AN: This is a prequel to Point of Contention. I originally came up with Pivot as a way to explain why Hakuno and Gilgamesh were sleeping together in that fic; it ended up ballooning into 11,000 words of (mostly) sex and has already spawned two sequel ideas which, ADHD willing, I will get out sometime within the next decade or so. Just fyi too, the Hakuno and Gil in this fic are not the same Hakuno and Gilgamesh from Ad Astra.
Mild plot spoilers and spoilers for the identity of one of the sentinels in CCC. There is no rape or sexual abuse in this story, but there are non-graphic rape threats made as well as graphic sexual content. If you don't feel comfortable with any of the above, please don't read this.
I feel like I should apologize to BB here for making her so evil in this, especially after the FGO CCC event. Sorry, BB-chan! As to the why, blame Kiara: for the purposes of this fic, after Hakuno refused BB, Kiara indulged in a little more hacking because Kiara lives to fuck with people, both literally and figuratively. Maybe I'll explore that more in another fic, maybe I won't. We'll see.
Pivot
The air changes as soon as they step into the eleventh floor of the Labyrinth. Thick fog blots out the landscape. The heavy air strokes against their skin, leaving behind a clinging dampness that—inexplicably—smells faintly of honey.
“Mongrel. Stay alert. There is something vulgar here and it is not of that pig’s doing.”
Hakuno doesn’t need to be told twice. The ground seems to be growing soft and rubbery, snapping against their feet with each step and it’s becoming an effort just to keep walking. Even the golden glow that is Gilgamesh seems dimmed somehow, as if he’s moving through a fine blanket of soot instead of fog.
They walk on and the air changes again, sharp and hot, with undertones of rust. The walls of the Labyrinth ripple and run crimson, then scatter apart in brilliant specks of bloody diamond light. Fog thickens, becomes smoke, then ash, then something else entirely, tangy and reeking of musk. It slaps against her like someone looking for a fight and she falls to the ground, smacking her knees against rough stone. Gilgamesh calls out to her but she can’t hear him, can’t see anything in this haze of blood and heat. Something’s wrong here, something’s really really wrong here--
I won’t break my contract with Gilgamesh.
Her own voice, coming from ahead. What’s going on? She scrambles to her feet, ignoring the pain in her knees, and plunges through the fog.
It isn’t long before she sees gold in the haze. Gilgamesh is standing with his hands perched on his hips, head cocked slightly to one side, as if listening. Just as she reaches his side, the voice echoes again.
I won’t break my contract with Gilgamesh.
The king nods, as if in confirmation, then deigns to glance at her, his crimson eyes for once subdued. “Mongrel, it seems we are being treated to a history lesson.”
"History lesson?” she asks, confused. “Oh, wait. This is from when BB--“
I won’t break my contract with Gilgamesh.
”--dragged us into that Imaginary Number space to ask me to break my--“
I won’t break my--
“…You don’t get it, do you, senpai?”
The fog lifts in a sudden gust. BB is hovering behind them, hair streaming in the wind, her wand pointed at Hakuno like the hand of God. “You just don’t get how totally stupid you are, do you? Keeping hold of this man, giving him your life--of all the stupid things done by stupid people ever, your failure to break your contract with this Servant is in the top 2.5 stupidest percentile of all time.”
Hakuno feels a wave of exhaustion mingled with annoyance move through her. She rakes her bangs away from her eyes and looks up at the AI, frowning. “BB, if you’re trying to get me to break my contract with Gilgamesh again, you’re wasting your time.”
BB’s face is strangely solemn, her eyes cold. Pink light ripples at the tip of her wand. “An AI is incapable of waste. My actions, unlike yours, are always perfect, always necessary.” She tosses her head; her mouth twitches like she’s trying to surpress a smile, or a grimace. “I tried, senpai, and you just wouldn’t listen. You insisted on crawling off into further danger with that man. Since I am unable to directly employ force in order to restrain your foolishness, you left me no choice.” Her arm jerks back. Sparks fly from her wand and Hakuno feels a sudden swell of animal fear run through her bones. “You left me no choice.”
“Mongrel, take care!”
Gilgamesh shoves her to safety as pink lighting cascades over his entire body, wrapping him in light the color of old blood. The attack rattles against his golden armor like hail, deflected bolts striking the floor like arrows. Throughout the assault the king’s face is calm, even amused, and when the firey light finally fades, he raises his smirking face to BB.
“Hmm, interesting. So, this curse was never meant for the mongrel, after all...However, if you truly think such a pathetic cantrip would affect one such as I, moon insect, you are as foolish as you accuse the mongrel of being!”
BB’s smile glints like polished steel. “Woooow, so you’re really that strong after all? I get it, I get it. The Pleasure King who ravished his way through Babylon has too, too much experience in this kind of thing, huh? Guess I didn’t make it harsh enough, but a simple upgrade will take care of that in one-two-three!”
The same sick red light shrouds him again but stronger, so bright that Hakuno covers her eyes but it pierces the shield of her fingers, stabbing at her brain with hot white knives. The king bellows, from rage, or pain, she can’t tell, then abruptly falls silent.
“Gilgamesh!”
The light fades as suddenly as it came. Hakuno’s body feels as light as feathers, her head throbbing noisily along with her heart. Gilgamesh is kneeling a few feet away, his back towards her. He clutches his head, breathing in huge harsh pants as if the air is leaving him as quickly as it comes. She takes a step towards him, her stomach clenching.
“Gilgamesh...?”
“Mongrel, do not come any closer!” he says in a thick snarl so unlike his usual smooth arrogance that fear gnaws at her heart. “That BB has...that BB--“
“Has only turned you against yourself,” BB says sweetly, but there’s poison below the sugar. “Since senpai always does the stupid thing, why not punish her for once? Maybe then she’ll get the lesson right the next time.” Her expression turns thoughtful. “If there is a next time.”
Hakuno takes a deep breath, knots her shaking hands in fists, does her best to talk normally. “BB, what did you do to Gilgamesh?”
The AI sketches an airy bow. “Just a curse, that’s all. Just a simple, loving little curse that will torment that ugly Servant of yours unceasingly, night and day, day and night, all year round, definitely no time off, not even for good behavior, world without end. Unless...”
“Unless?” Hakuno whispers.
BB looks down at her and now Hakuno can see the madness heaving behind those limpid eyes “This is a curse that won’t end unless senpai becomes a good girl and dumps this vicious Servant off the side of the Labyrinth like the sack of bad dreams that he is. Or—” Her wand spins little circles in the air. “Or else stupid stupid senpai’s going to find out the hard way what a complete and total monster her Servant really is. Find out exactly (oh, except much more violently) why the women of Uruk wailed to the heavens to get rid of their defective blot of a king. Isn’t it sad, senpai, that this time there are no gods left in heaven to hear you cry?”
Waves of icy heat are sweeping over her, hitting her body like a monsoon. Rape me? She’s going to make Gilgamesh rape me if I refuse? No. This...can’t be happening. Even when she threatened to destroy the world if I didn’t break the contract she didn’t seem as malicious as she does now. What the hell is going on?
“You bitch,” Gilgamesh whispers.
“Oh, and Mr. Golden Grief? Don’t think that you’re going to run off and inflict yourself on one of the others to get out of this. No. Can. Do. The charming and wonderful BB-chan is, as always! Two steps ahead.” She waggles a finger at them and smiles like a beauty queen. “Since Master and Servant share the same fate, senpai is the ooooonly one who can break BB-chan’s Lovely Heart Demonic Retribution Counter.”
Cold fear eats away at Hakuno with thousands of needle-sharp tiny teeth. “BB--"
“A broken contract, or a broken senpai: in the end, it’s really your choice.” BB’s image grows fainter, shimmering like heat haze in the air, then disappears completely, but her voice lingers for one last shot.
“But, senpai, for once—why don’t you shock us all and do the smart thing?”
Gilgamesh staggers to his feet as BB’s voice fades and Hakuno’s heart hammers in wild terror. Is he going to attack me right now? What should I do? Can I even outrun him? No way I can outrun him. Shit shit shit, this is a total no-win situation!
The king’s face is salt white and streaming with sweat, his body as rigid as the bars of a cage, but to her surprise, he begins to walk, slowly and with obvious effort, into the Labyrinth.
“Mongrel,” he says without looking at her, “ignore that insect’s words. Such arrogance to think her ludicrous tricks would seriously affect me...We will continue as planned.”
Relief, warm and painful, floods her chest. “What? Are you serious? You look absolutely terrible! We should go back to base, see what Rin and Rani—“
“Silence!” He whips around, his eyes fixed on her with such ferocity that she jumps back a few steps. “I will not be brought down by the base foolishness of a female insect! Especially one who seeks, with such effrontery, to humiliate me by forcing me to desire a lowly unappealing mongrel such as yourself! Either we continue through the Labyrinth or I shall make an end to both you and this farce with the single stroke of a blade! Now move, and do not stand too close, lest you contaminate me with your stupidity!”
“…Fine,” she says quietly. “If you want to go on, that’s fine with me. I don’t want to let BB win either.”
Gilgamesh takes up a position well in front of her—well, it’s quieter without him clanking around right behind me, I guess--while she concentrates on keeping herself a good distance away from that stiff golden back. They walk, in total silence and unmolested, for fifteen minutes before the monster teleports right in front of Hakuno’s face.
She nearly walks into it. The monster screeches, needle teeth millimeters away from her eyes and she throws herself to the floor just as it whips its tentacles right where her face had been. Scrambling backwards, she hears Gilgamesh shout Gate of and then stop: she’s now ahead of him, not behind, and right in the path of the Gate’s weaponry.
Gilgamesh reaches the beast, axe swinging, just as it makes another lunge for her. The axe sinks only partway into the creature’s body; normally a blow from Gilgamesh would cleave any monster in two. Green slime gushes to the floor. Then another tentacle quietly sprouts from the wound and slams into Gilgamesh’s body, sending him flying. Hakuno hears a dull thud as his body hits the floor. The monster chitters quietly to itself, tentacles swaying, then turns towards her, slowly.
She pushes backward as fast as she can but the wall bumps against her. She’s backed into a corner now, nowhere to go, no weapon at hand and a wriggling black mass nearly upon her. Just as she’s gathering her strength for one last desperate strike, gold whips around her and suddenly, she’s flying.
The creature shrieks but it’s getting smaller and smaller as she sails away. She lands with a thump behind Gilgamesh, hears the roar of the king’s treasury as it shreds the monster into fine black mist. There’s a chain around her waist, a treasure she’s never seen before but before she can examine it more closely, it dissipates into glittering gold.
Rin’s voice suddenly blasts through the communicator. “Hakunon, what the hell just happened? You disappeared and when you came back, Goldie’s stats had dropped like a stone--”
Despite her spinning head she manages to stammer out something about BB. A wind begins to rise.
“Don’t worry, we’re pulling you out right now! One, two three--“
Just before the familiar blur of transport drops them back into the courtyard, Gilgamesh’s voice echoes through her head. Enough. I will deal with this without the stupidity of mongrels hindering me. Hakuno. No matter what that woman claims, I shall find a way to break this curse on my own. Do not even think of interfering.
When she slips out of the air by the cherry trees, Gilgamesh is gone.
Time at the old school might be nothing more than one day repeating itself over and over and over again, but Hakuno has eaten three breakfasts, three lunches and three dinners and still Gilgamesh has not returned.
She turns on her bed, doing her best to ignore the pit in her stomach and the weight on her heart that have been her constant companions ever since she’d returned from the Labyrinth without Gilgamesh. Once she goes to sleep, she’ll wake to find an empty throne and breakfast number four confronting her, and then...
Then there’ll be another meeting of the student council, but what can they say this time that hasn't already been said?
She closes her eyes. Leo’s quiet voice, his steepled fingers. “Without King Gilgamesh, our chances of escaping and returning to the Near Side have fallen drastically. We obviously can’t blame him for leaving, but if he’s unable to find a cure for this heinous curse, we’ll have no other option but to try and break through the Labyrinth with Gawain...and since the Labyrinth is considered ‘night’, he’ll be at a severe disadvantage, power-wise.”
“Not to mention that right now, we only have Gawain, while BB has Karna, Elizabeth Bathory, the green Archer and that other Alter Ego under her command, plus monsters, plus who the hell knows what else running around there.” Rin sighed and twitched the end of one of her ponytails, flicking it back and forth like a cat’s lashing tail. “It’s enough to make you want to pull a Jinako and find a nice dark closet to hide in, isn’t it?”
“And should they both fall,” Rani said in her softly expressionless voice, “there will no hope of escape, ever.”
She flops over onto her back and looks at the ceiling, at the cracks in the dingy plaster, the cobwebs in the left corner. BB really got us good this time, didn’t she.
For obvious reasons she hasn’t told the others the truth about the curse, saying instead that it was meant to torture Gilgamesh unless he either killed her or severed their contract, and that he had left them in order to keep her safe and to find a cure. Nods of understanding all around and Leo had clapped his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of solidarity. “How could he have done otherwise?” he had said warmly and the hollow pit in her stomach had yawned a little wider.
Where is he now? Did he go back to the sea of corruption where he’d been sleeping before I woke him? Does he plan to drift alone in the darkness while the curse gnaws away at him forever? The memory of Gilgamesh’s face, white with pain, hovers before her. She closes her eyes. The thought of that arrogant golden radiance reduced to a tattered shadow of its former glory because of BB’s curse twists into a knot in her chest, squeezing her heart.
I shouldn’t care so much about someone who told me that I’d only stay alive as long as I amused him. Who told me he’d take my head the instant I messed up.
But I can’t ignore that he’s suffering.
I can’t ignore that without him, we have no way of making it through it the Labyrinth or stopping BB. She’ll win by default and we’ll be prisoners here for eternity. Unless...
Her eyes open.
Unless...
She stares into the darkness and feels the wheels click into place. Fear dries her mouth. It’s the last thing BB would expect, hell it’s the last thing Gilgamesh would expect. But since when had she ever let pain or fear stop her from pushing forward?
Right. If I have to trade some pain for freedom and a way to keep going, I’ll accept that. Even if it scares the hell out of me, there’s only one thing I can do.
A kind of peace settles over her.
I won’t let BB yank my weapon away without a fight.
She gets out of bed and heads for the shower.
An hour of very thorough scrubbing later, Hakuno is as ready as she’ll ever be. No thinking, just do it.
She leaves the room only half-lit. Her legs are a little wobbly so she sits on the end of the bed and wraps her arms around her knees for warmth, folding in on herself. Gilgamesh.Their link is a slight pressure in the back of her mind, a thin chain falling away into infinite darkness. Her mind wanders along that chain, searching for gold. Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh. Come back. Gilgamesh.
A tremor runs down the line and suddenly it’s no longer a chain, but a snake, cold and deadly, fangs like swords, dripping poison like water, ready to strike. Oh please, Hakuno thinks, and snorts in derision. Come on, Gilgamesh. I’m not going to stop until you come back, so you might as well get going. Gilgamesh. Come back.
She can feel the weight of him now, holding stubborn at the far end. The chain is a chain again, so she takes hold of it and pulls with all her might, hand over hand over hand...
Her arms burn, her hands are all over blood from the rough metal and he hasn’t budged the slightest fraction of an inch but she’s not going to give up, she’s not going to let him squat there in his stupid red-faced fury, she’s going to make him MOVE--
“Woman, enough! Have you gone mad?”
Her servant towers before her, golden in the gloom, seething with rage and offended majesty, filling the room with the sharp edges of his indignation. His glare falls on her bare, beet-red skin and trembling limbs. Time stretches, then stops completely, until the king, his face as purple as BB’s hair, grabs her shoulders and shakes her like a rag doll.
“Mongrel, how could you--as I am--you stupid--are you trying to die?”
“No. I’m trying to have sex with you.”
Later on--much later--she’ll enjoy remembering the look on his face, his open-mouthed gape of shock but right now she’s too busy trying to stay upright and not die. “We should just do it. Get it over with. Have sex and break the curse. That’s why--“
“I will not bend to that woman’s will. Do you think me incapable of handling such a paltry curse?” His face has collapsed back into its regulation sneer. “And even if it were a thousand times the curse, lie with you? A filthy peasant? Absurd. Mongrel, to so shamelessly have called me back for this--"
“You’re in pain and we can’t win with things like this. I’m not breaking our contract, I’m not going to let you suffer and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let BB win.” Her teeth click on each word, she’s shaking so badly, but she still matches him glare for glare. “She wants you to rape me, right? She’s trying to use you as a weapon to break us apart, break me apart so she’ll win by default, right? Fuck that. Until this ends, you are my weapon and I’m not going to let anyone else use you.”
That hits something within him. His eyes soften, ever so slightly. “Mongrel...”
She plunges on. “So let’s flip the game board over. Let’s throw her bullshit right back in her face. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to break the curse. Even if it’s hard, even if I get hurt. Because I’m sure as hell not going to let things end like this. So…do what you need to. If…things get…harsh…well, Sakura can always patch me up in the infirmary afterwards.”
Gilgamesh closes his eyes, exhales a long breath. “Truly, I have never met a woman so eager to hurl herself into the jaws of the lion. No. I shall re-phrase that. Truly, I have never met a woman so eager to hurl herself into the jaws of the lion, so she may claw her way to freedom through its body.” His face looks ruddy in the dim light, nearly the same color as his eyes, and his breathing is too fast and too light but for all this he’s still regal, still Gilgamesh, not the raving beast BB had promised and some of Hakuno’s fear ebbs away. “Very well, mongrel. I will accept your offering, but first we shall try the lesser path!”
Hakuno barely has time to wonder what exactly Gilgamesh means by lesser path when his armor disintegrates before her eyes. Gold dust fills the air and when Hakuno finally blinks her eyes clear, Gilgamesh is standing before her, naked as the day he was born. Stunning is too poor a word for him: every inch brilliant as the sun and perfect, all lean muscle and gleaming skin. She knows her mouth is hanging open, but she can’t close it: his beauty is like a sudden punch to the face.
He preens, lifting his chin and smiling slightly. “You may gape at me if you wish, I will permit it,” he says, amusement obvious in his voice and that’s enough to snap her out of it.
She gives herself a little shake, makes her voice as normal as if they were discussing which path to take in the Labyrinth.“Let’s just get down to business, okay? So, uh, what is the ‘lesser path’?”
In answer, he points down, at the one place her eyes had somehow skipped. “For you to use your mouth on me.”
...oh.
Hakuno looks down at his flat belly, at his long thighs. The hair covering his groin is as golden as the hair on his head and from there his erection rises, thick and dark with blood. It looks monstrous, as long as her arm and twice as wide and holy crap how the hell does he walk with that thing?
“Um,” she says, doing her best not to run screaming out of the room, “So, um, obviously if I have had sex before, I don’t remember it. So, if I, uh, do anything wrong, just keep that in mind, okay?”
“I am not expecting miracles from a peasant,” he replies coldly. “Do the best job you are capable of. Given the circumstances, I am willing to forgive any errors on your part.” Gilgamesh folds his arms and stares off into space, a look of resignation on his face. “But however you act, do it as quickly as possible. It is an effort simply to be around you and one I am growing increasingly tired of making. At the first hint of failure, I will remove myself once again to the endless solitude of negative space and you mongrels may rot here for all eternity. Is that clear?”
She swallows. “Crystal...Okay. Here I go.” She kneels before him, her heart jumping like a kangaroo in her chest, and very carefully, takes his erection in her hand.
It’s hot. Okay. I just lick it, right?
Don’t look at Gilgamesh, just do it.
He smells of spices and herbs and perfumes she can’t name and his skin is smoother than silk under her fingers. The most beautiful man in the world, his epic had said. Right, and has the worst personality in the world to balance it out. She takes a deep breath, licks his shaft gently, then waits for censure.
His skin is…sweet.
Gilgamesh says nothing, so she licks again, a little harder this time. His erection twitches against her tongue. Is that good? Nothing from above. She laps, slowly and gently, then brings her lips to touch, less than a kiss. A pulse beats under her lower lip. Should she take him in her mouth? Would he even fit in her mouth? Damn it, why didn’t I watch more porn when I had the chance?
The head’s supposed to be the most sensitive spot.
She takes his erection in hand, very carefully. Deep crimson in her sweating hand, don’t worry Gilgamesh, I’ll do whatever it takes. Just give a total beginner some leeway, okay? The head of his cock burns likes a brand against her tongue, the skin surprisingly tender under her mouth.
Braver now, she takes him in both hands and licks a circle around the head, once, twice—
"Nn…No. This is not enough, not nearly enough... Hakuno. Relax your throat and breathe through your nose.”
She swirls her tongue over the head again, harder this time. What’s he talking about—
Gilgamesh’s hands press down suddenly on her head, urging her forward and his dick slips between her lips, knocking into her teeth. Startled, she twists away before she can stop herself. His erection jabs her cheek and Hakuno loses her balance, sprawling between Gilgamesh’s feet.
“Mongrel! Get up this instant. Or are you forfeiting before the battle has even begun?” The king glares down at her, his cheeks flushed, his breathing heavy. “Were your brave words merely air? If so, speak now, so that we may make an end of this nonsense.”
Oh, for the love of--“Who said I was giving up? Look.” She scrambles to her feet and glares right back at that perfect face, at those haughty eyes. “If you’re going to shove your frankly enormous dick down someone’s throat--especially if that person is probably a complete beginner at sex--cutting off a good chunk of said person’s air supply in the process, it’s only decent to give them a little more warning than ‘incoming!’”
Gilgamesh still scowls but he drops his eyes and shifts slightly back and forth. Wow. Is he actually...ashamed? “Mongrel, if this is how you react when I choose the lesser path, how will you be if I am forced to fully embrace you?”
“Well, for starters, I don’t breathe through my vagina,” she retorts. “And lesser path? Not to me. I may be totally inexperienced with this, but I know it’s a hell of a lot easier to handle pain when you’re not choking to death at the same time.” Hakuno sinks to her knees, takes his erection back. “I said I’ll do anything and I mean it, but just...take it as easy as you can, okay?”
She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and slowly--very slowly--allows him in. Fear scratches at her stomach but she tries to ignore it, to concentrate only on the thick length of flesh filling her mouth. The head bumps the back of her mouth and she gags suddenly, feeling her stomach heave. His erection seems to have expanded to three times the size while they were talking and somehow she can’t open her mouth wide enough, can’t relax her throat enough. Panic bubbles inside her. No good, he’s way too big!
“Relax. Mongrel, this will be as nothing if you follow my instructions. Open your mouth as wide as possible, do not move and stay relaxed. This will be brief if you are obedient.” His hands move over her face, her hair, touching her almost gently. “Hakuno Kishinami is perfectly capable of handling this. Breathe. Relax. If you perform well, I shall make you my chief handmaiden.”
…Is that seriously supposed to be an incentive?
Inch by inch he slips down her throat and she breathes slowly through her nose, trying her best to stay loose and at ease. The tip of her nose nearly touches his belly and she groans quietly around him. Hot, hard, huge. Another inch. The golden cloud of his pubic hair tickles her nose.
“Relax,” he says for the thousandth time, then cups his hands around her head and begins to rock back and forth, slowly. His fingers part her hair, skim over her scalp. She does her best not to gag as he moves, faster and faster. His breathing gets harsher with every stroke. She’s swallowing a sword made of molten steel, over and over. His hands cradle her head, steadying her, and she focuses on the web of his fingers, the light pressure against her hair instead of the burning ache in her throat.
Gilgamesh’s hands slide from the back of her head to rest on her cheeks, thumbs supporting her jaw—“Mongrel, be still, oh be still—“ He slows, then stops short, pulls back slightly, makes a sound between a curse and a sigh. A thick hot wine floods her mouth and throat, coating her tongue with bitterness.
“I had hoped—but no. It seems I have no choice.”
The king eases out, leaving Hakuno’s mouth feeling hot and sour. She coughs before she can stop herself, feels another one coming, clamps her lips together to stifle it, tries to swallow the pain away. The cool rim of a cup suddenly presses against her lips.
“I will not have you coughing and choking all over me. Drink.”
Wine again, but this time thin and sweet with honey and herbs. It takes the bitterness off her tongue and soothes the pain in her throat. She drains it to the dregs, then dares to look up at him. The high color in his cheeks has faded and his breathing seems a little slower and deeper, but his lips are set in a thin straight line and his—
Great. Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic. So now—Fear ruffles its wings inside her but she shoves it far down. “Uh,” she says after a minute of dead silence. “Okay. Obviously, that wasn’t enough to break the curse.”
“Your clumsy efforts gave me a momentary respite, I grant you, but nothing more.” Gilgamesh’s nostrils flare. “So be it. Mongrel. Rise. Infuriating as it is, I have no choice now but to fully embrace you. And on a peasant’s bed, of all things! Truly, that insect intends to drag me through the mire!” He snaps his fingers and crimson embroidered silk billows from the air, unfurling over her bed. “I had never thought to despise a woman more than…no. I shall not speak that name either, lest I fall into an ungovernable rage.” The royal finger slashes an arc between her body and the silk-draped bed. “Go forth, mongrel and prostrate yourself in abject gratitude for the high honor that has been granted you, for its like shall surely never be seen upon this earth again!”
Damn it, this is bad enough without his histrionics! “Look, I know I’m not up to your usual standards, but do you really have to keep rubbing it in?” The bed is so small, barely large enough for her: how will they both fit? “I get it! I’m not your type!” Silk slips against her body. How should I lie down? Open or closed? She opts for crossed ankles and leaning up on her elbows. Fear slowly but steadily stretches its wings again. “So, let’s just get this over with, okay? The faster we break the curse, the faster we can go smash BB.”
“Hmph! A virgin dictating upon bed matters to a king: how laughable. I will forgive it considering the circumstances, this time. But no more.” Gilgamesh’s face says anger but his eyes are strangely bright in the semi-darkness. The wings in her belly beat faster. He looks at her tiny bed, snorts with annoyance and gestures again. Brilliant cushions rain down in heaps until the area around her bed is filled, tripling the space. “Now lie still and be utterly obedient and this shall be over as quickly as possible.”
The cushion nearest her head is a shimmering canary yellow, embroidered with a design she can’t quite make out. A lion maybe, or a ram, or—The bed sinks under his weight. “I might not be a virgin, you know.” Her mouth is dry, the words hard to speak, but she will not give in to fear, she will not. It’s just Gilgamesh! It’s just sex! “What’s—what’s with your virginity thing, anyway?”
“It is my right,” he says simply. “The gods granted me the maidenhead of every woman upon this earth, so naturally I shall reap what is owed to me. No man should dare take what belongs to the king.” His eyes sweep over her body with a look of such cool appraisal that she wants to smack him. “I suppose it is only fitting that I take yours as well. Since it is mine.” His hands close around her ankles, uncrossing them. She tenses, but all he does is part her legs, lifting them slightly, and frown at her feet. “Would that you had golden hair,” he mutters, “and fierce green eyes…this would be far more palatable. Still, your face is…not ugly.” He drops her legs, kneels between them, curves his body over hers. “And your body, at least, is petite.” His finger traces her collarbone and Hakuno’s heart bangs against her ribs at the touch. “Soft,” he murmurs, in a tone of slight surprise. “Hmph. I had never thought a peasant could be as smooth-skinned and finely-boned as the most gently reared noble maiden. Well, such accidents make the world interesting. Mongrel, I will admit that your body somewhat approaches my standards. Save--” his hands cup her breasts and jiggles them in what’s unmistakably an outraged manner “here. So ungainly, so unsightly! Mongrel, how can you stand to live with such a disfigurement?”
Shock steals her voice but anger runs it down and gives it right back again. “What the goddamned hell are you talking about?” At any other time her rudeness would have gotten her instantly killed but Gilgamesh is staring at her breasts with such wide-eyed indignation that he’s oblivious to her tone. She looks herself: pale-skinned, medium-sized, pink nipples, no warts, no lumps, they haven’t turned green when she wasn’t looking, what the fucking fuckity fuck is he going on about?
“Do you not see? How shamelessly large, how out of proportion they are to your slender frame? Look, see how they overspill my hands.” Her nipples very slightly protrude over the edge of his palm: he jiggles them again as if to prove his point. “Breasts so large are only permissible when you are suckling a child and since you are well past the prime for that—“
“Gilgamesh, I’m nineteen.”
The king flicks her a look of utter disdain. “In Uruk, a proper woman is married and breeding by sixteen or seventeen. Eighteen at the absolute latest. Else the womb begins to shrivel for want of its rightful function.” Despite all his protestations of disgust, his hands still cup her breasts, squeezing them lightly. “So even if you were truly…but, no, this is not the time for this.”
Hakuno starts to sit up. “Wait, what? What do you mean, even if—“
Gilgamesh pushes her down. “I will overlook this impertinence, just this once.” His thumbs cover her nipples and with an almost absent-minded air he begins stroking them in small tight circles. “Such breasts cannot be helped, I suppose. Unlike the pig’s, they are obviously not from overeating. And your skin is smooth.”
She wants to say something, tell him what a hypocrite he is, demand that he finish the sentence he so mysteriously cut off but heat swamps her tongue and it won’t move. His hot thumbs are now tracing large lazy arcs around her nipples, as if he wasn’t being driven slowly mad by a lust curse, as if he actually cared about her pleasure. Pleasure? He’s only touching her breasts. The king’s eyes are half-closed, a tiny smirk turning up one corner of his lip. His erection is a dark line against the golden skin of his belly. She can see drops of pearl trembling on the head: why doesn’t he hurry? Sweat trickles down her ribcage, pools under her thighs. Maybe if she stops watching him, watching his hands fondle her breasts like a true lover, she’ll be able to talk. She closes her eyes. She has to say something. She—
“Oh? You wish to speak?” His hand slides under her chin, tipping her face to his, and her traitorous mind imagines a kiss so vivid her heart flutters. She opens her eyes and looks straight into Gilgamesh’s own, alight with mockery.
Her face burns at his taunting grin but her tongue at least works again. “I thought you said you’d finish this quickly. Aren’t you in pain? Don’t you want this over and done with?”
Gilgamesh pinches her nipple hard enough to make her yelp. “Once again, a virgin dictates to a king…Mongrel. Do not be deceived into thinking that I do this out of concern for you. I simply do not wish to hear you shrieking in agony when I descend upon you. That is all.” His hands drop away, skim her body, finally settling under her thighs. “My prior actions were merely an assessment and now--” Gilgamesh spreads her legs wide, pushing them back and up until her hips rise in the air. “I shall finish preparing you for me.”
She’s in too much pain to be embarrassed. “I’ll be shrieking in agony if you push my legs back any further, ouch!” Her knees are almost to her shoulders. “Gilgamesh, I’m not that flexible!”
“Endure it.” His voice is a purr, his smile is sharp as the sickle moon, and Hakuno’s throat goes so tight that breathing is no longer an option. “You will not be feeling pain for much longer.”
“I will permit your legs to rest upon my back, so long as you do not kick overmuch,” Gilgamesh says as he pulls her hips upward, perilously close to his face. “You may thank me with due reverence later.”
The king arranges her body with no more feeling for her than if she was a doll, her shoulders on the bed, her hips under his chin, her back curved into his body. His erection pokes her, a point of fire against her spine. One arm holds her snug against him as she tentatively rests her calves on his broad shoulders. One hand curves around her knee, holding her thighs open. Gilgamesh’s gaze moves slowly between her legs as the heat from his skin soaks into her own, rushing through her blood, turning her bones to kindling. She feels light, as if she might scatter into ash.
“Hmmm, so this is my Master’s secret garden, and the flower that so shyly hides there.” His fingers smooth back the light curls of her pubic hair, sending little shocks through her body. Her face burns, embarrassment and pleasure knotted together in fire. Gilgamesh grins and his finger moves, pushing against her. She feels a stretch and a twinge of pain. “And this body’s maidenhead is indeed intact. A small boon to be sure, but a boon nonetheless.”
Somehow, she manages to speak. “What do you mean, this body? What do you know?”
Gilgamesh gives her a quelling look. “Quiet. This is not the time. Did you not say you wanted this done quickly? Then hold your tongue and let me make better use of mine.”
“If it’s not the time, then stop talking about it,” she grumbles, glad for the momentary distraction. His tongue--oh god, is he really--
The king brushes his thumb over her clitoris and she immediately loses her thought. Another touch, and her hips buck up, bringing her almost to his mouth. Gilgamesh smiles, slowly, then takes two of his fingers into his mouth, sucking them. Dry-mouthed, she watches, unable to move or look away. He pulls his fingers free, then licks his thumb, almost absently. They shine wet in the lamplight and arousal stabs into her like a knife.
Gilgamesh puts his wet thumb to her clit and begins stroking it, small, tight circles, the same maneuver he’d used before on her breasts. Hakuno wants to twist, move with his hand, but she can’t: his arm is holding her too tightly and she’s not allowed to kick. She clamps her lips down on the moans that want to escape. The air shimmers, Gilgamesh applies a little more pressure and she goes down, arching as much as she can in her orgasm.
“Good,” he murmurs, then immediately slides the other two fingers inside her, stretching her wide. She feels a slight ache, then a surge of pleasure unlike anything she’s felt before. Gilgamesh’s fingers had moved as if seeking something: he’d found it and was now rubbing a spot deep inside her with slow and steady thrusts. His head is bowed as if in concentration, his golden hair tickling her thigh, softer than down. All she can see of his face is a half-smile and lowered eyelids as he watches his fingers work deep inside her, and Hakuno buckles under something unbearably sweet and fierce.
She snaps back just as Gilgamesh lowers his mouth to her, running his tongue lightly over her folds. Oh, she can’t stand, no, she really can’t stand this. He’s not even touching her clitoris and she’s going to come again, it should be illegal for someone so hateful to be so good--
His tongue flicks over her clitoris and then his mouth closes on it, sucking it tenderly. His face is buried in her, both hands now gripping her thighs for better access. She comes, helpless and shaking: he doesn’t stop. He nuzzles her clit, covers her folds with long swipes of his tongue, licks her up and down as if he’s dying of thirst and she’s the spring that can save him. She’s drenched in sweat, dizzy and panting when she comes again. He pulls away briefly to nip at her thigh, then bends his head for another round.
“G-Gilgamesh, you can stop, really you can stop, I think I’m ready now…”
Something hot and wet pushes inside her and it takes Hakuno too long of a moment to realize it’s Gilgamesh’s tongue. It finds the same spot that his fingers did and strokes it, pushing and pulling against her, lapping like the tide as his right hand squeezes her breast. Another orgasm rips through her, stronger this time and harsher, lifting her hips, bumping her clitoris into his nose. She bites down hard on her fist, tastes blood and salt. Gilgamesh makes a throaty little noise of pleasure and withdraws his tongue, turning his head to suck at one of her folds. Lightning flickers along her spine, another storm growing. She moans before she can stop herself and the king smiles against her skin.
Why…why is he still going if he doesn’t care about my pleasu—
Gilgamesh’s teeth close on her clit with terrible tenderness and she throws back her head and yells. She’s twisting all over the place, she can’t keep her hips still, oh god, she just kicked his shoulder, yet Gilgamesh calmly drinks her down, his tongue stroking over every millimeter of her folds, hunting out every drop. He finishes with a little swirl over her aching clit and she almost comes again just from that. When he lifts his face it’s streaked, wet and gleaming, flushed with obscene satisfaction. “Ah. I have not tasted such for four thousand years. Nothing on this earth quite compares to the nectar of a virgin.”
“I really doubt I’m going to taste any different after sex just because you’ve had your dick inside me,” she manages to croak. Her entire body throbs, wrung with pleasure and more than a little fear.
Gilgamesh moves back, drops her lower half on the bed, parts her legs. He raises himself over her, straddling her body, erection in hand. She looks at it. Still so red. That has to hurt. “Hakuno, I will take you now. Attend carefully. Be awed at the splendor of the king.”
Thanks, but I’ve already seen plenty of the king’s splendor, so stop making such a big dramatic deal over this and get inside me already!
Heat at her entrance, a brief snap of pain. She closes her eyes without meaning to and then he’s easing his way in, carving out a space for himself, pushing her out of the way. It’s oddly enjoyable in a way she hadn’t expected, smooth warmth filling her up, stroking her insides.
She opens her eyes again and finds Gilgamesh watching her face closely, a look of disappointment on his own. “Uh, is there a problem?”
He scowls at her. “Problem? Your untroubled face is the problem! A virgin being deflowered should at least wince and cry out, not lie there as smooth-faced as if in sleep! Is my sword nothing to you, that you lay there so calmly?”
His...sword?
Hakuno wriggles, feeling nothing but pleasantly throbbing heat inside her. “Sorry to disappoint you, but your, ah, “sword” feels pretty nice. Maybe you should think about letting go of that virgin kink, King of Heroes.”
“Silence!”
Still scowling, he moves, and suddenly it’s not so comfortable. The first two thrusts aren’t so bad, just strange and stretching, but then he moves a bit faster and a sharp, piercing pain shoots through her lower body. Hakuno grits her teeth. It’s okay, he’ll finish soon enough, I can hold on until he’s done. Another thrust, another pain: it feels like he’s striking something deep inside her. A stabbing pain, like really bad menstrual cramps. He must be hitting her cervix: she vaguely remembers that can cause pain. Her hands twist the sheets. I’ve been through worse. Can’t let BB win. Just have to hold on. Hold on. Each thrust feels like a sword in her belly. Hold on. You can do this, Hakuno. Another stab, the worst yet, and Hakuno feels a tear work free of her eye and trickle down her cheek.
And then, all of a sudden, Gilgamesh stops.
To her complete astonishment, he pulls free of her, slowly and carefully, but it still hurts. The king mutters something under his breath, in a language she doesn’t recognize, but from his tone and the way he spits the word, it’s a curse. However, his next words are perfectly clear. “Enough. This is not working. Mongrel, you are clamping down so hard in pain you are hurting me. I can barely move, you are so tight! You utter idiot, why did you not say something?”
She looks away, unable to meet his eyes. “I didn’t think it would take that long, so I thought I’d just...tough it out. I didn’t think it was hurting you too. I’m sorry.”
He touches her cheek, brushing away a tear that somehow managed to escape without her notice. “Ugh. Normally, I would find an anguished face beautiful but somehow your tears are not pleasing. It must be the fault of that curse.”
Gilgamesh, you’re just reinforcing every bad thing BB’s said about you…
Golden light flares and two small bottles drop into Gilgamesh’s outstretched hand. He takes the larger of the two and unscrews the cap, unleashing a smell like a million vegetables rotting, then scoops out a fingerful of deep green ointment. “Do not despise this because of a mere surface impression,” he admonishes, catching sight of her wrinkled up face. “Once this absorbs it shall shield against anything that wounds, no matter how fierce the blow. Now,” he says, spreading her legs apart, “lie still.”
He works the ointment into every crevice and fold within, even taking care to spread it thoroughly over her bruised cervix. She does her best not to squirm at his touch. Protection though it may be, the ointment does nothing to stop the sharp ache inside her and Hakuno is losing the struggle to keep the pain off her face by the time he finishes and withdraws.
Gilgamesh looks at her, puts the ointment bottle aside, and gestures at her to sit up. Once she works herself into a sitting position, he removes the stopper of the second bottle and hands it to her. Carved out of what looks like cloudy pink marble, the bottle is shaped like a long tear-drop and strangely heavy for its small size. Peering inside, she sees a liquid nearly the same shade of pink as the bottle. It smells like a garden of flowers dusted with sugar, like candy made from a spring day.
“Drink,” the king says. “This will heal and soothe your current hurt. Be careful: do not drink too deeply, or else it will make you foolish and giddy.”
It can turn me into Bozo the Clown for all I care. No offense, King of Heroes, but I’d drink boiling gasoline if it gets this over with, she thinks, and raises the bottle to her lips.
The liquid is warm and tastes like milk boiled with roses. Her fingers slip a little on the bottle as she takes the first sip and the fluid rushes into her mouth, sliding sweet and heavy down her throat before she can help it. Her bones soften. Gladness bubbles up in her belly, swirls up towards her heart.
She looks at Gilgamesh, sitting regally on the end of the bed like a gilded idol and for the first time notices how striking he is, all crimson and gold like the finest of jewels, glittering even in the dim light. Her fingers are wobbling so she puts the bottle down extra carefully on her nightstand, then moves towards him, bouncing lightly as she goes. His eyes widen a little, then narrow almost to slits.
“Mongrel! You disobedient—What did I tell you about drinking too much of that potion?”
Up close he’s even more beautiful, despite the way he’s glaring at her. She doesn’t want him to glare at her though: he’s much prettier when he smiles. “It slipped,” she reassures him, then stumbles just as she reaches him and falls against his smooth chest, coming to rest with her head against his heart. It booms under her ear like thunder, making her giggle. Heart like thunder and hair the sparkling gold of lightning, skin as soft as clouds. Too bad his eyes aren’t blue, she thinks, to complete the set. She pats his chest, stroking the tight bud of his nipple contentedly, just like he’d touched hers before.
“Mongrel,” Gilgamesh snaps, “stop that at once.” His face is very pink, just like the bottle.
“Why? I felt good before, so I want you to feel good too.” His erection, poor thing, is trapped somewhere under her right thigh: she can feel it rubbing against her, hot and miserable. She can fix that, and moves so she can lift it free, caressing it apologetically as she does. It quivers, clearly pleased at her attention, but Gilgamesh, impatient as only a king can be, snatches her hand away before she can finish tending to it.
“Enough,” he says through clenched teeth and yanks her around so her back is against his chest, her arms trapped by his. “We are ending this now.”
That’s fine. “You’ll make it feel good again, right Gil?”
“I-Idiot, of course it will feel good!”
She hums in pleasure as Gilgamesh slides his long fingers inside her. Little ripples of joy spread through her body with each thrust of his hand, each stroke of his thumb against her clit. She leans back against him, spreading her legs wide, letting the good feeling soak through her bones. His fingers leave and she squirms a little in disappointment but then his cock slips inside her and she lets out a low, contented sigh.
“Good, better, best,” she murmurs, pressing down, wanting all of him. The deep stretch low in her belly, the heat like a hundred suns between her legs, the arms wrapped hard around her, the hips tight against hers. Gilgamesh starts a slow easy rhythm, light shallow thrusts. Teasing. The king’s teasing her. She’s sick with longing and he’s moving so slowly, not even touching her except where his arms pin hers down at her sides. Hakuno moans, pushes back against his hot, smooth skin, tries to sink his cock more fully into her. “Harder. Let’s do this. Please, Gil?”
He lifts one hand and his fingers close on her right nipple, pinching it gently. “Hmph. You ask such, with that fragile body of yours? Do you wish a repeat of earlier? I will move when I judge you capable of it. For now, be silent.” His thumb circles as slowly as his thrusts until her nipple hardens; then he takes his hand away. She wants to scream but he’s moving a little faster now, rocking more firmly into her. His fingers finds her clit and she lets herself go boneless, collapsing against him as that sharp wicked pleasure starts building again. Her hand accidentally brushes his thigh. She leaves it there, taking a secret glee in the contrast of hard muscle and silky hair, until Gilgamesh ruthlessly pinches her clitoris, shoving her off the precipice into the maelstrom below.
“Stay still,” he hisses in her ear as she comes back from her orgasm, but there’s an odd catch in his breath, and when he pins her arms against her body again she could swear she almost feels him shaking.
The king’s not going slow now, but there’s no suffering, no pain, just this great swell of ecstasy shining through her, turning everything around her to gold. She strokes the spot where they’re joined with reverent fingers but Gilgamesh yanks her hand away, heaping curses on her head. His thrusts get harder, his breath comes heavier. She can taste magic on her tongue, as bitter and alluring as the king.
“Mongrel,” Gilgamesh says, “mongrel--” and then he doubles over, his face against her shoulder, his teeth into her flesh.
A bright agonizing pain rips through her arm and the world goes black.
White space. She’s standing in a gap of nothing, watching a light flicker and beckon in the distance. It blazes a path across emptiness, reaching out to her like the hand of a long lost friend. She takes a step forward.
Sand under her feet. She’s on a broad, well-paved road leading away from a city of smooth, honey-colored stone. A muted rumble surrounds her, the far-off noise of a busy people.
Two figures ahead of her, indistinct at first but growing clearer the longer she looks: a white-turbaned man, jangling with jewels, walks together with a thin white figure that shimmers like heat in the bright air. She doesn’t know either of them, but the slighter one on the left…the one with the long spill of hair the color of young leaves in sunlight.
You left me. Why did you leave me? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Didn’t we PROMISE—
She runs to them. I have to see, I have to know. A million cuts open on her bare feet, leaving bold flags of blood behind, but still she runs, until she’s almost close enough to touch them—
They turn to meet her. Gilgamesh tilts his white-capped head and fixes her with his usual look of cool disdain but his friend, with the face of a stranger and the eyes of someone beloved, smiles at her and holds out their hand.
Hakuno blinks. A crimson ocean surrounds her. A feeling like molten gold in her belly, her body tingling. Low light and a searing pain in her shoulder. Her hand curls limply in her naked lap. Gilgamesh bit me when he came, that’s right. “Ouch…”
“Quiet. I am attending to you now.” Gilgamesh works a salve into her shoulder, letting her head rest against his chest while the stinging ointment knits her flesh back together. The rest of her sprawls awkwardly over his legs. She shifts very gently, feels sticky warmth against her rear but nothing else, nothing prodding from below.
So that’s it, then. Curse finally broken. Multiple orgasms and nobody died.
Her eyes are heavy. Hard to believe he’s taking care of me, hard to believe he hasn’t shoved me off by now.
“Done,” he says, and gives her the push she was expecting, but more gently. She falls forward on her knees and sighs. Her entire body aches with pleasure and fatigue and her mind is as heavy as her eyes. She wants nothing more than to sleep for a million years, but something tugs at her: the vision of a slim figure with long, light green hair.
“Gilgamesh, who was that?”
He looks at her coolly from where he sprawls with regal ease against the pillows at the head of the bed, every inch the haughty king again. “What nonsense are you babbling now?”
“When you bit me, I blacked out for a moment and saw you with someone.” Hakuno shuts her eyes, trying to bring the picture back before her. “You were walking with someone dressed in white, with long green hair.” She hears a noise like a quickly stifled breath; when she opens her eyes, Gilgamesh’s mouth is tightly closed, his crimson eyes burning. “I don’t know why, but they seemed really familiar to me, so I thought I’d ask you--"
The king abruptly rises from his perch and comes to her, taking her chin in his fingers. There's nothing overtly threatening in any of his movements but something inside her cries out to hide. “I saw nothing and I have no desire to listen to the delusions of a mongrel." He tilts her face to his and she finds herself looking into a serpent's eyes, pitiless and glittering. "What you saw was clearly some figment of your lust-addled brain."
It isn't and wasn't, and he knows that, and she knows that, but somehow she's found herself on the wrong side of a quagmire, with no knowledge of how she's come here and no clear path to safety. So she sits with her fear and watches and waits, looking at the reflections of her face in those snake eyes.
The king's mouth moves as if to speak, but his lips twist into a smirk instead and suddenly the sense of danger is gone, replaced with his ordinary, everyday obnoxiousness. He releases her chin and leans back into a stretch that highlights every muscle on his perfect body, something her libido very much appreciates, even if her ego doesn't. “Speaking of such, have you rested sufficiently? If so, let us resume our efforts to break the curse.”
She blinks. “Excuse me? Isn’t it broken? That--” she points at his now flaccid cock ”--looks pretty calm to me.”
“Oh no,” he says, with a smile of such sweetness she’s immediately on guard. “Mongrel, I still find myself wishing to embrace you, so clearly the curse cannot be broken.”
He’s so completely full of shit she’s surprised his eyes haven’t turned brown. “Gilgamesh--“
“Mongrel, your helpless face and stifled cries as you so desperately tried to deny your pleasure was strangely attractive. I would see more of that.” He looks at her from under his lashes. “Were you not begging for my touch, and my sword?”
“That potion--“
“Merely unleashes thoughts and urges. It does not create them from nothingness. That was all Hakuno Kishinami’s desire. Do you refute it?” His eyes catch and hold hers: his are full of genuine lust now, not the sham compulsion crafted by the curse. Her heart quickens, her lips part and the king's smile widens.
Gilgamesh grabs her hips, pushes her head down towards the pillows. “Mongrel, let us see how long this frail body of yours can endure me. If you satisfy, perhaps I shall deign to make use of you during times of great boredom. Are you not thrilled? Are you not overjoyed?” He blows gently on her aching clitoris and she can’t help or stop the tremor that racks her entire body.
Liar! Liar! I see the look in your eyes! Boredom my ass! It’ll be every day and twice on Tuesdays!
“Ah,” Gilgamesh whispers, “answer indeed,” and she bites down hard on a pillow as the King of Heroes, sucking and lapping, begins to eat her out again with a smothered moan of delight.
Two hours and fifteen different positions later, she’s learned more than everything she ever wanted to know about sex.
Morning has come.
Hakuno stands at the entrance to the Labyrinth. The bite mark on her shoulder has healed to a tiny pink crescent and if she’s careful, she can almost walk normally. Gilgamesh lingers behind, several feet away, but she can feel him as distinctly as if he were standing at her back. She groans internally.
The king had fucked her enough for five lifetimes, expressed surprise upon finishing that she was still conscious and rational, then sauntered off to bathe with satisfaction all over his face, cheerfully admonishing her to clean up before he returned. “I will not sleep in a room that smells of rutting, even if it is of my own make.” For a few minutes Hakuno had thought very hard about stealing one of the swords from the Gate of Babylon and cramming it up his ass; then she had wound the cleanest of the sheets around her, shoved everything else into the closet and thrown herself down the black hole of sleep, praying fervently that the entirety of the night would turn out to be nothing more than an obscenely pleasurable nightmare.
Instead she had woken to find the king lounging on his throne fully armored, his usual expression of smug disinterest firmly in place except for the gleam in his eyes. Gilgamesh had watched her dress through half-closed lids, a smirk playing around his lips and Hakuno had been left with the very strong impression that he’d be back up her skirts again by nightfall. Goddamn it, as if he wasn’t bad enough already!
They haven’t gone more than a few feet into the Labyrinth when BB appears in a flutter of black cloth, smile radiant as the full moon. “Hellllllllooooooo! Senpai, have you missed me? Did you wither and die without the sight of my face? No? But senpai is so pale, you look like you’re seen a ghost!” She giggles. “You must have really missed me! Next time I won’t stay away so long, okay? Senpai?”
Hakuno stares at her. The fear that had jolted through her when BB appeared is rapidly ebbing away to an anger so all consuming she can’t even speak. She’s...acting like nothing happened. She put me and Gilgamesh through three days of hell and she’s acting like nothing happened.
“Yoo-hoo, cat got your tongue?” Even though she’s hovering in mid-air, BB somehow manages to stamp her foot. “Why are you gaping at me like that? Senpai?” Something that would have sounded like worry on anyone other than BB creeps into her voice. “You’re starting to look uglier than usual...and scarier...”
Before Hakuno can say or do anything, Gilgamesh walks past her, stopping just between her and BB. To her complete astonishment, the King of Heroes lifts his chin and smiles at the AI.
“Ignore the mongrel for now. She will be in better form later.” Did his eyes shift to her just then? “As ignoble as I find this, I must give you my thanks, moon insect. The mongrel was beginning, ever so slightly, to bore me. But thanks to your misguided ploy at separating us, I have no doubt that she will continue to entertain me for many a day to come.”
I’m going to fucking murder him.
BB blinks at them in cute confusion. “Huh? What are you talking about? Separating you? Senpai refused. That was ages ago. Why are you acting like that just happened? I haven’t seen you simpletons since the last BB Channel episode. Right? I haven’t seen you. Right? ” Uncertainty twitches in BB’s eyes. “You’re just being stupid as usual, trying to put one over on the great BB-chan. Right?”
Shock fills Hakuno’s mouth and she takes a few steps forward without thinking, fists raised. Is she for real? Is she seriously pretending she doesn’t remember what she did? “BB, are you kidding me? The curse? You don’t remember that curse? You tried to get Gilgamesh to ra--"
Gilgamesh’s hand falls on her shoulder, cutting through her words. Is it her imagination or is he pressing down just a little more firmly on the spot where he’d bitten her? “Let it be, mongrel,” he murmurs, close to her ear. A shiver runs through her body. She grimaces and steps away from him, trying to ignore the heat between her thighs, but his hand doesn’t leave her shoulder. Bastard, you’re doing this deliberately. “Clearly something more is behind this, but I doubt the moon insect can enlighten us. Artificial Intelligences are not capable of falsehood. We must look elsewhere for answers.”
BB's laughter is sweet and brittle. Her eyes are fixed on Gilgamesh’s hand. “You seem awfully chummy with Mister Golden Grief all of a sudden, senpai. Don’t you know it’s really rude to whisper together in front of someone else? I think I’ll add another floor to the Labyrinth as punishment. But to get back to before...you’re joking right? This is senpai’s silly game, right? It’s totally impossible for an AI to forget or forgive anything. No way you’re being so stupid as to accuse the great and adorable BB-chan of forgetting something--something she’s to-ta-lly incapable of doing--right? Right?”
Gilgamesh squeezes her shoulder once, in warning, then releases her. Hakuno steps away and looks up, straight into BB’s eyes. “Yeah, you got us. We’re just trying to fool you, BB. We should have known better and it’s been real nice talking to you, but we’re going to go save Jinako now.”
A peal of silvery laughter answers her. “Oh you can try, senpai, you can try. I’m going to go now and think of something extra-special nasty to punish you for being so naughty as to try and fool BB-chan. Jelly monsters! Electrified floors! Quiz shows! Look forward to it, okay?”
“BB,” Hakuno mutters as the AI vanishes, giggling over her plans, “I really doubt your worst is going to be anything harder than what I’ve already been through. Or--” she shoots a look at the King of Heroes, calmly standing behind her, “--what’s already been through me.”
Gilgamesh smiles.
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Originally Posted by ItsaRandomUsername
