Darkness on the Rise (Finished)

[The Jenn]

Lior woke to the smell of chicken wafting through the apartment and a voice calling out to him. He raised his head groggily, his sleep having been interrupted twice that night and morning, leaving him with little more than three hours under his belt. Regardless, it was nice to wake up in his own bed rather than next to someone else's, even if he was still tired. It always took him at least an hour to fall asleep because his mind refused to stop working, so that didn't help him any either.

With a long yawn that curled his tongue, he slowly rose from the bed and stretched before calling back. "I'm in the room! Be right out." Settling his cloak more evenly across his back - he always slept in the thing now, unless she asked otherwise - he walked out of the single bedroom and into the main living space. Seeing her made him smile, though the size her belly had grown to in only two weeks made the expression take on a note of worry. She hadn't been that big before she left, had she?

"It's good to see you," he said in greeting, walking closer to lick her cheek and sniff the chicken. "That... smells delicious. Is that dinner?" He knew it was, but still had to ask. Smalltalk and whatnot. He didn't notice the mark on her chest at first, concealed as it was by the bag she held.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The look of relief that washed over Rhiannon's face at the sound of Lior's voice was quickly smoothed over with a small smile. She couldn't appear /too/ happy to see him, that implied far too many messy emotions, and she was having a hard enough time with them as it was... but she needed him to see that she was happy to have his company once more. She couldn't calm her tail, though, and it began to wag extremely quickly from side to side as soon as the feline entered the room, and she immediately trotted to his side.

She set the bag down, nuzzling the feline fondly. It was a huge change for her, coming home to such... warmpth, even through the aura of "creepy" that eminated from the cloak. Slowly but surely, Rhiannon found that she was adjusting to it - at least as much as it was possible for her to do so, the aura that it put off was just bizzare. She returned the lick, smiling and finally relaxing. It was good to be home, finally. "Mmhmm. It just smelled wonderful, I couldn't say no to it.[/b]" she remarked with a small grin. "I'm sorry I was away for so long... I really missed you.[/b]" it was a small, but somehow significant comment, coming from Rhiannon.

She was quiet for a second after her admittance, yellow eyes wavering slightly. Then she looked away and shook her head, her mask sliding off her muzzle and onto the floor. It was a relief to get the damn thing off, but the most convinient way to get it home with her was to wear it. Smiling fully at Lior, she puffed out her chest slightly, displaying the red marking with no small amount of pride. "What do you think? My mom and I found that I don't need to wear it any more... And we match now.[/b]"

[The Jenn]

"I always miss you now when you're gone," Lior admitted to her with a small, embarrassed laugh, nudging her again. Then he was left to just stare for a moment as she shed her mask like a piece of clothing. Which, he supposed, it was... but he had never actually seen her face before. She'd always kept it hidden behind the mask and he'd assumed that it had been to help her breathing. Why else wear something like that.

Seeing her so suddenly without the mask, he could now understand where her mother's beauty came in, but softened somehow... especially when she smiled like that. "You are beautiful," he said in a quiet, fervent voice, dark gold eyes flicking to take in every detail he could. She really was just lovely. He never would have pegged himself as someone interested in a canine, or really in anyone, but then she'd waltzed into his life and collapsed at his feet in a bloody mess. Nothing had ever been the same since.

His eyes took in the rank, but his brain needed a moment to actually process the change before it registered. "I... oh. Oh! Oh, look at that. I can't believe I didn't notice. That's amazing, you know. So few people can actually obtain that rank. I mean, I was born it, whether I deserve it or not." He laughed slightly and moved closer to her, meal temporarily forgotten. "You are amazing. All of this while pregnant! You are going to be such a wonderful mother..."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Lior's words struck Rhiannon deeply, in a place that she'd never really taken the time to explore or even consider in her everyday life. Having such innocent and sweet words pull it into the open completely broadsided her, leaving her feeling exposed. Her body began trembling slightly, but the movements were extremely fine and easily missed. She opened her mouth, then leaned in and licked his cheek, not saying a word but finding herself unable to keep a soft whine from leaving her.

What had she done right in her life to have earned this sweet, beautiful man? How could she, of all people, have managed to find something that just seemed so right? She whimpered again, the sound almost desperate, as she pushed herself towards him, burying her face against his chest and hoping to herself that he wouldn't be able to feel the tears that she couldn't hold back.

No one had ever called her beautiful before and meant it like he did, and it made her whole world spin. She found her anchor in the golden swirls of Lior's fur, feeling comfort from simply being in his presence.

~*~

The months had passed without too much trouble, all things considered. Rhiannon's moods began to fluctuate more freely as her belly began to swell, her hormones often getting the best of her. The emotional turmoil that she felt in regards to Lior only made things more difficult, and she often found herself at a loss for what to say to him and leaving to stretch her legs, then returning to him an emotional mess for having left in the first place, cursing herself for being so unstable.

It wasn't long before her stomach had swollen to the point that taking long walks was out of the question, and then before the journey even down the stairs was entirely too taxing. She mainly stayed in bed, feeling terrible for requiring so much of Lior's attention, but secretly enjoying every little bit of it.

She couldn't admit it out loud, but she was sure he'd already realized how attached she'd become to him.

As surprising as the news of her pregnancy had been, the sudden arrival of the end of it was even more so. It was the dead of night, and Rhiannon had assumed her usual position sleeping against Lior, enjoying the feeling of the father of her children curled protectively around her - and the babies growing inside of her - when the first contraction hit. She woke violently, a high scream of pain escaping her, fading into a desperate whine as it faded away. She had never done this before, but she knew that this was just the beginning - and she was terrified.

"LIOR![/b]" she cried as the second contraction hit, burying her nose in against his neck. "Oh suits, Lior, they're coming![/b]"

[The Jenn]

Lior busied himself on Rhi's behalf during the months of her pregnancy, feeling guilty that she had to be the one to carry the children while he got off scott-free, in a way. He'd heard stories of his papa's pregnancy, and he very dimly remembered the horror of his father's, so he knew that he needed to walk on eggshells and make sure that he catered to her every whim. Otherwise... well. He didn't want to give her any reason to indulge in the behaviors they had. Even at her most testy and hormonal, she was a comparable breeze, though still more than he was used to.

Her pained scream woke jerked him awake in the middle of the night, nearly sending him flying off the bed. For half a moment, he thought he'd woken at some point as a reaper and was re-awakening now as himself by a death. He'd heard screams like that before while coming back to himself, people having watched him kill someone or just terrified of his cloak's aura so closely following a death. It was not a pleasant wake-up.

When he realized he was in the bed he'd come to call his, still next to Rhi, he stared at her with wide eyes. Were contractions supposed to start so abruptly? Had she been dealing with them long before he woke up? Was there something wrong with her or the children. Oh hills, he hoped not... especially since he only knew of one true 'doctor' in the city, not counting several Corvistowneians he wouldn't trust, and she was a fifteen minute flight away.

He half-stood and hesitated, not sure what to do. What were people supposed to do in these situations? They'd conveniently avoided talking about it, or forgotten, or something of the sort. She'd never done this before either, had she? Would he need to get someone? "What... do you want me to do? What should I get?"

[carcinoGeneticist]

Something was terribly, terribly wrong. Rhiannon had spent the last few months of her pregnancy assuring herself that when it was finally time to help her children into the outside world, she and Lior both would have more than enough time to get the one good doctor in town. Even if there wasn't, people had been giving birth to children for years and years without medical assistance, how hard could it be?

Evidently, it was very hard and very painful. She began to whimper as she struggled to get into a more comfortable position, rolling onto her side to take her weight off of her swollen belly. The whites of her eyes showed, and she struggled to keep from activating her pain ability - something she had heard ages ago, no doubt, about not knowing when to push.

"W-warm water,[/b]" she gasped, closing her eyes and struggling to keep calm. She just knew something was terribly, terribly wrong - she was in far too much pain for this to be a normal delivery. Could it be something wrong with her body, the same thing that had caused her intense pain the last few times she and Lior had attempted intimacy? "A-and towels... Something to wrap them in when they're out.[/b]" she whimpered, biting her lip so hard it bled.

When Lior returned with the requested items, Rhiannon was still breathing heavily. She had read a book on pregnancy and birth, and it had advised that she attempt to keep her breathing regular. She had only wished it would warn her that this would hurt as badly as it did! She motioned for him to come close, licking his cheek softly, reassuringly. "Stay with me, please, Lior,[/b]" she whimpered with a pained expression, clearly seeking distraction. "Talk to me... W-what will we name them? My mother named my brother and I in the language of the Bog, as her mother and father were also named...[/b]" she couldn't believe that they'd never spoken on it before now.

At least it provided a clear distraction as her contractions began to happen with much greater frequency.

[The Jenn]

Going for the desperately requested items as quickly as he could, Lior returned with them in two trips. The water was awkward to get with just his animal form and he silently cursed his lack of another form. He just hadn't made one 'work' yet and now he could have really, really used it. Hands would have been good. Carrying a bowl with his mouth was such a strain, even when it had a handle specifically designed for the use of animal forms.

She looked to be in... so much pain. He'd heard that childbirth was unpleasant and he should never get pregnant if at all possible, especially as a male due to increased risks, but this seemed far worse than anything he'd been warned about and they hadn't even started to come out. He wished there was a doctor nearby that he could just run to or call or summon or something.

At last she gave him something that he could do, however useless and pathetic a thing it seemed, and he laid down close to her. "Y- yes, of course. I'm here. What can I do? I..." He listened to her and paused, something in his mind blinking and blanking in surprise. Names? The thought of names had never even crossed his mind. He supposed he'd just assumed that she would name them when the time came, since a lot of people seemed very set on how they wanted to do things like that and it had never been a big point for him.

"That sounds like a good tradition. We could continue that. I don't even really know how my parents picked my name, but my sister's came from my father's mother, so... family names are great. I don't know any of the Bog language so I'd have to ask you... do you have any favorite names? Any family names? What names do you like?" It was nervous babbling on his part, dark gold eyes flicking from her face to her swollen stomach and anxiously back.

[carcinoGeneticist]

If the babbling had come months earlier, it likely would have annoyed the coyote hybrid, but now it came as a sort of relief. Rhiannon needed to feel that she wasn't alone in this chaos, that she had someone with her who was just as scared as she was. Perhaps it was a selfish notion, but it helped her all the same. Just listening to him babble, desperate to bring her some kind of relief... Did. She shifted slightly, desperate for any position that would make her somewhat more comfortable, and looked up at him. Fear was still shining bright in her eyes, but her expression was set - she needed to be strong for him as well.

"I-I have a book we can look through together once... once it's all done,[/b]" she said between gasps of air and weirdly-controlled breathing. Her tail wagged once, a feeble attempt at soothing Lior's obvious panic. "I've always loved Jakodi, though, and... and Kieran, both for boys.[/b]" her words were cut short by a desperate-sounding whimper, eyes closing tightly as her whole body tensed. She had been suddenly overcome with the need to push, and it completely stole her attention away.

They were coming, there was just no way around it. She welcomed it as, she hoped, a relief from the pain, and she pushed, screaming and writhing with the pain of finally giving in.

~*~

And then, as suddenly as she'd felt it had begun, it was done. Five bundles of fur and wings and blood lay there, the hybrid's body shuddering and then going limp, her eyes sliding shut for a moment. She was still in incredible pain, but it was a dull ache now, and she welcomed the relief of her ignore-pain ability. "L-Lior...[/b]" she whispered, hearing the cries from her - their - children, a small smile dancing across her exhausted features. "I did it, Lior... H-how are they?[/b]"

[The Jenn]

Lior distracted her as best he could, but things went downhill so far and fast that he had a hard time just refraining nausea on her behalf. That would have been the absolute worst thing for him to do and he only just managed it. Births were absolutely disgusting. He'd never really thought about the logistics of them before. Someone couldn't pay him enough to see to them for a living. Just... no.

He wasn't sure at first if there was anything 'wrong' with the children, seeing as they were covered with blood and stuff that he just didn't want to think about. He took care of them as they each came out, some with much more difficulty than others. All of them had wings like their parents, so that didn't help things at all. After he'd gotten them at least somewhat cleaned up, though, he couldn't deny that something had gone very, very wrong. They weren't... normal. At all.

"They're all alive," he answered her question uneasily, a high, nervous laugh escaping before he could stop it. He didn't want to alarm her until he could look at them more closely. His body shifted so that none of them were in her view and he licked her cheek half-desperately, then surveyed the newborns squirming in a pile of towels and blankets he'd brought from the closet.

One of them didn't look like any realm he could place, her white looking like a Highlander but the wine blotches and blue mane... he had no idea. There was something wrong with her mouth and spikes of some sort tangled in her hair. Also, she had no eyes. He swallowed hard. Another looked normal and lovely, with the exception of the bone-white wings on her back that were, in fact, bone. Another still looked absolutely beautiful, but the tiny toes splayed oddly, there were more wings flailing than he thought there should be, and... something about his face. The hair on the back of Lior's neck rose when he finally realized that there was no face after a moment of staring. No mouth, no nose, no eyes... just a sunken area where they would have been. He felt faint. Maybe the child could just... wear a mask? Or something? The last two, though, were the ones that horrified him most. One had some sort of fleshy flap hanging along its face and neck, along with a bone ridge sticking bizarrely out of its neck. It looked absolutely disgusting. The last had some sort of spiky protrusion out of his back that the feline couldn't place beyond another odd bone structure and when he yawned, his head flipped back nearly to his ears. There was no rank on the boy's chest. none. It was blank.

Fainting was in order, but there was no way that he could do that with Rhi laying there in such a state. Vomiting also seemed appropriate. Or sobbing. Or both. What had happened to them all? What had he done to them?!

[carcinoGeneticist]

The relief that had begun to sink over the woman was ripped violently away with Lior's statement, and his nervous little lick did nothing to alleviate it. She began to squirm, desperately trying to get a glimpse of her children, but in her weakened state could only move enough to see a pile of squirming white fur marred by the occasional marking. What was going on? Her heart was beating fast with terror - there was clearly something she couldn't see, something that Lior had gotten a glimpse of.

Why else would he just be sitting there like he was and not bringing the squirming infants up to her, letting her look at them and giving them the option to nurse? Why else wasn't he cradling her - and them - at his breast, kissing them all and calling them beautiful? She could feel tears stinging at her eyes, and she moved once more, finally gathering the strength to pull herself up.

And she saw them. She saw every one of them, her brain ignoring their imperfections for one amazing moment before she really saw what they were. Her entire body tensed.

"Lior?[/b]" she said, her voice high with panic, her grin widening but eyebrows furrowing, something in her gaze that was not quite right or sane as she turned away from her children, looking the Highlander in the eye. "Oh.. Oh fuck, Lior...[/b]" she whimpered.

The hybrid's entire body tensed, and she did vomit over the side of the bed, her entire body shaking as she pulled herself away from her mewling offspring. What had she done to them? What had she done to deserve such a thing?

---

For their strange children, the world was a dark and strangely cold place. The full-blooded Highland coyote stretched her feet out as she made soft whimpering noises, seeking the warmth of mother or father and finding nothing but a soft expanse of blanket and siblings. She wriggled where she lay, struggling to keep her weight off of the hard bones on her back and yelping piteously as she rolled onto them, their inflexible lengths digging into her back. It hurt!

The other infant rolled with his siblings, finding comfort in the feeling of their fur under his splayed toes, and a happy sort of burble filled the minds of his mother and father and each of his unfortunate siblings. Something just didn't seem right, however, and he felt a pang of hunger that he wasn't old enough to understand. Who was going to feed him? Would anyone feed him? Where was his mother?

He wailed then, the weak cry of an infant seeking something he just wasn't getting, and in response Rhiannon only began to wretch harder. Her head... her head was filling with voices again, only this time, they were the cries of an infant.

This couldn't be happening to her.