Starbound

Union

"It's okay, we promise this won't hurt."

Inside a large cage, a fusion of Melisende and Ischys was curled up far away from the bars. Just outside, Catherine stood with her hands outstretched, Melisende's maid and guard each taking one of her sides. Behind her was the king consort, his hands on her shoulders.

"How did we even end up here...?" Catherine thought to herself.

Earlier that week...

Catherine's eyes darted around the glade, trying to make sure she was not being watched or followed, long hair tied into a ponytail to match her hunting attire. It had only been a few weeks since the entire kingdom had found out she'd had her spirit animal by her side for a year already, little after the incident with her cousin. She'd been interrogated, evidently, which had led to the confession and subsequently brought untold joy to the royals.

She called on her spirit animal, and a white, winged horse descended from the stars. "It's been a while... Did something happen?"

The young girl sighed, throwing her arms around his neck. "Not much, other than everyone watches me more. I am so thankful for my father, I swear."

"If only I could trample them..."

"Ankyra, we're not using violence. Not with this face."

The pegasus huffed, wrapping his wings around    her to return the hug. "Fine. So what are we doing today?"

"Fusion training, probably some work for dad... I've heard from Sayomi there are some yokai incursions she wants to mess with, we could join her on that undercover mission."

Ankyra neighed happily, rearing for a moment. "That one! Come on, what are we waiting for?"

Catherine smiled and rolled her eyes, holding his head to hers. "Shush and concentrate. We need to be in balance."

He kept snickering even as they were both engulfed in a soft white light. When they opened their eyes, they were in the same body.

"I don't need fur, Kyra. Or a tail. Okay, okay, but keep my ears and wings. Deal."

The white fur growing on their skin and their tail dissolved into astral magic, although Catherine kept the new white highlights on their hair, the white ears and the wings as requested.

"Our codename for this was... What did Sayomi call us? In this identity? She was not very creative and went with Shiro. Ah. Right. Let's grab our mask when we get to the hideout, we need our gear."

What Shiro had not expected was to find Melisende in said hideout. Sure, she knew where the hideout was, she'd helped build it, but she normally respected it as Catherine's sanctuary. Next to her sat Ischys, her white lion. The two parties simply stared at one another.

"... hi."

The crown princess blinked. "Catherine?"

"Shiro right now, give me a moment."

They opened a locked chest with their magic, picked up one of the bracelets and put it on, altering their features enough that they wouldn't be recognized.

"Yeah, so hello. Um, why exactly did you come here, Mel?"

Melisende raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Why do you have wings? And... Are those horse ears?"

"I guess we're not going to Sayomi's today, then," they sighed, taking a seat on the nearest log. "Please, sit down. The different identity thing sorta helps with keeping things stable, so I'd ask you to use that name and they/them pronouns for us while we're like this. My she/her pronouns make Ankyra uncomfortable when we're fused, but his he/him makes me squirm, so we thought that would be for the best if-"