And Fifi could always sleep, no matter what, or who, he was sleeping with. 
But this was different.  This Kai -guy....this alive-looking Kai-guy...he 
had some sort of power over everyone, and Fifi could feel deep down that he 
needed to get near that power.  Of course, it didn't help him before with 
Duke, as he almost ended up dead, but you never know.  It's always more 
practical to be on the side of the winner. 

Damn it's hot, Fifi thought for the thousandth time.  The sun was down, but 
the planet itself was still very fiery.  This Kai didn't look very warm, 
though, but then he didn't look like he got hot about anything.  Fifi took a 
good look at him while Kai took a long drink of water.  That water looks 
good...and come to think of it, so does Kai, he thought to himself.  For a 
man, he's pretty good looking.  Not as well-built as I am, or as hairy, but 
hey, what can a guy do.  You wake up, and that's what you get. 

What's the best thing to do here? Fifi mused.  Flattery...flattery gets you 
everywhere.  Make him feel good about himself.  "Thanks." Fifi began. "You 
know, for not throwing me over before. Look, I know you guys, you all 
thought I deserved to die the most. So, uh...I just wanted to say thanks." 

Kai barely reacted, but Fifi saw him sneak a peek over his shoulder. Ah, the 
broad. "She's pretty cute.  And it's entirely obvious that she has the hots 
for you. Oh yeah. Won't you go and lie down next to her?" 

"I'm keeping watch." 

Damn, but this guy was dense, growled Fifi to himself. "So, I'll take a 
turn.  Like I said, I can't sleep. C'mon, what are you worried about. What 
am I gonna do, steal the balloon? There's nothing I can do.  Besides, we can 
all be dead in a couple of hours.  You should have a good time while you 
can. There's a good time laying down there waiting for ya...." 

Kai-guy laughed, finally, showing a mouthful of white teeth.  Fifi hoped he 
was getting somewhere.  It's good to make the boss laugh now and then.  But 
then Kai went all solemn again. 

"When did you hook up with Duke?" 

Where did that come from? Fifi thought. He's not as stupid as he looks, with 
that little blue skirt and those girl-town curls.  He's on to me.... I'd 
better give him what he wants.  So Fifi explained how he got caught up with 
Duke, and all the while Kai listened. Fifi's mouth was working one way, but 
his brain was working another. He kept watching Kai, looking for his 
reaction, thinking...this guy's not half bad looking.  He never really 
looked too closely at that other Kai, the guy that said he was dead.  Fifi 
was too busy trying to figure out the moths, and then -- it was good to win 
the game, for once.  But now... this guy was okay looking.  Maybe this Kai 
was from Girltown, and then he escaped, like I did, Fifi thought.  Fifi 
ended his speech. 

"And so Duke became my boss...until you put an arrow through him."  A second 
thought went through his mind -- a sense of connection between Kai and Duke, 
like they'd been lovers, or known each other before.  Fifi wasn't sure what 
it was. "I saw something when you shot that arrow." 

"What did you see?" Whoa.  The Kai-guy got right into Fifi's face with that 
one.  Fifi could smell whatever sweet stuff the guy used to keep his hair in 
place, and he noticed that even though the rest of them were sweating, Kai 
was the only one who did not smell.  The look, the closeness, his 
attractiveness....it was unnerving. 

"Something between...ya know...something going on...." 

"What?"  Kai got his face really close, like he was going to kiss him, but 
didn't.  Fifi was having problems thinking. 

"I don't know what....something." 

And then, with a lover's caress, Kai got even closer, whispering in Fifi's 
ear. His tone was seductive, but his words were blunt. "You only ever look 
out for yourself, right Fifi? 

"Not sure what you're getting at."  This was too much -- he had to get away. 
Fifi stepped out of Kai's personal space and over to one side.  Whatever 
this Kai-guy was oozing, some sort of charm, or charisma, or sex appeal, it 
was just too much.  Fifi liked to be on top, no matter what, and he was 
feeling like the guy was definitely going to make him a bottom. 

"Tell the truth for once in your life. It could be the most important thing 
you ever say."  Kai's tone was different, colder, commanding.  And Fifi 
liked it.  He could feel himself stirring, warming, between his legs.  What 
was it about this guy's voice that got under his skin?  Does he want to fuck 
me?  Or does he really want to know if I look out for myself?  I'll give him 
a practical answer. 

"Well...I consider myself a practical guy. I do what's practical."  It was 
the truth. 

The Kai-guy clarified his answer, "Only when it benefits you...and only 
you." 

"Right....uh..okay...right."  Suddenly, Kai was back, whispering in his ear. 
Fifi could feel the warmth of the other man's body pressed to his back, and 
his breath trailing down his neck.  Kai moved even closer, and gently put 
his face as close to Fifi's ear as possible.  Fifi began to feel his blood 
pound in his chest, and the stirrings started to become a hardness. 

"And you also take pleasure in the suffering of others, right?" Fifi could 
feel Kai's shaved chin scratch at his shoulder, the man was so close to him. 
A shiver of excitement went down his spine.  Fifi had never been topped 
before, and suddenly he felt like the possibility was tantalizing.  He 
wanted to say the right thing -- anything -- just so that Kai would not 
reject him. 

"Only...when it's practical. Is that the right answer?" 

Kai laughed in his ear softly. "It was a bad answer, but it was a very 
practical one...for you."  There was a pause, and Kai got closer, pressing 
himself fully against Fifi's back.  The rough swipe of the man's shaved chin 
on his shoulder was painful, but still strangely erotic.  Fifi felt the full 
heat from the man's chest, and he clenched his hands as a wave of arousal 
went through him. Kai whispered, "I'm going to make you a deal." 

"Oh yeah?"  The voice in his ear sounded so tempting, so sexy. 

"Will you make a deal with me?"  The voice sounded so happy, so seductively 
happy, that it was impossible to say no. 

"I love deals."  Fifi turned and looked deeply into Kai's dark eyes, and 
they laughed together like lovers who had made a pact for a secret evening 
of passion. 

************ 

Kai's soft laughter faded before Fifi's, and he looked at Fifi's mouth 
closely, then his eyes. "Your deal with the Duke...what was it?" 

"Oh. Easy. I just did what he said." 

"Whatever he said?  Anything?" The Kai-guy was sure keen on clarifying 
things. 

"Sure." 

"Then we will make the same deal, Fifi." Kai's head turned to one side, and 
he brushed his cheek against Fifi's ear as he said the name. 

"And what do I get? I mean, it's good to know these things. Practical, you 
know." 

"Very practical," said Kai, and his hands slowly crept around Fifi's waist, 
holding him close. The voice was no longer over his shoulder, but deep into 
his ear, tickling and teasing. "You do what I say, and in return..." The 
arms around Fifi began to squeeze. 

"Yeah, in return..." What was this Kai getting at?  And another thought 
popped into Fifi's brain -- who was he to make deals with?  He was obviously 
powerful, but who was he, really?  The Duke said "You!" when he first got 
onto the gondola, and acted like he knew this Kai-guy. Kind of respected 
him, in a way.  And what did the Duke mean, "There will be another time." 
What was that? 

"In return, you will be the right-hand to the most powerful man on Fire." 

Oh, right.  "And that's you?"  This was unbelievable -- this Girltown fairy 
was not the Prince. 

"Yes. Me." 

The voice in his ear growled those words softly, and yet with a tone of 
absolute command.  Something deep inside Fifi told him, somehow, that it was 
the truth, as unbelievable as he first imagined it, and yet undeniably true. 

"You are Prince."  Fifi tried to turn his head to look at the man.  He had 
only heard of Prince through hearsay.  He had never imagined he would meet 
the man.  And he had never ever imagined that he would be standing with the 
man's arms around him, his heat pressed against Fifi's back, and his 
seductive voice in his ear.  The mere thought of all that power wrapped 
around him made Fifi instantly erect.  "But you look like Kai." 

"Because I want to." 

Fifi was completely unfamiliar with such a level of power, and he could feel 
his penis tighten into steely hardness.  His heart began to pound in his 
chest, and could not help but begin to tremble. 

"Yes.  And all this is now mine." Prince's hands slipped up from Fifi's 
waist and touched his nipples, giving the right one a hard tweak.  "And 
this," and Prince's hand traveled down Fifi's chest to his belly, and then 
his navel, and then rested outside of Fifi's trousers, pressing his hard-on 
with the flat of his palm.  "And this too belongs to me," and hands undid 
his belt, only to have one dive beneath the waistband of Fifi's trousers to 
grab a tight fistful of penis.  Fifi hissed with a sudden intake of breath, 
and lay his head on Prince's shoulder.  The hand traveled lower, gently 
grasping his scrotum and claiming that part of Fifi's anatomy as well. "Open 
your legs," whispered the Prince, and as Fifi did so, the hand traveled 
lower, below the balls, to touch Fifi's anus. "And this is mine as well." 

If Prince had not been holding him, Fifi's knees might have buckled from the 
pleasure. 

"Do you want to please your Prince, Fifi?" 

"Oh yes," Fifi whispered. 

"Is that a practical thing for you to do?"  Prince drew the word 'practical' 
out with purr, and Fifi felt the other man's soft lips against his ear.  The 
finger against his anus was caressing, slowly, and pressing in, slowly, 
slowly.  Fifi could feel a blush rise to his face, and the skin on his chest 
begin to heat.  He had never been close to such power, and had definitely 
never felt himself under the power of such a gorgeous man.  Any resistance 
he had to being a bottom crumbled. 

"It's what you want me to do." 

"Oooooh.  A right answer.  Good Fifi."  And the finger slipped into his ass. 

Fifi gasped, and tried to turn around, but suddenly the Prince grabbed the 
back of his neck.  "I don't want to see your miserable face, Fifi.  That's 
not what I'm interested in."  Fifi turned his face away, looking out over 
the barren landscape, and yet seeing nothing. 

"And you do take pleasure in the suffering of others, right Fifi?" 

Fifi tried to answer, but the finger was suddenly pulled out of his ass. 
Prince's hand traveled around Fifi's hip under his clothes, and reached 
under his buttocks, regaining his touch on Fifi's ass.  The respite was 
brief, as a second finger slipped into place besides the first, and with it 
came a dull pain, a good pain, nothing he could not handle.  He managed to 
nod his head in agreement. 

"Good.  Because I'm good with pain." 

A third finger wedged itself in Fifi's ass, and the pain began in earnest. 
"Prince..." Fifi began to plead.  He could feel his cock rubbing against to 
roughness of his trousers, and it was beginning to ache with blood and 
desire. 

"Shhhhh.  You'll wake the others."  The voice in his ear was low, sexy, 
seductive, but the fingers behind him were brutally opening him without 
mercy.  Fifi bit back his moan.  "Don't worry, Fifi," Prince chuckled 
softly, "This will benefit you as well." 

"Please don't hurt me," Fifi begged. 

"How touching, Fifi."  He heard Prince's low giggle in his ear, and then 
felt the man move behind him, leaning forward and turning to see Fifi's 
face.  "Beautifully tormented," Prince commented to himself. 

Fifi could not help his eyes grow wide as he realized what was going to 
happen to him.  His breath caught in his throat as he saw Prince's dark eyes 
examine his face. "Bend over." Prince definitely liked to clarify things, 
Fifi thought.  And so Fifi bent over. 

*************** 

He felt his trousers being opened completely, and then dropped around his 
ankles.  Prince's hand pushed Fifi's head forward and down, until Fifi could 
only see the edge of the gondola in front of him.  All this time, Fifi was 
discovering a humiliation that was extremely delicious, and his excitement 
grew along with his arousal.  The fingers were removed from his backside, 
and he heard rustles behind him as Prince opened his own garments. 

The hot hands returned to his asscheeks as a hard phallus jutted between 
them, starting to press against that ring of muscle.  Fifi could not help 
tremble and a deep groan escaped from his mouth. 
The hands and body behind him paused, and stopped.  Fifi's breath caught in 
his mouth.  What had he done wrong? 

"Fifi, I can't have you make noise.  I'm going to have to gag you."  Prince 
turned Fifi's face slightly towards him, and Fifi caught sight of the dark 
eyes and hair that had captured him completely, teaching him to love 
suffering.  Prince was beautiful now, a creature of unspeakable beauty and 
absolute power.  The dark hair shone with red highlights reflected from the 
sea of fire.  The eyes were full of compassion and loving attentiveness. 
And the mouth held a secret hint of a smile, hiding pleasures yet unknown. 
Fifi felt a new emotion -- adoration -- and complete and utter submission to 
a higher force. 

Prince removed the leather from his right wrist, revealing a thick band a 
little longer than his arm.  He showed it to Fifi, and paused, smiling, as 
Fifi imagined what Prince was going to do with the strap.  Would it hurt? 
Fifi wondered.  Then Prince leaned forward and whispered in Fifi's ear. 

"If we did not have to be so quiet, I would like to have whipped you with 
this.  Just a little, to make the flesh sting.  Not enough for a real 
punishment, but enough to make your flesh red and sensitive and tender to 
the touch."  Prince licked the outside of Fifi's ear, and then the hot 
tongue dove in, making Fifi gasp with delight.  "Shhhhhh...." whispered 
again the deep voice, with a timber that made Fifi shiver down to his toes. 

Prince stood up again, looking into Fifi's eyes, and then he presented the 
leather.  Fifi, mesmerized, opened his mouth, and Prince gagged him 
tightly -- so tightly that Fifi was unable to close his lips.  When he was 
finished, Prince met Fifi's eyes again, and smiled a full smile of sparkling 
white teeth.  The smile diminished as Prince leaned forward and kissed him, 
sucking on Fifi's upper lip, then his lower one, running his tongue into the 
mouth over and under the leather and around Fifi's teeth, tickling the 
sensitive areas behind the teeth, above and below.  Fifi could not kiss 
back, and instead moaned his appreciation, tasting the sweat on the leather 
and feeling an exquisite hunger. 

"That was the joy...." whispered Prince. 

He moved back behind Fifi, parted his cheeks, placed his erect phallus at 
the entrance to Fifi's ass, and began to push against the ring of muscle. 

"...And this is the pain." Prince spoke softly in Fifi's ear, and then the 
cock slid fully in, a hot and burning invasion of Fifi's interior.  Fifi 
gasped for air, and let out a bat-squeak bark of torment that traveled out 
into the night. That said, he then bit down on the leather gag as the pain 
crawled up his back and down his legs.  Prince was huge -- he had to be, 
Fifi thought, to do this sort of damage.  The cock ripped its way through 
his hole and rammed deep inside him.  His muscles clenched up tight, and his 
breathing almost stopped as his hands clawed at the edge of the gondola. 

In the silence of his pain, Fifi heard a savage, self-satisfied grunt of 
conquest from Prince.  Then a lower, deeper growl.  Next thing Fifi knew, 
Prince began to thrust in and out, slamming his pelvis against Fifi's ass. 
The only thing Fifi could hear was the quiet smack of flesh against flesh, 
and soon the only sensation he was aware of was the burning friction in his 
hole.  And yet he loved every minute of it, every second of agony and pain 
and pleasure and joy. 

It felt like an hour had gone by as Fifi was being turned into ground meat 
inside, but that was impossible, he thought.  His legs began to ache from 
holding himself up as he pushed back at the cock in his ass, and his back 
began to burn from leaning over for so long.  Fifi could feel his erection 
leaking fluid from the passion, and the droplets had collected at his tight 
balls and were dripping down the inside of his leg.  Of only Prince would 
let him orgasm!  But he wanted to please, and he did not dare touch himself. 
Prince had promised that he would benefit from all this, Fifi reminded 
himself. 

Suddenly, something changed, in pace or speed or thrusts and Prince grabbed 
Fifi's cock.  The feeling of being grasped, held, and touched by those long 
fingers and strong hand was startling and so marvelous.  The pleasure went 
over Fifi's peak, and the feeling of being entered and filled while being 
handled was too much.  Fifi shot off with sweet, hot explosions of pleasure 
and pain. 

The man behind Fifi burst inside him as well.  As Prince came with a low 
growl, his muscles contracted, splitting Fifi's insides.  Then he pushed 
deeper, and contracted again, and then even deeper, and contracted again 
with a final thrust.  Prince let go of Fifi's softening cock, and then 
pulled out with a jerk, laughing softly.  Fifi wanted to turn around, wanted 
to kiss, to touch, to look, but he did not want to tempt Prince's anger.  He 
stayed where he was, his arms and legs shaking from being held still for so 
long. 

Prince reached down and pulled up Fifi's pants, and Fifi could feel him 
wiping his penis clean on the fabric.  Fifi heard rustlings behind him as 
Prince put back on his kilt. Then, Prince spoke softly. 

"Stand up, Fifi," he said.  "I've finished with you." 

Fifi obeyed.  He pulled up his pants and refastened them, and then turned 
around to look at Prince -- and that vision was a reward in itself.  Prince 
was glistening all over, even his jet-black hair was shimmering.  Fifi loved 
the curve of his cheekbones, the fine line of his jaw, his mellow and dark 
eyes, and even his mouth was luscious.  He would have told Prince so, but 
the tight leather gag was in the way. 

Prince raised one hand, and then the other, reaching behind Fifi's head and 
undoing the gag.  The man's eyes held onto Fifi's as the leather was removed 
from his mouth, and Fifi licked his lips and moved his tongue around as he 
got used to having his mouth back.  I should thank him, thought Fifi.  But 
how do you thank a guy who has just reamed out your ass? 

"Boss, uh...thanks.  You know, for everything." 

Prince barely reacted to his words, his eyes closing down and going private. 
Then he moved his head to one side, and a smile crawled up one half of his 
face. 

"We have a deal?" 

"Yeah, sure, boss. 

The smile crawled up the other half of Prince's face as he leaned over and 
whispered in Fifi's ear. "I'm going to talk to Xev.  I want you to count to 
500, and then grab Bunny and throw her overboard." 

Fifi was suddenly confused.  What did Prince want with the broad?  He looked 
towards the other end of the gondola at the sleeping figure, tried to come 
up with a reason, and then mentally shrugged.  Whatever.  Fifi and Prince 
had a deal, and that was enough for him.  No matter what would happen, he 
could look after himself, he thought.  He would do what was practical. 

But Fifi had never done such things before with anyone, or had anything like 
what had happened in the previous hour done to him.  He had never dreamed 
how much he would love it, or how much he had wanted to do it.  What had 
Prince done to him? 

Prince gave Fifi one last look, refastened the leather strap on his wrist, 
and then focused on crossing the gondola towards Xev.  Fifi suddenly wanted 
to cry -- No!  He felt terrified and sad, and half in love with Prince, and 
he hated him because he had made Fifi do something impulsive and 
impractical.  But he *had* benefited from the whole experience.  Dammit, 
Fifi thought, watching Prince lie down next to Xev, whispering in her ear. 
How can I take pleasure in the suffering of others, when I am the only one 
suffering? 

Fifi could not think of a good answer. 

Fin 

9/30/00 11:55 pm. 
If you liked this, PLEASE send me a word or two.  Don't read it and then 
forget it -- fanfic is a labor of love, and I aim to please you.  Yes, you! 
Send comments, fan mail, and constructive criticism to: 
semiramis@pacbell.net