NEW A/N: I think it's about damn time I rewrote this weird little oneshot to bring it up to my current standards, right? Just to nip several questions in the bud right now, no, this does NOT take place in the same universe/world as my retelling of SotC. The two stories are separate from each other, going by the fact that Wander and Mono live in generic fantasy village number nine bazillion and twenty-two in this, and this has nothing to do with real history. Also, I feel I should mention this: The day this redux is being posted to replace the old version is October 18th, 2018, the 13th anniversary of SotC's initial 2005 release date. Happy birthday, Shadow of the Colossus!

OLD A/N: Well, here I am again for another SotC story. I was looking at the picture of Mono that this story uses as its cover, and I thought, "What would Mono look like wearing sexy lingerie? And would she try to seduce Wander?" And so this story was born out of that admittedly perverted idea. Anyways, this is my first attempt at writing something like this (READ: sexy stuff) so... yeah. Enjoy I guess?

Seduced by the Maiden Redux

By: Rylek196

Wander and Mono's village, one month before Mono's sacrifice...

In Wander's opinion, he was the luckiest man in the world. He had a good, if tough, job in the archery division of his village's militia, he owned a house, even at his young age of eighteen, and he had, in his not-so-humble point of view, the most beautiful young woman in the whole village as his girlfriend.

The woman's name was Mono, a gorgeous and pure-hearted maiden his age working to become a priestess. From her long brown hair and blue eyes and blue eyes that contrasted very well with his green eyes and cherry-red hair, to the soft features of her face, she was the very image of beauty in his eyes.

Unfortunately for him, Mono had a strict attitude of 'no naughtiness'. Wander had brought up the prospect of having children several times with her, only to be shot down with her standard reply of, "When we're ready." On top of that, she was quite a serious person in general, never seeming to have fun doing anything- everything was a task to be finished, an item on a checklist to be crossed off, a literal job to be done.

One of Wander's fellow militiamen had dared to joke that Mono hadn't shown any interest in having children because she secretly loved other women, and that her 'relationship' with Wander was to cover this up. An enraged Wander had beaten the other young man to a pulp before nearly strangling him to death. It took three other men to stop Wander, and he literally had to be tied to a post and gagged with cloth to restrain him.

For this incident, Wander's CO had screamed in the bound young man's face for ten minutes straight, then left him to free himself as further punishment. In the end, it was Mono who freed him after nearly four hours of being unable to get loose. He was allowed to stay in the militia- albeit with a temporary pay cut- only due to his exceptional skill with a bow.

The CO had spoken with Lord Emon about what had happened later. "He did it to protect the honor of the woman he loves," the man said. "He's been blessed with great determination and devotion, I'll give him that." He then sighed. "It's just that he uses those traits in all the wrong ways."

"Indeed," Emon replied. "I would keep a closer eye on him from now on, if I were you. We wouldn't want him doing anything truly rash like that again."

While Wander had initially seethed beyond measure over the insult to Mono, after a lot of thinking (after all, what else can one do when bound to a pole and gagged?) he realized it was a blessing in disguise. Now, he knew what Mono's problem actually was. It wasn't that she did not show interest in him, as they had spent many a night cuddling together on the sofa in front of the fireplace whispering sweet nothings to each other, and every time he took off his shirt around her, she blushed and looked away, embarrassed. Her problem was that her serious, no-nonsense personality kept her from truly enjoying life.

After Mono freed him from his bonds, he resolved to help her with this. For the next few days, he studied her habits around the house every chance he got. He was disturbed by what he saw. She did everything with a nearly blank, idle expression, like some kind of automaton. She didn't even hum while doing the dishes, for God's sake! Enough was enough, he decided. While she was, once again, with a blank expression, hanging laundry outside to dry, he confronted her.

Sneaking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, taking her by surprise. "Wha-!?" she blurted out, but then realized who it was. "Wander, what are you doing? I have work to do."

He spun her around to face him. "That's actually why I wanted to talk with you, Mono." He let her go, and she immediately went tried to go back to hanging clothes on the line. "Ah, ah, ah, not so fast," he said, grabbing her wrist, not forcefully but assertively.

"Wander, either stop being vague or go away and stop wasting my time," Mono snapped, using a quick martial arts technique (taught to her by Wander, no less), to free her wrist from his grasp.

"Okay, if you want me to stop beating around the bush, I will. Mono, I think you have a problem, and it all stems from that attitude you have."

Mono just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. "If this is about having children," she said irritably, "I've already told you this many times before, when we're-"

"It's not about that at all!" Wander cried, cutting her off. Then his expression softened. "Mono, I've been sort of... watching you around the house for the past few days. Whenever you do anything, it's like you become a lifeless zombie. When was the last time you've actually enjoyed life, lived a little? Had fun, for lack of a better term?"

A confused look came over Mono's face. "That's what this is about?" she said, turning back to her work and putting another of her dresses on the line. "You came out here to talk to me... because you think I can't have fun?"

"Actually, yes," Wander said, nodding. "I wasn't kidding when I said you become zombie-like. You just have this really blank expression on your face, and you just seem... out of it. It's like you're not even aware of what's going on around you. To tell the truth, it's creepy."

Mono almost laughed. Almost. "Well, you're wrong," she said matter-of-factly. "I can have fun. I just choose to take my work seriously, that's all." In truth, she was lying through her teeth with that statement, and hoping beyond hope that Wander wouldn't call her bluff.

Sadly, her hope was in vain, as Wander just cocked a brow and smirked, crossing his arms. "Oh, really? Then prove it. Tell me one time you actually remember having fun once in your life. That doesn't involve being with me, of course."

Mono wracked her brain, trying to remember sometime, anytime, where she had laughed, ran around with friends, treated her chores a bit more like a game- oh, she hated being put on the spot like this! Finally, her face, screwed up in concentration, returned to its normal, more placid state, though with much more sheepishness than usual. "I... don't... know?" she said, though it sounded more like a question.

Wander smiled in victory, showing his pearly-white teeth. "I knew it! I knew-"

"Have you ever considered, though, that I'm perfectly content that way?" Mono asked, cutting him off, with more than a hint of a challenge in her voice. Wander's smile melted away in a hurry. "Exactly. What if I don't want to change? You can't teach someone who refuses to learn, after all."

After a few seconds of struggling to come up with a reply, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, Wander just said, "Well... fine, then. If you want to be Miss Doom and Gloom, go right ahead. I guess I can't stop you."

With that, he walked away, leaving a bewildered Mono in his wake. She huffed at her pushy boyfriend's antics, then turned back to the laundry basket. She noticed she was at the end of the pile, and that only her underwear was left.

Slowly, the beginnings of a plan formed in Mono's mind. While it was true she had seen Wander shirtless on many occasions (and she was not ashamed to admit that the sight of his abs turned her on) he had never seen her in just her lingerie. And it was equally true that they slept in the same bed together, but she always wore very modest nightgowns that left everything to the imagination.

Wander thinks I can't have fun? she thought. Well, I'll show him.

The next day, Wander went off to train as per his schedule. Being in any military branch meant that one had to be in top shape, and that meant lots of conditioning. Push-ups, body-weight squats, climbing, running, and various forms of abdominal workouts were par for the course. He went four days a week, every other day. Over the course of five years and dozens upon dozens of training days, Wander's body had become very toned and muscular.

Mono saw him off, doing her best to act casual and not seem suspicious. She had a little over six hours before Wander came home. An hour of training was spent simply stretching to prepare and limber up for the workout, she knew, while two were spent conditioning, and the last three were dedicated solely to various forms of archery, including from horseback.

Her job was much less strenuous. As a priestess-in-training, her tasks were to study the many religions of the world, their customs, and memorize various prayers. She found she could do much of this from home, going to the village's church every now and then for a written test. She also did many chores around the house, with Wander helping her on the days he wasn't training.

She had her plan more or less fully complete in her mind. Ten minutes before she knew Wander would be home, she went upstairs to the bedroom, changing out of her usual lavender dress adorned with purple and green designs, and into her finest set of silk lingerie. The bra was relatively modest, though it was lacy at the top and showed off a generous amount of cleavage, but the real show-stopper, she was sure, were the panties. Like the bra, they were white and lacy near the top edges, with a silk 'V' shape making up the majority of the backside, with a similar triangle-shaped piece of silk at the front to cover her womanhood. They hugged the curves of her hips and left much of her plump backside's cheeks exposed.

Looking over herself in the full-body mirror by the door, Mono just snickered. "Wander won't be able to resist me. Too bad I won't let him have me."

She went downstairs, sat in a chair in front of the fireplace to keep warm, and waited.

Meanwhile, a thoroughly exhausted and sweaty Wander trudged home. His drill sergeant must have woken up in a particularly foul mood today, as the conditioning had been nothing short of grueling, The hairband he usually wore to keep his surprisingly long hair held back was damp with sweat, and he could barely put one foot in front of the other, feeling as though he would pass out before he even reached the door. He wanted nothing more than to have a hot bath to relieve his aching muscles, then spend the rest of the night cuddling with Mono. By some miracle, he made it, and stumbled inside.

Mono perked up as she heard the door open. "Mono? Where are you?" came a weary-sounding Wander's voice. She got up from her chair, shivering a bit as she left the comforting warmth of the fireplace, and walked into the main foyer.

"I'm right here, love," she said in her best 'seductive' voice just as she entered the room. Wander turned to face her, and his jaw instantly dropped, a raging blush spreading across his face. There was his girlfriend, his no-naughtiness, take-everything-seriously girlfriend, wearing nothing but lacy lingerie.

It took him a solid thirty seconds to choke out a disbelieving, "M-Mono!?"

"Why yes, that's my name," Mono said, giving him a tender, sultry smile. She walked up to him with a sway in her hips that she hoped looked alluring. She cupped his face with her hand, his jaw still hanging open. "What's the matter, sweetheart? Don't you like this?"

While on the outside, Mono was playing the part of what could only be described as a temptress, on the inside she was almost pissing herself laughing. Wander's face was hilariously priceless- a mix of disbelief, shock, and a growing hint of arousal as his brain began to process the situation. She gave herself a mental pat on the back. She had her boyfriend right where she wanted him, now it was time to make him squirm a bit.

Wander finally managed to sputter out a complete sentence. "Wh-what's gotten into you, Mono? What are you... what are you doing..?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied, trying to stifle giggles. "It's just that I wanted to do something... nice for you for once."

"W-well, I think this is... nice," Wander stammered, trying to keep his gaze focused on her face and not on her very prominent cleavage as he said that. "But this is all... so... so sudden!" Wander's mind was going a million miles a minute. The rational part of his brain was asking questions like, What the hell is going on? and, Why is my girlfriend, who was her usual no-nonsense self just yesterday, now in her underwear in front of me? However, the young adult male part of his mind seemed not to care, and seeing Mono like this was causing a very private area to stiffen.

Mono wasn't blind to this. Her eyes flicked downwards for a second, and a sultry smirk appeared on her face. "Oh, is someone aroused? Well, I'm not going to make it that simple, Wander. If you want me, you'll have to catch me first!"

With that, she turned and walked out of the room, feeling Wander's gaze immediately glue itself to her very exposed backside. He stood there, flabbergasted, for another minute, before he snapped out of his trance, following her. Their house wasn't very big, so there weren't many places to hide, or so he thought. Mono kept up the game for quite some time, leading him on a wild goose chase through the kitchen, living room, and around the main foyer, always somehow managing to stay one step ahead of him. The most he got was usually a glimpse of her hair or bare back as she ran out of a room, giggling.

After nearly eight minutes, he saw her go upstairs, into their bedroom. The pain of his sore muscles came back to haunt him as he ascended the stairs himself, wincing with every step. He opened the door to the room, but didn't see Mono right away. As it turned out, he didn't need to. A pair of hands grabbed him from behind, steering him towards the bed and pushing him onto it. He flipped over, and sure enough, there was Mono, standing at the foot of the bed.

She then hopped up onto the bed with him, crawling forward on her hands and knees. "Well?" she said as she hovered over him, her face mere inches from his, "Do you want to?"

Wander could only manage a nod.

"Good," Mono said. She leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. "I'll want to as well... when we're ready."

Instantly, Wander's libido deflated like a popped balloon. He could only get out a, "Wha-?" as Mono burst out laughing, hopping off the bed.

"So... this was all... a joke!?" Wander cried.

Mono wiped tears of mirth out of her eyes, struggling to get the words out. "Y-yes, it-it was. You said I can't have fun? I think I just showed you I can! B-but... the-the look on your face when you saw me like this... it was so priceless!" Mono doubled over in laughter, clutching her stomach with her arms.

Wander sat up on the bed, a devious smirk stretching his lips. "Okay, now you're in trouble, missy."

With that, he lunged toward her, grabbing her and throwing her on the bed. Ice-cold fear ran through Mono, but that quickly melted into even more laughter as Wander began tickling her mercilessly. Of course, she thought, Wander was an honorable man, and he would never even think of doing anything bad to her. That didn't make him any less of a good tickler, though.

"AHAHAHA! W-Wander, stop! HAHAHAHA!"

He suddenly did, and leaned down, claiming her lips with his passionately. "I love you, Mono," he said sincerely. "I swear, no matter what happens, you'll always be my soulmate."

"I love you, too, Wander," Mono said.

He got off her, grimacing in pain at his stiff muscles.

"Something wrong?" Mono asked. "Do you need anything?"

"A hot bath, actually," Wander replied. "The drill sergeant put everyone through hell today, and I'm feeling kind of sore."

"Okay," Mono said, kissing him on the cheek. "Let me get dressed, and then I'll run you a bath. You just stay here and relax."

She walked over to the dresser, throwing on a dress while he took off his sweat-soaked shirt, laying back on the bed. He looked out the window at the setting sun, smiling. He really was lucky, he thought, having such an amazing woman as his girlfriend. Nothing bad could possibly happen, and all felt right in the world, as long as they were together.

One month later, Lord Emon's eyes snapped open. He had simply been meditating, but then had struck by a vision. A horrible vision, that foretold of great evil unleashed upon the world, should it come to pass. And it all stemmed from one young woman, one who, regrettably, would have to be killed to stop the demons she would give birth to. "Mono..."