A story commission for  Raksha_Jareth, featuring his kitsune character Rythven and his foxfire/familiar, Kyla. This story does not contain vore, but does contain some character development and a graphic scene of card game playing.

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A Life and Death Game

Kyla sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Rythven got dressed.

The kitsune was standing in front of a floor-length mirror, all his glamours currently down, revealing him in his full, many-tailed glory. He had just finished pulling a binder down over his chest, and was now putting on what looked like some kind of ceremonial robe.

Kyla swallowed. It took her a moment to bring herself to speak, and the small blue flames that hovered around the room flickered as she gathered her will.

"So," she finally said, "our visitor tonight is... someone important?"

Rythven cast a sideways glance at her before turning his attention back to the mirror. "Why do you say that?"

"You just look very... formal. I know you told me this is just a 'game night,' but the beads, the tails, the binder, the robe. Even when you hang out with other... unusual folk, you don't go to this much trouble. In fact, it seems like you go to less trouble."

The reflection of Rythven's muzzle in the mirror turned into a smile. "Very observant of you. Yes, Kyla, you're right. The visitor who's coming tonight is someone very important."

"Is there anything I need to do? I mean, I would dress up too, but..." Kyla looked down at her own incorporeal form, a body that appeared to be composed of flickering blue flame.

Rythven finished adjusting his robe, then he turned from the mirror and trotted over to Kyla. He placed a hand on her head (she didn't understand exactly how, but he seemed to be able to touch her physically, even in this form) and ruffled the fur on the top of her head. "You just be polite and let me work my magic, okay?"

The casual touch surprised Kyla, and she saw her flames -- even the ones not currently connected to her body -- turn an ever-so-slight shade of pink. She quickly pushed the reaction down. "Y-yes, sir."

"Good girl." He gave her one final pat. "Now, he should be arriving in about a minute and forty-five seconds. He's very punctual."

Kyla floated alongside Rythven as they left the bedroom and made their way to the front door. Sure enough, just as they reached it, a knock came from the other side.

Rythven opened the door to reveal the oldest, most decrepit rabbit that Kyla had ever seen. His fur sagged loosely over his skeleton. He had long, bony arms and fingers, and his clothes were in tatters. He looked at the two of them from sunken eyes, and his throat rattled with each draw of breath. He looked like he was about to keel over.

-Good evening, Rythven.-

Kyla blinked, her entire spectral body shuddering. She had felt the visitors words, not heard them, and she didn't think his mouth had even moved.

"Good evening," Rythven said. "Please, come in."

The rabbit did so, not taking his eyes off of Kyla.

-This is her?- The visitor asked. -Your new toy?-

"Yes, this is her," Rythven said. "She is not a 'toy.' She's my new foxfire."

Kyla shivered. "G-good evening," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. Rythven had some fantastical friends, but none had ever made Kyla feel so profoundly uncomfortable. She wanted to hide, to disappear into Rythven's beads so this strange rabbit couldn't keep looking at her.

The rabbit didn't answer her, and instead followed Rythven to a small sitting room, where he already had a table with a deck of cards prepared. The two sat down on opposite sides of the table, the rabbit using a chair and Rythven setting his haunches directly on the floor, while Kyla continued to float nearby.

The visitor finally turned his gaze away from Kyla and back to Rythven.

-You are aware of the stakes of our game?-

Rythven smiled and nodded. "Of course! It will make our friendly game so much more exciting."

-What is your opening wager, then?-

Rythven held out his arm. There was a pull of magical energy, and a handful of small, black coins coalesced in his hand. He set them on the table. "Thirty souls."

Souls? Kyla's eyes opened wide, and she leaned in for a closer look. Each coin appeared to have a different face etched into its surface, in a wide variety of different species and genders.

-Very well. I shall match.- The rabbit produced a handful of coins of his own. -Let us begin. The minimum bet will be five souls; winning when your opponent holds the cradle will double the winnings. You may deal first.-

With a smug smirk on his muzzle, Rythven picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle.

Kyla watched as the game began to unfold. She was unfamiliar with the particular game they were playing; each round consisted of both players drawing six cards, then setting two of those cards aside and laying the cards down in order, trying to get the total face value of the cards to reach certain point values. After drawing their cards but before playing the round, they would each wager a number of the small black coins. They took turns shuffling and dealing the cards after each round.

Rythven played with a confident flourish, tossing his cards onto the table and calling out numbers and bets. His many tails swayed back and forth, and sometimes he barely seemed to be concentrating on the game. He would occasionally taunt his opponent, though Kyla noticed he kept the taunts friendly.

The visitor, by contrast, was quiet and focused, only "speaking" when necessary. To call his movements deliberate would be an understatement. He didn't lay the cards on the table: the cards were always there, and the movements of his bony fingers were just guiding them to where they were meant to be.

Kyla's attempts to understand the game were in vain. It didn't seem too complicated, but Rythven and the visitor played so fast that she couldn't follow it. Coins moved back and forth across the table, neither seeming to gain a lead.

On top of that, Kyla's discomfort from the visitor's presence only seemed to be increasing. In fact, she seemed to be having more trouble than normal keeping herself together: blue flames kept drifting away her, and she had to concentrate to pull them back into her body. Under normal circumstances it only took a small amount of focus to keep herself stable, but today her form seemed determined to pull itself apart.

It was hard enough to focus on the visitor, anyway. Sometimes he seemed to shimmer and shift; at times she thought he looked more like a fox than a rabbit. She had the impression that he wasn't actually either, and that her mind was struggling to comprehend... whatever he was. He was something older, something more powerful than anything Kyla had come across yet. Just being near him was threatening to shake her apart.

Turning her gaze back to the table, Kyla realized that the game had started to swing. The pile of coins in front of the visitor was increasing, and Rythven was no longer smiling. His brow was furrowed, and he no longer set his cards down with a flourish.

-You may give up now, if you'd like,- the visitor said.

"Not on your life... if that's even the right word for you," Rythven responded, not taking his eyes off his cards.

And suddenly things clicked.

"Rythven, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Kyla said.

Both players turned to look at her.

Rythven raised his eyebrows. "Kyla, I can't just..."

The visitor's non-voice interrupted him. -You may have a moment to speak, if you'd like. I am in no rush.-

Rythven huffed. "Alright, fine."

They walked (well, Kyla floated) into the kitchen, and Rythven turned to look at her with an annoyed expression on this face. "Okay, what is so important that you'd interrupt our game?"

Kyla countered his annoyance with her own. "Rythven, who is our guest tonight?"

Rythven bristled. "You forget yourself, Kyla."

"I get the feeling that this game is going to affect me, too, isn't it? Our guest... he's Death, isn't he?"

Rythven sighed and nodded. "Yes, Kyla, he is. You're as observant as ever."

"Then what are the stakes of the wager between the two of you? What will you lose if he beats you?"

Rythven hesitated, then visibly steeled himself and looked Kyla in the eye.

"You are."

Kyla froze, and several small fires floated away from her. "W-what?"

"We're playing our game over your soul."

Kyla had not expected that. She had thought that Rythven had made some kind of bet that would probably affect her by extension, not that he had bet her. "B-but..."

"Death already doesn't like me -- he thinks I 'disrupt the natural flow of events.' I'm still working within my bailiwick, so there's nothing he can do to stop me, but he really doesn't like what I've done with you. He's been on my case about you, so I thought we'd play a game to settle it once and for all. I thought it would be a quick, easy solution."

More flames were floating away from Kyla, and her color paled. "And... and now you're losing?"

"He's cheating!" Rythven half-shouted, then lowered his voice again. "I don't know how he's doing it, but he's cheating somehow."

"H-how do you know?"

"Because I'm cheating! And he's still beating me! There's just no way he's gotten so many good hands naturally."

Kyla swallowed. "So... so if you can't beat him, he'll... take me?"

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because I didn't think it was going to be an issue!" Rythven took a deep breath. "Look, I didn't tell you because I didn't want you freaking out. There's really nothing you can do to help. It's not over yet; I'm going to figure out some way to beat him. If you want, I can put you back in my beads until it's over, so you don't have to watch. But I'll leave that up to you.

Kyla leaned against the kitchen table, stabilizing herself and trying to draw some of the errant flames back into her. The offer was tempting -- she had no idea what the inside of Rythven's beads would look like right now, but it would surely be better than watching a game deciding her fate. Or would it? Maybe it would be worse to not see it coming.

"What's your decision?" Rythven asked. "Our guest is very patient, but it's probably still best not to keep him waiting."

Kyla gathered herself. "Okay... I'll watch. It'll be better than waiting for it."

Rythven smiled. "Brave decision. C'mon, let's go back."

---

Kyla leaned in close to the table, staring at the cards. She still didn't understand the intricacies of the game, but she did understand the large pile of black coins in front of Death.

Rythven had really tried -- Kyla was sure of that. She had never seen him as focused on anything before. But no matter what he had tried, the coins had slowly moved to Death's side of the table.

Maybe watching hadn't been the right decision. She was grasping the side of the table so hard she had left small scorch marks. She had never felt so helpless, and now the game was almost over.

Now she was almost over.

Rythven and Death took turns laying cards down and calling out numbers. Kyla might not quite know all the rules, but in this phase, they tried to lay down cards to get as close to thirty-one as possible without going over.

"Five."

-Fourteen.-

"Twenty-four."

-Twenty-eight.-

Rythven smirked, laying down a two of clubs. "Thirty."

Kyla held her breath. If Rythven lost this hand, the game was over.

Death laid down the ace of hearts. "Thirty-one."

Kyla practically felt herself deflate. She let go of the table, floating an inch or two away from it.

Rythven swore, punching the table. "This is not fair!" He shouted.

-It is the fairest thing there is,- Death responded. Then he turned toward Kyla.

"Wait!" Rythven said.

-There is nothing to wait for.-

Rythven stood up, and Kyla wanted to flee, but it was already too late. Death reached out with one of his boney, decrepit hands, the hands that put things where they are meant to be, and tapped Kyla on the chest.

The change blasted through Kyla in an instant. It was as though she was made of glass, and Death's touch had shattered her.

"Ryth!" she shouted, reaching out towards him with a disintegrating hand.

"Kyla!" Rythven reached back for her, but her hand was already gone, her arm quickly disappearing with it.

Kyla struggled to hold herself together, but where it had been difficult to focus in Death's presence before, now it was impossible. She had been broken, and she was falling apart. Spectral tears gathered in her eyes. "Ryth, I'm scared!" She cried out.

"Kyla, just hold on, I'll fix this!"

But Kyla's vision was getting fuzzy. Rythven turned into a dark blob, and blue wisps of flame were hemorrhaging from her body at an alarming rate.

"Ryth..." Kyla managed to gasp one more time, before everything went dark.

---

Rythven watched, helpless, as Kyla dissipated, her blue flames falling apart until her form had vanished entirely.

-It is done,- Death said. -Now at least she may know a little bit of peace. Our deal is done.-

Rythven continued to stare at the spot where Kyla had just been. Then his ears perked up.

"So that's it, right? The game is over, you're satisfied with your winnings?"

Death raised a desiccated eyebrow. -Yes.-

"Good." And Rythven began gathering his magical energy.

-What are you doing?-

Rythven ignored him, maintaining his focus. This would be difficult, and he would have to be fast, but he could do it. He closed his eyes, focusing on Kyla's soul.

It was still there, even if it had been broken. The pieces were floating somewhere within Rythven, like the shards of a broken mirror. Slowly, painfully, Rythven began pulling them back together.

-You cannot do this.-

"You said you're satisfied with the deal. You decided to break her soul, nothing said I can't fix her."

-I meant you cannot do this without killing yourself.-

Rythven clamped his jaw, gritting his teeth. "Watch me!"

---

"Kyla!"

The light gradually returned to Kyla's mind. She had been asleep -- she didn't know for how long.

"Kyla, can you hear me!?"

Kyla opened her eyes. She felt stiff, somehow, even though she had no muscles. She felt like a broken lamp that had been crudely glued back together.

She blinked and looked around. She was back in the living room, the cards still on the table. Rythven stood in front of her, his hand out, his body swaying slightly. Death stood nearby, looking annoyed.

Kyla shook her head, trying to clear it. "I thought... I thought I was..."

"No one takes my things," Rythven said. His voice sounded tired.

-Rythven goes to great lengths to disrupt the natural order.-

"He's just annoyed that I didn't kill myself putting you back together," Rythven said, a wan smile across his muzzle. "Now, I believe our business for today is done?"

Death folded his arms. "Very well. This is cruel and unnecessary, Rythven, but you did not renege on the terms of our deal, so I cannot stop you. We shall speak of this again."

Then he turned, walked to the door, and left.

Rythven watched, a smile on his face, until Death had gone. As soon as the door shut, the kitsune's legs started to shake, and he collapsed to the floor.

"Ryth!" Kyla shouted, floating down to the floor next to him.

"I'm fine," Rythven said. "Just... a bit drained. Putting a broken soul back together is not easy, it turns out."

"Why... why would you do that?" Kyla asked. "Couldn't you have just... found another toy?"

"I just said it," he said. "No one takes my things. It's a matter of principle."

Kyla sighed. "Alright, let's get you into bed so you can rest." She reached down and took Rythven's arm, helping him to his feet.

As he limped towards the bedroom, Kyla asked, "Are you going to be in trouble with Death because of this?"

"Let me deal with him. He has his roles, but so do I. It is my job to teach harsh lessons, and I may do so however I please, whether Death likes it or not."

Kyla stayed quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Thank you."

"You probably shouldn't. This whole situation was my fault for accepting his challenge. You're going to be a bit broken for a while, and now you're my toy again, after all."

"I know. But still... thank you."

Rythven hesitated for a moment before responding. "You're welcome."