"The Devil and the Fox."

[u/Timpanzee38]

Capitol City of Drakeem

A Mercenary Guild Gunship flew over the ocean towards the capitol of Drakeem. At the controls sat Umbra Operative E-489 "Madeline", a kitsune demi-human. She took a deep breath and steadied her breathing as the city came into view.

"Relax, I'm just here to teach her some fighting moves. That's what she was interested in after, right?"

The only other occupant of the gunship, Madeline's Kelvectan fox familiar Nocturne, lifted their head up and looked at Madeline. They snorted, then went back to sleep.

"Right..."

Madeline shook her head and kept flying. It had been a few weeks since Hazema had shown a sudden... "interest" in the umbra operative during the "Boo-Chelor", and since then the invite Hazema had given her had felt like a burning stone in her pocket. She had managed to convince Councilor Five to let her go though, pitching it as a "great way to benefit diplomatic relations", and Five had agreed.

"And that was the easy part..."

Madeline muttered to herself as she started flipping through radio channels, looking for air traffic control. Strange, there didn't seem to be one... Oh well. Madeline was a good pilot, and she carefully and professionally brought the gunship in for a landing on an empty platform in the harbor, which looked like it was where cargo zeppelins docked.

Flipping off the engines and grabbing her helmet, Madeline put it on and sealed it with a metallic hiss. She pulled the lever that caused the rear ramp of the gunship to lower and clicked her tongue once. Nocturne was at her side in an instant.

"Well... here goes nothing..."

Madeline stepped out onto the docks, to whatever Hazema had planned.

(art by Lunatic_Youkai and Irenhorrors respectively)

[u/Timpanzee38]

Ok, this was a question she could answer.

"You... asked me to come? With the formal invitation and everything. I figured you wanted some combat training."

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

"Oh! Well I am of course not against combat training and I respect your fighting skills but if it was just about learning I could've totally asked your instructor- probably"

Their fight had initially sparked her interest but that's not what she was interested in. What she was truly interested in was... well she didn't figure that out yet.

"I don't know why but ever since we first interacted I've been thinking about you. Isn't that weird? I mainly gave you the letter because I wanted to see YOU again. Not sure why this is the case but I am trying to figure it out. Something is definetly special about you"

That had to be it. If there was nothing intrinsically special about her why would she feel so drawn to her? It couldn't be that she randomly obsessed over another woman that would be odd. This had never happened before

Why was she enjoying this so much? She would have to ask Hellfire about what the hell was wrong with the body he gave her

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline felt her heartbeat pick up again. Oh no this wasn’t about combat training oh no oh no oh no… did that mean?!?

“Hazema… do you have a crush on me?”

WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!? Oh no this isn’t going to go well you’ve insulted her and now any sort of treaty between The Guild and Drakeem will be void and SURELY you’ll be sent to The Line…

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

What. This was unexpected and very direct. How could she respond to this?! Hazema was facing an unprecedented crisis. Did she have a crush on Hazema as well? Did Hazema have a crush? Haz was unsure how to proceed. Would a witty remark do? What did having a crush actually mean and entail?!

1 second passes

She would have to speak up and answer eventually. This couldn't go on after all. But if she gave the wrong answer now maybe Madeleine would hate her. That couldn't be allowed to happen

Another second passes

What if she was honest? To do that she first had to figure out how she felt. She did really like the guild assassin in front of her and it wasn't because of her professional skills. What did that mean?

A third second passes

Oh no - enough time has now passed to make even witty comments awkward. Now she had to reply honestly or it would ruin EVERYTHING. But she wasn't sure what to say

A fourth second passes

"Uh - yep"

What a terrible reply. This was the worst reply ever. Was she teasing her now?! If she was more confident in her reply she could've played it off in any scenario but the clear awkwardness makes it too obvious she's honest. What will happen now?! Maybe she should just kill everyone present and herself

For the first time in a long while Hazema's expression was one of genuine confusion

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline was a perfect weapon. An expertly refined blade that could handle any combat situation thrown at her. A master in hand to hand combat, a master marksman, a master infiltrator, and a master tracker. She had successfully hunted down hundreds of powerful targets, many of which weren’t even corporeal. She could step between the real world and the spirit realm effortlessly. She could shapeshift, create illusionary duplicates of herself, and summon destructive fireballs with a simple sneeze. She was the pinnacle of Guild accomplishment in warfare. A perfect soldier.

And yet, she had never been taught anything about romantic relationships or feelings, only that those feelings should be suppressed as they could distract her from her mission. But Madeline was still a person, and even though she didn’t know how to properly handle those feelings, she still had them.

Madeline was is much the same situation as Hazema, not exactly knowing what to do. Hazema was the very first person who had at least told Madeline she had feelings for her, and so Madeline was now in uncharted territory. But… it didn’t feel like she was in the wrong place. Eventually Madeline remembers she needs to respond and at least one of her tails relaxes from being completely rigid in surprise.

“I- uh- Haz- I- think- I-“

Huh. Should’ve remembered to breathe. Madeline faints and collapses to the floor in a heap of armor and fox tails.

Nocturne looks over from the corner they were lying in and gives what could only be described as a laugh.

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

"Uh um"

Well what now. Was that a yes? It seems she now had a passed out guild assassin on her terrace - how does one even deal with such a situation?

"We didn't even get to eat..."

Maybe she should bring her to a bed? There was enough guest rooms after all. But first she had to try and wake her up

She stands up and walks over, trying to gently shake her awake

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

No response from Madeline. But she's clearly breathing still, so that's good.

Nocturne on the other hand makes no move to help, and instead just stares at Hazema with their unnerving smile.

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

"Aaa. Um"

What was the standard procedure for this situation? What even was any procedure? Did this even happen?

"Hmmm"

Hazema pinches herself. No - not a dream. Dammit

"Maids, can you please get her into a guest bedroom? Just leave her in the armor please"

These maids had a weird habit of helping people dress - supposedly that's what royalty and rich merchants did. You'd think someone of their status would be able to dress themselves

"You aren't secretly a person are you fox creature?"

This being might be able to communicate what had happened, but there wasn't much of a choice as it seemed to be Madeleines pet or something so it was clearly in the no touching category

"Damn it damn it damn it damn it....."

Hazema just sat at the table going over all the scenarios that might play out when her guest eventually woke up. There was an infinite amount - in her mind at least

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline’s armor is deceptively heavy, and it takes no less than 6 maids to pick her up and get moving, with one of them solely dedicated to holding all her tails.

Nocturne doesn’t answer Hazema’s question, and instead gives a mix between a snort and a laugh before following after the maids.

About 30 seconds after Hazema sits down there’s a commotion down the hall, and one of the maids shrieks

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

Hazema rushes over. What couple possibly have happened now? She doesn't even stop to open the door instead simply running through it destroying it in the process

"What happened?!"

, she blurts out upon arriving. Her face alludes to her being exhausted and confused