Scene Five: The Timeless One

(Ryoku's POV)

I dreamt of waking several times. Often it was blurry and confused, or waking before some kingly man or Pokemon who served to heal my wounds. Each time, my friends weren't there. I would look around at all the unfamiliar faces, seeking out the fire of Sira's red hair or Will's easy smile, but never found it. The people around me loved me, promising I would never be hurt if I stayed with them. There was no Will, Sira, Lusari, Loki, Snacks, Glimmer, or anyone else though, so I could never agree.

When I finally woke to Will's worried, sky-colored eyes, I meant to sigh in relief. Instead, I shot up as pain seized my chest, piercing my lungs.

"Easy, Ryoku," Will reassured me, easing me back to the ground. I felt a soft blanket beneath me, but the ground below was hard and cold. "Your injuries are not entirely gone. I do not understand it, but some must be treated while you are awake. You… are awake, yes?"

I didn't register his words for a moment, occupied by realizing my surroundings. We sat in a cellar with the iron gate ajar. A shade-covered bucket sat in the corner. I only wore my pants and the bandages spanning my chest, where I could feel the lingering pain of my wounds. However, blood didn't soak through them yet.

Will dressed oddly, too. He wore an all-black outfit of a tunic with pants and long sleeves currently pushed up his arms. His lance and gladius were absent, as were his Pokeballs. A jagged cut on his cheek was beginning to heal. Just how long had I been out?

Will nudged me, so I replied. "Yeah, I'm here," I replied, and my voice came weak. "Where are we? Where are Snacks? Glimmer? Sira? What is this cellar? What happened after-?"

"Perhaps one question at a time, my friend?" He offered me a small smile. "I apologize for your lodgings, as like the master of the castle will as well. Your injuries impacted your progression into nearly becoming a Lycanthren. This chamber was a precaution in case you turned. Luckily, that particular toxin seems to be out of your system."

A chill ran down my spine. As much as I felt for the Lycanthren, I didn't particularly plan to join them. "And I suppose the Lycanthren don't get waterbeds," I said sourly.

Will handed me a change of clothes, ones quite similar to his. He turned away as I changed, and I asked him questions about the place. "Who is the Timeless One?" I asked. "How did we get here? Is everyone else okay?

He wouldn't answer in detail. "You will meet him momentarily. And everyone is fine. You will surely hear the tale soon."

I grunted my annoyance, but finished changing. Will helped me rise. For a moment, looking at Will with his hand outstretched, I remembered the more cheerful Will I met in Harohto. Here in the realm torn by Lycanthren and vampires, Will seemed to react badly to the dark atmosphere and lack of sun. His skin almost looked sickly, and I wondered if he was okay. I wondered how well the friendly soldier could handle potential hostility from every passerby, as seemed the norm for a human in this place.

The moment passed when I got to my feet, and replaced when my stomach churned violently, and I retreated to the pail in the corner to vomit bile. Will rubbed my back, waiting patiently for me to recover enough to walk again. I felt relieved when he closed the cellar door behind us.

"You look like shit."

Her voice came to me unmistakably. I turned, excited, to see Sira leaning against the wall just out of my chamber. If we'd spoken a word about her, she'd have heard it. I grimaced at her, stumbling along behind Will, and her eyes softened a little. She'd changed since we met, I realized, or I misunderstood her greatly. She was kind, even though it was a fact about herself she shoved far within. From helping a stranger through the forest for two days, to later waiting outside the same boy's cellar door for who-knows-how-long. Was I growing on her like she grew on me?

"Thanks," I replied sarcastically. She liked sarcasm.

Sira wore the same style of tunic as Will, and now me, and it fit her curves nicely. As she unfurled her crossed arms, I caught her wince. She had difficulty moving her right shoulder. Almost forgetting my own injuries, I stepped toward her. She flinched, like a dog reacting to traumatic behaviors. The movement from her surprised me, and I stopped in my tracks, swaying dangerously without support.

Now that I looked at her, the shoulder wasn't all. Cuts and scrapes lined her arms, though many were healing and scarring at this point. "My arm?" she asked dully, though her eyes remained like shields. "Minor skirmish involved in getting your ass here. No big deal, really, but we sorta got our asses handed to us. Nothing compared to you, though." She brightened a little when she saw my expression. "Don't fret. We're all fine. Snacks, Glimmer, and your Rockruff are all healed. You will be, too, before long. So stop giving me that dumb look, Slowpoke."

I screwed up my face in reply, but stumbled, and Sira put her good arm around my shoulder. She was taller than me, and such a notion felt odd from her. "Come on, now," she murmured. "The old bat who lives here says you need to be awake for the last step. If you fall down and crack your skull, then you might end up a brain-damaged Lycanthren. A regular one, I could handle."

As we started walking, Will walked next to me, watching in case I needed any added support. "The Timeless One already says he knew us, by the way. A weird fellow, but he is the guardian of the Psychic Stone."

"Cleria has a shard of it, too," Sira added, a definite note of distaste hanging in her voice. "She came with us. Stood up against the vampires, too. Claims its no big deal, that noble vamps can do what they want without many repercussions. I call bullshit."

I laughed, picturing Cleria saying such a thing, but the act of laughing unintentionally made me double over in pain. Sira's arm tightened into my shoulders, and I practically fell into her. "Be careful, dumbass," she muttered. To my shock, I felt something soft brush against my temple. I glanced up at her, but she returned her fiery eyes ahead like death itself awaited us. Will, on the other hand, flashed me a grin like he just found his Christmas presents early.

We ascended a flight of stairs very slowly. Will and Sira both had to help me climb them. At a second flight, Sira sighed and threw me onto her back. I cried about her shoulder, but she called me less than a sack of potatoes. I could only smirk.

At the end of the steps awaited a set of large oaken doors, big enough that Sira and Will could stand on each other's shoulders and still enter the room without stooping. Looking at us, Will jogged ahead to push on the great doors. A pair of vampires in black tunics appeared from somewhere down the hall to help Will.

As soon as there was enough room, three figures immediately pushed their way through. Snacks led the way first, but she appeared in a different form: she walked as an Umbreon, but where her markings would normally be gold, they were scarlet. A bandage was wrapped around one of her ears and forearms, but they didn't seem to inhibit her as she charged into my arms, knocking me squarely to the ground. She weighed significantly more than she did as an Eevee, stepping on my stomach but avoiding my wounds.

Glimmer came around to my side, instantly nuzzling her wooly head against mine in a way that sent sparks shooting down my spine. Her chest, head, and tail were all wrapped in bandages, too. Only the third hung back, somewhat hesitant: the Rockruff I'd caught earlier. It stared at me with luminescent green eyes, no doubt trying to get a read on me. Its shoulder remained wrapped in bandages, too.

"Come now, you lot," Will chastised them, herding Snacks off my chest while Sira helped me to my feet. "Your friend is still gravely hurt. Do not stress him out now, or you may have to become Sira's Pokemon."

All three instantly snapped to attention like Will threatened them with a belt. Snacks led the way into the room, walking with her legs pin-straight like she modeled excellent behavior. Glimmer, to my shock, helped open the doors fully, and I looked into a large, rectangular room that opened ahead of us.

Torches lined nearly every crook in the wall of this chamber. I thought there was no ceiling above us, but I dimly noted the reflection of torchlight on what seemed to be a large glass dome sheltering us. The sky beyond showed sheer darkness – I always expected to see rock outcroppings above to tell we were underground, but it was only blackness.

A long table split the room in half, attended by many vampires, their pale skins and black clothes like a scene from an old movie. With a start, I realized many of them were children, younger than any of us. I picked out Loki's golden hair near the head of the table, sitting with Lusari, Rex, and Cleria, all in the black tunics we also wore. They chatted with a bespectacled vampire, the only one in the room who wore anything but the standard black tunic – his had a white coat over it. Of all the vampires in the room I hadn't met, he was the only one who flashed me a friendly smile, adjusting his glasses meekly. I figured this must be the Timeless One.

At a set of foodbowls, I spotted Rocky and Blaze chowing down on some food. Valor sat upon the back of an empty chair with a regal presence – presumably Will's. Infernix, Embera, and Shadowfang all joined the mealtime gathering, Infernix's flames casting a subtle glow over the area. Loki's Solaris and Sunburst – his Heliolisk – were with them as well, while his Rotom, Gizmo, buzzed on his shoulder. Starlight was seated in Lusari's lap as usual, while Snowball rushed around the room at a snail's pace.

Those weren't the only Pokemon in the room, though. I spotted, to my brief alarm, another greenish Lycanroc, though it looked tamer than the Lycanthren and walked on all fours. Like the Rockruff I caught, it showed signs of being a grass-type as well. It reclined gracefully on a cushion near Rex's feet, its vigilant eyes taking me in as I entered. Near it was a serene-looking Absol, sitting and watching my arrival with intelligent black eyes. Its curved-moon horn glistened in the torchlight ominously. I almost missed the sight of a regal-looking Noivern perched higher up in the room, its talons clutching a chandelier near the glass heights of the room. Its wings kept folded in a relaxed manner, occasionally letting out low-pitched, soothing noises, almost like hoots.

A Misdreavus floated near Cleria, its transparent form occasionally shimmering as it inspected various objects on the table, curious about the room. Near it popped out a Haunter, trying to scare a stony-faced vampire with an impish grin on its face, sticking out its large tongue. A Lopunny leaned on the back of Cleria's chair, too, gracefully grooming its fluffy ears.

My friends all stood at my arrival. Lusari still had difficulty rising, carrying Starlight, who also looked exhausted.

"The old vampire was right," Loki breathed, sounding surprised. "You've woken. At long last, my friend. It is great to see you alive and well."

"'Well' might be an overstatement," Sira remarked icily, scanning the room as Infernix strutted to her side. "The hell is—?"

"Welcome, Ryoku Dragontalen!"

A booming voice came from the head of the table. I wasn't the only one to jump, thankfully. Sira swore, adjusting me as I stumbled at her side.

"Welcome, at last and in proper, to the Timeless Castle!" the disembodied voice continued. The bespectacled vampire near the head of the table gave me an amused look, but his lips weren't moving. He wasn't the speaker. Some of the booming quality to the voice faded, and it continued in a manner that was much… squeakier. "Here, I am in your care, my friend."

As I stared at the empty spot at the head of the table, confused, a head popped into view alongside three Pokemon. The figure looked old, but with skin paper-white and as smooth-looking as velvet. The collar of his own black tunic popped to frame from a thin neck, and a wide-rimmed top hat accented the peak of his head, where wispy white hair curled out in short cascades. His eyes appeared white as fog, which left me blinking, stunned, for a long moment.

The three Pokemon surrounding him were unmistakably psychic-types, and probably the reason I hadn't seen him first. Closest to him was a regal Xatu, its eyes golden, black-and-gold wings folded carefully before it. Adjacent to it floated a large, bearded Alakazam, arms extended tranquilly at its sides, and five silver spoons floated unmoving between its hands.

The third took me some time to identify as possibly being related to a Sigilyph, but it far greater resembled a bird. It had a long black head with one narrowed green eye, its wings starting gold and spanning into red and blue shades. Mysterious green symbols were etched onto its belly, and, as it flapped its wings, I saw it had bird-like feet and a long pluming tail.

The bespectacled vampire cleared his throat into the silence. "I believe he meant to say, 'you are in my care here'," he suggested, adjusting his glasses. He was much younger than the little vampire, his smile brighter. His wavy brown hair was only a little longer than average and well-groomed. I couldn't pick out what Pokemon might be his from around the room, but he still had a few Pokeballs at his belt I could see under his coat. He smiled politely when he spotted my searching gaze. "Forgive my master – his brain seems a little scattered these days. Such is my main role as his assistant, to correct his speech blunders where they may get him in trouble. My name is Relus Ashbane. It's a pleasure to finally meet the awakened Ryoku Dragontalen."

"Um, you as well," I replied, a little alarmed. "Forgive me, but…"

"How do your names know us?" the Timeless One guessed. "How could they not? You are the visage of Ryoku Dragontalen. The color of your hair is a little odd, yes, but those eyes are unmistakable. You are he, the Guardian of the Stones! But…" His expression fell, and I thought it looked like an extra layer of fog passed his eyes. "Now is not the time for such praise. You are awake, and yet injured. Come. I must see to your wounds properly."

I gave Sira an apprehensive look. She only shook her head in a slight way, and she and Will led me forward to the Timeless One's side while my friends found their seats once more. I felt horribly uneasy. Nothing about the little vampire, even his three fully-evolved psychic Pokemon, came off as remotely unfriendly. Rather, he seemed quite friendly. But the scenario still made my stomach lurch. What did he mean?

"There are plenty of matters to discuss with you once you are properly healed," the vampire told me placidly. "Simply put, this must come first. Um, you, with the fire dog and the fire hair and the fire… yes, you. Would you kindly remove his bandages?"

Sira glowered at him. "Why me?" she muttered, but she obeyed nonetheless.

"Now, I hear you are searching for answers from your past," the old vampire told me as Sira finished unraveling the bandages. I tried not to stare at the wound I felt there, raw from the removal of bandages stuck to it, but it didn't seem to bleed anew. He studied it intently – at least, he appeared to, given his lack of visible pupils. "You seek to see the elemental stones, yes?"

Surprised, I nodded. I guessed any of my friends could've mentioned what we were here for.

"And you grow wary of the emperor of Orden," the Timeless One said gravely. "The emperor gathers shards to further his conquest, a reunition of the realms. In addition to gathering stone shards, he seeks the destruction of their original stones. A shattered world is easier to bring to kneel."

I didn't take this news lightly. "Destruction of the stones…?"

"Correct," he announced. He leapt from his tall chair and directly onto the table, where he could better place his hand on my chest. His Xatu followed him dutifully, wings folded. Only Relus didn't appear surprised by his master, but rather politely tolerant. Even standing upon the table, he was hardly taller than anyone seated. "Orden is quite a dangerous place, and renowned for the fact. They're hardly quiet about their intentions, my dear boy. Destroying the stones would have widespread effects. As there's but one source stone per element, catastrophe would ensue if they were destroyed – even striking one in an unnatural way can have dire effects. Some do not exist as they did long ago. Were I wiser and braver in my youth, I suppose I could have prevented some of their current state. As they say, life's tragedy is that we get old too late, and wise too soon."

Like clockwork, Relus cleared his throat. "I believe you meant, 'we get old too soon, and wise too late', sir," Relus said without a note of exhaustion to his voice. To my friends, under his breath, he added, "It is quite worse when we have rare guests. My master does get so frazzled."

The Timeless One raised a single finger of his off hand, which clutched a short, thick black staff. "Don't listen to him," he said directly to me. "I am no master, as they are not my slaves. Poor young Rex, Cleria, Relus. They are but strays I have taken in. They are free to come and go as they please. They are lost souls, ones who needed a guiding hand. They are my apprentices, nothing more." He smiled in a certain way that felt familiar. "Either way, enough about me. Yes, Orden is a dark and terrible place – it's no small wonder that they seek the stones! But why, that is the true question."

An abrupt movement occurred beside me. Without so much as a glance, Sira tore her arm from my grip and marched off, headed to one of the doors behind where the Timeless One's Pokemon gathered. The door nearly slammed off its hinges with the force she slammed it with, leaving the rest of us in a terribly silent room. Infernix sat near me, whimpering quietly. Embera and Shadowfang, too, stopped eating to stare at the door.

"Oh my," the Timeless One murmured. "I must have offended her with our topic. My apologies."

I stared after the door she disappeared through, and the Timeless One's Xatu lifted its head in an odd way. The Timeless One glanced at his Pokemon, a brow raised in alarm. "Oh dear – a significant response indeed! I do hope you understand, my Xatu feels that emotion of yours quite strongly. Why, we cannot heal you under this condition. Surely a deep and powerful emotion from the Guardian of the Stones!"

I barely heard him. Somehow, I felt I understood Sira in a way I couldn't relay to the others. She came from a place twisted and defiled by corruption. Perhaps hearing about her home pushed her off the edge. Even if it was a dark place, she must have family and friends there nonchalantly clumped together with the terrible things we said. Kioru was from there too, of course. Could a whole world possibly be evil?

"You must go speak with her, my Pidgey," the Timeless One reassured me, removing his hand from my chest. "You are stable with my magic, but Xatu is an emotions-based Pokemon. I sense you can resolve the turmoil in your heart." His eyes got a distant, cloudy sort of look to them. "Perhaps in another life, you two could have made dutiful apprentices of mine."

"Yes, do go speak with her," Loki agreed, though his words weren't as kind. If I didn't think better, I wondered if he spoke with distaste. He rose and put a hand on the Timeless One's small shoulder. "Perhaps we could share a word as well? Something may have just arisen which we should discuss, as colleagues."

I watched him with a bit of suspicion. First he didn't trust the Timeless One, now he called him a colleague?

"Your wound shall stay safely sealed until my Xatu can attend to it," the Timeless One assured me, "unless you land yourself in some truly impressive fight in the next room."

I smirked halfheartedly. "That isn't entirely unlikely," I murmured. I stepped back, testing my ability to walk on my own – Will gave me an approving nod, like I went with his blessing. I supposed even if 'my emotions' didn't interrupt Xatu, I still might be the best choice to talk to Sira, even if I didn't fully understand why she stormed off. She and Will were close, but I wondered just how much of her brokenness Will could understand. Loki didn't seem to like her, and Lusari appeared impassive. Sighing to nobody in particular, I excused myself to head for the door Sira left through.

Snacks, Glimmer, and the small Rockruff made to follow me, but I knelt to encourage them that I would be back shortly. The Rockruff stared at me curiously. I thought, as I rose back to my feet, that I should see to finding a name for him.

I found myself entering what looked like an abandoned kitchen. Everything seemed caked in dust, cleared only in a certain explosive radius around the door. Ancient-looking kitchen equipment littered the area. I spotted an old range with elements that looked untouched for decades. A large cleaver and a row of sharp knives barely caught the dim torchlight reflected from the room behind me, until I locsed the door and settled in darkness.

I saw Sira at the far end of the room, facing the wall, hands balled in tight fists. Was I really going to try and talk to her now? With all these sharp knives around?

I summoned any ounce of courage left in my chest, and approached. She didn't look like she heard me until I stood close.

"Sira?" I asked softly.

She didn't stir for a moment. "I thought you'd follow me." Her voice sounded hollow.

I considered my words carefully before I spoke. After all, even with all the dust, there was more than enough to make Ryoku-sushi in here.

"I was worried about you."

She scoffed, making me flinch. "The hell should you be worried about me for?" Before I could reply, she laughed softly to herself. "That'd be quite the turn of events. You worryin' about me for once. Not me, scared to death over your dumb ass."

I scowled at her even though she wasn't looking. "I worry about you plenty," I insisted. "When we fought those raiders, those stupid thugs in the Capital, the Lycanthren… Sira, you charge in without thinking. Without Infernix and your Pokemon, you could get hurt so easily. We've come close so much. I need to get stronger so you don't have to fight for me so much."

She chuckled again – I thought it sounded less cynical, but that might just be the tone leading to Ryoku-sushi. "You know you've probably gotten hurt every time, right?" she remarked dryly. "Each one of those times. You damned near drowned first time we met. Came face-to-face with that Keeper more than once. Tried to take on thugs alongside your Pokemon." A thought seemed to occur to her, and her fingers twitched. "Hey, you lost somebody like that, didn't you? To something damned simple. Unexpected."

I automatically nodded, but I wasn't sure I knew why. I didn't even think about how she was facing away from me, but my silence seemed to speak for me, and she made a dissatisfied noise. "I'm made of stronger stuff than most people. Don't worry about me. I'm used to takin' people's shit."

"You shouldn't have to," I remarked. "We're a team – you, me, Will, Loki, and Lusari. Maybe Rex and Cleria, too. All of our Pokemon. We can fight for each other, support each other. Not that I can do too much, yet, but we'll see. Snacks and Glimmer are strong. I just need to get stronger alongside them and prove my worth."

She stiffened. I froze, wondering if I'd struck some kind of nerve. I did tend to ramble.

"You really don't think you're anything special, do you?" she asked softly.

Finally, slowly, she turned around. I had to prevent my jaw from dropping – tears streaked down her cheeks, cutting paths through her light makeup, dripping softly from her blazing eyes. I felt my breath catch in my chest.

"You think I left cause of some good ol' Orden shit-talking? Fat chance. I hate Orden – everything they say about it is right. It's why I left. Ran away with Infernix and the clothes on my back. To protect the stone, right? Nah. To protect myself. He beat the shit out of me, kid. Damn near killed me. You saw my scar, you know.

"But you know what I did?" She scoffed to herself a little, and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. "I said I could go back. I said I'd go there with your stupid ass, Ryoku fucking Dragontalen. I spent days carting you from Gaevrel all the way here. Your stupid wounds kept reopening. Snacks and Glimmer wouldn't leave your side no matter what. If I dropped you, I think they'd've tried to pick you up themselves. You remember what your dumb ass did back in Gaevrel, trying to stand up to fucking vampires? You probably don't, cause your stupid wounds reopened, and you almost got yourself fucking killed. Again!

"Then I had to fucking give you up." Her voice broke as she spoke. I almost empathized with her, except she was talking about me and I didn't even fully know how. She got closer, and I reflexively stepped back. "Your wounds reopened in the city. A fucking city, full of those motherfucking bloodsuckers that turned on us like we just opened a fucking gourmet! I had to hand you off to Rex to get you out of there. Luckily, Specs and some of the other old bat's assistants came to help us out, or we'd have been bloodbags by now. Your Pokemon fought tooth and nail to cut through that crowd to get to you. I've never seen Snacks so… so…

"And then, you know what?" She switched gears and snapped at me, and I flinched back. "They didn't let me fucking see you. After fighting our way to this castle, we couldn't even get to you. The old bat quarantined you almost as soon as you got here. Locked you up in the dungeons. Told us that you could become a fucking Lycanthren and you might attack us – see if I gave a fuck. Only stupid Will was allowed to visit after a week. I sat outside your pathetic little dungeon. I slept there! Nobody told me a Giratina-cursed thing, not even Will. For all I knew, you were dead."

When she could find no more words to speak, she lunged forward – I flinched back again, but found my back to a counter. The next thing I knew, she was in my arms, sobbing. I felt ridiculous, and stupid, and blown away, and horribly, horribly guilty. It was just her and I, alone in this dusty old kitchen. Her fingers dug into my back so sharply that I thought she might dig her way through my chest from the other side, but even that felt minor in the back of my mind.

Slowly, gently, and very cautiously, I returned her embrace. I felt like she might snarl and bite me like a rabid dog if I touched her, but she sank into my arms like she'd been waiting for it this whole time. She felt horribly warm, just like the fire I always associated her with, and almost enough to melt the icy pit of guilt I felt taking over my stomach. Her sweet, spicy aroma filled my lungs – a sweeter kind of blood than I'd known for days. I could feel her hair against my cheek.

Her hands advanced up my back, encompassing my neck and face in her sweet warmth. I found my mouth open just in time to meet her soft lips, and was startled to feel just how familiar it felt. I realized how much I'd imagined this. And never, not once, did it take place in an old vampire's castle. Somehow, though, that made it feel even better.

Our hands traced down each other's bodies until our fingertips touched, then intertwined. Her nails bit into my hands, but it was paltry compared to the kiss. I felt like foliage before the flame.

The next several minutes felt as purposeful and divine as each lick of a flame's tongue. They ticked by as slowly as a flame birthing from simple sparks, but yet as quickly as that spark ascending to an inferno. Her hands caressed my skin, exploring as quickly and thoroughly as a wildfire. Her hands found my belt; mine found her shirt.

I wasn't sure whether I spun her around, or she steered me to push her onto the counter. Kitchen supplies clattered to the floor, whispers in the heat of the moment. I savored sliding her pants and underwear down her long, slender legs, watching her eyes create their own inferno as I ran my tongue between her thighs. Her back arched like something invisible contoured her body. Then she was dragging me on top of her, kissing my wet lips, practically ripping my clothes off. She whispered sweet nothing I hadn't ever thought to hear.

We became the only essences in the room. The forest and the fire, meeting in a way I never thought possible. I found my way inside her as she let me into her warmth, her crimson eyes glowing, her glistening lips opening in ecstatic silence, and then—

A sharp knock shattered the moment. Sira and I sat bolt upright, entangled in our clothes, our combined gazes turned to the door.

"You're taking an awfully long time in there," Loki's voice wavered through the previously passionate silence in a singsong voice. "Did you kill our boy, perhaps? Do you require assistance?"

Sira muttered a curse nothing like the sweet nothings she'd whispered seconds ago. "One step closer and you're next!" she shouted back. The following silence suggested her method was effective.

Then we were clambering and stumbling to our feet in the dark, tripping over each other's clothes and bodies. Sira's hand gripped my shoulder, pulled me in for another sweet, tantalizing kiss – then removed her undergarments from over my arm, gazing teasingly into my eyes.

"You tell anyone what happened here, and I won't make Loki a liar," she hissed, but somewhat teasingly. "I know exactly where to start if I want to kill you. Who says I can't enjoy it?" Then her eyes narrowed a little, and she used her undergarments around my neck to pull me in for another kiss. It was horribly tempting to sink back in.

When she pulled away again, she was already speaking. "That damned Syaotoan boy-scout would have a fucking field day, and by Arceus, if that impetuous Loki finds out—"

I stole the moment to draw her in under the belt, and she broke off her own words with a low moan. Her eyes flashed seemingly even more scarlet in an interruption of passion, and she smirked at me, brows raised. "I swear to Arceus, boy, once you're healed, you had better come to my room. Nobody likes half of a performance. We don't want to miss out on the climax now, do we?"

It took some time to find the rest of our clothes. It was a process, since we had a lot of difficulty keeping to ourselves. Not only that, but sex-fueled Ryoku and Sira both appeared to have a good throw when it came to disrobing.

My mind felt foggy, distant, and blissfully unaware, like I watched someone else's life unfold. My eyes and body were intoxicated, drunk off an erotic happiness – but I wasn't going to let her know that just yet.