Roxas smiled as he watched Ven struggle to pick up a simple bucket of water. Sure he was supposed to be the polite one and help the poor pupped Submissive, but it was just so funny he couldn't help it.

"Errr, stop laughing at me and help Roxas!" Ven growled, his hormones making him even snappier than he is.

"Ha, ha, alright, alright. I'm comin'," Roxas chuckled, waving off the silliness of the situation as he came up to his twin and helped him pick up the bucket. "Better?"

"I don't see what amuses you, you jerk," Ven mumbled as he and Roxas brought the bucket of water back towards their nesting grounds. "I'm having a littler of pups and all you can do is make fun of me for being so full!"

"Well that's just it," Roxas giggled, taking the bucket and pouring it into their water supply jars. "Look at you. You're naturally small framed, like me, and you're having a litter—it's pretty clear now."

Roxas' blue gaze ran down to Ven's protruding belly, he was almost 4 months along, and it was VERY obvious he was pupped and expecting a little of 3 perhaps, heck it could be twins in there, only making him look full with many 'cause he's so small. It was still nice, to see his brother expecting. At least he could live out his dream and birth pups—unlike Roxas . . . the useless Submissive.

With a downward sigh Roxas shook the thoughts from his mind as he took the bucket from Ven and demanded he go lay down while he gather the rest of the water.

"What? But I only paled one bucket!" Ven complained.

"Yeah, well you're the pupped one here alright," Roxas chuckled, sticking his tongue out at his brother. "Plus look at you, I'm not even sure if you're ready to journey to the Birthing section in that state tomorrow."

"Well I'm not having them here!" Ven gasped, his eyes wide. "Not when all the nurses are at the Birthing place!"

"You'll be fine," Roxas chuckled, rubbing his brother's head before wandering back to pail the rest of the water they needed to restock for the night so they could have their nesting grounds ready to leave for a while.


"How's Sora, Riku?" Axel asked with a sigh, watching the silverhead come walking up in the afternoon just like every day he came to visit.

"Full," Riku chuckled lightly before he glanced back at Terra's still unconscious form. "Has he opened his eyes yet?"

"Of course," Axel scowled. "And then he closes them again! Just like always!"

"Hhh, when will this stop?" Riku sighed, coming to sit next to Axel.

"Shit I don't know," Axel growled, he had been like this since they found Terra like this a while ago. "But he can't sleep forever right?"

"He'd better not," Riku grumbled, looking back at Terra again. "I hardly recognize him anymore."

"I know . . ." Axel muttered, his sad emeralds coming to rest on Terra's form just like Riku's.

At first, they thought it was a trick of their eyes, but slowly, as the weeks passed with no signs of Terra waking up, they began to notice his skin darkening to a caramel color, like his brother Xemnas, and father. Just after that shock was over another change started happening, his hair became lighter and lighter to where it was staring to look almost the same as Riku's—but now . . . it was almost a pure white.

"Vexen still doesn't know what's causing it," Axel muttered, turning away from the sight he began to not be able to bear anymore. "He keeps on going on about curses, but you know me—I don't believe in that shit and everything."

"Hhh, what happened to us Axel?" Riku asked, a sad expression deep in his eyes as he gazed at Terra's form, his mind returning back to the days when they were all so young and innocent.

"Firstly, you got mated to Sora and became a father—secondly, Terra fell in love and then . . . this . . ." Axel motioned 'everything' with his hands before letting them fall back onto his knees as he slumped over in his seat, not moving too much.

Riku looked at Axel with frustration before he blinked and looked elsewhere.

"Don't you dare blame everything on me and Terra," Riku said.

"And why not?" Axel asked, looking at Riku. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you two stayed the way you were . . ." Axel's gaze fell again, his mood hadn't been too pleasant since everything happened and Riku had this feeling it was more than what had happened to Terra that pissed the redhead off.

"We were changing for the better Axel," Riku nodded, crossing his arms. "Maybe if you would have changed sooner, then this wouldn't have happened. I can do this just the same as you."

"Touché," Axel muttered darkly, not even bothering to laugh a little, he just hadn't been in the mood to laugh or smile lately—due to certain circumstances of course.

The two were about to sit in another awkward silence until they spotted someone walking up to them. Instantly the two stood, as if at attention, as the Submissive came forward.

"Hello boys," Eraqus smiled softly.

"Mr. Eraqus," Riku nearly stuttered, they hadn't seen him since this happened and had wondered what happened to him. "Where have you be—?"

"I'm sorry I didn't make it sooner," Eraqus said, shaking his head sadly. "I was kept away for a while, but now . . . may I see my son?"

Riku and Axel gave each other worried looks before sighing and stepping aside. They watched Terra's dad walk slowly up to him until he was by his side, kneeling down and taking his hand in his. They watched a stray tear roll down the old Submissive's face as if what had happened to Terra was entirely his fault.

"I'm so sorry Terra," Eraqus whispered into his pups' hand. "I should have done something to save you from this."

Eraqus had stayed there for a long time, holding onto Terra's hand and gently caressing his face, smiling gently at him like any loving parent would. Riku and Axel left him be for a while until they watched him stand back up and turn to leave.

"Um, Mr. Eraqus," Axel spoke up. "Do you know . . . what happened to Terra?"

"I do," Eraqus answered truthfully, knowing Riku and Axel were about to ask 'why' he beat them to it. "But . . . I don't know how to help him." Eraqus then turned to the two whose worried looks grew worse for their dear friend. "I'm sorry, but this is out of my hands. It all depends on Terra now."

Riku and Axel watched Eraqus bow his head as he turned and left them. They looked at each other, frustration still written in their features for not knowing how to help their friend. Axel let out a frustrated sigh, nearly pulling out his hair because he was so angry. Riku about joined him, but someone had to remain calm and who else if not him?

Riku glanced back at Terra and noticed his eyes were open; again they were that empty blue as before. He sighed as he watched those eyes close again for possibly more days, weeks, even months.

What did any of them do to deserve all this shit?


"Nothing will happen this time, right?" Ven asked, a hint of a smile on his face as he looked at his brother as they walked along a road that would take them to the Birthing section.

Roxas snickered before playfully shoving Ven. He sighed and shook his head.

"No, not this time. Like I told you before, pupped Submissives send out this pheromone that's a big turn-off to aggressive Dominants," Roxas said with a sure nod. "So they'd rather steer clear of you than attack you."

"Well that's good to know," Ven smiled with a nod, patting his enlarged belly before his smile seemed to fade.

Roxas watched the smile become less and less until it was resembling a frown and it looked as if Ven was making this happen just by rubbing his belly. Roxas watched Ven's hand reluctantly retreat from his protruding belly before falling back to his side. Roxas frowned, he knew why he was acting like this and so walked closer towards his twin and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, letting Ven lay his head on his shoulder.

"Don't you worry Ven—everything will be alright," Roxas assured his brother . . . and himself.

Luckily for the two they managed to make it to the Birthing section with no incident and it was nice, especially to Ven, being surrounded by all sorts of pupped Submissives just like himself. It was, in a way, like the Safe Place; you were surrounded by people just like you—but Roxas had never been here before so it was new to both twins.

"Wow, there's so many," Ven gasped, a smile on his features as he looked around at all the expecting Submissives.

Roxas could immediately tell he felt comfortable, and that was good. This way it'd make it easier for him to leave when he birthed Dominant pups. They would leave in groups so Ven wouldn't be alone.

Ven had been too busy gawking at everything and everyone to notice the sad smile Roxas was giving him. It was like the smile of a parent finally letting their pup go; knowing they'd be fine on their own.

"I'm gonna like it here, I can tell," Ven nodded with a big smile as he turned to Roxas who put on a larger smile when his brother turned to look at him.

"That's good Ven, I'm glad," Roxas nodded. "Um, how about we head over there and get you sitting in some shade?"

"Oh, alright," Ven nodded, this time happily placing a hand over his belly and letting his brother lead him over to a nice sitting place.

"So, what now?" Ven asked, looking at Roxas who seemed to know everything.

"Since there's so many," Roxas trailed off, looking at all the pupped Submissives—the Dominants really got busy last heat season didn't they? "Usually they have assigned counselors/nurses to certain groups."

"And you have that right," came a cheerful voice, making Ven and Roxas, and a few others around them, turn to see a beautiful blue-haired Dominant female, who held a board in her hands, looking like she was writing things down. "I'm Aqua and I'll be this group's counselor," at that she motioned around them at the gathering Submissives. "I just need to gather a few statistics before we can properly start. I know, I know, no one feels like giving out any information, but the Elders have requested a census about the pupped Submissives so I have no other choice. Sorry guys. Okay, uh, you first? What's your name?"

"Hm, me?" Ven pointed to himself and Aqua nodded as she came up to him with a smile and knelt before him.

"Name?" She asked, looking at him with a sweet smile.

"Ven."

"Age?" she continued.

"16," Ven replied, Roxas coming to stand right next to his brother with an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

"What heat were you in when you conceived?" Aqua asked, scribbling down more notes about Ven.

"My—My first," Ven replied, looking away with a blush.

"Aww, a first-timer, congrats," Aqua smiled softly, Ven only nodding a 'thank-you' back, blushing even more upon hearing the whispering Submissives around him talking about him.

So Aqua continued on with the questions like hair color, eye color, height; questions about one's self and looks.

"Okay, so here's the last question and it's optional, that means you don't have to answer it if you don't want to," Aqua said, looking at Ven softly like a sister would their little brother. "Now, do you remember the name of your mating partner?"

Ven looked up at Roxas who silently told him he didn't have to say anything he didn't want to. He then looked at Aqua and smiled, she was a nice girl and so he didn't mind telling her.

"Terra," Ven answered, the blush still on his features as he glanced away in embarrassment, thus not seeing how Aqua stiffened only slightly—Roxas had caught it though and watched the girl shake her head with an odd sigh before scribbling down on the last question.

"Alright," She said with a brighter smile towards Ven. "All done, you now?" at that she looked up at Roxas who stiffed and then shifted uneasily.

"Oh, uh, I'm not carrying, sorry. I'm just here to see that my brother's okay," Roxas nodded, only receiving an accepted smile and nod from Aqua who continued on.

They watched Aqua continue on asking the other Submissives the same questions. The twins had quickly started up a conversation between each other before they heard a familiar name given to Aqua and she continued to ask the last of her group.

"Name?"

"Demyx, and this is Zexion."

"I can speak—for myself, thank-you."

Roxas and Ven turned their heads towards some new Submissives just now entering their group, about two, two they recognized. Before they could even speak, the blonde had noticed them in a heartbeat and so quickly zoomed over to them with a large smile.

"Ah! Roxas! Ven! You guys are here!"

Roxas was soon caught up in a tight hug, well, as tight as a pupped Submissive could hold, what with that large belly of theirs and everything. Roxas chuckled before watching Zexion come up, looking the same as Demyx—pupped, and quite full.

"You guys are here too, that means the Dominants got you too!" Demyx gasped, totally ignoring Aqua's pleas to get him to answer the rest of the questions, so Zexion offered to answer his own while that idiot rambled on. "Man . . . that sucks."

"Actually, it's just Ven," Roxas said, patting Ven's shoulder who smiled kindly back at the hyper Submissive. "I can't carry pups."

"So . . . you couldn't save your brother then, from being taken?" Demyx slumped his shoulders sadly.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Ven shook. "Actually—I met a really nice Dominant."

Demyx noticed that fond look in Ven's eyes and smirked.

"Ahhh, so you liked your Dominant then, was he cute?" Demyx asked, suddenly perking up, his moods changing oddly fast—but then again, he was carrying so maybe it was the hormones . . . or not, 'cause he was like this before even.

"Yeah, he was very handsome," Ven blushed. "What about you? Were you okay?"

"Me?" Demyx asked, pointing to himself. "Yeah, I'm fine, but I was scared at first. The Dominant had actually taken me before I was even in my heat."

Demyx looked down remorsefully and Ven felt for him. Dominants usually didn't do that, but there were a few others who did. Ven had gotten lucky, but he wasn't so sure about Demyx and Zexion now.

"You too Zexion?" Roxas asked, looking at Zexion who was just finishing up his questions with Aqua, the bookworm looking at him, giving him a firm nod. "I'm really sorry guys."

"Eh, it's okay I guess," Demyx replied with a shrug. "They had kept us until we actually did go into heat—hence why we're now sporting around pups."

"Are you guys even ready to be parents?" Roxas asked.

"Have no other choice, now do we?" Zexion replied, coming up to Roxas and Ven. "We had thought you had gotten away Ven."

"I kinda did, but another Dominant found me out before the Dominant I mated with came and fought for me," Ven said with a nod.

"The Dominants fought over you?" Demyx asked. "They did the same for us since they only caught us two—not enough of us to go around you know."

"Still, are you sure you guys are okay?" Roxas asked, concern for the both of them since they had never been with a Dominant before and after going through something like what they went through—well it could scar someone. "I went through something similar to you guys in my first heat and scarred pretty bad."

"At first I wasn't," Demyx said, shaking his head. "Before the heat, but afterwards my mating partner actually wasn't as bad as I thought. A little old maybe, but kinda nice."

"Zexion, what about you?" Ven asked, turning towards the silver-bluehead.

Zexion rolled his shoulders.

"I had been taken by a different group of Dominants than Demyx and didn't get to see him until after our heat, but they did fight over me. My mating partner . . . I really have nothing to say about him," Zexion replied, looking strangely indifferent.

"Sorry guys," Roxas said, looking down.

"It's my fault," Ven pouted. "It's because I went into heat too early that you guys were taken."

"You can't fight against nature," Zexion replied with a sigh, turning to make Demyx pay attention to Aqua who wasn't finished asking him questions.

"So did the others manage to make it to the Safe Place?" Roxas asked.

"I assume," Zexion nodded. "I didn't see them here among the other pupped Submissives, so at least they're fine."

"Do you . . . I mean . . . your pups?" Roxas tried to speak, but didn't know how to word things as he pointed towards Zexion's belly.

"They're fine," the boy said with a smile as he placed his hands on his belly. "I don't care for the Dominant who gave me them, but I'll love them."

"That's good," Roxas said with a smile. "Multiples?"

"More or likely," Zexion rolled his shoulders again. "I feel a lot of movement so . . . you, Ven?"

"Oh, I think so," Ven nodded, smiling down at his belly as if he was staring into the faces of his pups right now. "They like to go at it. I can feel it. Might be Dominants."

"You never know," Zexion said with a shrug.

"Alright, all done here," Aqua said with a nod. "You guys wait here while I give this to the staff and come back introducing you to the basics."

"So," Demyx chuckled. "I guess we'll be the three unwilling Submissives."

"What?" Ven asked. "I was willing."

"Not at first," Demyx replied. "Come on, like you thought you'd be here when we were traveling towards the Safe Place."

"True," Ven replied with a blush. "But I wouldn't change it for the world."

"That's good Ven," Zexion said with a small smile. "That's a good attitude to have if you want to raise those pups—especially by yourself."

Ven glanced down just thinking about raising them by himself. Especially if he was away from Roxas. Demyx frowned at the sight and looked at Roxas confused.

"His Dominant might have stayed with him," Roxas replied. "I kinda . . . screwed things up and . . . took him away from him."

"Oh," Demyx nodded, his mouth forming a perfect 'o'.

"What a shame," Zexion sighed. "The world would be a better place if the Dominants stayed with their pupped Submissives. I heard it's every Submissive's dream to have one of those special Dominants—those with hearts."

"Heh, I wonder where that saying had come from," Roxas chuckled. "Dominants having no hearts. Is it because they're nothing but sex-crazed animals or what?"

"You don't know?" Demyx asked, him and Zexion looking at the twins in surprise they hadn't known. "It's because Dominants are born dead; no pulse, no heartbeat."

"W-What?" Roxas asked, his face going slightly white, everyone taking notice to this.

"Since you were raised in the Submissive section I guess it's only reasonable for you not to know about Dominants," Zexion explained. "Me and Demyx were born in litters with Dominants so were raised in that section until we came of age."

"They're born . . . dead?" Ven asked, glancing up nervously at Roxas who looked as white as a sheet. "Then how—how?"

"They're like that for about 5 to 10 minutes," Zexion continued to explain. "Before they start to breathe. It's a way of knowing whether they're Dominant or Submissive at birth."

"We . . . didn't know that," Ven said, still looking up at his brother who was now slowly sitting down next to him, feeling lightheaded. "Roxas?"

"Hey, are you okay?" Demyx asked. "You don't look so good."

"Did something happen concerning Dominant pups?" Zexion asked, narrowing his eyes as he watched the young Submissive look around nervously before turning his white face away from everyone else.

Ven noticed Demyx and Zexion looking at him for answers, but Ven only bit his lips and held his tongue.

"Roxas?" Zexion continued to push, but was stopped as Aqua came back, a bright smile on her face.

"Alright guys," she said with a clap. "Again, my name's Aqua and I'll be your counselor. I'm here to help you go through your carrying stage."

"Um, question!" Demyx asked, raising his arm.

"Yes?" Aqua pointed to him to let him speak.

"No offense, but are you a nurse or do you have experience yourself?" Demyx asked.

"I actually have two girls of my own," Aqua smiled with a nod. "Yuffie, who's a Dominant like myself, and Xion, who's a Submissive. They're about 5 years old so I'm plenty certified to help you out. And yes I'm a nurse as well."

"Okay," Demyx shrugged with a nod.

"Now, there's some of you who are new to this," At that she looked at Ven and the other two, and then a few others. "And there are others who already birthed a few litters. Whatever it is you're still birthing new life into this world. Don't forget that. These pups will become your world when they come into this world."

Everyone smiled, except for Roxas who began to shake uncontrollably. Ven was worried for his brother and watched on in concern as he excused himself to leave and get a drink of water.

Oh Roxas . . . we didn't know, Ven muttered to himself inwardly, know exactly what was wrong with his brother.