Chapter 13: The Sad Case of Mercy Hope

Mercy Hope Michaelis stunned everyone by surviving her first twenty-four hours. Being as weak and sickly as she was, she gained scraps of strength from suckling from Sebastian. Angelina saw this as a good thing. If his breastfeeding worked just as a woman's did, then Mercy would gain antibodies and nutrients; things she needed to fight off sickness and become strong.

Sebastian, on the other hand, kept drifting in and out of consciousness throughout the day; day in and day out. Anne figured it was the combination of the birth and his malnutrition. She would urge him to eat whenever he woke up, even if it was just a piece of bread, but Sebastian knew only a soul could force his body to make an instant full recovery.

Mercy turned out to look hardly anything like Vincent. She bore his soft brown eyes, but her hair was a brown or a similar shade. She had faint, tan freckles along her cheeks and nose, and her pale, ivory skin was a similar shade to Sebastian's skin. Freckles did run somewhere in the Phantomhive family, but most certainly not in the current generation.

Rachel found great joy in holding little Mercy. She would laugh sometimes when she realized the baby inside of her kicked whenever the sickly little girl was cradled in her arms. Her attention was also directed towards Sebastian, and some days she would go to the marketplace with Vincent to help buy him food to keep up his strength.

A week after Mercy was born, Sebastian began to recover steadily. His muscle mass increased and his eyes grew less and less sunken in. His energy soon returned, and before long it was known throughout Arachnophile that Sebastian Michaelis was a parent.

Of course, Sebastian sold the story that he and Vincent had conjured up. Mercy Hope as a small infant that was found abandoned in a field of tall grass. She was likely to be the child of a woman who wasn't married and had no way of taking care of a child, especially a small and sickly child. And Sebastian Michaelis was riding along a path on his horse that led through that field of tall grass, and he heard the wee babe crying. Of course, they were too far away from town for it to be a mother with her child, and there was not another person in sight. So Sebastian, though life was already difficult enough for him, was kind enough to take in the sick little infant and gave her the rightful name, Mercy Hope Michaelis.

Yes, it was a very cheeky story; one that befit a very cheeky demon. It turned Sebastian into a public role model almost overnight, and the way Sebastian showed his kindness to Mercy and treated her as if she were his own daughter only helped sell the story. But for those who knew the truth, it was all that was expected of him.

Mercy was fortunate to survive her first week, and Sebastian hoped his daughter would reach her next milestone: one month. Though she ate and slept like any normal baby, her strength dwindled. She couldn't lift up her limbs much. Her cries were soft and didn't carry throughout the house, so Sebastian had to always stay near her. She'd also breathe in a troublesome manner; a manner that befitted a struggling puppy.

Sebastian wrote the Phantomhives frequently, updating them of every change—good and bad—Mercy went through. He would also share his excitement for the impending birth of Rachel's child, but they would often stay on the topic of Mercy. They shared Sebastian's concern for the infant and wondered how much time they'd have left with her. One more day or a lifetime? One more hour or one eternity? At the end of every day, Sebastian would send a letter, and at the end of every day Sebastian would receive a letter.

After three weeks passed, it was clear to Sebastian that if Mercy didn't die, her development would be increasingly slow. Three weeks old, and she still had yet to pick up her limbs. Her cries grew no louder than a soft wail. She didn't put energy into screaming or trying to roll or lift her head. The only thread of hope Sebastian was left to cling to was whenever he'd glance away from her for a minute or left the room to do something, she would still be alive when he returned.

The next test for Mercy came when Sebastian's masculine side regained control and his breasts stopped producing the life-saving milk she'd been feeding on. Mercy would now have to rely on milk from the animals from the local farms. But Sebastian soon learned that, sadly, the milk from the animals made his daughter even sicker. It was a death sentence. How would he be able to feed her? What could he do?

And then it clicked in his head: Mercy was only half human. When he had the chance, Sebastian harvested the soul of a local in town. It was nothing special, but it should be able to fill up a tiny infant like Mercy.

The meal was a success! After a week, Mercy was strong enough to lift her arms and fill the whole house with a wail when she wanted something. After a month, when she was two months old, Mercy was lifting her head up whenever she was placed on her belly. And after another two weeks, Mercy could hold her head up steadily when being held/

Things were looking up for little Mercy Hope.