When Vaas had finally found Alice as she was lying unconscious on a small sandy pathway in the middle of the jungle of Rook. Vaas knew it was close to the temple but dared not to say another word, the search party had gone on well into the night and all the pirates where too tired to even bother questioning what just happened. With Alice safely back on the small Island they called home, everything seemed to settle down. Things resumed, pirates fought Rakyat, and Rakyat fought back and fought the privateers. Alice never spoke of what had happened to her, Vaas never pressured her either.
In fact he would become the perfect partner every pirate crazy woman wanted. He'd get up and kiss her good morning, he'd leave, he'd go and kill and sometimes when he would come back home he'd show Alice some of the hilarious ransom videos he had taken, or maybe the photo of a decapitated head or the tortured body of a captive. At other times he'd rock up with a bowl of popcorn, some roses and a crap load of newly imported Dvd's. He'd share his gruesome stories with her and express his so called passion for her.
However that was nearly 4 months ago. Today Alice looked up at the clean looking ceiling, it was crème but the lighting was so bright it could have even possibly been a faint blue colour. With a long sigh she closed her eyes tightly as the pain scorched through her back. A hand caressed over her swollen stomach, the movements of the soon to be born child's foot against her stomach could be seen as Shelly was heard rushing around. It was finally time for this growth to come out, Vaas was seated by Alice's side, whispering sweet things while holding her hand and kisses her ever so lightly. Abel stood in the background, gun in hand and his eyes wary upon Vaas.
This was a strange time for all of them as Alice tried to hold back the urge to scream and yell, the pain had become more and more over the course of the past few hours. It was almost midnight, the only sounds where drunken pirates and loud buzzing insects outside. For the past four months Alice had tried her best to remain hidden but it become very clear that she was pregnant. Pirates revolted, they fought. Some of them split off and created their own factions on the Southern Island. Privateers killed them off before they even had the chance to say a single word. Emil had stopped all contact and in a nutshell the Pirates where nothing more than Rakyat in his eyes right now.
Alice knew Emil didn't know of anything, not about the child or Vaas, but he suspected foul play, hence his sudden distance towards her and her men, or perhaps it was the beginning of another war. Alice tried hard to think of everything else but she bit down on her lip trying her best to ignore the pain, her back ached as she felt Shelly come up along her side.
"Alice Darling its time. Are you sure you're ok with…everything?" Shelly said softly leaning over looking down at Alice, her question was more aimed at Vaas' presence and Abel being in the room but Alice could only Nod in return.
Clearing her throat Shelly nodded back and began the procedure, first she injected Alice with something, she didn't know what it was but she didn't care either, it didn't seem to stop the pain was the issue as Shelly began to direct Alice to sit up before adjusting the newly installed hospital bed which was far better than that of the gurney Shelly had previously. Then next Shelly propped Alice's legs apart before putting on a pair of clean gloves and setting aside some tools nearby.
Alice was wearing only her red tank top, when the labour pains had hit her, she didn't bother wasting her time getting herself all prettied up, she tossed on some pants and a shirt before getting Vaas to carry her down and out here. The only thing that Alice had covering up her in-between was this cloth like material Shelly had placed down earlier. The doctor that of which was now making a mental note of what was going on before her eyes peered up over the material on Alice.
"You're fully dilated. This is the hard part. I'll need you to start to push ok?" Shelly said knowing Alice had been over this drill a thousand times in preparation.
With a deep breath, Alice sucked in as much air as she could before pushing, Vaas was by her side muttering something in Spanish, his grip on her hand had tightened, his eyes closed shut and his eyes brows furrowed, it was like he was praying but Alice couldn't focus on that right now. Pain soared through her back and her lower half like nothing before making her scream out in pain, her grip on Vaas tightened so much she could hear him hiss and murmur something under his breath.
"I'll need to make an inch cut ok?" Shelly said immediately before grabbing something nearby.
A new sensation of pain filled Alice as her head rocked back; she felt the knife slice down her Vagina creating a better opening. Shelly repeated her words about breathing and pushing. Everything went out the window in Alice's mind as she sucked in more air and pushed as best as she could. Pain and more pain filled her, sweat wasn't just beading down her forehead she was soaked in it, her hair flattened by it as tears even began to stream down her face.
Again Shelly asked her to breath and push, Vaas was yelling something, Abel in the distance was making a commotion but Alice did her best, despite the pain, the hardship and the horrible nightmares of a future for this child, she pushed, she took in another breath and relaxed then pushed. A strange sensation filled her, her body felt weak but her spirit was strong. Again she breathed and she pushed despite everything going on around her she focused on her breathing and pushing, putting aside the pain, the anger, the uproar of sadness and the strange feeling of happiness knowing she was going to meet her child for the first time after the past 9 months.
Then finally the pain eased to a minor degree, Alice felt a ringing in her ears, her body felt slack and weak her hands trembled but she couldn't tell. Someone was crying, no sobbing near her ear, pressing their face against her. Alice couldn't remember much apart from looking up at the large light on the ceiling and the strange colour of it all. Spots of colours filled her vision, blues, purples, blacks, yellows. Bit by bit they clouded her vision until she could only see black until everything just faded, the sounds, the emotions, everything from her whole entire senses to her very own thoughts.
Crying….Alice could hear Crying. The Darkness began to fade and the light began to take over as Alice jolted up, the sweat on her body made her feel like she had just had a shower or been in the rain however she wasn't concerned as her blue eyes fell upon the blood red baby that was wailing before her. Slowly Alice took the child in her hands as Shelly passed it to her. A strange tear slipped from Alice's eyes as she looked down upon the fragile life within her very hands, its tiny little hands were up in the air struggling to grasp something, its little fat legs kicked about, a small ringlet of black hair covered its rather oval looking skull as Alice pressed the babies bare skin against hers.
Its cry's soothed, its hands feverishly fell upon its mother's skin and there it was, the Mother and child bond, the skin on skin connection that just melted Alice's heart away. Though the baby did whimper but it didn't cry as much. Alice then turned to Vaas, she had this stupid dumbfound smile that spread from ear to ear over her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. Vaas looked pale as he shuffled his seat forward towards her and put his forehead to hers and looked down at their baby before he kissed its tiny little forehead.
"It's a healthy boy." Shelly softly said a little nervous.
This was probably the first time in a long time since she had been around Vaas, the last time was when they had brought him back, he'd tried to kill her back then, but he wasn't like that anymore. Alice sat up a little more cradling the child in her hand as she gave a soft hum of approval. Shelly looked over Alice before finally making her last addressment.
"I'll need to stitch you up but I'd highly suggest eating the umbilical cord. I can have Abel put it in a stew to make it nicer to eat but you'll need the nutrients and the baby will need to eat soon as well…" Shelly said nervously looking away when Vaas looked at her directly.
"Thank you Shelly for all you've done. If that's ok then yes I'll have the umbilical cord in some stew." Alice softly said.
Though to be honest the idea of eating the cord didn't sound right, it was a growing trend of course in the outside world, but it was always looked down upon. However in Alice's current situation where you don't have a clinical hospital or pills to take every second of the day to keep you up and alive, Alice knew her best bet was to eat the thing as Shelly nodded and folded the cord up and gave it too Abel. Then shortly the Doctor proceeded with stitching Alice back up minding her own business.
Vaas put his head against Alice looking down at the baby in her hands, a healthy boy, a child that would probably grow strong, a Montenegro but most of all it was her Child. She carried him for 9 months, during those months she was in Kyrat fighting, then back over here and more fighting, she became the Pirate Lord but now Vaas had taken that title back. All the Pirates feared him but from time to time they would look for her advice. Not all though, many felt even more betrayed by Alice and her pregnancy. However Vaas put them in line, so to speak. Mainly by hanging them in a line, upside down, guts hanging out. That kind of thing.
Then the baby stirred in Alice's arms as she looked down and softly hummed gently rocking her hands to sooth the baby. Alice then turned over towards Vaas and smiled, he looked so surreal, he probably didn't even know what to really do in this situation, it's not like they planned this, it's not like he was willing to toss aside his whole entire built up life as a pirate, and he couldn't do that, not for a single life, not for anything. Vaas was born to be a leader, born to be ruthless and kill, he'd grown to love drugs, to rule in fear, to be wreckless and lack responsibility apart from pointing a gun at someone that doesn't do what he wants them to do. So how on earth was he to ever be a father?
It was a question Alice had never truly asked herself as she looked at Vaas, his hands where like that of giants as he took the child in hand, hesitant at first but Alice reassured him with her beaming smile and flushed cheeks. However the moment the child's flesh was off of Alice's he began to cry. Vaas stiffened and Alice had to put a hand to his cheek before instructing Vaas on a rocking like motion before the child began to ease its cries.
This was the birth of the next generation and with it the Battle of Rook.
~Rakyat Temple~
Seated upon her stone cold throne Citra sat with one leg over the other, the sounds of the jungle soothed her soul as she breathed in slowly taking in the fresh smell of newly blossomed flowers, her eyes closed as she allowed herself to relax. Down below further into the temple her people lived, they had come here as their only shelter during the fight with the Pirates and Privateers however since the little deal was struck with Alice the attacks seemed to ease. As long as Citra kept her warriors far away from the outposts and out of sight and as long as Alice kept her men away from the temple and the few villages they had then their plan would be perfect.
However Citra was not all that comfortable with women in her temple, she didn't envy them; no in fact they envied her. Yet what got Citra even more was the lack of a right hand man, Dennis was gone and Alice never told Citra as to what had happened to him. So in the end the Warrior Goddess could only assume that her right hand had been cut off and probably decaying somewhere in the jungle like the rotten piece of shit he is. In all honesty Citra was enjoying this, she enjoyed the fact that she didn't have to deal with Dennis and his gaze upon her all the time, his prowling presence when she was alone, his touch, even the air he breathed seemed potent and she wanted nothing to do with it, only wanted to keep him chasing her only to slip away making him try even harder.
That was how she got her warriors to do what she wanted, to make them fight for her and to make sure they would have an undying loyalty towards her, but not everyone appreciates such a lifestyle as Citra opened her eyes and scoffed at the air. Her green eyes fell down upon the lifeforms below her, the small groups of people scattered about, some of them sat in circles on the ground eating, others were checking weapons while the children played and sang songs of the olden times all before their Goddess.
Time was a dying thing as the Goddess stood up and decided she had had enough of being the brilliant light for the day as she retreated further into the temple and along the stone cold walls she trailed her hand feeling each and every bump, each little jiggered rock and even the old claw marks from former prisoners trapped within these walls. So much history was here, so much that Citra was never going to let it go as she approached her room. Her plan had been set in motion and Citra could now tell that Alice was going to do her job, yet how was one to go through with this? As Citra curled up into a ball on her fur bedding, her eyes glazed over towards the wall where Vaas had once been chained.
How she missed his scent, his screams, she missed his madness, his ramblings in the night, his cries and begging pleads. It was like there was a giant gap in her heart and only Vaas could fill that, only her own flesh and blood. She needed him for one reason and one reason alone, to fill her, to give her his child and once that happens his role in this life has been completed, that by her hands she will end his journey as a warrior and his soul will go on into that of the Rakyats new future Leader. However Citra was now in this unfortunate situation as she rubbed her enlarged abdomen. She was only a few months off from having the child, each day she would feel it move. It was only a matter of passing time but Citra was not one for patience as she grumbled allowed to herself before sighing in frustration and tilting her head back to look up at the stone cold ceiling. Apart of Citra just wanted things to be done and dealt with, for her people to grow strong again but now Citra was forced to play this stupid game of cat and mouse with Alice and it annoyed her, if she could she would have just killed Alice right out and take Vaas back to his people, back to his home and his birth right no matter what anyone says.
In that very moment in that time and space, both Alice and Citra knew that this was the beginning to a very long and complicated Battle for Rook.