Night had fallen around the lush elven forest. Just outside the Ruben village, atop a hill overlooking the sleepy logging town, the orange flicker of a campfire could be seen among the blue-green El that dotted the magical forest.
Though barely noticeable under the bright moonlight, the campfire was enough of a warning for bandits and malicious beasts alike: the El Search Party was there. The sight of this beacon was a sign for Ruben's citizens, letting them know that tonight they can rest easy.
Except tonight was different.
A scream cut through the calm night.
"Oh. My. Gosh," Aisha took a step back as Eve approached her with a small bundle of white cloth cradled in the Nasod's arms. "What... What-what-what-what… What is THAT?!"
Eve tilted her head at the mage before pulling back the wraps. "What do you think?"
"No… no, no, no, no, no. No! No, it can't be!" Aisha's breathing was erratic now, her eyes darted from the Nasod to the object in her arms and back, again.
The cloth was pulled side, revealing… a child. A baby, less than three months in age. It turned to the source of the noise, a pair of sleepy, golden, puppy-paw eyes meeting bright purple for the first time.
The mage squealed.
She quickly moved, with her arms outstretched, as if asking to hold it but stopped just outside of Eve's personal bubble. The queen of destruction, now a mother, stood over her as Aisha looked weak in the knees. An air of pride loomed over Eve as an almost unnoticeable, smug smile crossed her lips.
Aisha was a mess of indiscernible words as she tried desperately to make a coherent sentence.
"A boy? A girl? What's their name? I didn't know you could- so that's why you and- I can't believe that you- Can I hold them?"
"You may," Eve said, handing the bundle carefully over to Aisha whose unbridled excitement was rapidly reigned in when the baby was placed in her arms.
Her body was rigid, now, as if the slightest breeze would shatter the delicate being she held. She stared in awe as an equally curious babe stared back. Tiny cone-shaped ears could be seen poking out from under the wraps and the brilliant blue gem on his forehead were just like his mother's. It had fluff of blond hair at the top of its head and the puppy-paw patterned eyes like its father.
"His name is Nexus," Eve said.
"N-nexus, huh?" Aisha asked, still frozen completely and fearful of startling the child. It continued staring up at her and Aisha couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. "Hi!" the mage cooed in baby speak, "Hi there, I'm Aisha! Nice to meet you!"
He smiled back.
A feeling of motherly elation filled the mage as it took everything in her power to resist the urge to squeal once more.
After several calming breaths, Aisha's entire body seemed to relax, and she finally took a seat at the downed log. All the while, she continued poking the child playfully on his nose and speaking in a language only the baby could understand.
Eve took a seat on her favorite stump next to Aisha, relieved to finally have a break after a days worth of traveling through the woods. Exhaustion finally bore its ugly head as the Nasod appeared more than relieved to be able to relax.
She had been looking forward to seeing her friends again after a year of being apart, of course. But with a baby in tow… what would have been a simple journey for her and her husband became one of multiple stops at an almost hourly basis to care for the child.
Eve turned her attention to the opposite end of the campfire circle. Through the sparks of fire crackling at the center, she saw her husband sitting with Elsword. He was looking at her. When they first expressed interest towards each other, Chung used to turn away in embarrassment after being caught staring. But so much had changed after they saved Hamel and his father. He wasn't that scared little boy, anymore and when he looked at her, it was one of a man admiring his wife.
Eve felt her heart skip a beat like it always did when he did things like this. She flicked her hair out of habit before giving the King of Hamel a small wave.
"You fooled me, Chung," Elsword said, waving along with the Hamelian.
"How so?" Chung asked, swirling the tin cup of tea in his hands. The Deadly Chaser unslung the rather large travel bag he had been carrying. "We haven't spoken in person for just over a year. I don't quite remember what I said."
Elsword grinned at him, throwing an arm over his best friend's shoulder and wrestling him into a headlock.
"Don't play dumb!" Elsword snickered, "Back when you told us you were leaving the group for a little bit? When you and Eve told us you had 'important things to do'? I honestly didn't think you meant you were talking about each other!"
It didn't take long for Chung to understand what he was implying and the young king laughed, shame visible in his face, as he tried to wrench his way free from the headlock. "Well, no… we didn't mean that - initially at least."
"Oh is that right? Not initially, is it?" Elsword was giggling uncontrollably at this point before Chung finally used his real strength to pull free.
"I… I mean both of us had a kingdom to rebuild. Eve had a lot more experience doing that than I ever would so when she volunteered to help I was more than ecstatic to accept. And since I had the chance to work so closely with her… after some time, we kind of just… you know…"
"Made a baby?" Elsword finished, a knowing smirk and the king dropped his gaze in guilt. Elsword leaned back, staring up at the clear night sky, "But, yeah. In all seriousness, I had no idea that was possible - with a Nasod - I mean."
"I didn't, either," Chung shrugged, "But Eve said it was a feature of 2nd gen Nasods, had more of her been created. She said it was her father's wish to stop the war against Nasods and humans and built her with the intent of bridging that rift between man and machine. He thought that marriage between the two races and even possessing the ability to rear children, would maybe bring the fighting to an end."
"That doesn't make it any less surprising, though," Elsword said, getting a nod from Chung as the king started digging for a change of clothes, "How'd your old man take it when he learned Eve was having your kid?"
Chung pulled out a baby-blue onesie with the words "World's Cutest Grandson" printed on it.
"What do you think?" Chung said before folding the outfit and setting it aside for later, "He asked Eve to print this out not too long ago in one of her factories. It's nice that he doesn't mind babysitting Nexus, either. In fact he asks us if he could whenever Eve and I have work to do rebuilding Hamel."
"Somehow that sounds like something your dad would do," Elsword sighed.
Eve approached them, standing next to Chung as she glanced over her shoulder back at Aisha who seemed completely occupied with Nexus.
"What's up?" Chung asked, looking up at her.
"Hey, Eve! Thanks for coming to visit us!" Elsword said with a grin.
"It was Chung's idea. But it is good to see you, again," Eve replied, feigning lack of interest as she often did towards the redhead. She turned to Chung, fingers idly twirling his hair, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed."
"Sure thing," Chung replied.
"Make sure the little one is changed. I've set aside a bottle by the campfire to warm. Check the temperature before you feed him, though. And make sure he's wearing his cap tonight, you know how cold it can get in these woods. Also-"
"You'll be five feet away, Eve. I'll be sure to wake you if I ever need help," Chung interjected, giving her a comforting squeeze of her hand, "Go rest. I'll be in bed after Raven and the others arrive."
"O-okay," Eve said, looking back at Aisha as she gently rocked the baby. There was visible hesitation in her eyes but she eventually relented and dug through their travel bag for a change of clothes before retiring to their tent.
"She just gets nervous when she's separated from Nexus," Chung said as the two guys watched Aisha reach for the bottle near the fire.
"I noticed," Elsword commented, not taking his eyes off of the mage.
Chung glanced at the redhead, noting the way his eyes softened as he watched her.
"Looks like she'd be a natural mother, huh?" Chung said.
"Yeah," Elsword nodded, "Yeah, she does…"
"Ahh!" Aisha cried out suddenly as she held the baby out and away from her, "He threw up on me! Gross!"
"Maybe," Elsword added.
Chung rose from his seat, shaking his head and stifling a laugh. With a small towel at the ready, he moved to take Nexus off her hands. "Yeah, he does that sometimes."
As Elsword watched Chung simultaneously pick up his kid and help Aisha pull off her stained coat, he reminisced of a time when the youngest of the group could barely take care of himself when they first brought him to this campsite. He remembered how much of a crybaby he was. And even with all the motherly coddling Rena gave him, it was still never enough. Elsword remembered how Chung always looked up to him like he was his big brother and, at the time, the young knight relished in that feeling of finally having a younger sibling.
"Just do as I do," he once told Chung moments before their first battle against your everyday bandit, "Don't think about the consequences. Just about the people you want to protect. Bravery will come naturally then."
He chuckled quietly to himself as he remembered how scared Chung was; how slowly, day by day, the young boy became as chivalrous as his big brother. It was then and only then that reality finally hit the redhead: that little boy was a father now.
Chung swung his cannon around, catching two phorus on the retreat. The force was enough to send them flying in the opposite direction and dropping stolen goods along their flight path.
The remainder of the thieving phorus scattered, making a break for the treeline with as much loot as they could carry. Chung drew his revolvers, spinning from one target to the next, and placing pin-point accurate shots aimed at the top of the phorus' bags. The sacks ripped open as they ran, spilling their contents and forcing the remaining thieves to flee empty-handed.
"And don't you even think about coming back!" Chung shouted after the vermin.
"Chung!" Rena whispered in a low growl.
She pointed at Nexus, who, at this time, was sleeping soundly in his little baby strap that Chung wore, keeping the child safely tucked against his chest.
"What? Oh! Relax, Rena," Chung laughed as he brought his volume down, "Nexus is a hard sleeper. I actually think the sound of the silver shooters puts him to sleep."
"But still," Rena protested, trying to stay on topic. She crossed her arms, shaking her head at the young man, "I can't believe you'd take him into combat like that."
"I take him on patrols around Hamel all the time when Eve's busy helping others around our kingdom," Chung said with a shrug.
Chung immediately moved to help the traveling merchant gather her belongings.
"My, my! Thank you, so much, for going out of your way to help little old me," Helen said, "Those phorus... they never learn!"
"Think nothing of it, Helen!" Elsword reassured the merchant, "We were heading into town anyways, so we're lucky we ran into you when we did."
The entire time this was going on, Rena was fuming after being put off like that. A hand fell on her shoulder and she turned to see Raven standing next to her.
"I wouldn't worry too much," Raven reassured the elf, "To be frank, I'm more confident in Chung's ability to keep his kid safe in a combat situation than I am with some other parents taking their kids to the park."
"You, too?" Rena sighed. Elsword and Ciel were no help either, as they seemed perfectly fine with the idea of bringing a baby into a fight.
She turned to Eve, hoping to find some semblance of reason among their group. "You're not okay with it… are you?"
The Queen of Nasods didn't answer but Rena noticed Eve's rather stiff posture and the way she clenched and unclenched her fist as she looked on at her husband helping the merchant out.
"Chung," Eve called, garnering his attention. She motioned him over, arms outstretched in a way that silently let him know she wanted to carry their baby.
"Oh, thanks," Chung said. He carefully loosened the strap and gave Nexus to Eve, leaning over to peck her on the cheek before continuing helping with the cleanup.
Rena watched as Eve held the child tightly in her arms before silently summoning a white pod to her side. It was essentially a larger, hollowed out, replica of Remy that had two sliding doors that opened at the top. The doors opened, revealing a cushioned interior that, even as the pod bobbed and swayed, remained completely level, keeping the bed from inverting should the pod ever roll.
Eve set their sleeping child gently in the pod before the doors shut. The top half of the baby pod became slightly transparent as a menu appeared over Nexus's sleeping form. His mother began scrolling through a selection of song titles to play, stopping at a playlist affectionately titled "Sleepy Time Songs". The Remy-like baby pod dimmed as the transparent surface returned to its opaque white while a soft, muffled lullaby could be heard playing through the protective case.
"If it freaks you out that much you should tell him," Rena urged.
Eve half-shrugged and half-nodded, clearly unsure of what to do, "It is frightening to a certain degree. But…"
"But?"
"I know I should... but there are a few reasons why I don't."
"And those are?"
"Raven isn't wrong. There isn't anyone in the world that I can count on more in keeping the little one safe than Chung."
"True…" Though Rena agreed, Eve's reasoning wasn't a good enough justification.
"And Chung wouldn't ever put Nexus in a situation where he'd be in grave danger. The worst we've run into in Hamel are the wayward wild animals but even then they're nothing for my husband… that and…"
"And…?"
Eve turned away, hiding a faint redness in her cheeks, "They both look adorable together."
The El Search Party arrived at Ruben's town square. What once was a small logging village with little more than a few homes and a waterwheel had expanded to a sizable town with its own wooden walls to protect from bandits.
Thanks to the efforts of Elsword, Aisha, and Rena several years prior, Lowe's security forces were able to stem the rampant bandit incursion that threatened to reduce Ruben to rubble. With Banthus locked away and no set leader to head the bandit operations and guard patrols sweeping the forest with renewed vigor, the criminal organization had no choice but to scatter as the years went by.
This, unfortunately, led to a strange, unforeseen, consequence that had only begun to rear its head over the past year. With the larger part of the human criminal population leaving the scene, a different organization finally had room to grow.
Along the gentle stream that cut through the center of town, just behind a patch of bushes by Ruben's waterwheel, a series of rustling and frantic whispers were drowned out by the calming rush of water.
Three pairs of eyes filled to the brim with greed and frustration looked on as the group of adventurers entered town to the fanfare and cheer of its populace.
"This isn't good!" a phoru said to the other two that had accompanied him, "This isn't good! This isn't good! Oh, no! This isn't good at all!"
"The El brats foiled everything! I thought boss said they were never coming back!" the second of the group said.
"We can't come back empty-handed! Boss is gonna kill us!" the third cried.
"-Or worse!" the second said.
"-Take away our food for a week!" the first gasped in wide-eyed realization.
The three erupted in a fountain of tears.
"No!" the third said, uncharacteristically resolute defiance filling him, "We can't let that happen!"
"You're right!" the second agreed, "We are the mighty Phoru Gang!"
"We'll make boss proud!" the first added.
"But how do we do that…?" the second asked, quickly whisking away any sense of vigor with his simple question.
The other two sat in a circle, brainstorming as phorus did when their meals were at stake. But it wasn't just their meals that were at risk - they had their pride as thieves to uphold! To have their stolen things unstolen by those goodie-two-shoes El-dorks couldn't be left unanswered. They had to hit back. But how? It was so hard to think with all the cheering and fanfare those El-nerds brought with them.
Then something caught the third's eye. Trailing behind the large group of those oh-so-hated El-losers was something of which the likes of a forest phoru had never seen before. It was shiny. It was floaty. It was black and white. But most importantly: it looked valuable.
The spark of excitement glinted in the third phoru's eyes as a mischievous grin appeared. "I think I know what to do!"
Not too far from Ruben, hidden alongside sheer cliffs and jagged rocks from what used to be an ancient plateau, sat an old, forgotten, elvish ruin. Built hundreds of years ago and forgotten as the elven kingdoms shrank, the sun-bleached stones in this tiny clearing served as a base of operations for the mighty Phoru Gang.
What used to be a small troop of ten had swelled to a staggering twelve members in size, thanks to the newborn twins belonging to a couple within their ranks.
In addition to hanging their proud banners drawn crudely on different fabrics they scavenged over the years, this gang of ne'er-do-wells had also taken steps in fortifying their home. Twigs and branches were shaped into barriers. Twine and rocks were employed to hold barricades. The craftsmanship would have made any other forest-dwelling phoru proud.
A large square room, whose roof had fallen but walls still remained, made up the center of this fortified bastion. This was the designated treasure room. And though it was largely empty save for several bags of tin utensils and wooden logging equipment that they had stolen over the last few months, it still functioned as a worthy throne for their mighty leader: William Phoru, to sit atop in all his imagined splendor.
Except he wasn't watching over his subordinates at this time. During this time in the early afternoon, the sun reflected off the bright cliffs looming over the ruins in such a way that it provided the perfect warm spot for a nap on top of his treasure.
Little did he know, however, that his nap was going to end with a rather rude awakening.
"Boss!" the clamour of three of his underlings rang out in the hollow treasure room, startling the largest of the gang awake and nearly caused him to tumble from the top of his napping perch.
"Boss! Boss! Boss!" the three called, getting an angry growl from William in response.
"What? What? What?!"
The three phorus stood at the bottom of the pile, holding what appeared to be a large black and white ball over their heads. "We did it! We did it! We did it!"
"What…. What did you do?" William asked.
"We stole something!" the first phoru announced proudly.
"I-you what?!" At first disbelief hit the largest of the phorus like a truck. He was just woken up, after all, from his lovely nap. But the disbelief quickly transformed to realization, and then boastful egoism. "W-well! Excellent work then! It appears my leadership has worked wonders on you, afterall!"
"We couldn't have done it without you boss!" the second agreed.
"We'd be lost without your guidance!" the third added.
"Yes! Yes of course you would be! Now, what'd you steal for me?"
The three held up the ball once more. "We don't know!" they answered in unison.
"You don't know…?"
The three shook their heads, earning a less than enthused sigh by their leader.
"But it plays music!" the first said as William climbed down to their level to inspect the gift. He leaned in, pressing his ear against the white metal surface. Indeed there was the tell tale jingle of a melody playing within the confines of the orb… as well as something else. It sounded like babbling? Whatever this orb was, it had something inside of it.
William tapped at the surface and the top half of the orb, to his surprise, became transparent, revealing a child. A human child! Or at least he thought it was a human child. It had a few striking features that those hairless apes didn't have-
"Oh!" his three underlings looked on in awe at their boss's ability to operate the strange sphere.
"You stole a kid?!" William exclaimed.
"We stole a kid!" the three celebrated.
"No! No celebrating!" their boss ordered, bringing their brief excitement to a standstill.
"Why…?" the second asked.
"This is bad! Very bad!" William explained, "The humans are going to get angry at us and they'll come looking for the baby and-"
"But isn't that what us ne'er-do-wells are supposed to do?" the third asked, confused.
"You said it yourself," the first nodded, "We're criminals! We're bad-to-the-bone! And no one messes with the Phoru Gang!"
"Yeah!" the other two agreed, high-fiving each other over how dastardly they had become.
"You imbe- Grr!" William had to bite his tongue. It had been a long time since he had seen his gang so fired up over a heist. He didn't want to crush their spirits now. After all, they finally managed to steal something worthwhile.
"We showed those El-dorks who's boss!" the first grinned.
"Who?"
"The El Search Party," the second explained, "We stole this from them."
"You s-s-stole this from-"
William felt weak in the knees. He was about to faint. Those three numb-skulls robbed the El Search Party?
Laughter. Looking through the transparent orb, he saw that the little baby was giggling at him! Him! Like he was some kind of giant stuffed teddy bear!
"Don't laugh at me!" William growled, getting an even happier smile from the baby, "It's not funny!"
He pounded the pod in frustration and the hatch opened, the barrier between baby and Phoru gone. The three underlings looked up in wide-eyed amazement and William quickly put on a front like he meant to do that.
The largest of the phorus fished out the child, holding it in front of him as he inspected their kidnappee. It had golden, puppy-paw eyes and a brilliant blue gem on a forehead topped with a thin tuft of blond hair. It didn't even have ears! It had these strange cone things that William had never seen before.
"You guys stole this thing from them, right? It doesn't look anything like that redhead or that green-haired elf… And I highly doubt that annoying mage would hook up with anyone…"
The baby puked, getting it all over William's face as he stood there shocked and unsure of what to do.
"Eugh," the leader grumbled, trying his best not to panic as the third phoru pulled out a towel conveniently tucked in the baby pod.
"Thanks," William grumbled, resting the baby on his shoulder as he wiped away the baby's lunch.
"We think it belongs to the lady with the white hair," the first explained, "She also had these weird cone-eared things on the side of her head."
"And the dad is probably the guy with the giant cannon."
"G-giant cannon?!" William stammered.
"Uh-huh," the second nodded, "It's bigger than he is! He swings it around like nothing! We got hit by it when he beat us up earlier after we tried to stea-"
The second was elbowed by the third, shushing them immediately as they tried to keep the raid on the traveling merchant under wraps.
William gulped. He instinctively glanced over at their weapons stash, consisting mostly of wooden training swords and crudely made bows that would sooner snap than fire an arrow.
"They're here!" another phoru came barreling into the treasure room, falling flat on their face as they scrambled to their leader's side.
"Boss! They're coming! The El Search Party is coming! All thirteen of them!"
"Th-thirteen?!" William only ever recalled a time when the El Search Party had three members.
"This is it, everyone!" the third exclaimed, a burning fire in his eyes, "Positions everyone! We'll show those El-chumps we're not to be messed with!"
The remaining phorus in the ruins took defensive positions, manning the battlements on the walls with their bows that have yet to even be tested.
"What do we do, boss?!" the first asked, "We have our fortifications! We have our weapons! But most importantly, we have you to lead us!"
"Ah… I… oh… oh no..." William muttered.
"Boss?" the second chimed in, "Boss? What's wrong?"
Everything was wrong. There was absolutely no way that they could ever hope to even hold a candle against the El Search Party. Were these phorus out of their mind?!
"I… we… we can't-" William mumbled.
"Sure we can!" the third urged, "We remember those stories you told us before: how you single-handedly fought off three of them with nothing but your sword and your wits! There are twelve of us now! Well, ten, not including the baby twins but still! Thirteen of them should be nothing against the ten of us!"
"We're the Phoru Gang!" the first cheered, "The mightiest phoru gang in the entire forest! With William, we have the advantage! And we'll use every advantage we've got!"
The rest of the phorus joined along in the cheer.
How could William ever disagree with such high spirits? He looked at the baby tugging at his whiskers. "They're right, aren't they?" he asked the baby, "They have me, afterall. How could we lose?"
"Incoming!" one of the phorus manning the battlements reported.
He placed the baby back in the pod and strode towards their stronghold's main gate, tugging the floating orb along with him. All the while the rhythmic drums of war echoed as each of his underlings stamped their feet in a unified tribal beat.
William stood over the short gate, overlooking the clearing as, sure enough, thirteen of the world's mightiest warriors stood before him. Some of them looked like they didn't even come from this plane of existence. Their blades were drawn, gleaming in the sunlight that only hinted at the care that went into them. Some had weapons that burned both holy and unholy flames. Some had guns that far outclassed even the finest crossbows William had ever seen.
He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his muzzle as he steeled himself for what would possibly be the most harrowing point in his life, ever.
"Hey, William?" the redheaded leader called, bringing the tribal rhythm down to a muffled thump.
"Y-yes?" the largest of the phorus squeaked. He cleared his throat, "I mean - what do you want?! You're walking on our turf! You better turn around and leave or else!"
"Yeah!" the other phorus cried, a wave of jeers and hisses following shortly after.
Elsword sighed, turning to one of his friends before nudging him forward.
It was a young man clad in white and blue armor. A gigantic cannon was slung on the man's shoulder - just like his underlings described. He had blond hair and cyan puppy-paw eyes. This was undoubtedly the child's father.
Next to him stood a woman with long white hair. What stood out about her was the brilliant blue gem on her forehead and cone ears peeking out from her neatly combed locks. She had to be the mother.
"Um… hi. William, was it? We're looking for our child and Eve's pod beacon lead us to this location. You wouldn't happen to have Nexus with you, would you? If you do, we'd like him back, please."
He spoke in a polite fashion. Thank goodness, too, otherwise William wouldn't have the courage to pull his next stunt.
"Oh?" William rubbed his chin, feigning ignorance before shaking his head, "Nope. Never seen him."
"Yeah! That's our boss!" his underlings cheered, "lie to his face!"
"It only works if you guys would just shut up…" William sighed.
"You have Nexus' towel on your shoulder, anyways, William," Chung pointed out, prompting the phoru to quickly hide it as if it had never been seen, "Listen, we really don't want this situation to get out of hand, so if you'd just hand Nexus over-"
"Ah, now I remember!" William interjected, opening the pod floating next to him and holding the baby out where the El Search Party could see, "You mean this little guy?!"
At this time, little Nexus was chewing on his own fingers and gurgle-laughing as he was suddenly raised up over the phoru's head.
"Yep, that's him," Chung nodded, "Can we get him back, now?"
"Oh, you'll get him back alright," William said, grinning devilishly as he pressed the baby against his face. With his free hand he extended his claws and brought it to the baby's neck, "But you'll have to pay a hefty fine if you want him back alive!"
"Whoa…" one of the phorus whispered, "so awesome… a ransom!"
The others clapped in approval at their leader's ingenuity.
William smiled, turning his attention back towards the cannon-bearing young man.
"So what'll it be? Your money or this one's life?!"
There was panic in the human's eyes now… but it wasn't for their baby, it was for… the phoru?
Chung waved his hands wildly as he mouthed something over and over again that William couldn't quite make out until he noticed the white-haired woman standing next to him.
The sky darkened. Bolts of electricity surged around the woman's body as her golden eyes briefly flashed a bright blue. Numerous portals - hundreds - no, thousands of portals were torn into existence around the elvish ruins as Nasod blades as black as night entered their reality.
"Give me back my baby," the white-haired woman demanded.
She stomped on the ground, causing a cascading effect as dozens upon dozens of more portals opened around her, giving way to massive rocket pods and machine gun turrets. Each new weapon trained their sights onto one target: William.
As the full might of the Nasod warmachine waited for their queen's signal, a small white speck was spotted amidst the black steel wall. The cannon-bearing human stood there, the only light in the darkness… and he was silently signalling for William through several cutting motions with his hand, to immediately stop what he was doing if William valued his own life.
Stopping came naturally for William. It wasn't as if the Phoru could move after facing down the wrong end of thousands of spears and turrets.
Body frozen in terror, he hadn't realized when someone had taken the child from his hands. It wasn't until his three subordinates, the ones who had brought this calamity to their little ruins in the first place, gently placed the child back into its baby pod and wheeled it out to their waiting parents.
Not a word came from either side as the baby pod transferred hands, as if the slightest breeze would set off a chain reaction that would end in their destruction. Only when the pod was back in their mother's arms did the three subordinates fall into a deep bow. A unified "We're sorry…" escaping their lips in a squeak barely audible even to the recipients of the apology.
"Aisha says dinner's ready," Eve said as she entered her shared tent with Chung, "Is the little one presentable?"
"Almost," Chung muttered, sticking his tongue out in deep concentration as he tried to fix the last button while Nexus kicked happily at his father.
A single, satisfying click and the job was complete.
"Done!" Chung announced and held the baby out for Eve, proud of his work. Sporting a fresh diaper and a new green onesie with the words "Daddy's Lil' Poop Factory", Eve could only look on in disdain at the young king's definition of "presentable".
The queen sighed, moving to take Nexus off his hands. "I don't think I'll ever be able to comprehend you or your father's sense of style," she commented as she began feeding her child.
"Oh, don't be like that, Eve," Chung laughed, "You know it's cute."
Eve simply huffed and turned her head away.
Chung smiled, seeing as the Nasod didn't outwardly deny it. He watched her sit on her bedroll for a while longer, quietly listening to Nexus coo as Eve fed him. His queen didn't look too happy.
The king tilted his head, moving to sit next to her. "You're not going to come out and eat?"
"Maybe later." Her answer came far later than he was comfortable with.
"You okay, Eve? What's on your mind?"
She sighed, again, holding Nexus a little more tightly against her chest.
"Nothing."
It didn't take a genius to figure out she wasn't telling the truth. Chung already knew what was bothering her and he had been avoiding the topic in hopes of keeping her from overworking herself.
She was still rattled from earlier that afternoon.
After all his years fighting alongside her, after countless life and death situations, he had never seen her unleash the full might of her Nasod arsenal. Yet she did so the moment their son's life was at stake.
Even though Eve was never the type to show it, everyone, at least on her side of the battlefield at that moment, felt how scared she was.
Without another word between the two, Chung wrapped an arm around Eve and rested his head against hers. It took a while but, like ice, her body slowly melted against his. He could feel the way her breathing slowed that she was slowly managing to brush the events from earlier today out of her mind.
She winced as Nexus pulled on a lock of her hair and Chung quickly separated her strands from his grip, substituting his finger in its place. Nexus's hand barely wrapped around Chung's index finger but the young king was already able to note the strength in his son's grip.
He'll grow up to be a strong man one day, maybe even stronger than his father. In a world as dangerous as Elrios, there was always room for more heroes. It was up to Chung and Eve to see him make it that far, first.
Chung turned to Eve. Her eyes were closed at this point and he gently nuzzled against her before letting her rest her head on his shoulder.
"I won't let it happen again, Eve," Chung whispered.
"Please don't," Eve whispered back, leaning into him and kissing him on the chin.
He rubbed her side, nodding quietly as he let her rest. It didn't take long before he realized Eve had fallen asleep. Although Eve didn't show it, she had worked the hardest caring for Nexus during their week long trip from Hamel to Ruben. When Nexus woke in the middle of the night, it was often her that was the first to respond, no matter how little sleep she got beforehand. Sometimes, even in the waking hours of the morning, Chung would find Eve wide awake, tending to the little one even when it was Chung's turn to feed him. This was, after all, their first trip outside of Hamel with a baby in tow. Neither of them could have foreseen the added workload of traveling with a baby. Night watches felt more harrowing. Stops by wayward merchants and strangers were often greeted with wary glances and readied guns.
This was their first full night within the safety of their friends' camp and the first time, after a week, that she was able to sleep without worrying about nightwatch. The queen was more than ready to take full advantage of this moment's peace, curled up against Chung with their son in her arms.
The sounds of the others calling for Chung and Eve to join them could be heard outside. Chung didn't answer. He can always catch up with them later.
A/N: the Elsword Fanfiction Brigade discord was doing a "couples plus their child prompt" and I wanted an excuse to write cheve. thanks for reading :3