Yeah, so around Valentine's Day last year, I brought to this world a nice bit of smut with one of the most intriguing couples I've ever written in the KoF fandom.

This will be a sort of sequel to not only "The Valentine Spell", but also Rex Madison's "Joyeuse Saint Valentin?" aftermath fic, so if you've read both stories, you'll have plenty to understand and less questions to ask like 'Why is this a couple?' Plus, take into mind that this takes place between the 13th and 14th of February, in which it goes from one character's birthday to another.

DISCLAIMER: This story deviates from canonical character ages – even if stuff like the SNK wiki says otherwise, I'm considering those who'll get down to fuck as legal-aged fighters. Besides, SNK in recent years has been struggling to consider canon age, so why should I?

About a year ago, a gloomy youthful by the name of Ninon Beart brought upon this world not just a charm charged with unrelenting irresistability, but one of the biggest wildcard cases of what could be called an 'odd couple'. For the better part of the weekend after that Valentine's Day, what most people were talking about was the sparking relationship between one famed Athena Asamiya and the infamous Ash Crimson. Somehow, the speculation on how Athena saw anything in the French schemer only went so far before it ghosted out from the public discussion within weeks. Only on that day did Athena and Ash share the public space, as well as the space between lips – and it was presumed as just a weird phase of thirstiness within the pop idol.

Word spread like a blizzard through Southtown – all the close connections from place to place meant that so many were aware of the moment at the time, reactions varying wildly.

Those of the aware included Ninon. Once she heard, she never forgot.

Oddly enough, one of the few who managed to remain oblivious to everything beneath the matter of 'The Blaze and the Idol' was Ninon's own sister, Mignon. This was unsurprising news for Ninon, as she always considered her regretful sibling as five, maybe six steps behind in both spell-skill and mind – all Mignon thought off on the surface was that her standards could be higher than the Psycho Soldier's, and that she could finally beat out her '''rival''' in something.

She didn't realize the truth, and with intent, Ninon kept that info out of reach for as long as she wanted. Barely a suspicion was raised, even when Ninon admitted a giggle to Mignon's personal belief in what she called a Psycho Soldier's low standards – Mignon blew it off as simple sibling mockery.

How long did she keep the moment simmering?

A year.

"You did WHAT?!"

Specifically, the day before Valentine's came around the next year – which happened to be Mignon's 19th birthday, and she carried that with full intent to mess with the mojo of her sister's special day, by the darkening point of the evening, just the way Ninon liked it.

As it turns out, it was quite the present for Mignon. Ninon got a present, too, actually: the biggest, squeeziest hug imaginable.

You know – the worst present.

"Something in me wishes you weren't so happy to find out..." Ninon lamented, risking her bones within her sister's hug.

"Mignon has every right to be happy about this!" She plopped her sister back onto the ground before she accidentally cracked any sort of bone in the pale nihilist's body. "Do you even know what this means?!"

"What makes you think I don't—" Ninon only made it through 96% of her sentence before her face got cartoonishly scrunched by her elder sister's gloved hands.

"You— ...you indirectly lowered Athena's standards with... whatever spell you did! It's.. almost outstanding what your cruddy black magic has done!" The elder Beart was primed to prepare for the wrath of laughter she can bring upon her infinitely more popular rival in the next moment, if there was ever going to be a 'next moment' that they clash.

After a moment to consider whether or not she could succumb to the urge to become a pink jumping bean, Mignon again clung onto her little sister's dress and brought her closer again. "Mignon wants to know. Athena has to stoop lower, and perhaps at the same time, this pink beauty can reach higher!"

"You don't understand what you want, Mignon."

"And you don't understand what this rivalry can do to a witch! Even if Athena doesn't want to fight, she can still lose!"

"Not much else you can get from me – ever since my paths crossed with Athena and Ash, it's fallen out of my hands."

Mignon's face contorted into a confused expression, not initially understanding what her sister was getting on about thanks to the consistent delay in her odd brain of hers. Then she reflected on the 'fallen out of my hands' subsection of what the colorless-haired girl said, and she presumed the worst.

"You don't have it."

"Not since that day – Valentine's Day, last year," Ninon explained. "Remember the glowing rock Ash waved in your face? You ever wonder what was making you nearly fawn over that thing?"

Mignon's worries only dropped further into that emotional barrel. It was worse than she thought – 'pervy Ash' might have a hold of what urged Athena to this very day. Who'd have thunk it? That the key to what Mignon thought could be Athena's potential freefall into the realm of scandal lied in the hands of the 'Sneering Blaze'? The young snob with half a mind to disintegrate with his green embers if she were to get close.

Maybe it was worth it, for she knew exactly what she needed to do.

She shoved Ninon aside and flung herself into a now-opened closet. Within seconds, she had fetched out her travel bags and shoveled into it as many necessities as she'd need for no less than a single day for a trip elsewhere.

Wasn't an unfamiliar sight for Ninon to see her sister prepare to head out from her home, thanks to all the 'road shows' the pinkette went off on in her previous attempts to compete with Athena.

"Mignon – if you're going to start packing, would you at least tell me where so I know how long I'll have peace and quiet?"

"Where do you think Mignon's going?"

"...France?"

Mignon nodded. "Yup."

Later that evening...

The past year was probably one of the oddest in Ash Crimson's life – no guess at this point as to why.

Imagine being the one guy who became the subject to a lovely, lovely girl's absolute most intimate needs. It wasn't exactly Ash's idea of a full fledged fantasy come to life, but ever since that mysterious petite witch gave him that smooth little chunk of enchanted rubble, he was more than willing to capitalize in the opportunity to clap a babe's cheeks. It just so happened he chose Athena for the 'experiment'...

Of course, Elisabeth completely objected to the whole thing – and Ash intended against the noblewoman's wishes because a beauty like Athena wrapped around his arm is but a rarer chance than getting struck by lightning. This resulted in him spending more and more time away from the Blanctorche residence just so he can avoid Elisabeth's icy stare of disapproval pursuing him and his Psycho Soldier fling.

By the point of the one-year anniversary of the Valentine's Day fling, the relationship was admittedly starting to slow to a crawl with how often they were starting to hang out in recent months. Though he grasped at an idea of Athena's fatigue, Ash wasn't fully aware of just how the musical superstar was gradually starting to handle what was becoming more and more clear as an addiction.

As the night faded in over the day, Ash was bored in bed, just waiting for midnight to pass and make way for the one-two punch of happiness between the Valentine's holiday and the birthday formalities – he was fully expecting his luck to peak on this 14th of February, much like last year in the infamed events that occurred.

He was looking down on himself, half-dressed in his usual red, flame-embedded attire, lacking mostly in upper-body wear – beyond the loose-hanging leather belt and red pants, he was well aware of the holiday of love coming up and naturally crept towards thoughts of new ideas he could deliver, exactly in that way, to his Psycho Soldier 'girlfriend?', and was ready to just strip himself further and go to town.

The only thing that stopped him from fully committing to his 'me time' was the light draft of cold coming from the slight crack of an opening in the window. He wanted to feel heated, and he wasn't quite in the mood to waste even a little bit of his green embers just to spare some heat.

Without devotion to the task, he was just barely attempting to drag himself out of bed. Felt too comfy – but he had deeds to do.

Half of his body limped over the edge of the bed, and it was by this point that he started to sense something was off, even beyond the comfort of his room – including a small dot of some sphere dropping through the window, bouncing off the fluff of his hair before rolling back over and meeting his sight, front and center.

"...Huh...?"

In hindsight, 'twas an awful idea to leave that window even the slightest open.

POOF~!

Technicolored smoke annihilated the clarity of his vision – all the while, he could just barely hear the sound of the window opening further instead of him getting to close it shut. Instead of directly addressing the window, he simply prepped himself into 'attack mode' as he decided he now had time to burn the intruding sucker if necessary. Wouldn't be the first time he'd have to deal with a possible hater trying to take him down...

"Alright – who's the piece of shit who's decided they want to get roast...ed...?"

The brightness of the green flames prepped in his hands made the smoke clear a little faster, and before he finished his sentence, he started to see just who the curator of this sudden break-in was – and it was not at all any of his guesses.

Not sure any of his guesses involved a tacky rolly-polly hairdo or supposedly 'snazzy' bowtie...

"Ash Crimson – just the man Mignon wanted to see..."

It was safe to confirm that Mignon Beart knew how to make quite the entrance – even if it was during a break-in like this where it was much better off without it.

She stood before Ash, arms crossed in a pose that attempted to pass her off as a badass – but just how she looked oozed of a dumbass with a possible deathwish in the wings. Don't ask how she managed to get from Southtown to France in barely half a day – it was easy to simply say 'she worked her magic'. Or in this case, Ninon worked her magic because Mignon didn't know worth beans the skills of teleportation.

Continuing in regards of Ninon, it was through that little witch that Ash was regrettably aware in some way as to who Mignon was, even if it was in an indirect encounter in his Valentine's escapades the year before.

He was already prepping his ears for the shrill onslaught. "Oh god – you're Ninon's sister, aren't you?"

"Mmm-hmm~"

"Yeesh – lemme guess; you let time pass and decided you weren't going to let your sis's business off without a fight?"

"Don't be so sure of what either of us witches want; it's less about you, and more about the girl you have wrapped around your nethers!"

Ash sighed, quickly realizing the priorities of the wannabe witch were no different from the usual. Word tended to spread thinly around Southtown about the 'wannabe rival of the Psycho Soldier'. He had several questions that were likely not to be answered by such an obscure nuisance.

"Should've figured – it's always gotta do with Athena..."

"And Mignon has always been proud of it!"

Ash scoffed. "You really shouldn't," he then advised. "It's pretty unhealthy for a girl like you."

Mignon laughed obnoxiously. "You should know that devotion to a cause has nothing to do with one's health concerns!"

Ash blinked twice. "...That's... not what I me—"

"Just bite your tongue, Crimson!" Mignon interrupted, pointing accusingly. "You know you're just trying to knock Mignon's focus elsewhere so you can protect Asamiya – or maybe you're just jealous that this magical beauty is trying to deprive you of yours~" She then exaggerated her aggressively flamboyant attempts with a bit of a sassy posture.

Jealous? Of that pinkette bimbo? Who thinks she's genuinely considered a 'beauty'? "...You can't possibly be serious." Ash, by this point struggling not to burn a bitch to a crisp, was keeping his expression of irritation to words, for now.

"I'm never not serious about the enemy..." Mignon's hands found a comfortable spot at her hips. "You know this was always meant to be between us magical girls; you may have helped the Psycho Solder scrape the bottom of the barrel for a lover, but it's no longer needed..."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Oh please – 'bottom of the barrel'? You after every other imbécile, basically saying the same thing ever since I decided to do business within the King of Fighters..."

"Just so you know, this imbecile is here for the best of reasons; just surrender that stupid stone, and Mignon will be done with you..."

'Oh wow, I can't believe I'm being threatened by a pop-idol wannabe cocktail waitress' – said no one ever. And there was even less of a chance of Ash blurting it out – as he would rather respond with flames, especially against the bratty girl facing him off.

All he needed was a little push. And just one word out of his lips to start sparking the girl's own flame.

"No."

"...'No'?"

"What's wrong now? You weren't expecting a sort of 'come and get it' speech from me, were you? Like I was some sort of truly evil menace in your little comic-book world?" 'Truly evil' wasn't exactly a exaggeration, especially in regards to Ash's past actions.

"...Maybe?" Mignon's confidence slightly quivered in the face of the mischievous flame-bearer, now that it seemed like he was actively trying to deprive her of plenty within a 'big hero moment'. Even though what Mignon was plotting was far from heroic.

"Good – cause you're not getting one. Just get bent, and fuck off."

As far as we probably know, Mignon had been spending her recent years in Southtown trying to be the best she could, but especially this time around, she was being sandbagged by quite the French snarker. Now she was truly trembling – but not of a rattled pseudo-confidence melting away... of something else, really...

"Ash... you don't know how much it means to me, to get to the top – to become world reknown – to defeat my rivals...!"

Without even a blink, she suddenly lunged forward, tackling against Ash's stomach before he could fully get the chance to brace it – and they both crashed onto the bed in a massive tussle!

Things had officially started to escalate...!

Meanwhile...

About a year ago, Athena Asamiya entered a rabbit hole that she still hadn't fully gotten out of. It started with her in her lonesome, at a time when everyone else in her life was too busy. An enigma approached, fully capitalizing on her alone time for the sake of what seemed to be an experiment – a quite depraved experiment...

It all started with that stone, that spell, that she was lured in and mentally captured; she was driven by blind artificial lust. She was mentally lost elsewhere, and as soon as it all wore off, she realized she was splattered in another's... fluids... One would usually expect a girl like her, gifted in such a way that her power could literally move mountains if it ever reached its full potential, to make sure that a guy like Ash would never 'unload' again.

Instead, she seemed to want more. Before she knew it, she was back in the arms of Ash, and later that day was given the ride of her life yet again on the nice cool Valentine evening. She had been grateful the idol lifestyle prepped her to be on the pill, on the reg – otherwise, there would be plenty of mistakes, zero miracles. A career like hers was not for those who were prepared to retain their full innocence, and what happened that day between her and the deviant Crimson was a prime example.

Unsurprisingly, news spread about what happened – you wouldn't expect anything less from a moment that happened in public, in front of plenty of citizens including several other King of Fighters participants, in one of the most popular hangout spots in Southtown. She could imagine a shameless paparazzo would want to try and kick down that hotel room door and get some candid photos of the deed being done.

Thankfully, it didn't affect her musical career directly, as she had plenty of time between shows, performances, and so on to spend some time with Ash, but it certainly became a whole lot more than a one-off. Days turned into weeks, into months, of this odd affair – while they weren't quite pounding on the daily, the activities between the two were definitely not a rare occasion. Sometimes it was just a private date, sometimes it was a little more public while they did their best to make it subtle the attraction (even if the stone tried to push it otherwise), and on the rest of the time, it was nothin' but the salty taste of that forbidden fruit, to the point where it became a regular part of her taste buds.

The thoughts of the whole Psycho Soldier collective was varied from person to person: Master Chin considered it 'the youth being the youth', even if that youth seemed like a mismatch with one another. Momoko and Bao, still being fairly young and green to the idea of romance, were iffy on the idea of getting details of this relationship. Hinako and Malin, while not regularly hanging by their former 'High School Girls' team leader, were extremely uncertain on the idea of Ash freakin' Crimson being the one to get beneath the magic idol's skirt.

And poor Sie... Just the underlying disappointment Athena felt within her bestest of friends made it tough for her not to admit.

She knew what she had become. She was addicted to that spell.

About a year off from that, nearing the midnight hour heading into Valentine's Day, Athena was coincidentally in France during a European tour to celebrate the holiday of love. She had never gone to the residence of where Ash had lived – being mostly because Ash often preferred where Athena liked to go.

Once she met the woman of the house, it became crystal clear why. How Athena managed to go a year without discussing this whole thing with the noble but strict Elisabeth Blanctorche was anybody's guess.

Without any hesitation in her words, Betty made it clear her stance on this whole situation.

"You need to put an end to all of this. Now."

She didn't just mean the relationship. The spell and the habit had to go away along with it.

"You have a problem, Asamiya," the noblewoman stated with utmost bluntness, "and you have to settle it with him before it's too late."

"I know." Athena could've stopped while she was ahead, but instead she kept burrowing herself deeper. Even if it couldn't be any worse than any sort of drug addiction, it was still problematic for her mentality outside of her idol lifestyle, and for her future relationships to come, in the chance that she considers someone new – which may be real soon if she fully commits to Elisabeth's demand to clip Ash off at the ankle with this absurd relationship.

Even she could admit, beyond the artificial attraction, behind the unrelenting aura of that stone – whatever the hell it was or where it came from – things were starting to slow down in recent months. Even the sex was only just starting to lose steam...

She knew Ash was in this building, and all she had to do was come to him. In fact, she could... almost started to hear noises very faintly in the back end of the mansion. Some very aggressive noises, indeed...

"Do you hear that, Ms. Blanctorche?"

"Hear what, exactly?" By this point, Elisabeth was willing to consider the possibility of Athena sensing inner demons based on her debauched past year. She knew it all too well from her experiences with Ash...

"I'm serious – I swear something's going over there, somewhere." Once she focused her ears just a little bit more, Athena could get a little more of a grasp of the specific noises sounding off.

Plenty of vicious grunts, fists and feet making contact... there was a fight going on somewhere, Athena knew for sure.

"Merde..." Elisabeth began to lament, the moment the noises grew to a volume that she could now clearly hear "If that's what you think, I can't imagine it'd be anything but more of the same..." Presuming some struggles from her 'friend', she started to leave her seat—

"Don't," Athena advised. "I feel it's probably more of my concern at this point – besides, I have to settle things."

From there, it was the Psycho Soldier fully sitting up first, and making her way upstairs. She took her time, hesitation slowly creeping into her mind, as she looked upon the responsibility on her shoulders.

She knew what she had to do, and she wasn't going to fully like it...

The brawl turned outlandish quickly the moment Mignon's barely-expert magic clashed with Ash's gifted flames...

"Could you stop flinging water at me?!"

Ash was already starting to get sick of getting assaulted by the 'water spirits' fighting against him, coming from his opponent's dainty white gloves with little struggle in the spray-across. He was feeling so drenched now, as though he was being suplexed into a lake, that he had to do away with the shirt so the feeling of the moist fabric didn't distract him too much.

Mignon snapped back, "Don't you understand the ever-lasting rivalry of fire and water?! This is the best Mignon's got!"

Ash was leaning against the table in growing exhaustion as he briefly observed his own flames in consideration – before doing away with them for now, knowing it would just get him further drenched by those hose-sprays out of Mignon's magical 'skills'. "This isn't getting us anywhere..."

"You're right," the witch agreed. "Mignon would much rather claw your eyes out, so you don't get to see your stone leave your presence! But first..."

She proceeded to run ahead, as though she was about to pounce on Ash again – he showed a position of readiness this time...

...only for it to mean very little as Mignon slid past underneath his legs and went for the bedside dresser. Sensing the objective merely on instinct, Mignon opened one of the drawers and correctly spotted the stone sitting, barely secure, on the first guess, and grabbed it – before it went flying back out of her hands from a swinging kick unleashed against her arms, by the opposition!

Ash spun back around after the kick, and hopped over Mignon to snatch the enchantment out of the air and make a safe landing back onto the bed – just in time to be again pounced atop by the pinkette as they proceeded to just start grappling over each other with a whole lot of devotion on the mind for one to keep claim of the stone over the other.

In the midst of the violent sprawl over the bed, the door creaked open – and stood in the doorway, immediately struck with baffled confusion as she saw the brawl right before her eyes.

Ash smiled past Mignon's fussing body with a sense of convenience to his sort-of lover's arrival. "Oh! Athena, sweetie, catch this for me, s'il vous plaît?" He hocked the stone glowing with love across the room...

...and Athena instinctively caught the stone while she was still actively struggling to wonder what was going on before her. "What are you—wait... is that... Mignon?"

As she turned around, Mignon shoved one arm against Ash's jaw to pin his face sideways against the pillows beneath, and then pointed ahead with the other. "Asamiya, don't you dare! That stone was created by a Beart, and so should belong to the Bearts!" With a shrill battle cry, she hopped off of the bed and went after her self-decided rival to claim what she wanted.

Athena took a look at the stone caught in her hands and the pursuing witch charging at, and tried to warn in a panic, "W-wait, don't get too cl—!"

Mignon didn't listen, as she rammed into Athena at full speed – she dragged the Psycho Soldier further into the room, with some of the force causing the door to slam almost fully shut again while they ended up stumbling onto the bed.

Ash took this moment to hop off the bed and observe from the side, watching as Mignon made sure she had more than two handfuls of Athena's body in the growing catfight – one hand threatened to tear into the purple-haired schoolgirl-idol's attire, starting from the shoulder, while another interlinked with one of the other's hands...

...the same hand that was holding the stone.

It was only Athena who was able to realize... "Oh no..." What she wanted to avoid this time, but again she was sucked back into the thick of things.

She could see the iris within Mignon's eyes start to form that familiar glowing pink – and the expression of the rival Athena never wanted drooped from angry and motivated to just... simply a vacant realization. A realization within in that she was slowly getting lost in the mystic space beneath Athena's precious eyes.

The Psycho Soldier herself knew it was too late for herself to fight out of it, as the shared grasp welcomed a bit of infection onto her side as well. Both young ladies found themselves in an artificial link they never wanted out of this absurd clash.

There was so much of what one was wanting to feel from the other now... Wanting. Needing.

And ultimately, the passion kicked in fully as they suddenly traded the fistfight for a liplock. The mesmerized Mignon made the first move, leaning up to meet her lips with the equally entranced Athena. They both closed their eyes and concentrated on the mouth-to-mouth that they wouldn't have normally welcomed – however, with what was overwhelming their usual functions, they just couldn't help but engage upon the instincts. Continuing to share a handle on the stone, Athena and Mignon used their other arms to wrap themselves together even tighter, lost in the lust and comfort of one another's hypnotized arms.

All the while, from the sideline, the third end of the situation came in the form of the observant Ash, who grew to expect even less of this than he realized, once the stone fell out of his hands and into that of the ladies sharing the bedroom with him.

One part of Ash's ever-wandering mind considered capitalizing on the distraction the girls made of one another, thanks to the effects of the spellbound rubble. In that he could take it back and finally deal with Mignon before it fell too deep into the night. However, something else rumbled in his mind, and in some very certain places as well...

Seeing the popstar and the pop-wannabe twist tongues before him... it was too cute not to take advantage of. As he watched, he found one of his own hands lingering lower on his body, prepping to loosen the belt wrapping tightly around his waist in a means to unleash the 'game-changer'.

This was about to be quite the 'Valentine's birthday'...

If you know me, you know I often like to keep people waiting when it comes to these types of stories. Naturally, the best is yet to come, in the second chapter, so enjoy this pre-Valentine's bliss for now, and stay tuned for later~