Everyone who mattered to him was gone. Spitfire was alone.
It wasn't that he didn't like Lexi and Jinx, but they weren't his mates. They were barely more than strangers. And the other two - Priest and Ink - that was complicated. Ink had been kind to him and Doll while they were on the ship. But his mate Priest had tried to drain their magick and sell them to Hares as breeding stock. Though Priest was Guru's brother and that made him uncle to some of the kits Spitfire carried, he wasn't sure if he wanted anything to do with him.
Sitting by himself, watching the water pass by, was making him crazy. Especially as he had no idea where Guru was and their other mates Hades and Doll were trapped in a healing bubble. All three of them were out of his reach. He could only feel the impression of them on the fringes of his mind but touching their auras, feeling their presence was not possible.
Looking around the boat, Spitfire saw that Lexi was asleep in a hammock and
Priest watched as everyone got off the ship. Clearly, Jinx was not born to traverse the sea the way his brother was. The apparent God of Chaos kissed the ground and rolled around a bit in the grass the second he was off the ship.He chuckled. Come to think of it, the first time Ink sailed with him there was a very similar scene.His beloved was patting Jinx's back and helping him up. The shapeshifting Demon Lexi was standing close by.And then there was Spitfire. That one needed something to do the most.Priest took a deep breath. He'd become responsible for a new flock, but not one built on loyalty and adventure. These were not his crew, not his people, and yet they were family. He felt a protective streak run through him. They were all family, this crazy mismatched group that included his estranged brother, Ink's brother and their Innehavres.Did he have any right to try to be the natural-born leader he was in the face of traveling with an actual god? And what the hell did that even
It's time to go.A voice that sounded something like Jinx but wasn't quite right woke Hades up from his peaceful rest curled around Doll. Grumbling, the tom put his face under his arm, nuzzling down against the back of Doll's neck. He wasn't ready to wake up and no annoying Orangelo was going to make him.But there was another energy tugging on Hades's aura. It was a soft pull, distant and vague, but he worried it wouldn't stay that way. It was Spitfire, after all. That little beast was up to something and it was going to require Hades getting involved before he blew up anything important.Your time here is done.That voice again. Hades wanted to tell it right where to stick its annoying little sounds. He heaved a sigh. No matter what he wanted, the pull from Spitfire and the push from the weird voice-energy thing were working together to get him out of the space Jinx had stuck them in."Wake up, Doll." Hades wasn't going to disappear while his no-fur was sleeping. He needed to let hi
When he reached the end of the fallen tree, Hades stopped crawling. His tail twitched in irritation as he peered through the broken shards. He did not like what he saw.In the center of a swirl of black sands, Spitfire was glowing purple with Underworld magick. He thought maybe the no-fur had snatched some of his Hex aura or something similar. But he was controlling actual Underworld magick, the raw primal energy that was the source of most of the Dark magicks, including Hades's own Hex powers."How in the fuck did he get his little hands on that?" Hades frowned.The only explanation he could find was that when Hades felt the last of King's Underworld aura leaving him, it had been Spitfire using his special power to steal it. But how had he reached into Jinx's healing bubble to do that?He'd figure it out later. What he needed to do was get Spitfire to release those poor no-furs he had captured in the black sand. What kind of control did the no-fur have over the sands? Hades hadn't re
Leaving Nickel to rest, Agent wrapped himself in what little power he could summon. He needed to get closer to where the ship carrying Jinx and his entourage had docked without being seen. The Orangelo was stretched out on the shore, seemingly sleeping while his green Demon watched over him.Slipping past Lexi would be easy enough. The Demon was absolutely distracted by weaving together some tall grasses and flowers into what looked like crowns. It was getting at the energy Agent could feel tucked into the bag Jinx held that would be the problem. Unless the Orangelo was drugged or in a coma, getting at the bag would be next to impossible.Before he could form a plan, the energy bubble started shaking and fighting to get away from Jinx. Moments later, Hades appeared, forced out of the bubble. Agent moved before he had a chance to consider why Hades had been ejected. The Black-fur's exit created a ripple in the surface of the bubble, one Agent could ride and find a way inside.He didn't
Doll instinctively knew his world would be different when he awoke. He remembered Hades's voice telling him he needed to rest and heal. He remembered wonderful fevered dreams of making love and passionate madness. The no-fur was loath to leave that.His palm moved up the body next to him and he registered warm fur and an ear to scratch. He smiled. It seemed he had managed to stay in the enchanted sleep a little longer."Soot-walker." He murmured and brought his hand down his lover's face. Where there was supposed to be fur was the silken feel of the skin of a no-fur.Doll's eyes opened wide and he was instantly awake. He recoiled at the sight before him and scrambled backward as far in the shadows as the space - which was smaller than he expected - would let him.The no-fur tried to calm his breathing. Okay, he understood he was in some kind of healing space and maybe that required nightmares to be cleared. Because what was sitting in front of him was clearly a nightmare. He'd never s
Guru was aware of how lucky he was that he was in good shape. Being a beacon of tom fitness was serving him well.But even that had its limits.A less fit tom would be feeling exhausted after 24 hours of endless hiding or running. The compound was set up so the sounds of gunfire or even the wisp of an arrow went off at random times. Guru assumed it was to help weaken the prey for the less-than-skilled young hunter.The problem was he never knew if it was a real shot or one made only of sound. Whatever created the fake ones had way more sensitive ears than his. Guru couldn't tell the difference and couldn't risk not running from the sound, real or recorded.Being prey did have one useful effect. Guru's mind had a clarity that came with the desire to survive. Like the tom that makes it all the way to the end of the horror movie and defeats the monster, Guru's mind was keen and able to make split-second decisions.At least that was the comfort he gave himself. Back at the zoo, there was
Hades stared at the open field where the ringmaster Hare was about to open the circus's portal. It was supposed to take them to wherever they sent Guru. In order to take this jump to rescue his unexpected mate, Hades made the decision to leave the boat behind. They couldn't afford to leave any of their party behind to guard it, which had not gone over well with the others.He glanced back over his shoulder to check on the toms and no-furs, and one green Demon, who were willing to follow him through into the unknown.Jinx and Lexi would do anything for him. Jinx had been Hades's closest friend for years, sometimes his only friend. Despite their rocky history, Lexi was also a loyal friend. Hades was weirded out that they were together, but also, he was happy for them. It was hard not to be with how in love they obviously were.Priest was Guru's brother and that guaranteed his loyalty to a degree. Hades still wasn't sure how far he trusted the big pirate tom. Pries
Ink hadn't expected to activate so many of his Marks today and it was starting to take a toll on him.No matter how many times he dumped energy into the spiral sigil to amplify his aura, eventually the cycle broke down, leaving him empty of energy. But while he had it, Ink was using every bit of auric power he could dredge up to augment his and Priest's physical battle skills.None of the Hares they were fighting were that impressive. Many of them seemed to be panicking, looking for someone else who should be in charge. It seemed that they were lucky to arrive while the real muscle and brains behind this place were gone. Ink was still recovering from the mutiny and battle with Agent's Hares a few days ago. He'd scraped up everything he had for that and hadn't gotten back to full power yet.But that wasn't going to stop him from kicking these Hares asses and dismantling what he could only describe as a zoo. They came across tom after tom in cages, put on display
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