99. Futures
The two of you remain that way for a while; Mercy leaning against the boulder you're perched on. Her hair smells... well, it smells like hair, but with an undercurrent of something sweet cut with something something sour. Fruit and ash perhaps? Both scents are faint and you spend some time ruminating over them.
Pear, maybe? Or apple?
Her scent fills the air, driving the melancholy from your mind as it wanders. Subtle spices have joined the more obvious scents. Spicy and warm. It fills your lungs.
The spices swell, dragging your mind to a soft place you've never been. A home you've never had but long for. Cold winters with hot cider, a warm home surrounded with cold snow, no reason to leave. Comfort. And someone else. Someone to share it with. You can almost imagine turning round and seeing them, inviting you to come and warm yourself with them-
“Gah!”
The noise startles you from your pleasant daydream, to find Mercy has moved. So have you, for that matter. You're half curled on the stone, head on your forelimbs bit back legs stretched out. Mercy is several feet away, having apparently crab walked backwards at speed until she hit one of the demon trees.
“I'm sorry! I thought a little would help I didn't realise how much I wanted, how much I was putting out. I should have asked!”
You blink, slowly. It was such a nice dream. “What are you talking about?”
She takes a shuddering breath, then exhales. When she looks up again, she meets your gaze.
“I was using magic on you. To enthral your mind. I tried to tone down the lustful aspect of it a bit so it would just be... nice. Calming. But then at the end I could feel your lust or... companionship I guess? It spiked just a little and I lost control. Started pumping out full lust. It's not like that, OK? I was trying to help.”
It takes a minute for your mind to react to what she's saying. Then you huff out a laugh.
“Mercy. It's fine. No harm done.”
She glares at you, which makes you reel.
“NO! It's not fine! I'm not like this! I don't use mind magic on the only guy I actually kinda like! It's a hunting tool. You wouldn't tell Feathers it was 'fine' that she stabbed you while in the grips of Rage, would you?”
“Yeah.”
That finally brings her up short.
“Yeah I would. It's Feathers. She wouldn't hurt me deliberately. And I'll heal. I know you wouldn't hurt me either. Evidenced by the way you're currently eight feet away and not devouring my soul.”
You take a moment to look at her. She crumbles.
“I don't want you to think I'm dangerous to you. But I want you. Every day. Whenever I'm low on power I turn back to your huge battery I could draw from forever. I don't want you to think I'm just using you. Or entrapping you. Or... something. I don't know.”
She looks up at you again, from her half curl at the base of a tree. You've never seen her look so vulnerable.
You twitch.
She shudders. “Look! I don't even... I don't feel as bad as I'm making it out, but I know you have a thing for vulnerable girls you can save with your cock and it's like half of me is poking the other half into acting more hurt and needy than I am! Gods!”
You open your mouth to refute her.
Sapphire, came to you because she was routinely forced to sell herself for food and a place to sleep. Lasted what, a handful of days?
Feathers because her tribe was destroyed and she thought the only place left to go was to you. Made it an hour?
Amanda... needs no introduction. Nor timer.
Maybe you do have a type.
You cough, to cover your silence, then speak. “You do know... that that's just life, right?”
She gives you a flat look and you hold up a hand to forestall her. “I'm serious. Changing your actions to seem more attractive is... pretty normal? To fit in with people, or to attract a partner. I wasn't nearly so protective, or active, before I met everyone else. I just stayed in my cave unless an adventurer dropped something I thought I could trade for sex with someone in the forest. I still like to laze around. But I push myself to work for you guys. So I guess the question is, did you lie just then, talking about your feelings?”
She opens her mouth and you cut her off, feeling strangely satisfied to be in this position for once.
“Did you say anything that's actually not true? Not exaggeration, actual falsehood?”
Her mouth slowly closes and she shakes her head, not looking away from your eyes.
“And do you think you would have told me about it, if I were a stranger? Or if I hadn't come to you for advice so many times?”
Another head shake.
“Then I don't think that's a lie, or an act. I think that's called growing as a person, and opening up to someone you're close to.”
She shakes her head again, but there's no heat in it. And she's uncurled from her ball so that she's simply leaning against the tree.
“I still used lust magic on you. To make you fuck me, against your will. To get you fixated on a future with me.”
You shake your head, disbelief clear on your face.
“Mercy. You have a body literally built for sex and attraction. I'm already fixated on you. And you can't complain that that's magic cheating because Amanda has legs that go one all day and a cute face that I want to fuck, like, most of the time. Sapphire's tiny, has a tail and scales, and if she ever decided to leave I'd be heartbroken. Feathers is a ball of rage contained within an ass you could bounce a pebble off, muscles that can shatter apples when she flexes and a prosthetic leg, and I think she's the sexiest goblin I've ever seen. I want a future with all of you in it already. Using magic to make me realise that that future doesn't need to be filled with violence if we don't want, that I'd be happy just to be with you isn't false. It just makes me happy.
“As for making me want to fuck you, in case my previous statement wasn't clear, I'm horny almost always and it's you four's fault. I'm surrounded by two women who's asses are my head height, and unless I take precautions and look up at their faces I catch an eyeful of underboob. If I look down, instead it's two women who's heads are the same sight as my crotch. All of whom are gorgeous, interested in me, and non of whom have yet said no to anything I've wanted to try. I am, in fact, living the dream. If you want to fuck me, just tell me. No magic needed. So your worry about 'enthralling your mind with lust',” your impression of her voice makes Mercy snort, and then wipe at suspiciously bright eyes, “is groundless because this dungeon is PROUD to be the 'horniest dungeon I've ever seen',” Another snort, that morphs into full blown giggles as you continue, “because it's run by me. And I am an unrepentant horndog.”
You pant after your rant, catching your breath as Mercy's laughter subsides. The first words out of her mouth are an incredulous “What's a 'horndog' and why does it fit you so well?”
You huff. “No idea. Just seemed right. Is that really all you took from that?”
Mercy takes a few more deep breaths, wiping her eyes once more. “No, no. I... I get it. Thanks. I think I needed that. It's been haunting me since we met, really. Hearing it broken down like that though... Thanks, Red. Really and truly. I don't want you to think I live for nothing but sex, but knowing you won't be another guy who thinks less of me for what I am... It helps.”
She looks up at you from under her eyelashes and bats them at you, while shifting so she's half propped up sideways. “Is there anything I can do in return? My tank is running rather low,” Her voice drops an octave into a sultry purr, “So it will have to be just the right amount of strenuous.”
You gulp. “Do that thing with the vulnerability again?” You suggest, weakly.
So, fun fact. This scene was originally going to be a sex scene but as happens every time these two fuckers are alone together shit got too real and they had a 1.6k word heart to heart instead. I was even going to cut the heart to heart after a few short paragraphs outlining Mercy realising how much she likes being here and telling Red about her struggles to take her mind off of him, and I was going to use the line “Don't think I'm a slut.” I got half way through the transitory dialogue when I realised 'Hang on, Mercy is probably the least likely person to be slut shamed, ever, she fucked an entire city and was proud of the fact'. So I cut that section out, and she demanded I write her having a vulnerable moment and growing as a person in recompense. So really, blame her for this.
And of COURSE chapter 100 was going to be sex.
A huge thank you to my patreons NA, Spockk Kirkk, Abysslsniper, Tyrant615, Dakkanor, Jakelandiar, Curious Krissy, CBK, Roman, TheDrTelos, RD and Bakerdea. A special thank you to Spokk Kirkk and Roman who are both paying more than they need to, which is one of the most incredible feelings.