Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Like a frantic hurricane, Kiko burst into Asha’s office much the same way she had into Lysaida’s. And much the same way, Asha took stock of her mentality, and replied in a level headed tone.
“Good day Kiko. You look agitated” Asha’s voice was thick with something that Kiko couldn’t pin-point. It felt eldritch and unnatural. The fires of her anger burned away in a moment, and without that to hold back the hysteria, she broke down into tears.
“Something is wrong with me! I…need help!” She screamed, her hands shaking intensely as she collapsed onto the floor and sobbed. Asha had never seen this kind of reaction before, and so got up from her chair and rushed over to hug Kiko tightly.
“Tell me, my dear” Asha gently ordered. Kiko felt as if she couldn’t refuse her, and it all came babbling out. How she took an adverse reaction to blood, how someone found out and took advantage of it, about her scars, and her brand, and what she had done to the man. Eventually she ran out of words and just sobbed into Asha’s shoulder, while receiving motherly strokes on the head, soothing, but akin to a man standing against waves in a storm. She didn’t know how long it took but she ran out of tears to cry, could no longer scream as her throat was too hoarse, and simply slumped. Asha picked Kiko up – with all these people picking her up, a part of her still clinging to sanity thought she was incredibly light, or that everyone could just develop super strength when they wanted – and laid her on a long couch, covering her with a blanket that made Kiko immediately tired.
“Sleep, young Kitsune. Speak with yourself, and awaken” Asha told Kiko. Unable to refuse, Kiko quickly dropped off into a deep sleep.

A few seconds after dropping off, she found herself back at home. Or a very realistic dream of home. It even had her father sat across her, smiling to him with deep gold eyes.
“Dad…” Kiko couldn’t believe it. He was dead, what was he doing here?
“Hey Kid. You really got the shit end of the stick, huh?” He asked, smiling his coy, confident smile, before leaning forward to pour some tea.
“You’re dead…” She muttered, not able to believe her eyes.
“Yea. Kinda sucks. But no Kitsune close to your heart ever truly dies. I get to be here, with nifty golden eyes that let me Look into your mind and make a perfect helper for your problems. If you want to get technical, I am not actually Drax, but what makes a person, if it is not memory and emotion? I’m as Drax as Drax was, which is why I feel comfortable with the claim that I am him” Drax liked to talk, and Kiko liked his voice. So it was a good partnership between father and daughter. “I’m sorry I never brought you into the life, forcing you to deal with all this so quickly. We Kitsunes are born to kill the Beasts from Beyond. And I wanted to spare you that. As a five-tailed Kitsune, and a Striker of SIR, I thought I was going to be able to keep you out of the life for a lot longer. But it seems something big caught me by surprise. Little bitch” He finished pouring the tea, and took his own cup, pushing Kiko’s towards her.
“I…missed you. I think I saw you earlier, in a crazy hallucination” She muttered. Drax stared for a second, as if looking through her mind – the way he said ‘look’ made it sound as if it was something different to using your eyes to see things – and then sighed and leaned back.
“Hate to tell you kiddo, but the shit you have been through right now? You’re going to be through a lot more. Agnaet is in the cycle, so he has to make do with what he gets. But Vanaet has a different thing going on. Sort of cultivation of hosts through certain trials. Which equates to going through a shitstorm of flaming feces before you reach culmination” He counseled. Kiko knew that this was exactly what they were designed to do. Hallucinations that acted as a portable, personal therapist. What kind of situation would require this kind of modification, however, she didn’t know.
“Great War sucked, huh…” She muttered, shaking her head. Drax’s voice always managed to calm her down, despite everything. She had no idea what Agnaet or Vanaet was, or were – he spoke as if they were people, but sometimes people referred to objects as people – but that question just, didn’t come to her mind.

“Aye. Very few Kitsunes alive today have been in it, but I’m rather old, you know. So I was around in the era where there were more survivors. So you got more stories. And yes, I am glad I did not have to fight in that. SIR is bad enough, I have had some times that are less than optimal, but the Great War? Makes it look like two children with pellet guns fighting over a sand box. I’m sure you are handily coming to grips with all the adjustments that were made to us in the Great War. Arigos were not even something that manifested before” He leaned back, sipping his tea while Kiko did the same. She knew it wasn’t real, but it tasted nice and it was time with her father. Something that was a premium these days. She wanted to know what an Arigo was, but another question slipped from her lips.
“What’s with the blood? Every time I smell it, I go insane. And it is kind of putting a hamper on having a proper relationship with anyone” Kiko put in, slumping back on her chair. How would Queenie react to learning this? Drax looked on for a few moments and then smirked.
“Ha, ran into Queenie huh? She always tried to get me in her bed but never managed. I guess something about our line is enticing to her. If you ever do get to her bedroom, there is this spot just above her hip, left side of her body. Give that a kiss and, enjoy the fireworks” Drax gave a broad grin, that Kiko did not return.
“Interesting, but it doesn’t answer the question. You avoided it completely” Kiko said, calling him out on his avoidance. Drax shrugged casually, but nodded.
“Yea, but I don’t know. Which is wrong. I shouldn’t not. I should, know everything, or near enough, so as to assist you however you need it. Not knowing, is worrying” He then looked about the house, and finished his cup of tea. “That’s all we got time for today, I’m afraid. You are waking up in about five seconds. See you later, m’dear” He then took the cup to the kitchen, as if cleanliness mattered when he was going to pop out of existence soon. Unless he wasn’t. Which was an entirely different kettle of fish.
“Wait, no! I have so many questions for you!” Kiko shouted, before suddenly she was in Asha’s office.

The smell in the air was dramatically different. Asha’s office was empty, and when she got up and tried the door, it was locked. Which was awkward. Asha didn’t have a lot in her office, so there was nothing for Kiko to really do. She didn’t want to look through the paperwork, and didn’t want to disturb anything that might have been laid out in a special fashion.
“Morning” A voice said. Kiko spun around, tail spawning in an instant, and ready to protect her however it could. “Don’t shoot the messenger, not that you could shoot me, but still. Words hurt were bullets do not. Or in your case eldritch fire shot from your tail” He was a man who blathered, it seemed. So Kiko gave him a scowl instead.
“Who are you?” She demanded, baring her teeth. She had no trust for anyone of the male persuasion right now.
“Mananan Dolaharanan. I used to be a Dullahan” He said, reaching up and casually taking his head off to prove a point, tucking it under his arm. “But there was an experiment a few years back, tried to make invisible operatives, but it went the other way and now I kind of don’t exist in this plane. Bonus is, I can actually turn invisible if I want. Just, can’t touch anything, or interact with the physical world in any manner other than speaking to someone. I was assigned to look over you and make sure nobody bothered you. Not that I can do anything to stop anyone bothering you, but I can go tell someone. It’s surprising how quick you can get somewhere when you walk through walls” His monolouging drone – from the head still under his arms – managed to push Kiko away from the edge of her anger. Letting out a deep sigh, she retracted her tail, dropped her anger, and collected her nerves. And he had a hell of a name to boot. How anyone but him remembered that…

“Alright. Fine. What’s going on? Why is the door locked? Are they keeping me prisoner until…” she suddenly trailed off, remembering what had happened. Her breathing hitched and her hands shook at the memory.

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“Half and half really. Protecting you from them, and them from you. Asha has a theory on what is going on, and that means you have to be kept from them. She isn’t sharing the theory, just going on warpath to find who did it. Money is on the Tengu. They don’t like Kitsunes, they got overshadowed in the Great War by them, and hold a grudge. Plus, the Tengu enclave is currently on lockdown because of some ritual they don’t share with outsiders. It’s suspicious timing, so she’s got a Fire Team camped out in front of them. A little overkill, but if they really are behind this, then it is beyond petty pranks” He told her. Kiko nodded, trying to get her hand to stop shaking. With time, and force of will, she managed it, but her heart was still going mad. Why wasn’t the Kitsune mentality taking this away?
“What…what’s a Fire Team?” Kiko asked, trying to distract herself.
“Ahh, a Fire Team is a team of veterans brought from the other squads into one squad that can nail almost any task handed to them. They are rare, and only brought out in times of need, or when an intense show of force is needed. They are more often deployed against Cultist sects and Greater Beast nests than anything. More than one sect has outright surrendered when they heard a Fire Team is outside. Lysaida heads that division. The deployment here is to help the Tengu give up and come in for interrogation” He explained. Kiko listened, nodded, and clenched her hands, and unclenched them. Thinking would do her no good right now, so it was time to stop thinking.
“Can, I get out? I promise I won’t murder anyone painfully with long sharp claws and blasting them through the chest with my tail laser beam” Kiko tried to make it sound as sincere as possible, but it didn’t quite convince Mananan.
“I’ve not got the key. I can walk through the door, get Lysaida, but I can’t unlock it for you” He offered. Kiko didn’t trust herself to speak, and so just nodded, and head headed off.

Left alone in the office, she turned her mind inward, and thought about what Drax, or the Drax illusion, had told her. She was going to go through a lot more of this, so she had to steel herself. Mental introspection seemed something that was going to be very common for her if she was going to be put through more of this. She had to accept that this wasn’t her fault. And she wasn’t the one who walked away the worst from that. That guy, despite his ignoble intentions, barely crawled away when she was finished with him. And she had no control over it, whatever this was that drove her insane, it was beyond her control. However, such an admission was not easy. It still harrowed her mind, that she had done that to a man, and that that could happen at any time that she smelled someone bleeding. It was better for her to just give up, said one part. But another wouldn’t allow her to do that, so she was caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to swing either way until soft arms encompassed her, and spoke.
“You are a mess” it was the voice of Lysaida, which reminded Kiko that she could feel the mental state of anyone who’s shadow she passed through. Which meant she knew how Kiko was feeling.
“I am sure you had seen worse” Kiko intoned, her eyes downcast.
“Well, there was Drax, that one time he nearly got his leg bitten clean off. Not the fact that he nearly lost his leg, mind. The fact that he was going to miss the tortilla wraps a guest-chef was cooking for us in his tour of the world. Never seen Man or Mer so crestfallen as he was. But, his problems were much easier to solve than yours. I don’t get specifics; do you want to fill me in?” She asked. Kiko thought for a few moments, and eventually nodded.

“I’m a Monster. That is all there is to it” She told Lysaida, slipping out of her embrace and easing herself down onto the couch. A vile creature, fit for naught but slaughtering.
“That is a lie. Asha tells me that what you did was not something anyone has had to even think about for a few hundred years. So nobody was prepared for it springing up in the new Kitsunes. It was heavy on the mythological side, so I didn’t get a lot. Something, Something, Queen of Blood, Vanaet, Great War. I never did well in my mythos studies. I was a girl more focused on the physical, to be honest” Lysaida told Kiko. And there it was, that name again, like it was following her or something. Vanaet. She would ask Asha about it when she was finally out of this god-damn prison.
“So, can I go?” Kiko asked, tersely as she was already irritated for being stuck here so long.
“We are going to have to keep you here for a little longer before we can be sure that we know what is going on with you” Lysaida was prepared for an active response from Kiko, and was surprised when the girl just, slumped.

“Fine…I’ll just…” she slunk off to the corner, and sat down. Lysaida’s heart ached when she saw it, but she had to put the safety of the rest of SIR before the comfort of one Kitsune girl, so turned and left through the shadows, leaving Kiko alone to ponder the state of her mind, and what was to come. In the corner her hands shook, her body shuddered, tears streamed down her face, and then a soft whisper entered her ear.
‘They fear you now. Nobody will trust you again. Whatever you do, however you try to redeem yourself, they will always look at you different’ it said. The words cut so deep because they were true. She couldn’t do anything about that, just feel the sobs grow heavier. ‘But I can help you, my dear. I can make it so that you are never subjected to this pain again’ it promised. In a moment of weakness, and eminent vulnerability, she just gave in, and nodded, accepting with a groan that could be words were she more coherent. There was soft laughter before she felt teeth sink into her neck, ripping into her. Before, it would be agony she could not stand, but now it barely made a side-bar. She could feel for a second all the fear and anguish draining out of her, before the voice appeared in her head again, panicked and frantic. ‘What?! No, you can’t! I am claiming this one!’ it screamed inside her head, before the shrieks became wordless and it faded away into nothing but ash and dust. There was a haughty noise of victory, and then everything became silent again. Kiko’s hand went to her neck, and felt the wound there. Whatever had happened wasn’t in her mind, it was real.
“You should have let her take me. I can’t handle this” She muttered, huddled into a ball in the corner. She wasn’t expecting a response, and was surprised when she got one.
‘You are the closest I have been in hundreds of years. Finally got some help with the interference, and I will not lose you to some abandoned scavenger. There is nothing wrong with asking for and receiving help, little one. Just don’t rely on it to save you from everything’ it replied, ringing in her mind. The voice was so powerful, so confident, so fearless. It made Kiko cry to even be spoken to by such a powerful being, as weak as she was.

But she was dragged from her thoughts by the door opening, and Queenie standing there. The way her face turned to see Kiko so, damaged, caused the young Kitsune’s heart to thump painfully.
“Fire Team Marric managed to enter the Tengu enclave under orders from Mizia and arrest the man responsible. Mizia has told them it’s the last straw and all Tengu currently in employment are dishonorably discharged back to Ta’al. Their superiors are probably going to chew them out something chronic, we won’t be dealing with them outside Joint Ops for years to come. So, you did pretty well. Less than a week here and you’ve already ousted your enemy’s Enclave. Asha is going to love you” She said, walking over and crouching down.
“I’m a monster. You should just forget about me” Kiko muttered, staying on the ground until Queenie took her chin in her hand and forced her to meet eye-to-eye. And then suddenly those eyes were filled with Fire. Horrors filled the plain ad infinitum, and above it all, below it all, surrounding it all, was Fire. Upon a gigantic mass of smoke and flame in the vague shape of a throne sat a being who radiated power, someone that, even as an apparition, made Kiko both shudder in fear and weep in joy.

And then it was gone, she was back in the room, and Queenie was stood above her in all her Demonic glory. Even more than her Demonic glory, in fact. There was something more to her. Smoldering ghost-fire flickered off her body, passing through her uniform in its insubstantial nature, hair flicked and crackled as if it was made of flame rather than keratin.
“Ohh, my little Fox. You know nothing of monsters. You are a child who has stood on a frog, and now calls herself a murderer. It is not you who should be warding me off. In all honesty, it should be me warding you off. I will admit I am putting a bit of what I felt for your father on to you, and that is not fair, but my heart burns hot and long, it is not something I can ignore without your disdain of me. Now is the time. Can you be with me, knowing what I am?” She asked, her voice seemingly coming from elsewhere than her mouth. Kiko’s shuddering picked up even further, and she stammered incoherently for a few moments before managing to get a grasp on it.
“The…Ever-burning Lady” she muttered, to which Queenie nodded.

“Ceal does talk when she is excited. Yes, I am the Heir to the Throne of Eternal Flame. My home is that of fire, smoke, and ash. My kingdom is filled with naught but those you would call demon, and those we sup upon. I am most monster than you could be in a hundred years. Such minor infractions to morality. Such, mortal actions could never contest with one of my stature. And so I will say it again, for the sake of your frail and damaged psyche. I Am the Beast under your Bed. The bump in the night, the footsteps behind you, the flickering shadow. Can you, accept that?” Queenie asked. There was just, too much to deal with for Kiko. Queenie was, radiant. She felt terrifying, but also so immensely beautiful. All at once she resembled the raging inferno and the warming hearth. She was death, and she was life. And that, was good. Kiko could not stop weeping at the eminence of the sight, and her little head voice pipped up with a scoff at the whole thing.
‘You will be far much more than she is when you awaken. But, I suppose for a girl like you it is rather auspicious’ it told Kiko, the haughty tone thick and heavy. It was clearly something that thought a great deal of itself. Like it was the best thing in the world, and would accept nobody telling her any different.

“I can…” Kiko whispered, her voice dry and cracking. And then, Queenie seemed to almost deflate. Gone was the fire, the fury, the passion, and in its place, was just the woman that Kiko was attracted to.
“Wonderful. Then let’s go get some food”

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