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_ A Strange Twist of Fate _

By

_ Puma Concolor _

Edited by a good friend

_ Dasher Cheetah _

_ Penance is owned by James Hardiman _

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It was the squeal of tires and the roar of an engine that caught my attention as I was doing a walk around inspection of my semi truck and trailer. A battered old van came racing from the back parking lot of the truck stop I had stopped at for the night. I looked to see if I could get any details of the vehicle should there be questions about it later and much to my horror a small child, a bear cub came skipping out from between a couple of trailers directly in the path of the speeding van!

I knew that the child had not seen the vehicle and the driver was making no attempt to swerve and miss the child. She was a goner if I didn't react, so I ran. I ran as fast as my cougar legs could carry me, trying to reach the child before the van did. It was going to be close, too close. I knew I would not be able to grab her and get both of us clear. There was only one thing to do. Grabbing her by the shoulders, twisting and using my momentum I tossed the child back the way she came. I could only pray she fell softly enough that the injuries would be nothing more than some scrapes and bruises. For me however, this was an act of sacrifice as I had only time to look up and see the bumper, just before the impact.

Fate had not been kind to me as the blow was not enough to kill outright but sent my broken body skidding into a stack of trailer tires. The van didn't even slow but sped off into the night. I could feel my life ebbing away with the blood that was running from my mouth and nose. I knew my internal injuries must have been massive, even if the shock was keeping me from feeling the pain. Time seemed to slow as I lay there, thoughts of my deity coming to mind. Coyote, the desert goddess who so long ago had stopped my aging, promising to keep me alive. Even though I am hundreds of years old, I physically looked and felt only 33. Yet even with that, I am not immortal. She had told me I could die and would die if she was not there to save me. I was wondering if this was the time she would not be here to do so.

As I lay there waiting for death to take me the cub came up in my field of vision. From where I lay she didn't look the least hurt by her experience, she did however look very angry. Could she think I was the one who had caused this to happen?

"You ASSHOLE!!!", she screamed as she kicked me firmly in my broken ribs and continued, "Because of you she got away! Do you have any idea how long I've been tracking her?" The cub that was standing there before me now blurred and changed into the form of a demon. Angrily she yelled, "No, of course not! You had to go play hero and get your ass killed!" She hauled back and kicked me twice more. She was pulling back to continue her assault when a voice behind her stopped her cold.

"Kick him again _ BITCH _ and I'll serve your cum dripping ass back to you on a platter six months before you realize how badly you've just been fucked...", Coyote growled menacingly.

The demon swung quickly around to face this new foe snarling, "So, you think your bad ass enough to..." She never got the chance to finish her sentence.

Coyote raised her paw and snapped her fingers, causing the demon to wink out of existence only to reappear less than an instant later. Except this time she was covered in a thick layer of frost.

Coyote growled quieter but with no less menace, "You chilled out now, or do you want to visit that fun place again... Penance?"

"Y-You Kn-Kn-Know me?", the demoness stuttered through chattering teeth.

"Yea, I know you... all about you. Weaknesses and strengths. I also know what you are doing here tonight.", Coyote said.

"B-B-But.... How...?", the shaken demoness asked.

"I'm Coyote. It's my job to know... and for your information, it's not Molly's time yet. That's why she got away, not because of Puma there. When it is her time, you'll know and I'll even help you get her but for now...", Coyote explained.

"But, but how can you...", Penance stuttered.

"Do what I just did and kick your ass, all at the same time? Pound for pound, you could take me any day. In shape shifting and physical form manipulation, we're about even. But baby, time and space are_my_ play things. I can send you to far worse places than the temporal space between time lines where nothing exists, not even heat. If I had left you there for 300 more milliseconds, you would have been nothing more than a self aware Popsicle. And I can put you back there faster than your neurons can process the pain. You getting the idea yet?", Coyote told her with firm assurance.

The demoness sulkily admitted,"Yea... I do. But this asshole just got himself killed over nothing!"

"Just so you know, that asshole is my partner and boyfriend ...", Coyote growled and continued, "Look at it from his point of view. He saw a little girl about to get splattered. He can't manipulate space or time and he only had time to do one thing. He put his life on the line to save your apparently innocent, little 7 year old ass..."

"Yea yea... for all the good it did him... He's dead now.", the recalcitrant Penance complained.

"Not yet he isn't and I'm not about to let him be. _ We _are going to fix him!", Coyote stated firmly.

"Lady, I don't know how good you think you are but I'm not about to help you..", Penance began to say but stopped short as Coyote readied to snap her fingers again.

"Ok! Ok already... What do you want me to do?", the demoness growled.

"You're good at mental process manipulation and I know his anatomy. You are going to take control of his mind and keep him from feeling any pain, while I rebuild his internal organs and knit his bones back together. His guts look like they've been run through a blender.", Coyote informed her.

"You can see his insides?", Penance asked with surprise.

"Yea, I can. But it's hard for me to fix this much damage and manage pain control at the same time. So? Get to it!", Coyote shouted.

The girls glared at each other for only a moment before Penance dropped her eyes. Coming over to me, they laid me out flat. The pain washed over me but there was nothing I could do about it. Even screaming was beyond me at that point. The demoness reached out and touched my forehead with one finger, as if disgusted at even touching me. The pain lessened a bit but didn't go away.

Coyote growled, "Do it right and show some respect about it or you get a one way ticket to the center of the sun...!"

The demoness scowled and repositioned herself, setting my head in her lap and placing her hands on my temples. My world faded into a warm comfortable place. It was like being in a dream. There was a light and in this light stood the little cub, not looking very happy but with none of the anger I had first seen.

Feeling like I was in an opium induced haze I asked, "Coyote called you Penance... Is that your name?"

"Yea, what of it?", she grumped in response.

"I think Penance is a nice name.", I told her honestly. Just as if she were the the young bear girl she appeared to be.

"And I'll bet you like having root canals, while slamming your cock in a car door too. Why don't you just lay back, enjoy the serenity and leave me alone.", she said sarcastically.

"I would rather talk to you.", I told her candidly.

"Why, you get off talking to little kids? Maybe like getting something a little more?", she sneered with a darkness growing in her eyes.

"No, I am concerned about you. I tossed you awfully hard and I'm worried you might have been hurt.", I answered with the concern I showed any child.

"Hey look, this isn't me. I'm not a 7 year old little cub girl! Thisis me! You can't hurt a demon!", she shouted as her formed changed back to that of demon glaring at me.

I looked at her closely and even in demon form, there was a beauty to her... But it was her eyes that drew my interest. As I looked deep I could sense conflict. There was much troubling her but there was still a goodness about her... a sense of justice. I reached up and touched her cheek.

There was a spark between us. For an instant, I could feel the evil and the goodness in her. There was also a great torment inside her soul. For a moment I knew she could feel the forgiveness I had learned, the trust that I felt and the gentleness that makes up my soul.

She stepped back from me with a gasp, placing her hand to the spot just occupied by my paw. She stared at me as a new presence made itself known.

"Am I interrupting a party in here or something?", Coyote sang merrily as she walked up with her trademark sway in her tail.

"No my sweet, we were just talking.", I answered. Penance was still too astonished to answer.

"Whoa! What did you do to her Pumy? She looks like she just got kissed by Prince Charming?", Coyote observed with surprise.

"Wh-.. What did you do? How....whyare you still sane? You just looked into the mind of a demon and-and..", Penance stammered in disbelief.

"And you just looked into the heart of a saint... well, almost. He's fucked around too much to have truly earned that status.", Coyote said dryly then snickered.

"But he should be crazy now! I mean, no one mortal should be able to comprehend my mind.", Penance averred.

"Penance, meet my Puma. In case you haven't guessed already, he is pretty special.", Coyote said and grinned before kissing my cheek.

"But why? Why has all this happened? You can control time. Why didn't you just yank him out before the van hit him?", Penance cried out with confusion.

Coyote explained, "I can control time and I can control space but I cannot control fate. But you already know that. It interferes with the free will thing."

"Are you telling me all this was his fate?", Penance asked.

"No, yours.", was Coyotes' reply.

"_Mine?_You're kidding, right?", the disbelieving demoness tried to deny.

"Nope. If you hadn't been out here hunting that monster Molly, he wouldn't have been hit. Then the two of you wouldn't have wound up in his mind and he would never have given you his gift. Simple as that.", Coyote explained patiently.

"Gift? What gift?", Penance asked very puzzled.

Coyotes' voice took on a deeper sound as she said, "Look deep into yourself. Can you feel it? It's peace, something you have never felt. What you do with it is your business."

"I... I'm not sure I like it. I know I don't deserve it... No. I don't... I don't want it. I don't need it! It will make me weak!! You're fucking with me! GET AWAY FROM ME! Both of you! GET THE FUCK AWAY!", she shouted as fright grew within her.

The real world came crashing back in on us as I felt the cold pavement pressing into my back and my head being dropped back on to the hard surface. Penance now stood over us trembling in anger.

"I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE EITHER ONE OF YOU AGAIN!!!", she screamed as she stomped off into the shadows.

"What just happened Coyote?", I questioned. Sitting up, I began testing my newly repaired body.

"Don't worry yourself about it, Hun. Some people just have gratitude issues, that's all. Come on, let's get you into bed before a crowd starts to gather. There are still a couple of boo boos on you that still need my kisses", Coyote said with a barely concealed insinuation while she helped me off the ground.

As we turned and started to the cab of my truck small eyes watched from the shadows. A small paw touched lightly her cheek, as a calm smile spread across her young muzzle. Staring after us she whispered, "thank you...."