ATM Rewrite: B2 — 11. Conflicting Interests (Patreon)

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1. Sora Moore (Our Fox Girl Has A New, New, NEW Problem!)

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Sora sat in the void zone the triplets created, feeling somewhat exasperated as the three went through their antics while discussing and correcting each other’s story.  The explanation wasn’t all that long, but their games stretched the time.

Tami, the youngest-looking one, was actually the oldest and most mature; she would often bring things back on topic but seemed to give her sisters their own turns.  Tamil, the excited teenager currently mirroring Kari, was the middle child.  She and Tamila, the oldest-looking triplet yet youngest, appeared to be the most cruel, torturing her poor older sister.

In the ensuing back and forth, Sora kept track of Hinote, fast asleep on a floating couch, dosed up on Pixie dust.  Even when he began to rouse, the fox boy was loopy as the looney tunes, thinking Tamil was some girl from his past.

Sora sighed as Hinote shook his tail with the middle sister, grooving to the swing between Tami and her.  Tamila was fighting for her own time with Hinote, the poor guy’s eyes spinning as the older-looking sister grabbed Tamil’s wolf costume tail and threw her screaming into oblivion.  The music swapped to a waltz as the youngest sister took the fox into another dance.

“Let me get this straight,” she mumbled, gaze returning to Tami.  “So, the fae don’t actually want to bring in the Unseelie Court but stop that from happening, but… they blamed the OWO for stealing Sela and attacking all the other facilities to redirect the heat.”

Tamil appeared in front of her in wolf pajamas, hoodie bobbing with her head.  “Mhm!  Mhm!  It’s willlly mean, but The Foundaiton could neber trust Reality Warpers, so we kidnapped the foxie they love.  Tamila came up with it; she’s not the brighte—ack!”

An anvil fell out of the sky, hitting the middle sister on the head and making birds fly out of her head before falling into the void.  Tami shot a glare at the woman dancing with Hinote, not giving them a glance.  Yet, a crash of psionic force teleported the fox into a chair next to Sora and placed her huffy youngest sister in a timeout cage, cutting the music.

“In short, everyone is pointing fingers at each other and distracting you because everyone is terrified of you.”

“Tami,” Tamila huffed, the woman’s arms crossed under her bust as she glared at her eldest sister.  “I still don’t see why everyone is so terrified of this fox girl.  So, she has weird magic shit—”

A snap came from Tami’s fingers, making Tamila’s mouth disappear.  “No cursing.  If you read the report we got, then you would know why we were sent.  Sora, we’re not trying to take all of your time.  I know this seems arbitrary and long-winded, but if so much of a whisper came to The Foundation that we wanted to meet, then Miami would be in a total lockdown.”

Sora grimaced as she looked around the spatial and dimensional warp they were in; their powers were a mental projection of will on the universe, wrestling their ideas into reality, which showed just how strong their mental fortitude was.

“I can see why The Foundation is cautious of you, and obviously, you’re afraid to go head to head with them.  You can’t have just kidnapped me for this, though, since it would be seen as a declaration of war by the OWO on The Foundation.  You went through a lot of effort to do this, and how are you going to convince me the fae isn’t trying to kill Sela?”

“Huh?”  Hinote blinked as Sora slid her flaming tail through her constructed chair to tap the fox next to her, orange foxfire purging the Pixie dust effects away.  He glanced between them before sitting back and crossing his legs with a smile.  “Well… hello.  I’ll just sit back and figure things out as you go; don’t mind me.”

A thin yellow cat appeared to chase away Tamil’s birds, her confusion clearing up to smile at them with her wolf teeth.  “Welcome back!  Woof!  Actually, it’s pritttty obvious who sent you sniffing up poor lil OwO’s tweee.  Rawr!  Show us a replay, Sora.”

Her narrowed canine eyes darted left and right, her pointed finger held to her chin while staring at a little angel and devil that appeared on her shoulders.  “I smell suspicious activity!”

Sora’s ears drew back, an eye creasing as she looked at her youngest sister in the cage.  “The what?”

“Haaaa.  If I’m in jail, Tamil deserves to be in furry jail, Tami.  Someone put you on the fae’s tail and forced their hand, bringing us into it.”

“Ar’goth?”  Sora asked.

Tami shrugged, another tsunami of reality twisting force generating a powerful wind that swept the howling middle sister into a cage next to her sister, complete with doggy bowls and a collar; something told Sora this satisfied both of the younger sisters’ desires.

“We’re not all that familiar with the 72 Pillars small fry.  You can show us what they said, though, right?  It was that conversation that kicked everything off.  Listen to it again and really listen to what they say; demons and devils are tricky.”

Not fully convinced on either account, she recreated the scene, shivering as the intimidating Wendigo appeared.  The horned demon’s slick suit and powerful posture took form, holding the magazine he’d been flipping through; silence took the triplets as he repeated his message from her recorded memory, but it was Hinote that made Sora pause it.

“Hold up…  Play some of those parts back.”

Sora did, looking for what he had caught and fixated on a few phrases; Ar’goth’s words were crafted carefully.  The demon’s sophisticated, deep voice held dark humor.

“On the contrary, Lady of Vulpes, I am here to deliver a thank you … More than that, a warning that affects us all.  We have a common enemy … Nonetheless, it has come to the Lemegeton’s attention that a fae uprising will happen tomorrow; it is only a precursor to something far more… interesting.

“A piece of you will be needed in this grand ritual, and the organization that supports you will be attacked on multiple sites; a number of high-value items are required to accomplish the fae’s goal—”  Sora had cut him off at this point, and his next statement made her realize he wasn’t talking about the fae now.

“Someone is seeking to open a gateway for the Unseelie Court to enter this multiverse, which threatens the balance of power for everyone; their Herald will make his entrance tomorrow … And, should you wish to discuss matters further, burn the card I have left you.  Have an unhallowed night… Vulpes Princess.”

Sora’s tail flicked with annoyance.  “Oh, that is tricky!  He never said it was the fae that were trying to bring the Unseelie Court here, but said they were after the items to accomplish it.  I put the idea in The Foundation’s head that they were connected to the Unseelie Court…  Hell used me to make The Foundation believe it was a credible threat to force the fae’s hand to act sooner.  Why?”

Tami stared up at the sun she’d made, leaning back on her flaming sun bed.  “There is far more to that message than just that…  This is a bait and switch.  That part after is the dead giveaway; Ar’goth knew it wouldn’t matter if we uncovered the truth because it would be too late to achieve their goal.”

Sora’s mind swiftly worked backward from the conclusion, pulling up the tiny image of all the players working in the background.

“I trigger The Foundation to go on high alert from Hell’s information, tipping off the fae and Unseelie spies in it.  The Unseelie must have been the ones attempting to release HAREM, trying to blame the Dragon’s Claw?!

“There is a faction in The Foundation that is trying to bring the Unseelie Court here.  We knew a spy was behind the attack, but not that they were connected to the Unseelie.  The fae aren’t powerful enough to counter The Foundation, so they’re going to steal and safeguard all the ritual items to see it done, including Sela.  Right?”

“HAREM?!  What’s that—uh-meow,” Tamil gasped, now sporting a cat suit and using her transformed fingernail to pick the lock on her floating cage.  “Fishniblets!  We’ve been pawwinked, Sis!”

Hinote leaned to the side a bit, studying the triplets; the oldest seemed to be deep in thought as the younger two seemed to be coming to some disturbing conclusions.

“Who is to say the Dragon’s Claw isn’t working with the Unseelie?”  He asked.  “It also puts into question anyone who had high access to HAREM, which can’t be a large list, given its top-tier security protocols.  That Herald of the Unseelie Court is what Hell really warned you about and shows why all the Unseelie have been so quiet not to make waves and blow their cover.”

Sora hissed, scratching her head.  “So, does that mean Hell is working with the fae, Unseelie, or the Dragon’s Claw?”

“None of them.”  Tamila kicked open her door with a grunt, a red carpet folding out for her to walk back to her seat beside her ‘little’ big sister.  “Also, not all of Hell; only the 72 Pillars.  And they are concerned about the Herald of the Unseelie Court, but they’re manipulating us to handle that, which means there is another goal.”

The cat-dressed teen swung open her cage to jump into a rapid triple front flip, landing beside Sora.  “Scary, scary games, meow!”

A frustrated stream of air left Tami’s throat as the child floated up and put her hands in her small pants pockets, looking left where she created a bunch of chibi figures representing each of them.  Sora got up with Hinote, the other two sisters joining them while watching the play.

“The Lemegeton has burned several operations to put all eyes in every other direction but themselves:

“The Occult World Order is now afraid of the fallout of going against the Foundation, sparking us to kidnap you in order to set the record straight.  I was outvoted on the method of contacting you,” she muttered, catching strained smiles from her sisters.

“As for the fae blaming us, they really didn’t have any other choice, which the 72 Pillars knew.  Using illusions to stage Sela’s kidnapping to look like us brought in Foundation heavy hitters while pushing a lot of resources away from other areas, which gave the fae a chance to collect all the ritual items.

“Unseelie, alerted to the fae’s theft, now could zero in on their haste to find their hidden Realm, and stage a rapid assault due to the Foundation spies.  I can’t say what the Dragon’s Claw part in it is, or whatever HAREM is, but…  All these moving parts—there is still something we aren’t seeing…”

She thought for a moment before running her hands over her young face.  “Of course, they manipulated us to take you off the board in Miami for a reason.  It’s smart.  It puts you out of reach from the Unseelie, lets the fae kidnap Sela, and gives the Unseelie an opening to attack the fae Realm where they stashed the stolen treasure trove with all eyes on us.  The Foundation is after us, not the fae or Unseelie, since you’re the top priority.  Whatever the 72 Pillars wanted, it’s in Miami, and they’ve already got it the moment we dragged you off.”

The hair on the back of Sora’s neck and tail bristled as she felt something slide through space with a presence as soft as silk; turning, she spotted a white rabbit, legs crossed, sitting in the air.  Tamil flipped around, swiping at the air for a clash of forces to carry the bunny away.

“What do mwe do, Big Sis?”  Tamil hissed.  “We’ve been found out!”

Tami wiped away the demonstrations, her focus lingering on some angelic figure that confused Sora.  “Unseelie have been dying all over the globe in high numbers over the last month, and not by the typical subjects; the OwO has been documenting self-ritual sacrifices…”

Two rabbits appeared in the space, Tamilia and Tami sending them away in a blast of psychic force as the oldest sister’s gaze drifted to a doll representing Sela.

“We don’t have much longer until the whole pack of White Rabbits gets here, Tami,” the youngest grunted.  “We need to jump before they get a Reality Anchor down!”

“Let’s not panic,” she whispered.  “Sora, you said Sela thought she would die near or after midnight…  And you had a contract with her?”

“Uh-huh?  Something like that,” she said, thinking back.  “My mom broke it, though.”

“Shit.”

Tamil snickered.  “You swore, Tami!”

“That’s not the point, Sora,” she grumbled, ignoring her giggly little sister and generating a shimmering solar gateway as four rabbits now appeared.  “Will you trust us?  We need to act now if we’re going to save Sela; the fae are likely being wiped out as we speak.”

Hinote’s two tails waved behind him, lifting an eyebrow as the bunnies started phasing in and out of reality, trying to get past Tami and Tamila’s defense.  “Spicy situation.  Wendy and Faia?  Damn.  This is right out of a movie.”

Sora groaned, not understanding the full context of what was happening and spotting a pale moon bleed through the dark space as Zen cut his way through their reality-twisted cocoon.

Wendy peered through, holding a wand and firing a weak ray of twinkling energy that probably couldn’t even light a match on fire.  But hey, she’d finally tapped a bit into her mana.  Sora’s heart burned, thinking she’d probably figured it out while searching for her in an attempt to rescue Hinote and her.

“Bro, slap those bitches!”  Faia screamed, making Tamila glare at the younger twin and send a giant bar of soap at the fox.  “We came—no freaking way!”

Sora tapped Hinote on the shoulder as Devlin brought up the rear, holding a briefcase; the twisted realm the girls had made started to correct itself.

“Now or never,” Tami said, pink hair floating behind her as she stared at her and maintained the dimensional tunnel; she seemed sincere from what Sora could sense.  The issue was that the triplets were vastly stronger than her in terms of raw power, so she wasn’t sure she could read them properly.  “It may already be too late.”

“First, tell me your angle!  No lies!”

Tamil’s eyes started to spin as a fifth white rabbit appeared right above her, a jeweled cane aiming right between her eyes.  “Meow?!  Hsss!”

Tamila jumped up, spinning into a roundhouse kick to redirect the weapon from her big sister and sending a colossal wave of kinetic force that could blow apart an entire hill.  Yet, the rabbit managed to phase through most of it, two more slowly closing in at a casual walk, flickering back and forth.

“Don’t you lay your dirty paws on my toy kitty!”

The teenage sister gave her little sister a dull side-eyed stare as a collar appeared around her neck, and Tamila tugged her closer.  “Thanks, Lil Sis—ack…”

Tami took one last look at the losing scene, the white rabbits and briefcase Devlin held, countering their Reality Warping powers; it didn’t look good, and twinkling stars started emerging all around the correcting zone as Zen prepared something big.

“The OwO?  No clue.  Us?  Not to be falsely accused.”

“Good enough!”  Sora sighed, knowing Wendy would probably slap her later, but she would definitely regret not exploring where this went if she didn’t go.  “Hinote, tell them what we’re going to do; I’ll call in a bit!”

“Haha.”  The fox gave her a bull sign.  “I think it’s funny how at the start of the day, you gave this speech that we should all tackle this together, only for everyone else to split and leave you to handle it.  Maybe they’ll listen next time?”

Sora rolled her eyes, jumping forward to create a magical tether around the two younger siblings and jumping toward the gateway, the white rabbits closing in with a galaxy-like super-moon forming to vaporize the gateway.

“Fat chance that.  Thanks for coming when I asked.”

“Always.  Good luck, Princess!”

“Pfft.  Stupid.  Love you, Sis, and thanks for coming to rescue me!”

She dragged the struggling sisters into the portal, Wendy screaming behind her.

“Sora, what the hell!?  Do you want to be rescued?!”

“I wanted to go on an adventure—and here I go!”

“Ahhhh!”  Brown hair in an absolute mess, Wendy ran at her with a normal street corner materializing from the void.  “I’m going to kill you!  Stupid!  Stupi—”

A rush of light and color met Sora’s eyes as she stumbled out into what must have been a sprawling elven city, yet all that met her lungs and partially blocked vision was black smoke, making her cough.  Creating a sharp whirlwind, she swept it away, but not before her nose creased at the smell of rotten magic, meat, and sour cinders.

Eyes going wide, she looked up at the massive tree overshadowing the magical realm, most of its leaves dead and its rich bark turning black under violet flames; the colorful fire bathed the city in death, with carnage and withered corpses littering the rotting wood.

Barely able to keep her stomach from turning inside out, Sora’s hand went to her throat.  A gentle wave of psychic force soothed her nerves as the triplets spread out, scanning the devastated elven landscape.

In the distance, she saw flying fae, battling nasty floating creatures of miasmic corruption and Unseelie infantry, similar to Sela’s soldiers.  Fairy, nymphs, and all sorts of other strange beings, fae and Unseelie alike, lay dead or dying everywhere she looked.  She hadn’t expected something like this, and visions of the Hell stadium flooded back to her.

The triplets didn’t seem perturbed at all by the sight, their unique psychic force unifying to send a phenomenal, searching pulse that rippled through the entire realm.  Sora was more focused on a nearby tiny fairy, less than seven centimeters tall, her wings plucked off and stabbed in the belly by a pink needle.

“Hey—don’t worry…”

“W-Who are you?”  the tiny girl weakly whispered as Sora carefully lifted her up and swung her glowing blue tail around, foxfire encircling the Fairy to see what she could do for her; the needle held potent corrupting and negative energy, seeking to convert the fae into an Unseelie.

Sora’s sparkling flames penetrated deep into the metal, extracting it and reversing its core to positive energy while healing the Fairy.  “I’ve got you.”

“Oh…  How blessed!”  Sugary tears fell out of her eyes as the foxfire flared out of her broken appendages, restoring her wings and reversing the effects of the monstrous magic.  “Thank you!  W-We couldn’t stop th-the Black Baron—please, stop him…”

Spirit utterly spent, Sora felt her drift into restorative sleep, and sinking her magic into the soil, she crafted a blooming rose to protect her.  Plucking it and keeping her floating in the cocoon, Sora placed the resting Fairy warrior in her floating purse.

“Why are they doing this?  How do we stop it?”

Tamila brushed out her thick pink hair, agitation tilting her plump lips; the three ignored her.  “They’ve already got Sela at the Realm Tree’s Heart, and it’s mostly corrupted; this place is doomed, Tami.”

“It’s not hopeless,” Tamil shot back, a feline growl rumbling in her throat.  “The ritual isn’t done yet.  C’mon, Tami!  Let’s go show them our fangs.  Rawr—ah-ack-ah—Tamila, I’m losing concentration!”

“There’s not enough positive energy to counter it, and Unseelie are mostly immune to the negative; we don’t have the resources.”

Still searching for anyone else she could save, Sora couldn’t see anyone else that had survived the wave of death in this area; the Fairy had likely been left to suffer and be corrupted.  Out of the corner of Sora’s eye, she saw Tami glance at her, Hands still in her pocket.

“Not necessarily…”

Tamila’s gaze shot to the purple cracks in the heavens, pulsing negative energy pumping through them like veins.  “No way we’re sticking our necks out in this, Tami; it’s a lost—and I guess we’re going in…”

Sora’s uncertainty in the sisters faded as the oldest sister pointed at the tree, far in the distance, and the space in front of her twisted and shattered like glass, revealing a gray-skinned, male, humanoid figure in the center of a colossal room.

“I can’t even with you!”  the youngest snarled.

Hundreds of desiccated Unseelie and fae bodies spun in a complicated pattern in the area, purple-flaming symbols carved in the giant, beating wood heart of the Realm Tree.

Tami led the way inside, pink hair fluttering behind the sisters as they floated through, Sora jogging inside.  The Black Baron’s charred finger crumbled away, light wounds showing on his restoring body, partially frayed, leaf-like wings crumbling away as he turned to smile at them.  His dark, tattooed eyes creased, raven-colored petals growing out of his face contrasted by vibrant red roses.

Sora instinctively felt a massive difference in power, but it wasn’t all his strength; he’d tapped into the very life force of this Realm; Sela levitated behind him, back turned and limp.  “Hey!”

“Hmm?  If it isn’t the Cruel Sisters, and…  Who are you?”

Launching forward, Sora’s tail erupted in foxfire, twirling in a circle to throw the strongest wave of flames she’d produced yet.  An inferno spun toward him in a tornado of versatile magic, instantly crafted with her desire to protect, heal, and purify Sela while utterly destroying the Black Baron.

“Haha.  Spunky—mmgh, but potent…”  His hand reached out, a reflective crimson dome surrounding them; it flaked away in the intense heat, engulfing half his arm before a compressive vice smothered the fire.  “You must be who Sela kept saying would come to rescue her… the traitorous whore should have been glad to give her life for the Court’s inevitable reign.”

Sora’s ears fell back as he stepped to the side, body continuing to blacken and fade away.  “No…”  An obsidian dagger was plunged inside Sela’s chest as she slowly turned in place, what she assumed was an Elf king and Fairy queen beside her, similar items plunged into their breasts.

“She believed that until I stuck the blade into her traitorous heart.  Hah.  The ritual is done—I die for The Grand Duke’s return!”

Fingers curling in, Sora’s thoughts returned to what her mother had done for all the people affected in Miami by Jenny and Eric’s actions, and what she’d said about the werewolf.  She bravely strolled forward, confidence budding in her heart.  “We’ll see about that.”

The Black Baron smirked, crumbling wings spreading out for thousands of vine-like barbs to surround her in an instant.  “No.  I don’t…”

“…Think so?”  Tami asked, the deadly acid they produced turning into butterflies as Tamil giggled and little tiger kittens started popping out of the vines.

“Nice try, Bud.  Rawr!”

“Childish…”  he grunted, a vortex of dimension corroding miasma erupting from the ground.  “No matter your strength, your influence over magic is limited.”

“No, kitties!”  Tamil ran forward to scoop up the tiger pups, Tamila waving her hand like a painter to redirect the deadly force away from them, creating a surfboard of light for her sister to ride the current.  “Wooh!  Thanks, Tam—aaah!”

A black tree limb flew out of the top, created by the little sister, punting the pink-haired teenager back into their defensive triangle.  “Don’t put yourself in danger…  Stupid.”

“Sora’s doing it!  Humph.”

The Black Baron and Tami maintained eye contact, glaring at one another as the psychic and magical storm twisted and warped space, seeking to find a way past the other’s defenses.

Sora spread her foxfire throughout her body, giving the triplets’ psionic will the slack to focus on keeping themselves safe.  She stopped in front of Sela and closed her eyes, grasping the hilt of the ritualistic dagger spelled with all sorts of potent ingredients.

Her stomach tightened upon feeling a tiny portion of her energy left from their bond; it wasn’t anything binding but probably enough to allow access to open up the walls between worlds.

Please… Sela, hear my voice and come back.  If Mom can pull spirits back to their bodies, I should be able to if I’m quick enough.  Remove the key, and…  Got you!

Vision snapping open, Sora fed her flames into the wound, throwing a line into the aether as if fishing, searching for her target.  Upon hooking the annoying Unseelie, she tugged it back into her body; a massive amount of her energy vanished in an instant, but her red flames flipped to blue regardless, pouring more healing waves into her.

“Impossible…”  the Black Baron whispered.  “No one could remove that key, unless…”

“I’m the origin!”  Sora grinned, sweating a little as her trembling fingers cracked the obsidian handle and purified the weapon.  “Sela…  Sela?!”

The gray skin of the Unseelie gained color, her wings becoming more vibrant and her corrupted Core purifying.  Even the triplets looked stunned as the woman’s hair turned blonde and her features grew lively.

“Sora…  What did you do?”  Sela whispered, eyes cracking open.  “Ack!”

Promptly dropping her onto the ground, Sora moved to the Fairy queen and Elf king, repeating the process, finding it much easier since their cursed daggers weren’t nearly as potent as Sela’s.

“Y-You dropped me!”

“Boo-hoo,” Sora smiled, staring at the Black Baron; he’d withdrawn his assault, now playing with another obsidian dagger just barely gripped in his only remaining hand, already half-decayed.  “What now, loser—got a plan B?”

“What misfortune…  And there is always another plan.”

“Well, shit.  Tami?”

The little girl shrugged.  “We’d wrap him up in a bow and shove him off to another dimension if he wasn’t Master of the Realm.  Can the two fae do anything, or are they just dramatic…  Eesh.”

“Are we late, ladies?”

Tamila groaned, holding up her hands.

“Eeep!  Ugh—mmgh-hmm-hmm,” the teenage girl started to tear up and cry as four more bunnies flickered around them, observing the rousing king, queen, and bewildered Sela.

“Yikes!”

A lunar rift brought Wendy and her rescue squad, but Sora’s world was already spinning at this point; she wasn’t sure if it was the Realm, her, or her mind—maybe a combination of all three—yet what she did know was that she was going down.

“Sora?!  Hey, flower-face, what did you do to my sister!”

The last thing Sora saw was a mess of brown hair that tackled her, and fatigue hit every part of her being, dipping her into a numb abyss.

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