Release - Part 1

What appeared to be a young woman wearing a long, dark-blue dress and a somewhat wide-brimmed, conical hat in the same shade, with distinctive bright, bubble-gum-pink hair trailing down to where her knees probably were under that dress's skirt, walked what most would think to be a meandering, lost path through the midst of some particular woods. Eventually she arrived at something which didn't really belong—and, indeed, which most people who entered those woods would never encounter: A grand mansion, with architecture dating from at least a century prior to the present day. She came to the front doors and used their ornate, fox-themed knocker, waiting patiently for the mansion's owner.

Before long, one of the gigantic front doors opened, swinging inward to reveal a tall, light-gray-haired man, sharply dressed, with the telltale ears and tail of a fox. This was a Kitsune, and while he only had one tail visible at the moment, this was one of the older and most powerful of their kind, possessing nine tails and a great deal of experience and wisdom. He smiled to his visitor. "You came after all!"
"Mmhm, I found a little bit of spare time," she said. "You know, I don't usually take requests, but the Deal you offered is still attractive. Just be forewarned that I don't take too kindly to being tricked." She kept a pleasant smile on the entire time.
"Oh no, my intentions with you are entirely honest, miss Lyra," he said. "Please, come in, and allow me to explain what has made this old fox so desperate as to make offers." He gestured politely inside.
"Sure." She followed him into an antechamber, and from there through several hallways and rooms; the mansion was a maze full of furniture, appliances, and decorations characteristic of many different eras placed not quite where they would entirely clash, but enough to give it all a distinctly surreal, timeless feel.

"I wanted your help in particular, first and most obviously because I know that you are exceedingly powerful, far more than your better-known actions would suggest," the old fox said as he guided her. "Obviously, if I or someone with equal power to me could resolve this, it would already be done. And secondly, I know that you dabble sometimes in souls, and in unsealing things."

Eventually, they arrived in a mid-sized room, empty apart from just one thing prominently on display in its center: Seemingly a statue made of bright blue crystal depicting, in detail, a badly injured Kitsune woman in a state of obvious distress. Without even looking at the statue, one had the strange, unsettling impression that someone was screaming in pain nearby.

"This is the woman I love," he said as an initial explanation for this sight.

"Uh...huh." Lyra took a few steps toward the statue. "Yep, there's...definitely a soul in there," she nodded. "And this is, awfully complicated-looking—no run-of-the-mill petrification, that's for sure."

"Those fools a few decades back—you know, in the war—used very poorly understood celestial magic to do this to her. I believe that they were unsure whether they wanted to try to seal or kill her, and this confused, tangled state is the result."

The witch nodded. "I could brute-force this crystal back into flesh, but it looks like she'd just die then. I assume you don't want that."

"Not, except as a last resort," he said. "But if nothing else will work, I am willing to accept that. Better she be at peace than...this."

Lyra came close enough to reach out a hand and gently touch the statue at chest-level, closing her eyes as though listening in. After a long moment she said, "Hmmh, this is no good. It's not too difficult for me to pull a soul into a different body, so in theory we could just make a simulacrum, but—that's..not gonna do it here. There's...damage, to the soul itself." She opened her eyes again, looking at him and seeing an expression close to despair. "Believe me, I've seen worse—far worse. This is less like a bunch of torn-up rags and more like some frayed edges here and there. I'd guess, from being in this state some sixty years? But on a soul, that's still really bad; it leaves openings for things to really break over time, even after it's in a healthy body."

"Can anything be done?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, sorry! I didn't mean to worry you quite so much," she said, stepping back away from the statue and turning fully toward the nine-tailed one. "It's just—what I'd need in order to fix this is more complicated than just 'power' or 'stuff'." She sighed. "It requires...a person. And I have conditions if we are going to use a person."

"Name them," he said without hesitation.

---

A dark-haired, middle-aged man in a disheveled suit followed the fox through a door, passing from a hospital hallway into one of the mansion's many lounges, pausing a moment to look around the suddenly opulent surroundings in wonder. "Goodness..."

"This way, please. Across the hall." There was a little bit of eagerness and impatience in his voice; the visitor picked up on this enough to hurry and catch up to him. Lyra was waiting in the room with the statue, standing next to a complicated magic circle freshly chalked onto the floor.

"So.." The visitor shuddered, looking across at the statue and feeling it 'scream'. "That's, your wife? The one I'll be sharing a body with?"
"Ahem.." He turned toward the pink-haired woman when she cleared her throat, and paused again; there was something about her hair, he thought, that made it seem...alive? Like the way it was moving around couldn't quite be accounted for by the movement of the air across it. "So, my name is Lyra. And you?"
"Er..Johann, miss."
"And are you aware of what's going on?"

"Sure." Johann gestured to the fox standing opposite her. "This fellow introduced himself as Vezin, said he could cure my brother and make him rich. Set for life. Sure I didn't believe him at first, but he proved his wealth pretty convincingly already, and then did that first part for free. And..in exchange for him taking care of Harry, I'm supposed to help him revive his wife trapped in crystal by letting her share my body. Is that about the size of it?"

"Hmm, pretty close," Lyra nodded. "To be absolutely clear about this, though—it's not that you're 'sharing a body' with another, separate identity. If we go through with this, you would merge your entire being with hers. You'd still be you, but you'd also be her—one person with all of the memories of both..or at least, yours plus those of hers which have survived the damage. You might find your personality entirely different as a result. And, this is pretty much irreversible."

"Huh, well—that's better than I thought," Johann said. "I thought we might be on some sort of time-share where it'd be hers most of the time, but I could still visit Harry now and again. But from what you're saying....I'd still, care about him, wouldn't I?"
"If you feel that way now, then almost certainly," Lyra said with a nod. "You'd also care just as much as she does about other things. Like him," she said, pointing at Vezin.
"I suppose that's alright."
"This would also make you a Kitsune, since that's what she is."
"That being...a fox-person like Vezin there?" Johann said, gesturing. "Is that why he can do miracles?"
"Sort of. But that level of power takes a long time to build up, and isn't guaranteed anyway."

"Well, that'd only be a bonus in the first place."

Vezin stepped slightly closer to his visitor. "What do you think, then? There is no rush to make a decision now that your brother is no longer on the verge of death. But if you are prepared to make a Deal..."

Johann nodded. "I'll do it." He glanced Lyra's way. "Vezin told me that a 'Deal' is something special to him. He can't go back on his word with that?"
"Kitsune have a very hard time not abiding by a Deal that was willingly made," she said nodding. "But it is important to be clear and explicit on the terms."

He looked back at the old fox. "So..."

"In exchange for your help in reviving my wife, I will take care of your brother Harry, keeping him wealthy and successful throughout my life. And, since you will 'be' her, I will also take as good a care of you as you wish," he said. "Are those terms acceptable?" He was looking Lyra's way with this question, and when she didn't object, extended a hand Johann's way.
Johann shrugged, taking the hand and shaking it. "Agreed."

"Then the Deal is struck. I'll step out of the way," the Kitsune said, taking a small step backwards and then fading entirely from view.

After briefly looking around the room and finding only Lyra and the statue present, he said, "Alright...what do I need to do, then?"
"Just stand in the center of the circle," she said, pointing, "and take deep breaths. I'll handle the rest."

Once he did as instructed, the witch began softly chanting, taking slow steps up to the statue to place her hand on its left arm. Some sort of bright, golden-yellow light slowly trailed out of the statue, winding istelf around her arm; this process terminated with the statue suddenly, loudly shattering and crumbling into a bunch of bluish dust on the ground. Then Lyra raised her hand up toward the ceiling, the light coiled around it arcing up into the air between her and him before darting down into the outer edge of the circle drawn on the floor, filling the chalk making it with the same golden glow, which ran all the way around its perimeter before progressing steadily inward along the lines of the diagram.

When the glow reached the middle, it became almost blinding, and he found his body becoming seemingly weightless and lifting slightly into the air, followed by a feeling like wind blowing upward against his body and clothes. It caught his hair and made it grow longer, the glow settling into it to brighten its shade rapidly into a brilliant blonde. Meanwhile, the glow pushed into his body, presenting as a distinct sensation of warmth spreading inward toward his core.

His ears tingled sharply before stretching out, pulling themselves up taller and wider as fur quickly spread across them, finally settling into the shape of some very large, vulpine ears. The warmth likewise spread out from the base of his spine into a slim tail, growing a foot or so out before tingling sharply as its fur spread out thicker and fluffier, growing steadily longer at the same time until it become a huge puff of bright yellow fur with a white tip.

Alongside these first few changes, Johann felt like he was starting to remember something. It was fuzzy and distant at first, like he'd been caught in a dream for a long time and was only just beginning to wake up, but they began to grow slightly more distinct at this point. In these memories, he had the same blond hair and bright yellow fur—and was, besides being a Kitsune, a woman as well.

Tingling raced across Johann's skin, making him shudder slightly, and was followed immediately by the warmth gently pushing his body inward. "Mmnnh..aa~aah...!" His voice lilted a little higher as he squirmed in place there in midair, feeling his body collapse shorter and smaller around him: His shoulders narrowed, his waist trimmed and flattened, his arms and legs grew shorter and slimmer, and even his face grew smaller, softer, and rounder. "Aah, aa~aah..." Yet, even as strange as this shrinking felt, there was also something familiar, and even right about it.

A bunch of scattered individual memories were starting to put themselves together into his head in the proper order: Growing up a girl in Japan in the late 19^th century, falling for a man and eventually eloping with him, traveling the world, settling down, and growing old with him before learning he was a fox, and regaining her youth by accepting his help in becoming one herself. Not all of it was completely clear, with gaps and fuzzy blurs in several places, but the overall story was clear enough.

Johann's clothes fluttered around him in the 'wind' of the magic changing him, the suit's coat and vest combining into a single garment, tightening around his slimming torso even as its sleeves billowed out wider, the tie undoing itself from his neck to wrap around his waist as a sash instead, the pants slipping off of his hips and splitting apart to reform into some tight, soft leggings. His underwear lost its leggings and pulled increasingly tight around what they did still cover, especially between the legs...

The cloth pulling closer and closer down there made it quite clear that something between his legs was smaller than before, and now it was tingling quite sharply, tugging and slipping itself inward. "Oh~...mn~nngh..!" A high, soft, cute voice came from Johann's lips now, as he felt—perhaps even welcomed—the steady loss of masculinity from his form, all of the shrinking resulting in such a slender, slight appearance that only the bulge between his legs marked him as male. But even that was rapidly getting smaller and smaller, until—with a soft cry of "Aa~aah..!"—it, too, melted away, and he'd turned entirely into a fox-girl.

"Mnngh..aah~nn...!" She squirmed in place a little more as an increasingly familiar fuzzy, pleasant feeling erupted between her legs, joined by the sensation of her hips and bottom puffing themselves out into some proper curves, her upper thighs following suit soon after. "Mr~rrfh..!" She barked happily, feeling the heat of a blush on her cheeks and a grin across her lips as her chest tingled before beginning to push itself out. This felt..almost as nice as being with him, soon after he'd helped her awaken as a fellow fox. Their life together after that moment flashed through her mind, a bit blurrier than what had come before it...but definitely, wonderfully blissful throughout. And..she knew from Johann's memories that something..terrible must have happened to her at the end of all that, but couldn't remember it at all—nor anything else past the night of their wedding anniversary in 1939.

"A~ah..ahh~nnnnNNNNhh...!" Oh, now this felt good! Her chest continued to push itself out, stretching and brushing across the cloth to become a proper bosom, fit for a beauty like herself—and the sensation of all of that brought on some very strong girlish pleasure! "Mnn~nh..rrfh, RRFH~!" She simply enjoyed the ride as her transformation completed, treating her to a perfectly wonderful resolution to all of that excitement just as her breasts pushed out one last time to their full new size, and then let out a high, soft sigh of relief as it ended, slowly opening her eyes as she felt herself starting to float back down toward the floor.

"H-hahah~! That was amazing!" Her top was a sort of kimono-dress, but its skirt-like hem didn't actually reach far enough down to hide her new panties, and the only thing on her legs were a pair of stockings that barely reached past her knees. But—that was fine! It showed off her looks pretty well.

"You're feeling okay?" Lyra said, moving slightly closer to the fox-girl as she landed, gently and gracefully setting her stockinged feet onto the floor.

"I'm not sure I can rightly describe what I'm feeling right now, but it's awfully nice! I guess—'good to be back'? But also—'this is a nice surprise'!"

"I needed to allow the 'new' soul to reshape your body however it saw fit to regain as much of that 'self' as possible," she explained. "Vezin or myself could now reshape you again, if you're uncomfortable with that look."
"No, no—not at all! I mean I hadn't imagined myself as a young woman before, but it certainly beats being an older man. I'd say 'I think I could get used to this', but I feel rather like I already am. So, no trouble with that, then. Could..is there a mirror around near here?" she asked, looking quickly this way and that.

"Here," Lyra said, waving and summoning a full-length mirror next to herself in a brief, blurry shimmer of motion. The fox-girl hurried up to right in front of it to get a good look, leaning in slightly. Johann had been blue-eyed, and..she was pretty sure 'she' had had green eyes...so it sort of made sense for her to have one of each. Getting to see herself full-on like this made her even more certain she approved of this form; it was, after all, even cuter than she'd hoped!

"How are your memories? As 'her', I mean, although you should tell me if you're having difficulty remembering Johann's life as well."
Johann stood up straight again to face the pink-haired woman. "Hmmn...pretty good? There's some holes, and it cuts off I think earlier than it's supposed to. I can't remember at all how I got in that statue, like? Aaaannnnd..." She leaned forward again just slightly, tapping the side of her head a couple of times. "Don't know my old name. It just comes back 'Johann', although I don't feel that fits me too well, either."

Lyra nodded. "That's overall pretty good news. Having one's soul damaged is about as bad as it sounds like it should be. And, while you certainly are both of those people, there's a sense in which you're a new person as well. You should not feel overly bound to whatever obligations either of them had, or at least—don't allow yourself to be weighed down by them. Coming up with a new name may help you feel freer."
She put a finger on her lips. "Joanna, perhaps?" Then, looking around the room: "By the way, where'd Vezin disappear to, exactly? From what I can remember...and how he was acting a couple minutes ago, I'd think he'd be jumping into my arms by now."

"I had conditions for doing this for you," Lyra explained. "Such as making sure you—'Johann'—knew exactly what you were getting into. And allowing the 'new' you as much time as you want, alone, to sort things out. It would be wrong to allow Vezin to impose who he thinks you should be before you're ready to meet him."

Joanna nodded. "That's awfully nice of you, but really...I've got one set of memories that never knew any romance, and a ready-made partner sounds pretty nice to that end—and another that was his wife for over half a century. I don't think there's all that much 'sorting out' to do. Only thing is.." She paused, twisting around slightly to run a hand down along her tail. "I recall having four of these?"

"The Ruler sees you as a 'new Kitsune', so no free tails—you must earn them from scratch," Lyra said.

"Makes sense. But Vezin was up to six back then. Where's he got to now?"
"He is a nine-tailed fox," Lyra said. "He might have fast-tracked the power gain in his desperation to get you out of that state."
"That's sweet, but also...hmmn, a bit disappointing. We were having a fun competition back then, and now the gap's so big?"

The Kitsune paused a moment, getting an idea—perhaps even more than one of them! And her frown turned into a slightly mischievious smile. "Pardon me about all that, miss Lyra. Those are complaints for him, not for you. I've got nothing but gratitude when it comes to you getting me out of that crystal cage, and alive again besides!"
"All I ask is that you make sure he holds up his end of the Deal he made with me," Lyra said.

"Certainly, but anything else—you just ask! Now, I'd really like to see him again, honestly," she said, rubbing her hands together. "Feels like it's been a near century."

"Very well," Lyra nodded.

---

To Part 2

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This is a little standalone story with ties to lots of the long-runners, but it should make plenty of sense without having read any of them.