****This chapter is dark, dont read it if you dont like dark endings*****

Art and story concept by original art fave over here https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36407795/

thanks heaps to Kammy for being patient with me suring the whole story writing process. it was a lot of fun to work on.

Story can be read in a better format here

https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....it?usp=sharing

Part 1 - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/34459339/
Part 2 - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/34526653/
Part 3 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34877341/


here we go.....


The little lynx was whimpering, tossing and turning in her sleep unaware that her pullup was not only soaked but also a couple of sizes too big. The Adult Kangaroo, Ms Victoria, moved quietly to the whimpering child and scooped her up gently, trying not to wake the husky and Fennec fox who slept close by. She cradled the damp child to her chest and made her way to the dressing room. She carefully cleaned up the toddler and got her into a diaper and a light blue onesie with a star on the front and efficiently snapped the poppers shut. Annie burbled quietly in her sleep unaware any of this was going on.

The kangaroo left the room carrying the child, seeing the large lion, Uncle Alex working in the kitchen, chopping fruit and mixing porridge, she moved into the open plan kitchen area and sat down at the table, keeping the sleeping lynx nestled in the crook of her arm. It was about five in the morning and the pair of adults hoped the kids would stay asleep for a little while longer, but they’d both been caught out before. Alex noticed the bundle of fluff.

“That Annie? She’s almost there huh? Gosh she’s so small already” He spoke in a hushed whisper.

“Yeah, the sleeping bag she was in, is soaked, I don’t suppose you’d be able to get another set up for me, I can’t hold her and do that at the….” The toddler lynx mewled and stretched. The two adults held their breath and then the kitten settled back down with a sigh and the tiniest of purrs, grabbing a tuft of Ms Victorias exposed arm fluff and began drooling on her chest.

“No need to say more, I’ll do that now” The large lion wiped his paws on a towel and moved across the large open plan room where the two kids, Kammy and Ashley were still snoozing. Opening a nearby chest he pulled out a new sleeping bag as Ms Victoria came over.

“Shouldn’t you put her in the nursery? I mean a crib is probably safer” He whispered slightly concerned.

The kangaroo shook her head lightly.
“She’ll be okay on the floor, I don’t want to alarm the kids when they wake and find their friend gone. They’ll probably only be asleep for another hour or so really.”

Alex nodded as he flattened the sleeping bag down and pulled a blanket out of the chest.
“Here put her down on this.” he spoke gently and the kangaroo complied placing the snoozing lynx down in the centre of the blanket. Alex worked swiftly wrapping the kitten in the blanket effectively swaddling her.

"There, now at least if she wakes she won't be able to get up without us knowing about it"
He pulled the sleeping bag over her, it looked a bit silly but at least she looked cozy.
"You wanna help in the kitchen?" He asked his coworker hopefully.

"Sure. I can do that. That's for helping me out." The kangaroo flashed him a smile and they left the girls to sleep.

Annie woke with a yawn and a stretch...least she would have stretched but her arms wouldn't move. She'd gotten herself oddly tangled in her sleeping bag and she wiggled to get herself free but to no avail.

"H...hey?" She panicked a little as she struggled feeling like she might cry which was odd. She was just stuck in a sleeping bag it wasn't the end of the world or anything. She could see kammy and ashley snoozing beside her.

"Help" she'd tried to say and noticed an audible lisp, her voice even higher than it had been yesterday. Her ears perked forward. "Gammy? Ash’ey?" Words felt very hard, but she had only just woken up. She went to poke her tongue and realised she was still tangled up and couldn't move her paws. This time she let out an involuntary sob. Kammy started to wake. Ashley was stirring. The second sob was louder. It was as if large cracks were appearing in a dam, the lynx tried to compose herself tried to get her emotions in check but with one last hiccoughing sob she was suddenly wailing.

Both of her friends sat bolt upright in their sleeping bags the claxon wail of the little lynx jolting the pair rudely awake.

"Whu?" Kammy blinked blearily but Ashley was already up on her knees crawling over to her crying friend.

"Ooh, Annie hang on I can help."

Ashley pulled the sleeping bag open and then seeing the swaddling, hooked her fingers around the blanket and gave a little tug. The folds loosened then came apart and suddenly Annie's paws were free. The sudden movement caused her crying to stop and she wiggled her paws in front of her face looking at them with confusion. They looked weird now that she had them back. Podgier. Her eyes wide, trying to understand what she was seeing.

"Fankyoo" she muttered still preoccupied with staring at her paws and wiggling her fingers. They didn't look like hers. Was she dreaming?

"We should get breakfast huh! The quicker we eat the quicker we can play!" Kammy whispered conspiratorially " so eat something really little that way we can maximise our time for all the stuff we are gonna do. I can eat lots though cause I can eat super quick"

Kammy pulled her little lynx friend up into her paws, Annie wobbled slightly looking down at herself she had been so preoccupied with her paws she hadn't really noticed she had had a change of outfit in the middle of the night. She looked at the star onesie and poked at her tummy. A loud crinkle greeted her and her ears flattened.

"You need a nappy change?" The question was gently asked by Ashley. The fennec fox looking compassionately down at her little lynx friend mistaking her friends horrified look as a sign that she needed a fresh diaper rather than the horror of being in diapers at all.

Annie took a step back, or tried to. Kammy was still holding one of her paws and instead the feline just toppled backwards. Ashley's paw grabbed the falling lynx's other paw and steadied the toddler.

"Oopsie! Don't fall down shall we get ms Victoria. She can change your nappy."

Annie shook her head, she was speechless, she was wearing diapers? When had that happened?

"Hey! We could change her diapers. Like we can play house and she can be the baby. A real doll is better than the rubbish ones we were playing with yesterday!". Kammys tail was thumping back and forth as she excitedly relayed her plan.

Ashley wrinkled her nose. "I mean what if she's poopy? I don't wanna deal with that. No we should get Ms Victoria, she can deal with it"

Annie was trying to tug her paws free from her friends. She didn't need diapers, there'd been a mistake and she definitely didn't need a change. She squealed triumphantly as she squirmed her paw out of kammys grasp.

"I'm notta baby. Yoor the baby" she pointed at kammy trying to think of a good insult. She knew she wanted to say something naughtier but she couldn't think of the words. They were on the tip of her tongue.

"Duck Yoo!" She ran from them both again scared that if she didn't she'd be caught in some live playing dolly's with her as the doll. But kammy and ashley lightly jogged beside her. As she ran as fast as she could. Trying to change directions and get away from the older pair but they just kept pace with her easily.

"Stop followin me. I'm madatchooo" she huffed which caused Ashley to giggle and pull her little friend into a hug
"Awwww sooo cute! Are Yoo mad Annie? You woke up grumpy huh?"
"Not grumpy" the little lynx grumped.

"I can hear my girls are awake and up!" Ms Victoria hopped into view drying her paws on a towel.

"Just in time for breakfast" the kangaroo bent down and plucked Annie off her paws.
"Come on girls into the kitchen please."

Annie tried to wiggle free but Ms Victoria wasn't paying her any attention as she returned to the kitchen and began threading the squirming child into the baby high chair.

"Nonono" she kicked and squirmed but the shoulder straps came down and clicked into the base sealing the heavily fussy lynx into place. She didnt want to be here, she didnt want breakfast she wanted to be left alone. She looked up at the kitchen clock, how many more hours before the reversal process would begin and she could go back to being normal her? Her heart almost stopped in her chest. She looked at the clock, her protests stuck in her throat as she realised the squiggles on the clock meant nothing to her. She didnt understand what she was looking at. The knowledge, gone.

She started to cry but was quickly silenced by a mouthful of oatmeal which she spluttered and mostly dribbled down her chin which was promptly scooped back off her face with the spoon and back into her mouth where the second time round she swallowed it.

"There. Numnums. You'll be happier with a full tummy. Yes you will." Ms Victoria grinned sickeningly sweetly down at the flailing regressed adult, then as an after thought grabbed a bib from a nearby draw and pulled it over Anna’s head. Anna tried to look down at the bib just as the next spoonful made contact with her face, smearing the oatmeal across her muzzle.

"Gosh you are a mucky pup aren't you!" The singsongy voice continued, working Anna into an angry frenzy causing the toddler to squeal loudly.

Ashley and Kammy looked at one another as they helped themselves to cereal and pancakes already stacked on plates in front of them, they didn’t want a full blown meltdown but Annie did seem particularly grumpy. Ashley had an idea and slid down off her seat tapping the tray of the highchair..
“Annie. You don’t wanna be in the high chair huh?” Ashley spoke quietly, causing the lynx in full rage to suddenly stop so she could hear what her friend was saying. The little kitten, her eyes full of tears, shook her head back and forth.
“Notta baby.” She huffed, rubbing at her oatmeal covered face. “Im’ma big kid!”

“Well….if you eat all your oatmeal quickly, then you’ll get taken outta the highchair and then be back with us quicker and we can be big kids together. Sounds good right?”

Anna looked at the bowl Ms Victoria was holding, then down at the brightlycoloured duckie on the bib she was wearing, she pulled at it as she tried to work out was was best to do.
Her tummy felt funny, like it needed food or wanted something, suddenly she felt she needed to strain and she sat there in the highchair as she pushed a load into her diaper. The look of concentration and then relief that passed across her face gave the game away to Ms Victoria instantly and the adult kangaroo chuckled. Whilst Ashley with one sniff swiftly retreated with a quiet “Eeeewwww, babies can be so gross”

“Ahh. Okay that’s why you’ve been a fussy little kitten, you needed to make space in your tumtum for breakfast huh?” Another spoonful of oatmeal made it successfully into the lynxs mouth. Annie knew she was trying to make a point, maybe if she did eat all her breakfast quick it would prove how grown up she was. So she quietened down, made a decision to stop fussing and eat like a big girl, so she sat there and swallowed all the spoonfuls that were shovelled her way.

“Much better. Who’s a good girl, eating all your numnums” Ms Victoria praised as she scraped the last mouthful onto the spoon. “Such a clever girl, is your tumtum full again? Is it? Good girl!l”

The toddler lynx couldn't help but purr at the praise as she sat in the high chair swinging her little legs. Things felt normal all of a sudden, she couldn't even remember why she had been whining in the first place She was a clever girl. The buckles on the shoulder straps were released and Anna found herself being held aloft and then placed down on her paws. She wobbled for a second as she found her balance and then trotted over to the table, trying to pull herself up onto one of the chairs so she could sit with Ashley and Kammy. Both began squealing in alarm.

“NOOO pooopy baby AHHHHHH” Ashley pulled her almost finished breakfast plate further away from the toddler. Kammy jumped off her chair and ran. “Don’t let it touch you!!!”

Anna squealed in glee giving chase, Ashley quickly joined the two as the three friends played stay away from the stinkie kiten. Annie giggled as she tried to catch her friends, tottering at speed, around the room, enjoying playing. They always seemed faster than her, and bigger and she was sure all three of them were all seven so it infuriated her a little that they were quicker than she was, but every so often she would be faster than them, she almost touched Kammy just as her paws left the ground unexpectedly and she was settled into the crook of Ms Victorias arm.

“Come on, we need to fix your bum don’t we?” The adult kangaroo nodded at the little lynx, and Annie, without quite understanding, mimicked the move and nodded back.

Ten minutes later feeling and smelling fresher Annie was placed back down with her friends who were currently working on a jigsaw puzzle together. The room had filled with sundays day guests, just four new kids, three boys, jack russells, all around four who were chasing each other around the room and a panda girl who was about eight but Annie wasn’t really paying attention. She’d been given a pacifier which she happily sucked as she plonked herself down between her friends doing the puzzle on the floor. They were large cardboard pieces. The picture on the box showed dinosaurs and Kammy and Ashley were halfway through.

“Oh hey Annie. You’re back you wanna help” Ashley handed the lynx a piece which the kitten needed to take with both paws she nodded a little smile behind the pacifier and began trying to hammer the piece into the nearest hole, her mind not quite understanding the purpose but feeling happy to be included. Kammy and A,shley chatted whilst the three girls worked on the puzzle together. The pacifier kept Annie quiet but she was happy to listen as her friends giggled. They were two pieces from the end of the puzzle when the eight year old panda girl wandered up the them.

“Hey?” She spoke softly, shyly. “I’m Katie I was wondering. Maybe...Do you want to play skipping games with me. Its kinda lonely by myself and the boys wont play with me?” She looked like she was about to cry as she held out a skipping rope.
Kammy jumped to her paws. “YEAH! We can play! That sounds fun! Last one outside is a loser!” Ashley and Annie scrambled to their feet and went to chase after Katie and Kammy, only as Annie scrambled to her paws she immediately face planted, she tried again undeterred, her paws must have gotten jumbled up, but second time she toppled again. She slowed down the third time trying to stand but her knees buckled and once more she found herself on the floor. Ashley turned round when she realised Annie wasnt following and walked back to where the tot was.

“Come on Annie.” Ashley extended a paw which Annie took and was pulled to her feet, only for her to wobble and fall for a fourth time. By this point Katie and Kammy who had rushed outside had wandered back in confused why the other two hadn’t followed them. The panda looked at the Fennec and Lynx a little worried.
“What’s going on?”

Ashley pointed down at the little lynx. “Annie can’t get up.”

The panda girl looked at the kitten.
“Well...isn’t she a baby? I mean i don’t think she can walk yet? She can’t play skippin’ thats for sure.”

Annie looked up at the three girls who seemed to now, tower over her, her large lynx ears flattened against her skull and she promptly burst into tears, the pacifier falling from her wailing mouth.

Ms Victoria had been watching the exchange from the other side of the room and she hopped over to the little group, scooping the baby up off the floor along with the pacifier which she breifly sucked herself to remove any carpet lint and then plonked back into the little lynxs mouth, the sound of the baby cries stopped instantly The adult kangaroo smiled warmly down on the group.
“Is everything okay?”

Annie tried to explaining behind the pacifier, that things felt weird, she didn’t know why, she wasn’t really sure why she was upset she just knew something bad had happened, maybe it was the new girl, she glared at the panda. She babbled away, the adult kangaroo didnt seem to understand the words though and she just smiled at the lynx and made a silly face at her which caused Annie to smile shyly and bury her head into Ms Victories chest.

Ashley stepped forward, her ears were lowered an indication she was feeling guilty.
“Ms Victoria. We kinda wanted to play some skipping games outside, but Annie can’t skip and...I feel bad that i really want to play but the baby is sorta making it tricky to play the games we want to play.”

“The baby is donking up our style you know.” Kammy helpfully contributed to the conversation.

Annie listened to the voices. They sounded sad but she was finding it tricky now to really understand the words, this made her whimper again and start to sniffle cry behind the pacifier. Ms Victoria jiggled her up and down making shhh shhhh noises and once more the tot quietened down whilst the group spoke.

“Tell you what, why don’t you three go out and play and I can play with Annie for a while, that way she can have fun and you can all have fun too and we can all meet later and tell each other what we did. Does that sound like a plan?”

The childrens faces all lit up having been given a solution to their problem and within seconds they were outside laughing and chasing each other to the toy box to find more skipping ropes, leaving the baby lynx in the care of the adult kangaroo.

The afternoon went in a blurr of games and excitement. Kammy proved that she could indeed go back AND forth along the monkeybars without touching the floor once. Ashley showed Katie and Kammy how to make daisychains and soon the trio were covered in daisy accessories. Lunch came and went, the highchair remained empty for this session, instead Ms Victoria hopped around the kitchen, bottle feeding the lynx her lunch whilst the kids swapped sandwiches and fruit shoots and argued over which sandwich filling was the best and that you could paint your lips with pickled beetroot to make you look like a growd up..

Towards the end of the day Ms Victoria hopped out into the garden a camera around her neck.
“Kammy? Ashley? Can you come here please?” She called out to the girls who had been playing in a pop up wendyhouse for a while now with Katie. The two made it a race as they sprinted over to where Ms Victoria stood. Please at their quick response she beamed a smile at them.

“Now girls. It’s almost time to go home, but before you do I thought we could have one last photo of the three of you, so go sit on that plastic frog over there okay?”

The adult ushered the Husky and fennec fox over to a large plastic frog big enough to climb and sit on. The two seven year olds scrambled up onto its back giggling.

“Okay good. Now swing your legs over so you’re sitting on him sideways. Get comfy. There we go. Now be careful not to drop her. I’m going to give you Annie.”

Ms Victoria dipped into her pouch and gently revealed a sleeping bundle of fluff. Kammys eyes went wide.
“Wow! Annie is super tiny, you sure thats OUR Annie? Like I’m sure she wasn’t that small earllier….Was she?” Kammy scratched her head, trying to work out which memories were real.

Ms Victoria nodded as she moved Annie into Ashley and Kammys arms.
“Be careful with her now, gently. That’s right, Ashley you hold your arm here and help support her head. Good girl. Kammy bring your paw around...That’s it! There. Try not to wake her.”
The two seven year olds held their breath scared to disturb their sleeping friend, they didnt want a screaming baby on their paws. The picture was taken and Annie was carefully removed. Ashley and Kammy slipped off the frog and ran around as MS victoria gently lowered the sleeping lynx back into the safety of her pouch.

“Come on girls it’s time to get back into your old clothes and go home. Playtime is over. You too Katie. Hop to it please! ” She reached a paw out to the husky who took the paw gratefully as she slipped off the frog and the two friends and the panda girl were led back to the spa room ready to reverse the de-aging process. All three looked sullen. “We dont wanna go.” Kammy pouted, Ms Victoria had heard that phrase a million times and she ruffled Kammy's hair in consolation.
“You can always come back, we have your records on file now that you’ve been here once, so the booking in process will be faster.”
The idea that they could return brightened Kammy's mood as she, Ashley and Katie were ushered into the spa room and the door closed.
It was only as they were halfway through the process, their bodys stretching and filling out back to their adult proportions that they started feeling anxious, nervous about something. Like something was missing. But they couldn’t quite put their paw on what. Three of them had come in and three of them had come out. They hadn’t been allowed personal artefacts into the daycare so it’s not like they left anything important behind.

Kammy Ashley and Katie chatted as they got dressed putting back on their adult clothes. The memories of the weekend already feeling like cherished childhood memories.
“So what are your plans for monday, Ashley? Back to studying no doubt” Kammy scoffed as she pulled on her shirt, and clipped her hair back into place.
“Yeah I wanna get a head start on my phD. What about you Katie?”
Katie was already dressed and wringing her hands nervously. Kammy and Ashley noticed their friend was on edge all of a sudden and they looked at her concerned.
“Are...You alright? What’s wrong?”

The Panda smiled, she looked almost like she was having a case of stage fright.
“Well...You see I came here to the facility to check out what it would be like to be a kid...Before….”

The door to the dressing room opened up and the Tapir from the front desk stepped in holding a towel, which she gently handed to the Panda. “Congratulations Ms Fletcher. I hope you take good care of her, and feel free to drop in and chat to our team if you need anything.” The tapir turned her attention to the husky and Fennec fox, went to say something, a brief flicker of a sad smile and then the professional charm returned.
“I trust the pair of you had a nice time this weekend?”

Kammy’s tail whumped back and forth “YES! This was the BEST! We’ll all be back for sure!” Her childlike enthusiasm made her giggle. “Maybe I’m not quite fully grown back up again yet hahaha”

The tapir nodded, satisfied by that answer. “We’d appreciate it if you rated us on Yip, we’ll send a questionnaire out to the email address you provided. Hope to see you back here soon.”

With that, the tapir left. Kammy and Ashley approached Katie who was now sat on a nearby seat holding the towel looking so content. As they neared they saw the baby swaddled inside. Katie just beamed down at the child, her heart almost bursting with happiness.

“I ...Can’t have kids. I wanted to try the facility out for the day before picking up the baby I adopted here. Look at how small and precious she is.”
She showed the two girls the tiny swaddled lynx, sucking on a pacifier that looked far too big for her and snuggled up beside her was a toy giraffe.

The two adults smiled tenderly at Katie, Ashley spoke in a hushed whisper.
“She’s beautiful, Congrats Katie. That’s really exciting. You’re a Mummy now.”

Katie burst into happy tears as she gently rocked her new child. “I’m going to call her Mhari”

Three months later Kammy came in from work one day to find her post on the doormat. A large envelope that she wasn't expecting waiting for her mingled in with the usual junk mail. Curious she tore it open to find a bound photo album, the crest of the de aging institute on the front cover. Her ears perked up as she suddenly remembered the photos that had been taken with her and Ashley and a friend they had made whilst at the facility….what was her name? Katie.

She opened the album eagerly but where Katie was supposed to be there was a lynx with blonde hair and pink bangs. Kammy def remembered this photo being taken, but where had the lynx come from? Confused she flicked through the album the lynx was in all the photos, instead of Katie, she hurried through the album page after page and as she flicked through the lynx got younger and younger until...there, sat on top of the frog, were Ashley and Kammy cradling the tiniest of lynx. Kammy’s mouth felt dry. The lynx. They had come to the facility with her. Why had they forgotten her? That’s who they had been missing, thats why she had felt oddly uneasy during the reversal process. Then suddenly the memory of Katie being handed an infant lynx, the same lynx. Her friend. Just swam to the surface of her memories like a punch to the face. Katie had her lynx friend! The album had the phone number of the facility and Kammy was ringing it before she really realised what she was doing.

“Hello, Youth Club. Karla Speaking, How can I help you ?”

“Hi. My Name is Kammy Ridge. I came to your facility three months ago with my two friends. Ashley Berger and …..A….ANASTASIA BRYCE (Kammy felt a huge rush of relief as she finally remembered her friend’s name) , a lynx. I havent seen Anna since coming to your facility and I was wondering if you could help me locate her. I think something went wrong. I think she was accidentally handed over to a panda, a lady named Katie. I don’t know her second name or where she lives...Could you help me track her down I think there's been a massive mistake.”

There was silence on the other end of the line and Kammy held her breath.

“I’m sorry Ms Ridge, we don’t give out personal information. Your friend filled in the paperwork and the tick boxes made it evident, the path she chose for herself, so please respect her wishes. I can tell you Katie and Mhari are doing fine and are very happy. I will pass on your regards to them. Good day”

“Wait...Hang on…”

The call ended as Kammy stood in her empty apartment staring at the received in disbelief. Anna was….Gone. A few more minutes and she snapped out of her sadness and looked at the album. Her lynx friend wanted this to happen? She wanted to be reverted back to an infant and re-raised? Kammy felt surprised that anyone would want that, but she went through the questionnaire herself and those were choices available. They’d made it clear throughout that option B was a permanent regression. If that's what Anna wanted...Kammy wished she’d told them beforehand. She looked at the album again, feeling a little sad and happy they had spent the last two days of Anna’s old life together. She was hopeful that Anna was happy and loved as Kammy placed the album in the bookshelf and went to make dinner.