Xellos quietly watched from the astral plane as Lina and the others made their way to the Zeferian border. He silently examined Lina's astral form as Stover and Nimals stood beside him, nervously. Eventually Nimals said, "You see it, don't you?"

At first Xellos had thought that Stover's nerves had gotten the better of him when confronting Lina, but when Nimals had said he'd seen it manifest within her, Xellos knew he had to check it out. And at the moment, Xellos was thanking their lucky stars that Stover and Nimals had stood down, even if they hadn't understood the reasons for its appearance. "I do." Xellos replied.

Lucifer's power was housed within Lina's body. Lina, who had so casually and blasphemously referred to it as the Lord of Nightmares and had performed a spell that caused it to possess her. Even though it had abandoned her and left Lina to live her life, it looked as though the experience had altered her enough to foul up his plans in the present time.

"How is it possible?" Nimals asked.

"It doesn't mean what you think it does." Xellos stated as he watched as the humans huddled together to discuss what they were going to do now that they were safely at the border with Zeferia. "It has not taken over Lina Inverse, she is still a mortal human. She is carrying a child with a fragment of its power."

"What?" Stover asked. "But I don't see a baby anywhere!"

"It's inside of her. She is pregnant." Xellos said as he was confounded yet again by how little some Mazoku knew about humans. When Stover and Nimals continued to stare at him in confusion, he explained, "It's something humans do when they want to create little humans."

Stover and Nimals still looked confused, but Xellos was not in a mood to explain about human reproduction, "All you need to know is that Lina is not the mother of all things and it was hideous of Lina to speak on its behalf. For now you are not to go near her. Stover, we're going to have to rethink your assignment completely. Stand by for now. I need to consult with Lord Greater Beast. This is going to create quite a few problems."

Xellos then teleported to where his lord was. She regarded him with interest, "So?"

"Lord Greater Beast Zelas Metallium. It appears that Lina Inverse is with child. And it appears that there are some continuing complications from that spell she cast two years ago." Xellos explained, having little doubt that Greater Beast would figure out where he was going.

Greater Beast sighed in annoyance, "Who knows how that will even affect a human child. It will likely be powerful but in ways we can't predict. And in ways that aren't good for us. Hellmaster Phibrizo's scheme continues to have calamitous consequences."

"I would recommend that we put on hold our plans to attack Maninstit. Even if she is pregnant, Lina Inverse would not cower in the basement while there is a fight going on above her. The risk that we could attack and harm it…"

"Agreed." Greater Beast said dully, "what's a few more months when this war has already dragged on for a millennia? And if we play a very long game," she said as her voice raised in pitch in the manner that it did when she came up with a plan, "then perhaps this can work in our favor."

"My Lord?" Xellos asked, but Greater Beast was quiet as she contemplated the matter.

When she did speak again, it was very deliberate, "Lina Inverse's pregnancy will have to continue. We can't attack Lord Lucifer in any form. But we can't let this child be raised by humans and grow up to be their ally. The power it would have would be unthinkable and we've already suffered enough losses. But what if we can turn this into a gain? What if we can turn it into our ally?"

Xellos did his best to appear neutral. On the one hand, she had a point. And it was a good idea. The only problem was that he could only see one way to ensure that it would be their ally. Before he could say anything Greater Beast asked, "Xellos, what is the earliest that we can separate the child from its mother?"

"From what I understand, so long as their physical needs are met, a human child can be separated from its mother at birth."

"When will that occur?" Greater Beast asked.

"I do not know, but I will find out."

"See that you do. The moment it is born we will claim it." Greater Beast said and then she made a face, "And then we will raise it, distasteful though it may be, and then it will be in our control and when it is an adult we will use it to usher in the destruction of the world."

Xellos thought for a moment. "While the ordeal of bringing a baby into the world is said to leave human women incapacitated, so Lina Inverse would likely be left powerless, or with her capacities reduced. And while I would usually say I could defeat Gourry Gabirev easily, with or without the Blast Sword, humans are fiercely protective of their young. And this is not a couple I would ever want to underestimate. The other problem would be Lina Inverse's sister, the Ceiphied Knight."

"Do humans have their sisters attend their births?"

"I'm not sure." Xellos said, "And her relationship with her sister seems to move from warm to cold and back again."

"Find out where the Ceiphied Knight will be. Come up with a plan. I am sure Deep Sea Dolphin will assist in any way that she can. You are right, we can't afford to underestimate this couple."

"Yes, my lord."

"And find out all that is needed to raise a human baby so that we may be prepared." Greater Beast said.

"Yes, my lord." Xellos said. "And about our plans for the Elmekian Empire?"

She sighed, "It is unfortunate that Gregory Gabriev found out about Nimals. But I believe we can put Stover in his government, or we can see about getting one of the other factions in the country to assassinate Gregory Gabriev and take over."

"Right, my lord."

"We can recover from this. Once the child is born and once it is safely in our custody we will destroy Maninstit. Meanwhile we need to convince the other kingdoms that Maninstit is a threat to them and to see Zeferia as a threat. Because of the previous Emperor's folly with Hellmaster's device, that is going to be so much harder with Zeferia being the hero of the hour so to say. But human memories are short, and their moods volatile. We will take advantage of that. Meanwhile, you know your orders."

"Yes, my lord," Xellos said as he teleported away back to where Lina was.

He had been busy destroying Claire Bible manuscripts when he'd learned about Lina and Gourry's plans to start a school to train people to kill Mazoku. Since the news broke among his people there had been a frantic effort to destroy Maninstit. He had been assigned to Dils to see what he could salvage from the situation there, and had been quite unaware of events going on in Lina's life until Stover and Nimals had come to him. And he wasn't particularly thrilled about spending who knows how long spying on Lina until she decided to share her due date with someone. He could think of many other more interesting things he could do with his time. But still, orders were orders, and he was bound to his regardless of how little he liked them. So he settled in and watched as she said good bye to the other ambassadors who were getting ready to go back to their countries. "Are you sure you don't want a ride home in the carriage?" asked one of the representatives from the Coastal States.

"No thanks," Lina said, "We're fine walking."

"But it's so far!" the Zeferian princess, Maeve, said.

"You're going to have to get used to it if you want to do this work." Gourry said firmly.

"And walking is good for you." Lina said, "Besides, you don't see Naga complaining."

"Those carriages are so cramped and uncomfortable." Naga whined, "Besides, you get to see more of the world when you walk."

"Are you coming back to Maninstit with us?" Lina asked.

Naga laughed, and Xellos found himself hoping she would do it again. The distress she produced when she did that was amusing. "No, I have other things to do. But perhaps if you ask very nicely, Lina, and…"

"Oh get real!" Lina exclaimed, "I was just being polite. Stay away as long as you like!"

"Well, I guess I will have to drop by soon to see the baby." Naga said, and Xellos' ears pricked as he couldn't believe his luck. "Whenever that will happen."

"Late in the autumn." Lina said. "And don't get so drunk that you spend the next two years sleeping under a bush and miss it!"

Xellos smiled. Well, the first part of this mission was easier than he had expected. Finding out what a human child needed to survive would be easier. Naga laughed again as Xellos teleported away, he caught a whiff of the happiness that Lina was feeling, and he thought once again about how he was going to hate this assignment.

Even though the sun had set, they kept on their way to Maninstit. None of them had wanted to camp out and everyone was eager to get home, even if it meant getting home at midnight. Lina thought that Zel might still be awake, and perhaps her mother if she'd had a fit of nerves, but was expecting everyone else to be in bed. So she was surprised to see Jackie and Nerys standing outside the door like sentries when they approached. "You're back!" Jackie exclaimed when he saw them, "Thank goodness!"

"Hey, we weren't in too much danger." Lina said.

"No! You have to save us from Miss Luna!" he said.

"Huh?" Lina replied.

"Jackie and half of the kids in this school are just too soft." Nerys said disdainfully.

"She's organized us to do guard duty! Said someone had to watch the entryways at all times to make sure a Mazoku doesn't come in again."

"It's good practice for when you get into the field and have to take the odd job to cover the bills." Lina said, and Jackie's mouth fell open.

"You mean you're not going to send us cash?" he asked.

Lina bopped him on the head, "Rule number one, never rely on money to just be handed out to you!"

"I could have told you that." Nerys said.

Jackie flailed for a moment, and then came back with, "And she's making us clean the manor! She says if we clean the downstairs then they won't have to pay Alona so much and she can just focus on the upstairs."

"Might see about letting you into some of the common rooms upstairs to clean them as well." Lina said thoughtfully as Maeve looked at her in horror of the idea of cleaning, "A penny saved is a penny earned."

"B-but…" Jackie stuttured as Maeve exclaimed, "But I'm a princess!"

"You're getting this world class education for free!" Lina snapped, "You might as well put some elbow grease into it. Anyway, I'm tired. Keep a good watch out."

"Can't there be an exception for royalty?" Maeve asked as they walked into the foyer.

"If you didn't want to get your hands dirty then you shouldn't have left the palace." Lina said.

"You have no mercy." Gourry said as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Don't you forget it." Lina said, and then she looked at Maeve and softened a bit, "Look, you worked hard these past few weeks. Go ahead and sleep in tomorrow."

"But…" Maeve said.

Lina shook her head, "Always rest and recuperate after a big mission! You don't want to burn through your life energy so guard it closely! There is nothing going on tomorrow that is so important that you need to drag yourself up for it. Night."

"Right." Maeve said, "Night."

"Lina!" Leia said as she ran out of the kitchen and grabbed her, "Thank goodness you're home safe!"

"Nothing happened while we were away?" Lina asked as she returned the hug before Leia relaxed and went to hug Gourry.

"No, but these times when you're away get harder to tolerate. I was so nervous I couldn't even sleep tonight and came down to make myself some tea. I hope you won't be doing this again for a long time." Leia said, "So everything went okay?"

"Well, we destroyed Hellmaster's device." Lina explained, "But Gourry's brother killed the old emperor and became the new emperor."

"Huh?" Leia asked.

Gourry said, "If you'll excuse me, I want to get washed up and crash."

"Go on, I'll be up in a bit." Lina said.

"You're not tired?" Leia asked as she looked Lina over carefully.

"I'm rather wound up myself. Some tea sounds good." Lina said as she started to walk towards the kitchen, her heart hammering in her chest.

"Hm." Leia said noncommittally as they walked into the kitchen as the door closed behind them.

Lina took a moment to make sure that no kids were listening at the door, and then she pounced, "Do you notice anything different about me?"

Leia smiled, "Oh honey," she said as she pulled her into a hug, "I was about to get the pickles if that's what you were asking."

Lina gasped in a mixture of relief and excitement as Leia continued, "And I do hope that means you'll stay home for longer than a few months this time."

"I guess I won't have much of a choice." Lina said. "But I wasn't when I left?"

Leia shrugged as she pulled away and walked over to where she had already filled a kettle with water, "Who knows how long the time is between when these things happen and they become noticeable? Why? Oh, are you feeling okay? Amelia's started to feel rather poorly and I have plenty of remedies."

"I feel fine. Better than fine actually." Lina said as she leaned against the counter. "I have so much energy I don't know what to do with myself, I barely sleep anymore. And…I've been glowing. And scaring Mazoku."

Leia nearly dropped the kettle. "Glowing?"

"Gourry first noticed it the night he was attacked. And you know how strange that Mazoku acted that night. Gourry's noticed it several times, and when we were in the Elmekian Empire I scared off another Mazoku. They think I'm the Lord of Nightmares!"

Leia bit her lip as she slowly turned red and her hand balled into a fist. Lina frowned, "Uh, Mom?"

"Oh if it wouldn't mean spilling your secret I would storm into your sister's room, pull her bedcovers off and give her a good tongue lashing!"

"Why?" Lina asked in alarm.

"Because your pregnancy is blessed."

"What do you mean?" Lina asked.

"When I was expecting Luna, I also had a lot of energy. When the midwife found out she sent me to a shrine maiden who did some further tests and explained that when a woman carries a child with a fragment of a god in their soul, one of the first things they notice is an excess of energy during the pregnancy." Leia explained, "The energy and power from the fragment of that soul is transferred to the woman carrying the child, so instead of feeling tired and drained from growing a baby, she feels an excess of energy."

Part of Lina was surprised that she didn't know that. But then, she never liked reading up on things related to the Ceiphied Knights. It reminded her of how much Luna's powers eclipsed hers. "So I have this energy and they think I'm the Lord of Nightmares, then that would mean…damn!"

"She knew this would happen! She was wanting for this to happen." Leia said.

"What would that even mean? What sort of powers will he manifest?" Lina wondered aloud.

"I doubt that this has ever happened before." Leia said as she handed Lina a cup of tea.

Lina's eyes narrowed, "I can't argue with that. Or that this is what Sis was wanting. But why didn't she tell me that this would happen? I mean, I would have liked to have known that this could have happened!"

"Well, you can ask her tomorrow." Leia said, and then she considered her daughter, "You do want this baby?"

"Yes," Lina said, "I mean, Gourry and I were heading in that direction anyway. But I don't like the idea of raising soldiers for Sis' army."

"I don't want you to, either." Leia agreed, "And I can understand if you're angry with her right now, I am too. But don't let the anger drown out your happiness."

Lina took a sip of her tea, "Oh, I'll have my reckoning with Sis. But I'm not going to let her take the happiness from this. You should know me better."

Leia shook her head, "Luna is such a wild card in matters concerning you, and to be honest, you're a wild card in matters concerning her. And I want this to be a happy time for you."

"Well, if I continue to feel this good it's not like I can be too mad at her. I don't exactly want to feel tired and sick all of the time like Amelia is, you know? And hell, not even Sis can make Mazoku run in terror from her, so I can't say I'm not liking this right now. And does this make giving birth easier?" Lina asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Leia said, "But Amelia keeps raving about advances in midwifery that Saillune has. How far behind her are you? We can probably get her midwife to stay on to tend to you as well."

"My cycles stopped two weeks after hers did."

"Then your time would overlap, yes, that would work out well." Leia mused contemplatively.

"Two weeks wouldn't be too long to stay extra." Lina said.

Leia chuckled, "It doesn't work like that. Some women carry their babies for longer than others."

"What?" Lina asked.

"Well, you know Ellis? She was born a week after you were, even though her mother was pregnant before I was. Some women carry their babies for a month longer than others! So if Amelia carries hers for a long time and you don't, then you could deliver at the same time, or before her even."

"Wow." Lina said, "That's crazy."

"Welcome to the world of pregnancy!" Leia said.

Lina clasped her on the shoulder, "Well, on this topic it looks like I have a lot to learn."

It had been hard to not wake Gourry up when she got to their room. But he needed the rest. In many ways the timing had been perfect. The trip to the Elmekian Empire had been hard on him, and she was glad that she had news that was so desired to wake him up with. But she also couldn't bear the thought of waking him. Nor could she sleep. So she watched him as she laid in bed with him, anticipating the moment when he would wake. At last his blue eyes fluttered open, and he smiled when he saw her and pulled her close for a kiss. "Morning, sunshine." He said.

"Morning, birthday boy." She replied.

He stopped for a moment, "How did you know it was my birthday?"

"Well, your mother's visit did have a few benefits." Lina said as she kissed him again as she reflected that the timing had been very fortuitous.

"You're not planning a big party or anything, are you?" he asked as he pulled away.

"No, actually." She said as her heart pounded, "You're not mad are you?"

"No," he said, "Relieved. It's just a day."

"But don't you want presents and stuff?"

He smiled, "Waking up with you in my bed is the best present. Though, since you asked," he pulled her to him and whispered in her ear, "What are you getting me?"

"Well, it will take some time to arrive."

"It must be something big." He said as he started to nuzzle at her neck.

She took a deep breath and grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach. "But not too big. I am going to have to get him out."

He sat up in the bed and stared at her, but never took his hand off her stomach, "You mean you're...?"

"Yes!" she said as she put her hand over his, "It's going to be a few months, but our baby is on the way."

"Our baby!'" he said as his eyes lit. "When?"

"Late in the autumn." She said.

"You said him. Do you know it's a boy?"

"No way to tell until he comes out. I'm just guessing really."

"And you're feeling okay?" he asked.

"Better than okay." She said as she smiled wryly as she wondered how he would take the news, "It's actually why the glowing started happening."

"Huh?" he asked.

Lina started to explain as he laid beside her. When she finished he said, "So he's going to be very powerful, like Luna?"

"More powerful, probably." Lina said.

"But other than that he will be a normal kid?" he asked, and then he grinned mischievously. "Well, as normal as he can be when you're his mother."

Lina sat up, "Just what are you implying!? And if you think he will be weird because I'm the mother then just think of what you being the father will do to him, soup for brains!"

He pulled her close and kissed her, "Yeah, I guess it was a stupid idea to have a normal kid, wasn't it?"

She smiled and kissed him again, "Now that you put it that way, I guess it was."

AN: Figuring out how Mazoku would address the LON was hard, and I'm still doing a lot of guesswork. In the novels when Lina says "Lord of nightmares" Xellos blanches and chastises her and says that even it's name is too great for a Mazoku of his stature to hear, so I don't think Xellos would say "Lord of Nightmares" (there are also translation issues with the novel apparently, but the gist is that the LON is an alias and even the alias is too great a name for Xellos to hear and that he took offense at how casually Lina referred to it). He never addresses LON by name and refers to LON in neutral pronouns such as it and them.

When I was asking Kaette-kita about it she ended up doing some research and found an interview where HK revealed that the LON's real name is Lucifer. I decided perhaps Greater Beast might be powerful enough to say its name, but not Xellos. In the anime Xellos does refer to it as "the mother of all things" and Phibrizo calls her "mother" so I took from that a bit though there's nothing in the novels to suggest that Mazoku would do this. I'm also sticking to gender neutral pronouns (and confusingly sometimes singular sometimes plural) for the LON even though its usually depicted as a woman.

I experimented with the idea of Lina's Giga Slave affecting her future children first in "Desolation" but wanted to play around with the idea a bit more. And I think the powers manifested will be very different this time, lol.

I had also hoped I would have this chapter up by Father's Day to continue my streak of getting chapters up at appropriate holidays, but it did not work out this time. I hope all the fathers out there had a wonderful day last weekend!