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Tally’s unit and their opponents are the last ones to be evaluated.
It’s early evening and being last didn’t help any of them with their anxiety, which even Abigail can’t hide from her sisters. They need a good grade and failure is, as always, not an option.
“We go at them just as we talked about.” Abigail utters followed by verbal agreement from Tally and Raelle.
They give a determined look and then the drill sergeant yells at them to start.
Tally isn’t surprised when the whole thing is way more demanding than expected. Their opponents are a little faster and hit with more precision than they do. Tally endures a few hard punches and she curses when she sees Raelle hitting the ground. She gets up again and Tally gives her sisters a look.
“Plan B.” Abigail mouths at them and indeed, singling out their weakest member helps them to get the upper hand swiftly. There is excited shouting and cheering around them.
Tally uses her Sight, dodges a punch with it and manages to take down the last member of their opposing team.
The sergeant announces the end of the match and then it’s finally over.
They all fall to the ground for a moment, out of breath and just happy to be done with it.
“Didn’t expect you to beat us, Bellweather.” The opponent unit’s leader huffs.
“I did, Brittle. But you all did really well.”
They get informed that their rankings will be announced the next day and then they are dismissed. Tally is cheerful when they leave the building and laughs along with one of Raelle’s highly inappropriate jokes when she suddenly hears her name being called.
They all turn and Tally immediately feels her pulse spike again when she’s opposite of General Alder and her biddies.
“I would like to have a word with you, Craven.”
She can feel the shift in mood instantly. While she herself is already close to running over to the woman who has been the cause of many sleepless nights recently, she knows that neither Raelle or Abigail is too delighted with Alder approaching her.
Alder seemingly waits for the other two to leave but when they don’t she is regarding them with a glare.
“Alone.”
“Of course, General.”
Raelle drags a similar glaring Abigail with her and hopes that there won’t be a war starting at Fort Salem in the next five minutes.
Tally isn’t surprised when Alder dismisses the biddies with a look and she watches the elderly-looking women shuffle off slowly. It’s dark by now and only a few street lights provide some sight.
“What can I do for you, Ma’am?” She asks, as if she doesn’t know exactly why Alder had ordered her to stay. As if the mere thought of what it meant isn’t driving her wild.
She finds herself pressed against the side of the training hall in the blink of an eye. Right. General Alder probably didn’t forget about the last time they were alone and Tally had played with fire a little bit too much.
“You can do something for me indeed, Craven.” She puts a hand on the middle of her chest and leans in. “Say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. What will it be this time? A yes?” Her hand slides upwards slowly, closer to Tally’s neck. “Or a no?” She withdraws her hand but Tally captures her wrist, a reflex, and allows Alder to wrap her hand loosely around her neck.
“It’s a yes, General.”
Tally catches herself wondering what Abigail and Raelle would say if they knew that she lets General Alder fuck her lights out like this, that it has happened too many times by now, nearing the point where Tally considers to stop counting altogether.
She wishes she could hate herself for how much she needs this sex. It fills her with satisfaction to know that General Alder who is always so calculated can’t control herself enough to keep her hands off of her. She thrives off her attention and that for these moments the most untouchable woman in the world is hers alone.
The orgasms she gets out of it are also quite earth shattering.
She almost laughed at one of the other Knowers who hit on her a few days ago. How could anyone even come close to what General Alder was capable of? It’s almost as if she’s ruined for other people now and she really can’t find it in herself to mind it. At least that’s what she’s telling herself now because once their… whatever it was ended she would be faced with reality again and in said reality this would never happen.
“Come for me, Cadet.” Alder’s voice is hot and raspy against her lips. They had never actually kissed and Tally knew better than to initiate it. Kissing is part of a different kind of intimacy.
She sees blue as she’s pushed over the edge, Alder’s eyes locked with hers as a strike of thunder nearby lights up the sky. She isn’t even the one getting touched and yet Tally has her so affected that she’s unable to fully control herself. It satisfies an entirely different part of Tally.
She feels something she can’t quite describe when Alder’s hands leave her body after she zips up her pants for her. Tally ignores it.
Alder wishes her a pleasant evening and leaves.
Later Tally lies in bed and ponders over the past weeks.
A one-time mistake bled into the second one not even 24 hours later, and after the third and fourth one they both knew that it wouldn’t stop any time soon.
Tally had stormed into Alder’s office on the evening it happened for the first time, absolutely furious with her over her lies and deceptions, all the things she did to save her own skin.
She eventually ended up with her hands behind her back and Alder’s hand between her legs and loved every second of it, even if it was really fucked up that she was begging for her the second General Alder asked her to.
A month passes. General Alder fucks her whenever there’s time and they can find a quiet spot. Tally never gets to touch her and after being denied several times she stops asking for it altogether.
Today Tally is once again furious with Alder. She is standing in front of her desk, confronting her about the way she broke up her unit, just so she could train Raelle separately. All for her so-called witch bomb. All for her own gain.
“Don’t you think I would have liked to know about your plans of whisking Raelle away before you presented Abigail and me with her replacement?”
“It’s none of your business what decisions I make for my soldiers. You are out of line, Cadet!” She says, obviously trying to keep her voice down.
“Am I?” Tally laughs in disbelief. “So, you just push around the boundaries as you see fit, that’s just great, General. Please remember these power structures between us the next time you wish to seek me out after combat training.” She steps back when the biddies hiss. “Right. That sure is a way to communicate your feelings. Have a nice day, Ma’am.”
The general stops seeking her out after that and Tally evades any place she could potentially see her. Luckily it’s rather easy to avoid her in daily base-life. Tally has her War College schedule to stick to and that doesn’t involve anything Sarah Alder, except for the history lessons where she is an unavoidable topic. She is too proud to admit that she knows her biography by heart and at this point she would rather forget all about it.
Abigail and Raelle eventually nail her down and demand a full explanation of what happened between them and she gives them the blunt truth. She knows they are angry with her. She knows that they would love to go and pick a fight with Alder. They respect when she asks them not to, for the sake of their careers.
It’s the male witches visiting what sets their paths onto collision again.
It’s just a regularly scheduled gathering where they present the newest weapons and gimmicks. General Alder and the Witchfather give a speech and then everyone gets to socialize for the rest of the day.
Tally doesn’t care much for the latter and avoids having much of a conversation with anyone not stationed at Fort Salem, except for when one of the technicians asks her to join him for his weapon demonstration. She notices General Alder watching as well, only that she is acutely aware of blue eyes resting on her and not the demonstration.
Afterwards she politely turns the technician's advances down and makes her way to drop off an essay in Major Verger's office. She is glad about not having to read it again as she had done so dozens of times in the past weeks.
Having delivered the essay, she turns into the corridor that leads to the stairs and she only notices who exactly is standing there when it’s too late to turn around without seeming impolite.
General Alder, deep in conversation with the Witchfather and one of his protegees, notices her and immediately turns her attention to her, as if the men next to her weren't actually there.
“Craven, a word.”
Of course, she can’t ignore her commanding officer's order so she walks over to her and stands at attention. She isn’t looking at her directly, too afraid that any anger could come up again if it’s just silent eye-contact.
The men leave and then it’s only Tally, General Alder and the biddies who are standing a few feet away.
“General.”
“I wanted to congratulate you on your exemplary exam results, Cadet.”
Tally knows a lame excuse when she hears it but she decides to go along with it for the sake of their professional relationship.
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Then the dreaded silence happens and Tally knows she should bite her tongue instead of opening her mouth again.
She does so anyway.
“Is there anything else, General?”
“Dismissed.”
Tally nods and turns around only to feel like she is struck by lightning when she hears the smallest breath of her name.
“Tally, please wait.”
Everything inside of her tells her to do anything but wait, this isn’t an order after all, but of course she is a sucker for Alder using her name and so she turns to face her again, which is her first mistake of the day. The second mistake happens when she follows Alder into an empty classroom. Only then she notices that the Biddies didn’t follow them.
“I have been meaning to apologize for the way we parted ways the last time we spoke. I should have handled the situation differently.”
This is more than Tally expected to hear and even if ‘handled the situation’ sounds entirely wrong to her she thanks her for apologizing and apologizes herself for simply barging in.
“You were right about the power structures you’ve mentioned. There won’t be a repetition of the mistakes made and I regret taking advantage of you.”
“Are you f-“ Tally barely catches herself before she can finish the sentence. How is Alder capable of making a decent start at an apology only to take a U-turn and crash the whole thing into the wall? “May I speak freely?”
“Go ahead.”
“First of all, I find it rather harsh to call it ‘mistakes’ and how did you take advantage of me when I had every opportunity to stop and go? How did you take advantage of me when it’s you who is risking her reputation more than I am? If I wouldn’t wanted this to happen it wouldn’t have happened. There was always mutual consent.”
Tally sizes up Alder and Alder sizes up Tally and Tally wishes that she wasn’t so easily riled up by her.
It's ridiculous, the way she needs her attention, and it’s even more ridiculous when a small voice reminds her that the general definitely didn’t need her.
She grabs Alder by her lapel before the rational part of her brain can intervene. The general is about to say something but then Tally kisses her with all the pent-up frustration and lust inside of her and Alder freezes for a moment before pushing Tally away.
“Are you out of your mind?!” she shouts at her, furious when Tally huffs out a joyless laugh.
“I don’t know, am I? Maybe I am. I think I have come to hate you. I hate you and what I hate even more is that I still want your attention. I still want you to fuck me, despite it all. Couldn’t you just let me be instead of making an attempt of talking to me? I know that at the end of the day I am just any other soldier fighting for your army, there is no need to act righteous and make amends.”
There is a beat of silence before General Alder snaps.
There is pure rage when she grabs Tally and slams her into the wall. They stare at each other for a moment and then Alder is kissing her roughly, relentless as she parts her lips with her tongue.
Tally is burning, rage forming into desire or maybe it's both now.
“This is the last time this happens, Craven.” General Alder says as she pulls back.
“Fine by me, General.”
She knows her indifference is infuriating to Alder.
Their one-sided sex was never led by emotions that weren’t lust or anger and that definitely wouldn’t change for this last time.
A farewell fuck, Tally thinks and almost laughs at herself. Like it matters what she is labeling it. This would be over soon and then they would never speak of it again.
Alder’s fingers slide into her in a well-practiced manner and Tally doesn’t bite back a moan.
Soon she clings to her shoulders, fingers digging into her jacket. Tally wishes she could break the fabric and bury her nails in Alder’s skin, leaving a mark on her so she wouldn’t be able to forget about her until they healed.
This never could have lasted; it never could have been something different but Tally hates that she will fade into complete irrelevance in the general’s eyes again.
Her head falls back against the wall when Alder pushes a third finger into her. It’s almost too much for a short moment but then she gets used to it and let’s her general fuck her as she pleases. She drags it out, switching her speed, her pressure, and Tally simply takes it, takes everything Alder is offering her for this last time.
It's when her thighs begin to shake and her mouth opens in a silent scream that Alder surges forward and bites her neck. Tally couldn't tell if she had ever come this hard, the pain of the bite combining so wonderfully with the pleasure of being fucked hard.
Alder isn’t caring with her in the aftermath. She pulls out of her and wipes her hand off on Tally’s jacket before regarding her with one last look. She is the picture of apathy but Tally won’t give her the satisfaction of saying anything.
The door closes.
Tally punches the wall.