"Hello, Samantha," Marie said politely as she lowered her head and ears in a submissive manner.
Despite the obvious similarities, and the fact that Marie wielded great power in magic, Marie was a lone wolf. Her father had no lupman to marry, but still found love with Eliza, Marie's mother. The two had wed, and had Marie. Which their local doctors ended up running tests that found that despite coming from different evolutionary lines, humans from apes and lupmans from wolves, the two species could interbreed... though they had no explanation as to how it was even possible.
Marie, however, had inherited her father's problem after he had been killed by a snake bite when Marie was little. She was a lone wolf. Samantha, on the other hand had a pack that supported, loved, and would defend her. Her father was the alpha male, and her mother was one of a trio of betas. Though Samantha, like Alice and Abbey, would be more then happy to get rid of the rank system that had been used in the pack for years and years.
"You're... you're Glass!" Samantha gasped.
"We both were," Marie answered, "Kurse had me replace you after your sisters freed you... and, I know what Kurse did to you, to us, was horrible... so I am here... to apologize."
Samantha looked back at the other glass wolf. Her mind shuddered at what Kurse had done to her. She had been on the island to transport the teen wolves, who had taken to wanting to set up a resort on the island, as part of the ultimate "do it yourself" project, Lawrence to monitor and take notes for the experiment, and the twins, who saw the whole thing as a field trip and a new place to play. Kurse had ruined all of that.
"It is I who should be asking your forgiveness," Samantha whimpered, "You were a passenger on that yacht. I TOOK you to Kurse. If it weren't for me, you and your mother would have had no difficulties."
"Maybe, but when Kurse made me into her replacement Glass," Marie told Samantha, "she bathed me in the Infinite Chaos to the point that when I came out, I could never go back to the way I was before Kurse first transformed me... even if Kurse died... as a result, you could say I am Kurse now... or at least what she had originally planned to be."
"You're evil?" Samantha asked nervously.
"No," Marie sighed, "the witches never intended to be evil. They actually started out quite innocent, but after facing some serious hardships, losing loved ones, and then having their ideas rejected, they ended up making mistakes... and mistakes involving magic and the Infinite Chaos drove them insane... and their original goal, which you could even say was quite good, if slightly misguided, was lost as a result."
"She's been telling us the story of the witches and how they went bad," Lawrence spoke up.
"Lawrence!" Samantha spoke, "you're you again!"
"So are we," Cassandra said, while motioning to Lilly.
Samantha turned to see the two red orange/brown pups hugging their father. That relieved her to see that her pack mates were back to "normal", although like Alice, she wondered if "normal" was really the right word.
"It's good to see that you're you again," Samantha spoke politely.
"And you're you," Lilly nodded, "the wicked witch is dead and daddy is back again! A happy ending!"
"This isn't the end," Cassandra told her sister.
"It's the end of the fight against Kurse," Lilly pointed out.
"Now, now, girls," Maddex said to the two pups still hugging him, "Let's not fight."
"You are welcome to stay," Marie offered to the new arrivals, "I do not mind, although as I told Lawrence, it will not be an entirely pleasant story, as we all know how it ends... and if it troubles you, Samantha, I understand."
"I suppose I could listen for a little while," Samantha said weakly, "after all, Betty, Lawrence, Cassandra, Lilly, and Maddex will all need help out of the mirror world eventually, and you have your mother to return to."
Marie only nodded. She could let the others out into the outside world as easily as Samantha and her sisters could, but she was not there to start a fight.
+++++++
Laura and Zulema eagerly licked Ingrid as the omega nurse wolf hugged her children. All three of them... our would that be five counting each of Ingrid's heads... still shed tears of joy.
"You're you again," Laura and Zulema spoke together, although it wasn't in sync, but Ingrid was able to understand her children.
"I am," Ingrid's middle head spoke while the other two licked her children in maternal affection, "Amy and Zelipe freed us all."
"Saved you from Bart and Jenny!" Zulema added, sounding somewhat resentful of Jensen's oldest.
"You have to forgive them," Ingrid replied.
"Why? What they did was mean!" Laura said.
"Maybe... but as their shadows, Joy, Whitney, Abdul, Ryan, Maddex, and I all learned a bit about why they did what they did," Ingrid told them, "they wanted to contribute to the Pack to help... but the pack's business ventures would never follow them without double checking with Jensen first, and for kids as smart as Bart and Jenny are, that sort of thing hurt them."
"Doesn't that scare you, how smart they are?" Zulema asked.
"It's more surprising to me then frightening," Ingrid told them, "but I know it has to be rough for them as well... I mean they're smart enough to have a college level of education... but they're still only nine years old. Pups. Very few people, human, lupman, leoman, or whatever else is ought there are that smart that young."
"Can't they just be kids?" Zulema asked, "save all that grown up stuff for later? Marcy and Kevin aren't like that."
"Maybe with their high level of intelligence has come a level of awareness of the world and the pack that the rest of the pups don't have," Ingrid tried to explain, "you don't have to spend all your time with them if you don't want to, but I'd want you to still be friends."
"You forgave them, mommy?" Laura asked.
All three of Ingrid's heads nodded.
"We'll try," Laura and Zulema said together, again not in sync, but then while Laura and Zulema were twins, they were not like the betas.
Julie and Darla, meanwhile allowed the family reunion to go on. Thanks to Fran's work earlier, the worst of the work had been done. But the work that was left would still require a lot of extra hands.
"You will forgive me, dears, but I can never tell which one of you is Fran, Darla, or Julie," came Mother Glen's voice from beside them.
Julie and Darla turned to look at the massive snow white quadrupedal lion.
"I'm Julie, she's Darla." "I'm Darla, she's Julie."
"Yes," Mother Glen nodded and then carefully touched each of the leomen behind her, "these are my son and daughter in law, Maxwell and Sonia Glen, and my future children-in-law Jeff and Gloria York. Like your "Mr. P" I can not help you very much, and my visit is to be only a short one, but they can provide you with an extra set of hands, should you require them."
"My daughter would probably tell you that we do not require the help because we are still capable of doing the work," Darla commented, "but we would gladly accept any help they wish to provide."
"Mr. and Mrs. Glen, you will work with Darla, follow any and all instructions she or one of my nurses gives you to the letter," Julie instructed, "Mr. and Mrs. York, you will be with me."
The bipedal leoman nodded.
"We'll let you see to your pride-mates," the two blond she-wolves said together, "make it quick, though, there is still a lot of work after the battle with Kurse and the medical wing here is completely full at the moment."
++++++++
Outside, Penny lay quietly writing down what Kirk said as he tried to recount his life from the previous time line. Amy stood by quietly as well, although Penny guessed that was because the utensils she was using belonged to the white and red pup. Amy, however seemed to be more focused in watching her brother and the other pups either talk with Amethyst or try to hit the statues with the water pistols. Amethyst was hugging Whitney again and singing "All together now" in honor of Whitney's return to the Pack.
"Is she always like that?" Penny asked.
"Miss, Psi, Kappa, Amethyst?" Amy shrugged, "yes. But she's still very smart. And in terms of being their for the gem pups and teen wolves, Amethyst was probably the best choice, as NOTHING has ever gotten her down."
"Everyone should be so lucky," Penny commented as she listened to Kirk retell his past.
As he had now gotten their time together at the police academy and the start of "Penn and Katie's" relationship, Penny could now tell that reality was beginning finish altering around Kirk. He was pausing more and more to sort out what was in the new time line. Amy may have talked about the new time line representing something beautiful, but Penny still felt that losing what had been was worse.
It was sort of like Bonnie and Clyde to Penny. The two gangsters had love together, and that in itself was beautiful, but their criminal activity was not. And as such, she could accept that Jennifer Smith as Jensen, the Big Bad Wolf, had found true love, but did she/he HAVE to ruin so many other lives to get it?
"And then came that fateful day," Kirk said nervously from beside her, "I had just bought the ring and the chain to put it on, as for some reason the businesses that made wedding rings, much like the gun manufacturers, don't make rings big enough to fit our fingers. We had gone to the park... to a spot you've always loved... and it was a simultaneous proposal, actually. It was sweat really. But while you moved to call Fox, some guy came up behind me and used the Game on me, made me become "Leoman Reclining"... and then there was nothing until you freed me and saved us from the wolves at the gallery."
"My powers would not have worked on you, neither would my brother's," Amy interrupted him, "we can transform humans into lupmen, but they do not affect leomen, and you were already part of the pride, which means that even if we had tried, we could not have freed you. Only Penny could do that."
"So why was that white and red wolf after the statues there?" Penny asked, barely holding back tears as from the way Kirk recalled his transformation, it was clear that reality had finished rewriting his past. Because it hadn't been a simultaneous proposal. As Penn, she had proposed, and it had been a call from the station that had distracted her, not calling Fox for apparent "girl talk"
"According to the new time-line, Yamato and his mates had gone to recover the various lupman that had been captured by the game over the years and sent to the gallery," Amy explained, "they were not there for the lion statues, although, I do not believe he had been told any of the names of the lupmen that were there."
And in a flash, Penny could then feel reality begin to move to her, although she didn't know how long it would take for her to "forget" being Penn. She saw herself facing Yamato and his over-sized mates, who despite the absurd size of their maternal material were still swift and remarkably agile. The male Hokkaido wolf was trying to explain that he wasn't there for the leomen.
"It was all a misunderstanding in this new time-line," Penny gasped and then glanced back at Kirk.
Kirk looked on, but she did notice that Amy nodded.
"Hold me, Kirk."
Kirk hugged her, as he was instructed to.
++++++
Back in 1673, the young fawn named Tom, who had once been the son of Robert and Marcine Wise, returned to where his adoptive mother Swift-Hooves. He had spotted a pair of Gold Deer bucks with locked antlers in what was highly ritualized "pushing" matches for Gold Deer. As he returned, he saw that there were two more fawns with the group. One male, one female.
"And where have you been, Tom?" Swift Hooves questioned.
"Mr. Pronged Antlers and Mr. Jumping Buck were wrestling," Tom answered, using the word Gold Deer used for these ritualized matches.
"Stay near me," Swift Hooves reminded firmly, "the herd will do it's best to defend you, but the lupmen and leomen are dangerous and strong. If you're isolated, there won't be much that anyone can do."
"Yes, Mom," Tom answered and then turned to Robert and Marcine, "I'm Tom, who are you?"
"Robert." "Marcine, human hunters got our parents."
"Swift Hooves says their civilization thing will die away eventually," Tom told her.
"So we'll be left with the lupmen and leomen only?"
"I think so," Tom nodded.