A Fox's Maid

by Brandon Varnell

  Fortunately, all stores also had a backdoor. This one was locked, but Lilian used the key she’d gotten off the guard she’d first knocked out to open it.

  “And Kevin told me the ‘Dungeon Master’s Guide’ and ‘Player’s Handbook’ were useless in real life situations.”

  The store’s interior looked like a regular shop that sold anime. Paraphernalia littered the shelves, stands were situated all over the place. She could see swords and cosplay hanging on the wall behind the register. There were DVDs, manga, posters, all sorts of stuff. It almost made her wonder.

  How come Kevin had never taken her here? This place was awesome.

  Note to self: convince Kevin to take me to a store like this after I rescue him and we’re safely at home.

  Lilian observed her surroundings as she creeped around several displays. She eventually uncovered a somewhat hidden hallway off to the side where a single guard stood. She took him out quickly and quietly, then opened the door to reveal a well-lit staircase.

  “Huh? I’m kinda surprised the stairs aren’t darker and more ominous, but I guess these people want to avoid clichés.”

  Indeed they do.

  “Be quiet.”

  You’re so mean…

  “!!”

  Quiet! I’m being quiet.

  Lilian huffed and walked down the stairs, staying alert for any potential surprises.

  The stairs led to a door, which in turn led to another hallway. Lit with iridescent bulbs and covered in sterile white tiles, the hallway looked more like a research lab than a basement underneath an anime store.

  It didn’t take long for Lilian to realize how much bigger this basement was than her initial assumptions. She’d assumed it wouldn’t be too large, maybe a bit bigger than the store it was under, but as she traversed several hallways, she began to realize…

  … This place was like a maze.

  Lilian took another turn, which led to a door. Opening it revealed what looked like a holding cell. It was empty, save for the many claw and teeth marks riddling the walls, floor and ceiling. Closing the door, she started moving again.

  The further Lilian got the more patrolling guards she ran into. Her illusions kept them from noticing her, but being so close to them still made her nervous. Anxious. Her heart pounded in her chest. Several times she actually feared one of the patrols might have heard the rapidly beating organ.

  Coming upon another door, Lilian slowly opened it a crack and peered inside. This one actually had a guard, which meant someone was being held there. Was it Kevin?

  “What the hell?” The young woman decked out in black spandex stared at the door opening and closing, seemingly on its own, the illusions doing their job and keeping the female from seeing or hearing Lilian.

  Before the guard could respond to this seemingly strange phenomenon, Lilian touched the tip of one of her tails to the woman’s temple.

  “Kitsune Art: Illusory Sleep.”

  The woman crumpled to the floor. Lilian stared down at the unconscious figure, then looked around the room.

  It looked practically identical to the other room, with its only distinguishing feature being the large window spanning the entire wall opposite the door. Lilian walked up to the window… and gasped when she saw a familiar figure lying on the floor.

  “Kevin!”

  Her technique dropping as she lost control of her emotions, Lilian rushed inside and knelt down upon reaching her beloved. The young man was lying on his back, his arms on his chest and bound at the wrists. His eyes were closed and his breathing even. He appeared to be unconscious.

  “Kevin! Kevin!”

  Blue eyes cracked open.

  “Lilian?” Kevin blinked several times. Then his eyes widened. “Lilian! What are you doing here?”

  “What kind of question is that? I’m here to rescue you, of course.”

  Lilian sliced through his restraints with a youki-infused tail.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” Kevin moaned. “These people aren’t after me. They’re after you.”

  “You can’t honestly expect to just ignore when my mate’s in trouble, do you?”

  “I sort of wished you would.” Kevin sat up and rubbed his wrists to get some circulation back into them. “These people want to experiment on you.”

  “They can study me all they want when I break my foot off in their ass.” Lilian’s expression darkened. “Nobody harms my mate.”

  “Lilian?” Kevin stared at Lilian in surprise. In return, she smiled at him and placed a hand on his cheek.

  “Haven’t I been telling you? I love you, Kevin. I have for years, and nothing on this Kami-blessed earth is ever going to change that.”

  “Lilian,” Kevin whispered, “I―wait.” A pause. Kevin blinked. “Years?”

  “D-did I say years? I meant ever since we first met.”

  “But I could have sworn you just said years.”

  “You must be hearing things.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure you said―”

  “Hearing things.”

  Kevin stared at Lilian, who was all smiles. Finally, he sighed. “Right. I must be hearing things.”

  “I’m glad you understand.”

  Kevin shook his head and chuckled.

  “I don’t deserve you,” he said honestly. “Here you are, risking your neck for me, and I can’t do anything for you.”

  “Kevin?” Lilian became worried when frustrated tears welled up in Kevin’s eyes. The young man clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

  “Ever since we’ve met, you’ve always been the one protecting me. I couldn’t do anything when Chris attacked us. I was even more useless when Kiara attacked you. I couldn’t even protect myself from those three pathetic yōkai the other day. I… I’m just so useless, so weak.”

  “Oh, Kevin,” Lilian’s hands cupped his face, tenderly thumbing the few tears that had managed to escape his eyes. “You are not useless. Maybe you don’t realize this, but I was terrified when Chris attacked us. If you hadn’t pushed me out of the way and taken that initial attack, I would be dead right now. You saved me, and not just back then either. Had it not been for you, I would’ve bled out back when you found me in my fox form.”

  “Lilian.” Kevin placed his hands over Lilian’s, his eyes more expressive than she had ever seen them.

  “You say that you’re useless, but that’s just not true. You call yourself weak, but no one expects you to be capable of fighting yōkai right off the bat. Few humans ever can. You say that you don’t deserve to be with me, but that’s not your decision to make. It’s mine, and believe me when I tell you that no one is more deserving of my love than you. I love you, and that is the only thing that matters.”

  “I…” Kevin swallowed heavily, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He started again, paused, then gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I really am an idiot, aren’t I?”

  Lilian’s eyes twinkled as she smiled at him. “I wouldn’t say you’re an idiot, just dense.”

  As she knelt before Kevin, her left hand on his cheek and his right one over hers, Lilian felt the urge to kiss him. She resisted, however, as they weren’t out of the woods quite yet. Kisses could come later, once they were safe.

  “Come on,” she said softly, “let’s get out of here.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

  Lilian’s and Kevin’s eyes widened. Two small needles suddenly pierced her back, seconds before her body erupted in pain, as what felt like thousands of volts of electricity coursed through her nervous system. Her muscles spasmed, contracting and twisting in torment. She twitched and jerked, her body weakening before she slumped into the startled Kevin’s arms.

  Darkness engulfed her.

  ***

  Kevin stared in horror as Lilian collapsed on top of him, her body going limp. Smoke rose from her back, and he could see exposed flesh where her clothes had been burnt. The skin was red, raw, as if the flesh had been overcooked in an oven. Two sma
ll, dart-like electrodes had impaled her skin, a small trail of blood leaking from the puncture wounds. Attached to them was a cord.

  His eyes followed the cord to a man holding a stun gun in his left hand. A very familiar man.

  “You!” Kevin shouted, sagging under Lilian’s dead weight.

  Inagumi Takashi was the picture of calm. His face remained impassive, eyes colder than Kiritsugu Emiya’s and twice as dead. Yet there was a strange twist to his lips, a glimpse of triumph on his otherwise bland face.

  “It’s rather amazing, how supernatural creatures can be so affected by our modern technology. Take this gun for instance. It’s just a military-grade stun gun, nothing particularly special. Yet against a kitsune, it works just as well as it would on a normal human.”

  Kevin gritted his teeth. As he sat there, a limp Lilian lying against his chest, anger like nothing he’d ever felt before surged through him. He wanted nothing more than to rush up and pound his fists against Inagumi’s face. He hated this man. He hated this man so much that it was only due to Lilian’s soft body pinning him down that he didn’t try ripping his former teacher apart.

  “You talk too much.”

  “You think so? Then perhaps I should stop talking and finish things up.” Inagumi pulled another stun gun from behind his back and aimed it at Kevin. “Do not worry. When you wake up, you’ll be back in your home, and all of this will seem like it had just been a bad dream.”

  Before he could pull the trigger, something wrapped around his legs. Two somethings. He looked down.

  “What the…?”

  “Don’t… underestimate… me!”

  The Japanese agent suddenly found himself flying off his feet, Lilian’s two tails yanking him around like he was a Barbie doll. She launched him upwards into the granite ceiling, cracks spreading from the point of impact like a spider’s web. Kevin could have sworn he heard the man’s bones break. Lilian then brought Inagumi back down, where he struck the floor with such force that his body bounced off the concrete.

  “Lilian!” Kevin clutched the fox-girl tightly in his arms, looking down to see half-lidded pools of green staring back. “You’re okay!”

  “O-of course… I am…” Lilian’s smile was a mixture of pain and reassurance. “Did you really… think that… that would be enough… to put me down…?”

  Kevin laughed in relief. He lifted Lilian as he stood up, wrapping an arm around her waist, and then slinging one of her arms over his shoulder, allowing Lilian to lean against him for support. The redhead sagged in his grip, forcing him to adjust his stance in order to compensate for the increased weight.

  “Let’s get out here,” he said. Lilian nodded, closing her eyes as her facial muscles twitched as if undergoing muscle spasms.

  “… Okay.”

  They walked over to their former teacher, who appeared to be out cold. His eyes were rolled up into the back of his head, mouth wide open in an agonized scream. He looked like he’d been run over by a herd of elephants. Lying several feet away was the unused stun gun.

  “Lilian?”

  “Got it.” One of Lilian’s tails lengthened and grabbed the stun gun before retracting and offering it to Kevin. “Here.”

  “Thanks.” Kevin checked the weapon over. It looked almost like a standard gun, except for the ends where the electric nodes were launched.

  “Do you know how to use that?”

  “I’ve never used a real gun before,” Kevin admitted, “but it looks similar to the ones from House of Haunted Horrors. I’m sure it won’t be too hard… I hope.”

  Lilian didn’t say anything to that.

  They exited the room and stepped into the hall, which appeared deserted. With Lilian directing him, Kevin ran off as quickly as he could, half-carrying the redhead whose muscles didn’t seem to feel like cooperating.

  He tried to run silently. Unfortunately, he was literally half-dragging Lilian with him, which made being silent impossible.

  He froze after turning a corner and running directly into a passing patrol. The two sides stared at each other for all of two seconds, and then all hell broke lose.

  “It’s the prisoner and the fox! They’re trying to escape!”

  “Get ‘em!”

  “Crap!

  Kevin spun on his heel and ran down another hallway. The sounds of booted feet hitting pavement echoed behind them.

  “After them!”

  “Don’t let them escape!”

  He gritted his teeth, his leg muscles working overtime. He couldn’t see them, but he could certainly hear the patrol as they closed the distance.

  “Stop right this instant or we’ll open fire!”

  “Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!”

  Kevin turned his head and promptly wished he hadn’t. The two guards they’d run into were gaining on them, rifles aimed at him and Lilian.

  “Don’t worry… Kevin…” Lilian mumbled, her voice slurred. “I won’t… let them hurt you…”

  Before he could question the twin-tailed kitsune, Lilian’s tails shot out. The first one smacked against the left guard’s face, hard. That guard was sent flying backwards, his body flipping through the air like a ragdoll before slamming against the ground head first.

  The second guard was even more unlucky. He got hit in the balls.

  “SQQUUUEEEEEEE!”

  Kevin winced as the man squealed like a gutted pig, the sound piercing his eardrums with its shrillness. He could only imagine what Lilian must be going through. Foxes had more acute hearing than humans.

  They continued to run, though Kevin had no idea where he was going, and Lilian was having trouble remembering which turns she had taken. A glance out of his peripheral vision revealed that she was slipping in and out of consciousness. Her head bobbed and lolled, then snapped back up. Her eyes lost and regained focus, struggling against their desire to close.

  She must have a concussion.

  Kevin felt determination surge through his body, giving him strength and a renewed sense of purpose. Every time he’d been in trouble, Lilian had been the one to save him. Now she needed his help, and he would be damned if he didn’t help her.

  “Freeze, you two!”

  “Who let the prisoner escape?!”

  “Stop them!”

  Several more guards found them, but Kevin didn’t allow that to slow him down. With adrenaline surging through his veins, he lifted Lilian into his arms and carried her.

  He threw himself around a corner and increased his pace. Booted feet echoed loudly behind him. As he ran past a glass case with a large canister inside, Kevin lashed out with a powerful kick, shattering it. He then spun around and hooked his left foot into the top valve, pulling it down before jumping backwards, narrowly avoiding a burst of gunfire.

  Several bullets perforated the canister, and fumes soon filled the hall. Kevin’s leg muscles bunched as he launched the canister at the guards and took off again, ignoring the coughing that echoed behind him.

  “W-what the hell is this stuff?!”

  “Fuck! It’s that… it’s that new fire extinguishing agent!”

  “I can’t… can’t breathe…”

  “Lilian?” Kevin asked.

  “We’re… I think we’re almost there,” Lilian slurred. Kevin nodded and tried to focus on reaching the exit. After several more turns, they finally found it, though the exit was being guarded by a person carrying what looked like an AK-47 assault rifle.

  “Hold it, you two! Don’t make me—gyaaaaa!!!”

  The spandex-clad soldier jerked and twitched, his body lighting up like a Christmas tree as Kevin shot him in the neck with the stun gun. Steam and smoke wafted from his convulsing body, which soon jerked backwards and went into a series of muscle spasms. The guard twitched several times, and then went still.

  “Um. Wow. This thing packs quite the punch.”

  “Trust me… I am… well aware… of that…”

  Kevin looked down at Lilian. He’d started to grow tired and needed to se
t her down again, though he still shouldered most of her weight.

  “Are you gonna be okay, Lilian?”

  “I’ll be fine…” Lilian mumbled against his neck. “That shock really hurt… but my Celestial powers will ensure that I heal soon enough. I just need some rest.”

  “You can rest all you want once we get out of here.”

  “Mmm.”

  They made their way upstairs, finding no one in the anime store except for the unconscious guard lying slumped against the wall.

  Kevin raised an eyebrow at the redhead, who turned her head and looked away.

  “What? I had to take him out or he would’ve alerted his friends.”

  Kevin only shook his head.

  Together, the two made it outside—

  “All right, that’s as far as you go!”

  —And found themselves surrounded.

  Kevin swiveled his head left and right. Men and women carrying all forms of weaponry blocked their path, along with a number of military vehicles, hummers and tanks, forming a semi-circle in the parking lot.

  Standing in front of the group was a woman. Short blond hair hung about her head in a bob, and from the way she filled out her… black spandex, the woman clearly took good care of her body, though he couldn’t determine her age.

  “I hope you two realize how much trouble you’ve given me,” she stated. “I had to stop playing Fate/Hollow Ataraxia just to come out here and get you!”

  Kevin and Lilian were nonplussed.

  “Um, what?”

  “Now stop wasting my time and give up. If you don’t, then I’ll have no choice but to shoot you both.”

  Kevin tried to think of a way out of this mess, but couldn’t. There was nothing he could do. Their situation was hopeless.

  And yet…

  “Kevin…” Lilian moaned, causing him to look down. The redhead looked so weak, so frail. Her body was slumped against his, and only his arm around her waist kept her from falling to the ground. “Let me go. It’s me they’re after, not you…”

  “No.”

  “Kevin…”

  “No.” Kevin shook his head. “I can’t… I won’t let you give yourself up for me. I refuse.”

  “Kevin, you don’t really have much of a choice…”