Chapter 51: Welcome Back

virgilknightley

“Bucky’s awake!” Bonny sounded as she left the cottage with little Carrotina in my arms. “Bucky’s awake!”

What happened immediately after that, I can’t say, because I drifted back to sleep almost instantly and, with a surprising show of restraint, no one woke me up again.

I slept for several hours, drifting in and out of sleep, feeling my orange-haired daughter’s softness nuzzling against my wounds half-consciously, and I didn’t even bother to complain. Pain was already an inescapable reality—I might as well just embrace it, I figured.

The dragon blood wounds still burned and scarred my mangled neck and arms, but that pain seemed far more muted compared to whatever was left of my chest. Still, as the little bunny girl kicked and cuddled me in her turbulent nap, I welcomed the surprising jolts of agony because they were at the very least a reminder that I was somehow still alive.

“Daddy, I wanna go see mommy now, ‘kay?” said Carrotina, whispering it cutely right into my face.

My eyes fluttered open, feeling still so weak. “Of course, sweety, go to your mommy. I’ll see you soon.”

She cocked her head at me and pouted, her eyes welling up. “You’re not coming with?” she said in her brutally adorable little voice. “Daddy? Please?”

I groaned, rolling onto my back. Slowly, slowly, I managed to sit up. “Alright, honey, but I’m going to need you to be gentle with me.”

She grinned ear to ear, a mouth full of perfect white teeth except for one missing buck tooth. I reached over and tucked a tangle of her messy hair behind her ear to get a better look at her.

I still couldn’t believe it. This was my kid.

We stood up, and she sweetly tried to help me to my feet. I let her take my hand and pretended for her benefit that her efforts made any difference, but she was far too tiny and feeble to have any impact on my ability to stand. The gesture was certainly appreciated.

Once on my feet, I looked down at her, and then at the bandage across my chest. All I was wearing was a loose-fitting pair of pants and the wrappings that kept my wounds in check. I looked around for  something else, but saw nothing. I let out a sigh, unfortunately resigned to the fact that the first thing everyone would see is me still looking as roughed up as I was, with no way to conceal it.

I felt a little tug at my knee and looked down. Carrotina was pulling the fabric of my pants lightly to get my attention. She raised her arms up at me expectantly—she wanted me to pick her up.

I winced, honestly wondering if I could even manage it, but there was no force on Lusteria that could keep me from trying. My heart swelled in my chest as I saw the sight of my little girl begging for my attention, and I melted like never before.

I knelt down in front of Carrotina, scooped her up in one arm like a little princess, and stood. She giggled mirthfully, the musical sound of a child’s laugh, and it dulled the wounds behind my aching bandages.

“Take me to mommy,” she said. “I want to see mommy!”

I grunted my agreement to her terms. I took a very tentative step forward, placing one foot in front of the other. It was like I was learning to walk again, and I realized with a start that that was kind of true. I hadn’t been on my feet in three fucking months. Three very eventful months, by the sound of things.

Exiting the cottage—Etherea’s cottage, I noted—I stepped outside into a sunlit world and saw the vibrant familiarity of Tater Town open itself up for me. It felt like a long awaited homecoming, though I’d been here the whole time.

“Bucky-Baby!” a shrill cry rang out, and I looked around, eagerly seeking the source of that heaven-sent voice.

There, by Bonny’s smithy, May Belle and the bunny girl herself were staring at me with anxious looks on their faces. They charged at breakneck speed, and I cringed, fearing being tackled the way May Belle and Daisy used to do to me when I’d returned after a jaunt in the Watcher’s Woods.

But of course, they showed more restraint than that, skidding to a stop several feet away.

“Carrotina!” Bonny scolded the little child. “Daddy is in no shape to carry you!”

The little orange-haired, big-eyed bunny girl pouted at her mommy and then back up at me. Meanwhile, May Belle just gaped unbelievingly, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

“Daddy picked me up when I asked. He seemed to think it was okay, right daddy?”

“Your daddy has no restraint when it comes to pretty faces, Carrotina,” May Belle sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes.

May Belle looked… different. And not in a bad way, either. Her hair was longer and she wore a little braid on one side of her face. A daffodil was nestled in her hair, too, beside a jeweled diadem. On her busty body she sported a form-fitting regal white dress with intricate golden fringes and and patterns. And—she was extremely pregnant, looking like she could give birth at any moment.

“Wow, May Belle,” I grunted, scanning her  up and down. “You look amazing!”

She blushed crimson just like the first time. “Oh, Bucky,” she whined, her leaking eyes unable to break from mine. “You have no idea how broken we all were for so long. I can’t believe you’re just standing in front of me like nothing happened.”

I shuddered to think of it.  The last time I was injured, all my marked girls had practically gone insane. With me so close to death, I didn’t even want to know the details of what happened. Did Vale and Heather have any sheep left after whatever madness Rainbow Sprinkle succumbed to?

Bonny swooped in and pulled Carrotina out of my arms, rocking her in her own bosom. I looked around, looking for more kids and women, but what I noticed first caught me entirely off-guard.

“Holy fucking shit,” I said softly, staring at the stone keep that had seeming sprung up out of nowhere on my farmland. “You were not kidding about the fortress, Bonny.”

She shook her head as she nuzzled a giggling Carrotina. “A lot has changed, Bucky. Things will be better now that you’re awake, too.”

“What’s changed?” I said, nodding first and foremost at May Belle. “Like, why are you dressed like that, babe?”

She smiled proudly, happy to gloat about her new station. “As your marked girl, I’ve been made one of the Goblin Queen’s advisors, along with Daisy and Rainbow Sprinkle.”

I cocked my head. “So you’re all getting along?” I asked cautiously.

Her smile wilted slightly. “Well—she keeps talking about marrying you. And… I have some feelings about that,” she said, taking on a far off look. “But I think it’s politically the right move.”

“Marrying me?!” I asked in shock.

Bonny nodded. “She wants you locked down for breeding purposes. Something about your seed making potent new kinds of goblins the world hasn’t seen in millenia.”

I furrowed my brow in consideration. “I would be… a breeding stud for the Goblin Queen?” It honestly sounded awesome, but I couldn’t quite grasp why people were okay with it. Last I’d known, they all hated the Goblin Queen or at least were skeptical of her. A lot had apparently changed in the last three months.

“There’s so much to talk about once you’re fully recovered, Bucky-Baby,” May Belle said, taking my hands. I was impressed by how much she was clearly holding back. “I’m sorry—I’m afraid if I hug you I might… hurt you.”

I nodded, fully understanding, and I leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips.

“Kiss mommy, too!” Carrotina giggled, squirming in the bunny girl’s arms. “I wanna see daddy kiss mommy!”

Bonny blushed, and so did I, but I let out a chuckle at the adorable request.

“Daddy doesn’t love mommy in the same way,” Bonny said, a little sadly. “May Belle is his marked girl. They’re much closer, baby.”

I felt a little sad for Bonny, hearing her say that and the tone in her voice as she did. “Well, hang on,” I grunted. “Where are you getting the idea I don’t feel a certain way about you?”

Bonny looked in surprise just as a little squirmy foot kicked her in the face. She barely reacted to Carrotina’s accidental assault, instead staring at me in wonder at what I’d just said.

“I mean, Bonny, if Carrotina wants me to kiss you, I certainly have no issue with it. It’s not like I don’t want you in my life.”

She swallowed hard, nodding frantically. “Yes, Mr. Drake. I would like for you to kiss me very much—if you’re sure.”

May Belle giggled with a palm over her mouth. “I’ll let the others know you’re up and about. Get your kisses in, Bucky-Baby.  You earned them.” She leaned in and pecked me on the cheek, secretly adding “We’re all gonna suck your dick so good tonight,” in a conspiratorial whisper before walking off toward the keep on our land.

Bonny set Carrotina down, who whimpered a protest, and got up on her tippy toes and closed her eyes. I smirked at that, grabbing her by the waist and leaning forward. Carrotina was between us, looking up at our chins as I placed a chaste kiss on the bunny girl’s lips.

“Let’s make more babies,” she moaned into my mouth, her eyes still closed.

“God, let me get to know the first litter before we do that,” I chuckled. “Seven is enough for now.”

She whimpered. “Twenty is my perfect number, Mr. Drake. What’s yours?”

I felt my butthole clench in horror. “Let’s… circle ‘round back to that some other time.”

“Daddy!” another tiny cry rang out as six more bunny girls poured out of Bonny’s home.

“Is that daddy?”

“I don’t think so, he looks so much stronger than the man in the cottage.”

“No, that’s him! Look at the bandages!”

“You’re right! Daddy!”

“Daddy!”

Half a dozen bouncing bunny girls bounded across Tater Town circling me happily. All of them extended their arms, begging me to pick them up.

Bonny cleared her throat. “Allow me to introduce all your daughters—so far,” she giggled, gesturing to them one at a time as she called them out by name. “Cottontail, Buckina, Flopsy, Cornflower, Sunflower, and Whimsy.”

I was utterly overwhelmed by cuteness. I couldn’t stop myself from grinning ear to ear as I surveyed them, even forgetting my pain as I picked them up one at a time and tossed them up in the air, catching them. They all wanted an endless number of turns, and I was happy to give it to them, but eventually Bonny had decided the game had gone on too long, and she frowned at me.

“You’re going to need to learn to say no to them,” she noted with an unamused look.

“Never,” I said, beaming back at her.

Bonny let out a heady sigh and shrugged. “Okay, girls, let’s go home. It’s time for dinner.”

“Is daddy coming to eat with us?”

Bonny looked at me, but before I could accept the invitation she shook her head. “Daddy needs to see his marked girls and elves. I’m sure he’ll make time for us later.”

“You’re darn right I will,” I said with an eager nod. “Bonny, I can already tell you’re an amazing mother.”

She blushed, brushing a pigtail behind her back. “It’s what all bunny girls are born for, after all, Mr. Drake. You’ll find everyone in the keep, I’m sure.”

“Thanks, Bonny," and I leaned forward and kissed her again. A chorus of seven tiny bunny girls gushed their happy surprises at that.

“Daddy’s kissing mommy!”

“Daddy looooves mommy!”

“Daddy, did you know mommy sometimes calls your name out when she’s in bed and thinks we’re asleep?”

I pulled away from the kiss and basked in the wide-eyed blush on Bonny’s flawless face. “Flopsy, be quiet!” she scolded, hiding her incandescent cheeks with her palm. “I—ignore her, Mr. Drake,” she pleaded.

“I don’t know why you’re so shy,” I laughed, giving her cheek a playful squeeze. “I’ll see you and the girls, soon, okay?”

She nodded. “Girls, say bye to daddy.”

“Bye, daddy!”

“Daddy, don’t leave us! We’ll diiie!”

Bonny scoffed. “Cottontail, don’t be a drama queen.”

I chuckled to myself and turned my back on them—it was the hardest departure I could remember making in a long time, and the only thing that made it possible was just how desperate I was to see everyone else.

I didn’t have to move far on my own, because by the time I was halfway down the hill I saw my rainbow unicorn girl charging from the open gates of the keep in my direction.

“My Bucky!” she screamed. That’s correct—she screamed it. It was a desperate shriek, like the sound a second grade girl would make when she found a spider in her lunchbox.

My whole body tensed and braced for impact. Halfway up the hill, she jumped and landed in my arms, not knocking me over, but applying enough pressure to my wounds to make me grunt in pain.

“Hey Sprinkle,” I groaned in her ear, reaching up to brush her rainbow locks out of my mouth.

“I’m so sorry if I’m hurting you,” she squealed like an excited little pig in my ear. “I’m so sorry—I’m so sorry!” She bit down hard on my cheek, leaving a gash, and then immediately licked it, closing the wound with her magic spit. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have bitten you! I’m so sorry!”

I was certainly not disappointed with Sprinkle’s enthusiasm, and I allowed my arms to entomb her, pulling her in as tight as I could get her, feeling her voluptuous body squished against me.

Like May Belle, she had a similar dress and diadem. The look suited her, though maybe not as much as the chainmail bikini.

“Oh, my Bucky,” she moaned. “I love you, I love you, I love you!”

“I love you, too,” I said, kissing her on the cheek. She shuddered at my touch.

“I can’t believe you’re still alive!”

I paused at that. “How bad was it?”

“Very bad!” she shrieked, pulling away from my body to look at my face, her eyes desperate to look upon me. “So bad!”

“What happened after I went unconscious?”

“The Goblin Queen cast a stasis spell on you, keeping you on the edge of death until she was able to get you home. Darkmaw carried you in her arms, dropping you into Etherea’s bed. Ivy and Etherea starting working their magic right away, but it wasn’t enough.”

“And so I died,” I chuckled.

Sprinkle shook her head. “No, you didn’t!” she said, not getting my dumb attempt at humor. “Autumn petitioned the gods herself, and they gave her the power to heal you, but at the cost of her ability to travel to other worlds.”

My eyes shot open wide. “Autumn did that for me?”

“Of course!” Sprinkle gasped. “Would you expect less of any of us?”

“I need to see her,” I said solemnly. “I wonder if I can mark her yet.”

I saw a notice pop up in my face:

Number of monster girls able to be marked: 2.

Number of elf girls able to be marked: 1.

“What the fuck,” I grunted. “I can mark two girls and an elf, too?” I said. “I thought marking elves was impossible?!”

“Another petition by Autumn—she milked her sacrifice for all it was worth!”

Well that just raised the uncomfortable question of who I would mark: Etherea or Ivy? And how would they take the choice? Would I even be able to get more markable elves, or was this a one time deal? Shit. This was a lot.

I thought about opening up my HUD to see if anything else had changed, but I decided against it. I wasn’t ready to think about stats and levels. I probably wouldn’t really be ready for at least a few days. The girls would have to understand. And the gods certainly knew I was in no condition for marking.

Sprinkle helped me steady myself and started walking me toward the keep. “Everything is ready for you, my Bucky,” she said. “Soon you will be king consort to the Goblin queen!”

“What do you mean everything is ready?”

She grinned and gestured at the doorway to the keep as we started to walk through the gates. “You’ll see. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for a long time, my Bucky. Welcome back.”