This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*Numerous LGBTQ characters are in this story.
*There are depictions of struggling with gender dysphoria, as well as transphobia.
*Multiple gender transformations (change and change back) and one species transformation occur.
*Mild profane language is used.

A Healing Friendship (Part 1)

 “… Look, honorable Senators, we’ve been slaving over our research day in and day out. We think coexistence can work, but-“ Frua explained.

“And yet you hide among us with illusions. And you yourself don’t respect the Senate floor right now, Miss Frua,” one of the senators complained.

Frua looked down. They were wearing a baggy dark hoodie and pants. It was the best they could do on such short notice. “P-please, I’m not feeling that term right now. I explained that at the top of this meeting…” Frua replied, wincing. “A-and besides, you asked us to hide ourselves until people were ready to see us…” they replied quietly.

The Senator ignored the answer to his question. “Miss? That’s what you are, right? Female,” the belligerent Senator insisted.

Frua sank into the chair, in clear pain.

“Hey, lay off! The Honorable Ambassador explained their situation! Show more respect!” another senator scolded him.

The first Senator ignored him. “And your people’s customs are so bizarre, all this gender malarkey. Good average Americans don’t believe in that crap. Your customs are not in line with our own. And yet you think you can live among us, Miss Frua?”

Frua was visibly folding under the assault. Their tails were wrapping around their leg tightly, and they were hugging themself and looking away from the panel.

“Oh, not this bullshit again!” roared the other Senator. “You’re projecting your own ideals onto the entire country! Have you forgotten the customs of the dryads, merfolk, dragons, AND fairies? All of them have similar cultures to the kitsunes!”

“And we shouldn’t have allowed it, it’s poisoning the American identity!”

The entire floor burst into screaming and cursing, Senators picking each other apart over partisan politics. Frua politely stood out of the chair and bowed. “I’m sorry we couldn’t come to anything today. We’ll try again another time,” they said in a quiet, quivering voice that was drowned by the shouting match that devolved in front of them. The robotic response kept them from feeling the raw emotions that were clawing at them.

Nodding to their guards, they were escorted off the floor and into the tunnels underneath the Capitol building. They didn’t get far into these tunnels when Frua listed over to the wall and hung there. They started crying.

“Ambassador Frua?” one of the bodyguards inquired.

“GODDAMNIT!” they screamed, and they launched a balled up fist into the concrete wall, breaking a six-inch chunk off. Frua turned quiet for a moment, looking at their hand. Their knuckles were bloodied. They put their other hand to their mouth in horror at the display, and they slid down the wall, sobbing.

“Can we… Do you need help, ambassador?” the bodyguard asked.

Frua buried their head in their lap. “W-who CAN help me? I’m older than this country is… There’s… There’s no one that understands… No one, that understands what I’ve gone through… And… N-no one cares…” Frua muttered, muffled in their lap.

“I care.”

Frua’s eyes darted up. It was Ariel! She was still glowing from a magical teleport.

The startled bodyguards took a step back. Frua noticed their stance and exclaimed, “No, don’t worry! She’s an Angelic Genie, and… A friend.”

The guards nodded and relaxed.

“Ariel… What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your holder?” Frua asked.

“Heather’s fine right now. She’s spending some time with her friend. And right now, it looks like you really could use one,” Ariel replied, looking a little sad.

Frua nodded and turned to the bodyguards. “I think… I’ll be fine with Ariel here. You can tend to other matters. She’ll be my bodyguard, so to speak.”

The bodyguards were hesitant at first, but they nodded and walked away.

Ariel sat down beside Frua. “Rough day?”

Frua nodded.

Ariel observed Frua’s attire, baggy and androgynous. She knew Frua was having gender problems. “You’re a good person, Frua, no matter what you feel about yourself.”

Frua nodded and smiled faintly. “I… I saw my old face in a dream last night. I… I didn’t feel right as a woman today…”

“It’s okay. Whatever you need.” Ariel put her hand on Frua’s shoulder.

Frua rubbed it, the warmth – whether it was real heat or positive feelings from Ariel – calmed them down.

Ariel smiled upon seeing Frua visibly calm down.

Ariel hatched an idea. “Hey, you want me to take you somewhere else? Ice cream parlor? Back to the Hallow, or-“

“Can I… Can I visit your vessel?” Frua asked. “Or I guess, really anywhere is better than this pit of despair…”

Ariel smiled and nodded, and a flash teleported her and Frua inside her vessel. Ariel teleported them directly onto her couch by the fireplace. She had a feeling she knew what Frua needed. Sensing the soft, comforting chair, Frua unfurled their legs and leaned back more. Ariel watched Frua take a deep breath and relax, their five tails resting gently beside them.

Ariel sat beside them. “Feel a little better, friend?”

“Friend… Somehow, yes, that’s what we became, isn’t it? As it dawned on me that my time as a Luckbreaker gave me immortality, I started pushing people away. And yet… I couldn’t with you. You made such an impression on me that I couldn’t just walk away… Honestly, thank you,” Frua explained, smiling at the end.

Ariel smiled and nodded. But tears betrayed her sadness for the ancient kitsune hero.

“I have to ask, why did you come to me? What got you to warp over to me just now?”

“I felt your pain all the way from Michigan. I think. It can be hard to tell what it is I’m sensing sometimes, but it’s clear now you really needed someone…”

Frua looked down. “I did. I… I still do.”

Ariel sat down on the couch beside Frua. “I’m not going anywhere unless Heather calls. And I doubt that’s happening anytime soon. Besides, you’re here, in my little pocket dimension, safe and sound. Nothing can hurt you here. You can easily stay here as long as you need,” Ariel reassured them.

“Thank you, Ariel…”

“Can I ask you something? If you don’t mind…”

“What about?”

“Your gender issues. You’ve said before several times that it’s ‘complicated.’ You seem to have long periods where you’re okay with being female, then you have days like today, where you just aren’t feeling it. Is there something that triggers it?”

Frua thought about it for a while. “I… I never really considered that. You might be onto something, though.”

“You think so?”

“Today… I was dreaming, and I saw my old face. Blue and cyan fur, you wouldn’t recognize me back then. I was living my life as if Darumond never came, living my life to the fullest. Then, the world shatters like glass around me, and my own reflection shatters, revealing my post-transformation face, and I’m in the wasteland of the dead Hallow. Everything I knew then was gone in a flash, and I’m right back to ‘Frua, the Hero of the Hallow,’ and I’m back to being alone…”

Frua curled up into a ball. Ariel realized this was a tremendous source of pain for them. She and her friends had heard of the tale several times. But the transformation into the Luckbreaker was more than simply having Frua’s life changed right then and there as they had said before.

Ariel now realized Frua dealt with the loss of their friends and family over time. The loss Ariel was already learning to steel herself for, Frua may have only realized it over decades, after losing loved one after loved one. They had been unprepared for just what had been taken from them. All of this, while being given the task to solely lead their entire species to safety from the death of their planet.

Frua has never had the time to heal. They’ve been jumping from one disaster to the next, all without someone to lean on. Frua was fundamentally broken, barely holding the pieces together.

Ariel thought about what she could do for them. She gave it deep, serious contemplation before hitting on an idea…

“Hey, Frua? Do you want to go on a walk?” Ariel asked.

END OF PART 1

By Erica Chrisman (CrystalSeaDragon44)