"I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me
I still feel your touch in my dreams
Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why
Without you, it's hard to survive…"
That night, Del focused on a conscious desire to enter the Astral Prism as he fell asleep. It must have worked, because he next awakened in the strange surroundings that had, by now, grown to be familiar.
"Emperor?" He called mentally, noticing that his illithid companion was absent.
"Oh!" came the reply. "You startled me, since I hadn't yet entered your dreams to summon you here. I must say, though, that this is a pleasant surprise."
A few seconds later, the illithid floated into view from the direction of the skull. To Del's surprise, he wasn't dressed in his usual ornate robes, but only a pair of flowing trousers embroidered with the same intricate tracery. He was naked from the waist up, his mauve skin glistening slightly in the light of stars and nebulae. The stump of his severed tentacle was now healed over and partially regenerated, and he looked far less tired than the last time Del had seen him.
"I can tell you were surprised," Del quipped. "What with you not having time to finish putting on your clothes and all. Sorry for just showing up, but I guess I was thinking of you when I fell asleep. Like I said the other night, I've missed you... We haven't had a chance to really talk since that night I almost transformed."
The Emperor floated slightly closer, then stopped in midair, levitating unsupported in the void some distance away from the rocky outcrop on which Del stood.
"What's the matter?" Del asked. "Are you going to come over here?"
"I suggest you come to me instead. I saw you trying to levitate earlier, in the waking world. Why not practice your psionic abilities here as well?"
Del eyed the gap between himself and the Emperor. "You'll catch me if I fall, right?"
"Of course."
"All right then, I'll give it a try." Del focused on his body, feeling its weight and balance as he stood carefully at the edge of the cliff with the tips of his boots just barely poking over the edge. He imagined himself getting lighter and lighter, coming untethered from the ground…
"I'm doing it," he breathed, feeling his feet leave the ground as he quite literally pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He wobbled, nearly falling down again as his concentration wavered - but then recovered, holding his arms out for balance as he willed himself to change direction and float forward rather than continuing to rise higher. He cleared the edge of the cliff, trying not to look down at the nothingness beneath him….
"Just a little further," the Emperor encouraged, sensing Del's growing anxiety. "Look at me and nowhere else. Keep your focus steady."
Unfortunately, that instruction backfired as Del looked at his mentor a little too intently, mentally tracing the ridges that ran along his broad shoulders and down the smooth cerulean curves of his sides. The only other illithids he had seen naked were Eldriss and a few of their close friends when they brought Del with them to the bathhouse, and none of them had the Emperor's broad shoulders and imposing physique.
"Ah!" Del gasped as his concentration faltered again and he dropped several feet before the Emperor could catch him.
The illithid squinted and curled the tips of his tentacles in amusement as he brought Del back up to eye level. "Is my lack of clothing really so much of a distraction? I can conjure up more if you prefer."
"Wait, so that robe you were wearing before wasn't even real?" Del smirked as he remembered a fable he'd heard somewhere – perhaps as a child, even though he could no longer remember its origin. "Does that mean the Emperor has no clothes?"
"Yes, my robes are a mere projection." The Emperor took Del by the hand and pulled him gently toward the giant skull. It seemed that he had given up on levitation lessons for the moment. Del couldn't help but notice that the Emperor actually put his hand in Del's own rather than simply gripping him by the wrist as Eldriss would have done.
As they approached the skull, Del asked, "Why are you called the Emperor, anyway?"
"That is a long story, but one I can share. Come, sit with me." He landed inside the concave bowl of its bottom surface and beckoned Del to take a seat beside him. To Del's surprise, the interior of the skull didn't feel like stone this time, but like the softest feather bed.
"I want to hear it," Del said. "But first… there's something else I've been meaning to ask you." He glanced up at the chained and floating body at the center of the chamber in which they sat. "Is that guy awake up there? Is he watching us right now?"
"I see your telepathy skills have not developed yet. If you could read the Githyanki's mind, you would find it utterly blank."
"How long has he been up there, anyway?" Even with the assurance that Orpheus wasn't watching them, Del found it hard to relax fully since the Githyanki's predicament gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "And would you be okay with letting him go after we deal with the Absolute?"
The Emperor sighed. "The prisoner is named Orpheus, and his predicament is a tale far older than you or I. He is the son of Mother Gith, the original liberator of the Githyanki people. After he and his mother led the uprising against my ancestors, his own ungrateful comrades turned on him when they grew fearful of his power. They forged chains that only an enchanted hammer could break; a hammer that has not been seen in centuries. I would be willing to release Orpheus after the threat is neutralized, but it simply may not be possible."
"I see…" Del said, disappointed but also feeling a guilty sort of relief that he didn't have to wrestle with the implications of keeping the Githyanki prisoner to serve their own purposes. "I'll see if I can find anything out about that hammer, then."
The Emperor nodded. "I will not stop you from pursuing this endeavor, as long as you do when we no longer have need of his power. Now, would you like to hear the story behind my name?"
Del nodded, settling in to listen.
"Centuries ago, I was an adventurer, much like you briefly were before your capture by mind flayers. I was something of an explorer, in fact. I helped found a seaside trading post that grew into a town, then finally a thriving city… One you may already know by the name of Baldur's Gate."
"Wait a second," Del interrupted. "So, you're the one who founded Baldur's Gate? Doesn't that make you both really old and really famous?"
The Emperor chuckled, more of a mental projection than an actual sound, though Del also heard the faint churr that was the mind flayer's true laugh. "Indeed. Much like yours, my memories of my past life as Balduran are… incomplete. But I must have found some way to extend my life expectancy beyond a human span while I sought further adventure. Eventually, my journeys led me to Moonrise Towers, where I was captured and transformed by the illithid colony beneath it."
This story just got stranger and stranger… "So you're Balduran, and there's an illithid colony under Moonrise?"
"Indeed, and its elder brain is the one that has now become the Absolute. But even before the Absolute was magically tampered with, it was a jealous and controlling creature, demanding perfect obedience from its illithid children. I was effectively enthralled by it for years, until an old friend helped me break free. That friend and I later went our separate ways, and I returned to my old home. There I ran an organization known as the Knights of the Shield, concealing my true identity to work from the shadows. Such was my influence that some began to call me the Emperor. And then, when I was recaptured by the Absolute, the name was used to mock me and reiterate just how low I had fallen. I can tell you more if you'd like...But I can see you are distracted again."
"I'm sorry," Del made a sound halfway between a laugh and a groan, smacking a hand against his forehead. "I don't know what's wrong with me tonight. I'm still trying to process the fact that you founded Baldur's Gate."
"So you know about my origins now," said the Emperor. "The man I once was, and the illithid I am today. You have accepted both halves of my identity and come to terms with what I must do to survive and keep you safe. I have no further secrets from you; no need for subterfuge. We are true allies now, working toward the common goal of the Absolute's destruction."
Allies? Was that what the Emperor saw them as? Del leaned closer, feeling the dampness of the illithid's skin through his thin nightshirt as he inhaled his companion's mingled vanilla-garlic aroma. Despite all he'd been through, all his attempts to overcome his enthrallment at the hands of mind flayers, that scent still made him think of home.
"I'm so selfish…" he whispered, a lump in his throat. "I never thought I'd be able to call an illithid my ally instead of my master. But now that it's happened, all I can think of is wanting more."
"I see…" The Emperor hummed, and Del felt the illithid subtly skim over his surface thoughts to investigate what he meant by that statement. "Do not be ashamed of that. Shall we drop the pretense then? I, too, have found myself wanting to know you more deeply. It's really quite a shame we were interrupted, before, when the threat of ceremorphosis proved too imminent." The Emperor gently traced one claw down Del's back as he spoke. Even with the barrier of his nightshirt between them, the motion caused Del to shiver as if with a sudden chill.
Del responded by sliding an arm around the Emperor's body at the point where his broad chest tapered into a surprisingly narrow waist. The Emperor really was a marvelous specimen of his kind. His shoulders and arms were a deep mauve hue that lightened to a lavender shade around his chest, gaining a bluish tint further down the torso. His skin was smooth and damp with a thin coating of mucus, but warmer than Del expected.
"I'd be glad to pick up where we left off," Del replied, blushing a little at his own forwardness. "The only thing is, I've never done anything like this before… At least not with an illithid."
The Emperor turned to face Del and leaned even closer, so close that Del could feel the warm puff of his breath. "I'll admit to being as ignorant as you in this matter. My former lover was... less than interested in me after my change. The man I once was would begin with a kiss, but that seems hazardous considering my current anatomy."
"I've heard some illithids like when you touch their tentacles," Del offered. "Not my master; they made me stop if I got too handsy. But the other thralls talked sometimes, about what their masters liked..." He reached out and took one of the Emperor's tentacles in his hand. "And they mentioned this." The tip of the tendril twitched, then relaxed into his loose grip.
Del ran his fingers up the impressive length of the appendage, only stopping when he got too close to the illithid's mouth. The Emperor made a sound halfway between a sigh and a moan as another of his tendrils involuntarily twined around Del's arm.
"Should I stop?" Del asked, hesitating. "Was that a good sound?"
"You may continue. I've just… never been touched there before, and was unprepared for the intensity of the sensation."
Del chose another tentacle, switching from his hands to his mouth to plant kisses up and down its length. This time, the Emperor actually purred.
"Okay, I know that's a good sound."
Del began to unbutton his shirt, wanting to feel the Emperor's skin directly against his own.
"No need for that," the illithid said, and vanished Del's shirt with the wave of a hand. "You are only dreaming, remember? Tonight your clothing is as illusory as my own."
As Del kissed and caressed one of the Emperor's tentacles, the other two full-length tendrils snaked their way around his body, leaving damp trails of mucus down his arms and torso. Del shivered as one brushed against the waistline of his trousers, teasing him with the potential for more.
"Would you like to go further? I could make the pleasure more… mutual."
Del wordlessly signaled his assent by kissing the Emperor as close to his mouth as he dared, up where the upper two tentacles separated from his face. One of them curved up to touch Del's cheek, caressing the curve of his jaw.
Without even looking down, Del knew that his trousers had vanished. He made a soft sound of pleasure as the Emperor's remaining two tendrils reached the most sensitive part of his anatomy, wrapping around his member and stroking it experimentally before settling into a steady rhythm. At the same time, the Emperor strengthened their mental connection, and Del was suddenly immersed in a sensation of pleasure entirely apart from what was happening to his body. It was as if all his nerve endings had been electrified, increasing their sensitivity by a thousandfold - and the Emperor was touching every single one of them at the same time. The post-battle euphoria that Eldriss had given him paled in comparison to this...
Through their connection, the Emperor felt every touch and caress he planted on Del, and Del sensed the illithid's own enjoyment reflected back at him. Their connection formed two halves of a feedback loop; sensations curving back in on themselves in an ouroboros of pleasure that intensified with each cycle. Del soon lost the ability to do anything beyond riding the waves of bliss as they crested and broke, each one followed by the next. Del was the Emperor and the Emperor was him and they were one interconnected being that rose up into the air in a moment of primeval exaltation...
Del let out a ragged gasp, fighting the urge to bite down on the tentacle that had slid its way between his lips as his eyes rolled back in his head.
"Too much?" asked the Emperor, dialing down the sensation until Del slowly came back to himself. "Perhaps I overdid it. Like you, I am still learning."
Del realized that he had gone completely limp, and was now floating in a supine position a few inches above the hard surface of the stone upon which they rested. He looked down at himself, and a purple blush spread beneath the black veins across his blue-toned cheeks. Had he passed out for a second there? Or simply been so overcome with pleasure that he'd come without even noticing it? "Oh!" he nearly squeaked, his voice cracking for a moment as if he was still the adolescent boy from his dreams. "I'm sorry for making a mess."
"No need to worry." The Emperor vanished the evidence just as he had done with Del's clothing - but made no move to return said clothing. "Unless you want it back, of course?"
Del considered it. It wasn't like he was cold or anything... A bit embarrassed still, but he was getting over that...
The Emperor laid down beside him, also carefully not touching the ground. Del was impressed with his casual command of psionics even at a time like this. The illithid put an arm around him and Del cuddled closer, trying to stay in the present moment and banish any thoughts of lying like this with Eldriss in their mossy bed. After all, he'd never done anything quite like this with his former master, and even if he had, it wouldn't have been of his own free will.
Del could feel the Emperor's heart against his own chest, thumping with a twin beat no different than his own...
"What the fuck?"
The harsh voice cut into Del's state of post-coital bliss like a knife through butter. He looked up from his embrace with the Emperor to see the translucent outlines of Gale, Karlach, Shadowheart, and Astarion suspended in midair, shimmering as they looked at him with matching expressions of horror and disgust.
"Please tell me this isn't real," Del whispered to the Emperor as he scrambled to cover himself.
The illithid stood up abruptly, still naked, and made a sharp gesture with one long-fingered hand. The images of Del's companions disappeared, and then both of them were fully clothed as if nothing had ever happened.
"Emperor," Del prompted. "You're not telling me it wasn't real. Did all my friends somehow just see that?"
The Emperor sighed. "I... may have been distracted, just then," he confessed. "Our act of love broke down too many of my mental barriers."
Del groaned, burying his face in his hands. "And there's no way to make everyone unsee that?"
"I may be able to wipe each of their memories before they awaken, but I'd have to do it quickly, and there is always the risk of causing damage..."
"No, never mind," Del said quickly. "That'd make me a bit of a hypocrite, wouldn't it? Messing with other people's memories after what happened to my own? Ugh, I guess I'll just have to talk to them in the morning."
Author's Note: Aaaah *drops this chapter off and runs away* Excuse the dramatics, but this is my first time writing a romance and sex scene in my fanfics that isn't an actual joke, so I feel like I found 5 different ways to mess it up - but I hope you enjoy this Valentine's Day special chapter!
On another note, I think after this I am gonna switch my schedule to updating on Saturdays instead of Sundays, and use Sundays to work on my thesis instead. And as tempting as it is to update this twice a week I'll stick to once and try to get some more chapters pre-written :) Gotta realize I'm in this for the long haul, since I just outlined the rest of the story in more detail and realized it could end up as a 40-45 chapter fic if I add all my ideas to it.