1.) Yeah, there's one last chapter to go, I shall post it forwith.

2.) Really? I'll tell DD that. She says you've always struck her as an omnipotent pandimensional entity, and I must admit, you certainly have the aura of someone who rules with a copper fist, but with dignity.


*Chapter 30: The final curtain*

Trixi opened her eyes and groaned. Dimly she heard a voice next to her. "Oh shutup and quit complaining, you haven’t just lost half a lifetime so you could at least do some work around here!" Slowly Trixi became aware of the ground moving beneath her, not far beneath her either, as Schrock dragged her across the landscape. "Hey, what happened? Where is everyone?" Schrock growled. "They've all gone off to see if everyone's alright! Nevermind me, having to drag a stupid rabbit all the way back, *noooo!* All I'll say is you'd better start doing your share of the walking or I'm leaving your lousy, long eared butt out here to find its own way back!" Trixi groaned. “Buddy, the way I feel right now, I don’t wanna take anything from anyone.” She smiled. “Besides, I feel all weak at the knees, just get a good grip and- Hey! Not there! No hey! Aaah! Stop! Let go! Put me down this instant! Okay! Okay! I take it back! Help!”

* * *

Erst handed the rabbit across the counter a very, very large drink. It smelt funny, and he wasn't sure what was in it, apparently it was his employer’s special moonshine known popularly as 'suicider' wherever its consumers toppled backwards onto the floor. This was her third; she'd requested it as soon as they'd arrived back at the tavern. On Lori's shoulder sat Kira, muzzily trying to attack her drink and her, with about equal success. In the corner Spaz was winning large sums of money by doing unsanitary things with his tongue. All in all everyone was at least mildly happy and so long as the drink kept flowing, would stay that way.

* * *

Jazz tried to stand upright and ignore the ringing in his ears. He'd quite lost track of the conversation about the time his hearing had vanished. It seemed to be revolving around the recent storm, trouble with the military and civil defence, but mostly about his personal deficiencies as a rabbit. The Queen was being quite exuberant, knocking several holes in the wall, and throwing many priceless antiques in his general direction. Finally, after what seemed like hours she wound up, and with plaster and small rocks still falling from the ceiling and bouncing off the floor, stormed out. Before she left she managed to get an iron grip on the admiral, who had been dragged along for the ride. "You are very lucky the dungeons are flooded! If it weren't for my daughter I'd have you personally flogged! Now me and the admiral are going to have a long and thorough discussion about this terrible breach in our defences, and after the day I've had, I had better not be disturbed!"

Jazz watched the poor admiral being dragged down the hallway, to disappear behind a door that closed with a bang loud enough to break one of its hinges. He turned to Eva who had hastily been trying to remove the more valuable or delicate items from the reach of her mother. "Wow, did you see the expression on his face?" Eva nodded. "Poor guy, from what I've heard, we almost blew ourselves up, he's going to get utterly drilled about this, and there's no telling what she'll do to him if she thinks he's in any way responsible." Jazz sighed and absentmindedly picked a piece of crockery out of his hair. "Well, I know I haven't heard the last of this, not by a long shot, but I'm glad I'm not in his boots, that's for sure!"

* * *

Larrock looked blankly up at the sky. Everything hurt, even his fur, which he didn't think was anatomically possible. It had stopped it then. He was going to live. Of course, he'd obviously been demoted; he'd spent some time 'testing' all his systems, and from what he could tell, he'd been demoted to mortality.

He perked up. Well, that was that then, all he had was his financial and publishing empire, his looks, his charm and only fifty, maybe sixty years left to enjoy it. He got up and brushed himself off. To hell with the job, first thing to do was to dump the restaurants and buy a mansion or something. And get a new outfit! Something in white! It’d be great to wear another color for once! He paused, then searched for his cellphone, maybe Cindy was free tonight...

* * *

And so, for as long as it was possible in the ever changing universe, for as many people as we're concerned with, as well as anyone could possibly hope to, everyone lived happily ever after.

.


DD has sent a quarter of another story she's been working on, so I'll have to type up and post that sometime. (She's written a lot, apparently they have a lot of spare time.)