Together Forever and Ever, But Only for Now 11
It's not fair, but it is fair.
Crayton sat huddled with the small baby in his lap and arms, desperately shivering to find any work. The Pilot was frantically starting all of the things necessary for the near-year long travel ahead of them. He felt a mixture of things- shock, emotionally hurting, heartbroken, confused. And scared.
Oh, he was so scared.
He now glanced up at the three others in the canteen. In addition to about fifteen Chimera on the ship, three Cepans from the Mentor Cepans who'd surrvived the LDA's explosion were managed onboard. There were two men and a woman, all of which looked as traumatized as he felt. Then he looked at the tense Chimera, and finally the sleeping baby in his arms. She was barely a day old, and already she was going to be on a ship for the first year of her life. Being male, Crayton had no way to feed her and almost no knowledge of how to take care of her.
He dearly hoped that the woman on board would.
But for that night, he was exhausted and hardly had it in him to cry. He merely tucked the baby between two of the Chimera, watching as they shifted into two large, hairy wolves with wings that curled around her in a semi-cradle. She slept on, giving the man permission to the smile thankfully to the Chimera before laying beside one. As the heat slowly came to life and oxygen filled in the air, he couldn't help but remember what had just happened:
It was the Quartermoon Festival, a time for great joy and celebration. Crayton was shaking in his skin, anxious to give the ring to his girlfriend of two years. Despite him being a Cepan, she'd fallen in love with him from the second she stepped into the LDA for her Garde training. Granted, he had his doubts considering she was eighteen and most of the Garde came when they were eleven, but she was late to develop Legacies and was a shy, adorable short thing. He took it upon his seventeen year old self to show her around, and in no time they were dating.
Tonight was the night he was finally going to propose to her.
As they laughed and talked with their friends, he fingered the ring inside of his pocket. It had taken most of his savings, but that was the thing he'd been saving for. He was just about to give it to her when something rocked the ground, causing the music to stop briefly and everybody to look around in concern. Minutes later, they heard the second explosion, and everybody panicked. He was separated from his almost-fiancee, and while he was scrambling around and trying to find her, he was flagged down by Loradias.
"Here," he handed him a small pink bundle and pointed to a ship looking like it was prepping for takeoff, "take her. Raise her to bring this planet back to life, for I cannot take care of her."
Shocked, Crayton asked frantically, "What's happening?"
"Lorien is falling to the Mogodorians," Loradias answered gravely, "she is my daughter. There are nine other young Garde destined to avenge Lorien and make it rise again in their young adulthood; she shall be the tenth. Now go!"
He wanted desperately to ask more questions, but he knew there was no time. So, with a heavy heart and mind, he took off for the ship with the crying little girl in his arms.
"What's your name?" one of the Cepans inquired, raising his eyebrow. He looked more youthful by a few years compared to the other two on the ship with long ginger hair and deep, curious brown eyes.
"Crayton," the nineteen year old muttered, studying his hands sullenly, "you?"
"Name's Levii," he replied easily, "and I just learned her name is Bellintine and his name is Aquarius."
He didn't even look up as he nodded quietly. He was hurting far too much to acknowledge any other than the only thing he was left with for good, this little baby sleeping between the two Chimera beside him. He peeked over their thick fur to her, watching her peacefully sleep with total innocence to her lack of any knowledge.
You are innocent and peaceful...he thought sadly, please stay like that.
With Bellintine have been a young mother on Lorien days before the invasion, she was able to nurture the little girl to health the first six months. They decided to call her Ella, an ancient name associated on Lorien with the Quartermoon and purity.
It was apparent to all of them that Ella was a smart little thing, as well. She began crawling around and grew quickly, much more than any Earth child. She was soon knawing on everything and getting into anything and everything, keeping her 'new' father busy. Now she was happily sitting his lap, knawing on a dried piece of karak as the adults talked.
"She's going to be a handful," Levii chuckled.
Ella stuck out her lower lip. Somehow, her young mind processed that they were talking about her, and she didn't like that at all. She reached up a chubby little arm toward Levii, flexing her small fingers as if to grab him. Crayton chuckled and held her close, making her giggle some and take his own hand, touching and playing with his fingers a bit.
"C...Cw...Cwa...Cwa!" she crowed happily, "Cwa Cwa!"
"I think she's trying to say your name, Crayton," Bellintine smiled, having fallen in love with the little girl after nursing her.
Even solemn Aquarius smiled a bit as the six-month old cooed, "Cwa Cwa!"
Crayton smiled and lifted her up a bit, letting her look down into his eyes briefly before balancing her on his knees in a standing position. "How about...Papa? Can you say 'Papa', Ella?"
"Go on, Ella," Bellintine encouraged, catching the girl's attention with her name as expected.
"Can you say 'Papa'?" even Aquarius and Levii joined in, "Ella, can you say 'Papa'?"
Ella scrunched her face in concentration. She understood they were all telling her to do something because they all said her name,...'Papa', they said. But she also knew they were saying her name a lot after she said 'Cwa Cwa'. She considered all of this briefly before her eyes lite up.
"Ewwa!" she crowed, pride on her face.
Everyone laughed, so she decided that that was what they wanted.
The now one-year-old didn't understand what was going on, but she didn't like it.
She cried quietly as everyone hugged each other and talked to each other. Her guardian came to her after what seemed like forever, picking her up out of her Chimera's curled up form around her. She touched his cheek and felt something wet, making her cry harder. He reached down and kissed her own soaked cheeks, quieting her to snuggle up to his chest. She still didn't get what was going on, but since he was there holding her, she felt safer.
"Papa..." she whispered her only word other than her own.
"It's okay, Ella," he told her gently, "things are going to be alright. I promise."
Ella smiled some and closed her eyes as her papa carried her into the night. She thought about the others on the ship, and it made her sad and cry some more, but she was happy that he was still there.
And that was all she really needed that night.
Author Note:This story will have one more chapter, then this part of the story shall be over! Your support has been crazy awesome, but guess what?
THERE WILL BE A PREQUEL AND A SEQUEL OF SORTS.
The prequel will focus on everyone's lives, and the sequel will be focusing on the Cepans. Would you guys like it if I added onto this story with different parts, or if i did both on seperate threads? Let me know if you're reviews please! :3