Coye 4.25 (End of Volume) (Patreon)

Chapter 25 - The Power of Love

The Pixie didn't want to come out of the hat. She didn't even want to be there at all, yet it wasn't like she could just teleport away. Coye's hand was drawing closer to the brim of his cap, the moment of fate becoming nearer and nearer still. Sure, things weren't as bad as they could be, and there was a list of positives to go along with every negative they learned. Just because Coye was excited about possibly gaining magic powers didn't mean Shayla couldn't still feel guilty about everything she'd unintentionally done, though.

"Shayla," he called out to her. "We're all alone now. Door's locked and everything."

"I can see from in here, in case you forgot. I know the stupid door is locked!" She grumbled as the hat was lifted off of Coye's head.

Like a startled bat swooping through the night, Shayla darted all the way over to Eschal's desk the moment it was gone. Everyone noticed her bright, glowing wings no longer sprinkled dust as they idly fluttered behind her. Her eyes were watery, and her nose was runny.

"What's the matter?" Coye approached her with a concerned look on his face. "I just thought we'd talk about-"

"The fact that I turned you into a drug addict? Yeah, pull up a chair! That'll make for some prime fucking conversation." She scoffed and turned away from him.

"Shayla," Suzette started what would undoubtedly be a gentle, motherly comment of stern support, only to feel her lips held together by an invisible force.

"No way," Shayla pointed her finger at the older woman. "I know how you work by now. You're gonna say something super levelheaded, and then I'll feel even shittier than I already do until it forces me to open up and share my feelings, dammit!"

"And why is sharing your feelings such a bad thing, huh?" Byng had her hands on her hips and showed less patience for the Pixie. "Freaking out over this isn't gonna help you or short-stuff! You didn't know any better, and what happened happened. That should be that. It's not like you gonna hold this against her, are you?"

"No, not at all," Coye gave Shayla a loving smile. "I mean it."

Shayla's conflicted expression continued wavering until she was forced to let out a long sigh and undo her magic on Suzette's lips. "Fuck," she spat and kicked over a nearby ink bottle. "I know you're not, and that's why I feel so bad! Like always, you're too good for me..."

"Do you want Darling to be mad at you?" Suzette took full advantage of the ability to speak once again.

"No," Shayla frowned. "Obviously."

"Then what do you want?" Coye asked.

Shayla gave it some thought. It didn't go well. Her mind mainly served as a hyperactive jumble of frustration and guilt at that moment. "I don't fucking know. To have known better, I guess? To at least have given you some sort of option before sailing you down the delicious river of substance abuse? Fuck, fuck, fucking hell...!"

Coye took a deep breath. He wouldn't allow Shayla to wallow in this self-hatred for much longer. Without a word, he picked her up with his hand and softly constricted his fist so she could wiggle out.

"Coye, what the fuck?!" Shayla squirmed as predicted. "Now is not the time to go and manhandle me! Just because I-"

Coye then pushed his fist close to his chest and pressed her against his left pectoral, bringing both hands over the top of her to serve as the closest thing they could do to a hug. That shut her up reasonably fast. Against her will, Shayla was soothed by the beating of the heart that she now knew depended on her love and support in order to keep working. A few minutes later and she was hugging him back.

"Are you ready to hear what I have to say?" Coye asked.

"No, but I'll listen anyway..." Shayla sighed. Removing her from his breast, Shayla now stood voluntarily on Coye's flattened palm. She briefly looked at Byng and Suzette because it was better than looking Coye in the eyes. "Sorry that I freaked out on you guys." She said.

"No big deal," Byng flashed her toothy grin. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"It's as she said," Suzette agreed, placing her hand on Byng's shoulder. "I believe your reaction was perfectly justifiable, so think nothing of it."

Shayla didn't smile back, but their forgiveness was comforting all the same. She looked up at him at last, seeing for herself the supposed sparkle that Eschal had alluded to. She'd never noticed before because his eyes were so big and beautiful as they were, but it was definitely there. It would probably become more evident as time passed, Shayla thought.

She waited for him to speak.

"So if you could stop your dust from falling like that, then why didn't you just do that from the start?" He asked with an innocent tilt of the head.

Shayla blinked, then was overcome with the urge to smack the boy upside the head. If only her hands were large enough. "That's seriously how you're gonna start this conversation, you dopey, doped up dipshit?!"

"It was just a question..." Coye shrunk back.

After a sigh, Shayla found his cluelessness to be somewhat comforting. "Because it's not just something I can turn off and on without expending a little bit of mana. It would be like if you walked around with a training weight in each hand all day- it wouldn't cost you much stamina, but it'd add up over time. Get it?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Good. In case you forgot, I usually need my mana for more important shit. Or at least, I did. Now I've got no choice but to start doing this all the time." She shrugged. Shayla wanted to take back some of the initiative before this dastardly boy of hers could make things all emotional like she knew he would. "I know you're gonna say something sappy any second now, so will you at least let me say I'm sorry? I really, really would've told you if I knew any of this."

"I know you would've," Coye smiled. "But it doesn't matter. Seriously. When I decided to become your partner and always be there for you, that was a decision I made in order to change my life. Now look what happened- I got everything I ever wanted and more, and it's just gonna keep getting better every day."

"Sure," Shayla looked away to deflect the mushy feelings. "That's all sweet and everything, and I know you mean every word of it, but... do you seriously not have a care in the world over any of this? Not a one? Shouldn't you be at least, like, a tiny bit mad?"

"No? Tiph does a lot of drugs, and she seems fine."

"That... is so incomparable to our current situation that it baffles my mind as to why you would even bring her up." Shayla shut her eyes tight in frustration.

"Okay, but Eschal said nothing bad would happen as long as we stick together. Are you going to leave me anytime soon?" Coye asked.

That forced the Pixie to power and point her finger at him. "You fucking wish! You know I'd never leave you, baby...! I just... I know you. I thought you would've gotten all sad and sulky because..."

"Because I might start thinking all the changes I went through are because of your dust? Eschal already covered that, too. I'm still in control of my actions, remember? Besides, even if everything I've managed to make of myself these last two weeks did all come down to your dust, how is that any different from how things already were? You were always the only reason I could change, Shayla..."

She lost her breath while processing Coye's words. Tears were welling up in her eyes again, but she was stubborn and fought against her embarrassment. Shayla wasn't going to cry- she refused. The little droplets of water dripping down her cheeks at that moment were condensation or something... yeah, condensation.

"Coye... is that really how you feel?" Shayla asked, wiping up the mysterious condensation from her eyes.

"Of course it is," Coye laughed and smiled, making her heart feel full. Once Shayla had settled down enough, though, she got a feel for his emotions and noticed that, above everything else... he was feeling excitement, and his intentions were not pure.

Her eyebrow twitched. "You're just happy you get magic powers, aren't you?! You don't care about anything else but that!"

"What? N-No, that's-"

Suzette clicked her tongue. "Rather manipulative of you, Darling."

"He knows what he wants! What's so bad about that? Gahaha!"

"Admit it!" Magical energy started to pulsate around Shayla's fists, alerting Coye that if he didn't say something fast, then she would do something to take her frustrations out on him.

"Can't I want magic fairy powers and believe in the power of our love at the same time?!" Coye blushed, saying the first thing that came to mind.

Suzette and Byng's hearts began to race as Shayla gasped and covered her mouth, flying backward out of his hand. "Hold on a second there, who... who the fuck said anything about l-l-l-love?! Isn't it too early to go throwing around that word?!"

Coye didn't treat the word like it was anything special. "What's so weird about it?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. "We love each other, right? I mean, I know I love you, and Eschal said that your dust wouldn't have such a powerful effect on me if you didn't love me back, so-"

The way that he kept saying it made Shayla weaker and weaker. She tumbled over to the desk where she could sit and rest her beating heart. As she gathered herself, Suzette stepped in to help the embarrassed Pixie. "He said that he couldn't confirm whether that was the truth or not, but... it's not like we have any other explanations."

"What's the big deal? I think the power of love has a pretty nice ring to it!" Byng gave Shayla a shit-eating grin.

"Say that again, and I'll fucking bite you on your big, fat ass!" Shayla screamed and lifted the nearest ink bottle to launch at Byng's face. "I'd love to see how much that fucker charges you to heal a Pixie bite, you green... um... bitch!"

Byng caught the bottle and couldn't hold back her uproarious laughter. Coye found it adorable how Shayla got all fussy when someone else got under her skin. He was smiling, and it wasn't solely because attention had been drawn away from his lust for magical powers.

Then, he started feeling cocky.

"So are you saying you don't love me, Shayla?" Coye asked in a melodramatic tone. He was anything but an actor, but if nothing else, he had the puppy dog eyes down to a T.

"I... I..." Shayla twiddled her fingers as her wings started to vibrate at a high frequency. "It's not like I don't, or anything... I mean... I do, duh... b-but... you have to build up to saying that word!"

"Sorry, but I'm prone to impulsive behavior, and sometimes I stay stupid shit that you're just going to have to forgive me for later." Coye smiled, using her own rhetoric against her. He didn't know that his words were literally putting Shayla on the verge of passing out. She'd never felt this happy or embarrassed before- it was enough to make a girl lightheaded and dizzy.

It was then that Byng made the unwise decision to step in and playfully try to help Shayla out, unaware of what she was about to get herself into. "Easy, short-stuff! As a rule of thumb, the word 'love' is like your dick. The sooner you whip it out, the more likely it is to scare a girl off. Gahaha!"

"I'm just telling the truth," Coye shrugged. "I also love you, and I love Suzette, too. Is that so wrong to say?"

Suzette's knees gave out with a tremendous gasp, and she toppled to the floor. The psychic damage inflicted by Coye's first use of the L-word directed at her was too much for Suzette's lonely heart, which had only recently begun to know happiness. "Darling!" She cried. "You... you can't say such things! I'm weak, Darling, oh so weak...!"

"Gah!" Byng suffered the same amount of damage, though her resistance was somewhat greater because of how chill she naturally was. She clutched her heart as redness overtook her face, and she looked away from him to steady herself against the cold stone wall. "It's not... wrong to say it, but... w-we've only been together for five days!"

"Six, for me!" Suzette added.

"All three of you were in love with me for a lot longer than the time we've been together, though," Coye pointed out.

"T-That's..." Shayla found she had nothing to say in response to that. It was a decent point, especially considering his emotions were heightened because of the Pixie Dust. He wasn't lying about his feelings, that was for sure.

Though Coye was meek and timid regarding so many things, expressing his love proved a casual affair for him. Moreover, he was made apparent of the power this one simple word had over his ladies. Within him, he felt the drive to capitalize on it.

"Well," he innocently brought his finger to his lip and looked away, playing up his disappointment. "If none of you want me to say it, then... sorry, I won't do it again..."

"Hold the fuck up-" Byng hissed.

"W-Wait just a moment, Darling!" Suzette bemoaned.

"You wouldn't dare!" Shayla snapped.

Coye smiled from ear to ear.

"Don't be so hasty!" Suzette fanned herself with her hand, the sudden heat beginning to get to her. "Now that you've pulled that card from the deck, you can't go shuffling it back in! No, young man. You have to play it- and play it often."

"All I'm saying is if it's really not weird with you, then you can tell me that you... y'know, that you love me as much as you want..." Byng was staring at the ground with her hands behind her back in timid a display most unlike her. "I-I'll say it back, too, obviously..."

"As will I-" Suzette said the words in a hysteric rush to get them out, as if the sooner Coye knew, the better.

On account of going last, Shayla hid behind the other two's responses by simply mumbling, "Yeah! What they said!" Before Coye could call her out on it, she moved the goalpost. "Anyway, don't think that just because you say you l-love me, it means I'll suddenly start letting you have way more sex with me! I know you want magic powers, but my pussy can't handle more of your bullshit than it already does! The poor girl's been through enough already..."

"But Shayla," Coye took a step forward and held the Fairy Knight scroll open. His finger was pointed at the final illustration. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

The Pixie's glowing pink and blue eyes opened wider and wider the more she stared. "Yes, I... I do want that... but..." a long silence passed as Shayla continued looking upon the drawing of the Knight and his Fairy standing at the same height.

"Okay," Shayla gulped. "Maybe we can have a little more sex than we already do, as long as your personal ball-drainers keep you under control."

"Personal ball-drainer?" Suzette laughed as Byng helped her up. "Need I remind you I have a life outside of seeing to my Darling's sexual needs?"

"And so do I," Byng cackled. "But I guess when I'm not busy, I can help out with that. Gahaha!"

Coye felt as if a significant victory had been won, and to celebrate, he picked Shayla up and gave her a kiss on the lips. She was surprised as it happened, but in no time, she responded by kissing him back and adding magic to make it nice and tingly. When their kiss ended, they both smiled at each other. Shayla's smile was full of nervousness and doubt, but it was balanced out by the unending optimism and love in Coye's.

"Gods, how in the hell am I going to handle this...?" Shayla asked the boy with a reserved sigh.

Coye smiled and turned Shayla's words against her one last time, teasing, "I guess you're just going to have to take it one day at a time."