Author's Note: Trigger warning. This chapter is bitter-sweet, and will deal with the consequences of the shit that happened in Chapter Four.
---
Toofy paused, foot midair, as her nose flicked back and forth. It wasn't hard to catch the smell permeating her nostrils, she expected that even a human could smell it when Meerakeilian entered the room.
She emitted a tiny little frightened miaow, before she found herself lying on a table, looking up into deep black eyes. Seeing only her reflection in them.
"B-bad dragon." Toofy whispered.
Meerakeilian growled as she leaned further down, slowly opening her jaw to reveal bright white, sharp, and triple-rows of teeth. Her forked tongue flicked outwards to tap Toofy's cheek.
The catgirl's expression suddenly changed to one of confusion, and she coughed, "Eh... Mia... Do you... Have balls?"
The salamander's chuckle was deep and rolling, sending shivers through Toofy as she realised she was trapped beneath a very horny dragon that had just undergone a sexchange.
The black scales beginning to sprout where Meerakeilian had been scarred by her battle, and the darkening of her other scales, showed off that the red salamander was somehow turning into a black, as well.
"Mia... Do you have... Other male bits?" Toofy cringed.
In answer, she felt something large and solid smack against her underwear, pushing against her private parts as the woman... Man... Lizard, leaned down even closer to her, growling in her ear.
"Toofy doesn't want." She said breathlessly. "Toofy doesn't want."
"Want." Meerakeilian growled again, kissing both her cheeks quickly, "Want her. Make egg. Make egg. Make egg."
She let out a frightened whine, her own tail curling in around her leg. She didn't stand a chance if the unbalanced hormones of the salamander got the better of them.
She was also feeling a bit like everyone kept using her. First Elatham, then Daen, and now even her dragongirl was going to ignore her telling them to stop.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Meerakeilian vanished from sight, letting out a pained howl as she did.
Toofy took a few deep breaths before sitting up slowly from the table, shifting her recovering arm in its sling and looking around in confusion for whatever had managed to attack the salamander.
The only other living thing she could see in the room was the tavern owner, hiding behind his broken kitchen, practically gnawing on his own arm in terror of everything he had witnessed since breakfast.
The catgirl took a whiff of the air, frowned, and her bell jangled as she dropped her head upside down to look beneath the table where her dragon was curled into a very tight ball.
You could attack her with a battle axe right now, and all you'd hit were layers of scales. The salamander may as well be a larger pillbug, all frightened and armoured.
Toofy blinked her golden eyes, "Mia?"
A puff of white smoke emerged from inside the ball, and it curled in even tighter.
She crawled in beside the ball shape, lifting a hand hesitantly before she poked at it. She shot back, but all that happened was another little puff of white smoke.
Toofy padded in closer again and let out a small whine. She prodded at the ball with her face, "Mia not want to hurt Toofy?"
A big puff of white smoke.
"But Mia wants Toofy... Because Toofy is Devourer?"
The ball cracked and black eyes peeked out from inside, which seemed to be glowing orange. The eyes moved back and forth, the lizard shaking its head, before the ball snapped shut again.
Toofy breathed a sigh of relief, and lay down next to the ball. "Toofy isn't mad at her. But Mia is stronger than Toofy. Does Mia remember the temple? You're bigger and stronger than Toofy. She can't run away. Can either hurt Mia with the rite, or get hurt."
The salamander let out a strange and warbling keening sound that Toofy recognised from one of their lessons. She'd never heard it before, but she knew it was a sound of deference, from one salamander to another.
The sound of defeat.
"If Toofy gives Mia a little kiss, will she stop being all frightened and wary? Toofy already has her Arina, and her Saia, and her master. Doesn't think she needs more. But she will give dragon kiss, and forgive her for her arm." She said sympathetically.
The ball cracked open again, steam emerging where the orange light hit the air. Meerakeilian gave a growl that shook the ground, "She belongs. She owned. Toofy owns. Toofy owns. Want. Want egg."
"Toofy won't let anyone give her kittens. She does not want to hatch a little dragongirl." She shook her head.
The ball uncurled a little more, A scale-frame faced becoming visible, and the lizard growled quietly, "But Toofy has kittens."
"What?" Her golden eyes shot open in terror.
The salamander uncurled, slithering up to her smoothly in the same motion and put a hand to her stomach, "Three heartbeats. Three little kittens."
"What?" Toofy's own heart hammered in her ears as she failed to process the information.
Meerakeilian's black eyes looked at her sympathetically, "Didn't know? I could hear them. Younglings."
"C-can you tell when? When Toofy got pregnant?" She asked in terror.
The dragongirl frowned, and leaned in, placing her hot and scaled ear against Toofy's stomach. Tapping a claw on the ground and considering. The creature scratched at their chin, "Mmm... Twelve, thirteen weeks?"
"Three months." Toofy breathed out and fell backwards, almost spraining her tail as she landed on it. She blinked her golden eyes in fright, "Sai... Or... Or... Bastard elf."
Meerakeilian looked at her sympathetically, "As ancestor?"
She nodded noiselessly, biting at her lip.
If her master was the father of her children, then Toofy would be ecstatic. She didn't exactly want to be pregnant, but she would love her kittens and do everything in the world to keep them safe.
On the other hand, if she gave birth to half-elven children, even though it wasn't their fault, Toofy didn't know if she could take that reminder of what had happened to her.
She might end up ending her own life, turning them into more frightened orphans for the temple to care for. Children who the emperor would undoubtedly target, if he knew their lineage.
That was why Toofy hadn't wanted kittens.
She knew that their entire lives would be spent hiding from the enemies that Toofy was bound to make on her path to seize the empire, seize the throne.
"What can Mia tell?"
"Frightened little hearts." The salamander whispered, "Feel what mother feels. Not understand. Too young."
Toofy gave a half-hearted laugh, "Mother always frightened. Worse now. Oh, shit! Toofy has been using black magic with fucking kittens inside her! Fuck! Motherfucking fuckshit!"
"Souls untainted." The salamander said quickly, smiling weakly at her, "Neko constitution. Remember temple, they teach us. Neko children shielded from parent magic."
She shook her head frantically, "No! Not from fucked magic. Bad magic. Shit! Toofy can't use death magic anymore. Neko kittens only protected from mother's normal magic. Humans can't risk using any magic when pregnant. Neko can use theirs, but Toofy was using fucking bad magic. Cursed magic."
"Souls untainted." The salamander insisted, "Glowing. Quiet. They have aura, all glittering like treasure. Make want, make jealous. Want egg."
Toofy sniffled in terror, smiling at the woman, "Toofy really has kittens? Oh gods. Oh those poor fucked souls. Toofy is going to be such a bad mother."
"I be wetnurse?" Meerakeilian offered to her, "Protect kittens with my life, like I protect you."
She laughed weakly, "Don't think neko milk is like dragon milk. Oh, shit! Three months. Toofy's going to get breasts, soon. Start getting heavier. Tender. Toofy doesn't wanna! Toofy wants to be able to hunt!"
"What are you two bastards yelling about?" The elf appeared, crouching by the end of the table, "Hiding because you walked away from a fight, slutcat?"
Toofy's eyes flicked to her, and she snarled, barely resisting the darker magic she had been trying to teach to herself. Forcing herself to reach for the light instead, her golden eyes glowing vibrantly. "Elf. Play nice. Toofy is very, very, upset right now."
"You left me to deal with a fucking army, on my own!" The elf hissed, ears pulling back, "And you know what? I summoned Astadia. And she fucking kicked my ass! If Orli hadn't been there I would have -"
"Toofy has kittens!" She shouted, interrupting the woman.
The elf blinked in surprise, "W-what?"
"Toofy... Just found out... She's pregnant." She said, chest heaving with each pause. She swallowed nervously, "Insane elf can yell at her another time. 'Kay? Also, Toofy knew Orli. Knows about the Orli. So she knew she would make Astadia run away."
The elf fell into a sitting position, leaning her forehead against the end of the table, "That's why your aura is so twisted up. Shit, you've got to be like... Only a few months in. How long is a neko pregnancy, anyways? And how stupid do you have to be to get pregnant when you're fighting gods and emperors?"
"Toofy didn't mean it." She burst into tears, sobbing.
A protective tail wrapped around her like a brick wall curling up around her, and Meerakeilian issued a warning growl from the back of her throat. Puffing out black smoke from her mouth.
The elf gave a weak laugh, "Well... Shit. Guess I shouldn't have expected anything different from a damned neko. Of course you done got fucked."
"Toofy... Doesn't know... If master's kittens... Or fucking bastard elf who hurt her." She snarled.
Trician blinked, and smiled sympathetically, "I could tell you, if you wanted. I'm a prophetess. I can read you, and your children. If you wanted me to... It was an elf? The one who hurt you?"
"Elatham." She sniffled, naming the man she hated more than anyone else in existence. Even long dead, his shadow was a scar that clung more tightly to her than any other.
