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"Thank you" she said as he said he would never have her break the promise and could stay in his life "and yes, no one should ever leave his life again" she said as she sighed, knowing this story would be a long one.

Sayako had waited till everyone was comfy before she started her story and as much as she hated talking about it she had to so she took a deep breath and begun "two years ago, my best friend, Calliope, had finally gotten pregnant, something she and her mate, Morpheus had wanted for ages and were finally blessed with, the days went by and the two were happy, they enjoyed every moment of the pregnancy but several days before Halloween Morpheus had gotten word that his father was ill and that there was some Nightmare kitsu that was trying to take everything he got through some scam he had concocted whilst his father was on his sick bed and so Morpheus took off to take care of his father and the Nightmare, he wasn't going to go but Calliope insisted, she could take care of herself till he came back, it wouldn't be long and he promised he would be back in time for the birth of his child on Halloween. Well things didn't work out that way and not having seen her mate back, like he promised so I offered to go see what happened and she took me up on it, making me promise to tell her the truth upon my return and so I left, hoping to be back before Halloween when she was meant to give birth, someone had to be there for her after all if her mate couldn't and I didn't want her to go through the pregnancy by herself so I had to be so I just basically ran all night and day just to reach the cave where the onslaught had taken place, I...I just stood there, staring at the blood shed, not having been able to find a body or anything I thought that it was fine, no one had died but I was wrong..." she said as her eyes brimmed with tears once again as she remembered the horrfic scene but she bit them back "the fight that happened ended up being won by the Nightmare, his father was alive but bearly and he had seen the whole event happening right before his eyes but as he was too ill to help Morpheus had taken on the Nightmare himself but ever since he met Calliope he had gotten rather lax in his training and ended up not doing so well in the fight and so he ended up dying that day.

The Nightmare had taken what he came for, his father offered to give up everything before the fight happened so that his son didn't have to get involved but Morpheus got involved, he didn't want his father being scammed out of anything so hence why he was happy to fight the Nightmare but his father, after I had arrived, told me what happened and soon poassed away, the loss of his son and his illness just over took him and he just didn't want to live anymore so he was happy to pass away and join Morpheus' mother and son in the afterlife" she said as tears started to fall down her face but she tried to keep her composure as much as possible "I...I had found his body near by under a bush though it was hard to see at first so hence why I thought no one had died but after taking a good look around I found him and he was just a complete mess there was almost not a part on his body that hadn't lost a considerable amount of blood from the wounds inflicted on him, had he survived he would of more then likely died of too much blood loss so I just started digging two graves near the grave site of Morpheus' mother, placing Morpheus on one side and his father on the other, I couldn't do anything else, I burried them, prayed for them and then picked up the few belongings that Morpheus' father haf left and took them back with me, if anyone deserved to have what few belongings he had left it was Calliope which included a photo of Morpheus that this human once took of him, he wanting to give a 'unique' gift to his father and mother a few years back" she said as she started to cry harder. Sayako didn't speak for a few moments as she tried to compose herself again but then carried on once she was alright...for the most part "a little pup was going to be born soon and I promised I would be back so I started home, hating the fact that a joyus occasion was going to be upset by the news of the death of her father in law and mate, I had no idea what to do, I thought long and hard on my way back, thinking that maybe I should wait till after she had finished giving birth and just come up with a story about not being able to find him or something and then tell her the truth or just tell her the truth but in the end I decided on the truth, it was horrible, I never wanted to tell her this but as a friend I had to, I couldn't let her go on living with the hope, even just for a few days, that her mate may still be alive and out there somewhere so as soon as I got back I sat down with her and gave her the belongings of her father in law that I had brought back and of course between then and the pregnancy, as much as she tried to control herself for the baby's sake, she was stressed out and emotional beyond the max point, I finally got her to calm down a few hours before she gave birth but it still wasn't good.

Oliver came out with almost all his shell broken off and will be, forever more, a perma, the stress on Calliope's body was too much, in a way I do feel responsable but she made me promise, I couldn't help that and I had never broken a promise to her in all the years I had known her and so I wasn't going to start now and especially not over something like this so I just helped her any way I can and we did, in the end, get through it even though it was a tad hard at first but we survived that and moved on" she said as she took a deep breath, decided that she would wait to carry on with the other story about Calliope's death, thinking she would answer any questions or whatever first and just let this all sink in, besides she wanted to get a drink any before she carried on with the other part.

((Yes, I know that kitsus come in eggs but meh, she was stressed and all, too much stress can cause damage to a baby and one of the damages is baby growth stopping/being effected/whatever so I decided to sorta go with that and have the egg some what break away and the pup now having the impact of this, sorta tried ixing both real world complications with Kitsu...not a strong point of mine as we are not sure what illnesses are in the Kitsu world exactly but meh, I tried. XD; ))

((YAY! Someone gets it! XD))

Odessa was sitting there silently crying, she wanted to speak, to say something but couldn't, poor Morpheus, how horrific to have died like that, sure Oliver was the victim in all of this but still, his father, what a way to go, some Nightmares had a lot to answer for and when it is taking another Kitsu's life, that was the worst of it, now poor Oliver hasn't got a father, sure he had Gersif but biologically, even she had to agree Morpheus would of been far better then Gersif, it was obvious he would but that would never come to pass obviously.

Sayako had gotten her drink and arrived back, settling down she shook her head at the question "no, Calliope thought that it would be a far to sore of a subject so she never showed him the photo, she just let him belive that some day his father would return, it was a horrible thing to do to the poor child but she was going through so many emotions and what not that she never could bring herself to show him the photo and every time she wanted to she just hid it again, thinking it was better she never said anything as it was far too hard on her and she just couldn't place that heartache on the pup so she came up with a story that he had business to attend to." Sayako sighed as she crossed her front paws and placed her head on it, thinking of her best friend and shook her head to clear it "Calliope had tried so hard to live her life normally with him, ignoring the fact she now had a stunted child but she loved him with all of her heart and loved him an infinite amount more for his father who couldn't be there with him but this photo, no, she just could never bring herself to show him, I have it at home but keep it hidden, as she had done" she said as she took a deep breath and looked at the others "any other questions before we move on to his mother?" She asked, deciding to get the questions and what not out of the way for this part.

Odessa looked at her and shook her head, the only question she had was answered though even if she did have other questions she wouldn't of been able to speak anyway.

((LOL yeeeah, pretty sure though the question is, are you sure you don't have some sort of odd fetish with the name Oscar? Maybe theres more to this then you are letting on, missy. >> XD ))

Sayako cleared her throat and started once more "as for Calliope she had left Oliver in my care, she said goodbye to him, done all the motherly things and left after saying goodbye to me also, promising to return, she had heard roumours about some potion or whatever that would help heal his stuntedness and she wanted to see if it was true even though I told her not to go she wanted to, even if it was just hear say and so I let her, promising I would take care of her son but still let him wander off on his own if he wanted, his father had done the same as a pup and learnt more out in the wild then he did at home, not that he didn't return home just that he thought that if Oliver wanted to roam then I should let him as long as I kept tabs on where he was which is how I set up the network I have with several Celestial friends of mine, they are happy to watch out for Oliver if I couldn't. So he was watched and I also talked Calliope into taking a close friend of mine and Morpheus' with her, she was not wanting to at first but she accepted, thought it would be fun to travel with another and someone who was close friends with her mate and so as they stopped in different towns and what not along the way they met with many different people and Kitsu's and carried on though this next town they stopped in was a horrible town, it was not fit for rats let alone humans and Kitsu's, it's population was the shady characters of the world, maybe not all but alot were there and whilst the Celestial I sent with was a great fighter, though he didn't look like it, this place was not a place either of them should have been.

However, Calliope was adamant about being here, she had heart this shaman Kitsu in town was the key to her problem so she had to be here though once she stepped in town the vaultures hounded her, a sweet, pretty, darling Naive Kitsu right for the plucking, my friend fought them off for the time being and they moved on asking for hints about where this Shaman could be but as night fell they knew it wasn't safe to stay in town, they would look tomorrow, they left and walked back the way they came for a bit and found a cave they claimed for the night though by morning, Calliope..." she said as she started to cry once more, trying to keep her composure but this was far harder then Morpheus's story "...Calliope was dead" she said as she cried harder, taking a few moments to get herself together before carrying on. "My friend woke up in the middle of the night to screams, having seen Calliope being raped, he fought fought them off her as much as he could and to the extent where Calliope was able to get away but after Thane had finished his bout he went to see where Calliope was and find out her..." she stopped, crying harder more then ever and after about fifteen minutes or so she forced herself to stop and carried on "...she was found de...decapitated" she blurted out as she would of found it hard had she waited "anything that could of been cut off was..." she said as she just stopped and buried her face in her paws, she just couldn't carry on with the story, not that there was much left to tell but still, she just couldn't finish the story.

Odessa got up and walked over to the pink Kitsu, crying more herself now and just nuzzled her, comforting her, wishing there was something more she could do.

Thane, a Celestial that was fully black with a white rose/vine pattern on him that had blood going up the vine and drops dripping from the rose into a pool of blood had jumped down from a near by tree had been listening ever since the start of the second part of the story and walked over to the others, laying down next to Sayako on the other side and nuzzled her, also helping comforting her and looked at the others "I apologise for intruding but I am Thane, the one who travled with Calliope, since my friend her can not finish the story I shall" he said as he kissed the pink Celestials head. "...I checked Calliope's head over and there was a smell of some sort of poison on her nose, meaning that they knocked her out with something but it didn't matter now, I burried her remains and prayed for her and then looked around at some of the carnage I had caused and just ignored it and left, I had to get home and report to Sayako, I wanted to get what we came here to get but I can't so I just left and came back, reporting what happened" he said as he nuzzled the still crying Sayako once more who curled up closer against him and just buried her face into his fur.

Odessa had watched the other and got up and walked over to him, she hated hearing what she had but, she felt sick to the stomach but kept it to herself, if anything, she would wait till later to vomit, but right now she just laid down beside him and nuzzled him "it's alright" she said softly, knowing it wasn't but what else could she do or say? "alright, so it wasn't but whatever happens this should never be spoken of again, Oli will NEVER learn of his parents fate, he thinks we are both his parents and that is how it is going to stay" she said as she dried her tears, trying to keep calm in this situation even though she really didn''t want to.

Sayako, after a long while, finally calmed down and licked Thane's cheek in thanks and looked at the others "as you can see, this is why I have never been ble to tell him about his mother or father, he never met his father so it is a little bit different, I could get away with that but his mother, no, it was one thing to say she died but how could I ever explain this to a pup? He would want to know how and I would be lying to him again and all these lies are not good for him but sometimes lying is needed but I would still feel terribly guilty afterwards and this is why IF I allow this to happen alot has to be taken care of just so we can have him never learn the truth. I know this sounds easier said then done but we have to make sure all our tracks are covered so he never learns, at all, about this, it has worked for the most part but we have to carry this on or else this is just going to do god knows what damage it would do to him and we have to stop that from happening at all costs" she said as she looked between Odessa, Gersif and Thane and sighed.

"We understand that" Odessa said, glad of the slight change in topic "though, considering I am going to be his mother, is there anything I am going to have to know? I never meet Calliope before so I am going to at least need some info about her so that if he asks I can do more then just pass it off as 'me growing out of it' or whatever" she said, looking at Gersif "he may need to know info on Morpheus as well..." she said trailing off, hoping this would work.

"Sayako nodded "yes, we will have to teach you what we know" she said looking at Thane "though it won't be too much, we will let you still be yourselves but we will give you at least family history though since you are meant to have known him more I am going to have to teach you a bit more then the just the mere basics like Gersif will be getting from thane but still, it will work...at least I am hoping it will" she said with a little uncertainty, hoping this will end up working out for the better in the long run.

"Was Oli asleep by the lake when you found him and did he have lunch?" She asked curiously to the others.

"Yes, he had fallen asleep on my tarot cards, I was doing a reading for someone and left them there when I went to tell this guy" she said gesturing towards Gersif "off for being rude and interupting me and came back to Oliver having found them and having fallen asleep on them so since we were going back to my place for lunch I decided to take him with us, it was wrong of us and I apologise but I thought, after lunch, I could try and find his parents or guardian as it was strange a pup would be out by a dangerous place like the lake by himself but stuff happened and then he decided to fall asleep after lunch so us looking for his parents never happened and it has been about what? Forty five minutes or so since he went back to sleep.."

"Ahh I see, well then we have three hours remaining to cram everything we know into your heads, so yes, we will pair off now, it will be easier that way" she said as her mind went back to what she said about the cards "wait, you said that you were a Tarot reader? How much more Divination stuff are you into?" She questioned Odessa.

"Well my strong points are Astrology and Tarot but I am able to do other sorts but I just have never actually put my mind to it to actually go with anything else, I will some day learn how to properly do runes or I Ching or whatever but till then I have settled myself with Tarot and Astrology."

Sayako smiled "this works out perfectly, Morpheus, between his training and fighting, was into Divination, he had a real talent at Pyromancy, Lithomancy and Oneiromancy, he was also into others but they were where his talents really shined, not that Oliver knew this but still, those three things helped him with his fighting in some ways between just doing them casually" she said as she said as she looked at Thane "Thane, take Gersif to to your cave, you have some items of Morpheus's there, I think it is time they are returned to him 'him' and I shall stay here with Odessa" she said smiling softly at her.

Thane wasn't one who wanted to give up his friends belongings, they may be better in this Kitsu's paws but that doesn't mean he was happy with the idea, they were the last remaining items of his friends, they had sentimental value but he got up and nodded "alright" he said as he looked at Gersif "please, follow me" he said as she got up and started to lead the other away from where they were.

Odessa watched Gersif go and sighed, in a way she wished he was staying, let them learn this stuff together and each have the knowledge of both of Olivers parents just so if either one forgot anything they could remind each other but oh well, she would just have to fill him in later.

((I will just rp Thane from now on, would be easier. XD))

Odessa smiled softly and mouthed good luck back, glad they were both in the same boat.

Thane stopped and sighed and looked back at Gersif "it would be hard on them seeing another two taking care of their son as it would with any parent but Olivers parents had myself, Sayako and the others watching out for him so they knew he was in good paws, Sayako and I were the closest to Morpheus and Calliope and so we only picked those who we trusted the most to watch out for him but the fates have decided to change the course of his life for some reason and gave you two a role to play in his life now and so whilst they wouldn't like these two strangers taking care of him they would make sure you are trustworthy, kind, considerate and over all, make sure you love him with all your hearts and give him a life they were never able to give him. They have passed on and so Sayako and I will be doing the judging ourselves, we will want to remain a part of Olivers life, it is true Oliver has yet to actually meet me properly but still, I do wish to remain in his life then just some guy who once took him home due to him nearly ending up falling on top of a sleeping Trick.

So if we can pull this off the parents of Oliver will be pleased to have you take care of their son as long, of course, you and Odessa pass the test of proving to us you are worthy to, Sayako and I are not just going to easily let both our best friends son just go to anyone no matter how much Odessa looks like Calliope" he said as he stopped outside of a a rather deep cave "please, come in" he said as he entered the cave, tall victorian gothic style candelabras lined the path leading into the cave with all lit candles and he, once he reached the inside, stopped, gesturing him towards the carpet that was in the middle of the room that had not much else in it besides a cupboard at the side and another door that lead to further back in the cave where he had his shrine dedicated to Calliope and Morpheus "please, excuse me" he said as he left to go fetch the belongings of his friend.

"Thanks" Thane said in a mumble as he walked out of the other part of his cave with a large bundle in his mouth and placed it on the ground, opening it up there were several items inside "this is one of two bags of gems he used, this was not used as often as the others were but for sentimental reasons I would like to keep that bag" he said as he handed the medium sized bag tan cow hide bag over to the other that had a mixtrue of different colored gem stones in it "he always said these ones didn't seem to give him much of a reading so he always kept the two seperate for obvious reasons." The Celestial said as he pushed a dagger towards him that was still in its hilt "this was one of his two favoruite daggers, this is the less decritive one" he said gesturing towards the wolf head on the head of the dagger "it has emeralds for eyes and is pretty much all that is special about it but the jewel encrusted one he loved using I am keeping, once again, for sentimental reasons" he said as he pushed a pendulum towards him "for scrying, he was getting into that before he left, he was getting rather good at it but never got to finish practising it and getting good at it.

This was his favourite plushie when he was a baby/child" he said as he pushed it over to him "I don't want to give it up but that bear plushie will be better off with Oliver, he deserves it, it will be hard knowing that you will be giving him 'your' faveourite plushie but it can't be helped given the circumstances" he said as he bit back tears, really not wanting to let the bear go and hating the fact this guy was going to be claiming it as his own, even as an adult he still carried it around with him, it was a gift from his mother, but he knew that Oliver deserved it even if he didn't know it was Morpheus's. "This" he said as he pushed a book over to him, inside on some pages there were little notes and what not and the bible was well loved "is a bible he read every night, a very religious guy but he pushed his beliefs to the side when someone was in danger or needed help, regardless whether or not it was against the bibles teachings he would help whoever it was in need no matter what, if there was one thing he loved and enjoyed doing it was helping others, something that made Calliope fall in love with him for in the first place, he was a very selfless Kitsusagi but Oliver hasn't any idea about that, he was always told he was a good guy and cared about others etc but not to any sort of extent so he was never told about how selfless he was so I guess you can disregard that if you want.

This next item" he said as he pushed a sterling silver ring that had small pink diamonds around the outside of it over to the other, the ring was on a silver chain, inside was an inscription that stated 'Here is my heart, guard it well' "his ring from her, he took it off before he left, not wanting to lose it on his journey or taken if anything may have happened to him" he said, deciding nothing more on the subject had to be said "and the final item" he said as he pushed the dried and pressed rose towards him, it safely displayed on a strip of cardboard with a clear plastic sticky cellophane top on it, sticking the rose onto the card securly so it wouldn't move "is the first rose she ever gave him, it was whilst they were still dating but had been together a year, they had given each other many flowers and gifts since then but nothing is more special then the first gift given to you by your soulmate and he had kept it ever since" he said, having said what he had in a monotone, not wanting to show emotion as he was going to end up crying again if he did. "As for the ring" he said having remembered something "Calliope always wore hers and so she had taken hers with her but one thing she always wanted, same with Morpheus, was to have their son have the rings if anything happened to them, whilst I wanted to burry her ring with her she made Sayako promise that the rings would go to him one day so he could know how much they loved each other and so the rings have stayed with us as we just couldn't bare giving them to him, say it is wrong if you want but as much as we promised we just couldn't let that pup know his parents have died so we haven't been able to, it was wrong to break their promise but it has just been so hard" he said as he sighed and laid down, deciding to do what he wished with the items and let it sink in and what not and allowing him, if he wished, to take the piece of material they were wraped in if he wished just for easier carrying later on "any questions so far?" He Asked.

((That depends on him? I mean, to Morpheus they didn't work but to Gersif they may be great, it may just depend on the gems and the users connection with them, both bags have different gems inside of them so the gems in this bag wern't meant to be used by Morpheus obviously so they didn't work for him so to Gersif they may just work.))

Thane smiled a little at the joke and stood up and picked up the bear and nodded "of course, I will just say...I don't know to tell you the truth, I wish to let Oliver know it is his fathers but given you are now his 'father' it is bringing up the question as to why I have it when 'you' are right there in front of him so why can't you give it to him yourself" he said with a sigh, turning around as tears started to fall down his face "please, excuse me for a moment" he said as he left with the bear to place it back where it belonged for the time being and walked back to the shrine as he was a proud man and crying in front of others, especially another male, wasn't something he did. Thane laid down at the shrine and just silently cried, cuddling the bear, he couldn't bare it, just couldn't handle knowing all this is happening, he just couldn't bring himself to accept that that guy out there was going to be taking the place his best friend should of had, he looked to the photo of Morpheus and then the other of Calliope and Morpheus together and asked for strength, he truely hoped they would not hate him and Sayako for what they were doing, he silently prayed for their help and guidance got up, wiping the tears from his face and walked back out, leaving the bear where it was.

"My apologies" he said as he sat back down in front of the other "and I will, thank you" he said as he took the bible back "anyway, the bear shall be given to him, I will come up with something" he said as he took a deep breath and let it out "it would have, you were right and thank you for understanding, I despise doing this, I don't want to have someone else take the place of my best friend but there is no other way around it, the only good thing about this, if you could even call it a good thing, is that he has the coloration of his grandfather and grandmother on his fathers side, it was a bit strange when it happened but of course they accepted it. Oliver has never second guessed it, he accepted that he hadn't looked like his mother or father but somehow got his grandfathers color and he has seen him once in his life, we haven't even had the heart to tell him his grandfather has passed away, we wanted to but after the fact he passed away soon after his son it was a bit of a touchy subject as you could guess so we haven't gotten around to doing it, it was best we just assumed he had forgotten bout him.

Now, I guess it is time to tell you about his family life..." he said with a sigh, wishing he could just hand him a book with it all written in and he didn't have to do this himself.

************

Back where Odessa was learning what she had to with Sayako...

Odessa was having a far too hard a time with all of this, Sayako had just finished gifting her with several of Calliope's belongings and the only thing that ran through her mind was how she died which had made Odessa run, she couldn't handle it anymore, she just couldn't go through with this, it was wrong of her, she should never have said she would take over the job as mother to Oliver no matter how much she wanted to at the time and so she just ran and ran, not really paying attention where she was going but ended up passing the cave Thane occupied without realising it, tears falling down her face and as she sobbed she stopped next to a bush by the cave's entrance and just vomited several times, the guilt and the thought of how Calliope had died had all become far too much, she just sat there vomiting into a bush between sobs, regretting this choice she had made.

Sayako had wanted to follow her but instead she stayed where she was, she wouldn't leave the cave incase Oliver came out but she also wanted to give Odessa a little bit of time on her own, maybe placing Calliope's ring around her neck was a little too much but if she was to take on the role of mother well...

Odessa looked down at the ring around her neck which made her hate herself even more, she slipped it off her neck and dug a small hole next to her and buried it, was it wrong? Sure but as much as she wanted to follow through with this that ring wasn't helping and right now that ring wasn't even the last thing she wanted to see so it can stay there for a while if not for good as far as she was concerned, and for once in her life, whilst not a huge believer of god and praying etc, she prayed a little, asking for Calliope's forgiveness in all of this and just vomited once a again between the sobs, the horrific thoughts still in her mind, even the mere idea of her name made Odessa sick to the stomach, how was she meant to survive this and take care of Calliope's son even if she had good reasons to? She just couldn't.