Reign of Prey-alt
After some horrible events, prey take drastic measures to restrain the violent nature of predators, shrinking them and making them their pets. There are a few versions of this story, but I like this short one because it focuses on Ellie's emotional turmoil. While Ellie has some very dominant proclivities, as seen in most of these stories, she doesn't feel right permanently making her beloved kitty into her pet.
Everything was finally back to how it should be. The carnivore cult had been eliminated. The Duchess had ceded control back to the elected government. Finally, Jason and Ellie could return home to get on with their new life together.
Jason reclined on the couch. Ellie had run to the store by herself, and he was reading while he waited for her to return. He still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have the rabbit in his life, to be living with her and curl up together every night.
Around eleven, he heard Ellie's new car pull into the driveway. Jason set down Eyeless in Gaza and waited for the rabbit to come through the door. Ellie entered the door, carrying her satchel. Jason sat up.
"Do you need some help with the groceries?" he asked.
Ellie gave him an odd, pensive look. Reaching her hand into her satchel, she withdrew a very scifi-looking toy gun: the silver gun had a pair of red disks at the front end with a spherical transparent bulb at the very end where the opening of the barrel would be. She aimed it his direction.
Jason eyed the toy curiously, "Where did you get that? Did you stop by the toy store?"
Ellie's arm shook as she continued to point the toy gun, "I-I'm sorry, Jason. I have to do this," she whispered.
"Huh? Do what? What is that?"
"D-don't worry. It won't hurt. They promised it wouldn't hurt," her voice quavered.
Jason shot straight up, tense and his senses heightened, his adrenaline coursing. "Wha-what are you talking about? What is that?"
"J-just hold still, Sweetheart. i-It'll only take a second," Ellie murmured in distress.
Jason jumped up and started toward her.
"No! Hold still!" Ellie yelled.
Jason froze, holding up his hands, "E-Ellie, whatever that is, you don't have to do this. I don't want to hurt you, and I know you don't want to hurt me. Just put it down and slide it away. We can talk," he soothed. He took another step toward her.
"Stop!" she shouted. She sniffed wetly, "I, I have to do this," she repeated thickly. "It won't hurt; you-you'll be okay."
"What is it, Ellie? Can't you tell me that?" he pressed.
"I-it's a shrink ray, Jason."
"Huh?" It sounded as scifi as the gun looked. How could something like that exist? "You, you want to shrink me?"
Ellie shook her head, "It the final phase, Jason. I fought against it a long time, but I couldn't fight anymore. So many prey died; we have to do this."
"We?"
"All the prey. It's happening everywhere, Jason. All over the world. We have to shrink the predators so that they can't hurt us anymore."
Jason stared at the gun, feeling sick to his stomach. Did it really work? How small was she going to make him? What was she going to do afterward? "Wh-what are you going to do then?" he whimpered.
"You'll become our pets. We'll take care of you. We don't want to kill you o-or make you go away. We'll make sure your species continue, but manageable, safe. It's the only way, Jason."
"Th-the only way for what?"
"For peace, Jason. Everlasting peace between predators and prey. That's all we want, not revenge, not dominance. If we could have had peace without taking control, we would have tried for that. We did try for that! Two hundred and fifty years we tried, but the abuse didn't stop. The killing didn't stop. Today, it stops."
Jason dropped his hands and stared at the end of the gun resignedly, "I, I guess maybe you're right." He looked back up into her brown eyes, noticing they were wet with tears. "You'll be the one to take care of me, won't you, Ellie?"
She sniffed wetly, "Yes, Jason, I'll take care of you always."
"And the other predators? Fitzie? Katya? Lily? My parents and siblings?"
"They'll have their own owners, Jason. There aren't enough predators to go around. We can only have one at least until the breeding programs produce enough for everyone who wants one. It's going to be declared a right, to keep a predator as a reminder of all we've suffered, to care for a predator to remind us that mercy is better than hate."
"Y-your going to breed us?" he stammered.
She nodded, "Your species have to continue. We'll guide your evolution, breed you to accept your new lives, make you docile. It's for the best, Jason."
Jason felt another wave of nausea, "Th-then predators will, will be slaves forever? For the rest of time, we'll live under your yoke?"
"I-I didn't want it to be this way, Jason. I thought we could be equals."
"We can be!" he urged.
She shook her head, "It's too late. It's decided. It's already happening. A-across the street maybe, it's already happening. If I don't shrink you, they'll take you away, give you to someone else. I might never see you again, so I have to do this."
Jason nodded, "Okay, Ellie, I understand. If it has to be this way, I want to be with you."
She nodded and sniffed. "This won't hurt, Jason."
A beam shot out of the end of the gun and hit him in the chest. It was warm at the point of impact, but caused no other sensation. Suddenly, Jason saw everything growing up around him as he shrank. Down, down he went until the beam finally cut out. The experience left Jason dazed. He was still trying to get his bearings when the enormous Ellie picked him up. She easily cradled him in one arm, placing her other hand on his belly, which it covered.
She sniffed wetly again but smiled reassuringly, "Th-that wasn't so bad, was it, Jason? It didn't hurt?"
He shook his head, "It didn't."
"I love you, Jason. Even if you're my pet, I'll always love you just as I did when you were big. I'll do everything to make you comfortable."
Jason grasped her fingers; he could just about reach around two of them with one hand. "I know you will, Ellie. I love you too."
Ellie lifted him up and touched her nose to his. It was wet, and she got slimy snot all over his face, but he rubbed his cheek against her anyway.
She smiled affectionately, "My sweet little kitty," she murmured.
She sat with him on the futon, holding him on her lap and stroked him. Across the world, predators gasped and screamed in horror as they were suddenly reduced to helpless pets, toys for the prey their ancestors had hunted, slaves to their new prey masters. But Jason sat curled in his bunny's lap as she stroked him gently. For him, there would be no grief, no hard acceptance. He knew Ellie loved him and would take care of him. If the reign of predators was over and the reign of prey begun, for Jason the only thing that really mattered was that he and Ellie were still together.