Renewed Love
Megami kept a calendar on her wall, with the estimated date of labor marked on it. Every day, she would place an X on the previous date, and counted how much longer she had to wait for the children to be born. It was one of the most exciting days of her life. Maybe she didn't want to dwell on the past, and on Ryu, but these children would lead her to a new future. They would also be the last gift that she ever received from Ryu. Children would assure her that she'd never lose her heart.
She'd even thought of names for the two children. The little boy was going to be named Ashley Alexander - - Ashley being the name of a hero from history, and Alexander because it seemed like a nice name. The little girl was going to be named Lilka Jane - - Lilka being the name of one of Ashley's allies when he'd fought, and Jane from another historical figure dating back to the second Demon War. But there was no last name for any of them, she didn't know her own, let alone Ryu's.
It seemed quite ironic how she wanted to name them after historical figures, although she didn't like memories. Megami's reasoning was that she needed strong names that people cold identify. And what says strength more than heroes and gunslingers? I certainly can't think of anything.
Finally, on the day of August 12th, Megami went into labor. She managed to get to her room at the saloon, where she called for the doctor. He came right away, along with a few other townspeople to assist him. If he needed a certain tool or something to numb the pain, he'd send them.
"By the Guardians!" she yelled, "If you weren't already dead Ryu, I'd kill you!"
* * *
After only a half-hour, both children were born. Much to the relief of the townspeople, as Megami had screamed at her dead lover throughout the whole time. Lilka had been born first, followed shortly by her brother. When it was all over, Megami held her two babies, and smiled at them.
Although Ashley had her shining blue eyes, Lilka's were purple. In fact, they looked just like the eyes of the man called Ryu from her dream. That further proved that he was her lover, it was a million to one chance that she slept with another violet-eyed man, as the color was pretty rare.
"My babies. My sweet innocent babies. Mommy's never going to let you go," she whispered.
At that moment, she began to sing a lullaby to the twins. It sounded like she'd made it up on the spur of the moment, no one had ever heard of it before. Or it could have been something her mother had sung to her in the past. But that idea was quickly dismissed, as she didn't dwell on the past.
When asked, Megami stated, "I made it up a few months ago. I had to sing something to my babies, and I didn't care to use the same songs as everyone else. I call it 'Only the Night Sky Knows'. I've got two other songs that I wrote to sing to them, but they're not really lullabies."
* * *
Megami kept to herself even more than before. Now, she spent most of her time inside the hotel, keeping a close eye on the twins as they napped. For short times each day, she would sit outside with them, letting the wind flow through her hair, and feel the sun on her face. But she never took her eyes off of them, or let them stay directly in the sunlight. She was a little overprotective of her children.
For the next few months, she never stepped foot out of the town. But when the twins were six months old, that all changed. Feeling confident about her ability to fight, she decided to head for another town, in search of a bounty of some sort. The job at the saloon wouldn't support two infants forever, her milk was beginning to dry up as she started them on cereal and mashed fruits. As luck would have it, the Teleport Orb fell out of her pocket, and when she picked it up, she felt the air around her distort. When it cleared, she found herself near the town of Laixland. It was in that moment that she realized that the orb could take her anywhere she wanted. This was good fortune for the young mother.
She thought of the possibilities. "I can go anywhere I want to with this thing. I don't have to worry about traveling between towns, and getting the kids caught up in battle. If I need to, I can get my clients to baby-sit them for me while I'm working on the job they've given me. Now, I can take on some more dangerous jobs in order to earn the necessary cash to support the three of us."
The young woman walked into town. There, she found out about the monster epidemic. For some reason, monsters had begun to increase in the area, and they needed someone to eliminate them. Of course, not too many people came to Laixland, so they were kind of screwed at the moment.
"I'll offer my services," Megami stated, "All I ask is that someone take care of my children for me. They'll just get in the way if I'm fighting." She sounded much sterner than she actually was. To the people, it looked like she was angry with them, only keeping them due to having no where to leave them. But in reality, she wanted to keep them close to her.
"If you can take care of the monsters, we'll do anything. How about we pay for all of your room and board, as well as your other expenses like food, clothing, and bullets for your services. Heck, if you do a good job, we'll throw in a nice bonus," one man told her.
Megami said, "You have a deal. Where do the monsters live anyway?"
A woman shook her head. "We don't exactly know where their cave is. But they live in the fields around this town. In recent days, they've become much more active. Roykman, the merchant, was attacked the last time he came to town, and is still healing his wounds in his room at the saloon. If this keeps up, no merchants will be able to get through, and our people will starve."
"I'll take on this job," Megami told them, "It's right up my alley anyway. The only thing I know is my gun. Battle is the only thing I have in my life, the only thing to bring me any joy."
But as she said those words, Megami knew how much she was lying. Her work might bring her joy, in the form of the Gella she earned. It was not, however, her only joy, or even her biggest joy. The real biggest joy in her life was in the form of the two children that she had slung in the sling over her back. She longed for the days when they were older, and they could talk to one another.
- - - -
Teefa's Last Words…
Well, the song does have that calming lullaby feel to it. The other two songs are "Advanced Wind" and "Wings". I wanted to do like in FF VIII and IX, have the themesong be a real song in the game. So I made up Ginny's songs.
