Hey, guys! Yes, I am alive; I just can't seem to finish anything, so I kinda gave up on posting. Plus, my own writing style seems a little childish to me (that's the only way I can explain it), and I don't know how to get around that feeling. That being said, here's a little one-shot set in my 'Kevin's Secret' AU! Read and review?
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10.
Pup
As my mind forms, I can feel the first ticklings of something connecting to me. Thoughts and feelings not my own brush across my budding mind, soft as the warmth surrounding me. As I get stronger, I begin to identify that these thoughts and feelings come from the being that surrounds me.
Mama.
Another mind joins us.
Daddy.
As I grow, more and more minds connect to mine, warm and welcoming and joyful!
Pack.
Pack-love surrounds me.
I hear Mama's strong heartbeat thudding away above me.
I am safe.
Daddy's hands press against Mama's belly, and I stretch to let him feel me. I feel his love and his wonder in me growing strong and well.
I am happy.
I hear, with both my ears and my mind, the voices of Mama (loud and rumbly because I am inside her) and Daddy (low and muffled), and the pack.
I am much bigger now. Mama says I have been growing for about eight moons. I am getting very uncomfortable! My instincts tell me to turn head-down, and now my tail is squished up against my face.
Mama tells me I am getting ready to be born. I want to be out!
I know what outside feels like from the minds of the other pups who were born before me.
Big and bright and loud and wonderful!
Mama says she is ready to birth me now. I feel pressure around me, and then…
Ow! Owwww! OW! Mama's muscles are pushing and squeezing me out of my warm safe place and down into a long squashy place!
It HURTS! I can feel my SKULL SHIFTING! The Pack-mind takes away some of the pain, but it still hurts. I can feel it hurting Mama, too.
She is singing, with both her voice and mind. They are all singing.
The Pack-song.
Another BIG squeeze and-
Air!
I cough and gasp, choking up the fluid that has sustained me for so long. I draw in the fresh air, and, as I sneeze and flare my gill-slits for the first time, I can smell Mama.
A brief, sharper pain, as my birth-cord is cut, then warm, soft tongues are brushing against me, washing off all the birthing fluid.
My eyes are still tightly shut, but I can sense the brightness.
Slowly, as Mama holds me, I carefully pry my three eyelids open.
YOW! Bright!
I whimper a bit at the attack on my eyes, and Mama purrs soothingly at me.
Come, my little one. Open your eyes…
Well, all right.
I try again, and this time, my eyes stay open. I squint at the huge, blurry shapes above me, and they slowly take shape.
Mama and Daddy.
One of Mama's strong, warm primary arms is holding me, and Daddy's soft, furry secondary hands are gently stroking me, his sharp black claws cool and smooth against my face. I nuzzle him, learning his scent.
Mama and Daddy's minds both show me my name.
Shala. You are our daughter Shala.
I am Shala. Shala Swiftsong.
As Mama passes me to the rest of the Pack, I am surrounded by love. They are all my Mamas and Daddies; Grandmas and Grandpas; and the other pups are my brothers and sisters.
My Pack.
I am passed back to my Birth-Mama, and she presses me against her chest. I smell warm, sweet milk, and I nuzzle in, and begin to suckle.
The Pack-song thrums in the milk, and in the Pack-mind.
Warmth.
Love.
Safety.
Pack.
My Pack.
