POV Aron Brightcloud
What had I done! This decision would come to hunt me for the rest of my life. I was sure of it. I had sworn to myself to never bind someone to me, yet had broken that promise not even a month later.
I wearily walked into my chamber. Sephiroth had already taken care of the armor during the time I had talked with my mother. She stood now next to the wall, resembling a statue, not moving an inch.
My body felt tired. I let myself fall into the armchair and breathed out.
“Sephiroth, be so kind and give me a neck massage. My muscles are killing me.”
“As you wish, master.” She arrived gracefully at my side and kneaded my weary muscles with care and expertise. I sighed, Sephiroth really knew how to make one feel good. Her hands slowly made their way down to the base of my neck. I closed my eyes.
Then her hands slipped below my shirt and moved down over my chest. Half a sleep by her ministrations, I recovered some of my clouded senses.
“Stop Sephiroth, I said only the neck.”
Her hands had slid much further down. She held me now in an unconventional hug, her upper body pressed against my head from behind, half smothering me in her warmth.
With a cheerful laugh she responded. “No, don’t want to!”
What had I done.
She suddenly pulled her hands out of my collar, flipped over me and came to sit in my lap. Her arms nestling into a cozy embrace around my neck, our heads nearly touching each other.
Sephiroth gazed deeply into my eyes. “Thank you, Aron. I will never forget that. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Does that mean you will follow my orders now?”
She laughed, “No, not a chance. But I will always think very carrying thoughts while not listening to you.”
I felt like I had bitten into a lemon. “That doesn’t help at all.”
She grinned and leaned her head against mine. “Don’t be so down, you will love it. Trust me.” Sephiroth slid her nose alongside mine.
“Tell me to stop Aron, if you really want it.” Her whispered words wormed themselves into my ears. I only needed to say it. But something stopped me. Why not stay longer like this?
No, I wouldn’t let myself be seduced again. I decisively switched to my combat persona. All my compassion and lust vanished, now I could-
“No, my dear. This time I won’t allow you to break away.” Sephiroth leaned forward. Her lips touched mine before I could react.
An explosion of lust, love and yearning suddenly flooded my head. It broke my mental state. I lost all control over my body and everything went dark. When I recovered we were kissing passionately.
“What the heck?!” What had happened to my second persona? It should have been more than enough to hold her back. Especially after the recent upgrade during the fight against the Fenriswolf.
Sephiroth’s hand caressed my cheek.
“No, my dear, I won’t allow you to use that nasty state during our intimate sessions anymore. You will need to use your own willpower if you want to stop me. But don’t worry, I won’t push you too hard and I swear to you I won’t use this technique as long as you don’t try to switch into that thing anymore, okay? We have now all the time of the world, so we can enjoy every bit of this beautiful relationship.”
Finished, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and left.
What had I done. I would have never thought that carving one line had such an impact on my life. I had condemned myself for all eternity.
She had somehow projected emotions directly into my being. That was the only possibility. How had she done that? It must have to do with the contract.
The change in the formation should have simply negated the one-sidedness. Sephiroth must have left out important details in her explanation. Everything had happened so quickly, unaware of her real bloodline I had decided to equalized the contract. And now I had a royal demon bound to me who could somehow project emotions directly into my brain. What else could she do? Had she also access to my thoughts, emotions and senses?
If that was the case shouldn’t I have that ability as well? Yet I didn’t find anything when I searched my mental self. What was going on? I remembered her words when she had explained the contract to me. They had rung true, my ability would have told me otherwise. Her new abilities had to be part of the balance. That meant I had to have them as well. Yet they seemed hidden. The problem was, I couldn’t ask anyone. Sephiroth would never tell me, and I couldn’t ask my mother. She would immediately kill Sephiroth if she found out.
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After this episode, I was even more exhausted. Time for bed. No sense in theorizing further. I needed rest. Following my own advice, I stood up and went to sleep. Maybe tomorrow everything would look better.
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POV Sephiroth
The night painted the whole city in different shades of black. The moonlight the only exception in the otherwise dark picture. Sephiroth stood at the window in Aron’s bedroom. Her gaze followed the scattered light that fell on the silent scenery. Today had marked a fundamental change in her life.
This morning she had still been free, her prospects boundless. That had changed to certain death when she had decided to sacrifice herself for Aron. Yet that shouldn’t be her end. No, Aron somehow saved her from the beast’s claws at the last moment. He had come back. Even though his chances of success were practically nonexistent, he had decided that she was worth the risk. And not only that. Following her revelation, he stood by her side, not giving an inch. He protected her from his own mother, going even so far as to threaten her with his own dead, should Amanda not heal Sephiroth.
He had done so much more than a liege or even a friend should or would do. Already at this point he had earned her eternal gratitude. But no, it didn’t stop there. Pushed by his mother into forming an all-binding contract, he had stood in front of Sephiroth once again. He could have had an eternal gorgeous servant who would have followed his every whim, but instead had stepped back and had given her equality and a life full of freedom.
Sephiroth slowly walked to the sleeping form of her benefactor. He looked so young and Innocent, yet in reality he was so much more than that. An old soul embroiled in danger and chaos. That didn’t matter. Aron was hers now. She would see to it that he enjoyed and survived his now much longer life. Aron didn’t know it yet, but he had agreed to much more than he had realized. Luckily, he hadn’t found out how to use the abilities that their contract entailed. Sephiroth planned to enjoy that as long as she could.
She silently laughed. They would have so much fun together! Sleep well, my love.
_____
POV Aron Brightcloud
Sunshine gently rose me from my slumber. I felt great. Enshrouded in warmth, I relaxed. Although the blanked was slightly heavier than I recalled, it didn’t matter. The warmth compensated for it. Still half a sleep I remembered the nightmare I had. In my dream, I had bound myself to a demon for all eternity. Luckily, that was just a dream.
Happily I opened my eyes and came face to face with Sephiroth, who lay on top of my blanket, her trademark Cheshire grin on her face. With a sudden headache, I realized that my nightmare was no nightmare at all.
“Good Morning Aron! Have you slept well?”
God, what have I done to earn this? I wanted to go back to sleep and forget everything about this abyssal episode. But I knew that wouldn’t help. With a sigh I opened my eyes again.
“Morning Sephiroth. Why are you lying on top of me?”
Not stopping her grin she replied, “You looked so comfortable in your bed, so I thought it would be a great Idea to join!”
Her answer made my headache even worse.
“Please step aside. It is time to stand up.”
She immediately moved back. Seeing the surprise on my face, she laughed. “Relax Aron, I am not the evil demon you are making me out to be. I want for you to enjoy your life. I will not push you from here on out. If you don’t enjoy the closeness, I won’t force you. I am so thankful for what you have done. I really care about you and want us to have a happy life!”
She meant what she had said. Maybe I had overacted a bit. Well, we will see. I clothed myself and proceeded with my training-routine. Sephiroth followed me like normal apart from one glaring difference. As soon as we had left my quarters her behavior morphed into one of utter deference and professional servant behavior.
She did it with complete mastery. Nobody would ever find out about our actual relationship. Soon noon had arrived.
“Young master, your mother has sent me, she invites you to eat lunch together. She wants to discuss your coming awakening ceremony.” Sandra had walked up to us and informed me of my mother’s plans.
“Tell my mother I will attend.” First, I needed to clean myself. Because of the intensive training, I was full of sweat.
___
“There you are.” My mother greeted me with a smile. She already sat at the table, awaiting lunch.
“Come seat yourself. I wanted to talk to you about the ceremony tomorrow. At last the time has come to awaken your Magic. At the start I want to tell you that no matter what happens we will still love you. I am sure that you will become a magician. And your chance to awaken as a mage are certainly great. But be aware that sometimes unforeseen things can happen. Don’t pressure yourself too much about it, we always will stand by your side.”
“Thank you Mum, I know that.” I felt warmth flow through my entire body at her heartfelt declaration. This was a genuine family.
“Take the afternoon off and prepare your mindset for tomorrow. Don’t train, relax yourself. Everything will go fine.”
My body was prepared. I had improved immensely during the last month. I had learned to fight, completely acclimatised to my body and eclipsed what a normal human could do. Now it was time to for the next step.
The rest of lunch was very enjoyable, Lea joined us as well. We talked a lot about everyday things. During the entire time my now “bound” guard stood at the side of the room, not moving at all, showing everyone how truly under control she was. I could tell how proud my mother was at her accomplishment of having “collared” and taken control of the demon. I really didn’t want to think how she would react if she found out that the only thing she had accomplished was binding me to a royal demon with no power to control her.
Better not think too much about that. Life was beautiful, right? I only had to content with an evil hitchhiker, a circle of dark magicians and…
Okay, let's leave it at life is beautiful. No further details needed.
____
Back in my quarters, Sephiroth suddenly brought forth some cards.
“Do you dare?” What followed was a very fun card-battle. Sephiroth had always known how to entertain, and she did that now with all her skill. The game as such was quite interesting. The cards had unique powers and depending on their usage one had to change their way of playing or behaving in the real world.
Before I knew it, the evening had arrived. Sephiroth was leaning lightly against my shoulder, comfortably enjoying the evening sun. Once more I had forgotten about all the pressure I was under and had been able to simply enjoy the day.
My gaze not deviating from the gorgeous nature phenomena, I opened my mouth. “Thank you Sephiroth, I really enjoyed this.”
Sephiroth laid her head on my shoulder, proclaiming her silent support.
Maybe I worried too much, clearly life was hard but there were also beneficial encounters. Most of the people were not bad, I should believe more in the good side of them.