The funeral ceremony was a strange affair. We ended up hosting it in the warehouse, for lack of a better, private location that could hold all who wanted to attend. With portable grills to cook the bodies and luminescent cocoons containing captured humans overhead, the whole thing looked absolutely nothing like a funeral ceremony.

As for the guests themselves, it was agreed upon that “formal attire” would consist of a black loin cloth around our waists, inverting our chitin color to white, and turning blue compound eyes grey. I had darkened my own eyes to a near solid black surrounded by silver, while turning my hair blood red. The green plates on my back turned grey while the blue bands that crossed my abdomen were bleached white.

I was surprised at the number of changelings that attended. Most that had shown up were the hatchlings who had never been human before, but there was a surprising number of converts mixed in the crowd, too; even more surprising was that everyone was sampling both their fallen comrades and the dead humans. I honestly had not expected that; I feared most would be revolted, yet almost half my hive had come and many of those who had not simply could not make it on such short notice.

After an hour of mingling – I listened in through the link, but did not participate – and eating, I gave a short speech. My words were not the most eloquent of monologues, but, after the fact, many of my subjects told me that it was adequate.

Upon the funeral’s conclusion, I declared a pseudo-holiday, to commemorate our first losses. For the next day, we would mourn. Every changeling on my payroll would get a paid vacation, so that we would have time to get out sorrow out before resuming our lives.

Though it was irresponsible of me, I left Selene with a sitter while I spent that morning strung out on candy hearts and that evening feeding at Livewire. But it was only one day, and Valentine’s candies only come a few weeks a year.

“Are you sure you want to do this? It only ever works once.” Sally-Anne sat in the chair across from me. The two of us were in her apartment, which was currently a mess from being rifled through for information regarding Ian’s group. Of course, that was a few days ago and had yet to be cleaned up. Even the organized chaos of her work areas had descended into just chaos. The partial loss of her sight, plus the loss of Ian, and now her friend Shimmer had left the poor woman broken. Though she did not recognize my influence, even as we spoke, I was subtly manipulating her hands away from the blade that I found her playing with.

Sally-Anne nodded weakly.

“Are you really sure? I’ll get you someone who can help… a real professional. Just… think this over, ok?” I prayed that she would choose therapy over heart freezing, but it was not to be.

“Do it. I don’t think I can stand all of this pain any longer,” she confessed.

“…Ok. I want you to tell me about Ian while I work, alright?”

As I dove into her memories, Sally-Anne began to speak between her sobs. “Well, he was a really sweet guy. He loved me with all his heart, and I loved him back. He took me on wonderful dates; any movie I wanted to see, no matter how cheesy, he would take me to them. Ian would-” At this moment, I snapped the emotional bond, freezing Ian in her heart. Magic surged through her veins. “-would… Wow, that feels good. Oh, I forgot what I was going to say.”

“You were saying what Ian would do,” I reminded.

“Why would I ever talk about that jerk?” She replied, her tone having jumped from sorrow-filled to annoyed in an instant. “He was rude, annoying, and crass. I loved stringing him along, making him think I loved him.” She suddenly lunged from her seat and grabbed me, her lips pressing against mine, her long tongue invading my mouth. I was so surprised that I did not push away; I may have even begun to return the kiss at some point, but I am not sure.

A moment – or was it hours? – later, she broke away, blushing furiously. “I-I-I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me.”

“Huh…” I said dumbly. After shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I replied, “Well, surprising as that was, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Are you feeling better now?”

She nodded gently. “Y-yes. At least, without that jerk in my head, I don’t feel like killing myself any more. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still stressed beyond belief trying to learn Braille and by the fact that I can’t recognize human faces any more, and I’m still grieving over Shimmer’s murder, but I’m better.”

I smiled, glad for my subject. Having reduced her own misery, I could feel the echo of her emotions within the link fade, much to the relief of all of the changelings around her in the hierarchy, myself included. “Do you need help with that Braille practice? I’ve got time.”

She smiled, and then blushed faintly. It still impresses me how visible a changeling’s blush is on such dark chitin. “Yes, the company would be nice,” she stated. “And, perhaps, we could… practice kissing some more? Oh, forget I said that!” she squeaked in embarrassment.

“No, it’s ok, I’d like that,” I commented, and then leaned in close.

She closed the gap.

For a moment, I wondered if the girl at my side could influence the sun as well as the moon; her counterpart’s sister could manage both, so why not little Selene? Though, when I asked her if she had made last night moon or this morning’s sun extra bright and glorious today, she just gave me a funny look.

There was an extra spring in my step as I walked through Centennial Olympic Park with Selene and Klika; the memories of last two weeks’ events were forcefully shoved aside to make room for happy thoughts. Very happy thoughts.

Selene bounced alongside me with her usual cheer, her illusion restoring her to the appearance of a fully human ten year old, albeit with light blue hair. Klika walked next to her, hand in hand, while disguised as a sixteen year old girl, also with blue hair of a darker shade.

I had not told Selene any of what had happened recently, except for Sal’s initial hospitalization. I had not told her of my own brush with death, nor of the funeral that had happened the other day. I definitely had not told her that I had eaten humans and changelings, or that I could not stop thinking about that sickeningly tantalizing flavor every time a person entered my field of view. I absolutely, positively, most certainly did not tell her that I had spent the other day strung out on candy hearts; nope, I said not a word.

“What are you feeling like for lunch, you two?” I asked my kids. I was not really concerned with what Klika would want; if it had had a pulse, she would like it. Otherwise, food was all the same to her. Effectively, our plans for the afternoon were in the hands of Selene.

Selene asked, “Can we go to the Varsity? See, I really want a slaw dog! Those are yummy!”

I smiled and ruffled her hair; it looked weird because my hand was a foot and a half over her apparent head. “Of course, if that’s ok with you, Klika.”

“Yeah, that’s good,” my first daughter replied.

“Well then,” I said as my hands started to glow with magic, “Let’s fly.” Ah, the wonder of a Notice-Me-Not spell, a portable weirdness censor whenever you need a clean getaway. I cast the charm on the three of us and, only a second later, we were in the air.

As we flew, I leeched a small portion of Selene’s happiness, just enough to counteract the cost of the Notice-Me-Not. Her magic reserves were large enough that she wouldn’t miss it and would probably regenerate it completely by the time we finished eating. Luna was known throughout Equa for possessing the second largest reserve of magic in either world, second only to Celestia, and Selene had inherited a similar trait. To put her reserves in perspective, Selene single-handedly possessed more magic at any given moment than the hive’s entire supply, which was divided among 341 changelings… well, 339 now.

Lunch passed quickly, and soon we found ourselves at the movies. It was a childish Disney film, but we enjoyed it regardless. When we returned to the apartment, Selene began retelling the plot to Nick, which quickly evolved into a full reenactment; the human-alicorn quickly took up the role of the heroine while Klika and I substituted every other character, full costume changes included. Nick enjoyed every minute of our childish rendition.

However, when the climactic scene came up where the villain was about to strike down the heroine, I – the antagonist – paused. Below me, Selene was curled up in mock-terror and I was poised to strike. Memories filtered through my consciousness, in spite of my attempts to repress them.

‘…Only pretending to be a monster,’ I thought.

“Rex, dude, are you alright?” Nick asked when I had zoned out.

“Uh… yeah… yeah, I’m fine.” I waved my hand dismissively. “Listen, I’m going to go… take a shower, yeah, ‘k? I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine. What’s wrong?” Nick asked, unconvinced with my lie.

“I SAID I’M FINE!” I snapped, simultaneously reverting back to normal in a whoosh of green flame. Quickly, I stood and headed to the bathroom. I paused in the doorway. Then, “Sorry... I’ll be fine… eventually. G’night.”

I turned my back to them, but was impeded from going forwards by a pair of blue arms embracing my waist. The soothing feeling of a concerned touch only served to drive my spirits further into the ground. “I love you, daddy.”

‘I never asked for this…’

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have some drama.

This chapter was meant to be a bit of a breather, but that sour ending just came right out of my fingers. This stuff writes itself, I tell you. I just aim it and hope for the best.

Klika may be a full adult by changeling standards, but she is still a child in Rex's eyes... also, she's two and a half. For most hatchlings in the first and second generations, age confusion is rather common. They can't decide whether to be adults, kids, or something else.

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The next chapter looks to be somewhat gruesome, I should warn you. Big things are coming, and Rex just can't seem to catch a break.

Also, it looks like Rexanne might be the ship of the day. Can you believe that Sally-Anne started out as a one-scene-wonder?

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My editor is just Alternate Madness this time. Thanks for your hard work.

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Hive population: 339 (+1 digital).