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-"Dialogue"-

("Inner thinking")

This is a time skip: MWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMW

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CHANGING BACK

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Julius woke up on the floor by the couch, Ace was expanded like a rug in front of him sleeping, and Aria was probably unconscious from exhaustion by that ring. Julius stretched out and then sat on his haunches looking at the sleeping figures for a moment before turning around and walking out of the room to find a place to ponder this situation.

He didn't know how to feel. It was surreal but so had been the entire past days, and finally, Aria had opened… or rather, broken up to them, she had even been convinced of accepting the fact that they were basically already mates. He knew that 'mate' maybe wasn't an appropriate word, but his foxy mind could not process it otherwise at the moment, and that scared him. What good was it if he and Ace were like this?

As he walked around, he passed in front of the guest room downstairs and Alice's lingering scent it's scent made him stop. Aria had secretly been hurt by 'Alice's room' in here, a reason why she had not moved entirely here. He entered the room and his ears dropped. The place indeed screamed 'Alice' all around, from the baby blue colors to the lingering scent of the other foreigner in the place. Julius approached the closed, it was half open and yes, it was full of Alice's clothes.

This was something he could do. He could start getting rid of all these clothes. His fangs bit into a long dresses and he pulled with all his strength, and to his misfortune the hanging bar fell from place and all the clothes fell over him, burying his body under the frilly fabrics while the fox wiggled his way through the pile, crawling and entering whatever space he could find, getting tangled in the clothes.

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Aria woke up hugging a pillow that wasn't furry, which immediately made her look around for certain foxes. She quickly spotted Ace sleeping on the floor with a happy expression in his face, but Julius was not around so she decided to let Ace sleep. She silently went away and directly towards Julius's office AKA the mortician's den, and sure as it was, there was Julius... wearing a sort of ripped off sleeve that looked like a dress on his small furry form, pawing at the clocks obviously trying to fix them.

Aria took her camera and captured some photos, her smile quite faint.

The clicking noise made Julius turn towards her and let out a loud whining howl. Aria set the camera aside and lowered, extending her arms so the fox could jump in them her, his ears low and tail between his legs, clearly filled with frustration and shame.

She removed the fabric from him, not even commenting on it and then embraced Julius in her arms, holding him against her torso, his head resting on her neck's nook as she softly pet him, slowly passing her hand over his back before kissing him and burying her face in his fur. -"I have a plan… more like an idea. I… I do want you back and figure this.. Us out."

"I love you, Aria." -He spoke although she couldn't understand. Not ever before did he wanted or needed a hug and comfort so much.

"So I'm going to take some risks. It's not ideal but it's the best chance. I guarantee there will be results, but I don't know what he results may be." - She set him back down but he jumped back to her arms.

"Do not place yourself in harm's way because of us." -Julius said, looking up at her with a hard stare to make sure she understood but knew she would still go ahead with this.

Aria kissed him and turned around leaving the office and getting back to the bedroom not wanting to waste time, and when they arrived, they saw Ace trying but unable to drag on his sword.

Ace's eyes narrowed over his blade before spitting it out, licking the roof of his mouth to get the metal taste out. How can a knight be a knight without being able to pick up his sword to defend those he loves? He growled

With a sigh, Aria placed Julius on the floor and moved in front of the full body mirror that was on a wall. -"I don't want to waste any more time, so let's go"- She focused her mana on the one place she could reach naturally, the mausoleum. -"We'll be visiting my territory. Follow me."

The mirror's surface blackened as Aria's eyes lit in a pink shade, then she looked at them and crossed through the mirror's blackened surface.

Julius hesitated by the entrance, staring into the portal before taking a deep breath and trotting inside along with Ace, who covered his flanks looking behind before finally entering. What awaited the two foxes was an enormous building that Julius remembered, Aria's tomb. So why were they here? Knowing what this place was made Julius uneasy; Ace however didn't care, not at the moment at least, and as fast he located Aria, already walking on the corridor and throwing glances at them, the knave ran towards her.

They caught up to her but Aria kept her gaze up front, her heart was already beating faster. This was part of what she feared they could learn, but after she had told them some of it, they needed to hear it all, regardless of how this would end. Keeping her gaze forward, she took a deep breath.-"Remember all I told you in that dream simulation? Well, part of this is it. Long story short, this place is my territory, my tomb, and a distribution center for mana, the energy that feeds this world. "- Strange as it was, it also felt good to tell them about it.- "I wont enter in details about all that. Not now at least. Just know that I can sort of generate mana in small quantities and control it. In fact, a potion of hearts is the accumulation of heavily charged and condensed mana, and I will use it to start a reaction to change you back."

The two foxes approached, looking all around at the strange world around them. Julius had seen it previously when he escaped the Jabberwocky and he still didn't like this place, but for Ace this was a new place to explore, which he very much would like to do if given the change later on, especially when they went down a hall that held many paintings and statues depicting Aria in glorious moments of great deeds and some with very little or no clothes.

She grimaced.-"No, I didn't choose the decoration. In fact I don't like it. It's eery and pretentious in my opinion. "- Her face was stern as she turned around and kept walking along the gallery - "Although I can infer the motive of their existence, I wonder who this art pieces are meant to be seen by."

Both foxes tilted their heads and followed after her. Eventually she reached the end and went into a chamber where a huge stone coffin lay open. "This is my tomb. It's cool, right?"

Julius and Ace perked up about the tomb; her tomb. The thought of losing Aria unnerved the both of them greatly, more so because of her apparent acceptance of her own demise.

She smiled and crossed her arms; with an appreciative look on her face she leaned on the coffin while taking out her vial from the suit's compartment between her breasts; it was half empty or half full.-"I noticed when you changed form. Apparently my presence as a foreigner is what's been shielding your mental processes from deteriorating at a faster rate, but when your bodies changed to almost your normal selves, that energy dispersed on a bigger receptacle."

Julius was as impressed as always at her wit when coming up with explanations for everything and anything. But to think that it had been a foreigner's presence and attention or affection that had been guarding their minds while their change became permanent... He really wanted to hug her, but instead he only let out a small whine and received a soft bite in the ear from Ace.

"I dont know why you haven't given up on me, but I'm not giving up on you yet" -The outsider pushed some secret mechanism and made the coffin move to reveal a hidden staircase, but she didn't go down immediately. Instead she looked at both foxes and showed them her vial with a strained expression on her face, her olive green eyes eyeing the liquid in the container.- "My vial has maybe enough potion to start a complete change for only one of you."

Both foxes looked at each other and then both backed down a bit looking away, their ears low and their clocks hurting. Ace was the first one to take a step back, and after giving a lick to Julius' snout he laid on the floor curling his tail around himself, calmly accepting his fate. If his beloved people were happy then he was happy.

Julius whined and then approached Ace to nuzzle him not wanting to accept this either, so he laid down by Ace's side.

A hum caught their attention as the merc looked at the staircase. -"I told you. I'm not choosing one of you and I'm not going to make you choose either. My plan is to complement the dose with raw mana. I did something similar with the Jabberwocky and the Bandersnatch once, so it might work."- Aria bit her lip. - "It's worth a try because I don't have any other ideas." -She looked away before taking out a few injectable capsules that struck in her neck and then, to the surprise of the foxes, she took out a small chocolate and ate it.

Ace and Julius stood up and came to her side, pawing at her leg while she cracked her neck before getting down to loosen their collars but did not removed them.

"I never said I could do this just like that. I'm going to use the collars as a focus point. Also given my own characteristics, drugs will have to 'loose up on' a chemical context."- She made a pause and looked down, her pupils were dilating.- "Remember that I'll be focused on something controlling the mana and the change, you'll have to keep my mind from drifting through any physical means necessary". -Aria made a pause.- ". I'll be in complete concentration to what I'll be processing, so I won't be feeling anything, so, if needed keep going until you are changed back. No Matter What. Understand?"

They both nodded, unsure of what exactly it is that they should do, but Julius began to dread whatever was coming next. The Jabberwocky and the Bandersnatch? Julius had seen what that meant, and with all his clock he wished she wasnt going to do the exact same.

The mercenary woman took a serious attitude as if this was a dangerous mission, which in many ways it was. -"And as soon as you change, get out of this place. Leave me behind if needed"- She didn't acknowledged their reactions. -"It's against the rules for any clockling to be here. This place is so dense with mana that it would overfill your existences and your clocks won't be able to handle that influx for long. It would eventually burst you and not even your clocks would remain. So no matter what happens, go back as soon as you can. I left the portal open."- Aria gave a pat to the stone coffin and then went down the passage.

Ace trotted right after Aria down the stairs as Julius looked around once again, having a strange nostalgic feeling before trotting after the two of them. As they made their way down, crystals began appearing on the walls and a dense sensation began overwhelming for their beings and making them whine. If outside they could feel the energy of life all around and in every little hair on their furry bodies, here it was impregnating the air like vapory mist and the lower they walked the denser it became, making them pant and whine.

"I know, that's why you must go back as soon as you are changed back. Now stay here." - Aria stopped when a cenote of mana was visible. After a final look at the foxes she took out her vial and opened it to take a sip from the potion of hearts, leaving half of the liquid in it. She grabbed Ace and kissed him, holding his snout and making him drink the potion.

Ace's tail wagged as his tongue moved around to enjoy the kiss and the potion, immediately feeling an incredible hot yet cold sensation crawl under his skin all along his body, and when Aria placed him on the floor he could do nothing but to roll on his side with eyes wide. - "Yummy. Tastes spicy~!"

Aria grabbed her vial again and grabbing Julius she repeated the action of giving the potion. Julius noticed she was getting off and a bit sloppy, probably the effects of whatever drug she injected herself but right now there was no turning back. As soon as he was on the floor by Ace's side he could only cuddle while looking Aria stumbling around.-"Yes, spicy and sweet-sour"

The foreigner approached the pool of mana and leaned down. Using her shadows she formed some pincers to lower her vial and use it as a container for the raw mana. Then she went back to Ace and Julius and once more gave them the liquid in the same way she did with her potion.

Ace and Julius felt the overwhelming power of the energy that feed and shaped their world, their own clocks barely holding together and flooding their afterimages, making their cogs move unnaturally.

Aria twisted her head already feeling disoriented; her eyes glowed in various shades as she sat on the floor to not fall. She began singing notes without lyrics, focusing on her vision and her intent on changing them back, her files showing in augmented reality screens in front of her vision how they ought to look while secondary processing was being done with the help of her A.I. to estimate proportions and measures so she could imbue her will with the chemical love that her drugged state was imitating.

Both foxes felt invaded by warm but damp energy, their existences were being reformed instead of changing back. Their bodies extended and transformed, gaining their human bodies but with the foxy traits like the ears and tail remaining. This power was molding their bodies by force, and it conveyed held intent and wishes; and right now they could only hear the voice surrounding them and feel how each note held faint sensations that they related to worry, care, want, determination, love… yet they were completely different, completely foreigner. And they understood it, even if she could not explain in a way that they understood; this was her form of love.

Aria tried getting up but she dropped to one knee, knowing she was burning her life in doing this, but when she watched them change but remain with foxy traits she knew it wasn't enough. This, she decided, was the moment where she choose to share her life with them to get them back. Shadows dispersed from her body and left her naked as she crawled their way and kissed them as if it was the last time she could do so. She had a plan; the same she had used with the Jabberwocky. -"Do me now! And keep going until you change!"

That was an order directed to their roles and they had no choice but comply, Julius kissed her neck and pulled her over him, wishing to tell so many things while feeling the immediate stabilization of his being brought by her touch and her presence, it was so soothing and yet so tense, so demanding but so gentle… something he so desperately wanted to corrupt with his own presence, his touches getting harsher by the second but Aria ignored what was happening to her body and focused on the mana; not even when Ace placed himself above her and did as she had told them did she resist, instead she opened up to them and endured, her mind separate from the experience and getting lost into calculations.

However, this was far from pleasant. Their claws dug into her skin, on her shoulder blades where Julius was holding her and over her back where Ace was pushing her down while biting her shoulder. Aria didn't respond, her body remained motionless between both of them. She had faltered at some point, but yet they continued; both filled with lust and desperate need while the change continued as power focused on their collar, their ears became human looking again and their bushy tails disappeared, still they didn't stopped immediately until Ace tried grabbing Julius by the collar, only to receive a bite him and then resorting to punching Julius to make him separate from Aria. This was more than enough. This wasnt love, they were just reaping her life from her body now.

Ace looked at Julius and at Aria, not yet able to articulate words he whined before trying to wake her up or move her but she remained still. He wanted to tell her that he now remembered everything, but more so he wanted to get them out of here.

After some desperate tries while struggling to get a hold on how their bodies worked, they began dragging her and themselves out of this place and back to the clock tower, her shadows barely covering her with light clothes but nothing more. All would be fine they thought; they could almost picture how things were going to change and improve soon. She had finally accepted them and they now understood she did loved them, in her own way. It wasn't love as they understood it, as she had many times stated. But there was more than something there and pretty soon they would just thank her and make things work forward.

Finally they crossed the dark portal back and were invaded by the scent of 'home'. A second later a gas grenade hit the floor and filled the room with a grayish gas. The last thing they saw before falling unconscious was how the darkness of the portal became a cover over them while unknown enemies grabbed Aria and took her away.

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A few more chapters and this will end… this story has gone in a weird curve.