Princess Fox

Whenever I played video games, I always hated when the game forced me to choose between two things. Worst of all was sacrificing one thing to get the other. I didn’t want to do that! I wanted both of them! Yes, I was greedy, shut up!

But video games were just that -- video games. It didn’t really matter in the end.

However, when faced with the same awful decision in real life, things were different. I couldn’t shout angrily at the game developers or ragequit. I actually had to make a decision. But I still didn’t want to!

“Well?” Fern… Iron Pack asked as she searched my face.

Why must you do this?! Why did I have to choose between my crush -- two crushes put into one, actually -- and the best boss in the universe?!

“I… I don’t know! He’s a great boss! This has to be a mistake!”

“Aster.” She frowned again. “He might seem like it at first, but you never know what he’s planning behind your back.”

I still couldn’t believe it. I tried thinking back on any signs of Fractal secretly working against me behind my back, but it came all blank. I racked my brains for a solution on how to resolve this.

“The spa!”

“... what?”

“He… he showed me the gift he was making for you!”

He showed me his ultimate project he called the spa. It supposedly healed whoever entered it… 

But was that a lie? Was it really some kind of cloning vat or a horrible human experiment machine, and he was planning on getting rid of Fern using it?

No way! No way that was the case!

Fern’s eyes widened. “He… did?”

“Yeah. He called it the spa. It was like this healing device that can regrow lost body parts… and get rid of unwanted body parts.”

Fern’s eyes widened even further. Yup, basically the same reaction I had.

“That’s… what he promised he would make…” she whispered to herself.

Right, I recalled Fractal mentioning something about a promise to her. So he hadn’t lied about that. That was a good sign.

She let out a sigh. “Alright… but that still doesn’t explain why he was talking about getting rid of me… and why you were so set on finding me.”

Nooo! We were back to this! I still wasn’t ready! Aaah! How could I stall this just a bit more?!

“Uh…” My eyes began shifting all around.

Unfortunately, that prompted Fern to get suspicious again. She took off her mask to frown at me directly.

“Well?” she said in her classic intimidating Iron Pack voice. “What was it that you wanted from me?”

Argh, that voice! Wait, no! Focus! I needed to do something!

“Hmph… and to think I believed you for a moment there. In the end, you couldn’t come up with an excuse for that, huh?”

Nononono! She was going back to being all hostile! Argh! Fine! It’s now or never! Who cares I wasn’t ready anyway!

“I LOVE YOU!”

…

Clang. The mask she was holding hit the floor.

“... what…?” She stared at me dumbfounded. Actually, the two wolves also stared at me dumbfounded.

“I… uh… love you. That’s why… err, I was trying to find you… and… stuff…”

Oh my gooood! I’d said it! After so long, I’d finally done it! And now I was being stared at as if I was from another planet! Please don’t just stare at me, say something! My head was going to explode from all the heat!

…

After a couple of eternities of me shifting in my seat and all the blood in my body rushing straight up to my cheeks, she finally broke the silence.

“Why…? When…?” she whispered.

“Uhm… when we first met…”

“You mean… when I took you hostage…” she said, deadpan.

“Y-yeah?”

“Why the hell would you…” She stopped herself and took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh.

“Are you serious right now?”

I nodded. Of course I was!

“... Okay,” she simply said, before bending down and picking up her mask again. And it was probably just my imagination, but I thought I saw her face slightly dyed red as well.

“But which one is it then?”

What?

“Do you love me?” she said, before putting the mask over her face again. “Or me?” she said in the good old Iron Pack’s chilling voice.

Oh… huh?

“... both? Um, I mean… At first, I had a crush on Iron Pack --” Oh my god, I’d actually said it out loud to her. “-- And when I met you as Fern… well, uh, you seemed like a cool girl… and then there was that… err, date… and… well…” I trailed off.

I truly was a master of speaking coherently.

“Oh…?” A grin appeared on her face. “So you were planning on two-timing me… with myself?” Her eyebrow rose while her grin widened.

“What? No! That’s not what I planned! I… uhh… have you ever heard of a polycule…?”

She froze on the spot… before bursting into laughter.

H-had I said something dumb? Well, at least she wasn’t acting all hostile anymore.

I sat there, waiting for her laughing fit to end. Her two wolves awkwardly looked at each other, before giving me an apologetic look for some reason.

“Oh my god, Aster… there really is no end of dumb situations with you around, is there?”

I… couldn’t disagree with that.

“Well… okay. I think I accept.”

Wait, what? Accept what?

“But… there is still the situation with your boss. Maybe it’s really a misunderstanding, but I’m not gonna take any risks.”

“M-meaning?”

“You’re not gonna let him hurt me, right?” She smiled, taking a step toward me.

“Of course, not!”

“Good,” she said, crouching down and putting her face uncomfortably close to mine.

“Then all I need you to do is be there when I have a chat with him.”

Huh? I’d said I wouldn’t let him hurt her, but what could I even do if things were to go south?

Before I could ask that question, she kissed me.

My world exploded.