Laying it all out

I had considered simply making a run for it, but this was Cologne we are talking about. There is no way in hell I'd make it. Nope, my only option was to comply. So, she gave me a chance to revert to my normal body, and we walked to my private room to have our discussion.

"How did you find out?" I asked as we walked.

"Shampoo seems unaware, but her strange behavior is all too obvious if you live with her. Even that dullard Mousse has started to take notice," Cologne replied.

"I thought she switched quickly," I said but Cologne shook her head.

"No, the switch seems to take a few days, with a slow but steady decline in her mental state," she explained as we reached the room. No sooner did we enter than Cologne looked about the room and ordered, "Show yourself. I know you're there."

I casted a quick glance at Lust who looked a bit nervous but sighed and apparently willed herself into view of the elder Amazon.

"I knew it," Cologne said. "How long have you been bonded with this Succubus, Akane?"

"A... a few months," I replied.

This declaration hit Cologne hard and she let out a huge sigh as she sat on the bed. "By the gods, girl, how could you be so foolish?" she muttered but it was clear she didn't expect an answer. I could only nervously wait for her to continue. After a full minute of her thinking, her eyes locked to the floor, she looked up tiredly. "Very well, start from the beginning, and omit nothing. Your life depends on it."

I swallowed nervously, my mouth dry as a desert. There was **** now, I had to come clean. So I did as asked, relating the events of the last few months since my deal with Lust began. I had considered glossing over a few points, particularly my little scheme with Shampoo, but ultimately deemed such more risky than it was worth so told the truth. She mostly listened with her head bowed, shaking her head now and then, but saying little other than to push me to continue, or clarifying a point.

When the tale of events reached our current time, I waited for her to consider in silence. It took nearly five minutes for Cologne to finally speak. "Under normal circumstance, it would be a simple matter to banish this demon, but after so long and with so much..." She shook her head once more and looked up at me, then at Lust. "What of you, Demon? Have you no words?"

"Not really. Any defense I'd give you'd ignore."

"I mean... she hasn't hurt anyone... I mean mostly..." I spoke up in her defense.

Cologne scoffed. "Akane, have you no idea of the consequences here? Never mind everyone else and all you've done, I speak just of yourself. Do you?"

"Uh... I'm not sure..."

Cologne shook her head and her shoulders sank. "Such recklessness... Still, I suppose it is to be expected. These things always do play absolute havoc on a person's mind. Fine, I suppose it falls to me to explain the lasting impact being bonded to a demon such as this one will have. You've no doubt been making use of her so called benefits, yes?" I nodded. "It is only natural. I knew you couldn't hold out for months. Bah, weeks would have been nothing short of a miracle. Well, to put it simply, her powers are like a **** to your body, and a powerful one at that. After so much exposure, by now you are undoubtedly addicted to it."

"Addicted?"

"Yes, mentally, physically... and just like any ****, sudden removal will cause withdrawal. In the case of demon influence of this power level... you would certainly not live through the experience."

My eyes went wide, and I shot an angry glare at Lust. "You never mentioned that! In fact, you said quite the opposite!" I said angrily.

"Now, that's untrue," Lust replied. "Yes, I didn't mention it, but I didn't say the opposite. I did say I wouldn't kill or weaken you, and you're still alive and very strong. That the matter of what happens after I leave didn't come up is... unfortunate."

"Deliberate more like," Cologne said with a frown.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked the elder.

Cologne shook her head. "No. Sadly, what is done is done, and we are too late to reverse it... which complicates things greatly."

"So I'm stuck with Lust forever?"

"Not forever," Lust said. "You'll build up a tolerance to my effect after a while... say a few years."

"A few decades is more common," Cologne quickly interjected.

"Okay, yes, that is true," Lust conceded.

"And even once you do develop that tolerance, it is not like everything up to that point is erased. You will have been irrecoverably changed. Your old life forever lost."

I hug my head. A few decades?! Honestly, in the past few months I'd practically forgotten the nature of mine and Lust's relationship, no doubt also part of her manipulations. Still, I had always assumed that one day she'd be satisfied and move on and everything would return to normal. That... that felt utterly absurd now. Cologne is right, I'm a total fool!

"You stupid, foolish girl," Cologne muttered to just emphasize my failing. I could certainly not argue. "And now what? I have but two options..." she said to herself openly.

Cologne went quiet, prompting me to look up at her. She was clearly conflicted as she looked at me. "The first option is obvious," she said after a moment. "Banish this demon and hope for the best. Sadly, I know that hope is largely in vain. You will most certainly perish from the withdrawal, and Shampoo is unlikely to recover as well. I have little hope for Ms. Kuno or Ms. Kuonji either. While they aren't as serious and can function, they will still suffer long term effects from this."

Cologne sighed and looked down once more, shaking her head. "And option two... my goodness..." she started but simply trailed off.

Her continued silence prompted me to ask. "What's option two?"

Cologne looked back up and examined me intently. Under her gaze I felt the most nervous yet.

"Before I even bother discussing it, I will ask you, Akane Tendo: what are your intents?"

"My intents?"

"For your rivals? So far you have just... played with them, but what is your ultimate aim."

"I... didn't really have an ultimate aim... honestly. I... think I sorta convinced myself that everything would go back to normal... somehow... I know it is stupid."

Cologne nodded in acceptance of my answer. "And knowing what you do now?"

"Now? Oh..." I hung my head in thought. What was my ultimate goal now? I really don't want to be some villain. I mean... yeah, I wanted some payback, but... but I can't undo this, can I? No. So what do I do? "I want to make them happy, if I can."

Cologne raised a suspicious eyebrow at my statement.

"Hey, I for one can say this one can be annoyingly generous at times," Lust spoke in my defense, gaining a glare from Cologne.

"You shut it!" the elder ordered and the lust demon fell silent. She returned her attention to me, examining me intently. "I suppose I have seen a noble streak in you before now, and from what I've heard here and observed, I can believe you have at least some intent to do that." Cologne sighed once more. "Very well, then let's discuss, but first, I have a demand to make."

"Demand?"

Cologne nodded. "I feel it is a perfectly reasonable demand, given the circumstances, and quite generous. You will ensure that Ranma and Shampoo are brought together."

"What?!" I blurt out but Cologne raised a hand to silence any argument.

"I don't mean exclusively. I fully expect you will also be in this relationship, and quite likely be the only officially married one by your local laws. I can work around this with my people if Shampoo has an Amazon marriage to Ranma and there is clear evidence it is being consummated," Cologne explained. I twitched. "I know you are possessive of the boy, but think now: do you not find it hypocritical of yourself to disallow him to be with other partners while you have so many?"

I blinked at this, a bit confused at first, before realizing exactly what she meant. This is obvious, why have I not really... oh... I glared once more at Lust who looked away innocently.

"Vow this to me, and I will discuss the other option," Cologne said, bringing my focus back to her.

"I... promise. I don't know if he'll-"

"Heavens, Akane, you have been pushing yourself onto far more resistant targets than Ranma. Thanks to your... friend here, achieving Ranma's cooperate should be easy."

"I would rather she be as little involved as possible," I argued, but bowed my head slightly. "However, I promise nonetheless."

"Very well. I will hold you to it. And believe me, it will happen inevitably," Cologne said, puzzling me, but she did not elaborate. She took a moment before continuing. "I believe you are right in your comparison to Son-in-law's condition. As such, I believe we can adapt a treatment I discovered for his condition to Shampoo."

"Treatment?"

"Yes, I consider his Nekoken far more trouble than it is worth. Ranma would be far better off without it, and I was hoping to find a treatment to rid him of it. Unfortunately, the treatment I discovered, as you will soon learn, was not worth the price."

That doesn't sound good.

"The issue here, for both of them, is they effectively have two minds, their normal human one we shall call it, and a feral one. The problem is the feral mind is so foreign to the human one that the two are practically mutually exclusive. When the feral takes over, the human mind is completely pushed aside until the feral one is satisfied. For Ranma this switch is instant and complete, but Shampoo's is more gradual it seems, with the feral mind slowly pushing aside her human one, piece by piece without her even being truly aware of it."

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense," I said as I listened.

"So, in a sense the human mind is unable to create a bridge to the feral part. As such it has no control while the feral is in control. Taking that for our analogy, the key problem here is building that bridge. Unfortunately, the human mind has a set building capacity, and this cannot be changed. So instead, our only other option is to close the gap."

"Close the gap?" I repeated, confused and Lust suddenly giggled.

"Ooo, this will be fun," the demon said.

Cologne glared at the demon, and she went silent, content with just smiling. This still left me in the dark though. "So, what does that mean?" I asked, refocusing Cologne on me.

"It means..." Cologne started, paused for a long moment, collected herself and continued. "It means you will have to bring the two sides of her mind closer together. The feral side must be... tamed. That's bad enough, but the human side..." Cologne tried to say, but simply saying it was too much for her.

"We get to do some pet play!" Lust said happily, concluding for Cologne. The elder only hung her head.

"What?" I asked, but Cologne did not reply. Pet play? I... oh... OH! "Wait, is she even going to do that?"

"Probably not easily," Cologne replied. "It seems you have some control of her feral side already, so that shouldn't be that difficult, but having her human side cooperate..."

"Okay, okay, so it's... embarrassing, sure, but she'll be better afterwards, right. Lust can tinker with memory... and you can too, right. Just erase the whole thing from her head, and all is fine."

Cologne let out a sad laugh. "Oh... if only... Akane, you have heard of mental treatment, yes? Is it generally a quick thing?" I thought on this and slowly shook my head. "Exactly. Far from quick, it is generally a multi-year process. After such a prolonged period, especially given what you all are involved in, do you expect her to simply return to normal?"

"Uh... probably not," I conceded.

"Exactly! This is why I rejected this treatment for Ranma! His particular trigger is difficult to achieve. Think of the trade-off that would result for him! Shampoo... unfortunately, has a far more troublesome problem. Her trigger seems to be linked to her libido, and it grows steadily, inevitably. Even masturbation seems to only delay it somewhat, not stop it."

"How do you-"

"I'm no fool. When her showers go from ten minutes to thirty, I take notice, and she's been having a lot of thirty minute ones lately. I dread my next water bill," Cologne said before refocusing. "In the end, Shampoo appears to be cycling into this feral state at a rate of about once a week. That is completely untenable. She cannot function like that long term."

I hung my head. It was exactly my conclusion as well. If I wasn't around, what would happen? Sooner or later, Shampoo would grow so out of control she'd start randomly attacking people in the street. "Right."

"Ugh... there is nothing to be done about it but to salvage what we can from this situation," Cologne said and finally stood up. "So then, this task falls to you, Akane Tendo."

I looked up and swallowed. "Me... I guess so, but I'm not sure-"

"You have already, along with your friend, made mockeries of your other rivals. I assume you capable of this."

"This is... a bit different than I was planning," I said and immediately wished I'd just stayed quiet.

"What were you planning?" Cologne asked with a level gaze, but before I could even consider if I would answer, she waved me off. "No! On second thought, I would prefer not to know. Ugh, I will set things in motion for you, but you will have to accomplish the rest on your own. I will retire home to China, and I'll take Mousse with me," she said and glared at Lust. "You probably have your hooks into him already, don't you?"

Lust shrugged. "Nothing major. As far as he remembers it was a really good wet dream."

Cologne growled. "All the more reason to take him from this place so matters can't get any worse. If he learns what is happening here..." Cologne shook her head.

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked.

"If she is being honest-"

"I am," Lust interjected to Cologne's annoyance.

"He should be okay. Oh, he'll be insufferable for a time, but I can impress upon him that Shampoo is no longer in his reach. Perhaps if I can break through his tunnel vision he will finally notice the many girls at the village interested in him."

"He has other girlfriends?" I asked in shock.

"As I said, he has tunnel vision, and sees none but Shampoo. I doubt he has any awareness of them at all," Cologne answered.

"I can help with that," Lust suggested.

"No!" Cologne said firmly to Lust's disappointment. "If I sense even a hint of you in the village, I will banish you to the depths of hell where you belong, regardless of the side effects. Understood?"

"Understood," Lust replied playfully.

Cologne sighed once more. "I will be returning now and then to check on things, but I would largely prefer to be ignorant of the goings on here. Do not disappoint me to such an extent that I have to take a greater interest."

"I won't," I promised.

"I hope not. Luck be with you, Akane Tendo," Cologne said and departed, and with her departure I finally let all the tension out of my body.

Well, I suppose that could have gone worse. I could only glare at Lust who smiled back at me. "We're going to have so much fun," she declared happily, clapping her hands in front of her.