(Sliced up pieces of Unkown and S1's work together. Hopefully it's mostly coherent.)
Ami and Amy said, Ami's red mark shinning like the warm living giving sun. "That's one,
two to go."
"I feel dizzy," Amy said.
Ami hugged Amy, "It'll be over soon Amy I promise."
Amy looked in her other self's eyes, "We're going to vanish once we're done aren't we?"
"We aren't going to vanish, we'll be whole, we're going to become part of the Ami and Amy
who exist in the complete timeline the same as everyone else. We're not vanishing, we're
becoming."
Amy hugged Ami back, "Okay... two to go then."
++++++
With the gargoyles current on the island playing crowd control, and the rest of the pack
looking after the damaged Pride and Pack members (fall falling asleep on their feet as they
did so) Serenity dog tired herself enter the estate at dawn with no resistance Trevor
walking behind her.
Paul had gone back to Father Mike to explain to his bother the near end of the world that
had been adverted and to FINALLY get some sleep!!!
Serenity slowly made her way through what was the new Smith manor, looking at the
impressive structure that it was. As she went she saw several photographs along a wall,
and a series of college diplomas... Jensen's in business and economics, Kaylee's in the law,
Fran and Darla's in law enforcement, and Julies in biology and medicine. The first
photograph looked like it had happened at Glendale's Episcopalian church with Jensen,
Kaylee, Fran, Darla, and Julie all standing together before the alter... which startled
Serenity a bit. At present EVERY mainstream Christian church disapproved of polygamy.
The only denomination that did practice that had been the Mormons... and they had
abandoned that when Utah joined the union... but the picture was there.
It was closely followed by a pair of pictures, one showing Kaylee heavily pregnant with
Jensen standing beside her... and then one of her cradling a black and a reddish brown
pup in her arms.
The next picture was of Darla and Kaylee standing together, both pregnant... although
Darla looked further along at the time, and then ended with a picture of Jensen with a
heavily pregnant Fran and Julie. It finished with pictures of Bart, Jenny, Kevin, Marcy,
Abbey, Alice, and Samantha, with Mr. P laying in front of them.
"It's like their pasts are being rewritten," came Trevor's voice from behind her.
"Yes," Serenity nodded, "Like the Pack has always been here... like Jensen was always
Jensen."
"Do you think this has anything to do with Kurse's death?" Trevor asked.
"Possibly," Serenity sighed, "although I'm not about to mess with all that... just looking at
what is the result of a couple of kids who did something really stupid..."
Trevor only nodded.
"So how are you making out?" Serenity asked, "being back in a place that to you really
smells of "wolf"?"
"It actually isn't as bad as it was before," Trevor commented, "I can really smell it around
their bedrooms, but many of the rooms that the public would see the most if they visited
here has been thoroughly cleaned..."
"Probably something to do with their minds being free now," Serenity commented, "no
longer enslaved. Thinking more like a human they realize they need to clean and disinfect
a lot... even if as wolves they don't need it... because humanity has a much weaker
immune system compared with the rest of the animal kingdom."
"Yeah," Trevor nodded, "also, they have some of Kurse's victims here. A pearl colored wolf
took me to a room they're sleeping in. She's taken the liberty of dressing them... though
where a bunch of naked wolf people found children's clothing I don't know... in some
pajamas. She also mentioned some wonder about how to get them back to their parents..."
"Alice, Abbey, Samantha and the mirrorverse," Serenity spoke, "Like how they got to the
island."
"No, she said that option isn't available," Trevor spoke, "they'd become Alice, Abbey, and
Samantha's glass sisters the instant they go inside the mirrorverse. It's part of their
transform... only someone who's form has been locked... or has some immunity to the
game can enter..."
"That'll make reuniting the families difficult," Serenity sighed, "Jensen told us that island
was selected because it was so remote. We can't just fly the kids there... and while there
are "passenger liners", they don't make such trips anymore. They're cruise ships now."
Trevor yawned, he was sleepy as he had been awake most of the day, and now much of
the night, and had been through a tough fight in the curse world, even if the wounds
there didn't show up in the real world.
"So what do we do?" Trevor asked, "I mean the Pack and the Pride still need to have their
turns "killed"... we have all the victims that didn't revert when Kurse died to find, and see if
they want to be changed back..."
"A lot of that will have to wait," Serenity sighed, "Once Fran finishes patching up the
physical wounds sustained by the Pack and the Pride in the battle, I intend to go home and
get some sleep... you're welcome to come with me or go with Brian and Felicity... although
I don't know if they will go anywhere until Mary gets back."
Trevor caught a hint of depression in her voice.
"You okay?"
"I'll miss you, Trevor," Serenity said after a few moments, "I know we've never been
friends... but I have always enjoyed having you around. You've helped so much with my
work."
"Though it seems now that the curse is gone, and the largest collection of turns out there
between the Pack and the Pride won't be used... even if you didn't have Merlin's cure,"
Trevor shrugged, "it's sorta like what happened with many of the guys drafted for WWII.
Guy from Alabama meets a guy from Oregon and become friends and thanks to some
miracle they survive the war... but are both going back to their homes... as with no war to
fight and no need to stay in the army... what reason do they have to stay together?"
"They have to move on," Serenity nodded, "Although I wonder what I will do when we
finally sort out all the fallout from this... I mean no Game to investigate, no curse to
thwart... what is to become of ME now? The Pack will have each other and will likely
resume much of their previous lives while staying a Pack... the Pride will do much the
same thing... and you have Mary now... and you might be able to see your family again...
I... meanwhile... have nothing. I've spent so long fighting the Game that I never stopped to
think about what I would do when it was finally over."
"I doubt it'll really be over," Trevor commented, "Kurse and the evils that went along with it
are gone forever... but the Game still exists and may have even changed because of what
Kurse did. You'll likely be called on to see just what Kurse's actions and death did to the
Game... who knows... maybe "Transform or Dare" has become a game based off of love
and devotion like the Pride's "true love" powers and the Pack's loyalty instead of the spite
and hatred that it was under Kurse's influence."
"You make that sound like you want the game to continue," Serenity commented.
Trevor shrugged, "maybe it isn't our forms that makes us who we are. I mean, we've all
adapted to it. You told me you've gone from being a heterosexual male to bisexual female
and have accepted it. Kyle Perkins has gone from a dorky male kid to an adult female she
wolf, who according to these pictures has given birth to two litters of pups already...
clearly the problem doesn't seem to be the form we have... it's the actions that caused it
to change in the first place. The guy who transformed me was some jerk who wanted my
spot on the team and did it out of spite... but if a positive emotion fueled things rather
then a negative one... would that be wrong? Like what Mary told Ashley at the station,
we're all happy, so is that wrong?"
"So... are you going to do this?" Said Serenity opening the back door and letting the gray
and black lion cub boy into the backyard. The smell was quite stronger back here than it
was in the house, then again, this was the pack's personalized hunting grounds.
"Yes. I have to." Trevor said. He was glade he didn't see that black and gold wolf
anywhere... He knew it was under the curse just like everyone else but... Trevor just didn't
want to have to see him. He didn't think he could forgive it, not yet. Some scars don't heal
in a week after all.
He came to the spot of dried blood, he knew this was it. He knelt down and prayed for
Queen. He knew she was just an animal, but she was an animal who helped him wake up
by forcing him to face his self pity. He owed her at least this much...
+++++++++
Abbey sat among the rocks looking down at Glass, who still remained asleep. She had no
clue why the other glass wolf slept on. She didn't sleep in the outside world... although
she did go into the mirrorverse commonly with her sisters to sleep at night. She glanced
up to see Betty talking with her mother and Aunt about something, and then over her
shoulder to see Sarah, Ulysses, and Mary trying to make some progress with the
passengers from the yacht. She then looked down to Glass again.
"Why do you sleep?"
++++++++
The lioness Penny was pushed along in the wheel chair they had given her as they took her
out of her room, her tendons would requires weeks to heal.
The lions Gloria and Jeff flanked their cub Jeff, having return wonderfully from statuehood.
None of them had the remote clue on what had occurred. Penny hadn't even called the
police station to ask how the raid on the Smith's had gone.
The eldest lioness present leaned down next to Penny as Kirk pushed her along.
"So Penny... when are you going to be marrying my son?"
Penny blushed, only a day ago she had been a guy whose girl friend had been made into a
statue. Now she was part of some new age lion people species and was a lady to boot!
And her girlfriend fiancee was now her boyfriend fiancee. When it all came down to it, she
only had one response, "Heheh... let's wait until I can walk down the aisle."
"Quite right." Jeff nodded his mane shaking as he did so.
Penny did her best not to think of those lost to the wolf pack because she failed in her
duty as a police officer, in a warped sense, she almost thought how being a mother would
make up for that. Wait. MOTHER? Oh who she was she kidding?! She was a female with a
hot guy for an other half so she might as well prepare for the inevitable while she was at
it. And still, Penny realized what would happen when their families showed up for the
wedding given what she was figuring might be the real meaning for their 'true love rule.'
But instead of blindly finding a way to cheat around it she calmly accepted the planet's
humanoid lion population would shoot up during the reception.
+++++++
"HEY!" Said Trevor look out over the window (feeling odd to be using a seat belt again),
"What are we doing here! You said we were going straight home after we finished at the
manor and we'd give everyone a day to -rest-!"
"And I've kept my promise precisely." Serenity said simply.
"Why are we here?" Trevor asked nervously, looking out the window of Serenity's car,
"Shouldn't we be finding away to find the people outside of Glendale that were cursed?"
"Amy said that most of those transformations are reversing," Serenity told the lion boy,
"those that aren't are those who were already cursed in some way before... and how would
I find them? I do not know the names of ALL the victims... even within Glendale."
"What about Jensen?" Trevor asked, "he seemed to know we were at the Hardys... he knew
that Samantha had been sent back to their manor... certainly he can find these other
victims."
"He'd still need to know WHO he is looking for," Serenity commented.
"What about Kathy?" Trevor suggested, "she might have been cursed again..."
"Is there a reason you don't want to see your folks?" Serenity asked.
Trevor looked down, "well... suppose all I end up doing is roaring... or whatever a lion cub
does until he's able to roar?"
"I doubt that'll happen," Serenity commented, "You've admitted to being friends with Mary
and Judas... you aren't roaring now."
"I'm afraid they won't remember me... won't like me," Trevor spoke.
"They're your family, Trevor, go on," Serenity spoke, "after what that second stringer did to
you, you deserve this."
Trevor sighed and then got up and out of the car. Serenity went with him, to act as a
guardian who had found and rescued him, in case they needed an explanation.
Trevor slowly made his way up the sidewalk toward the front door to his home, in a small
middle class neighborhood, not that far away from what had once been the Perkins home.
He was nervous as he did so. He wondered what his parents would say... what he would
say.
Once he got to the door, he knocked once and waited quietly. After a few moments a
woman in her mid to late forties came to the door. She looked down at Trevor for a few
moments.
"It can't be..." the woman gasped, "... it can't be... he..."
"Mom?" Trevor asked.
"Where have you been?" the woman demanded, "we thought you were killed! The
newspapers all said it was suicide..."
"I'm sorry mom," Trevor said weakly, "it was some guy. He came after me... I could barely
get away and hide... he threatened to kill me if I ever showed up again and he saw me."
"My God," his mother gasped and hugged him, ignoring the fact that Trevor was eight and
a lion.
"Jacob!" his mother, Marie, then called after a few moments, "Our cub is home! And ALIVE!
OUR CUB IS ALIVE!"
"He's alive?" came a male voice from deeper inside the home, and soon a man about the
same age as the woman, and once he saw Trevor he rapidly approached, "he IS alive."
Trevor found himself being hugged by both of them.
"We'd about given up all hope that the news report was wrong," Jacob told him, "it's been
so long..."
"I'm so happy to have you back Trevor," his mother said, "You need not EVER mention the
evil man who made you hide from us... Your sister will be excited to see you when she
gets home."
"We love you, son, you know," Jacob told him
That made Trevor feel extremely happy. They still loved him and had bought the story.
They seemed to recognize him as having always been a lion cub... but then that was part
of the transform the Hardys had gave the pride.
"I love you too," Trevor answered.
And with that he felt something strange start to occur. He got the sensation that he was
rising into the air. At first he thought he was being lifted up by some unknown force, but
when his mother's eyes shifted from an emerald green to bright honey color, he began to
see it... he had the pride's "true love" powers... and he was transforming his parents... but
hadn't they been referring to romantic love?
His mother's hug grew stronger as he felt her arm muscles enlarge and become covered in
a gray and brown coat of fur, that resembled his own in many ways. He watched the hair
on her head vanish and her ears move to the top of her head, and finished with her feline
muzzle pushing out and teeth enlarging into fangs. He felt his own fur rubbing against his
mother's and soon saw that both his parents were as naked as he was. And his father was
standing erect in the now larger doorway with his dark brown mane and tawny gold fur.
"So, who is your friend here, Trevor?" Jacob asked after a moment, noticing Serenity for
the first time.
"Oh..." Said Trevor suddenly feeling very sleepy, "That's... Madam Serenity... she... found
me... and... took care of...." The overwhelming feeling of being in his mother arms after
over a year and being in the body of a little lion boy finally proved to be too much and he
fell asleep in the warm embrace of his mother, not being able to remember when he had
felt so happy.
+++++
"How long will we be staying here, Beta females?" Betty asked as she approached Julie and
Darla, who sat near the rocks where the Pack had first arrived on the island for the battle.
"Some portion of the pack will stay here until the humans leave," Darla answered, "and
then EVERYONE will return home. No exceptions."
Betty was quiet for a moment. Bethy and Tebby NEVER wanted to leave the island... at
least not permanently, and her having to remind them that Darla and Julie were the Pack's
betas and outside of a command from Jensen or Kaylee, they were to be obeyed, didn't set
well within her. They accepted it, but it seemed to be a grudging acceptance.
"Lawrence will also need to go home soon to have his arm put back into place," Julie
added, "he can not keep running around and dancing as you all have been. Or he will have
to have that arm amputated because the bones, nerves and muscle died and atrophied to
the point where the limb is useless."
"Shouldn't we be free to do what we want?" Betty asked, sounding more like a whining
child then a person who should be a middle aged adult.
"There are consequences for everything," Darla answered, "the laws we have are not to
oppress and restrain people. They are there to protect people and allow society to function
as a whole in a good and productive matter."
"And the situation with Lawrence has NOTHING to do with laws or being oppressed," Julie
finished, "I put that arm back into place, and told him NOT to use it for a few weeks. Kurse
made him use it, and as you can see, it's no longer in place and needs to be put BACK in
place. The situation with Lawrence has only what is best for Lawrence in mind. Do you
want to see him lose an arm?"
"No," Betty admitted after a few moments, "but then why are you both still here?"
"It is our responsibility as betas," Darla answered, "we would both be happier with or
mate, our sister, and sister-wife. But we must. Abbey is here, looking after Glass. You
refuse to go home. Sarah, Ulysses, and Mary are here to talk with the people that Kurse
abducted... and Elise and Fox are somewhere... though they SHOULD be looking after
Mary."
"So if you weren't betas or didn't have to be here, you wouldn't?" Betty asked.
"This is a dark evil place where Kurse tried to steal our mate and sister wife from us," Julie
answered, "and do not DARE say they were happier that way... they were happier as they
were. Anything in their minds now is a legacy of Kurse wanting us to be miserable. And
hopefully Amy or someone can fix that to restore them to the way they were BEFORE Kurse
decided she was our God. This island is a picture of Kurse's evil and all she did. Stealing
pack mates... robbing the humanity of people who did not want to lose it... and then
making them all behave in ways to amuse Kurse... do you understand how GUILTY
Samantha presently feels for what Kurse made her do? I don't think you do, as you seem
to think that what Kurse did here was "pretty"... likely another touch of her magic. Kurse is
not someone to be defended... if she was... there would have been so much EVIL that went
through what she did."
Betty didn't argue any further. Even Tebby and Bethy sensed the sadness and anger at
Kurse for what the witch had done to Jensen and Kaylee and the human yacht passengers.
"I'm going to check on the others," Betty spoke, "we're all getting sleepy... it's been a
LONG day and night."
+++++
"I'm sorry we attacked your home," Ulysses said to Mary as they sat on the beach of Big
Bad Island.
They had managed some conversation with some of the humans from the yacht, but it was
still tough going. The parents wanted their children, and both Ulysses and Mary were
forced to tell that that wasn't possible, which resulted in many of them crying into
Ulysses's shoulder.
"I know," Mary nodded, "You didn't seem that interested in fighting then either... strange
isn't it?"
"Yeah," Ulysses nodded, "I liked you, you know? I REALLY liked you. You would have made
a very cute she wolf..."
"And you a very handsome lion," Mary nodded back, "but I guess we aren't meant to be
mates. I mean, I'm a felid, you're a canid... instinctive rivals... even the lion's natural rival,
the Hyena isn't a dog... and even if we weren't I'm eight years old again. You'd be robbing
the cradle if we dated..."
Ulysses nodded, "We can still be friends right? It'll still be years before the Pack will expect
me to contribute to their natural population growth... and the Pride will likely expect you
to do the same when you grow up."
"Of course we can be friends," Mary said, rubbing a paw down Ulysses's back, his thick
guard hairs on his back rubbing against her much shorter fur.
++++++
Sarah came up to the center of the island where she found Amethyst and the gem wolves,
along with Caroline, Lawrence, Betty, Maxine, Robyn, and a few of the other wolves from
the rescue team that had been youthafied and split by Kurse's powers and the physical
transformations that Kurse had done was reversed, and Kurse's mental control was gone,
but Sarah could plainly see that they were struggling with what happened.
"Are you guys alright?" Sarah.
The dance stopped.
"No," Caroline said weakly after a moment, "so much has happened. Our transformations,
Sarah... you remember that? Both of us said "dare" and were dared to answer transform
next."
"I remember," Sarah nodded, "but we were still provided for. And Jensen seemed to care
about us more as Jensen then he ever did as Jennifer."
"Kurse wasn't really all that different," Caroline said, "her only difference from Jensen was
while he rejected evil... she embraced it."
"I don't understand," Sarah said simply.
"Before she became evil, all "Kurse" wanted was to open up an infinite store of possibilities
to the world," Caroline spoke, "which one can't really say was evil... and you can even
argue is what free people have always tried to do... but when she was rejected... she
somehow went crazy and evil and turned infinite possibilities for happiness into dark
chaotic forces that resulted in perversions... death... evil... the exact opposite of what she
started as."
"And those possibilities are all still there in a way..." Robyn commented slowly, "Freedom...
not being restrained..."
"We need those things though," Sarah commented, "think about Hobbes. You leave
everyone free to do whatever they want with no rules... the resulting chaos wouldn't make
anyone happy. People would be killed by those stronger then them and everyone would
live in a paranoid fear that someone stronger will come over the hill and kill them."
"Hobbes's solution to the problem was a totalitarian dictatorship," Garnett said, "that
wouldn't have made anyone happy either."
"I'm not saying Hobbes had the best solution, I'm saying he recognized the problem,"
Sarah answered, "TOO much freedom and you allow the darker elements to do nasty
things to the innocent, and as you say... TOO much order and control and the darker
elements do the same things as when there is too much freedom. The solution is to find a
happy middle."
"We're not arguing that Sarah... and we'll still follow Jensen..." Caroline spoke, "it's just that
so much has happened... so much has been done to us... we're conflicted by so much... I'm
Caroline again... but I can still feel Cobalt's mind inside me... she isn't the evil thing that
Kurse created anymore... more like an innocent child who can't understand things... who
wants to be free... yet I'm restraining her. Doesn't that make me wrong? For holding a
child back? Not letting her be free? Is it wrong for me to love Opal? I barely know him... yet
I love him more then anybody... Jensen, my parents... anybody."
"You think its wrong for you to love?" Sarah asked.
"No... it's that everything happened so fast so out of control, I don't know what to think
anymore," Caroline sighed, "and a part of me wishes we can free the world... I mean look
at what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those places are and were nightmares.
Saddam Hussein wasn't a good guy. The Taliban weren't good people and even with them
gone... the news hasn't reported anything good out of those places."
"Kurse wouldn't have made those situations any better," Sarah warned, "she might have
even been willing to make the fighting worse for her own amusement."
"We know," Jasper said in a frustrated voice, "we all know... It's just so hard to sort things
out when you multiple voices in your head."
Sarah then turned to Amethyst, who was strangely quiet.
"What about you?" Sarah asked the second biggest she wolf after the Japanese wolves,
although Fran had said something to a wounded Chiyoye that Julie was of the opinion that
they should have surgery done to make their breasts smaller.
"It's all so sad," Amethyst whimpered after a moment, "Kurse made me a bubble head from
the very beginning... probably to match Caroline's transform for me to become this...
busty... and well to be honest... I WANT to go back to that."
"What?" Sarah gasped.
"I was always happy, nothing ever got me down, and I still functioned well within the
Pack," Amethyst spoke, "Now... after seeing what Kurse did to us... made us do to the
people on that yacht... made us fight with our pack mates... and then being freed... I'm so
sad... guilty... ashamed. And it hurts."
"But you got your smarts back," Sarah pointed out.
"What good is being smart when your miserable," Amethyst finished.
"I want you all to talk with me about these things," Sarah said firmly, "You need help... I
can see that. And I want to help."
"Why?" Tourmaline asked, "we barely know each other."
"But we're pack now," Sarah answered, "the past doesn't matter. I'm sure Jensen wants us
to be happy and to function well with the pack and in society. And if you're miserable... by
extension, the rest of the pack is miserable. Let me help."
"You aren't a psychiatrist," Lawrence commented, "HOW can you help us with all of this? I
got a little boy's voice in my head that only wants to run around, chase cars, bark at
squirrels and howl at the moon... and he's conflicting with the rest of me. He isn't in
control, but that doesn't mean it's not difficult."
"I can help you by being a good pack mate," Sarah answered, "I helped all of us get used
to being wolves... I helped Ulysses get used to being too young to take a mate... I'm sure I
can help you just let me listen. And besides, you know we're ALL going to be leaving here
eventually. The people won't stay here forever."
"Cobalt thinks we could turn this island into a resort," Caroline commented, "a place where
people could live a little more freely..."
"Who would come here though?" Sarah answered, "the pack and the pride are horrified by
this place after fighting Kurse. You know that... and it's so out of the way that people won't
likely come here either... and how knows what the nations of the world will do when the
people on that yacht tell their governments about what Kurse did here..."
"But Kurse is dead," Lazuli spoke, "she can't threaten anyone ever again."
"Doesn't mean that the fear and consequences of her actions are gone," Sarah warned,
"just because one evil is defeated doesn't mean that the consequences aren't there."
They all slowly sighed, unable to really counter Sarah's logic.