Happy holidays! Lets take a break from all this stress and nonsense with a cool down episode. (listen the holidays had my posting schedule all in a kerfuffle and I'm tired. Lets have a nice one with some new POVs and some down time.)

Also! I'm going to be taking a break from this story during January. Im getting my wisdom teeth taken out, I've got family functions to go to, and school will be starting back up so I'd like to give myself some breathing room for all that. I'll have the next chapter up February 2nd, the first Sunday in February.

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, and New Years, and I'll see you next year!

Liz- everyone's getting naps today! Thank you for sticking with this story for another year!

Bialywik- Thanks and welcome to this dumpsterfire of a story! I vaguely remember mentioning that I wanted to rewrite it, but my time and energy are spread to a few too many projects at the moment. I don't know when I'll do it or even if I'll have the drive to do it in the future. Sorry, but don't get your hopes up on that one. I hope you still continue to read this story though!

Allie

Dad nearly strangled me with a hug, and while I wanted to do the same I had to stay conscious of the fact that my body had gone through some drastic changes because of the evolution serum. He was crying, I was crying, and Hero stood back and watched the scene respectfully. Dad wanted to throw him out, but I wouldn't even let him say it.

Thankfully, he was too focused on how I was back to normal again. The ends of my hair, my nails, and the strange markings were all gone, I didn't have any tails, and I had the perfect amount of body hair for a teenage girl. I gritted my teeth and smiled through his ramblings about how I was normal again, we ate dinner, and I went to bed.

Hero chose to stay in the living room tonight, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Looking at myself through the vanity mirror, I found myself grimacing.

Normal me didn't feel… normal anymore.

Kitsune were shapeshifters as much as they were illusionists. My clothes had been gifted to me by Mai and were as real as anything, but everything else I had twisted into something else or covered with shadows.

My face and body have been twisted back into what it was before, but while my skin looked smooth and natural, it truly covered in a fur that matched my hair. The markings were still there, invisible to all eyes but my own, and my tails were uncomfortably twined around my legs.

I could feel the muscles within them burn as I took off my pants and let them loose. Arachnos had taught me much during my time with her, but only a Kitsune could teach another how to hide their tails, and Hakura said that was only taught when I split a third.

Removing the rest of my clothes, I looked to the mirror again, and began to change. My face grew longer, the fur returned, and my joints changed to what they once were. Mai suggested that to keep up the illusion during the day, I remove it at night. Two spiders that Arachnos had lent me scurried away from my shirt and into my darkened closet. I paid them little mind.

Relief flooded through my body as a muscle that I barely noticed was working hard to keep the change relaxed. I regarded myself in the mirror again after a relieved sigh.

This is my normal now…

With another, less enthusiastic sigh, I climbed into bed, curling under the covers like a dog and peeking my nose out of the covers.

Then, there was a knock at my door. "Allie?"

Without thinking twice, I answered. "Come in."

Lifting my head from under the covers, I only realized my mistake when I saw my dad's shocked face. I blinked at him as he looked upon me in horror. "Dad…"

His face fell hard and fast, his eyes welling with tears. Pushing my door open the rest of the way, he walked to the corner of my bed, his shoulders sagging and his feet dragging, and plopped himself down.

"I'm so sorry all of this has happened, Allie." He sighed, his bottom lip trembling a little. "It- it just isn't fair."

Feeling his distress, I sat up and shuffled until I was resting my chin against his shoulder. He flinched a little, but I wanted him to get used to this.

Get used to the new me.

"Life isn't fair. You didn't know what mom was, and no one could have stopped the Choten from what he did to me. I'm still trying to accept everything, and I'm sorry for running away, but I'm okay now. Are… you okay?"

He thought for a moment, then slid one of his arms around me in a one armed hug. "No, not really. But I will be. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Dad." I nuzzled into his neck, cracking my eye open for a moment and noticing Hero was standing in his dog form at the door.

I gave him a gentle nod, and he headed back downstairs.

We sat like that for a long while, until I fell asleep against his arm.

I awoke under the covers like I had been before dad came in. there was a note on the corner of my nightstand about him making breakfast in bed. Smiling to myself, I snuggled down under the covers again and waited with baited breath for some good cooked food to come my way.

Alakshmi

"Are you done with the potatoes yet?" Nadia called from within the kitchen.

"Two more to go." I called back, keeping my eyes on the peeler to not accidentally skin myself. Usually, Maria was the one to peel the potatoes in front of the tv, sitting at the edge of the couch trying talk over the sound and through a wall so her sister could hear whatever was on her mind.

At first I hated how Nadia made me cook with her. The way she never let me get out of it or just do it herself led me to believe she didn't think I could care for myself- which in parts was a little true. I had been part of a traditional Indian family, but after so many years away training with the Choten and Tierra, I had forgotten a lot of those skills.

The more I cooked with her, though, the more those skills came back. But even then, she seemed adamant that I always cooked with her. I was either preparing food or learning how to fry or sauté; there was never down moment in the kitchen with Nadia.

It was only when Maria came back did I realize what she had been doing all along.

Cooking was her bonding time.

In the beginning, she was the one doing most of the talking, and even then it wasn't much. She'd ask about my day, or how I was doing, or something else that was small. I didn't respond often, but after she put me in school, I had more to talk about.

She became the older sister I never knew I wanted.

Nadia was just pushy enough to get through someone's barriers without being disrespectful, chatty when she wanted to be and knew when others didn't want to hear it, and gentle and caring when it was needed most.

When Maria came back, I didn't know what to make of her, but the sisters' personalities were all on full display as they cooked together. It was the first night she hadn't asked me to help her cook, and it felt so wrong that I offered my assistance.

If Maria was the older sister I needed, Maria quickly became my first and only best friend.

She was the polar opposite of Nadia, but not in a bad way. She was loud, eccentric, and kinda shameless. Alakshmi learned more about being a regular teenager from Maria than she ever had from her classmates. Despite being twenty one, She was fun and knew all of the best haunts in the city for an underage girl.

Maria… she was the last person I'd ever have expected to betray me too.

"Shit!" I flinched and swore as I accidentally cut my finger with the peeler. Dropping the tool and potato, she gripped her finger and immediately applied pressure to keep it from bleeding.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just got my finger."

"Is it bad?" I could hear her stop whatever she was doing and come around the corner. She wiped her hands off with a towel then knelt before me and offered her hands. Knowing her doctor mode had been activated, I simply gave her my hand. "Hmm, you'll live. But I've never seen you cut yourself before. What really happened?"

Nadia had taken my hand between her own, holding it close to her heart.

Another one of her acts of love, one that I had only realized was just a thing she and her siblings did after Maria came back.

Looking into her eyes, I didn't want to hide anything from her.

"This is Maria's job."

Nadia's face fell slightly. Maria's betrayal hurt me deeply, sometimes it felt like it went deeper than I would like to admit, so I had no idea how to fathom the betrayal Nadia was feeling.

And yet she stood, sat next to me, and enveloped me in a hug. "It was yours when you first came here."

Reassuring, reminding me of when it was just the two of us. We could survive without her, even though we both previously preferred her presence.

It was funny. Despite all the Choten or Tierra had done for me, I hate them deeply after their betrayal. With Maria… all I could do was mourn the loss of my friend- of my sister.

Nadia had probably worn off on me. Because in her arms I felt comfortable enough to cry. I felt that it wasn't wrong to feel sorrow and anger and pain all at once.

Her grip tightened around me as I trembled. Despite all the unsure things in this world, I knew Nadia would never abandon me, I knew we could survive Maria's betrayal, and I knew I would make Maria pay for what she has done to Nadia.

The only family I've ever had.

Kimora

Things had been taking a toll on the members of this temple.

Nadia was in shambles with Hector doing his best to hold her up, Isao has become even harder on the acolytes and adepts to keep some semblance of order, and Jaha has been holing herself up trying to find a way to solve our titan issue.

I let out a sigh, and continued to trim my otherworldly roses. With the new bendability of our rules, I have been able to get help transplanting these strange plants here on this side of the veil. It's been a task that has kept my mind off of all the high stress things that have been happening as of late.

Especially with…

"Is it truly safe to take these plants into our world?" Mai asked.

Despite being my mother, we had grown so distant that I haven't called her that name in years. She had every right to question me, she was Lion of the Guard and on par with any of us Duel Masters and was supposed to keep our temple in check as we were to do the same with hers.

It just felt wrong now. She wasn't a stranger to me, but having her check in on everything we did felt like when I was a child.

When she was always over my shoulder, always trying to toughen me up or keep me in line. I didn't need this as an adult. I don't need this now.

"Yes. The Shaman's have helped me find the best and safest ways to grow this garden. Nadia's been glad to have these plants for research." My guard fell a little thinking of her. "She needs things to keep her mind off of Maria."

I could feel her do the thing- soften her face ever so slightly and shift on her feet. "You watched Maria grow up here. You need this garden just as much as she does."

She always seemed to know how to cut me down to the core in just a few seconds. Was I really that easy to read?

"She wants to know her parents. I can't fault her for that." I took another long sigh. "I just wish she didn't look past all of the evil they've done and try to find something she's already always had."

"If only it were that easy." She knelt beside me and began collecting some of the trimmings that had fallen at my feet. "You remember the stories I used to tell you, about my family and your father?"

"That you came to America to help them and met him, but it didn't work out." I have become pretty good at hiding my irritations with others, but never with her. She gave me a sorry look.

"That was what I told myself. My parents never enjoyed me. They thought me too promiscuous and loud, but that's what happens when you're the middle child with seven other brothers. I came to help them when my elder brothers failed in their careers, and I let myself believe I loved the first man that accepted me for who I was. I've made many mistakes in my life, but even as each failure or disappointment reached my parents ears, I never stopped supporting them. Even when I had you, even when we were homeless, and even now I support my little brothers and their families. It's hard to escape feelings involving parents. I don't fault Maria for leaving, even though they were horrible to her sisters or the people she grew up around. I fault her for leaving with no explanation. That was cruel and cowardly of her, but I don't hate her for it."

"And I don't hate her for it either!" I felt the accusation in those words.

"Never said you did." She shook her head again. "You're upset the little girl you watched grow up- the one you helped raise when Nadia and her sister were working or training, the little girl who adored you because you were more fun to rough house with, has left you. And you're not alone."

I looked into one of the strange roses before me. They were pink and red, bigger in my head, and supported not one, but three perfect Fibonacci spirals leading to three centers that all shared petals. I smiled, remembering something.

"Jaha hated when Nadia brought Maria here. She was too young to start training when her grandfather died, so us older specialists who actually liked kids would keep her entertained or keep an eye on her. One day, we were all busy with assignments, and Nadia was so stressed out she was nearly in tears. She had just become duel master, her grandfather was gone, and her sister was also strained between her own family, job, and medical disabilities. Jaha took her for the full day, and begrudgingly she became Maria's best friend."

"Jaha has always been gentle with the younger acolytes. She's firm with them, but I've never met a student who's hated her."

"Yeah. Poor Hector ended up on Maria's enemy list. Looking back on it now, I think she could just sense the chemistry between him and Nadia."

"Kids are very good at sensing those kinds of things." Mai smiled.

I reveled in the moment. I hadn't felt this at peace near my mother since I was fifteen. Closing my eyes, I savored the moment, then came back to reality.

Standing, I brushed off my knees and began collecting my tools. "I need to get back to work. Thanks for stopping by."

Mai chuckled, looking at the ground before her with a sad smile. "Don't say things when you don't mean them."

I didn't know how to respond, so I simply watched her walk away. My heart hurt for a moment, but then it felt fine once again. Hardened to the woman who had once been my mother.