Epilogue

Atropos landed in the middle of the group hitting the ground with a thump as she rolled to safety. The teenager righted herself and froze. "What?" she demanded as she faced the other two Fates. "Did you bring me back?"

"You were about to die. We couldn't allow that." Clothos responded with a nod of her head.

"Though you deserved to suffer for that," Lachesis added with a sneer. "You've messed up the tapestry. If we hadn't removed you when we did you would have been trapped inside without a chance for escape."

"So you ripped me out?" Atropos rushed to the threads and ran her fingers over them. "Where's Holly?"

"Juniper has started her next life, her next battle. We helped transfer that tangled web over." Clothos' eyes narrowed. "I expect you to be appreciative of all the work we did. We managed to detach the Sin of Sloth from the tangle, and a few of the others but there are too many souls that got reborn with her."

Atropos tugged at the tangle but the threads refused to budge. A mass of colors was all wound around the single pink thread that glowed in the center. "What's going to happen to her?" she demanded.

"Happen to her?" Lachesis echoed. "The same thing that always happens when it comes to Juniper. She'll go after the woken Sin and fight to take him out. I think it's Greed this time."

"But why is everything all tangled? She just started this life, there should be some semblance of order." She chewed hard on her gum as she glared at the situation. "What did you guys do?"

"We saved you," Clothes replied with a sigh. "Now, forget all of that and help us untangle this. We will have to go slow. If we detach the wrong thread too early we could make things harder for her. Especially if we happen to awaken any of the Princes."

Atropos bit her cheek. "What?" she demanded again. These two were going to send her to an early grave. "You sent the Four Horsemen with her?"

"We had no choice," Lachesis retorted. "We wanted to save your worthless hide. So we let the whole tangle proceed."

"But what about Holly?"

"Coral," Clothos corrected with a wane smile. "Coral has all of the memories of Holly. It will help speed things up this time around. We've been blessed. We can take care of the pests that have gathered around her." The older woman reached out and grabbed a handful of the strings. "Tydeus, Angel, Dagon, and even Eros can be removed here with just the slightest adjustment."

"No!" Atropos screamed and the other two froze in place their eyes widening. "I'm not letting you do that to her."

"You were never supposed to get close to her in the first place. You weren't of much help and instead, your power was used against others. You were the one that made things worse." Lachesis spat each word before she pointed to another cluster of threads intertwined with the rest. "And here's her enemies from her past life besides Sloth of course. They're all going to be in this world with her. If we can direct her to Greed and take care of this matter she'll be prepared for her final two battles and we can cut the rest of this out for good."

Atropos chewed on one of her hot pink nails as she studied it. "I've got another idea. One to help keep my promise to Holly and be of actual use for her."

"If it involves this tapestry, I'm going to have to decline," Clothos said as her eyes rose to meet the younger woman's. "You've done enough."

Atropos rolled her eyes. "Look, you guys can be mad at them all you want but it's obvious Angel-baby and the rest have been a help, on the whole, to take down the Sins thing. Do you really want her to lose everyone's help and set her up against the rest of them by herself?"

Clothos paused as she withdrew her hand. "I will concede you have a point. Well then, what do you propose? How will you retrieve the girl's guardians without awakening her enemies?"

Atropos shrugged. "We can't stop that, but I know that no matter what comes her way, Holly will figure out a way to stop them."

Lachesis ran her fingers over the pink thread once more. "I have another idea we can use. We can help her regain their memories, but in doing so she's going to lose her own of them. We don't need any more complications. It's dangerous enough that she's not a fresh mind in a new body."

"You want her to lose her memories of everyone?" Atropos put a hand to her lips. "That's too cruel."

"You want her to be able to bring back her protectors? That's the price. You can not help her, but I will visit and start her quest."

"Are you going to tell her about the cost?" Atropos demanded.

Lachesis smirked. "No," she responded. "It's not important. Besides, collecting the gems that will restore the memories will lure out Greed. Consider it a necessary evil." She dusted herself off and got to her feet. "I'll be going to visit our dear apprentice then. Atropos, if you leave this room again we will not hesitate in tying you up with this very thread and locking you away until this entire little dilemma plays out."

Atropos let her chin hit her chest as she stared at the threads. Once again she was going to be useless and even worse the worst person in the world was going to visit Holly. "I understand," she whispered.

Lachesis vanished in a flash of aqua light and Clothos nodded. "Very well, come Atropos, you will help me using your own powers to fix this mess you've made. We will help Juniper on this new journey and guide her to the right choices this time." her fingers plucked the pink string. "And if she fails to live up to our expectations we will prepare ourselves for her loss and take on the Sins in the next life on our own."

Atropos wanted to snort at that but she kept quiet as she stared at the tapestry in front of her. These other two were old and their eyesight was failing. They couldn't keep an eye on her all the time, and she wasn't about to give up. If there was a way to help Holly and stop this horrible punishment, she'd find it.

She would never betray her friend, not again.