"We must help Lady Satsuki," Soroi insisted.
Grateful to be indoors it was a load off. He followed Mako to pass empty rooms she found one and closed them in. They had to step over broken lockers, the desks strewn about with crumpled papers and spilled trash.
"Son said to keep you safe so that's what I'm gonna do." She rubbed the chill from her arms. "Man. Who turned the ac on?! Brrr!"
Soroi covered her shoulders with his suit jacket, straightening his cuff links after, not caring that they were stretched. They found a window to the world. Nothing below it was safe.
"Mankanshoku! Uncle Soroi!"
"Shiro?" Soroi turned confusion.
When Mako turned hers Iori's slim build, translucent mask, and rarely dirtied labcoat were the last things on her mind.
"You're that funny looking president of the Sewing Club!" she said.
"Please! Follow me!"
x.x.x
No longer able to duplicate herself Nui missed a flurry meant for Son's head swiping at Ryuko's as quick as it came. Driven back the three met one end of the stadium.
"Not so mouthy now are ya'?!" Ryuko kept the pressure on.
"That attitude is unbecoming of a pretty girl like you," Nui was forced to grin.
The stone at her back made to be concave Ryuko leaned from Son's planting a fist against Nui's stomach to widen it. Her one eye grew as big with the wind blown from her lungs. They let her fall to the purple end of her weapon, breathless, she had a time trying to stand without it.
"... You. You're an unwanted headache, boy toy. NO ONE ASKED YOU TO BUTT IN!" she snapped.
She took her crazy to Ryuko first.
"Son!" Ryuko fought her off. "That idiot might kick the bucket without your help!"
"Okay!" Son avoided Nui's drooling to cut into him next.
He flew into his turn over doubling back to swing his knee against her thin neck.
"RAHNN!" she cried, noise snuffed from her wipe open mouth.
Tumbling from the blow Ryuko was waiting to angle her blade.
"Haaaaaa!" she curved it left and back.
Turned as she went Nui slammed two of the mutated COVERS dragging both with her. Seated, shaking for the blood on her hair bow and skirt's frills, she felt the painful squirting from her shoulder, attentive to the reason. Kicking her missing limb to her Ryuko had the gall to smirk as she did.
"Like I said. You're not getting me there again," she said.
"N-no problem! You can cut my arm off all you want. It'll just pop right back on again!" Nui tried giddy.
Ryuko pressed her foot to its flopping around. "Not likely."
Nui lost her chipper when it burst; first as a puff of red, then as a single strand Ryuko's armor was only too pleased to swallow. Senketsu's healthier glow wasn't unlike his wearer's.
"Oops. Guess that means one armed bitch is your new nickname huh," she said.
"This isn't happening. Not to me. Not to ME!" Her aimless stare starting to twitch Nui rocked back and forth. "Just for that, you're dead. Dead, dead, dead, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!"
x.x.x
Ragyo ran three fingers across its three metal bands. Her skin tingled for Junketsu's new design lifting her with it; silkier, harder than alloy seams shining anew, she had the figure to show it off, keeping her one handed grip tight around Satsuki's neck.
"Let her go!" Son fell into his form.
"As expected. It could never contain you, could it?" her stare tilted. "Do you see now? We are the only ones able to possess the world to come."
"I won't ask again," he said.
To defy him Ragyo clenched her hand. Satsuki woke to cut off gasps, a pain to take in, pawing at why which didn't work.
"How I discipline my daughter is my business," Ragyo said, her Kamui twinkling with the resolve in her eye.
Son's strain stopped as a fist against the palm she shot out, the clap louder as it blew away anything loose from it including where they stood. Like Nui her skin felt colder than it should. Where his next three attempts rammed her hand was there. Turning her waist she hurled Satsuki like she meant nothing to her. He left quicker to try cradling her as carefully as he could when he caught her on the drop.
"Don't worry. I'll take it from here," he said annoyed with her battered face.
"Son," she muttered to cough.
"Yep. That was a close call," he said.
As they were grounded he let her head lean into his thigh and pulled his gi ends from his pants. Resting her against the nearest wall he covered her with it in the hopes it did away with her shivering.
"This thing is nice and warm. Ryuko's dad made it," he smiled.
Letting their eye contact sit she wanted to say it. "I told you not to come here."
"I know," he shrugged. "I'm kind of hardheaded sometimes."
"Lady Satsuki!"
Son turned to see Gamagori, Inumuta, Nonon and Sanageyama missing their uniforms. The first there was the first to lower his bulk to her side.
"Son Goku! How dare you touch her skin with such a dingy garment?!" Gamagori barked.
"Give it a rest already. It's called a kind gesture," Nonon rolled her eyes.
"Your Goku Uniforms are gone?" Son noticed, staying his glance for Inumuta.
"Ragyo must have figured out a way to exhaust them faster. They were literally running on fumes," Inumuta said.
He didn't have time to ask. Neither did they. The COVERS no longer aggressive wasn't the issue. He left his footing at a pace those watching thought impossible. His fist curved for Ragyo's he ducked Nui's slash spinning over Ryuko's lunge to extend his boot into Ragyo's heel. The four meeting again tossed the soil, then tufts of it, lifting it high as it traveled the length of the yard to spill outside of it. Ragyo's techniques kept up with his but one blow across her jaw split the difference. As she crushed the stage's first tier he could only hear her laugh over the ringing.
"... Fantastic! I see my daughter chose well!"
"Satsuki deserves better! You're sick and demented!" he kept his guard raised.
"... Young fool. I wasn't talking about Satsuki."
Behind him before he could turn he felt the sting of his head sliding against the dirt. Palms pressed to it spun him to his feet and his rhythm; right left, right left, right left, right left, he bobbed, he weaved, and she wouldn't quit. Ryuko's arrival to chip in Nui cut over her hair as she was caught by Son's turning to keep her momentum. He released her for Ryuko's blade cutting off her other arm but Ragyo's shoulder charge took him with her. She stopped herself abruptly to watch him rupture the opposite end of the stadium. She didn't look to catch Ryuko by the throat, keeping her still above the ground for all to see.
"Shall I show you?" she grinned for her feet flailing.
Ryuko felt it first, a searing pain that heightened if Ragyo's hand turned the slightest. Discomfort reaching to the veins in her eyes as she glanced she could see it had already ripped through.
"RYUKO!" Son returned but he stopped as fast as he started.
He thought the glittered light attached to throbbing strands his mind playing tricks. It wasn't until he saw it beating wet against Ragyo's palm.
"Just as I suspected." She scrutinized its smooth, slippery warmth. "The experiment was a success. The fusion of a human being and Life Fibers, perfected!"
"I-Impossible," Satsuki approached, wrapped in Son's gi, Gamagori and Sanageyama helping her balance.
"Soichiro was a foolish man. To think he hid her from me this long. Hmph. Life's funny that way, isn't it?"
As Ryuko remembered herself she swung her sword hand through Ragyo's wrist.
"L-lying BITCH!" she spat.
On her feet, trembling, the horror was her heart jumping into her flesh, the wound mending itself. She wanted to touch where a scar should have been but didn't dare.
"There's NO way a bat shit crazy freak like YOU is my mother!"
{Ryuko.}
Ignoring Senketsu she jerked her irritation to Son.
"And you! Y-you knew. You knew all this time and you didn't tell me?!" her voice cracked.
"It's not like that," Son held a hand out. "We can talk about ..."
As she backed from him with her weapon raised he chose to stop.
"Ryuko," his brow furrowed.
She shot her glare to Ragyo's hand reattaching to her wrist. She crouched to hold Nui steady, Rei standing guard with the other half of a two part invention.
"Disabling their Goku Uniforms worked as well as we thought," Ragyo said starting from Nui's shoulders.
"Of course it did ma'am. We developed the talons to do just that," Rei said, her disposition less casual for their enemies.
Ragyo's hands fell but not in a hurry to shape limbs from nothing. Nui found it easier to grin when the burn was less invasive.
"We can't have our Grand Couturier incapacitated. Not when she still has work to do."
"Your touch is so soothing, Mistress," a relieved Nui smiled with her, patient as her new arms regained feeling.
Pushing Sanageyama and Gamagori away Satsuki wanted to do it herself. She wobbled forward with it ready in her hand. Ryuko couldn't move, Son decided not to, it was so for everyone else.
"As long as my lungs draw breath, I, Satsuki Kiryuin, will defy you and everything you stand for!" she said.
She looked Ragyo dead in the eye, and pressed the top of what she held. There was a rapid increase in volume first. High temperatures, an extreme release of gases. Worse was how loud. Not as much the expanding heat. All of their innards jumped at it. There were screams coming from close by and a ways off from the grounds walls. A section of the academy gone in a flash Honno City's remaining citizens either ran for their lives, or were already lost.
x.x.x
. . . TWELVE DAYS LATER . . .
A chamber in Honnoji Academy prepared just for her wasn't tangible. She didn't see the silken fibers sewn into her skin jutting from every part of her nakedness to keep her docile.
"Why does it feel so ...?"
"Exquisite. It is a pleasure only you, Nui, and I can experience. A full synchronization with the Life Fibers. Junketsu was always yours, my dear. Only you can draw out its true potential."
"I can?"
The images on repeat weren't quick to change. What she knew before was a lie. Her mother was caring, devoted to raising her, to protecting her, everything a mother should be. Everywhere around her had a velvet's gloss but what mattered most was seeing her life flash before her eyes. Its climax was her best friend waiting at an altar. When she glanced to her cleavage she was draped in the perfect linen; her off the shoulder dress white as a dove's feathers, elegant, otherworldly. She made sure to hold a bouquet of flowers with colors she never knew existed. She left her veil alone, but she could see him waiting through it. Watering eyes couldn't stop her feet.
"This is true happiness," she said.
"Of course. Only the best for my daughter."
She walked the aisle not caring that no one else was present because her groom was grinning in his all white tuxedo. Finding his side she kept her attention on him hoping he would speak.
"There she is," he said. "It's okay Ryuko. You can say it."
"... Life Fiber Override: Kamui Junketsu ..."
As the blinding flash was too much she shut off her view of it, and when she didn't, she saw eye to eye with the beginning of dusk. The highest point in the academy that was the former Student Council President's tower. Her armor covered the soft chest pressing it, left her firm midriff bare, like the unwrinkled hakama attached to leg segments exposing the sides of her thighs, it was perfect. Blue highlights reached from her hair ends to the red fringe.
"Find your sister," her mother fondled her cheek. "Make her and her allies suffer for their ignorance."
"I will, mother," she kissed her hand.
Her taking off blew the dust from her feet with the lighter garments on those present.
Her mother kept her stare on how she rode the wind until she couldn't. "... Nui."
"It will be ready soon, Mistress," Nui peeked from behind her to gush. "Junketsu looks incredible on her. Super chic!"
"We knew it would," Ragyo's cunning smile spread over her face.
x.x.x
"... It taste's fine," she said.
"I hope so, Milady," he bowed unable to contain himself.
Despite their surroundings her survival warmed his heart. She opened her eyes to see the Naked Sol's combat information center; a black steel reminder too gloomy with its large, digitized maps providing the only light source. She and Inumuta had a seat while Mikisugi and Tsumugu stood ahead of hers. When she looked Inumuta's ammo holsters and neck protection weren't unlike her dark trench coat. The change in style wasn't a choice.
"Inumuta," she kept her legs crossed.
"Singapore and Kazakhstan were tallied last. Revocs is now the supplier for one-hundred percent of the world's apparel market," he typed and the upgrades to his laptop left its display crisper. "It's been over a week, Lady Satsuki. Maybe we can't rely on him anymore."
"And with Ryuko captured, you're our best bet. Word is you can fly without a Kamui? We're still wrapping our head around that," Mikisugi kept his eye on her which wasn't a bother.
Satsuki let Soroi take her teacup and its saucer to stand. Beeps joined the clicks of Inumuta's fingers jumping across his computer's keyboard. They all waited to hear her say it.
"Son and I learned it to be called Bukujutsu, in our youth. The harsher truth is that he and Ryuko are in a completely different league now. If the worst has happened Senketsu and I may not be enough. We need him. I need him."
"Milady," Soroi said.
He didn't expect to see her assure him with kindness. "Don't worry. I've made peace with it. However. Sentimentality is a distraction we cannot afford."
As she stopped herself Tsumugu was the first to sigh for feeling powerless, his arms crossed, attention elsewhere. Mikisugi let him be to follow Satsuki's accepting two tools.
"Bakuzan-Gako and Bakuzan-Koryo. Repurposed per your request," Inumuta lowered his head with his hands out.
"Remind me to thank Iori later," Satsuki said interested in her weapon's two shorter-longer molds.
"You have a plan?" Mikisugi asked.
"I do," she said. "Let's hope she knows where to look."
Helping her relax was knowing that her combat boots also lacked Life Fibers. The temporary freedom from them was its own reward.
x.x.x
"C'mon Mako. It's up to you to find him! For Ryuko! For Senketsu! For everybody!"
Talking to herself and her scooter made it go no faster. The irony was it moving with no sputter. She stood over its seat gripping its handles too hard but she knew where she was headed. She almost sped past a mansion's ruins stomping the brake as that was her stop. Throwing her scooter aside she hopped from it jogging to where the front door used to be.
"Son!" she called through cupped hands. "Where are you?!"
Birds chirping, forested mountains some ways from it, it was all she would get. As she walked an interior with no walls the eerie quiet didn't reassure her.
"We need you," she said.
Whatever was under her shoved away from her buckled shoes. She couldn't walk on air even if she grabbed for it.
"W-W-Waaahhhh!" she squealed on the fall.
Curled up in a ball death wasn't so painful. When she tried peeking she realized the hard yet comfortable cushion were his limbs and not the afterlife.
"Mako?" her rescuer raised his brow. "You drove all the way here by yourself?"
"I had to!" she reached to wring his neck.
Setting her on her feet was no small thing as she wouldn't let him go. Her presence, and her wearing her sailor fuku with the long socks when she shouldn't be, set him aback.
"What are you doing you big dope? It's been over a week!" she got on his case.
He looked to piles of debris taller than they were. It was familiar. An escape. "I promised the old timer I'd look after her. Couldn't even do that right. Ryuko let herself get kidnapped, Mako. She doesn't trust us. I don't blame her."
Mako let him speak. Light beaming through the lab's trap door hit his not being himself. An odorless stench wasn't her focus, he was, and he stepped away from her with his back turned.
"I thought I was ready. I was wrong," he said lifting his hand to check.
When he spun to her determination, her arms were raised, crossed at her wrists.
"That's a load of hogwash! You and Ryuko never quit. You're her guy and she's your girl. A cute couple I'd ship in a heartbeat! All this time she's gotten stronger because YOU'VE gotten stronger! Senketsu too! And what about Satsuki?! Gonna keep pretending there's nothing there when there COULD be?! The Son I know wouldn't run from a challenge! He isn't emo! He doesn't mope around in the dark! He gives one hundred percent effort every time or nothing at all! That's just who he is! Who he is! Who he is! WHO HE IS!"
Son had no words for how she could do so much in one breath. Mako in his face and staying there, he struggled mostly with truth, what he often repressed.
"... And if I let you guys down again?" he stared at anything but her.
"You're the only one saying you let us down!" she puffed her cheeks out.
{She's right, Son.}
It clicking in his mind wasn't just his hearing what wasn't there.
"Senketsu. I can hear you?!" he nearly shouted, glancing everywhere he could. "You nearby?"
{No. I'm on the Naked Sol. Everything Mako told you is true. We are stronger. They need you now. More than ever!}
Son quit his hunching to scratch at his scalp. He needed his moment, but was sick of thinking.
He upturned his knuckles cracking the harder he squeezed his fingers together. "All right."
His gi, knitted cuffs, tied in a knot obi, and undershirt were considered by the one person there to see it. He held a hand out but she clung to his arm instead.
"I'm all set!" she said.
"... Me too," he believed her. "Senketsu. Can you and Satsuki hold her off until I get there?"
{That's the plan. However. We cannot fully synchronize.}
"I expected as much. Do what you can," he said and by then they were moving forward and not higher.
Mako clutched his waist with her thighs pulling on the second collar behind his neck to hold on tight.
"Yahooooo! Flying is so awesome! Up, up and away!" she reveled in it.
"Hehe. I owe you another one, Mako," he thought to smile.
He wanted to prove why, to hasten it, turning into his barrel roles to keep her eager.
x.x.x
Satsuki couldn't fret bad vibes. It wasn't because she wore Senketsu with the matching glove that would feed him her blood. COVERS weren't there to get in the way anymore. Her Bakuzan gripped in two hands instead of one she heard the blue in the sky tearing apart. Getting a feel for what was close was smart. Only she could. She had the Naked Sol's spacious deck as a stage thanking her good fortune that it was cleared.
"Here she comes," she said. "Mister Mikisugi. Keep your people below the main deck."
*Copy that. We've got you covered.*
{I know you can't hear me...but I'm with you, Satsuki.}
She couldn't hear him, or acted like she couldn't, glancing to how short the miniskirt snagged by the suspenders was, then the scarf that wasn't hers as it was looking right at her.
"Lend me your strength, Senketsu," she whispered.
Taking the hook from her glove the needle stabbing wasn't grievous. Everything about the transformation was familiar, yet different. As she gracefully twirled to her feet she hoped the boost was genuine.
"Life Fiber Synchronize: Kamui Senketsu!"
Ryuko's aggressive landing creased steel, twisting it. Her pointed shoulder pads stood up with her to copy how she leered.
"... Traitor. I always knew you were an unfaithful rat," she said.
{You've left me no choice, Ryuko!}
Her smirk was for no one but Satsuki there to greet her.
"Hiding like the losers they are. It doesn't matter. I'll deal with their princess first," she threatened, dragging out her approach. "Hear that princess? That's soon to be death getting closer."
"Matoi. Know this. I can't be beaten by a silly girl being worn by her Kamui!" Satsuki kept her cool. "This is for your own good! Senketsu Senjin!"
Ryuko watched the spikes line Senketsu's edges as Satsuki's dash shifted to break her line of sight. She turned to swing the protrusions coating her form and her blades in tandem, the intent to kill. Taking her back she drove her along her heels cutting through the deck until Ryuko thought they should stop.
"Is that all?!" she swung her blade's handle into her neck.
"Rahnn!" Satsuki's face slammed into the knee raised to catch it.
Rolling to avoid her swipe they traded a spin of tries ending as a resounding clash. Knocked from the burst between them Satsuki's body tensed for her strain being unique. She didn't notice the gash over her eye, nor its dripping to her chin.
"Where's the high and mighty shtick? The twenty minute speeches about shit that doesn't matter?" Ryuko flashed her teeth dropping her blade's tip to flick the blood from it.
She wagged her finger, leaning her head. "I'm waiting."
Enveloped in flame the sudden blast wasn't heavier than a helicopter's sudden arrival. Satsuki glanced to see three of her Elite Four dressed like Nudist agents as they rappelled with the tools they would use.
"Lady Satsuki will not fall here, Matoi!" Gamagori led the assault.
When Nonon found the time to find a skull painted beanie, Sanageyama his ribbed gauntlets she didn't question, and couldn't. Ryuko was making her way through the smoke, unscathed.
"You think a missile is gonna do it? Humans are so pathetic," she said.
When she moved it was faster than lightning. Her instant impact against Satsuki's blades tossed the barrier Nonon, Sanageyama, and Gamagori tried to be. They opened fire, muzzles flashing to do nothing. Ryuko gladly took the punishment ricocheting from her.
"Annoying pests!" she swung her blade in their direction.
Watching her allies blown back as the unseen parted the clouds her fist jammed Satsuki's middle. Before she could fall with the breath snatched from her Ryuko yanked her by her hair.
{Stop this, Ryuko! Right now!}
"Or what traitor?!" she spun to shout once.
Satsuki's uncontrolled travel whistling she met the highest point of the ship's hull back first. She had the ire to cross her swords as Ryuko was there. Wherever she looked she was there. Turning over her swapped their positions. For her mistake she received two, midair boots, one against her chest, the other across her jaw. Sent to the deck again she tumbled the length of it stopping hard from a slide to the bow. As her eyes clenched she heard Ryuko's blade stab next to her skull. She set one of her white heels between her bosom to stop her getting up.
"You look better on your back," she mocked.
That was before she noticed the nicked orbs rolling to a halt, and their detonation. Tsumugu's trap allowed Satsuki a chance to create some space. She carried herself from the sulfur fumes, spat blood like it was irrelevant.
"She's unstoppable," she kept her guard raised. "Everyone."
"Here, Lady Satsuki!"
"Here, Lady Satsuki!"
"Here, Lady Satsuki!"
Her gaze never moved for Gamagori, Nonon, and Sanageyama staying put.
"I want you to join the Nudists below deck," she pleaded.
"Not a chance! I am and always will be your impenetrable shield! Ryuko Matoi! If you want her you'll have to kill us all first!" Gamagori blocked the way.
Nonon cocked the slide of her smg to aim it, leaning to his right, as Sanageyama readied another at his left.
"Ira always knew how to yell his point like a lunatic," Nonon ribbed.
"In other words, chill out or we chill you out, Matoi!" Sanageyama was as rowdy.
"... Teenagers," Tsumugu flicked a cigarette butt, revealing a rifle's heft he didn't slack for.
He pulled its longer hammer into its emptied slot.
"Tch. It's never ending with you assholes," Ryuko scoffed.
"That's the humanity you sacrificed. Our true strength. I thought you of all people understood that!" Satsuki rebuked her.
At first Ryuko appeared to their right, then their left, then up then down then in front. One nonchalant wave of her arm sent everyone but Satsuki from a gust strong enough to dent the metal of the upper deck they were hurled to.
"Go to sleep princess. Permanently!"
She used two hands to draw her blade back. Watching it unfold and extend Satsuki noticed Senketsu reverting.
"Senketsu!" her eyes widened for his softer state.
{ ... }
"HOIYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ryuko swung it down like she thought to cut what they stood on in two.
Contact was too clamorous, too much on a solid, flat surface forced to curve in until it parted. Waves tossed around the Naked Sol didn't drown it when they crashed over top its intimidating breadth. The sea calmed with the atmosphere. Ryuko expected to see a red smear and pieces of cloth but her arms shaking was the resistance stopping her attempt. It stood with her blade in his hand and a scowl that caused her shudder.
"What?!" she gasped.
"That's enough, Ryuko," he frowned.
As Mako was on the approach Satsuki stopped her.
"Stay back Mako!" she reached a hand in her path.
Mako hesitated, but she could see her eyes when Satsuki's head slowly shook. They had to settle for awe at Son's garb waving with his hair, the heat he emitted matching Ryuko's, merging with it.
"Y-you think I care that you showed up?! You're just another monster. A freak! It's all we are. It's all we'll ever be!" she raved.
Son didn't care for the red eye liner darkening the space around how exhausted she looked. His hand cooked the longer he chose to not let her weapon go. When he shot up he took her with him. He noticed she let it fall into Satsuki's jumping to catch it. Her stare rose for the result she couldn't witness.
"... You were supposed to be the one I could trust! The one I could always rely on!" Ryuko went off slamming everything but his face with her fists. "You're just like them! You AND Senketsu! COWARDS THAT KEEP SECRETS IF IT MEANS SAVING FACE!"
He had to adapt on the fly. She was faster. Able to call upon dizzying motion when she needed but what he focused on most weren't the small pops altering the pressure around them. It was her watering gaze. Vapor circled their hitting each other, tapering off, then meeting to do it again. When he caught her hands, it hurt. Ryuko grit her teeth and struggled to free herself.
"Say something. SAY SOMETHING YOU SON OF A BITCH! LET ME HEAR THE BULLSHIT EXCUSE!"
Son let her frantic reaction go for as long as was needed.
"... I'm sorry," he said.
"Let me go! LET ME GOOOO!"
{Now, Son!}
When he struck her chest it knocked any animation from her negating sound as the sphere around them dispersed like it never formed. They were too far gone for anyone to catch her tears. She froze with her mouth open, but she wasn't breathing. When she could hear again, she remembered, she remembered where she was, what she was doing. She understood what she was wearing. Arms hanging by his sides in the distance his non expression weighed on the guilt hitting her all at once. She choked up.
" ... "
"Wow. It worked," he watched his hand like he couldn't believe it.
"It?" she finally relaxed.
"Senketsu's idea," he told her. "He thought I'd only need one blow against the right spot at the right moment."
The mere thought of Junketsu still clinging to her made her nauseous.
"... You gonna take that thing off or what?" he reminded her.
She gawked like he made no sense. Pulling at her depowered top wasn't easy. Aware of her skin tearing, she wanted to grit and bear it.
"I don't...care if I...die trying," she strained never feeling pain like it. "Get...the hell...offa...MEEEEAAAAAAA!"
Harder segments the last to go snapped from her effort leaving her stark naked. Her healing quick, natural, what was left fell away, she could push herself into his arms. He closed them around the small of her back and pulled.
"... I can't believe that hag forced me to wear it," she sniffled, struggling with the lump in her throat.
"Me neither. It wasn't really your color," he made light, glad to hear how she sometimes snorted when she chuckled.
Her arms around his neck she wanted the guarantee. Pressing her head to his wasn't it. He thumbed away the wetness trapping dirt bits from her face. As they had the heavens to themselves her palms grazed his cheeks, he let her lips touch his. Her brow furrowed because it didn't happen enough for their tastes. Taking in air shunned she thought his technique improved but blamed it on their just doing instead of thinking. They were done with thinking.
x.x.x
It wasn't enough to just close her eyes for how it turned her on. She savored its heat, basked in its taking whatever it wanted. Animated strands thicker than water hoses sucked in anything it could, some of them clinging to the people that once served her without question, some of them attracted to living white suits no longer functioning. What was once so large it dwarfed any chill the space had its heart was greedier. She could see his glowing brighter than the stars beyond her privacy.
"Mistress Ragyoooo!" her butlers and handmaidens shrieked their last, dragged away, the flesh tearing from their bones the closer they got to it.
In love with not just the silk of her evening gown to press the matter the coliseum hiding it shook. Her object of worship changed; split open like a popped pimple to leak something alive all over damp flooring. It was reluctant to drop a man on fire. The rest of it drifting higher the ceiling gave when it did, but it stayed put at her whim, and she stood tall in her high heels, afraid of nothing. His rejuvenated skin lost its color left ashen in a way that most would mistake him for dead.
"... R-Ragy-yo," he tried to mumble able to press muscly weight he remembered to his scarred hands and knees.
He vomited some of the clear fluid he swallowed. When he reached for her, she was there.
"Here," she kneeled to ruin her dress.
Trapping his head between her palms, studying it like it was a prized possession, she waited for his breathing to even out. She wanted to be sure. His wet tail wagging once, she let him touch her face, which ended with his hand squeezing her neck and her biting her lower lip satisfied with how intense his grip could be. He let her go so she could wipe the gunk from his eyes, both deep set, dark. Of all things, to match her enthusiasm, he offered the faintest grin.