Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 34 – My Name

What do I do?!

T-They saw Umbra!

I quickly jumped off the bed and returned to my humanoid form, then turned around and picked up Umbra.

What if they try to get rid of you?

…

I-I can’t let that happen.

“G-go hide,” I whispered while keeping an eye on the door just in case they suddenly barged back in.

Umbra stared at me for a second before wriggling their way out of my arms and diving head-first into my shadow.

I-it will be fine.

Umbra was a g-gift from Ovia…

They can’t do anything… It was a gift from a Goddess.

O-only Ovia can take Umbra away.

…

Trying to calm myself down, I threw my dress over my head, but it didn’t help very much as my mind almost immediately moved on to the next issue.

Ovia…

I… I still need to tell them my name…

…

…

“…K-Kierra…” I mumbled to myself.

That’s all I need to say…

…

They weren’t even in the room, but just knowing that they were standing behind the door was enough to make me feel uneasy when I spoke.

Is there something… wrong with me?

Out of habit, I reached for my tail, but unfortunately, it was still covered by my dress, as I hadn’t pulled it through the flap yet.

…

I can’t even get dressed properly.

…

Why is everything already going wrong?

Tears were starting to form in my eyes, but I took a deep breath and managed to hold them back.

Y-you can’t cry again.

All you do is cry.

My hands started shaking as I struggled to thread my tail through the flap in my dress.

Come on… Please…

Why are you doing this to me?

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Eventually, I managed to pull my tail through.

…

“Why am I like this?…” I sat down on the edge of my bed with my face buried deep in my hands.

…

I just sat there for a while, doing nothing. There wasn’t even a single coherent thought that crossed my mind for at least a few minutes.

…

I…

I can’t just sit here forever…

I… I need to do what I said I would do…

…

I-I can’t lie to Ovia…

…

Gathering up the little courage I could muster, I got up off the bed and knocked on the door.

At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds, the door slowly opened with a distinct high-pitched squeal coming from the hinges.

“Are you all ready now?” Ava called into the room while staying just out of sight.

I moved around the door so that she could see me and nodded.

“Great! Well, as I’m sure you already noticed, breakfast is already all set up and ready for you to dig in,” She said as she came into the room and sat in front of a plate of food that looked to already be half finished.

I… didn’t notice…

Raynelle followed closely behind Ava, staring at me briefly before sitting down at the table.

“Are you just going to stand there by yourself, or are you going to eat with us?” Ava asked.

I joined them at the table, sitting in front of a plate covered in breakfast staples like sausages, some kind of bacon, eggs done two ways and more. But for some reason, I just didn’t feel all that hungry.

Not wanting to cause any issues, I tried to eat one of the sausages.

…

It’s cold…

It still tasted good, but it was clear it had been sitting out on the table for quite a while. I forced myself to swallow, but as soon as I did, it felt like it wanted to come back up.

…

Looking up at the other two, they were happily finishing off their meals, not paying any attention to me.

…

Do I just?…

…

They are both here…

…

If I don’t, it’s just going to haunt me…

I know it…

But…

…

I grabbed another sausage and tried to eat it, but it was even harder to manage than the first one. It just sat in my mouth until it eventually lost its flavour, and I managed to swallow.

…

I looked up at Ava and Raynelle again. They were still just eating their food, although they were almost finished at that point.

What if I tell them and they don’t hear me?…

…

S-she only said to t-tell someone…

T-that… might count…

…

I-I’m sure it would…

…

“…K…” I said under my breath.

…

No response.

M-maybe… I can do this…

“… K… Ki…” I continued to force the sounds to come out of my mouth, no matter how quiet they were.

Again, there was no response from either of them.

I…

This… This is possible…

I-I can keep the promise I made.

…

“… K-Kierra…” I closed my eyes, prepared for the worst.

…

At that moment, it was as if everything around me had stopped. The only thing I could feel was my heart beating, slowly getting faster with each second that passed.

I… did it…

… 

I did it, and nothing happened.

It…

It wasn’t that hard.

In my excitement, I hastily opened my eyes and looked up, but my heart dropped almost immediately.

…

Instead of having their heads down and eating their food as I expected, both Ava and Raynelle were staring directly at me. Raynelle opened her mouth but I didn’t hear what she said.

I-I’ve made a mistake.

I… I shouldn’t have done that.

B-but what do I do now?

I can’t go back. I can’t undo this.

The things in front of me started to blur together as my heart continued beating faster and faster.

“I…” I tried to say something, anything to fix the situation, but I couldn’t put the words together.

Almost immediately after, there was a loud crash followed by incoherent yelling as Raynelle and Ava both leapt out of their seats.

I-I knew it was wrong. I-I shouldn’t have spoken. W-why did I do that?!

I saw their mouths moving but just couldn’t make out what they were trying to say. In a panic, I tried to jump out of my chair so I could run away, but my body wouldn’t move the way I wanted it to.

“P…” I tried again to say something, but the same thing happened.

Please!

After trying to get out of my seat again, I just started to fall to the side, watching as the blurry world spun around me.

Instinctively, I reached my arm out to try to catch myself on the table, but even though my arm managed to hit it, I was unable to muster any strength in it and continued to fall.

Help me! Please!

I closed my eyes, preparing myself to hit the floor at any moment.

…

*Thud*

…

It… didn’t hurt?

I definitely fell onto something solid, but for some reason, it didn’t hurt at all.

Slowly, I forced my eyes open to see a purple smear above me, along with a pale light pulsating just in front of me.

My body was shaking uncontrollably, and my heart continued to pound in my chest, but still, I started struggling in an attempt to get up. However, whenever I managed to move my body at all, something pulled me back, forcefully holding me in place.

What went wrong?!

What’s happening?!

Let me go!

I continued to struggle, flailing my limbs all over the place in an attempt to escape from whatever was trying to restrain me.

I need to leave!

I made a mistake!

All of a sudden, amongst the chaos of everything happening, there was something familiar.

A sensation.

A sensation that I was very familiar with.

It was a slight chill that slowly spread across my forearm as something soft brushed against it.

Instinctively, I grabbed at whatever was there and brought it into my chest, hugging it tightly. The slight coolness helped to ease the pain in my chest. Gradually, my heart also started to relax, and after that, my vision started to clear up, revealing what I had grabbed onto.

“Umbra…” I wanted to say thank you but couldn’t muster much more than just their name, but that seemed to be enough as they forced their way out of my grasp and licked my cheek.

Someone’s hand then brushed against my other cheek, wiping off tears that I didn’t even know about.

“Are you doing better now?” I looked up to see Raynelle sitting on the floor with me in her lap, “Just… stay still for a bit longer, alright? I’ve got you. You can relax now.”

Looking in front of me, I could see Ava kneeling, completely drenched in sweat yet putting on a smile.

“H-hey… y-you messed up… your hair… w-we should… probably… sort that out…” She said, panting between every few words, “Though… maybe… give me… a few minutes…”

I reached towards Ava, but Raynelle gently pulled me back.

“Just relax for now, calm down some more,” Raynelle said, “Everything’s going to be okay now.”

She had her arm wrapped around me, but looking across it, I could see many fresh scratches and scrapes, some of which were still bleeding.

…

Why does she always do this?

…

It… doesn’t make sense…

But…

…

“… M-my… name…” With what little strength I had left, I forced the words out, “… Kierra…”

But before either of them could respond, my vision went dark.

Ovia…

…

I… did it…