Tarsi was the youngest of the Three Toms. This did not mean he was new to his role as a Fate, just the newest. But even in his centuries of service, the tom had never seen anything like the yarn monster he and Purl had just barely managed to defeat.
The alarms - different ones than before - that were going off now were much louder and shriller. The emergency was not contained. The yarn creature was a mere warning, then. A harbinger.
Without Frog, they had to run to the next logical place of concern. There was an ages-old rule that made no sense to Tarsi, especially now. Only when the Three are One can they wield their true power.
Which meant they couldn't portal around like they did in the mortal realm unless they were all together.
So Tarsi's portly form was having to climb the celestial stairs to the Meeting Room and he was starting to wonder if Fates could die of heart attacks.
"Is that sound really what I think it is? We've only ever done one s
Lexi moved quickly, heading right for Jinx just like Spitfire had told him to do. Which under regular circumstances would be fine, but this was something else. It was a feeling Lexi was far from unfamiliar with and one he wasn't fond of.No Demon was.In his many centuries of life, Lexi had been both contracted to toms and reprimanded by the Black Devil. The latter happened as recently as his ill-fated tryst with Hades. Ol' Blackie had made him pay for that. Especially when he interfered in the Underworld master's short battle with the Elementalist.Demons could lose their will and be aware of it the whole time. They had to do whatever the holder of their contract or the Black Devil commanded without rebellion. And if they fought against it, even a little, the pain was unspeakable. If they kept fighting through that, they risked losing the entire personality they had when not under the influential command. They became empty husks and very good little so
"Fuck."All of the pieces were starting to fall into place for Jinx. Spitfire's control of the Black Sand, a distinctly Underworld sort of magick. The Hell Portal opening around the no-fur when he'd confronted the circus Hare. The Underworld aura circling the pirate ships where Spitfire had been held hostage. Demons just galloping off back through the Hell Portal at a simple command from Spitfire.And now his ability to control Lexi so completely.Spitfire was either possessed by the Black Devil or... Even worse, the no-fur was becoming the God of the Underworld the same way Jinx was becoming the God of Chaos."But how did that happen? When did he have time to overthrow the Black Devil?" Jinx asked out loud, trying to pinpoint when it was Spitfire had changed.He couldn't nail down a moment where it happened. For all he knew, the no-fur had been the Black Devil from minute one. He hadn't spent as much time with him as the others had in the few shor
Doll dreamt of the past. It was part memory, part fantasy, though it was now hard to tell one from the other. He dreamt of that first, almost forgotten, time with Hades. The pain of his magick awakening was now a different kind of pain. The young Hades's brutality and yet gentle awareness of him was being rewritten in his mind and heart as the coming together of future Innehavres.He dreamt of times yet to come as his kits and Spitfire's played together as he and his three mates looked on, cuddling. Proud and so very much in love. And safe. The no-fur dreamed of a time when the danger had passed.It was lovely until a profound sadness seeped in the cracks taking him out of both places. He felt the nothingness all around him. The little lives sleeping within him slipping out of his reach. Fading away.The no-fur awoke with a start. His hands instinctively reached for his growing darlings. What was the stuff of nightmares passed as he found the opposite to be true. His belly was fat wit
Agent frowned into the cave, regarding Doll with narrowed eyes."What do you mean you don't have that anymore? That doesn't make sense. The injections should have bonded with your blood and body." Agent tilted his head with curiosity. He could feel his tom ears flicking with irritation.Doll didn't seem inclined to come out of the shadows. His distrust was in every word. "I'm not sure I should tell you. I don't know a lot of what's going on because I did go straight from being rescued from you and your crazy to healing Priest to winding up here with very little explanation.""That's fair." Agent settled down to consider what Doll was telling him. "I don't know what happened with thehealing you did. I was busy fighting that Orangelo menace. But from what I've seen since I arrived, you took in an aura that your system wasn't equipped to handle. Probably has something to do with Hades trying to control the Underworld aura. He's a Black-fur but he's not made f
The Throne of the Black Devil was prepared. Had been for some time.As soon as it had completely discarded the idea of Hades trying to challenge it, there was no blocking where the power was flowing, toward the arrogant and surprisingly strong no-fur the Black-fur now called his mate. One of two no-furs that carried Hades's kits. Apparently, its troubles would continue to be Hades-adjacent.The Throne wasn't worried, not in the least. This Spitfire would either accept his new role and bow to its power or burn up in the flames that created the Underworld itself. And if that were the case, he would be a delicious distraction to obliterate slowly.There was only one place to begin a formal challenge and Spitfire would know where it was by instinct. The Throne's room, its seat of power. Spitfire had been disrespectfully bold the last time he stepped foot in here. He would pay for that if the Throne could crack the code to his guilty conscience.But that was what the Throne was made for. N
Growling, Spitfire tried to find a way around the Throne's idiotic rules. There was no way he was going to submit to giving souls what they think they deserved. Where was the logic or use in that? He'd met plenty of asshole toms who would swear they'd done nothing wrong and deserved no punishment. But this one...This tom had meant no harm. He was in love with the no-fur. Absolutely besotted. They were the first who'd come of age after the no-furs had appeared. This no-fur... He was special somehow but Spitfire was being held back from seeing everything. He couldn't pin down whythis particular no-fur drew the attention of the celestial beings. He could feel powerful auras around him but because of the Throne's binding on his magick, Spitfire couldn't sort out who they were or why they were interested."Can't you feel it?" Spitfire screamed at the useless fucking Throne. "He didn't kill the no-fur. He freaked out, sure, but the connections... They're wron
How had his entire life been turned upside down in a matter of weeks?Hades had asked himself that over and over again since thefateful day he agreed to take a no-fur upstate. In that time, he'd found his Innehavre - something he had never really believed existed - before discovering he was falling in love with another Innehavre pairing.Adding Guru and Spitfire to his life wasn't even the weirdest thing that Hades had happen to him. The number of families that were made up of a pair of mated toms and their no-furs was so high that it was practically the norm. It made raising the sometimes large litters of kits easier when there were multiple parents.Which lead Hades to the biggest change in his life plans. Kits.Both Doll and Spitfire were pregnant with kits that could potentially be his. Some of them were likely Guru's but until they were born, there was no means to know who had whose kits growing in them. The complication of a no-fur be
On the other side of the portal was a thick forest. Jinx stumbled over roots as he tried to get clear to let the others through. He'd been the first through, not wanting to hang around where Spitfire was any longer than necessary.That was probably because of the clash of their godly powers. Somehow Hades's second no-fur mate had become the adversary of the God of Chaos by assuming the mantle of the God of the Underworld. Jinx wasn't ready for the story about how that happened right now. He was too focused on the missions at hand - to protect Doll until he was ready to come out of the healing bubble and to rescue Guru. Everything else could wait until they were back at the Mousetrap with large drinks in their paws."You okay, Lexi?" Jinx reached out a paw for his own mate, hoping that his adorable green Demon was okay. Lexi had been rather shaken by Spitfire."He's not the same." Lexi's words did nothing to make Jinx less worried about his Innehavre. "He's a new thing. I don't know w
Epilogue - Part 2Shadwell Sebastien Woolsey, also known as Hades, stomped in out of the rain, shaking it off his fur before he went any further into the house than the entry hall.He could hear the commotion in the main room. It was the kind of overwhelming noise only two bunnies, one large Northern Forest tom, a cosmic entity, and ten kits could make. It was the sound of a happy home, one that Hades had never dared to dream he could have. After his own rough upbringing with a sire who was embarrassed to be a Black-fur and an anonymous no-fur father, Hades had long since put aside any thoughts of being a sire himself.But his mates had changed all of that and helped him to realize he wasn't afraid of being a sire. He was just afraid of being his sire. Hades didn't feel shame about his fur color nor that of any of his many, many kits. He didn't think he was capable of feeling this much love. Though, he was grateful to Ink who had given both of the omega bunnies anti-pregnancy Marks. T
Epilogue - Part 1Guru hadn't been back to the Mousetrap since its renovations or since his kits with Spitfire were born. With all the little ones around and a very grumpy ginger-furred bunny to deal with, he'd barely left the mansion where himself, Spitfire, Doll, and Hades now resided.There was definitely a touch of Chaos everywhere he looked. A few booths sat at a slightly less than 45 degree angle and had straps like a carnival ride. No doubt when the bar was open those were full first from the novelty of it. Then there was the tricked-out pie case. Guru salivated a little, having heard from his mate Hades all about the supposedly world-famous pies.Jinx didn't have time to make them anymore so he'd begun to teach his brother Ink. Today appeared to be one of those sessions as Jinx was snatching a knife away from his paler brother and grousing about the proper way to cut certain fruits.The big Blonde tom put a paw around the other bunny in his life, his sweet Doll. Who looked esp
Everything was quiet for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.Spitfire sat down where he was, in the middle of the rubble left from fighting so many automa-toms and Agent's Hares. This part of Atlas City was wrecked. He wondered what it looked like outside of the battle barrier they had erected. Was Guru's mansion still okay? Did they still have a home?A ripple of auric energy told him Cosmo was on his way, having secured the collapsing bridge. Good, that was good. He needed to bond with his avatar mate to recover his god aura properly. But for now, since the battle was done, Spitfire was going back inside to see Doll and the kits. He needed to check on them. Something about this silence didn't feel... natural.Cosmo's voice in his mind assured Spitfire that it was not. Time had been frozen by a god and until it restarted, only the deities would be able to function.Spitfire wondered how long it would be before he knew how to do that. It was a pretty cool trick.He stood, stre
The ten of swords was not a magick to use lightly. Jinx had never actually cast that card before. He had been warned, repeatedly, that there were cards in the deck he was given that took as much as they gave. The pinnacle of the swords suit was one of those cards.Clutching his bleeding paw against his chest, Jinx drew one long breath after another. Everything smelled awful, the air was so thick with blood that he could taste it. He was certain that there was screaming all around him, but he couldn't hear it over the roar in his ears.He'd finally managed to end this stupid battle. He was the undisputed God of Chaos now. Jinx could feel it in his bones, right down in his soul. The power was flowing out of Agent's body as quickly as the blood that was pooling under both their paws."The kits..." Jinx's enemy was croaking out a few last words. "Are they safe?"Jinx's eyes followed Agent's weak attempt to reach out. There was a wavering shield, made up of th
Liar.The word kept echoing in Agent's head and in the air around him. The Demon was lying to him. They were made of lies and deceit, after all. There was no way King had pined for him for all those years. Tricksy had made a huge mistake when he'd tried to create the Innehavre bond. He'd killed a young no-fur, but it wasn't just any no-fur. He'd killed the oldest of his and King's litter. Stripped his soul bare and left the tom who loved him to take the blame.King had to know what happened to their kit. Both of them kept an eye on the three no-furs who were theirs. They couldn't help it. They were parents, after all. They worried.But throwing himself into the reincarnation cycle was the only way to make sure that the Innehavre bonds continued. Tricksy needed to sacrifice time and his own connection to King to the ancient powers that gave him his powers as the God of Chaos. Those beings, older than any god who now walked the earth, had changed who he was. Made him the God of Chaos an
*****Author Note - be warned, this chapter has the loss of a newborn in it ********If Priest so much as suggested movement, Doll growled at him and threaten his life. Ink seemed to be less in a hurry to take the small bundle from his arms.The no-fur cooed and cuddled the tiny, tiny form. "Hush, my kit. It will be alright. Your Daddy is right here and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."In his head, Doll knew the smallest of his kits was gone. In his heart, he couldn't part with the sweet grey and white striped tom kit. He heard him release one small, strangled cry before Ink started swearing and Priest turned to try to revive the poor little dear before handing him to Ink and not turning around presumably so Doll didn't see his tears.Ink had said words... Sorry and hold him... Doll didn't really hear them all over the roaring in his head as he was handed the still kit.He kissed the babe's forehead, his tears unchecked. "I'm sorry, little one. I didn't get to let you grow. I tho
Lexi was enraged. At his clever attackers and at himself. He had headed straight back to the bar when he caught a glimpse of tufted ears and the skin of a no-fur neck.Deciding rather than join the fight against the automa-toms, he would capture and defeat the one controlling them, the Demon began to stalk Agent. As he'd gotten closer, the image of Agent began to fade away.A bolt of what had to be Chaos magick slammed into him, sending Lexi flipping end over end. When he'd started to push himself off the ground, Lexi was in his least powerful form, that of a green tom.Having no idea what auric power his tom form had as it wasn't a glamour any more, Lexi could barely summon any energy to mold and was no match for a trio of Tawny-furs that had thrown some kind of aura-draining net over him.Now he struggled to escape the net while the Tawnys had just fucked off.Muttering to himself, Lexi considered what the trap had meant. "Does Agent think I'm so easily beaten? No, he's like super s
Hades found himself alone with Doll again and he wasn't sure what to do. He was holding his hand, muttering encouragement, but that felt like nothing.Spitfire had experience with this stuff and Guru was able to ease Doll's nerves with his singing. Ink and Priest, though they were practically strangers, were doing more for Doll than he could manage. Maybe he should join Jinx and Spitfire outside. He was good at fighting. But that meant leaving Doll and Hades wasn't sure he was ready."Look at them, pretty baby," Hades whispered, nodding his head towards the line of bins where their kits were bundled up and mewling, an occasional wail comingfrom one of them. "It's hard to believe that this is really happening.""I can't wait to hold each one in my arms." Doll let his head fall back on the soft blanket. "Or see all of you cuddle them. Although I will be glad to rest, I still feel there's a somebody or two in there. But they seem quiet for now." His no-fur's
Arriving after three of the kits had been born, Spitfire took a moment to check on them before he grabbed Doll's hand and leaned close to talk to him."Look at how good you're doing, sweetheart. Three of our kits are already in the world." Spitfire stroked Doll's sweaty hair. "I know, this is awful. It feels like it will never end, but you are nearly done."The new Black Devil turned to look at Ink, who was acting as the birthing doctor. "How many more are there? He is nearly done, right?""There's at least one more. But without an ultrasound, I can't say for sure." Ink replied, already coaxing out a fourth kit."Little one so big." Doll sounded exhausted. He leaned his head against Spitfire. "But he looks just like Guru, my beloved. Only completely White-fur and with my copper eyes. He's gonna be trouble. This one is kicking a lot but much smaller.""They're all going to be trouble, I think." Spitfire nuzzled the side of Doll's face. The thundering sounds of battle from outside were