack, the creation of the gargoyles... EVERYTHING he had done burned in his mind... and so much of it was wrong.
Being a wolf wasn't that bad... but none of his victims had been willing, and in the cases of Kaylee and Martha, they had not only been unwilling transformations, but had merely been for his own amusement.
"God, what have I DONE?!" Jensen screamed.
"Fallen victim to grave curse, Jensen-Sama," came Amy's voice.
He looked up to see the white and red pup was once again standing, and to his great surprise the furred bodies of Megan and Margot laid next to the pup. Like the statue transformation had been undone.
"But you needn't worry," Amy continued, "we are all free."
"Free?" Jensen asked.
"Free of the curse's hold," Amy spoke, "the one who made you transform Megan and Margot has been defeated. Although much of what it's done, can not be undone. We are wolves forever. The Pride are lions forever, and will still have the potential problem of a lion's natural polygamy... or like you they could accept it as a sign of your love for your mates."
"He didn't transform them on his own?!" came Roger's voice, sounding shocked and angry that Jensen had done such a thing to his sister and confused by what Amy had just said about the pride. He, meanwhile, began physically moving to Megan's presently sleeping form.
"You must blame him, any of you," Amy spoke, "He has been a good leader... merely enslaved to very evil spirits... spirits I've vanquished."
June blinked from her position. All her brainwashing was gone. Her transformation into the Pack, Pearl's brainwashing to make her support Zack... yet she still loved her daughter, and the Pack was a family. She also noticed tears forming in Jensen's eyes. It was clear that his own brainwashing was gone.
Kaylee and Julie slowly climbed back through the window and joined Fran and Darla.
"What happened?" Kaylee asked.
"The curse has been defeated," Amy spoke, "and its attack on us has been defeated. You are free. Free to go your own way. Free to love whom you will."
Kaylee traded glances with each other and looked to the horrified Jensen... who looked like he was going through his own personal hell. He looked at them with incredibly guilty eyes.
"Darling?" the four she wolves said together.
"No!" Jensen cried, "No! I don't deserve you! Not after what I've done!"
Kaylee lead the triplets to Jensen who was on the floor gripping himself, whimpering as he did so.
"We love you," Kaylee spoke, "Despite everything. I'm the most to blame for this anyway. Remember, I transformed you, I transformed Fran and Darla. If anything, I'm worse then you... you've done more good as the Big Bad Wolf then as Jennifer."
"But all of it was unwilling!" Jensen spoke, "the gargoyles didn't want to be gargoyles. Jack and Marcine didn't want to be deer. The Shadows didn't want to be them."
"Not all of it was unwilling," came Zack's voice.
"Zack?"
"Hope, Isabelle, Grace, and I all CHOOSE this," Zack spoke, "you invited us in and we accepted it. Now, I had hoped to be your second... your best friend, like I was before..."
"Which is Kaylee's position," Jensen spoke.
"Yes," Zack nodded, actually accepting his place in the pack, "but then, our dynamic has changed. We're both male, and you've found real love in Kaylee, Fran, Darla, and Julie. You've made a family with Jenny, Bart, Kevin, Marcy, Alice, Samantha, and Abbey... I'd can only hope that June, Pearl and I can achieve any real degree of love like what you've made."
"But it was the curse that fueled it," Jensen protested, "I MADE Kaylee be submissive to me..."
"But you came to love me, Jensen," Kaylee told him, "You admitted it to me the other day. And I've come to love you too. If we were to suddenly be Kyle and Jennifer again, I'd still love you... for everything. Good and bad."
"So do we," said the triplets.
"Until this began you've been a wonderful father," Fran spoke.
"Caring for Alice, Abbey, and Samantha," Darla added, "wishing them to be happy."
"Which is why we were mad that you started the fight here with your own pack and scared your daughter," Julie finished, "we KNOW you're better then that."
Jensen turned to look at Julie. She looked firm, yet loving.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am," Jensen spoke.
"You'll do better," the triplets said again.
Jensen nodded. He then slowly approached Roger, who was pawing at Megan's shoulder.
"Roger, can you forgive me?" Jensen asked, "for everything? If not, I understand."
Roger looked down at his sister, sleeping peacefully, as if she had never been a statue. He then turned his head to look at Amy, who stood nearby.
"It was the curse Roger-San, not Jensen-Sama," Amy spoke.
"And you stopped the curse?" Sarah asked, confused and shocked and surprised by her own brainwashing being suddenly ended, all without a turn.
"Yes," Amy spoke, "and freed the Pack."
She then looked to see Ashley and Anne out cold outside the office. They had tried to move the heavy statues of Megan and Margot out, and were unprepared for the shock wave that erupted when Amy defeated Gaal. Glancing over her shoulder, for a moment, all Amy seemed to see in the shadows was like a mindless instrument of dark magic, ready to be completely destroyed by Serenity's cure. Amy turned back to see Ashley and Anne slowly getting up.
"God..." Anne gasped as she came to.
"Shocking to be free again, isn't it?" Ashley asked back.
Jensen then turned to them, managing to avoid the pedestals that Megan and Margot had fallen off of when Amy had freed them.
"Ashley, Anne, I'm sorry," Jensen spoke honestly, for the first time in years, he was honestly sorry.
The two she wolves looked to see Megan and Margot back in their fur coats, although unconscious.
"Amy freed them," Jensen spoke, "and us. Strangely. Made me realize mistakes. I'm sorry Ashley for what I did to Megan and Margot. I'm sorry for having you both transformed against your will."
"There's nothing to forgive," came Roger's voice at last, making Jensen turn to the pastel green male, "If Amy says it was the curse that did it, then that is good enough for me. Like Alpha Female and the Betas have said, much of what you've done can be seen as good. We're all a family, but still mortal... and everyone makes mistakes."
"Yes," Jensen slowly nodded, "and hopefully... I can atone for mine, both to the Pack and to Glendale. I get the feeling that the worst of this was entirely my fault..."
"So what do we do, Alpha Male?" Ulysses asked.
"First we bring everything and everyone back from the island," Jensen spoke, "it might make a nice vacation spot for us... but for now we need to get Abbey back and apologize to her and apologize to Serenity and the police for the trouble Kaylee and I have caused..."
"I'll find Alice," Ulysses volunteered, "She and Samantha are probably still carrying stuff between here and the island."
Ulysses quickly left with Sarah going along. Jensen then turned to Fran and Darla.
"And if you two wish to leave and return to the police, I will not stop you," Jensen spoke.
Fran and Darla looked at each other and then smiled, making Julie smile as well.
"We would like to rejoin our fellow officers, even if some of them are lions now," Fran said with a smile, "but we will return to you and Alpha Female and Julie every night. We still love you, darling."