Chapter Fifteen: Family
Warnings: None
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Sealand's POV
The lavender brushes over my ticklish legs with their sweet scent darting into the air to engulf me in a fresh, natural perfume as I chase Mallory around the field. She holds her dress in bunches, fists clenching the fabric to keep herself from tripping while she runs. Her smile is wide across her red face, tired from our game of tag. I speed up, legs exerting all their strength, and slap my hand on her back. "Tag, you're it!" She stumbles for a moment like a baby dear only to fall over in a bed of peonies. Her wheezing catches my attention so I stop the chase and sit on my knees beside her. "Are you okay?"
She lets out a series of loud gasps before finding enough air to speak. "I'm fine," she sputters again, "it's just the corset." Her face goes from a slight strawberry red to a deep, almost purple shade.
"You need to take the corset off for Pete's sake! Go inside and change before you faint!" I exclaim.
She coughs for a moment. The coughing continues, so she pulls out her handkerchief and spits out phlegm. "Mother would not like it if I took it off," she pauses to take in another breath, "if I take it off, she will not feed me dinner."
I roll my eyes. "You say that as if I am not going to save half of my dinner plate for you anyways. Pay no mind to what she says." I'm starting to talk just like her. Living with her family has influenced my speaking a lot.
Gently, I bring her to her feet and let her lean on me as we walk inside. Her weight presses into me, lilac perfume rubbing off from her clothes. Her footsteps and breaths are uneven. She wheezes and steps on my feet as we trudge into the house from the gardens. The tweeting birds quiet as we distance ourselves from the area. I brush the grass off her dress and guide her inside. Fortunately, the fainting room is on the first floor, so I rest her on the plush sofa. I reach over to the end table and pick up her elegant fan. Feathers rim the edges with silk webbing the bamboo wood together. The decorations are impractical and nearly render it useless, though it is the best technology available in this time. I fan her vigorously with her face changing from a beet red to its proper cream color.
Once her breath steadies enough to talk, she says, "Well, I suppose we should go back to the garden." Mallory stands, only to stumble back onto the sofa.
"You really want to go back outside after having a coughing fit? I think we should stay inside. I'm sure we could occupy ourselves with indoor games."
I look up at the clock; it's 3:00. Distant church bells chime thrice. Mallory smiles, "Elliot will be here any moment now. I must hurry and redo my makeup before he arrives!" Before I can stop her, she runs up the stairs to the bathroom. Who's Elliot?
With Mallory preoccupied, I pick up my journal from the shelf; Mallory's mother gave it to me so I could write down my memories as they return. I stare at the first page that has only two sentences on it: My name is Peter Kirkland. My brother is Arthur Kirkland.
The date above the entry is from a week ago, and yet I still don't remember much else. I write down what little memory I've regained: Arthur gave me a golden pocket watch. Last I remember, I couldn't breathe; I might have been drowning.
A knock on the door takes me out of the slight focus I was in. Mallory's Mom rushes to the door to let who I can assume is Elliot in.
"Hello, Mrs. Blackwood, may I ask where Miss Mallory is?" Elliot asks. He looks to be in his mid-20s. Blond hair reaches slightly past his ears. His familiar face fills my head with static as my mind fails to reel the memory in.
Before she has to be called, Mallory gracefully walks down the steps despite her heeled boots that I would have tripped in had she been me. "Shall the experimentation begin today? I have been maintaining my health as you asked."
Elliot nods. "Yes, all of your bloodwork checks out, and I couldn't have found a better test subject. The only issue I can think of is how young you are."
"I promise you I can be mature just as an adult is. This experiment could help humanity so much! Please grant me the honor of participating!" Mallory has an uncharacteristic vigor as she talks. It's not often that she's allowed to do what she pleases.
I chip in, "May I ask what this experiment is for?"
Elliot smiled. "I'm doing important work to help humans live much longer, maybe even forever. All the research has been done, so all I need is for Mallory to assist in this. You understand the importance of such a thing, correct?" I nod, amazed that such technology is possible.
"You mean that Mallory will get to live forever?!" I cheer. Elliot shakes his head.
"I'm afraid the experiment cannot work with already living people as far as we know. Instead, I will be using Mallory's genetics to aid in creating the first humans of immortal blood. Come now, Mallory, I must take you to the lab!" Mallory skips out of the door following Elliot. I can't help but find it strange how familiar the man is, but I do not have enough memories to piece everything together.
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Curled up in a test tube, the growing child squirms in amniotic fluid. The child is unaware of his importance with little awareness of its existence. At this point, he should be hearing his mother's voice, but all he hears are machines monitoring his growth and the occasional voice of a scientist.
"Hello," the man says to the fetus, "your vitals are looking excellent today. You certainly worried me yesterday, and it would break my heart to start this all over with your due date so quickly approaching. It's only a little while longer until I can hold you." The man places his hand on the glass, a soft smile on his face. "My son, you can't even comprehend how much anticipation I feel as I await your birth. Decades of work have gone into bringing you into this world."
"How is the experiment going, Elliot?" Another scientist asks as he enters the room.
"It's going well. He only has a few more weeks to go."
"As the father, have you decided on a name for the baby?" the other scientist asks.
"Had he been a girl, I would have named him after the mother. However, since he is a boy, I particularly like the name Peter for him."
"With the absence of the mother, what shall we write on his birth certificate?"
"Mallory at least deserves recognition even though she's not here. After all, it's not her fault. It's been so long since I froze her eggs. Besides, I stopped telling her after the first few failed. She grieved for every unsuccessful baby, and I didn't think she could handle another loss."
"At this point, it's been about seventy years since the experiment started. Doesn't she deserve to know that one did succeed?"
"By now, she has a family of her own to handle. I shouldn't burden her with an experiment that only gave her grief while she was informed."
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Several machines beep as red lights flash around the lab. The hiss of overheated computer fans blare. Elliot along with other scientists rush into the room quickly pulling on latex gloves. The incubation time is complete. The anxious baby squirms with tiny kicks and wiggles to emphasize this. The amniotic sac breaks after a moment, indicating that he's ready. Elliot smiles as he carefully pulls the baby from the test tube. Screams of life fill the room as a final confirmation of a successful birth. Quickly, Elliot cuts the umbilical cord and takes the newborn to the sink to clean. Another scientist writes the birth certificate.
Once the child is wrapped in a blanket, the scientist asks, "What is your full name, Elliot? I don't recall you ever saying it."
Elliot turns around, child in his arms. "Oh, my full name is Arthur Elliot Kirkland. The mother's name is Mallory Blackwood."
"And the child's name?"
"Peter Kirkland."
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A/N: Short chapter, I know. Figured I should ease back into writing this considering I haven't updated for months. I've grown out of Hetalia and would rather just finish this up and move on, but there's still so much that needs to be done before the story can end. See you next chapter… eventually.