Fakir knew what to do now. The answer was so simple, and had been right in front of him for months. He just hoped that he wasn't too late to try. This would entirely hinge on Ahiru's willingness to cooperate. He hurried back to their house, barging into the shop past Karon's empty workspace. He didn't even stop to wonder where his father was, barreling on through to his room. He was relieved to find Ahiru on the bed, although just the tip of her head feather was showing from under the bed cover.
He settled carefully on the side of the bed. "Ahiru?" he asked. "Can I please talk to you?"
A sad quack came from under the covers.
He sighed, and laid his hand on the bed. "Ahiru, I know you probably don't even want to see me right now, but it's important. I need you to trust me. Can I take you inside a story to talk?"
A pause, and then her head popped out from under the covers enough for her to give a single nod.
He nodded in return, and set to work taking them into the story.
The transition was smooth and seamless, even without the direct use of paper. Perhaps Rue was right, and his powers were improving. He looked around the space he had created, a black void, and located the one thing his mind had found it important enough to include.
"Ahiru," he breathed.
It was the first time he had seen her in her human form, without any other limits, since Drosselmeyer had left. She was standing, facing him, wearing only a simple white gown. The gown, however, did little to cover her form, and he noted that her breasts were once again larger than they had been when she was a human. She appeared to have filled out her form in general, with a bit more curve to her hips as well.
He shook his head, forcing his mind to stay on topic.
Thankfully, she seemed willing to do some of the talking for him. She gave him a smile, one that flashed brilliantly with joy at first, and then quickly soured into sorrow. "Fakir, why would you go into Mytho's story and not tell me? And were you really trying to take his heart shard?"
It stung deep into his chest that the first words she was saying directly to him after a year were about another man. He reminded himself that she loved Mytho anyway, and that after what he'd done, he deserved anything she could say to him. "Yes. It's true."
She cried out, "Fakir, how could you? Why would you do something like that without even asking me first?"
He snapped back, "I didn't ask you precisely because I knew what your answer would be! There's no way you'd sacrifice someone that you care about just for your own happiness! But you weren't supposed to find out. I was just going to go in, retrieve the heart shard, then come back and pretend like I fixed you in a regular story. There was no need for you to ever find out."
"And you were fine with that? With lying to me?"
His pent-up emotions roiled in his chest as he said, "What else was I supposed to do, Ahiru? Everything I've been doing has been ending in failure. And then in the Cinderella story, you actually got hurt. It had nothing to do with anything I had planned for the story. It just happened. What if you had died? I have no idea what that would do to you in real life! What the hell am I supposed to do if something happens to you?"
"So you decided on your own that my safety was worth someone else's life?"
"Yes! Your safety, you...you're worth more than anything. Anything in the world to me!" Fakir growled.
Ahiru sucked in an uneven breath, and asked, "So then what happened in Mytho's story? Why didn't you come back with the heart shard?"
He gave a short laugh. "I didn't have some noble change of mind, if that's what you're thinking. I simply lost to Mytho. Rue said I was too distracted to focus. And then they both talked to me, which is when I realized that Drosselmeyer popping up in our stories is too much of a coincidence to be an actual coincidence. I must have been on to something recently. So I decided to try asking him directly, and gave up on the heart shard." Her face flickered with relief as he continued, "And this is where I need your consent. I think I got my answer from him."
"Well, what is it, Fakir? Why aren't you telling me, is it something awful?" she asked.
He took a step towards her, wanting to comfort her but not wanting to offer it considering what he was about to say next. "Well, it doesn't involve any heart shards or anyone dying."
She gave an audible sigh of relief. "Well, then it can't be that bad. Just tell me Fakir, what do we need to do?" She looked up at him with such trusting eyes that his chest ached.
"Drosselmeyer said something about the heart shard containing his essence, and that's when it hit me. I knew something was special about the stories where I ended it by kissing you, but I couldn't figure out what it was. But now I know. It's because I'm a descendant of Drosselmeyer, and my body contains his essence, just like the heart shards. And the only thing powerful enough to break the spell he has on you is his own essence."
She stepped a bit closer to him, confusion and some other nameless emotion in her eyes. "So how do we fix me then? Do you just need to keep kissing me?"
He shook his head. "I don't think that's going to be enough. If that would have worked, you'd be human again already. I think...I think I have to give you more of my...essence." He felt his face flushing crimson, and he looked away.
Hesitantly, she asked, "Fakir...do you mean we need to...have sex?"
He refused to look at her, but nodded his head. "Yeah. I-I think that's the only way at this point."
"Oh. I see."
What the hell was he supposed to do with that answer? His nerves set Fakir babbling, "Look, I know it's probably not pleasant for you, that your first time would be in some story, and with me, but I really think it's the only way to keep you permanently human. If there were any other way that didn't involve Mytho's heart shard, I would do it, but I really don't think-"
"And why are you deciding that I don't want my first time to be with you?"
His head whipped around to look at her in shock. She was looking at him steadfastly, albeit with a flush on her face. But her eyes were unwavering.
He was completely taken aback. "Well, I just assumed that you'd prefer Mytho, since I know how you feel about him-"
"No," she interrupted, "You know how I felt about him. And how I felt about him is nothing compared to how I feel about you." Her face grew even more red, but she kept going. "Fakir, I've been trapped as a duck for a year, unable to tell you how I feel, hoping that you'll pick up on it through my actions. But as good as you are at telling everything else I'm thinking, you still somehow seemed to miss the fact that I-I love you."
Fakir felt his eyes widen, and his mouth gaped open. He covered it with his hand for a moment, then began protesting, "But, Ahiru, I don't understand, I thought-"
"I know what you thought. But I've loved you for a long time, since before I became a duck. And now that I can finally tell you, I'm not going to let this chance go by." She stood, tall and proud, and red as a berry, in front of him.
Shit, she was just too cute. He reached out and grabbed her in for a hug, relishing the feel of her in his arms. "I love you too," he growled huskily into her hair. "So, so much."
Her grip on him tightened. "That's good," she replied in a quavering voice. "Then that means that us having s-sex is a good thing, right?"
He drew back from her gently, and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He rested his forehead on hers and whispered, "You tell me. I'll do whatever you want."
She gulped, and he felt it through their point of contact. "I...I want to have sex with you. And...not just because you think it will change me back."
Fakir suppressed a groan at her words. Damn, he loved her. He really had to keep a lid on his emotions, if he wanted to last long enough to make her first time any good. He nodded into her, and gathered up his power to make a bed appear next to them. He drew his head away from her enough to gesture towards it. "Are you ready?"
She looked up at him, face beet-red. Without responding, she reached down and pulled the hem of her dress up, tugging on it slowly until it was all the way off, dropping it on the ground next to her. He stared at her incredulously. She was gorgeous. All the curves he had noticed were even more beautiful without any clothes in the way. He frowned, noting that she was still covered with scratches from the Cinderella story. He'd have to do something about that.
He took hold of her face and tiled it up gently, exposing her neck and the long, thin scratch that marred it. Starting at the base of her neck where the scratch began, he gently touched it with the tip of his tongue. Ahiru sucked in her breath as he made contact, and he felt a distinct twitch in his cock as he dragged his tongue up the length of the wound. Drawing back from her, he watched as the cut closed up before his eyes. Satisfied, he looked at his love's face, and saw her eyes starting to haze over. He gave a little smirk as he said, "Looks like my saliva is enough for these cuts, at least. I'm going to fix the rest of them for you. Hold still for a minute." He scanned up and down her body, noting the locations of the rest of her injuries. He cupped the back of her head and drew her into his chest, bending his head down so he could get access to the next one on her shoulder. She shivered as his tongue laved over the wound, and he watched with satisfaction as it disappeared. He lifted up her arm delicately with his hand, tracing down it with his tongue to cover the myriad of small scrapes she had sustained on it from her fall. She trembled into him, and he felt himself growing hard from the stimulation. Letting go of her arm, he picked up the other and repeated his treatment, relishing her reaction to him.
When both arms were clear of injuries, he pulled her tighter against himself and craned his head over her shoulder to look at her back. Her dress must have protected her, since there was only one long scratch, crossing over her spine in a diagonal slash. Gingerly, he turned her around in his grasp, and knelt down to bring his head level with the injury. Gripping her firmly by her hips, he brought his head to the scratch where it began just above the swell of her ass. He couldn't resist resting his thumbs on the firm flesh, rubbing them gently over the curve of her skin. She gasped audibly this time. He responded by slowly, languidly, tracing circles around the cut on her back with his tongue, making his way upwards almost reluctantly as he got farther away from her ass. When he was done, he dug his hands into his grip harshly for a second, relishing the way his thumbs sank into her skin. She let out a small mewl.
Now Fakir turned his attention to her legs. Slowly, gently, he began licking the cuts that he could reach on the back of her legs, noting with considerable pride that they were trembling under his tongue. When that was finished, he shifted his body so that he was kneeling in front of her, ready to fix the fronts of her legs. Being within view of her face now, he looked up and saw that she was a delightful shade of red, her hands clasped tightly together by her chest. Grinning up at her, he lifted one of her legs and placed his mouth by a long scrape, dragging his tongue up its length. Once it had healed shut, however, instead of moving on to the next one, he gave a small, sharp nip on the exposed skin.
Ahiru yelped. He grinned up at her as she scolded, "Fakir!"
He chose to ignore her, giving the same treatments to the rest of the cuts on her legs, enjoying each little cry she gave when he nipped her. Finally, her legs were healed, and the only cut left was a long, shallow one across her stomach. Fakir grinned and renewed his hold on her hips. He'd been waiting for this one.
Ahiru saw the direction of his gaze, and as he brought his mouth up to her stomach, she asked in a quavering voice, "Fakir, don't you think it's time to go to the bed?"
Fakir stopped his descent, with his lips barely touching her flesh. He replied, "No, Ahiru, it's not time for that yet. I still have to finish healing you. You wouldn't want this wound to get worse, would you?" As he spoke his lips ghosted over her skin, and he was gratified to feel her entire body quivering. This time, as he put his mouth on her injury, he was not so sweet as he had been before. He attacked her flesh with open-mouthed kisses, flattening his tongue across the plane of her abdomen and dragging it viciously over the cut. Ahiru arched her back and let out a high-pitched cry. To keep her from getting away from him, he slid his arms around her waist up to the elbow, locking her into him. Satisfied that he had her, he moved his attention, and his mouth, up to her pert breasts. Not stopping to give them the same gentle treatment he had the rest of her body, he completely enveloped one inside of his mouth, roving his tongue around its swell. Her hands fisted tightly into his hair, and she let out a moan, the sound pitching down lower than her previous cries. He felt his already hard cock stiffen, and he let out a matching moan, vibrating around her breast that was still in his mouth. She groaned once more, and he felt her legs give way. He was holding her so tightly, though, that she simply collapsed into him, and he kept lavishing her body with attention. He suckled on her breast tightly, enjoying her cries as he did so, until he decided that the other one needed attention. Tenderly, he released the pressure his mouth was applying, and as he drew his head away from her breast, he licked her stiff nipple lightly with the tip of his tongue. She shuddered.
Taking note of her reaction, Fakir licked her other nipple, enjoying the noise she made. Deciding to take it a step further, he delicately closed his teeth around it and tugged.
Her reaction was spectacular. Her head shot back, and she cried out as her arms wrapped around his head, clutching him to her body.
Grinning, he released her nipple and asked, "Did you like that, Ahiru?"
Bringing her head down to look at him, she replied in a tremulous voice, "Y-yes."
Deciding that he had tortured her enough, he readjusted his grip on her, holding her tight as he stood up, taking her with him. She squealed and clutched onto him as he said, "Are you ready to go to the bed now?"
She looked down at him and nodded, her blush creeping down to her neck.
She was adorable. Fakir carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently on top of it. He stopped for a moment to stare at her, enjoying her beautiful form until she cleared her throat and brought him back to reality. "Um, Fakir? Are you coming?"
He shook his head a bit to clear it. "Yeah, Ahiru, give me a second." As much as he wanted to pounce on her right then and there, he needed to take some clothes off to do it. As quickly as he could, he stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving his clothes in a puddle by the side of the bed. When he removed his underwear, Ahiru's eyes grew wide at the sight of his cock standing stiffly up.
"Fakir, it's so big," she squeaked. "Why is it so big?"
He chuckled a little bit at his adorable, naive duck. "It's not always like this. You'd have noticed if it was. It only gets like this when I want you."
He swore the blush was spreading down to Ahiru's chest now. She looked away and mumbled, "Oh. I noticed it being big like that a few times, but I never really thought about it...other than to wonder what it looked like…"
This was too much for him. How was he supposed to react to the news that the girl he loved had thought about his cock? He kneeled on the bed next to her, placing his hands on either side of her body and dropping his head down to rest on her shoulder. She was just too much. Too damn sexy. Her worried voice queried, "Fakir?"
He rallied himself. Pulling his head off of her, he smirked at her and said, "Well, it's here now. You can look at it all you want."
Her mouth contorted in embarrassment, and she visibly gulped, but still nodded steadfastly. Resolutely, she turned her eyes to his manhood, and to his surprise, reached out and gripped it in her hand.
The suddenness of the action was too much for him. He let out a garbled noise, and felt himself turning red now. She looked up at him, surprised, and smiled, a smile that he knew was dangerous. Slowly, she tightened her hold on him, and slid her hand down his length.
He groaned, and she asked with way more heat in her voice than he thought was fair, "Do you like that, Fakir?"
He nodded, and managed to grind out, "Keep moving your hand up and down like that."
She complied, and began to pump her hand on his cock, torturously slowly. The reality of her touching him was too much though, and after only a few movements, he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
Ahiru looked up at him, startled, and asked, "Was that not good?"
He gritted his teeth. Who the hell had given her the right to be so sexy? "No, Ahiru, it's just that...I want to make sure I finish inside of you."
Her eyes widened. "Oh. Well, then...you should put it inside of me."
Fakir was certain his entire face was red now. He managed to nod, not trusting his voice to say anything. With his knee, he gently nudged Ahiru's legs open, and settled in between them. Propping himself up on one hand, he used the other to position his head at the folds of her vagina. He gulped as he looked at it, dripping from her arousal. He'd have to spend more time exploring it some other day. Right now, she was waiting for him. Slowly but firmly, he guided himself to her entrance, and slipped inside of her.
She yelped as he slid in, grabbing onto his shoulders tightly. He didn't get very far in before he met resistance to his forward motion. He pressed into it experimentally, and Ahiru whimpered. "What's wrong? Does it hurt?" he demanded, terrified of injuring her any further.
Resolutely, she shook her head, and said in a tiny voice, "No, Fakir, keep going. I need you."
He wavered, but her words combined with the tantalizing heat of her insides gave him the motivation he needed. He pressed further into her until he was fully seated within. She writhed under him and turned her head to the side, tears pricking the corner of her eyes.
Leaning down, he kissed the damp spots away and whispered, "Ahiru, we can stop if it hurts. I don't ever want to cause you pain."
She shook her head violently. "No, I want to have sex with you. Please, keep going, I'll be fine." She opened her eyes and smiled up at him shakily.
He looked down at her, conflicting feelings swirling around inside of him. Finally he growled, "Fine, if that's what you want." Pulling himself partially out of her, he thrust back in again, this time sheathing himself completely in one motion. She whimpered, and he did it again, and again, watching her face carefully as he drove into her over and over. He had decided that it would be best if he came quickly, then she could change back into a human and her discomfort would be over. Despite how amazing her wet heat felt around him, however, he found that it was difficult for him to climax when his love's face was contorted in pain beneath him.
After a minute or so, however, her expression began to change. First, the pain faded off, and then it was replaced with wonder. She opened her eyes wide and looked up at him, and he grinned back down at her. "Does it still hurt, Princess?" he asked huskily.
She shook her head. "No, it doesn't hurt at all now. I'm feeling so...Fakir, you feel so…" She grabbed onto his shoulders tighter, and wrapped her legs around his thrusting hips.
The motion was electrifying. He growled, and grabbed onto her shoulders as he began to thrust into her harder. Her voice cried out, a series of staccato yelps as his head pushed against the depths of her. He felt his release coming, and tried hard to hold it in. He wanted to make sure she came first, but he wasn't really sure how to tell if she had or not.
His question was soon answered. On one particularly deep thrust, Ahiru clutched onto him with her entire body as her walls tightened deliciously around his cock, and she keened a single, high-pitched wail.
This was entirely too much for him. A half second later, he was coming along with her, digging his hands into her as his cock pulsed over and over.
Finally, when he was spent, he rolled off of Ahiru, laying on his back and panting at the void that still encompassed them.
He felt a poke on his shoulder. He flipped his head over, and Ahiru's hopeful face was looking at him. "Can we try now and see if it worked?"
Oh. Right. He'd forgotten that they'd been having sex for a reason. Quickly, he sat up, flushing red from embarrassment. "Yes, of course, I'll get us out of here in a moment." Summoning his power, Fakir pulled them out of the story, and into their room.