Note: TRIGGER WARNING. Some body horror.

…..

CRACK.

Another kitsune dropped, stunned, but the first was already rising. Arthur was only getting in one out of every four hits and their recovery was fast, but at least the unity of the pack was broken. Guinevere and Vivi had broken through to Lancelot and the King. He couldn't see what was happening back at the lake, but he hoped Mystery knew what to do, because he was only disorientation and distraction, and he was about to have his hands full with-

Yep. They were staring at him. It was strange. He'd never felt such freedom in the face of death before. Resignation and peace, yes, but this was different. There he was, staring Inari Okami down, and all he could think of was how hard he could make Lewis laugh if he tweaked the god's nose. He shook his head, no, best not to be completely destroyed, but maybe he could put his special talent to use.

Turning to Lewis, he waved down to him. "Hey Lewis! You didn't think I was really gone, did you? What's with the waterworks?"

Lewis wiped his face, chuckling. "You had me going for awhile!"

"ARTHUR WHEN WE GET OUT OF THIS I'M GOING TO SHOVE IT UP YOUR THUNDERWEAR, DO YOU HEAR ME?" Vivi shrilled, sending one kitsune down, pawing at its ears.

Arthur laughed. "Looking forward to it, Viv!" The words barely left his mouth when he felt a presence behind him. He flinched, and everything went black for a moment. When his vision returned, he was staring at the scene from a different part of the sky. Below him, Inari Okami hovered just above the disorganized pack, slicing through thin air with Their arm.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. That was unexpected, but he always had been good at running from danger. It made sense.

"ARTHUR LOOK…. out?" Lewis faltered, blinking.

"GET YOURSELF KILLED IN THIS STATE AND I WILL DRAG YOUR TEAR-STAINED CORPSE THROUGH WONDERLAND AND BACK!"

"Um… no, please?" Lewis gulped.

Inari Okami turned on Arthur, and his particles slowed as an icy feeling gripped him. Their expression was no longer one of placid contempt, but a dark rage.

Time to up the ante.

"You can't stand it, can you?" Arthur crossed his arms. "Look at me. Killed my best friend, and he's over there just glad I'm still around." He leaned forward. "Bother you?"

And then They were inches from his face, but he was already behind Them as they brought Their hands together in a killing blow. "Does it bother you more that he forgives me, or is it worse that I finally accepted it and I have no more regrets?"

This time he fled before They turned. He landed below this time, glancing up in time to see a thorny vine stab the spot he'd been a moment before. "It's gotta eat you up seeing this. You've tried to force my death THREE TIMES now for some twisted justice, but you're literally the ONLY one who wants it, and you WEREN'T EVEN THERE!"

This time he flickered once, twice, three times. He ended up just above a nearby tree, looking down at three writhing thornbushes that has grown from the spots he'd flicked to. The branches below him began to tremble, and he flicked again, landing in front of a kitsune. It opened its mouth, the back of its throat glowing red. Arthur gripped its lower jaw, sending shocks through its body until it collapsed, twitching.

"What about that, huh?" Arthur shouted. "A murderer being cared for by the guy he murdered, what about that? Did you know Lewis took care of me when I couldn't walk without a nervous breakdown?" He flicked across the pack, producing a bright flash that sent another three stumbling blindly. "Did you know Lewis comforted me-ME-when I hurt so much over what happened I could barely breathe? Did you know he-" He flicked back into the sky as the ground split, sending gnarled roots to catch him. "-and Vivi let me do all the talking I needed until we were a team again? Look at us now, LOOK AT US! Because you're WRONG!"

Now his vision flickered black almost ceaselessly. Every time he returned to being, he felt something coming at him. In between the flickers, he thought he heard Lewis shouting at him, but it was like hearing through a bad connection.

Pain dropped him from the sky like a stone. He hit the ground, sizzling and crackling as he fought to hold together. He lifted his head to see Inari Okami tearing the prosthetic off of Lewis. Lewis lunged for it, grabbing the metallic fingers with his good hand. "DON'T HURT HIM!"

They shoved him back, sending him flying. "You don't understand. You should. You did once. You are blind. But when I dispense with the murderer, you will see."

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Don't forget Mystery." Inari Okami paused, and Arthur pounced on the hesitation. "Because if I'm out of the way, maybe Mystery will come back, right? If there's no trace of me left, maybe you'll have your precious servant back? Are you so sure your justice is pure, and not biased? Think carefully."

They turned to him, and he skittered back. Their eyes had shifted, lining up one above the other on the right side of Their face as another set appeared on the left side. Their mouth split into two gaping orifices. Teeth sprouted from the lips of the left mouth, and out of the right mouth slithered a forked tongue.

"DO NOT PRESUME TO JUDGE A GOD, MORTAL!" They shrieked, but Arthur could hear a difference. The multiple voices no longer blended as smoothly. Two had become more pronounced, overpowering the other tones. "YOUR DAYS ARE DONE. YOUR DEEDS WERE WEIGHED-"

"Once you found out I had Mystery!" Arthur zipped upright. "What did it matter to you before then, huh? I bet you've been tracking us ever since the cave! That's the first time he manifested for ages, is that how you found him? And suddenly, out of all the murders in all the world, you just have to deal with this one!"

Inari Okami stilled, the eyes fixing on him. Their grip tightened, and pain flashed through his existence. Sparks flew off his form, but he stayed upright. "You know I'm right. You know this isn't justice. This is a personal vendetta. You FAILED justice, because this isn't really justice."

A crack ran along the prosthetic, the elbow joint popping out of place. Arthur collapsed back to the ground, lightning shooting out of him, uncontrolled and without aim. NOW he got why Lewis was so careful with his locket. Not that he hadn't understood before but this… this was where the real pain lay after death.

"HEY!" Lewis shouted, running at Inari Okami from the side and waving his remaining arm wildly. "GIVE IT BACK! NOBODY WANTS YOU HERE, NOBODY WANTS YOU SCREWING WITH OUR LIVES, OR WHAT'S LEFT OF THEM!"

Inari Okami turned, lifting an arm toward Lewis. Vivi charged up behind her, planting her hands on Their shoulders and seething, "You messed with the wrong team!" Her hands glowed, and Inari Okami's back arched, Their mouths opened in a scream that matched Vivi's as she drained power directly from the god. Lewis darted forward, snatching the prosthetic and running.

The ground around Vivi exploded with life as she channeled the energy out. Grasses and ferns uncurled from the soil, rising to knee height in seconds. Vines of night blooming jasmine climbed her legs, curling around her torso and opening fragrant blossoms, and all around her, unkempt bushes rose and sprawled out, dropping fully ripened berries. Inari Okami reached back, locking Their hands on Vivi's arms and squeezing. There were two simultaneous cracks, and Vivi's wrists folded in under Their grip.

Arthur flashed forward, hardly realizing he'd done so, blasting as hard as he could. Their hands released Vivi, allowing her to fall unconscious into one a bush, and latched onto his neck. He no longer needed to breathe, but They had him.

By now, four more eyes crowded Their forehead, and a third mouth had opened up in the middle of Their face that was little more than a gaping black hole. A small, gnarled tree trunk split through the top of Their head, winding and twisting toward Arthur's face. Wooden tendrils brushed along the sides of his head, curving to dig their tips into the back of his neck.

He was fading. He could feel himself dispersing, slipping away. Everything was blurred and shifty.

And then he heard what he hadn't thought he would live long enough to hear.

The sound of a water spirit's joyous laughter.

….

The blade is like a fire in my jaws, and I am sure if I hold on I will have nothing but a cauterized lump for a snout, but I cannot let go. I sense her. She is still here, but only just. She is a trickle, a bare drop on the blade, and she is tired of clinging to it.

"No more deaths-anchor," she whispers, resigning herself to non-existence.

And I bring my jaws together, crushing Excalibur. Merlin has severed the binding, and Callie is no longer slave to it. The cursed blade shatters apart, and I open my mouth again, now ragged and bleeding at the lips. Blood fills my mouth, washing over her. She moans in misery.

I swing my head around to Merlin, honing in on his dumbfounded face, and carefully form two words.

"Bind us."

He surges out of the lake, and as I lower my snout he takes it between his hands and renews his efforts.

And there. Where a moment before her existence wavered on the brink, there is more of her. Water is filling my mouth and flowing between my teeth, and as it passes it heals the torn flesh. I spit the last of the shattered blade, and Callie bursts out. She twirls up, up, up to the sky and her color is near crystalline and gods, she is laughing.

And the strangest thing is that I am also laughing. I do not understand it, we are in grave danger still, but suddenly I do not care. There is no fear, there is no anxiety. There is only a sudden, untamed joy.

She arcs through the air and glides toward the fighting. Her thoughts turn to me-I know her thoughts?-and beckon me to follow. It is time, and the thought all but sings through her being, for justice and mercy to be reunited.