It Was Not Our Last Night …
Two weeks.
It had been two weeks since the Day of Unity was begun and foiled. Two weeks since the release of the Collector, as Eda had referred to it. Two weeks since most of the Titan's Head was broken down and reshaped into an owl-themed fortress in the sky and so many had been enslaved with a power so different from magic as to be something else entirely, all for a mad child's sick game.
Even now, Katya wasn't entirely sure how they had gotten away. When the moon had been brushed out of orbit and the draining spell foiled with it, everyone had been on the brink of death. They'd caught their breath, so to speak, and realized that massive chunks of the Head were freely floating about the sky.
Young and resilient, the BATs and Steve had shaken off the worst of the effects and made their way up the platform to recover the now one-armed but in relatively good shape Eda, and the near-comatose other head witches. Then that horrific laugh had echoed across the sky and the Collector had emerged with little King in tow.
In a split second, Eda had transformed into her harpy form and, with a shrill cry of challenge, had flown to retrieve her adopted son. Katya wasn't sure how that had gone down except that King had convinced the Collector to let her go and begged Eda to flee. And so she had. Owlbert, Lilith's palisman Rowena, and Katya's palisman Herc had been instrumental in getting everyone away, as had Eda's wings.
Later on they would find out that the draining spell would have longer-lasting effects. Those under its power had been afflicted with sac strain. The intense stress of the draining spell had not only drained the bile inside, but had nearly crippled their ability to produce more. It wasn't permanent, according to a healer, but it would take time to recover from. And by time, she meant several months at the least. At most perhaps a couple of years.
In the days since, Hexside school had become something of a safe haven from the Collector's reach. King had somehow gotten the information to Eda of a sigil that hid the bearer from the cosmic brat's view, which everyone had begun wearing. Children who had been unmarked with a sigil had migrated to the school for sanctuary, which Principal Bump and the faculty — who had heeded Hunter's warning about the trap — were more than willing to provide.
In essence, the rebel force of the CATs had transitioned into a refugee group.
Along with the students, Odalia Blight of all people had arrived in an airship with her husband, Alador. She had begged for sanctuary for him, rather than herself, in a move that contradicted every notion that everyone had held of her. Under blabber serum whipped up by Vitimir under Eda and Lilith's supervision, Odalia had spoken of her near-death experience and her resolution to atone for her vile actions. Lilith had reluctantly vouched for her, citing herself as an example of how people could change, and so the Blight matriarch's presence was … tolerated.
Food had been provided by Lilith's use of plant glyphs and Eberwolf's hunting prowess in the woods outside the school, so no one was going hungry. But even with that covered, everyone was terrified, and regular watches had been put in place by the school faculty, the CATs, and some upperclassmen. Everyone was frightened out of their minds, having trouble sleeping, and generally miserable.
And as busy as they both were taking care of everyone else, it meant Katya and Steve hadn't had more than a minute alone together since the Day of Unity.
"So much for 'sure'," she grumbled as she plodded to women's chambers, rubbing the dust from her eye with a wide yawn.
"Leading isn't as fun as it's made out to be, huh?" said a familiar voice.
Katya perked up and turned to find Raine leaning on their hand against the wall, looking even more tired than Katya felt. She mustered a tired smile for her teacher. "No, it sucks," she admitted.
"If you're doing it right, then yeah," Raine said. "It usually does."
"Is everything okay, Raine?"
"Well, it seems many of us have tried overworking ourselves by taking double shifts and such when we should be resting," Raine said airily. "So Darius, Eber and I came up with a solution. Break buddies."
"Break buddies?" Katya asked amusedly.
"All of us will be paired up with someone that we take personal time with," Raine explained. "Someone to hold us accountable and make sure we actually take it easy when we can."
"So who's mine?" Katya asked. "Derwin or Amber?"
"Neither," Raine said, one eyebrow arched. They waited for a beat and Katya blushed pink as a thought came to mind.
"You don't mean-"
"Yes, I do, Katya," Raine said warmly. "You've been working yourself to death. You're young and you deserve a break with … pleasant company." They chuckled. "If it makes you feel better, Eda is my break buddy. We're going to try and work out our issues."
"Is that what they call it these days?" Katya teased, some of her usual demeanor returning.
"Isn't that a line for my generation?" Raine rebutted. They both shared a laugh and Raine nodded. "You've got the rest of the night off, Katya. Head witch's orders." They looked back over their shoulder. "Do try and spend some of it sleeping. Not like the night before the Day of Unity."
Katya's blush turned from rosy to fiery at Raine's words, any rebuttal caught in her throat from sheer shock. While she'd never made efforts to hide her romances from her mentor and friends, she'd never imagined the typically bashful Raine would so blatantly tease her about it. It seemed Eda was really rubbing off on them …
Katya shook it off and began looking for Steve, stopping by the Healing homeroom to pick something up first. She thought it over as she walked until she came up with a first place to check and made her way to the gym, where all of the students under their ragged banner were housed, sleeping on a grid of cots. Katya looked around until she found Steve sitting by one of the cots, the one that held his sleeping little half-brother.
Katya smiled warmly as she approached, pausing for a moment to take in Steve brushing Mattholomule's hair with his fingers, the boy smiling in his sleep. Katya gently placed her hand on Steve's shoulder to draw his attention and he slowly looked back at her with affection glinting in his eyes.
'He'd make a great dad,' she couldn't help thinking before she shoved that notion far into the back of her mind.
"Raine's set up break buddies to make sure everyone takes it easy every now and then," she revealed.
"Yeah. Darius told some of us, and scoffed the whole time." Steve blinked and looked down at her hand still on his shoulder. "Wait, are you-?"
"Yes, yes, yes," she chuckled, shifting her touch to his elbow to guide him to his feet. "And we're both on break. So we should take it easy, yeah?"
"Sounds good," he sighed, the sound heavy with exhaustion. Katya only then noticed the faint circles under his eyes. She was probably faring little better. Katya led Steve to a classroom that Raine had told her about, one that held a special secret. She picked up a piece of chalk and drew a square with a keyhole in the center on the chalkboard, then pressed the stick of chalk to the keyhole and twisted it like a key. There was a latching sound like an opening lock and a small opening swung from the board to reveal the Secret Room of Shortcuts.
"Whoa," Steve said as she led him inside and they both got their first look at the stone ramp spiraling the round chamber to vaulted ceilings, eclectic doors along its length. "We didn't have anything like this back at Glandus."
"Whoa, you went to Glandus?" Katya asked in shock.
"If it's any consolation, I hated it there," he said seriously. "I was thrilled when my mom and Matt's dad transferred him to Hexside."
"I'll accept that," Katya grinned, brushing his chest with her fingers. "But only because you're so cute." She reached up and kissed the tip of his nose before flicking what she'd gotten from the Healing room: a large wrap of canvas cloth. These were kept in large supply by the Healing track for injured students, and most had been used for student sleeping places. She flicked it with her wrist and it settled into an extra-wide, supported cot and blanket for extra-large demon patients … that would make an acceptable bed for two.
"Katya," Steve said ruefully, "as much as I'd love to do that … I'm way too tired."
"Me too," she admitted, wrapping her arms around his waist and tucking her cheek into his shoulder. "But maybe we can just … cuddle?"
Steve hummed in thought before smiling wickedly. "Maybe a little more than that." He stepped back and placed his finger and thumb on the top button of her vest, looking into her eyes for permission. Katya nodded, and he unbuttoned her vest and peeled it from her shoulders before doing the same to her linen shirt to reveal another violet silk bra. Steve motioned for her to sit on the cot and removed her boots and socks before, after silently asking for permission and receiving it, unbuttoning her pants and removing them as well.
"They say a good compromise is one where no one ends up happy," Katya said dryly, then smiled. "I think we've found the exception." With that, she stood and pushed Steve's leather jacket from his shoulders, then shucked his "Steve" shirt, long-sleeved undershirt, boots, socks, and trousers to leave him in his boxers.
Clad only in their underwear, the two witches sat and wove their fingers before leaning their foreheads together in a simple, intimate action. One that progressed to their lips meeting in a long, languid, quietly passionate kiss.
"We're a little uneven, Steve," Katya purred, then reached backward and unclasped her bra, letting it fall to bare her breasts for him. She placed one hand on his bare chest and took his opposite wrist to place upon her breast, shuddering with delight as he instinctively squeezed the supple flesh.
"Let's … get some rest, Katya," Steve said huskily, lust warring with tiredness in his gaze.
"Yeah," she sighed, her own exhaustion creeping up on her.
Steve pulled back the linen blanket and settled back, holding an arm out for Katya. She smiled and settled next to him, curled into the side of his chest to press her breasts against him and feel him curl into her in turn as he wrapped his strong arms against her. They sighed in perfect unison at the feel of each others' warm skin and relaxed immediately, exhaustion finally taking over and dragging them into sleep.
"Sleep tight, Katya," Steve whispered.
"Sleep tight, Steve," Katya whispered back.
Over the next week or so, the feeling around the school-turned-hidden-fortress became a little brighter. True, everyone was still terrified out of their minds and trying desperately to hide it, but with the CATs and the teachers who were running things more rested, tensions abated just a little.
During their sparse day breaks, Steve got to know the BATs who were essentially Katya's adopted siblings, and Katya got to know Mattholomule. Neither group was overtly aware of the duo's … complicated relationship, but they all accepted new bonds of friendship. In the nights when Steve and Katya didn't have guard duty together, they slept tangled together in a private classroom turned sleeping quarters, nude except for their lower wear. Neither was willing to offer sex unless they were as close to rested as could be.
It was in the middle of the night when everything came to a head.
Steve grunted and pried his eyes open at something off, then realized his chest was wet … and Katya was shaking. A muffled sob made him stiffen and he looked down in the darkness before squeezing her tighter.
"Sorry," she whimpered, sniffling. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine," he whispered back. "Katya … what's wrong?"
She was silent for a while. So long that Steve feared she wouldn't respond.
"I feel awful," she sighed hoarsely. "About how the Day of Unity ended."
"I'm pretty sure no one had a good day," Steve tried to joke.
"I mean all of the people we couldn't rescue," she said sternly, her voice strained. "Steve, we set out to save the Children of the Isles … and we left them all to die."
"Not all of them," Steve said calmly. "Katya, where do you think these kids and teachers would be without all of us? Starving, for one, without Lilith's plant glyphs or Eberwolf's hunting. Even more scared since they'd have no real idea what's going on. I mean, we don't know much but at least it's something." He smiled wanly in the darkness as Katya held him closer. "I know it doesn't seem like much … but we're not all-powerful." He chuckled. "If we were, we wouldn't be in this mess at all."
Katya huffed a laugh of her own and buried her face in his chest. Then she shifted and seemed to reach down for something in the dark. A paper crackled and then there was soft light coming from an orb of magic, illuminating both of them tangled together in the linen blanket.
"Hi," she sighed.
"Hey," he replied.
"You're amazing. You know that, right?" Katya said.
"No I'm not," he replied seriously. "I'm just a moron who wised up at the last possible minute."
"Steve-" Katya started to reproach, but he shook his head and looked away.
"Katya, I served the Emperor for nearly ten years." He grimaced, his muscles clenching. "I've done … terrible things. Not the least of which is I conscripted a bunch of kids to the Emperor's Coven. If Hunter and Darius hadn't let them go, they'd have been wasting away in basic training until that day." He chuckled humorlessly. "And then there's the capturing wild witches, brutalizing citizens, watching Belos eat palismen … Oh Titan, Ricard …!"
He began to weep himself, and Katya patiently took her turn to comfort him. She nuzzled his jaw with her cheek and kissed the stubble he'd grown. "Shh. Steve, you're doing so much to make up for it. You decided to help people, to help us, and you did." She kissed his cheek again. "You're not a bad person. You're a good person, who just … was confused for a long time." A smile twitched at her lips. "You're not all-knowing, Steve. If you were, you wouldn't have joined the coven in the first place."
Steve hiccuped, the sound caught between a laugh and a sob. "You're amazing, too," he whispered, and kissed her lips.
And then the spark between them was fanned into a fire.
They deepened the kiss, Katya crawling over Steve as the blanket fell away from her shoulders to pool around her waist. Steve clutched at her waist as she gripped his shoulders, moaning and sighing as they kissed each other with reckless fervor. They finally separated with a wet smack, only for Steve to sit up and draw Katya in. He lifted her by her hips and latched onto her breasts, suckling and nipping with abandon. Katya mewled and gasped at the stimulation, digging her nails into his scalp to anchor herself.
Steve grunted and slid his hands down past her hips to cup her backside and squeeze, and Katya giggled with pleasure. "Oh, Steve," she moaned.
"Katya," he growled. "H-How far?"
"All the way," she sighed, gripping his horn between her thumb and forefinger to coax his head back. "But not too fast, hmm?" She lowered her head to kiss him again, prodding her tongue past his lips to be met with equal enthusiasm. As they kissed and Steve fondled her cheeks, Katya ran her hands over Steve's toned pecs and abs, savoring the firm muscles. She also felt the scars that lined his body, their proof of his strength spurring her desire even further.
Katya pulled back from Steve with a moan and forced the blanket completely off of them, the light spell illuminating them fully. She drank in the sight of Steve's muscles before trailing kisses up his jaw to his ear, then down his neck and over his chest. She circled her tongue over one of his nipples and giggled at his shiver before crawling backward to drag her lips down his navel and to the waistband of his boxers.
She looked up at him with lidded eyes almost burning with want and Steve swallowed and nodded. Katya took her time to free Steve's length from its prison and slide the fabric down his legs and over his feet to drop them over the edge of the bed. She actually started salivating at the sight of his manhood, but she forced herself to go slow. She kissed the tip ever so gently, and Steve groaned with frustration, his hands twitching.
Katya lightly ran her fingers over his manhood, trailing them down until she reached his testes and began kneading them. She ran her tongue up the underside of his length and around the tip like an eye-scream cone.
"Katya," Steve gasped, propped on his elbows and his hands curled into impotent fists, "please. I- I need you …!"
"Oh, Steve," Katya whispered, her hot breath bathing his member, "do you love me?"
The words sliced through the haze of desire that clouded Steve's thoughts and his manhood twitched. "I-" He swallowed as he seriously thought about it. After a few long moments, he sighed and fell backward. "No." His heart cracked at the admission, but he knew it was true. "We haven't known each other long. I'm attracted to you," he gave a shaking sigh, "so very attracted — but even if I'm starting to fall for you … I'm not there yet."
Steve braced himself for Katya to twist his sack in sudden anger, to crawl up his body and slap him across the face and leave him in a cold bed. What he didn't expect … was for her to deepthroat him.
Steve shot back onto his elbows with a rattling gasp of shock and arousal as Katya all but attacked his manhood. She swirled her tongue around its length and moaned as she sucked and slurped, her hands kneading his testes and twisting the base of his length where her lips wouldn't quite reach. It was so much, so quickly, that Steve couldn't brace himself and, with a ragged cry, he came harder than he ever had before.
Katya coughed at the spray of his seed before swallowing. She reached down for a bottle of water she kept at the bedside and rinsed before offering Steve a sip, too. His hands were shaking and his chest heaving with heavy breaths as he took the bottle for a sip and handed it back. Katya took another sip, wrapping her lips around the bottle mouth as she did and jerking it from them with a suggestive pop.
"Katya, not that I'm complaining, but-"
"Why?" Katya asked huskily. Steve nodded. "I'll be honest, Steve. You weren't my first. Not even close." Steve felt a little part of himself wither at the confirmation of his silent wondering. "But out of all the witches I've asked that question as I sucked them off or ate them out … you were honest about it." Her gaze turned from amorous heat to heartfelt warmth. "Steve, I-" She blinked back tears. "I'm falling for you, too."
She cupped his cheek and brushed her thumb against the stubble, and Steve leaned into the touch and kissed her palm. Then he pulled her thumb between his lips and suckled it before popping it out as she had done with the bottle. The feeling shot from her thumb to her womanhood and she gasped in surprise. He smiled at her with a mix of caring and mischief.
"First off, I can do that, too," he said. Then he brushed the backs of his fingers along her jaw. "Second … You're not my first, either, though it's pretty close." He ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. "But Katya … I think there's no one I'd rather be with. Tonight … or ever."
Katya let a single tear fall as her heart melted at those words. On reflex, she quipped, "I bet you say that to all the girls who suck you off."
"Nope," he said matter-of-factly. "Just one."
He gripped her by the backs of her thighs and lifted her onto her knees, sliding between them before lowering her hips so that she was straddling his stubble. "And right now, I want to try to make you feel as good as you did me." In one smooth motion, he ran the flat of his tongue up her slit and Katya moaned at the bold move.
Steve gripped Katya's hips from below as he ran his tongue up and down her nether lips, taking special care to circle her clitoris every chance he could. He grunted as Katya seized his head, gasps and moans pouring from her lips as she stared lustily into his eyes. Her hips writhed as he lapped at her flowing juices, and he reached up to tweak her nipples as his elbows anchored her sides.
"Oh, Steve!" she cried in ecstasy, almost screaming in her pleasure. Pleasure that was building within her core like a winding spring. The spring wound slowly, inexorably tighter and tighter until it snapped. And Katya really did scream as she came, curling forward around her lover's head as shockwaves wracked her body. She sighed with relief as the fires of her arousal eased lower, shimmying down Steve's body to settle with her chest against his as she brushed her fingers through his hair.
"You may not be my first," she whispered throatily, kissing him on the forehead next to his horn, "but I think you're my best."
"You think?" he asked with a faint laugh. "I can tell you for certain that you're my best."
Katya giggled and kissed his lips, and they stayed together for a time, simply kissing softly as Katya ran her fingers through his hair and lightly grazed his chest, while he cupped her backside and the small of her back.
"You ready for the main event, Stevey?" Katya purred.
"As much as I'd really like to," Steve sighed, "I don't think I have the energy." He gently eased Katya off of him to show his soft manhood.
"Let me try something," Katya murmured. She sat up on her knees, straddling Steve's hips, and took his head in her hands to draw him close. She placed a smoldering kiss on his forehead … and then latched her lips onto his horn to suck on it. Steve gave a strangled cry at the bizarre feeling such an act gave him. He knew his anatomy, and his horn shouldn't be able to feel anything! Byt the pressure of Katya's lips and tongue were cascading from his forehead to his fingertips and the end of his toes.
Then she grazed the base of his horn with her fangs, and even the thought of the contrast between their two defining characteristics was somehow hot.
Katya released his horn with yet another obscene pop and glanced back over her shoulder with lidded eyes as she clutched Steve's face to her bosom. "I guess that solves that problem," she noted with a self-satisfied smirk. Steve maneuvered away from Katya's breasts to see his manhood fully erect and twitching.
"Guess so," he said faintly, still wrapping his mind around what she'd done with him. He shook his head and gripped her thighs to lift her a little and position her above his erection. "Ready?"
"Oh yes," she sighed.
Katya lowered herself into Steve's lap, and they both moaned at the sensation — Katya at the sensation of being so wonderfully filled, Steve at the warm wetness that surrounded him.
They sat there together, upright and wrapped in each other's arms, until Katya felt ready to move. She rolled her hips and mewled as Steve gave a raspy groan. Steve loosened one arm from around his lover to reach between them and gently circle her clitoris with his thumb, drawing a high gasp from her. Katya giggled and kissed his temple as she continued to roll her hips, the stimulation building.
Their breaths grew harder and more ragged, sweat coating their bodies as they moved together. Katya moved her hips faster as their pleasure grew, holding Steve's shoulders for support and savoring the muscle she felt under her hands. Steve did his best to buck his hips to match Katya's motions, driven to please her as much as she did him.
"Look at me. I want to see you," Steve gasped and Katya placed a tender hand on his cheek to lock her eyes to his, green meeting blue as they seemed to gaze into each others' souls. Soon, too soon, not soon enough, the tension exploded and they held each other tightly as climax tore through them both. They fell back onto the cot and held each other close, savoring the high they'd brought to each other.
After they'd cuddled for a while, Steve smiled to himself. "What's your favorite color?" he whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Well, we've done this twice now and I still don't know much about you as yourself," he said. "Mine's orange, like the setting sun. What about you?"
"Purple," Katya whispered back. "I think it looks so graceful. Plus it looks great on me."
And so they spent the night whispering questions and answers to each other. They knew they probably wouldn't remember most of them, but decided that it was okay. They'd ask again in the morning … and continue to learn about each other for as long as they could …
The next morning was a little awkward, for a few reasons. One was that the couple couldn't seem to stop kissing. When they woke up, as they crawled out of bed, as they got dressed and ran for the showers before anyone could catch them … That run was just as awkward as they tried to hide what they'd done from impressionable teenagers.
It was only when they'd showered separately in the Healing homeroom — reserved for adults while students were assigned in shifts to the athletics showers — that they were calmed enough to think clearly. Which was the perfect time for Steve to pop a question.
"Raine mentioned something about heading to town to check on any stragglers," he commented. "They'll probably want it to be a quick trip, but … would you like me to ask if you can come as backup?" He grinned and took her hand in his. "We can take my bike."
"Ooh," Katya replied teasingly. "Well, I have wanted to ride that monster since I first saw him." She pinched Steve's butt as she said it, startling a yelp out of him that rolled into laughter. "I'd love to come."
A quick chat with Raine, Darius, and Eber later and their request was settled. "So long as you don't get distracted," Raine warned, glasses flashing as they hid a grin.
"Young people," Darius drolled, arms crossed. "They're all the same."
By noon, they were back in Bonesborough, both of them wearing medallions carved with King's glyph to hide from the Collector and each carrying a satchel full of identical medallions for if they found new refugees.
"We should split up to cover more ground," Katya said, summoning her palisman Herc.
"Sounds like a plan, but hold on a sec," Steve said, digging into his satchel. He removed a medallion on a ribbon and tied it around Herc's interlock. "That way Herc's protected, too," Steve said with a smile, and the palisman chittered appreciatively. Then it looked at Katya and chittered some more, its wings fluttering.
"We've got a mission, Herc!" Katya said, blushing hard. "And we're in public." She blinked at the feeling of something pressed into her hand and found an origami rose. She glanced up at Steve's who was blushing, too.
"It's, uh, directions to an old coven base. You know, as a rendezvous for when we head back. Say, in two hours?"
"Okay, sounds like a plan," Katya parroted back at him, eyes lidded and teasing. Then she grabbed his collar and pulled him down for a quick kiss before mounting her staff and flying to the east to begin a search.
"Wow," Steve sighed before saddling up and driving his bike westward to search his half.
As Katya flew above the rooftops, eyes peeled for witches and demons to bring back to the Hexside grounds, Herc chittered again. 'I like this one. He's good to you. Don't let him slip through your fingers.'
"I won't," Katya promised. "Maybe I ask him to have our rations in private tonight. As a first real date."
I know what you're thinking: "A follow-up to 'Might Be Our Last Night'? No way!" I didn't expect it either, but a reader on AO3 requested it, an idea came to mind, and I had to write it out of my brain. And I actually really liked exploring a possible post-King's Tide in the background. I hope it was just as fun to read!
*My story "Must Be Broken To Be Mended" is loosely canonical here. If you were confused by Odalia's mentioned turnabout, that's where you'll find more.
*Just like "Strength in Body and Mind" Katya's rhinoceros beetle palisman is named "Herc" in my mind, named after the Hercules bettle - a varation of rhino beetles - and a Disney reference to their film "Hercules."
As always, I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you like! And may your own works spin smoothly...!