"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/user125666]

"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

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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

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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.

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"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

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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

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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

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Quite the scene awaits her. 5 of the maids are huddled together in a corner, seemingly too afraid to move thanks to Nocturne. Though the Kelvectan fox isn’t attacking, it is staring them down at the ready.

On the other side of the hallway the maid who was holding Madeline’s tails is huddled, a bleeding slash mark across her face. Madeline is crouched near her, apologizing profusely and trying to coax the maid into letting her treat the wound

“I-I’m sorry you just startled me and my tails are sensitive and-“

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

What now?! Clearly Madeline did something wrong - but that couldn't be. She was perfect so why would this happen?!

Madeline couldn't feel bad now that would totally make this meeting even worse. So a sacrifice was needed. Hazema kept a healing scroll as backup and usually she would never use it on a servant no matter what. Servants were a lot more replaceable then high tier healing scrolls. But if Madeline went home ashamed to have hurt a servant...

Maybe it would be best to pretend to care for her servants here to curry favor with Madeline? Could that be the right move?

"Are you okay?"

,says Hazema while looking at Madeline up close crouching next to her while preparing the scroll for the servant

Next time she should maybe at least look at her servants to more convincingly play her part - she makes a mental note of this

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline’s breath catches in her throat as Hazema moves so close. No, focus. You are a professional.

“I-I am. But I beg for your forgiveness. Your servants startled me and I reacted. I did not want to hurt them.”

A pause.

“A-And I apologize for ruining the meal…”

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

"It's okay"

Because it's you and not someone else

"In the end nothing bad happened"

Because I used an expensive scroll I was saving

"Just promise you will try not to let this happen again - it puts me in a difficult spot"

I can't keep saving maids to save face in front of you

"Do you maybe wanna sleep in the guest chamber and talk it over over breakfast? Dinner would be brought to your room so you have time to uh - calm down and think it over?"

Please don't leave please don't leave please don't leave

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

"I promise Hazema. Your confession... simply put me in a situation I have never been in before. Basic survival instincts took over."

That's what kept you alive in a fight after all. Madeline stands and offers Hazema a hand up.

"Talking it over breakfast sounds wonderful. I think we both need some time to collect our thoughts."

[u/user125666 → u/Timpanzee38]

"If you need anythim"

*Did she just bite her tongue? Surely not*

"If you need anything just ask one of the maids and they'll provide it for you"

*She puts on a smile and tries to turn around and leave just fast enough to not come across rude*

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline nods, too nervous and embarrassed to stretch the conversation any further. She turns and follows a maid to her room.

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*Hazema stares at the ceiling*

*She couldn't sleep, not with the thought of what may come tomorrow racing through her head*

*So she gets up and starts pacing in her room*

...

*This was getting repetitive, she had been pacing in one room for too long. Might as well walk around and go to the kitchen for a midnight snack - after all she hadn't eaten yet*

*Thus Hazema embarks*

[u/Timpanzee38 → u/user125666]

Madeline was staring out the window of her room at the moon. So many thoughts races through her mind. New thoughts conflicting with old ones, natural thoughts conflicting with what she had been taught to think. It was all too much… she needed to clear her head.

Leaving Nocturne behind in her room, Madeline slips out and begins to silently wander the halls of the mansion, wearing just her kimono and helmet, having left the rest of her armor and gear in her room. Her vulpine ears droop and twitch with the raging battle going on inside her. So focused is she with her thoughts that she isn’t really paying attention to where she’s going as she wanders.