After sending Elise back to the [Fief] via [Fast Travel], Hannah and I returned to the large city where we had established our temporary home.
It was night. There was no activity in the streets, but the sky was clear and heavy with stars; the full moon illuminated the path with a soft, almost tranquil light, as if the world were completely ignorant of what had occurred hours before.
We walked slowly toward the house. Hannah didn't say a single word. She was trapped in her thoughts, exhausted, though every so often she would stop for just an instant to look at me, as if she wanted to say something… and couldn't. I didn't speak either. I let her have her space, her silence.
Finally, we reached our humble abode. Hannah let out a long, heavy sigh.
All of it had affected her more than she wanted to admit. And the worst part was that, this time, she couldn't blame me. It hadn't been my imprudence or a wrong decision: she had been the center of it all. Her presence. Her beauty. Enough to catch the eye of a demigod.
We went inside and turned on the magical light.
"Do you want a tea or something to help you relax and sleep better?" I offered softly.
I saw her overwhelmed. I wanted to be kind, not invasive.
"No… no…" she replied with a vacant stare, as if she were doubting—though I didn't know if she doubted my offer… or me.
Without saying another word, Hannah went straight to the bathroom to shower and wash the remnants of the battle from her body, even though I had already given her a quick cleaning with magic.
I stayed outside. I prepared a tea for myself… and another for her, just in case.
The shower took a long time. So long that, had I not used my perception to ensure she was okay, I would have thought she had fallen asleep in there.
When she came out, she was wearing something light: two pieces of fabric held together by strings, barely covering her crotch and chest. A single draft of air would have left everything in view. Pajamas? Nightwear? I didn't know. I had never seen her use something like that.
Hannah stood frozen at the bathroom door, motionless, as if she were in another world. At intervals, she looked at me… and when she noticed me watching her, she looked away with a hint of shame, perhaps due to the clothes she had chosen.
Her behavior intrigued me. Something had her trapped, hesitating. Let's assume it was the weight of today's events. I even thought about helping her with [Calm], to allow her to let everything go at once and return to the vivacious Hannah she always was.
It wasn't necessary.
Finally, she clenched her fists, took a deep breath… and seemed to make a decision.
"Red… it's over?" she asked. "Can we go back to our time?"
"No," I replied calmly. "Although defeating a demigod is a total victory for this trip... and something you could brag about," I winked at her, before correcting myself, "well, maybe better to keep it a secret from some people."
Then I turned serious.
"Our mission continues. It's related to a temple we still haven't found. Of course, we can also return if too much time passes… or, technically, commit suicide. That would work too." I said it calmly, so she could consider the same.
The mention of dying didn't please her at all; she dismissed the idea immediately. Still, she kept looking at me.
"And how long will we be here?" she asked at last, almost in a whisper.
"I don't know. Maybe two… four… six more years. It depends. I don't know the exact margin of this trip," I replied, watching her sink back into that world of thoughts I couldn't quite see into.
"Will you stay with me all that time?" she asked weakly.
I looked at her and smiled.
"When have I ever given you signs of wanting to distance myself from you? Even outside of this." I let out a small, soft, almost mocking laugh.
Hannah didn't respond. She held my gaze for an instant, as if something inside her broke… and at the same time, solidified. Then she turned around and walked toward her room without saying anything else. Not even a goodnight.
I was about to sigh, prepared to let her go to sleep while I meditated on whether to resume the Aspect project or pour all my power into completing the campaign, when I heard her again.
Hannah was stopped at the entrance of her room. Her back was to me. One hand nervously gripped the doorframe. She didn't seem to have any intention of turning around.
Then she spoke.
"Red..." her voice trembled. "I might... be too afraid to sleep alone. Could you come sleep with me tonight?"
She didn't look at me.
"Sure," I replied without hesitation, smiling even though she couldn't see it.
"Good..." she sighed, as if her last reserves of energy had been depleted.
In a fluid movement charged with a vulnerability that took my breath away, her hands pulled the strings of her clothes. The fabric slid over her skin and fell to the floor without a sound. For an eternal second, she stood there, naked, offering me only the delicate curve of her back before speaking again:
"Come quickly... and leave the light off," she said, then hurried into the dark room and disappeared within it.
My eyes widened… but I didn't stay still for a single second.
I stood up, used a bit of magic for a quick, almost automatic bath, and headed to her room.
Everything was dark, just as she wanted. I could barely distinguish the lump of the bed, shaking under the sheets, betraying her nerves. I hadn't expected it… but I didn't plan on rejecting it either. On the contrary: I hurried there, knowing the day's exhaustion could overcome her at any moment.
Without making a sound, I slipped under the covers. I was met by a warm, trembling body that surrounded me immediately, as if it had been waiting for me for hours.
Hannah remained silent. There was no need to say anything: I knew she wanted me to take the initiative. I didn't make her wait.
I settled against her and returned the embrace, covering her with soft kisses, muffling the sounds escaping her that seemed to embarrass her even in the dark. My hands explored her body while my penis sought the path to her most precious place.
In an instant, an adorable moan filled the air as she felt my firmness pushing into her dampness, enveloping me in an intoxicating heat.
In a blink, a sharp, broken moan escaped her throat as she felt her boiling, narrow interior devour me. From then on, the outside world disappeared. There was only the echo of our rhythmic, heavy thrusts, a dirty dance of flesh against flesh where my hips struck her with a passion bordering on violence.
Her hands and legs clung to me in desperation; tears fell from her eyes, a contradictory mix of feeling invaded and deeply loved. The innocent, virginal flame inside her finally discovered what it was to truly burn, consuming itself on that invisible border between pain and pleasure in the middle of the darkness. Only her hearing and touch could perceive the sinful act we were committing.
In a few minutes, her resistance didn't take long to break. With just a little more friction and ferocity, the dam of her pleasure burst in a tidal wave that made her arch, tense as a violin string, vibrating under my weight before collapsing. In that same instant, my own heat fired inside her, claiming her with that seed that seemed to burn her within, even more than the heat of our bodies in heat.
It was a brief, fleeting burst compared to other times with any other girl, but Hannah was completely defeated. There was no room for post-coital shame; exhaustion claimed her before shyness could, allowing me to wrap my arms around her and guard her sleep for the rest of the night.
...
The next morning we ate breakfast in silence, as if the previous night hadn't existed. Everything seemed normal... too normal. Hannah, however, was tense; you could tell even in her breathing. Being near me put her on guard, as if at any moment she was going to get up and walk out of the house without looking back.
I could see her internal struggle clearly: she was looking for an excuse to flee, but at the same time, her body leaned toward mine, betraying her thoughts.
For her, it was an awkward morning. For me, it was revelatory. There was something childish in her nervousness, typical of someone who has just crossed a boundary and now doesn't know how to look at themselves the same way. I knew that now, with a cool head, she would be overthinking everything.
That was only the first day of resistance. Afterward, everything began to give way.
Our relationship mutated. Once the first time passed, it was as if she accepted her fate. She stayed close, very close, filtering a contained affection that even the locals began to notice. It didn't take long to repeat: her adolescent body, having already tasted the forbidden fruit, begged me to surrender to pleasure once more, as if my sex were a drug she couldn't detox from.
The trips came, the intimate talks by the firelight, and the plans for an uncertain future. Without realizing it, we became as intimate as a newlywed couple, completely forgetting morality and decency.
Nights of passion became routine: in her room, in mine, in the kitchen, and even in the yard, under the stars. Every time she had a "craving," I made sure to satisfy it. In this remote era, with no one to judge us and me always ready to possess her and having the energy to do so, Hannah let herself go completely.
Gone were her doubts about love after the incident with the Yakuruna. She had made up her mind. In the end, she was nothing more than a young woman in a world far too vast. She knew that loving me was a dangerous gamble, almost like surrendering to the creature that nearly took her away, but she was happy. If she had to choose a poison to die by, she would choose the one that tasted the best. And now, she was intoxicating herself with mine.
She decided to live this time as an eternal honeymoon. Although she knew I had other women, in the "here and now," only we existed. She let her femininity and desire bloom, releasing that part of her that had been asleep since childhood. All without thinking about what would come after.
The reunion with the others was inevitable. It turned out lighter than expected, even fun. Hannah tried to act as if nothing had happened, and that was precisely why they all knew something had happened. When she returned, she did so with a smile somewhere between embarrassed and amused. They didn't tell me anything about what they discussed, but it was clear they had gotten along.
It seemed they had reached an agreement: as I often did in my campaigns with my women, she would have me all to herself during this time. A gift from the others so we could enjoy "our moment."
To celebrate that pact, Hannah waited for me that night leaning against the doorframe. Without a word, she opened her legs and used her fingers to expose her intimacy to me, inviting me inside. She didn't care that the neighbors might see her; in fact, the idea of being discovered only added fuel to her fire. When we left this world, no one would know what happened—that was what gave her the courage to experiment with things she would never do in our time.
Without hesitation, I thrust into her with a force that ripped a harrowing scream from her. I gripped her hips firmly, lifting her feet off the floor while she struggled to hold herself against the wall, gasping under my pressure.
This time together was going to be, without a doubt, devastatingly intense.