The city was a sprawling, beautiful sight to behold and every morning he awoke he could not help but feel his breath be stolen by the mere presence of it. The only other thing in existence, which could equally steal his breath, was his partner, whose beautiful green eyes reflected the wonder of the world and made all good therein visible even in the worst situation.
He stood on the balcony of their home, 245th level of a 500 level building, and watched as the sun began to slowly rise in the distance. Naturally, the neighboring planet was visible in the morning light. It was always there, hanging suspended in their skies, forever a reminder of times of war and slavery. The two planets were close enough they effected one anothers' gravitational pull, sometimes that planet revolved around theirs, sometimes it happened the other way around but they always continued their cycle around the sun. Yet even seeing the reflection of that awful planet in his Celestia's eyes could seem beautiful.
"Shaxprand?" her voice came from within their home, and he turned to peer over his shoulder. There she stood in the morning light, her white dressing gown hanging snugly on her gorgeous curves. She tugged at the clothing as she walked up to him, and he welcomed her by putting his arm around her and kissed her in greeting. "Nnh. Morning breath." she whispered on a smile.
"Apologies my dear." he replied softly before looking back out over the city. "...It's beautiful isn't it?" Shaxprand asked, before gesturing to the city with his free hand. "On a day like this, who could... who could ever think that anything was wrong with the world, the universe?"
"Mmm..." Celestia nodded her head and shut her eyes for a moment.
Their planet, which had been in existence for well over 10.7 million years, was on the brink of death. The sun was dying, its days were up, and it had been estimated that it was going to become a deadly black hole in roughly a year's time. This, naturally, gave everyone cause for panic. To think such a travesty could befall them only after obtaining their freedom for the first time in six hundred generations. It felt like it was all sought for naught, to have it all wiped out.
"Darling," Celestia finally spoke after a moments silence, "We need to talk about something."
"We do?" he asked, turning his head back so he was looking at her. She smiled faintly, before pulling away from him and held onto one of his hands in hers. She nodded, before turning and walking back into their home. Shaxprand paused a moment to look at the sun once more, before trailing after her and slid the glass door shut behind him and the automated blinds slowly fell so to block the harshness of the morning sun out of their home.
Celestia sat at their table, and sighed before running her hand over her forehead. "Shaxprand, I know you've voiced it before but..." she lifted her gaze to look at him. "I desire to have a child."
"What?" he asked, his brown eyes widening in alarm as he walked to her and dragged out the second chair to the table and sat. "But my dear, the sun, our planet-"
"I am well aware of the situation." she whispered, looking down at her hands. "I know our planet has precious little time but all my life I have dreamed of the day I would meet the man I would spend the remainder of my days with. The man of whom I wanted to have children with. I have accepted that children are impossible, but at least one child, Shaxprand." Celestia looked up at him, and reached for his hand. "If Yusan smiles upon us we might even be able to get them onto one of the convoys, off of the planet before the sun perishes. He, or she, could live with others of our kind on our sister planet. Why are you so against it, the idea of our child living? They would have any right as any one else."
"It is because I am not a head scientist." Shaxprand replied bitterly, "You knew that when you became mine. Any of my children wouldn't be allowed a passage onto a convoy. I am merely a designer of spacecrafts, something anybody can do. I do not know of anything beneficial, of-" she placed her hand to his lips, silencing him.
"If it turns out we cannot get them onto a convoy what is stopping you designing a specialized craft just for them?" she asked softly.
"And what of us?" he moved her hand from his lips. "What is to become of us, then? We leave our child to the universe without our guidance in their life?"
He knew he had said too much for those gorgeous green eyes had become glassy. She turned her head away, eyes shutting. "Do not think I have thought of that. I would love to raise my son or daughter, to watch them grow and experience all this universe has to offer but the idea of them just surviving... with or without me, is enough to bring me hope and happiness. You keep on refusing to lock with me, and I cannot help it!" Celestia got to her feet, cheeks now wet. "Why become my partner and then refuse to lock with me just because of this horrible news? Don't you love me?"
"Of course!" Shaxprand was to his feet in seconds, wrapping his arms around her in an effort to stem her tears, to halt the pain he saw on her beautiful face and pain in her voice. "I adore you, I think you're the most beautiful woman in all existence...!"
"So why?" she asked, looking into his eyes. "You do not want to risk the chance of the creation of life? Of our joined lives?" Celestia asked.
Shaxprand looked at her, his own expression that of pain and sorrow. He, like his wife, had wanted children in his life. How could he not have wanted to raise them with this gorgeous creature that was so gifted, intelligent, and beautiful? Yet with the news of the apocalypse upon them, the idea of having a child only to have it either die with them, or be removed entirely, had broken his hearts.
"To hold our child, Shaxprand..." Celestia whispered, "even if but for a moment before our lives end it would make me so happy."
"So we should condemn it to death? Just because of that?" he asked, unable to stop the words in time for them to do their damage. His wife gasped and pulled away from him, and struck out, striking his face with her hand. Shaxprand went quiet, brown eyes looking to the floor as the burn of her slap remained embedded on his purpling left cheek.
He watched her leave the room, and winced at the door, which slammed after she passed through it. Groaning he rubbed his eyes, feeling suddenly so very, very tired. Why couldn't he be a genius? Why did he have to be a second-rate aerodynamic engineer and design spacecraft for short distance flights? It was his wife who was smarter than him. Genetic engineering, but she had given up her position when she married him. She had seen children in their future, but now all their future held was death and pain.
Shaxprand walked over to a mirror that hung on their wall and looked at himself. His blue skin stood out against the white coloring of their world, color something that had been denied of them by their enslavers for so long now color only seemed an intrusion upon their world. He lifted his hand and touched his bruised cheek, and he began to think. If the child could be born in time, if locking with his wife would procure a life, they would need to ensure they could get off of the dying planet.
Perhaps he could design a ship, just for their child. Build it in secret, unknowingly to those around them. But what would ensure the child's survival? Sending it out into the universe alone, unprotected... the idea was barbaric. Surely their brilliant minds could come up with something...! He hated seeing his wife in any sorts of distress and she knew he would do any and everything within his power to bring her joy.
If that meant giving her a child, then...
He lifted his head and frowned at his reflection, his hands balling into fists at his sides. An idea formed, he walked over to their bedroom door and drew it open, finding his wife upon the bed. She had been crying, this much was obvious. The way she was laying, back to him and face buried into their sheets told him so.
"I'm sorry." he said, closing the door behind him as he walked into the room and sat upon the corner of the bed closest to her and reached out and placed his hand upon her hip. "I didn't mean to upset you. I want to lock with you, too. More than anything."
Celestia shuddered, and wiped at her eyes, embarrassed for her outburst. She lifted her gaze to look at him, waiting to hear more.
"You're right. I could design a craft. But I couldn't stand to send our child out into the universe alone and without something or someone to watch over them. But designing a craft to fit more than one person, even one bigger than a child, would be hard to hide. And to choose which one of us to go with them and one to remain behind would be too trying. I could not bare to see you and the child leave, and I know you would never let me leave you even with our child." Shaxprand went on to explain, finding her hand and squeezed it gently.
"What if you were to design a creature to watch them? To keep them safe, give them companionship, a sense of family and a place of belonging in a world where no one would be of its blood?" Shaxprand asked. "You are brilliant my dear, I saw your creations listed in science reports long before I saw how beautiful you were and knew you had to be mine. Don't you think it's possible?"
She lay there, eyes showing her consideration of this prospect. "It would have to be a simple life form... nothing too detailed because we are lacking for time...' Celestia whispered.
"Anything would do." he insisted.
She would have to think quickly on this, for it took roughly the same length of time as a gestation to bring life to a new species. Having to work while expecting would have to take place, a practice their species never smiled upon. When a female was with child they would have to rest, since it drained so much energy from their bodies to produce a child in the first place and not to mention the husband's. "I will have to set up a lab." she whispered, a small, appreciative and agreeable smile on her dark lips.
He too, in turn, smiled. "And I shall have to look into my workshop and start designing." Shaxprand whispered, and then found his wife in his arms, her lips upon his own and he was in paradise again. There was no threat to their world, there was no worry about designing a ship, or a companion, for a child not even conceived yet. All he had in his life that mattered was now in his arms, her body flush against his own, and their love about to prove its worth between them.
The art of locking was basically another phrase for making love for the soul purpose of creating a child. Their species could not afford the liberty of birth control, or a way to protect them from falling pregnant. Locking only happened in a relationship when they knew they wanted a child for once you look that first step there was no going back.
So when the two, that very evening, fell upon their bed without the presence of their clothing confirmed their plans. Hands gripped at one another as their glowing sexes joined, Celestia's closing over Shaxprands' and their tentacles joining and the exchanging of DNA took place. Their bodies illuminated at the transaction of genetic structure, and it was not long until they lay in a tangle of limbs and heated passion upon the bed, task completed.
It had been as glorious as he thought it would be. But now they had to wait, to see if their combination would create an embryo. This would take at least a few days time and if it was successful, they would have to lock again for the fertilization of the egg took place within the male. Their bodies, however, were not equipped to carry the young to full term. Shaxprand knew once they were completely sure that it had been a success they would lock again, and his body would transplant the fertilized embryo into his wife where it would reach full gestation in nine months time.
Such a long time. Yet now it seemed so short. Their planet barely had eleven months to its lifetime. They knew they would have to work, and fast, if they were to achieve what they had set out to do.
~*~
"Tinkering, hm?" Shaxprand hadn't anticipated his brother to come and visit him a day after the locking with his wife, and to find him in his workshop which was a few buildings down from where he and Celestia lived.
"Oh, Tescon... you surprised me." Shaxprand smiled shakily, hastily flipping off his projector device which he had been drawing plans on.
"Just keeping yourself busy huh?" his brother asked as he stood besides him. "I think it's what most are doing now a days... simply horrible, isn't it. Are you applying for a transfer?" he asked, "Because if you are, so are basically everybody else not on the need to have list."
"Mm. No." Shaxprand shook his head. "Celestia and I have agreed that we will stay behind. We have had rich, full lives and we've known each others love. There is little more that life has to offer us." he replied, hoping against hope that the life beginning within his body would outlive the pair of them.
"That is quite the decision to make, brother. I'm proud of you." Tescon said, putting his hand to his brothers' back gently. "Course... you know, I am already allocated a place on a convoy, so too my partner Yasnid. If I could you know I would-"
"I know what you would, brother. I appreciate it. Thank you." Shaxprand cut him short, not wishing to hear of his brother and his partner getting off their doomed planet with their child. It broke his heart to think that his older brother was the lucky one, the doctor whose expertise were renown and important for the survival of their species on a new planet. He smiled at him, and sighed. "Just remember us."
"Always." Tescon had replied.
~*~
"Look at what I've devised." Celestia said as Shaxprand came home a few days later. Projected before her, looking similar to how paper would appear whilst hanging from a ceiling on string, was genetic coding, some speculated designs, and other things that Shaxprand was not able to truly understand. "It is fairly basic in structure, but I think it will work. We will have to extract some DNA from the child in order to infuse it. It needs to be genetically linked, possibly even spiritually so they would forever need each other. What do you think?" she asked, turning her gaze to her husband and stopped short, realizing just how tired and flushed he looked. "Shaxprand!" she moved over to him, taking his hands. "My love what-"
"It's a success." he said simply. "The fertilization was a success."
Celestia stood there, eyes wide. How could she have not seen it? She had thought her husband's disheveled appearance over the past few days had been because of stress, and working on the designs for the ship that would deliver their child to safety. But it wasn't just that, their locking had been successful! She laughed, unable to contain her joy, and threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately before pressing her hand down to his crotch and it seemed to glow through his white clothing in response. "Oh... oh that's wonderful...!" she gasped, "When do we... when do we have to transfer?"
"In a few more days." Shaxprand replied. As the host, first, he had to carry the child for a week; eight days. It had only been five so far. On the eighth day he and Celestia would lock again only this time instead of transferring and combining DNA the embryo would be pushed out of his body and into her own where hers could nourish it properly, and bring it to full term. If they didn't transfer on the right day, the child would die, and Shaxprand had a 50/50 chance of dying with it since its death would poison his body in return.
She cried in joy as she hugged him again. This was wonderful news. That meant that she really needed to buckle down and get her work completed in time. She still needed to extract DNA, easily done once the child was in her body since she knew if she just used their DNA there was a chance it would create a wholly different genetic creature that could not match to their child. It had to be exact. It just had to be.
~*~
"How simple it is." Shaxprand marveled as he stared at the small, tiny egg that was suspended in a large tank of water in his wife's laboratory situated right next to their bedroom. "I can't even see its hearts beating through its skin anymore..."
"Mmhmm." Celestia nodded, sitting besides him as she watched. "It needs to be monitored closely, as you know. If anything should go wrong it could die and I would have to start all over again and I do not think we have the luxury of time on our hands now..." she placed a hand to her slightly swollen stomach, where their child presently grew in the warmth of her body. Their other creation, their second 'child' seemed to mirror the progression of their first exactly. It had been created on the same day as their final locking, and had slowly started its life at the same pace. Sadly there was no way to speed up gestation, or the tissue of the creature would simply break apart and it would die.
"You are amazing. Look at the two lives you're making." Shaxprand whispered, pressing his lips to her temple. "No other female on this planet could do this like you."
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Celestia smiled, cupping his face and kissing him gently. He kissed her in return, before gently breaking it off. "How goes the ship?" she asked.
"So far I'm checking how its thrusters would operate while breaking through our atmosphere and stratosphere." he admitted, looking back at the small aquatic life as it hung in the water. "It needs to be powerful but not too powerful, I do not want to hurt the babes when they break through."
"That can't be avoided. They would experience pressure change no matter how hard you try." Celestia replied softly, rubbing at his back.
"I know." Shaxprand sighed, shutting his eyes. "It just feels so rushed. I normally have three, four years to create a craft and this I have to put together in just a few short months time. What if it fails, what if the thrusters aren't powerful enough to get it out of our gravitational pull, what if-"
She silenced him with her hand, watching his expression quietly. "I have the greatest confidence in you, Shaxprand. I know you can do it. This isn't for some job to impress your employee, or employer. This is for the survival of our child, if our application for a convoy is rejected. They will live, Shaxprand. All we need to do is get the co-ordinates from your brother, just claim its for knowledge's sake, and we can triangulate a projection and have our child arrive in the new system for him to look after. What a surprise that will be, to awaken one morning to find a baby and its guardian in his yard."
"I'm sure he'd love it. I just wish I could tell him." Shaxprand said, looking down at the floor. "We have to keep so many secrets..."
"You know the creation of life outside of a lab is forbidden." Celestia whispered, caressing his face, enjoying the brush of his facial hair beneath her gentle hands. "If your brother discovered this he would have to report it. They would kill the minion and all hope for our child for having any sense of true home, of us, would be gone. I do not doubt your brothers ability to raise a child but for our child to one day look into the eyes of their friend, their minion and see that it was our love who created it... it brings joy to me."
He nodded shakily, and kissed at her hands as he shut his eyes. It was all just so draining, working from morning till night on his device. Luckily it seemed as though his employer had long since given him up. What was the point of hiring and keeping somebody hired on when the world was ending, and their abilities weren't even in the top 100? Though, luckily the two were well established enough to look after themselves and keep Celestia well fed during her pregnancy. You did not mess around when it came to that.
~*~
"Fail safe? What do you mean fail safe?" Shaxprand asked, eyes wide at what his wife had just told him.
"The universe is full of mistakes, my love." Celestia said, her belly well and truly swollen now, as she sat back in her chair observing the minion as it sat in the water. It was fully formed now, much like the baby within her belly. It was aquatic in nature, a pale green color and upon its head fins were little green luminous orbs, which glowed gently in a way that brought on indecent thoughts, and memories of their first time locking together. It had been quite a surprise to see the creature had developed those habits, but there was little to be done about it.
"What kind of mistakes?" he demanded, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. They had less than a month, the scientists guessed, until the planet was going to end. Their sun had been wavering, preparing itself for its last breath.
"If in the events that our child ends up on a different planet, away from the safety of your brother, I had to make it so in case of medical emergencies our child could be healed. We do not know what attributes would change in his structure in another environment different to our own. There are just so many planets, it is impossible to prepare for everything so I prepared for the basic. Health." Celestia placed her hand to the glass, the small fish still too young to open its eyes and take in the world.
"They are genetically linked. Practically siblings. They share so much DNA in common, on a basic structure level, it's surprised even me. I suspect on the day our little one comes into the world his eyes will open for the first time, too. Their hearts are connected, their souls one. If... Yusan forbid, our child is injured. And their injuries are so severe they could die, the minion will save him." she went on to explain to Shaxprand, as easily as she could, how both their child and the minion would live off of one another. The fish would excrete enzymes that would heal injured tissue instantaneously leaving no chance for disease and infestations to take place and bring pain to their child. Then in even more extreme cases, when blood loss has taken place, they would merge together physically for a brief moment for the minion's soul purpose to come into play.
Their whole purpose in life was to take care of their child. Failure to do so, would result in death. The day their child's hearts stop, no matter when that was, the minion would die with them.
It was all beautiful in a way, yet tragically sad at the same time.
"You are a beautiful genius." Shaxprand whispered, getting to his feet and kissed the back of her head before he began to gently massage her shoulders. "Never could I have thought of anything so wonderful."
"And the ship... is it ready...?" Celestia asked.
The last of the convoys would be leaving in roughly three weeks time. Sadly, despite their best efforts, application for a convoy had been refused. But there had been a beacon of hope, if the child was born on the very last day of the convoys, they might be able to get it on board. Yet that was impossible, that was two weeks away. Celestia had but that much time left carrying the child and they did not like those chances at all. And to be parted from their child the second it was born was just too heart breaking for the two of them. Yet still, they would hope... silently... that it could work that way.
"It is." Shaxprand said with a nod. "I need to bring it home. I do not trust to leave it there in my shop anymore for I can do nothing more for it."
"Good..." she sighed, and put her hands to her swollen stomach and shut her eyes. When she listened, really hard, listened with all her hearts she could almost hear her child's heartbeats within her. They were always strong, determined with a will to live and survive. And she knew it was a boy. She just knew. And he would be gorgeous, the most beautiful child ever to be born in the universe. "...have you thought on the name I offered?" she asked.
Shaxprand smiled to himself and kissed the back of her head again. "Yes." he replied.
"And what do you think?" Celestia asked, watching his expression in the reflection of the glass.
"You know I love it." Shaxprand smiled, peering at her reflected green eyes in the glass.
"So it's decided." she announced, and rubbed her stomach gently, humming softly the song her own mother had hummed to her when she had been a baby.
"Megmas." Shaxprand spoke the name, meaning knowledge in their species old tongue.
Celestia simply continued to hum, taking in every memory she could have while being one with her son, her Megmas. Him and the minion, they were her children. Long after she was gone of this world, this universe, a part of her would live on in the two of them and they would always be there for one another. Minion would be there in a way she never could be, and she prayed the small creature was up for such a challenge.
She prayed it was.
~*~
"Shaxprand. Shaxprand. SHAXPRAND."
He was jostled awake and yelped when he felt a hand smack him in the face. "W-what, what is it?" he asked, "Is the sun ending?" he asked, unable to hide the horror in his voice as he shot up in bed, eyes wide.
"No, no...!" Celestia, laid out besides him, groaned as she clutched at her side in agony. "B-but my pregnancy is."
It took him a sleep interrupted second to realize what she had just told him. His eyes widened and he got to his feet, then tripped over his own feet. "Ow my giant blue head~!" he shouted, always a little off balance after being woken up so rudely, but quickly got to his feet. The bed sheets around his wife were staining white, and she was already sweating. "Can you walk? C-can we get you to the-"
"NO." she screamed, stretching her back as she propped her feet up on the bed and shuddered in agony as white hot lassos of pain seemed to grip at her lower abdomen and slowly pull downwards. "He's coming, he's coming now and he's NOT a patient one!" Celestia heaved, face twisting in agony as another burst of pain ran up her spine and erupted in her brain.
Shaxprand was helpless, that much he knew. There was no way for him to ease the pain for her, birthing was always painful for their kind what with their craniums being so endowed with their large brains. Though, naturally, the females on this planet had bodies well equipped for such births but that didn't mean a delivery was absolutely pain free. He grabbed at her soaking underclothes and pulled them down her legs and shuddered at the sight that befell him. Her beautiful body was stretched, her blue skin a paler color around her lower body and he could all but see her muscles contracting in agony.
"Hold my hand, hold my hand," he said shakily, offering it to her while he remained kneeling before her, ready to catch the birth sack when it would be coming out. Shaxprand immediately regretted saying this since when she grabbed his hand it felt like she was going to wretch it out of its socket. He held back the pain since he knew it was nothing compared to that she was feeling, so he grinned and bared it. "Y-you're doing wonderful..." Shaxprand said shakily, looking down over her body as she continued to heave in agony. "Push, just push...!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" sobbed Celestia, the pain being so bad she could see white stars in her vision. Never before had she experienced something so mind numbingly painful. She wished she could move past it all, why didn't she have her mothers' strength? Celestia had witnessed her brothers' birth and her mother didn't raise her voice or scream at all. It had just been so natural, so quick. She had prayed that on the day that she becomes a mother the birth be just as quick and painless.
One out of two wasn't so bad, right?
"I see it, I see it!" Shaxprands' voice brought her back to her clogged, foggy past and she felt the intense pain flare again. It felt like her body was breaking in half, she was being stretched so far and so suddenly. Spikes of pain stabbed at her in her most sensitive place, and ripples of hot bursts continued to flush over her. It was like swimming in a pool of pain.
Celestia held her head back and screamed one last and final cry of a woman deranged before collapsing back onto the bed as her son, her child, finally fell free of her body.
Shaxprand sat back in stunned silence at first. Like all children of their race, it had been born in its protective membrane that was still connected by thick, white veins that traveled up and into Celestia's body. It was pale blue in color, visible veins on the thin membrane, and he was quite still for some time since the birth sack was not moving. That didn't mean their son... no, he was a survivor. He had to survive. Just as he was reaching for it, what he had been waiting for, happened. There was movement from within the membrane, and then came the faint whimpering cries of a child thrust out into a world.
He dug his fingers into the fleshy membrane and pulled, further supportive liquids came dribbling out, ruining their bed but he found himself uncaring for the cleanliness of he and his partners bed for curled up there on his side, tiny blue fists waving as he cried, was his son. Shaxprand picked him up gently, supporting his round, perfectly shaped head and held him. Megmas cried out at the world in general, hiccuping from the stress, and his father turned to his mother who was still laying flat on the bed.
"You did it," he said shakily, "you did it..."
"Nnh..." Celestia's eyes were shut, but she could hear the mewling cries of her child. It brought tears to her eyes, and she hadn't even seen him yet. It was so cruel. So horribly cruel and unfair that their son should be born within two weeks of their planets end. Yet he was here. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she slowly sat up, and finally she saw him. He was a healthy new born, skin a brilliant shade of blue, ten fingers, ten toes, and he was a healthy weight. She reached out for him and Shaxprand handed him over, the baby still wet with the afterbirth but she could careless about her clothes. "Megmas," she whispered shakily, caressing his head before kissing it, the baby still crying as she did. "Megmas, Megmas... oh my darling, my life..." she was sobbing now, and pressed her cheek against his small forehead and sobbed.
Shaxprand pulled his wife into his arms, and held her tightly as he could, and he felt his own tears hot and wet rolling down his face. How long did they have to be a family? How much time was the great Yusan to give them? He prayed it was longer then he had calculated. Eight days wasn't long enough... it could never be enough.
~*~
"He has your eyes." Shaxprand whispered quietly for the millionth time, standing besides his wife as they looked down at the baby in his small bed. His eyes were open, alert, and already aware of what was going on around him just like any child of their kind. Tiny teeth were already in his gums; despite having just been born six days previous. The baby gurgled and reached for his mother, who obediently bent and scooped him into her arms, unable to let him be out of them for too long before the tears would start again.
"And your nose." she replied gently, also for the millionth time, brushing Megmas' cheek gently. He gurgled and reached for her hand and wrapped his tiny chubby hand around it. "Look at him, he's so perfect..."
Shaxprand smiled. "He gets that from you." he replied, to which she also smiled and kissed his cheek.
"He will do great things." she whispered, before looking back down at the baby. "He will do many, many great things in his life."
Through the other room, he suddenly heard a faint beeping noise. Both of them lifted their head, and Celestia protectively held her son closer before she realized what that sound meant. Minion was awake. Just as they had anticipated, he had awoken on the same day as their son's birth, and they had celebrated the birth of their two 'children' six days previous. But the little fish had to be monitored closely, over his first five days of life. He had to be tested, checked, to see if he was in working order. All of this could be for naught if the creature couldn't move right, or there were defects in his design that wouldn't have been visible until it had been alive for a few days.
Shaxprand watched her leave the room, and looked down at his son. He could follow his wife, but he felt time with his son was important too.
Slowly he sat on the edge of the bed, holding his son so they were looking right at each other. Those same beautiful, gorgeous green eyes stared at him. The eyes he had fallen in love with. He smiled, and ran his thumb against the baby's cheek, and his son gurgled in a happy way and made a reach for his hand and got it. "Her eyes. How suitable you have her eyes." he whispered. "You, my son... you are very special. Your mother and I put a lot of thought into you, and placed all of our hopes and dreams. My son, my beautiful, beautiful son. It's cruel, absolutely cruel that our time together is going to be so short and you're going to remember so little of us. But I hope you remember that we love you, that our hearts will forever be linked with yours in the grand scheme of things. You'll never be alone, never apart from us." he spoke softly, ignoring how unmanly he was being by having tears slowly streak down his cheeks and wet his beard.
"I have seen many things in my life, my son. I've seen so much yet I can tell you so little of it, for your life is not meant to be lived on this planet. You will live, my son, where we can not. Our love will always be with you, always within you no matter what you do, or where you go. Look at you," he said, voice shaking as he touched his son's face again, "not even six days old and already we are so proud of you...! I can see you're going to be incredibly handsome, you get that from me, you know?" he asked, trying to make light of a situation he wished he wasn't a part of suddenly. "A genius in your own light. I can see it in your eyes, so much like your mothers." he nestled his son against his chest and shut his eyes tightly, the tears still refusing to stop.
Megmas made a curious noise but nestled against his father, enjoying the warmth and the closeness, and he could hear the beating of his fathers' hearts. It brought calm to the baby, and it wasn't too long until he was fast asleep, oblivious to why his father and mother shed tears so easily.
~*~
The tests had been a success. The small fish was very responsive. He followed instruction, he could eat and digest food properly, and surprisingly enough he had inherited Shaxprands' eyes. She sat back and smiled at the small creature as it glowed pleasantly within his tank where he had been born, and seemed quite content to swim in the water.
"You have a big task ahead of you." she said gently, and the little minion turned his body to look at her, golden brown eyes blinking curiously. He was a good listener, that much was something she was quite pleased with. "You, my little creation," Celestia said as she reached and put her hand to the glass. "Are set with the task to watch over my son. He's very small now, very weak and won't be able to defend himself for some time. I know I've put you at a disadvantage, giving you this body, but it was the quickest I could do to ensure you would be here the same time he is. I've given you strength, a great skill in those little teeth. Your jaw strength is powerful, I don't doubt you'd be able to bite through metals of all kinds if you so wanted to."
The little fish moved his jaws back and forth, as if suddenly considering checking this notion out.
"You will live a long life, as long as my son does with you. Your hearts are one, beating as one, and when the day comes for him to pass beyond this existence to become one with the universe you will join him. You..." she caressed the glass again, and the little fish pressed himself against it, as if he could feel her touch. "...your soul purpose in life is to take care of him in my place. You will be his protector, his guardian, his friend, his minion, and his family, his everything. Don't ever leave him. Be there for him because I won't... wipe his tears when he cries, tell him stories when it's late, sit up with him when he can't sleep, make sure he eats the right food and takes care of himself. Let him live his life as he sees fit but don't you ever, ever leave him. Do you understand me?"
Glowing that soft green glow, the tiny fish wriggled his fins as if answering yes. While he had that little antennae in his head that would work well for translation, it did no good as of yet, since even babies didn't know how to talk until they were a little older. He was smart enough to understand his charge, his reason for being. The fish smiled at her, those little tiny teeth sticking out of his jaw, before nodding his body in a 'yes' kind of way. As if saying, yes. I will do all this you ask.
"Thank you." she whispered, before getting up and leaving the room, wanting to see her son again. Needing to see her son again.
~*~
Celestia was making herself something to eat in the kitchen area when she heard the door slam, and judging just how roughly it had banged against the wall she could tell her partner was not in a good mood. Picking up the sleeping Megmas into her arms she left her food behind and made her way to the door to see Shaxprand digging his hands into the table by the couch, his head bowed down and his shoulders were shaking.
"Shaxprand...?" she asked slowly, taking a few steps into the room at first before moving closer. "What is it?"
"It's not going to work." he muttered darkly. "I've got the co-ordinates. There's a chance the ship might not make it."
She didn't have to ask what it was he was talking about. The ship he was putting all his time and energy in, without the resources that his job once offered, was taking a toll on him. With his brother having a passage off the planet he had hoped that, maybe, once getting the co-ordinates of the second planet most of their race was going to be relocating to they could send Megmas to them. But to learn his ship might not even make it...
"What can we do?" Celestia asked quietly as she sank onto the couch besides him, folding her hands in her lap. "Can... can we do anything?"
His eyes were shut, and it was obvious he was thinking, and thinking fast. What could he do? To send his son out into the universe was one thing, but to think of him starving to death in the vastness of space in case the fuel of his pod ran dry... it was a horrific mental image to behold and he wished it would leave him and never return. Lifting a hand he pressed it to his forehead as he sat up straighter.
"...I could... give it a... something... to locate planets that inhabit life forms... that can carry and sustain it... but it might not be the home planet..." he was mumbling.
Her eyes widened, and held her son closer to her chest in horror. "You mean send our child to a planet where he'll be different? No! No, that would be awful!" she said, voice shaking. She looked down at the baby, still fast asleep and sucking on his thumb. "He'd be an outcast his entire life! Not ever life form in the universe looks like us, you know that!"
"Of course I know that!" Shaxprand snapped, brown eyes flickering angrily before he covered his eyes with his hands and groaned, shaking his head as he did. "I know. I know... but it's the best I can give him. It's all I can give him. Enough fuel, and coordinates but a back up plan in case the fuel runs out, or the thrusters start to falter. It would give it one last kick of energy, enough to make it to a planet that he could call home. I know... I know it wouldn't be like the second planet, that he'd be different but at least he'd be alive." he turned his face to her, lowering his hands. "That's what this is all about, isn't it?" he asked, looking down at Megmas who was beginning to stir, eyes slowly opening.
"...yes... yes, it is..." Celestia said shakily, pressing a kiss to her baby's head. "It's all about him. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."
"No no." Shaxprand shook a hand, before touching her arm gently before reaching and stroking Megmas' head. "Don't apologize. I hate it too. But it's all I can give him."
She nodded, understanding. No matter how awful the idea of her son growing up on a planet where he would be an outcast amongst the natives, the fact and matter alone that he would be alive made the cons seem to matter not. Her son would be alive, and he would find his place in the universe. There was no other choice.
~*~
Shaxprand stood in the kitchen and was drinking when the sky outside suddenly turned from a pleasant blue to dark black in just a mere few seconds. It had happened so fast, he could barely believe it. Then things began to shake, the after shock of the sun suddenly turning in on itself causing all stars and planets within a certain radius to quake on reaction.
"CELESTIA!" he screamed, running from the room. "CELESTIA!"
"I'm here, I'm here!" she came running from the bathroom, eyes wide with horror.
"Get him. Go get him, I'll get the ship. Go!" Shaxprand yelled as he ran through the house and paused to stop and watch as the tank that held the little green fish suddenly begin to topple off of its ledge. "NO!" he shouted and leaped at it, grabbing the tank before it would go tumbling and smashing to the floor. The little fish was shivering, shaking out of fear, and possibly understanding. Grabbing a round ball Shaxprand twisted it open, scooped up the little fish and slid it inside along with some of the water from his tank. "It begins today." he told the fish, who shivered within the water before being placed down on the ground.
The fish watched as the creator's husband ran from the room, before he experimentally pushed against the inside wall of his new home. It rolled. Realizing he could move now he pushed again and began to move through the house, but found it greatly difficult since the ground was still quaking.
Celestia suddenly appeared, holding her son. She looked around, then down, and saw the fish in the ball. She had been meaning to see if he could work it, how had she forgotten? "Follow me." she told him, "This is your final test. Keep up with me, and it will prove you're worthy to watch him."
Outside the world was crumbling. Buildings glass was shattering, and the ground was breaking into large, ugly cracks like scars across someone's face. Shaxprand had grabbed the small space ship from where he had been hiding it, but knew it had to be launched from ground level. He ran out into the city and found a place where there wasn't any buildings it could accidentally crash into and set it up on its stand. Behind the building they lived a large screen flashed, counting down the minutes until the planet would be lost forever. 'WARNING!' it blazed in red writing, 'PANIC!' it then said.
"Where are you, where are you..." he asked, looking to their building and waited.
A part of the building suddenly collapsed in on itself, and Shaxprand watched in silent horror as it crumbled like paper cards. For a horrifying second he thought his wife and son would be lost to him, but out of the dust Celestia suddenly appeared, carrying Magmas close to her chest with the fish hot on her heels and going as quickly as it could. He mentally thanked Yusan above and as she rushed up to him she handed their son over to him, who, despite all the madness and panic in the air, was oddly calm. Shaxprand ran to the small, round ship that stood waiting patiently. His heart was breaking, Megmas was holding onto him so tightly he didn't want to be let go.
Once at the pod he bent and placed his son inside, and as he let him go he felt those tiny hands grip at his hands desperately, and the look he was giving him was asking why he was being put in here, why wasn't his dad picking him up? Celestia bent down and scooped up the small orb, and smiled shakily at him. "Good luck." she whispered to the fish before standing up and looked in on her son, her life, and her reason for being.
"Here is your minion." she told him, as calmly as she could. Celestia didn't want her son's last memory of her to be of her screaming, or crying. She wanted him to remember her being strong like his father. She passed the orb, and little fish, to her son and he obediently took the little creature into his hands. "He will take care of you." Celestia added.
"And here is your binkey." Shaxprand pulled out the small glowing ring, and placed it into his sons' mouth. They had so much to say. They never had enough time. They had told him hourly they loved him, they were proud of him, and knew he would go on to achieve so much in his life and they could never even dream of what awaited him out there in the universe. He looked at his son, who stared out at them with a curious look on his face while his little fish looked up at him with hope in his eyes. "You are destined for greatness." Shaxprand told his son as the hatch on the pod slid shut.
The had to step back as the little pod began to come to life. Shaxprands' arm wrapped around his wife's side and she reached out, as if wanting to touch him one last time but knew it was impossible. She let out a horrible sob as the pod suddenly shot skywards, and streaked out into the distance, and was gone. Celestia covered her face as she wailed, not for the ending of her life or that of her planet, but the fact her son was gone. Her husbands' arms wrapped around her and she could hear him crying too.
"D-don't let me go," she whispered amongst the chaos as that horrible clock continued to count down. It was in single digits. "Hold me..."
"Until the end of time." was all he said before pressing his lips to hers.
End