[Arknights] A Mercenary's Christmas

15:00. 24/12/XXXX. Chernobog.

"Huff… Huff… Huff…" the sound of exhausted panting accompanies the heavy rain pouring from the sky above. Yet, only drones keep appearing in front of her. Cutter takes a stance as drones begin to enter her range. She jumps, blades twirling in unison, sharp edges cut through the water droplets as it slices through the units above; wind currents carried by the blades smash against the drones, knocking them back. Yet, as she slices through the air, her blade barely misses a drone inches to the side of it. Her eyes concentrate as the other blade she holds strikes right where the drone is situated, but… it already went out of her range.

She lands down and turns around behind her. Her movements try to catch up with the drone, yet it is too late for her to try and hit it—the last enemy unit to pass through the defenses, and the operation concludes.

"Damnit…" Cutter says to herself. The look on her face; the frustration of someone that has done the same mistake multiple times, yet is unable to correct it.

She turns back and heads toward the landship, looking down at the muddy ground beneath her, walking in disdain and shame. She stops in front of the entrance when she acknowledges the two figures standing in front of her, waiting to speak to her—Kal'tsit and the Doctor.

"I'm sure you understand exactly why we're here." Kal'tsit says as she opens up a page in her report file. "Your data has shown a decrease in combat capability and performance in the last few operations; dealing with drones was something you were specially trained for. Is there anything that is preventing you from performing optimally?"

"Doctor Kal'tsit, I… I don't—" Cutter stutters trying to say anything to her, yet…

"Don't worry about it for now. Just come aboard the landship first; we'll sort this out later." Kal'tsit announces as she turns around to debrief other operators on their performance during this operation.

Cutter climbs aboard the Rhodes Island Landship and sits down on one of the seats made for operators to wait before they reach an operation site. Her clothes drip with water and mud from the rain and wet ground, yet uncaring to clean herself a bit before seating, too busy thinking about the fact that she had let an enemy go out of her grasp at the last moment, making the operation incomplete.

Her face turns pale as her mind races. The thought that she is a burden to the whole operation might as well be replaced with a better equipped and trained operator. Suddenly, a hand approaches and touches her shoulder, startling her. Her eyes immediately divert their attention towards the left of her as she sees him—the Doctor.

"Mind if I… sit next to you?" The Doctor politely greets Cutter. A small shock carried across his face after the pale look on Cutter's face, but it became a smile after a brief moment of understanding.

"Sure, Doctor, but are you okay sitting with me like this?" Cutter worriedly asks, her mind knowing full well nobody would come to her after what had happened. "I'm still covered in mud and rainwater and I don't want to get you dirty as well…"

"There's no need to worry, Cutter." the Doctor sits down right next to her. His smile tries to calm the unnerved vulpo as he tries to understand her situation. "Now now… Can you tell me how you've been recently?"

"I… I do—" Cutter whispers, but stops in the middle of her sentence. She gulps a bit, and readies herself to continue speaking. "… To be honest, I don't know, Doctor… Around a few days ago, I started to feel anxious about myself. I tried to make it go away, yet it wouldn't come off, no matter how much I tried. It got worse once I started to join the battlefield again…"

"And… what happened after that?" the Doctor mild-mannerly asks her.

"I started to doubt my capabilities. Sometimes, I would miss a target by inches… sometimes, I wouldn't even realize a target was near me until it was too late… Even concentrating can only help me so far… I will miss it right after that."

"Do you know what exactly caused you to be like this?"

"I don't… I don't know. I can never find the reason for it. I've tried to find it ever since I—" She stopped in the middle of her words. A teardrop starts to form on her eye and trails down on her cheeks. "I can't give doctor Kal'tsit an explanation. I can't even give you an explanation as to why… why am I so useless…"

"C-Cutter…" the Doctor asks, hesitant if he could intervene…

"I can't cut my targets correctly… How can I work as an operator…" She sobs. Tears pour out of her eyes more and more. "How can I still protect you, Doctor…"

"Cutter, please—" A hand reaches out to her as she speaks, yet he could only stop himself.

"It gets worse everyday, Doctor. How… How can I fix my own problems… If I don't even—"

"Cutter, please understand!" A pair of hands grab her shoulders. The vulpo can only turn her head with teary eyes. "You're not the only one that experienced this."

"Huh…?" She asks with a perplexed look.

"There will be times when you will feel as if you're not good enough at what you're doing, even if you're always doing it all the time. Everyone will eventually have feelings similar to that, but it'll go away nonetheless once you understand that there's no reason to feel that way. " the Doctor explains reassuringly.

"But… what if it doesn't… go away?" Cutter asks, unsure with her words.

"Well…" the Doctor thinks for a moment.

"Ahem." A disinterested familiar female voice speaks from behind the Doctor. "You know you still have reports to finish, right, Doctor?"

"Ahahaha… Kal'tsit. You always know the right time to barge in don't you?" the Doctor asks haphazardly.

"Doctor…" An irritated Kal'tsit tries to smile to conceal her anger. "You're not waiting for me to make you regret this are you…?"

"Y-yes yes, Ma'am—! I mean…" Doctor quickly responds back and stands up to follow her. Cutter stands up as well, following Kal'tsit's command to the Doctor

"Then follow me. Don't be late for it." Kal'tsit turns around, expecting the Doctor to follow suit.

"…" the Doctor stood silently. "Cutter, can you listen to me for a bit." He turns back to look at Cutter.

"Mhm… Doctor?" Cutter looks at the Doctor.

"I'll prepare something special for you, seeing as Christmas is just tomorrow." the Doctor reminds her. " Make sure you're ready to accept it."

"U-understood, Doctor." She replies.

The Doctor follows Kal'tsit before she notices him lagging behind her pace. The footsteps echo as Cutter is left the only operator to stand by the entrance while everyone else has gone to their own places. She stands silent as she thinks about the upcoming day. Guessing it's only suitable for her to prepare for whatever is going to happen tomorrow, only time will tell that, of course. She starts to walk back to clean up herself as the doors of the Landship start to close behind her, marking the end of the operation.

…

20:00. 25/12/XXXX. Rhodes Island Landship.

The flames of the kitchen had been set alight. Operators of Rhodes Island have been given the permission to cook a meal for the whole feast however they like, and at the end, they've prepared a meal for every operator to enjoy, with the exception of Saga and Ceobe whose appetites will surely be able to empty the tables in a matter of minutes . The daunting tasks were given to them since noon, yet they've done their best even as exhaustion sets in.

Fortunately for Rhodes Island, no operations had been scheduled during the day, and most of the remaining time was used to decorate the landship with Christmas decor. The lavishes were an unusual sight for Rhodes Island to have lying around, but operators went through a lot in the years past as they came and went—they needed their time to relax, no matter how short and fleeting it may be. This time, they would hold a banquet to end the year. Thanks to the hard-working Rhodes Island chefs, willing to lend their time to satisfy the hunger of most operators as they came and went to the dining hall—chatting with each other about things they haven't gotten time to discuss, and being rowdy in the halls of the landship. Yep, Kal'tsit gave permission for this…

Even though it seemed every operator had gotten the cheer of the event, Cutter chose to stay by herself. Sitting in the kitchen, usually a place she was prohibited from coming or staying in, with a plate of food and a glass to drink in front of her. Many operators were too busy celebrating to notice her and prevent Cutter from coming in, but she knows from past experiences that there's no point to try and cook with whatever she was trying to do. Alone, she sighed as she slowly ate all that she brought on her plate, finishing it without any need for haste. Her hunger satiated, she smiled a little, leaned forward and rested her slightly weary head on top of her arms while waiting for everything to end. Falling into a slumber, her mind still harbored the anxiety she felt days before, lingering over every action she thought of, but she couldn't pull herself to do anything about it anymore.

…

23:30

Cutter wakes up feeling a little bit lopsided, her head trying to clear out as much of the underlying sleepiness as fast as it could, even though she really didn't have anything to do. She rubs her hands on her face to wake herself up, probably feeling unwell from all that she took earlier. Finally feeling awake, she stands up and tries to grab her plates to wash them, yet she sees something strange on the table—a blurry figure, seems to be sitting down where her plates just were. She puts down one of the plates and rubs both her eyes in perplexion, then she sees who it is… the Doctor?

She steps back a bit but ultimately speaks to him, "D-Doctor? Is that you…?"

The Doctor looks at her. "Oh, you finally woke up. I was just coming here to check up on you."

"Oh, it is you, Doctor… What are the rest doing…? The other operators…" She says sleepily. "Sorry Doctor, I just woke up…"

"They're in the main hall. I don't know what they're gonna do, but you know—promises are promises." the Doctor says, trying to hint at what he said the day before.

"What promises, Doctor…?" Cutter asks, her mind still processing what the fuck did she just see in front of her eyes. "Wait a second, I'll go and wash myself first." She says to herself. She rushes to the sink and puts down her plates, then washes her face as much as she could. "This must be a dream, this must be a dream… How did the Doctor…" She silently thinks to herself, hoping that after this she would wake up for real.

She turns back to the Doctor, but after wiping her face, still sees him in a miniature form, sitting on the table waiting for her to sit back down. Cutter stood silently in realization… that it's not a dream. Her feet immediately picked up the pace to run as quickly as she could to report to Kal'tsit.

"W-wait, Cutter!" the Doctor shouts from behind her as she immediately stops in front of the hallway. "I'm gonna explain what is happening alright, just don't tell Kal'tsit about this."

Cutter turns around. "W-what happened, Doctor…?!" Her eyes slowly filled with tears. Unsure and confused with the whole situation, she tries to find a reason to believe what the Doctor had said. "Is that really you there…?!"

"Calm down.. Just sit here for a while and I'll explain." the Doctor spoke in a calm manner to her. Though with an unusually small stature, he should've not been heard… but it seems that everyone around him can hear just fine. "Come on, don't be afraid."

Cutter hesitates, but decides to go back to the Doctor, quickly running towards him. She sits down and looks down at the Doctor, who stands up to talk to her closer.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asks.

"What happened to you, Doctor…?" She asks while looking into his eyes, the same goes for the Doctor.

"Remember what I said yesterday?" He asks.

"I'm sorry… what did you say yesterday…"

"You know, the one where I was going to give something special?"

"Oh… that." She blushes slightly, forgetting a promise from him to her. "But what did you do to yourself…?" She continues.

"Well… Let's just say I didn't have anything of value to give to you." He starts off, "I ran out of LMD to buy you anything, and Kal'tsit won't lend me any. There isn't much I can do except for some chemistry, so I took a few samples from the medical lab and originium dust to make something that I didn't exactly know yet at the time. Though I remembered something that I've always wanted to do… Hence, where we are now."

Both of them stop to look at each other. Eyes glaring into each other with ferocity, but finally, he broke the silence.

"I have a request for you." The Doctor looks up at her.

Cutter does the same and looks at him. "…What do you need, Doctor?"

"Can you…" The Doctor hesitates for a moment. "Can you eat me?"

The confused vulpo looks down slightly. Fear and a sense of foolish misunderstanding—her face says that very clearly. She grits her teeth and leans down on the table to shout at him, "D-Doctor! Have you really gone out of your mind?! What's with you?! I did anticipate something from you but… this was never what I wanted…!" Her eyes tear up more and more with each word. "I don't understand what goes through your mind… Doctor… *sobs*" She sits down, resting her head on her arms as she tries to wipe the tears away.

"Oh… I thought you've always wanted it…" the Doctor says to himself. "I remember foxes are animals that hunt small critters…"

Cutter looks to the Doctor and musters a response. "Doctor! Please don't compare vulpos to animals! We're not—" She stops speaking. Her pupils narrowed as her crazed filled eyes focused straight at the Doctor. The vulpine instincts inside of her only started to appear… "Doctor… you… no… you look…" Her hand subconsciously reaches out to him. "You look… no… no… so small… and nice…" Her mouth opens and smiles a bit, bearing small fangs—a similar kind to most vulpos and foxes. "Don't… Can I… just… taste you… for a bit?" She brings herself closer to the Doctor, drops of saliva flowing from her mouth. She licks her lips and puts her head right above him, facing straight downwards.

"It won't be long… I promise I'll make it quick… Hahahahaha…" She laughs maniacally for a few seconds, the Doctor could only look up and stare at her open maw after she stops speaking. She lashes out her tongue as it readies itself to capture and gulp down the Doctor in a moment's notice; saliva profusely drips from her tongue onto the table.

"Uhm… Cutter…?" the Doctor asks calmly hoping to elicit a response from her, yet she ignores what he says. "Cutter are you there…? I'll be going now…" He tries to take a step back to leave, but instantaneously, Cutter flicks the tip of her tongue and trips the Doctor. He flops down on the slimy, bouncy flesh and struggles to regain his footing. She quickly brings her tongue into her mouth, and closes it shut, not to let her prey out of her wet maw.

The Doctor laid on her tongue as Cutter silently savored her prey with joy. Her face filled with happiness like one has not seen in her for days, or weeks; a feeling of euphoria as she sloshes him around her mouth, pinning him against her cheek moments at a time. After a while, Cutter places him on her tongue. Yet this time, she slowly rotates her head upwards, each little movement slipping the Doctor closer and closer to the back of her throat. Unfazed as he is, he still tries to climb as much as he could, yet reaching nowhere close to the exit.

Cutter smirks in amusement, knowing her prey has already reached the end of the line, she swallows intensely. The flesh opens up below the Doctor as he falls through her esophagus, the inner lining of the walls open the way beneath him and contract above him, opening a way for him to get deeper into her. The force of the gulp carries him straight down without stopping, the sliminess of her throat wouldn't help getting him out, only carrying him closer and closer into her stomach. Cutter feels the bulge of her prey slipping down inside her digestive tract, she breathes in content after it disappears from her throat, finally reaching down to her stomach—the Doctor's feet dangles from the opening, slowly bringing him inside, until he falls to a pool of half-digested food and stomach acid.

"Ahhhhhh~!" Cutter sighs in content. "You can sit there and be a good prey for me, would you? Don't try to escape…" She smugly says.

The Doctor tries to squeeze his wet, slimy clothes as best as he could inside the moist, fleshy, dark chamber. "…Are you okay there, Cutter?"

"Of course I am, Doctor! What are you talking abou—" She replies, but comes to a harrowing realization as she regains control of herself—she lets herself eat the Doctor. "W-what…?"

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"Doctor… I…" Cutter stands up and her mind races with helplessness and dire regret. She puts both of her hands on her head and starts to quickly tear up. "I'm… I'm so… sorry… *sobs* How will I even get you out… *sobs*"

"Cutter, it's fine— Ah!" the Doctor screams as the stomach area around him momentarily shakes.

Cutter sits down on the ground in remorse, huddling her knees and crying to herself. For minutes she weeps to herself about why she had done what she did, yet a sudden, warm and blissful feeling of calmness sweeps her body from the inside, permeating the senses from her stomach.

Inside, the Doctor starts stroking the lining of her stomach, all the while trying to move away from the stomach acid. "Calm yourself down… You've already done your best… You have to take a break once in a while."

"Huh… Doctor…?" She asks. "But I just ate you didn't I…? I'm sorry for what I did… I'll try and get you out."

"There's no need." the Doctor says. "I heard how content you were, playing with your prey until you finally swallowed it, it's already enough for me to know that you're enjoying this, and that's all I need to know to be happy. I've wanted to give you something that would make you happy, and I don't want you to be sad with the outcome."

"But won't I digest you…?" She asks in concern. "Even if I'm happy… if you're gone then…"

"Don't worry about that." He reassures her. "The concoction also protects me from the acid's effects for a while, but I'll stay sure to not get into contact with it.

"Oh… I see."

"For now, just sleep it all away. I'll try to get out once we wake up."

"Right, Doctor…" She responds. "Thank you for the gift…"

"Ah, it's nothing." He nonchalantly says. "Hearing and seeing you so content with eating someone as small as me right now, how you swallowed me without a second thought… guess I can't say it was for nothing."

"Doctor, stop…" She quietly laments, and her cheeks blush a little. "You're embarrassing me right now…"

"Hahahaha… You're really just a precious girl, I hope you'll get better soon." He comforts Cutter. "And I really hope Kal'tsit doesn't notice me before I turn back to my usual size and take a bath…"

"Hehehe… just kick me if I don't wake up, it won't hurt… You're too small to hurt me anyways…" Cutter teases the Doctor.

"Sounds like a challenge to me." He spitefully and jokingly answers.

"Maybe it's because… it is…" Cutter answers back, and decides to sleep until dawn breaks. The Doctor decides to do the same after hearing her snoring, trusting the tired mercenary to keep him safe in her stomach.

The night grows silent once again, and the two sleep in the kitchen. As the cold air around the landship envelops it, the operators gather near a Christmas tree in the main hall, all singing the song Silent Night in Leithanian. The melody echoes through the landship as a small moment of peace hovers around everyone's mind, strengthening their bond with each other as infected, fighting for the infected in the cruel world known as Terra.