The Crew's Book of Hermitcraft Season 7 Oneshots

I Protect You (Magic Fools AU)

The arctic fox growled, baring its fangs defiantly at the massive polar bear. The bear roared in reply, causing the fox to skitter back. The bear's cub had attacked the fox's kit in a squabble over a school of fish, the fox had retaliated, and now the bear was looking for revenge. The fox, however doomed it was, however, was not going to go down without a fight.

The fox pounced, gnashing its teeth, but was easily bat back by the bear. It let out a loud cry of pain as it hit the ground, before the bear pounced and finished it off. The fox's kit, which had been watching from the sidelines, curious about where their parent had gone, whimpered and retreated further into the berry bush they had sheltered in as the bear stalked off.

On the other side of the biome, Etho was working at his ice farm. He straightened up, eyes wide in alert, ears twitching beneath his disguise, when he heard the fox's cry echo across to where he was. He frowned, and then dashed off in the direction that the noise had come from, with speed, grace and agility far beyond that of a normal human.

When he reached the site of the battle, his breath was taken away by the shock the sight of the dead fox. He hadn't made it in time. He was too late to save it. He sighed heavily, sadly, and took out his shovel to dig a grave for the fox, as a little ritual to honour it. The kit, however, was confused. What was this creature, seemingly a human, doing with their parent? They scrabbled out of the bushes, nuzzling at Etho's leg as he lowered the fox into the grave.

Etho looked down, and smiled a soft, sad smile under his mask. He sat down, and gently reached out to comfort the kit. They growled back at him. He frowned, then, coming to a decision, partially lowered his disguise. As his ears shifted to their rightful position, his hair became more furlike, and his tails appeared from the base of his spine, he removed his mask, revealing the sharp teeth he could never truly disguise.

"Like you." He chittered. Fox language wasn't particularly sophisticated, due to 90% of its native speakers not being entirely sentient yet, but Etho was able to communicate his basic ideas across. "I am Kitsune." He added.

"Parent?" The kit asked, scrabbling at the edge of the grave.

"Death." Etho shook his head sadly. "I protect you." He then offered, seeing the kit's distraught look.

"Yes." The kit agreed, nuzzling against Etho's knee. With that, Etho stood up and finished filling in the fox's grave. He quickly put his mask back on, then picked up the kit in his arms, cradling them safely to his chest, and began walking back to his ice farm, gradually reinstating his human guise along the way.

"I have name Etho, you have name?" Etho asked, along the way.

"No. I have no name." The kit replied.

"I give name?" Etho offered.

"Yes." The kit agreed.

"Side Kit is good name?"

"Good name, Side Kit."

-

If the grammar of the dialogue seems a little funky, that's intentional. Even fox language, one of the more sophisticated animal languages out there, is just straight-up missing some ideas that appear in most human languages, like tenses and stuff.

Anyway, this is Side Kit's backstory in the Magic Fools AU. Etho basically took it upon himself to protect and raise this kit. He will also rip your throat out if you hurt them. :)

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present.