Summary: Unbeknownst to anyone Diva gave birth to a son long before she escaped to Zoo. Born twenty years before Saya released Diva from her tower, Rosario is the only chiropteran prince in existence. With his mother's personality, a witty unmatched intelligence and a deep abhorrence for humans, He hides in plain sight as Anthony Edward Stark.

Slash, MPREG (?), OOC!ness,

Pairing: FrostIron

: Chapter One:

The Zoo, Year 1860

Experiment D-67 whimpered softly as she struggled against the bonds connecting her to the cool metal of the mad scientist's lab table. Many would be surprised to learn that this was a regular occurrence in the girl's life. In fact her entire life all she had known was the safety of her beloved tower and the evil sterility of the Mad Man's lab. A rough hand struck her across the face and she cried out turning to glare at the owner of the offending appendage. It was the scientist's apprentice, Anshel. He was a young man of twenty summers and had joined the Mad Man five summers previous. He was a cruel boy and despite his competence as her teacher she hated him. She longed to kill him nearly as much as she longed to kill his master.

"Calm down, you bloody abomination!" Anshel snarled at her and she flinched, long hair flowing down to hide her face. Amused by her reaction the man opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by an older, gruffer voice.

"Leave her be, Anshel."

D-67 began to tremble, fear and hate racing through her veins as she raised her eyes to meet the speaker's pale blue hues. The Mad Man, Joel Goldschmidt. Her captor for as long she could remember.

She hated him more than she hated anyone in the world. He had found her and her sister in their dead mother's womb and once they had hatched from their cocoons, he had separated them. He experimented on her, isolated her, and forced her to learn silly human things like arithmetic and literature while he raised her sister as his daughter, keeping the girl oblivious of her very existence. To make matters worse he told the experiment of the other girl, often taunting her with thoughts of how she could be living. Oh yes, she definitely hated Joel Goldschmidt and his whole pathetic race and she vowed one day she'd be freed and she would destroy them all.

"How are you today, my dear?"

The scientist asked in a sickly sweet voice, holding a large needle full of a murky white liquid.

She didn't reply but he merely smiled at her and lifted her tattered white gown, positioning it at her lower abdomen. Then with little warning he plunged the needle into her skin injecting the liquid into her body. She jerked and braced herself for pain but nothing happened. Gazing up at the two men confused she watched as Joel chuckled and undid her restraints fastening her shackled hands together in front of her.

"Take her to her tower and bring her a meal. We must keep her healthy if we are to be successful." He ordered and Anshel nodded, doing as bid leaving D-67 to wonder what exactly they were talking about yet too weary to ask, not wanting to take advantage of the first painless experiment they had ever performed in her...

Months passed and she fell slightly ill though she was sure to keep it from her captives who seemed to watching her very closely. She had no doubt that both of these oddities were linked to that single painless experiment but she didn't question it. Another odd occurrence was the scientists began to treat her different. They gave her more food, provided her with three thick quilts and gifted her with a few gorgeous loose dresses.

As time passed they slowly lost interest in her and soon she was almost completely abandoned in her tower save for two visits a day from Anshel bringing her food. A year passed, then two and she could feel her body changing, filling out in the right places until one morning over two years after the experiment she awakened to a searing pain in her most sacred region. A pain filled whimper left her lips and she instinctively rocked forward, then bore down on it as hard as she could. A cry of pain left her as her entrance was stretched in unimaginable ways until finally something slipped from her body and land on her quilt. Panting D-67 gathered the thing in her arms, feeling her heart stop as she realized what it was. A cocoon. She had been pregnant. That was why they had been so kind they'd thought she was pregnant. Then when she had unknowingly hid the symptoms they had believed that the experiment failed. She gave a choked laugh, cradling the cocoon to her chest to examine it. It was a large thing nearly the size of a human babe and made of a black silk that seemed to absorb the light around them.

"Mine."

Whispered the new mother and as of agreeing the cocoon pulsed warmly in her arms.

D-67 giggled and kissed it softly. "My hatchling."

The Zoo Year 1863

Another year passed and D-67 managed to keep her beloved bundle hidden from her captors. Whenever she spotted them coming toward her tower from her window she would hide the cocoon in her rose bushes, making sure the shadows of both the bush and the tower protected her unborn child. At night she sat near her window holding the cocoon as she sang and tended her roses and every morning after awakening she fed it a few drops of her blood, falling more in love with the unborn babe with each passing day. Currently she sat in the corner of her "room" singing softly while she cradles the cocoon to her bosom. The moon shined brightly giving her an enchanting glow, not dissimilar to that of an angel of a goddess. All was calm, almost too calm as if the night were anticipating something.

Then...the cocoon began to pulse in her arms. Instinct overtook her and she bit into her hand holding the bloody appendage over the hatching cocoon. It pulsated once more absorbing each drop greedily then with final pulse a tiny hand clawed its way from the black silk. D-67 gasped softly watching in awe as the babe tore its way from its silky prison. A little boy! She-she was actually a mother! Joyful tears welled in her eyes as she drank in her child's features.

A shock full of dark hair rested on his head, his skin fair and soft much like her own and his eyes. Oh his eyes were beautiful. His left eyes was a deep ethereal blue much like her own and his right was a vivid crimson with a band of gold around the pupil. He gazed up at her, gorgeous eyes wide then he gave her a bright fang filled smile.

"Momma." He gurgled and she sniffled kissing his forehead.

"Yes, My little Rosario. You're so intelligent. My little rose. My sweet little rose." She cooed. He giggled and D-67 joined him, feeling completely loved for the very first time in her life.

***ROSARIO**TONY**ROSARIO***

Years passed and Diva and her son were happy together in their imprisonment. She taught him everything that Anshel had taught her and showed him how to remain hidden when Anshel or Joel visited her tower. He learned to sing and tend to the roses and often joined her as she did both. As he grew his appearance began to change immensely. His hair grew longer and fell down his back in a tangled mess of waves, his skin darken a shade, and his body grew firmer, full of tightly packed muscles. On his back were large reptilian wings that he could hide at will with four black claws at the tip and scales so dark a red they looked black.

At the current moment, nineteen summer old Rosario was leaning against his mother with a slight frown marring his features as she sang. Lately he'd been able to sense that she had grown weary of their imprisonment and he knew that with each passing day she lost what little hope she held of escaping their captors.

Her song was as beautiful as it was haunting and he ached to join in but he knew she needed this release. Footsteps sounded outside of the tower and he stiffened.

Since his birth he'd been taught to listen for Anshel's heavy decisive steps and Joel's lighter more assertive ones. These were neither. So who…?

His mother stopped singing abruptly and pulled him into her arms.

"Stay silent, my rose." She whispered and he did as bid, burrowing his face into her throat.

Outside a voice sounded, soft and full of childish innocence."Hello? Is anyone up there?"

Rosario's mother hesitated. "Who are you?"

"My name is Saya. I live in the castle down the hill. What's your name?"

"My name? I don't have…a name."

The young prince inhaled sharply at the woman's pain filled admission and he heard the person on the outside do the same.

"D-don't have a name?" Why did the girl- because it had to be a female- sound so shocked? His mama had never had a name other than 'mama' why would that shock her?

"I don't have a name." His mother confirmed softly, smiling down at him as he snuggled closer, her arms tightening around him.

"I can name you!" The stranger exclaimed and his mother giggled.

"You will?"

"Yeah, your name can be, um…Diva! Yeah, Diva is the perfect name for you because your voice is so beautiful."

"Diva." His queen mouthed before smiling vividly.

"I-I like it."

Rosario grinned at her excitement, bi-colored eyes glittering in delight when the person outside the tower giggled in response. Something dark flashed in his mother's eyes as her and the outsider talked to each other, so muted that he barely caught it. He snuggled closer to her, his eyes drooping tiredly as her voice soothed him. The last thing he heard before drifting off, was his mother proposing a deal of some sort to the person Outside. The girl agreed.

***ROSARIO***TONY***ROSARIO***

"Rosario, Little one, wake up."

Rosario's eyes fluttered open to find his mother leaning over him, her expression a strange mix of relief and grief.

"Mama?" He yawned and she laughed softly. "Of course, little rose. Who else could I be?"

The young man smiled and sat up, noting that his mother was wearing her nicest dress. It was a long white dress embroidered with a royal blue ribbons, one of her gorgeous blue roses sewn into the middle under her generous bust.

"What's going on?"

Diva sighed and sat down beside him, blue eyes sad.

"My Rose," She began. "M y dear, sweet Rosario. You know I love you. You are my light, my only reason to live. You know this, right?"

He nodded, fear striking his heart and dread pooling low in his belly. Why was she saying these things? He didn't understand, was she sending him away? Was she...was she dying?

Seeing his fear, the blue queen smiled and cupped his face gently in her ice cold hands.

"Saya, Joel's daughter, will be freeing us tomorrow, My Rose. I am going to kill them, all of them, but I fear war is on the horizon. Promise me you will stay in the safety of the tower until the last ember dies. Don't leave a moment before. Then when the flames clear, escape this place. Be happy."

Rosario shook his head, his eyes widening in terror.

They were being separated.

In all his nineteen summers of life, he'd never, ever been with out his mother and he certainly wasn't going to the Outside! The Outside, his mother had once explained, was a cruel, evil place. It was full of unimaginable beauty and adventures, but it also contained the root of all evil...humans. They killed their kind as well as each other for little other than sport and then there were those like The Mad Men who killed and experimented in the name of science. He clutched the woman's dress fearfully, nearly choking on his very breath at the mere thought.

No, He couldn't- wouldn't do it.

Tears filled his mother's eyes and she ran a gentle hand through his long dark hair.

"I'm afraid we have very little choice in the matter, Rosario. I trust no one with your existence. They will try to use you anyway they can, especially with your power and I refuse to let that you and I shall know of your existence. Promise me, Little Rose, that you'll do as I say."

Rosario swallowed, a single crystalline tear sliding down his smooth cheek. "I promise." He replied, burying his face in her throat and breaking into soft broken sobs. "I promise, mama."

"Sh, Rosario, we shall meet again."

He shook his head helplessly, clutching her tighter. "Don't go. Please."

Diva kissed his forehead gently and ripped a ribbon from the bottom of her dress. Gathering her son's long hair in a tangled bunch, she tied it back with a ribbon, humming softly.

"Feed, Rosario."

He refused and continued to sob pitifully in her arms. She cried with him silently, rocking them back and forth to sooth him.

"Sh, my love. It'll be alright." She whispered. "It'll be alright."

Unfortunately, she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him and herself.

TBC...