Aftermath [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

The nurse really didn't want to go away. And ultimately Xiven had found herself propped up against the pillow with a sour expression. Where were Pale and Mephit? What was going on? Her ears pressed against her skull as she eyed the nurse, cooing over the babies.

She frowned. She wanted to wait until Mephit came... but it was as if the Nurse was doing it to aggravate her. Finally the feline caved and asked to see one of them.

Everything seemed to stand still for one long moment. Xiven's horror was clearly written on her face. And then, quite suddenly and quite loudly she screamed bloody murder.

That was not right. That child. He looked like! That was impossible!

The poor confused nurse stood there awkwardly, completely unsure of what to do about the situation. It wasn't every day someone screamed bloody murder over a child.

[Vyn]

Mephit was terribly shaken and horrendously confused. Her stomach churned and she remained sickeningly dizzy. So disconnected. She remembered feeling panicked like this before she'd fallen, it had come out of the blue and there was still no reason for it.

And still, no matter how hard she tried, everything else remained a blank. So much was missing without any explanation.

"I imagine she would be... I wasn't... feeling right." Mephit shook her head. A part of her felt the need to apologize for her actions, but the rest of her was conflicted. Surely she had a good reason to not attend such a thing. A servant had come in saying something, hadn't she? But the panic attack was setting in then as well. Everything was so confusing, but she could remember that clearly.

By the time they reached the medical wing Mephit was feeling more sure on her hooves but the anxiety and tension hadn't left her. She felt like the weight of her thoughts would crush her... she also became aware of Xiven's scream. "What's going on?" The doe drew in closer to herself, nervous and uncertain. Why had she even left the dungeon? What was going on up here? Wasn't the birthing part over???


Inside the nursery, a squirming ball of fluff opened his eyes to peer up at the nurse who was cooing at him. He liked it and purred deeply, but suddenly she was picking him up and moving him around, making him squeak before he was suddenly faced with a screaming feline. The feline twitched, fur bristling instinctively before he too began to yowl with uncomprehending fear.

[carcinoGeneticist]

That seemed almost to go without saying, but Apocalypse didn't comment, simply blinked at the woman and gave her a slow nod. He was fairly sure that as soon as Xiven saw her other King that she'd understand, assuming nothing had gone terribly wrong with the children.

Mephit's condition left the man confused and almost frightened. She was just... wrong. She seemed to be improving, slowly, as time went on, but it wasn't much, and he wasn't convinced that she really was better. It almost seemed as if she was just doing a better job at masking whatever was going on in her mind. He didn't have too long to think about it, however, as Xiven's scream reached his ears. His eyes went wide, pupils narrowing into pinpoints, as his head whipped up. "I don't know," he said, his voice a low growl. "...I'm gonna find out."

Of course, he was already rushing into the room as he'd said it. The sound of his Queen's pain.. It was enough to jolt him into action. The scene didn't seem too out of place, and there didn't seem to be any blood. He looked from the Torque woman to the nurse and back, eyebrows furrowing. It seemed like everyone was crying and the babe had just decided to join in on the fun. Abruptly, he turned on the nurse, backing her against the wall, his shoulders squared with upset. "What the fuck is happening to my Queen?" he hissed.

He may have been overreacting just a bit, but Apocalypse was the protective sort when it came to those closest to his heart.

[Kari Muffin]

Xiven was not only screaming at this point, but she was crying and trying very hard not edge away from the child. That just wasn't supposed to happen. Why did he look like him? Why the hell did he look like her dead half brother?

This wasn't funny.

The nurse looked horrified as she continued the hold the child, being backed up against the wall. "I don't know," she said over all the crying and screaming. "She just started screaming when she saw the boy. I didn't do anything! I swear!"

Finally Xiven had stopped screaming in favor of crying into her hands, and babbling incoherently. It didn't make any sense. It was impossible. This was just some horrible nightmare that she would wake up from any moment.

Please, please wake up. Please let this all be some nightmare.

Meanwhile the other child was fairly quiet.

[Vyn]

Mephit twitched, walking cautiously into the room. She was barely even paying attention to the thoughts her bracelet was siphoning to her over the abundance of chaos in her own head. She was still prying through her memories for some sort of answer when she hedged into the room and attempted to access the situation.

It was hard pretending to be in control when she felt so wrong, so confused. The doe's tail twitched, her fingers clenched and then nervously relaxed. Xiven didn't seem hurt, just... upset? Her gaze traveled to the corner where Pale had backed the nurse and the squawling child. It took all of her willpower not to cover her ears. She had to be a good King, that's all... be a good King and then get out.

"My Queen, what's the matter? Pale... you're only scaring the child more." The doe closed her blue eyes, opened them again, trying to clear her head through the wrongness and the noise and the general malaise of her head. "I'm sorry I'm late." Perhaps that would help? She hoped Apocalypse would be right and that her state of wrong would help the Queen understand her absence.


The kitten continued to yowl, making a horrified racket as tears rolled down his little cheeks. Everything had been warm and quiet and now he was surrounded by noise and faces that filled him with fear. What was happening?

[carcinoGeneticist]

There was a moment when the rage in Apocalypse's eyes blossomed into full-fledged hatred, and he bared his teeth at the clueless nurse. He was preparing another bout of screaming when Mephit's calm voice cut through the fuzz in his head, and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly for a moment.

His lip twitched in a subconscious desire to snarl again, but he suppressed the urge, taking several more calming breaths just for good measure. The child was still yowling. He hadn't even noticed it, focusing instead on the nurse, the woman who was supposed to be taking care of his Queen. She was the same woman that he'd been flirting with earlier. He wouldn't have done so, if he'd known how utterly useless she'd turn out to be.

"Right," he said softly, turning his attention curiously onto the little child. How strange, that he'd cause such a reaction from the normally-composed Xiven... Nothing appeared outwardly wrong with the babe, and he had plenty of experience with fucked-up babies. Slowly, he reached out for the child, taking it from the nurse. "Shh, little one, shhh," he whispered, lifting the squalling baby and nosing his stomach playfully. He needed to stop screeching so Xiven and Mephit could speak.

Rhiannon stirred uncomfortably in the back of his mind. "...He looks like Raj."

Apocalypse froze, blinking at the baby with newfound curiosity. He'd never seen more of Rajekhri than the coat that Xiven had made, but... Perhaps the similarities were close enough?

[Kari Muffin]

Mephit's voice was enough to make Xiven look up, though she was still crying. A pitiful sob escaped her as she tried her hardest to calm down. She glanced over at the child again.

Why did it look like him?

She shuddered. Shaking her head as she tried to clear her thoughts, but the fact that the child clearly looked like Rajekhri was impossible to ignore. She glanced from Pale who had no taken the child in his arms, to Mephit.

Was this some sort of divine punishment?

A rather pitiful sound escaped her as she stated what was completely obvious to here, "It looks like Rajekhri...."

And she was utterly terrified to see the other child. What if it looked like someone else she'd killed? The tears started up again at the thought. This was supposed to be a happy time, and yet it was nothing but awful. And she had yet to notice what was wrong with Mephit.

[Vyn]

Her brain was still rushing in confusion and her heart rate was overly fast, but she kept playing the outer role of Good King. That, if nothing else, seemed to be something she had a grasp on. So, slowly, Mephit sat down on the bed beside the sobbing Queen and hid the cringe as her back tensed. Not at bad as when she'd been getting up, she probably just had to adjust after all.

"I know he does... but he's not, Rajekhri is dead. That's your little boy. Its merely the outside, Xiven. On the inside he'll be your little boy and nothing like Rajekhri." Mephit doubted every word that came out of mouth. They felt ...wrong. Then again, everything did. The doe trembled subconsciously but fought off another spell as she straightened herself up more fully.

It was harder than she thought to play this part, but she would be strong because Xiven needed her to be strong. Figuring out what was wrong would come later.


The yowling ball of fur slowly sniffled to a stop as the pale man took him, he blinked cutely and then settled into a hesitant little purr as he knead his paws against the air. He was just so happy that all the yelling stopped.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The baby was finally done squalling, and Apocalypse was quick to continue the cooing and tickling that seemed to keep the boy content. He bundled the little thing up in his arms with a delicacy that his own daughter had never known (at least, not when there were people watching), letting the boy knead his chest. It would be more comforting than just scrabbling at the air, he was sure.

It also gave him a better chance to look the child over. Maybe physically his build was similar to Xiven's half-brother, but he was having a difficult time seeing why that was such a big deal. She was a cat. Mephit was a deer. The possibility of them having a cat-deer child was always there, and the possibility that the mix would be of similar proportions to a dead man was also there.

He could understand, really, why it might be unsettling... But not her strong reaction. Mephit's words were calming, and he shot the woman a curious glance. Was she feeling better? No, that look was still in her face, but... Huh. He couldn't drop the feeling of worry that was twisting his gut.

"Xiven, Mephit's right," he said, gently. He didn't want to bring the boy closer to his mother, not yet. Not until he was sure that she wouldn't lash out and do something she'd regret later. "Raj is dead. I understand that he might look kinda like him, but it... Really, I wouldn't think anything weird of it unless a Highlander-Morganberry popped out of you." his expression went soft, and a small smile crossed his face. "He's healthy. That's what matters."

He was also a Heart. A King of Hearts.

[Kari Muffin]

She felt a little better now. Barely. She watched through her blurry eyes as Mephit sat down on the bed. What was wrong with the color? Was it just because of the tears. She took several deep shuddering breaths as she nodded. Right. There was no reason to panic over something like that.

And yet her stomach was still twisting in protest.

She brushed away the remaining tears and gave a small nod. "R-right," she said as she stared at Mephit.

Her eyes widened. "M...Mephit what... what happened to you?" It was hard to miss that the woman's eyes had changed color. The tree was also a horrible shade of gray. There was no way the lighting could do such a thing... it hadn't been her imagination. She gave a glance towards Pale as he held the boy. It was still unnerving.

The nurse had silently slipped out of the room, leaving the nobles to deal with the children. The other child remained silent.