Dave woke with a violent shudder and an angry snarl, his heart pounding.

Something warm… someone was curled around him protectively. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, and found himself staring into eerily familiar violet-gold eyes that opened to look at him.

It was dark and the eyes glowed from within like endless dark holes wrapped by gold coronas and violet galactic spirals.

His heartbeat intensified.

The crystalline dragon from his childhood gazed back at him, her scales shifting through blues and violets. She was older, but it was irrefutably her.

Just like his old mood ring. Just like...

"You," he choked out. "You can't be real."

"Of course I'm real, you dolt," Remicra grumbled sleepily, untangling herself from his arms. "What, did you have a nightmare about me being imaginary or something?"

Dave just stared at her, his mind reeling. The parallels were impossible to ignore - a crystalline dragon whose scales changed colors with emotion, who appeared when he needed help most… he thought that he was the one to help Remy, but this wasn't the case at all.

Remicra had somehow always been with him as…

"Yes? Why are you looking at me like that?" Remicra asked. "Did I drool on you in my sleep or something?"

"I... when I was a kid," Dave began hesitantly. "I used to see a dragon in patterns. Like in random noise or wallpaper designs. She had scales that changed colors, just like yours. She'd appear when I was scared or lonely… and I forgot. I completely forgot about her! Shit!”

"Oh?" Remicra rolled her eyes. "So you're saying I'm your childhood imaginary friend come to life?"

"No, I mean... maybe? Uhg. I don't know," Dave rubbed his face and shimmering bruises created by hugging Remicra. "It's just... weird. The resemblance is uncanny. Maybe… those are just manufactured memories, stuff my mind filled in because I forgot things because I’m going insane from Vexirium.”

He partly activated Dreamspace Communion, the detective’s office intersecting his view of Remicra halfway.

“Sherlock, what the hell?” He thought.

"Those memories seemed genuinely yours, David," Sherlock replied. "Not affected by Vexirium nor manufactured by your current reality. The psychological progression from a lonely child seeking comfort in patterns to a programmer finding solace in code... The trauma with your mother's descent into paranoid delusions about System Wizards... All of that shaped who you are."

"But the dragon in the patterns..." Dave began. “My imaginary friend. That can’t be Remy. It just… can’t… right? How?!”

"Perhaps you saw something real," Sherlock suggested. "Your mother mentioned Omnicode on the ring. What if she wasn't entirely wrong? What if, in her madness, she somehow tapped into something genuine? Maybe the ring protected you from death by taxi, guiding you to meet Lari and then to... to your future on Arx.”

“But…” Dave choked as Remicra stretched. “I saw her before mom even bought me the ring!”

“Focus, David. This isn’t time for us to dissect your childhood trauma,” Sherlock shot back. “I woke you up because Healy is about to split, which will likely obliterate the extradimensional space! Sunrise is coming. Nightingale is about to start returning to the cloud. Get Cedez out of the ring! Forty-seven seconds!”

Dave leaped up on the bed. Healy blinked at him with many blue eyes, her dark body covered in wide, shimmering cracks.

[Space feels wrong.] Cedez-shadow sent. [Wobbling. Size shrinking. Concerning! Help!]

“Twenty-six second!” Sherlock counted. “Open the gate and pull her out exactly when my countdown hits zero!”

“I don’t have control over Healy!” Dave mentally shouted back. “How do I reshape her back into a ring?!”

“Right. Put all of your soul bits into Vitality!” Sherlock ordered. “Healy is still a level 34 Vitalix!”

Dave frantically slotted everything into Vitality, trying to seize control of Healy. The Kitlix's crystalline form trembled, caught between Shadow-Cedez's influence and Dave's commands.

"Fifteen seconds!" Sherlock warned.

[Space collapsing! Danger!] Shadow-Cedez's thoughts radiated panic.

"Healy, ring form, NOW!" Dave commanded, pushing with all of his Vitality.

Sherlock became covered in blue eyes and barked an order at the Kitlix sitting on his desk.

The Kitlix's crack-covered form wavered, then slowly began to flow into a circular shape. Multiple blue eyes blinked in confusion as the transformation progressed.

"Ten seconds!"

The dimensional space inside Healy was fluctuating wildly now, contracting and expanding like a heart about to burst, more rainbow cracks shimmering all over the Kitlix.

"Five!"

Dave could see Shadow-Cedez through Healy's inner eye, her serpentine form writhing in distress as the space around her destabilized.

"Three!"

The ring finally formed completely.

"Two!"

Dave reached for the dimensional gate.

"ONE!"

He activated the gate.

"ZERO!"

The somewhat squished Shadowbeast leapt out of the gate, slamming into Dave, and sending him flying backwards. Healy-ring extradimensional space winked out and the Kitlix shattered with a blinding flash.

The Shadowbeast leaped towards the window. Remicra intercepted it, her arms spread open wide. “Oh no, you don’t!”

A ray of sunlight pierced the clouds as the sun began to emerge from behind Nihilim, igniting the window behind the dragoness.

Cutting across the shadow, sunlight burned away the dark flames. Wings made from shadow melted away and what crashed into the dragoness was a dark-furred fox.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

In moments, Cedez had returned to her foxgirl form, naked and trembling in Remicra's embrace.

"Ow," she mumbled against the dragoness' metal-bug plated chest apron. “You are very solid.”

Remicra growled out a reply as she pulled the black leather outfit onto Cedez.

"You okay?" Dave climbing out of the bed.

"Yeah," Cedez nodded weakly. "Just... disoriented, I think?" She leaned heavily against Remicra, her dark ears drooping. "Did I... did I try to cut you up last night or something? It’s weird. I usually don’t remember these things. I remember threatening Remy into being very pink… maybe?"

"Sort of," Dave replied. "But it's okay. We managed to keep you distracted with studying Remicra's emotional displays."

"Oh?" Cedez's ears perked up slightly. "Do tell!"

"Don't you dare," Remicra growled at Dave, her scales flickering pink.

“Come on,” Cedez whined. “It sounds like a funny story. What’d I do? Details plz!”

“Nothing happened,” Remicra insisted. “We shall never speak of it again!”

“Booooring. Did you have fun at least?”

Remicra opened her mouth and considered her reply. “I… guess I did,” she admitted.

“Yay!” Cedez clapped her hands and pulled her dark gloves on.

A crystalline chime drew their attention. Where Healy had been, three small Kitlix were now twinkling on the bed, pawing at each other curiously, their sharp edges shimmering with distinctive colors.

Dave examined the trio coming closer to them.

The first and largest was clearly still primarily Healy - her form remained mostly green with cyan sparkles dancing through her crystalline matrix, though she seemed much smaller than before.

The second was a sleek, dark crystalline form with jagged spine edges, multiple blue eyes scattered across its surface and occasional violet sparkles - clearly inheriting most of the Shadow essence along with Void. It curled protectively around the third one, pawing at it occasionally.

The third, smallest Kitlix was also dark and featured some Void, but also had an ever-shifting array of colors rippling across the edges of her draconic face, reminiscent of Remicra's scales. She looked left and right with big violet-gold-tinted eyes, as if she wasn’t sure where she was or why.

"Abyss!" Cedez grinned. "What an adorkable little Kitlix family! The prophecy of terrible naming conventions must be fulfilled!"

"We are NOT giving them your stupid names," Remicra growled, staring at the small Kitlix with colorful edges with wide eyes.

"Too late!" Cedez declared. "I hereby dub them... Healy Junior, Shady, and… Feely!"

“Wait. There’s metal in this one,” Remicra bent down towards the Kitlix she was staring at intently. I sense… Pathosteel! But… but that’s not possible. How?!”

“Uh-huh,” Cedez grinned, reaching out towards the dark, sleek Kitlix. “And this one has my Shadow in her.”

The violin in Dave’s soul resounded with an explanation.

“Sherlock,” Dave addressed Remicra with a smile. “While we were sleeping, Sherlock made Healy nibble on your hair, fingernails, and scales. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but I guess it did.”

“What?!” Remicra sputtered.

“Uhh… That Kitlix has Void and Pathosteel in her. If you feed her mana crystals and more of your scales, she’ll become even more aligned to you, Remy. The Void bits should be able to help you work with metal easier. We made her for… you!”

Remicra’s mouth fell open, her entire figure igniting with gold. There were tears at the edges of her eyes. She stared at the Kitlix and then at Dave.

“For me?!” She choked. “You… made me… m-my own metalworking Kitlix?!”

“I suppose that I did,” Dave rubbed the back of his head. “Since Sherlock is basically an extra-rational extension of me.”

Remicra launched herself at Dave with such force that they both tumbled backwards onto the bed. Her arms wrapped around him in a crushing embrace that would have probably broken bones if he hadn't quickly slotted everything into Strength.

"You impossible, ridiculous human!" She cried into his shoulder, her tail coiling tightly around his leg. "Do you have any idea how much a Pathosteel-Void Kitlix would cost?! They don't even exist, on the account that nobody would breed such a thing!”

Dave hugged her back just as tightly, feeling her heart hammering against his chest. Her scales were cycling through a kaleidoscope of colors - pink, gold, violet, and blue all swirling together in beautiful swishing patterns of fluid dynamics.

"Hey, it's okay," he said softly, running a hand along her back. "You deserve your own Kitlix. After everything you've been through..."

"Shut up!" She choked out between sobs. "Just... shut up! I can't... I can't handle you being this... this..."

"This what?" Dave asked gently.

"This YOU!" She buried her face deeper into his shoulder, her tears soaking through his gray robe. "Nobody's ever... nobody's given me anything like this! Nobody's ever cared enough to..."

She broke off into more sobs, her entire body trembling.

"Awww," Cedez cooed from nearby. "You broke our tough dragon! Dave made Remy cry! Quick, someone immortalize this moment! Go on, Rems, give Dave a big sloppy kiss!”

"Shut up, fox!" Remicra growled through her tears, not lifting her face from Dave's shoulder.

"Never!" Cedez declared cheerfully. "This is too precious! Our stoic Rems, reduced to tears by a thoughtful gift! I'm going to tell everyone!"

"If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will…," Remicra threatened, though the effect was somewhat diminished by her continued crying and refusal to let go of Dave.

“Come on, you know I’m just teasing you, right?” Cedez yawned widely and sat on the bed, grabbing and trying to contain all three Kitlixes on her lap. “I don’t have any friends, except for you two.”

"What? You don’t have friends?!" Remicra demanded. "What about Hyrei?"

"She works for grandpaw as his bodyguard and personal caretaker," Cedez shrugged, petting the three Kitlixes. "She's nice and all, but she's not really my friend. At best, she’s my many-times removed Aunt. Yea, she probably cares about me on some level, but she doesn’t know everything about me.”

"But..." Remicra began, finally lifting her tear-stained face from Dave's shoulder. "You seem so... social. Always talking to everyone, making jokes..."

"Socializing is part of my job," Cedez replied with another wide yawn of foxy chompers. "Being friendly, making people feel welcome at the cafe. But at the end of the day, they're customers, not my friends. Most people would run away or try to take me apart… if they learned what I really am. You heard Terri’s Cantigeist.”

"Hrm," Remicra made a face. "You're not that bad."

"Thanks, Remy," Cedez smiled tiredly. "That means a lot, coming from you."

"I didn't say you're good either," Remicra added quickly, her scales flickering between pink and violet. "Just... tolerable."

"Uh-huh," Cedez grinned. "Keep telling yourself that, bestie. We should feed our crystalline babies before they run away. Feely looks extra dumb. She’ll totally wander to the nearest Kitlix breeding farm if we don’t bind her to you. Shady, make sure Feels doesn’t prance off, ye?”

The dark Kitlix covered in blue eyes nodded, surrounding the confused-looking rainbow-edged Kitlix.

"She's not dumb!" Remicra protested, finally releasing Dave and scooping up the colorful Kitlix. "She's just... new. And stop calling her Feely! That's a terrible name!"

"Oh? What would you name her then?" Cedez challenged with a grin.

"I... um..." Remicra's scales flickered with uncertainty as she cradled the Kitlix. "Something dignified! Like... Aurora?"

"Too fancy," Cedez yawned. "Also boring. Feely is way cuter."

"It's not cute, it's ridiculous!" Remicra argued. "She deserves a proper name!"

The Kitlix in question tilted its crystalline head, edges shimmering with shifting colors as it looked between the arguing pair. Then it pawed at Remicra's scales.

"See? She likes being called Feely," Cedez declared triumphantly.

"She does not! She's just... exploring her environment," Remicra insisted, her scales flushing pink as the Kitlix continued to paw at her.

"Come on," Dave said, getting off the bed. "Let's get some breakfast."

Healy hopped onto his head, settling onto her usual perch. Feely tried to follow her example by jumping onto Remicra's head, but slipped off, tumbling back onto the bed. Shady quickly intercepted Feely, wrapping around the colorful Kitlix and pulling her up onto Remicra’s red mane.

"At least someone's being responsible," Remicra muttered, watching the dark Kitlix manage her smaller sibling.

Cedez attempted to stand up from the bed, but immediately wobbled and sat back down with a thump. "Uhh... slight problem," she admitted sheepishly, her dark ears drooping. "My legs aren't really... working right now."

"What's wrong?" Dave asked.

"Being contained in a dimensional bubble was... draining," Cedez explained, looking worn out, eyes sunken deeper into her head. "Usually when I transform, I'm connected to Nightingale’s power. I get to fly around and enjoy the high Aetheric density all night. But last night I was running purely on my own energy reserves, disconnected from Shandria."

"Can you not walk at all?" Remicra asked.

Cedez tried to stand again but her legs buckled. She rolled from the bed onto the floor and remained there with sad blue eyes looking up. "Nope. Pretty sure I can't. This is... kind of embarrassing actually. Plz help.”

"I'll carry you," Remicra sighed, moving to pick up the foxgirl.

"My hero!" Cedez declared dramatically, wrapping her gloved arms around Remicra.

Remicra grumbled under her breath about useless fox lumps as they emerged from the room and went down the stairwell.