Mae

Mae (まえ Mae) is a supporting character in Destiny Star PreCure. She is a fox spirit that resides in the blade Natsuko finds and used to be a Maiden once.

Personality
Mae is generally calm and benevolent towards all she knows, with few exceptions. She is shown to be intelligent, which she often attributes to her age, but is also a characteristic of the kitsune. Towards Natsuko, she tends act a bit mischievous, however only to a degree she knows will cause no harm.

History
Mae used to be a Maiden, however she lost that status after a failed attempt of the Maidens sealing Monochrome. Weakend, the Maidens were chased after by the Memoria and Monochrome's supporters. Mae in particular was challenged by Vino. Having lost her Maiden powers, she had to rely on her fox powers, depite her being in an already weakened state. This allowed Vino to seal her away into a sword, although not without Mae attacking him in fox form, damaging his face and making him blind.

Mae would not be released for a long time, until her sword was found by the current Maidens, with Natsuko drawing the blade and freeing her. She posessed Natsuko to blend in with her surrounding and to familiarise herself with the time she now lives in. Mae doesn't reveal herself until Natsuko faces off against a member of Monochrome, at which point she realises that Natsuko is, in fact, a Maiden. From then on, she helps Natsuko and sometimes takes over her body, although Natsuko dislikes some of her actions.

Etymology
Mae (まえ) - there are several kanji spellings of this name, but it is most likely supposed to be written as '前' which means previous, aluding to the fact that she used to be a Maiden. Also, her name could be based on Tamamo-no-Mae, a legendary fox spirit.

Relationships
Minamihara Natsuko - the two only meet by chance, as Natsuko happens to find the sword she's sealed into. Upon drawing the sword, Natsuko releases Mae who subsequently posesses her, which she doesn't know at first. Only when Mae encounters Monochrome and realises that Natsuko is a maiden, she makes herself known. While the two get along fine, Natsuko has some opinions about the methods Mae uses to achieve her goals.