It was pitch black when I woke up. Something I found a little unusual at first? Because I don’t usually wake up until the sun is up! My first thought was that maybe something had tripped my boundary ward, but it was fine…. Well, the only way to know for sure what woke me was to get up!

At least, that’s what I thought until I actually started moving and felt something soft against my face. That’s when I realized the wonderful truth - it was dark because one of Eena’s wings had curled its way around me! Like the softest, downiest blanket in existence! And I was willing to bet Eena wasn’t even aware of it - she’d probably done it in her sleep. She was always so cute like that! It was really a shame she couldn’t see it for herself…

“Hrmmm…. Lucy?”

Oops. I guess I accidentally squeezed her a little in my excitement… which would probably be a huge problem with anyone but Devilla, considering how strong I was! Which… actually raised a question for me….

“Hey Eena? How do you control your strength when you’re so much stronger than me?”

“Hmmm?” She shifted a little in my arms before yawning. A moment later her wings began to rescind, disappearing into her back again. “My strength? I’m afraid I don’t know how to answer that… I’ve never had any particular issue with it.”

“Really? I’ve always struggled! I smashed a lot of things when I was a kid, but thankfully Mom was really strong, too, so she could handle me! I think she had to exercise a lot to keep up with me as I grew, though.”

“Perhaps that’s it, then?” Eena suggested. “Your strength grew as you did, while mine has remained static since birth.”

“Wait, you’ve been super strong since you were a baby?” I asked, eyes wide. “Wouldn’t that make you really difficult to handle? Like, if someone tried to hold you, and your arms flailed about, then… I don’t want to think about what could have happened!”

“Well, I suppose there is some ironic mercy to the distinct lack of people who held me in my infancy… at least from what little I can remember of the time. My mind was a little too underdeveloped to note much, but I’m fairly sure the few islands of warmth I can recall were the result of others handling me. Mostly for feeding. It seems to have gone without issue, though, if my memory is to be trusted.”

“Wait, you remember being an infant?” I asked, eyes wide as I slid my arm out from under Eena so that I could push myself up off the ground. 

“I have perfect recall,” she informed me. “I can remember anything and everything if I put my mind to it… though any information that escapes my attention in the moment will be gone for good. I’m fairly certain I would remember pulverizing the bones of my attendants, though.”

“That sounds useful!” I declared, giving her a smile. It fell off my face in a hurry when I latched onto another detail, though. “Wait, what do you mean few islands of warmth? Didn’t people hold you and carry you around and stuff? I’m pretty sure babies need a lot of attention…”

“I’m afraid attention - of the positive sort, at least - has always been rather lacking in my life,” Eena said with a shrug, as if it didn’t bother her in the slightest. Which maybe it didn’t? But it sure bothered me! “There’s a reason I froze up when you hugged me, Lucy. To be truthful? I could hardly recall what one felt like. Disregarding the memories I inherited, the only hugs I can recall receiving came from Nivera… and that was back when I was seven.”

“You mean during our reunion?” I asked, already moving to slide my arms around Eena again.

Eena nodded, then frowned. “Yes. Also, what in the world are you doing?”

She couldn’t tell? She really must have been lacking in experience! “I’m making up for your lack of hugs, here and now! I’m going to show you exactly what it’s like to feel loved and held until you can never say you’re not used to hugs again!”

Saying so, I squeezed her tight against me. Of course, I made sure to move a little, so that her head would be between my boobs. I knew she liked them, after all, and this way she could have a double treat!

“...You’re lucky I don’t need to breathe,” Eena mumbled, her voice muffled by my chest. I could still hear her, though, and it just made me want to hug her tighter! 

I mean, if she didn’t need to breathe, then I didn’t need to hold back, right? Right!

Having my head stuck between Lucy’s breasts so soon after waking was… not exactly a terrible fate. It was soft, warm, and a little bit bouncy. Not to mention tempting - it took every ounce of my willpower not to start licking and nibbling at her.

It wasn’t exactly a productive use of time, either, though - and there were certainly things I needed to do. Namely testing out my ability to replicate the cockatrice’s depetrification… In theory, it should be as simple as shaping the holy magic within my body and then passing arcane magic through it. In theory. Except I wasn’t exactly used to using my holy magic, which had largely remained dormant within me for the last twenty-one years. It obviously wasn’t anything my past life memories could help with, either, so I had my work cut out for me…

Of course, there was nothing stopping me from trying to focus on it while Lucy hugged me, but something about the idea rubbed me the wrong way. It would be like spitting in the face of Lucy’s kindness. I might have found her ‘solution’ to my lack of hugging experience a bit silly, but that didn’t change the fact that her actions came from a place of love and a desire to be helpful. Pretending to go along with it while secretly working on other things just felt wrong.

So, with great reluctance - and maybe a tiny little nip to her tit, just to catch her attention - I turned my eyes up towards Lucy and spoke. “Don’t you think there’s more important things we could be accomplishing, right now?”

“Nothing is more important to me than your happiness!” Lucy declared. “...Except maybe ending the war and saving everyone? But it’s not like we’re actively fighting right now, so I think it’s fine to focus on your happiness! Especially since you won’t…”

“Yes, well, speaking of my happiness,” I said, in an admittedly desperate bid to change the subject, “there’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask you. How should I wake you up on the frequent occasions I up first?”

“How to wake me up?” Lucy asked, successfully distracted - at least for the moment. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I could wake you up by shaking your shoulder, or calling your name, obviously - but I was hoping for something a little more… risque. Namely, waking you up with a kiss.”

“On my lips?”

“Or elsewhere,” I admitted, fighting the urge to look away. I wondered if she could feel the heat of my cheeks against her chest. Hopefully it wasn’t too much of a change from my normal body temperature.

“I don’t know,” Lucy teased, a sparkle in her eyes as she squeezed me against herself. “Maybe giving me an example would help? Like how exactly would you kiss me awake?”

“Well, for starters…” I shifted a little in her arms, turning my head to better allow a kiss to her right breast. Then, placing my arms upon her shoulders and carefully extricating myself from her hug, so that I could first lift myself up above her and then slowly descend, lowering my lips towards her peak.

“Wait!” Lucy called out, causing my progress to halt - her pink nipple barely out of reach. An errant shift on Lucy’s part, and we’d be making contact. “Could you maybe… let your wings out again?”

“...You’re quite fond of them, aren’t you?” I remarked even as my wings began to spread. While I didn’t entirely understand the reason behind Lucy’s request, I saw no real harm in fulfilling it.

“Well, they are really pretty,” Lucy declared, smiling happily at me. Once more, my cheeks betrayed me in the wake of her compliments, heating up without concern for how it might make me feel, letting Lucy see my embarrassment. Not that I minded being vulnerable with her, or anything. “But it isn’t just that!”

“I know,” I conceded, deciding to ignore the red in my cheeks as I smiled at her. “You feel like you’re seeing all of me like this, yes? With my white hair and wings on display.”

“Yeah!” Lucy confirmed. “It’s not just that either, though! It’s… just… sort of freeing?”

“Freeing?” I asked, a frown touching my own lips as I tried to understand. “What do you mean freeing?”

“Well, I’ve spent the last seven years thinking I had to kill the Demon Queen, you know? Not that I didn’t sort of want to do it… or at least I thought I did? But then the Demon Queen turned out to be you! And rather than killing you, I’m dating you! And now… I don’t know. When I look at your wings, it just drives that home?”

“The fact that you’re dating the Demon Queen?” I asked, a touch of confusion upon my face.

“The fact that I don’t have to kill you,” Lucy corrected. “I can save the whole world without killing anyone! Alongside the person everyone told me I had to kill! Isn’t that great?”

“I suppose it is,” I agreed, my frown morphing into a smile as I leaned down to place a peck upon her tit’s peak. “I know I’m personally rather pleased to be dating you rather than fighting to the death.”

Lucy giggled, obviously pleased, as I lowered my head to seal my lips upon her tit and gently suck upon the pebbled flesh. I felt her shift beneath me, her hand rising up to gently stroke my hair as I licked at her peak, my lips soon descending down the inside of her cleavage as I placed kiss after kiss upon Lucy, her laughs morphing into little moans and high pitched whimpers as I began to intersperse my gentle kisses with slightly harsher nips, and tugs at her taut flesh with my teeth.

“Eeeeena,” she cried out, as my lips found their way from one breast to another. A name that wasn’t mine, once a sign of my distrust, now a shared secret between us. A name I hoped would one day be hers and hers alone to say, when secrets and lies were no longer needed.

For now, I began to make my way up the curve of her left breast, peppering the new ground with kisses and nibbles as I grew closer and closer to her so far neglected peak. My hands, meanwhile, began to make moves of their own, gently pulling her legs apart.

Lucy’s eyes widened in response - likely because neither hand was currently holding me up - but she was a smart girl, and a moment later her eyes locked onto my wings as the answer. I was using them to hover in place, the slightest movements all I needed to fuel the magic that made them work.

“Do you mind?” I asked her, as one hand began to work its way between her thighs, the other sliding up to grope her breast and give it a good squeeze. The soft flesh was a pleasure to touch, elastic but firm and warm. The soft whimper Lucy let out as I pinched her nipple only made it better - topped only by the moan she released when I kissed and suckled upon her nipple.

“I-I don’t mind!” she managed to squeak out, as my fingers slid their way between her thighs, gently teasing at her slick folds. I wasn’t satisfied with touch alone, though - just as I knew Lucy wouldn’t be satisfied if she was the only one touched. As such, I made a point of giving both nipples one final kiss before slowly turning myself around in mid air and lowering both my hands towards her thighs. Slowly parting her flesh, I bent my head down to take in the scent of her. The unique blend of scents, not just from the vagina in front of me but from Lucy herself, that combined to remind me of all the times I’ve done this before. The gentle affection we’d shared - and the fun our tongues had inside one another…

As if on cue, I felt Lucy shifting beneath me, no doubt propping herself up a little. A moment later, it was followed by a predictable but much appreciated warmth as her breath tickled upon my own folds. My own head descended, even as hers rose up to greet me, her scent soon joined by her taste - not to mention her voice - as my tongue made its way through her folds.

Slowly my tongue moved, gently lapping at her flesh, even as she moaned and writhed for more. Her own tongue was fast paced within me, her movements still a little clumsy despite all the times we’d been together, but growing more steady by the day. More important was the earnestness with which she attacked my pussy, every lick a declaration of her desire to not just make me come, but to bring me pleasure and joy. To make me feel loved, and secure in the knowledge that she cared.

My movements remained slow, almost glacial in their progress, especially by comparison. There was a surety in them that Lucy lacked, though, and what I lacked in speed I fully intended to make up for in finesse. So it was that my hand moved towards her core, a finger dipping its way inside her as I turned my tongue’s attention towards an even more tempting prize - a little button, hidden beneath its hood, thinking itself safe from my ministrations. A misconception I was quick to correct, as I teased it from its hiding place. All the better to lavish it with affection. To stroke it and lick it and ever so gently graze my teeth against it, all while Lucy whimpered and writhed and moaned beneath me. 

Still, for all my talk of going slow and steady, I had to admit that my hands were starting to shake, and my body to tremble, due to Lucy’s own heroic efforts. There was a pressure building within me, a heat that threatened to tear itself from my throat and release itself into the world in the form of a scream. My own moans were kept at bay only by force of will and a firm application of my teeth against my bottom lip. Even so, the occasional soft sound ripped itself from me, encouraging the redhead’s onslaught as her tongue and fingers worked their way inside of me.

I retaliated, of course, a second finger finding its way into her entrance, pumping back and forth at what I hoped was a steady pace - yet with every moment my control seemed to weaken, my will to hold back the scream weakening as the pressure and heat and pleasure all grew within me. I knew it wouldn’t be long until I fell - until the raging heat forced its way out into the world, allowing everyone within a mile to know just how wonderful Lucy’s tongue felt inside me.

Still, I held on. Still, I sucked and licked. Yet, eventually, despite all my experience… I was defeated, my body collapsing down upon Lucy as I lost control over the magic flowing through my wings, as a loud cry emerged from my lips. Not all was lost, though, for a moment later - as my knee slid itself into the space between her thighs - I felt Lucy shuddering beneath me, her cries growing even louder as she arched and pressed herself against me.

A few seconds of silence passed in the wake of it, as we each basked in the afterglow of our ‘fight.’ Though Lucy’s victory was hard-won - and a first for her - I had no energy to give her congratulations. I could only lay upon her, panting as blissful aftershocks ran through me.

It was in that state which Feyra eventually found us - not that she opened the tent. She knew full well what went on in here. Still, her sigh from outside was as unmistakable as her muttered whisper of, “Seriously? They’re still in there?” 

Of course, this did little to rouse me, and even less to guilt me. I was happy, after all - happy for Lucy, happy for myself, and happy for the world that might very well soon be saved… but there was something that did make me feel the need to rise. A certain sound coming from Feyra’s midsection. A call to action that reminded me of a very important fact.

We hadn’t had breakfast yet.

Breakfast was good. Also big! Eggs, pancakes, sausage, the works! You’d think it was a special day or something, but nope! It was just the day I had to ask my Mom about any secrets she had involving the Heroine’s parents… as normal a day as could be!

Okay, no, it wasn’t. Also, lying to myself was probably almost as bad as lying to others, so I really needed to watch that. It’s just that I was a teeny, tiny, little bit nervous about this whole thing! By which I mean really nervous! I mean, Mom was always… weird, when it came to Devilla. She was happy to talk about her own sister, Issa! And she had plenty of complaints for Devilla’s mom, Grimmilla. Devilla herself, though? Outside a few cases when she got drunk out of her mind, she usually clammed right up about her niece. It was actually pretty suspicious…

As suspicious as, say, me making a breakfast five times larger than normal just to butter her up. Which probably explained why she was eyeing me like that, instead of sitting down at the table. 

“What do you want, Chloe?” she asked with that tired sigh I swear all Moms secretly practice. Or at least I’d certainly practiced it - you know, for the future! 

“Oh, nothing much,” I promised. “I just want to know if Grimmilla ever had a human guest by the name of Brielle? Maybe something like twenty-one years ago?”

Oh. Oh the expression on Mom’s face… was pretty much the same as before I asked, actually. Not because she wasn’t reacting, though! No, more like she’d frozen in place? She was totally shocked!

“Who told you about that?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at me. “Alira was supposed to keep that secret…”

“Alira?” I asked, suddenly way more interested. Which was saying something, seeing as how I was pretty dang interested to begin with! “What does Alira have to do with anything?”

Again, there was that shocked freezing in place!

“Nothing,” she said after a brief pause. “Nothing at all.”

Uh-huh. I wasn’t convinced. I wasn’t going to press her on it, though! Oh no. Not directly, at least.

“So, I was thinking of bringing Illa over for a visit! You know, so we can discuss our plans to take down Alira! Thoughts?”

Oooh! I knew that face! It was the ‘I want to scream but I can’t’ face!

“Sure,” is what she said, instead. “Why not?”

~~~

Author's Notes