The Carnival

[Belle Hibiki]

There was a flash of salt water, and the next thing Belle knew, the ship underneath him had disappeared. He fell through open air, tossing and turning, and splashed into the freezing water. He did not float but continued to fall, water whirling around him. He closed his eyes as the stomach-churning drop reached a crescendo...

And suddenly burst up out of the water, gasping and flailing. His naked arm smacked against something hard, which cracked under the impact. His wrist throbbed with pain; he winced and opened his eyes.

Warm yellow light spilled from behind a plain dome of frosted glass that covered a fixture on the ceiling overhead. He was in something that resembled a hotel bathroom, floating suspended in a tub of warm, slightly sudsy water. He was also naked.

Belle turned his head to look behind him; there was nothing there but the bottom of the tub. He pressed his hand to the porcelain and gave it a few pushes, but it failed to prove an illusion.

There was a window nearby. The gauzy blind were drawn, but Belle could still see the occasional flash of neon light outside and hear the ratcheting of coin machines and the roar of a nearby rollercoaster. It seemed that the first game was over, and the Gamer himself was allowing him a brief break from the action.

With a complementary soap bath included. How nice of him, Belle thought, grimacing as he noted that his clothes were nowhere in sight. Carefully avoiding the lip of the tub where he had knocked off a fragment of porcelain, he stood up and stepped out, dripping water onto a soft mat of royal purple that had been laid out just in front of it. He reached out for the single towel that hung on a nearby rack and started to dry his hair, heading for the bathroom's sole door. His clothes, if they still even existed, would probably be in the next room.

Belle opened the door and stepped through, then stopped dead in his tracks.

He was not alone. A young woman, slightly older than he was, sat on the plush covers of the bed that dominated the space beyond. She had short brown hair that hung in straight strands, and was voluptuous beneath the sheer material she wore. "Hello, Mister Hibiki."

Belle's immediately relocated his towel from his head to his groin, and he was three steps back before he knew what he was doing. His wet feet touched the cool linoleum bathroom floor and he slipped, fell on his ass, and was back up in the blink of an eye. "Holy-!" He scrambled back against the bathroom wall. "M-Miss Fairview?! What are you doing here?!"

Miss Fairview, Sayana's gradeschool teacher, stretched, her milky skin glowing in the dim lighting. The lace on her clothes just covered enough to keep her from going over the edge of decency. However, in Belle's opinion, anything that covered less than underwear had already hurtled off that particular cliff and was smoldering wreckage on the ground below.

She slid off the bed with uncommon grace and started towards him. "Hold on a second! Don't you come any closer!" Belle warned her, lifting a fist in front of him as his other hand kept his privates masked. His face was burning hotter than Master Long's beat up car when he left it out in the sun.

Miss Fairview paused at the door and lifted one arm to lean against the frame, raising her eyebrows at him. She smiled - a warm, honeyed smile, understanding - and tilted her head at him. "Sorry. Did I startle you?"

"Startle?!" Belle blustered. "You --? Why --? Why are you wearing that?! How did you get here?!"

"The Gamer thought, after looking through your memories, that you might enjoy a little-" Chloe paused to consider her words, "-feminine companionship after your victory." She stepped closer, reaching out and putting her soft hands on Belle's raised fist, which was trembling. "Such rough skin... You obviously take your training very seriously."

"U-u-u-uh-?!" Belle stammered. He wanted to rip his hand out of her grasp, but he couldn't. He felt paralyzed, pinned to the wall by the woman's gaze - eyes which seemed to look into his very soul. She leaned down, lips parting, and kissed his clenched fingers.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

"Hey!" Belle yelped, jumping. Her tongue had flicked like fire across his white knuckles. Suddenly free from the spell, he loosed his fist, put his hand on her shoulder, and shoved. "I said cut it out!"

The push was a little harder than he meant it to be. Miss Fairview lifted off the ground and flew through the air, squeaking. She landed on the bed covers with a loud fwump, her hair falling in an elegant mess across her brow, her legs spread. She lifted a hand and tucked her hair behind her ears, propping herself up on her elbows. She wiggled her shoulders, a twinkle in her eye. "I never would have guessed from your file that you were that forward." She giggled, then beckoned with one finger in a 'come hither' motion. "Come here, and I'll show you some real rough play."

"Get. Bent." Belle gritted his teeth. "You aren't real! This is just another... hallucination! Just a trick!"

"I'm as real as you want me to be," Miss Fairview sighed. "I can make you feel... So much more than you've ever known. I can show you things you never dreamed. Am I that frightening? Or do you want something else...?"

The air around Miss Fairview thickened. Her image flickered, shimmering like a reflection on the surface of a pond, then smoothed out.

"Maybe this would be better?" Sayana grinned cheekily and spread her legs farther apart. "Come on, Hibiki-kun~. I've been naughty."

She licked her cupid's bow lips. "Punish me."

Belle slammed the door to the bathroom shut, dragged the bathtub across the floor, and placed it in front of the entrance. He added the sink for good measure, then huddled against the wall, muttering to himself. What he was saying, however, even he didn't know.

~+~+~+~+~

Gamer laughed, spinning in his chair and holding his face with one hand and his belly with the other. "Oh shit," he got out, wiping his eyes with a finger. "This guy is too fun to play with."

He keyed for a closeup of the red-head's terrified face. "Don't worry, Mister Hibiki," he whispered, "I've plenty more games to play with you."