LAST TIDE

Chapter 2: Descendant of Darkness and Light

Amelia leaned against a cold, snow covered window. Seven and a half months before, these windows were flooded with light. Of course, seven and a half months before, Zelgadis was had been in the castle. She watched by day and night for his return. Right behind her, a warm fire, six friends, and three children beckoned for her to lighten her daily vigil.
"Amelia..." A gentle hand laid on her shoulder. Amelia whirled around, to see Lina standing shakily before her, smiling. "He won't be back for another month at least, and those fairy springs are pretty hard to find. That window's cracked, you'll catch your death freezing here, or you'll at least get more ill than you already are."
"He's not going to be back tonight, at any rate." Filia continued.
"It's too cold around the city for travel. With this weather, he may well not be back until spring." Zangulus added.
"Oh, you guys are right." Amelia giggled slightly.
Amelia sat down in her usual spot, next to Filia. She looked around the room. Every single person had a set formation for their nightly gatherings. More often five of them than tonight's six, there was always a chair open. A firm armchair, set in a corner, that Zel preferred always remained empty, as though they were reserving it for him. Xelloss selected a cushy chair that set next to Zel's. Tonight, he'd joined them. He was reading silently, purposefully. Filia's favorite place was in a rocker next to the fire, and Zangulus and Martina liked the couch across from Amelia's chair, which was so fluffy you could fall into it and not get up. That was the reason Gourry didn't let Lina sit in it. He and Lina shared a loveseat next to a large playpen, facing the fire's warmth. She was exactly seven and a half months pregnant, and given the chance to sink into something and not get up, she would willingly take it. Even if it meant missing a meal. The playpen behind them was filled with safe toys and pillows. Three children were in it. Kinsei, 2 and 3 months, Elijah, 3 and six months, and Alionel, 11 months, were sitting in a little circle.
Kinsei poked Alin. "Lookit, he's cute."
"Nuh, he's boring." Elijah grumbled.
"Nah, I think he's cute!"
"Papa, make the stupid baby do sum-fin."
"Now, now, Eli, he's only a little baby. He'll learn to do things." Zangulus replied. Elijah poked Alin's cheek. Alin decided to prove he wasn't stupid, and use the funny sharp things he now had in his mouth. He bit Elijah on her finger. She chose to screech and squeal indignantly.
"Well, he did something." Gourry remarked with a clever smile. It was a strangely quiet night. Most often, the group recounted their many adventures, laughing over every irony that occured, and making remarks on the strange things they had done when they were young. They were all more than ten years older than since Lina and Gourry had first met. They'd all changed. Lina sighed softly. She hadn't sat back down. Gourry looked up at her, quickly adjusting his blond ponytail. "Ready for bed, Lina?" Lina nodded tiredly. Amelia was most surprised at Lina's change. She'd become very quiet and submissive since her third month of pregnancy, when the castle doctor labelled her a high-risk case, due to her being so incontrollably active. Lina had chosen to lighten up on extreme activity. Gourry stood. "We'll take leave of you now. It is almost eleven, and Lina and I have to wrap Christmas presents tomorrow. Christmas is in four days, you know." Amelia almost jumped. She'd nearly forgotten the holiday. "Good night."
"Good night, everyone." Lina sleepily waved, and she and Gourry left side-by-side. Zangulus and Martina both stood up.
"We should be going too. It's rather late." The pair took Elijah and left. Filia looked at Xelloss, then at Amelia.
"I'm going to stay a bit longer. Until Xelloss is finished." Amelia held in a sigh. Xelloss was a nervous wreck. Filia was almost afraid to disturb him sometimes, as he'd once lashed out at Lina when she became curious as to what he was doing.
"I'm going to take little Alin to bed. Goodnight." She picked up Alin, and slowly walked the halls to her suite. She was simply thankful to the gods of justice tonight that Alin slept all night. She wouldn't be able to handle a midnight cry, no matter how hard she tried.

"The big one's almost asleep, the other one is." Itai murmured to his partner as they waited below Lina's window.
"We move in now?" Atsui answered.
"Wait for it..."
"So, we just gotta kill the baby and her mommy all in one blow?"
"Lady Auola said to kill the baby. Not nothing about the mommy. We might as well kill them both." Atsui was nervous about disobeying Lady Auola in the very slightest. "Let's go." The pair removed the window from its hinges and slipped in. Atsui took out a big knife.
"Kill the baby..." He murmured under his breath.

Gourry was dreaming. He saw fire all around him. His world was burning down. He ran down a seemingly endless hallway, carrying Lina. Lina carried something in her arms. Gourry looked straight forward and saw the door, with someone running towards him. That someone screamed something to him, but Gourry couldn't hear it. Just then, a huge chunk of archway fell before him. There was a little bit of open space above Gourry's head, and two hands reached in through it. Lina slowly lifted what she was carrying and handed it to the hands. Gourry whispered, uncontrolledly, "Goodbye, little one." He felt a terrible pain in his throat, and heard Lina scream. He snapped awake.

When Gourry awoke, he saw two figures making a run for it. One carried a bloody knife. The other was hitting him. "YOU IDIOT! I told you to kill them!" Gourry almost ran at them, but his better senses told him to stay with Lina. He looked at her. The evil creatures had stabbed right into her womb. Gourry panicked.
"Not now, Gourry." Lina whispered, seemingly calm as blood flowed out of her. "For my sake... and our child's... go get Amelia... or Filia... somebody!"
Gourry leapt out of bed, pantsless and shoeless, and ran down the halls, screaming. "HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY!"

Amelia, Filia, Zangulus, Martina, and the castle doctor all crowded around Lina. Gourry was curled up in a corner, still pantsless.
"Doctor, you need to help her." Filia almost sobbed. "And Gourry... you need pants."
"I think you should try and operate on her to get the dead body out. And someone should give Gourry his pants." Martina murmured.
"Another failure for Gourry and Lina... and of course, Gourry being a half-naked idiot." Zangulus sighed sadly.
"It's all an evil plan to ruin our lives, I just know it!" Gourry ranted.
"Gourry, QUIT MAKING ME SO DAMN NERVOUS!" Lina had mustered the strength to shout.
"I would like all of you to leave now. I think I may be able to save Mrs. Gabriev's baby." The doctor stated. Everyone filed out. Gourry stopped and kissed Lina's forehead.
"Everything's gonna be okay..." Gourry grabbed his pants and left.

Four hours later, Gourry was sitting right outside the door, waiting patiently. Amelia came to check on him. While the rest of the group had gone to the library to wait, Gourry wanted to be the first to hear any news. He was still staring at the wall. "You okay?"
"Fine." Gourry grumbled.
"Oh, chin up. Where's that happy-go-lucky smile, for justice's sake?"

"I'm not so goofy that I don't know when I'm about to lose everything my life is." He almost growled. Amelia knelt next to him and patted his arm.
"There, there, big guy. Anyway, I recieved word from Zel."
"Which one?"
"No, no, a letter."
"Which? A, B, C, D, E..."
"No, no, no, a letter, a note!"
"Do, re, mi..."
"No, like a card!"
"Zel's a card?"
"GOURRY." Amelia gave him a stern look.
"I know, I know."
"It said simply... he's almost home." Amelia's face glowed, and she hugged Gourry. "It's so exciting!" Gourry simply hugged her back.
"Great..." Just then, the doctor emerged from the room Lina was in.
"Mr. Gabriev, you can see her now." Gourry stood, as Amelia ran off to grab the rest of the group.
Gourry tiptoed into the dark room. The sun was just thinking of tinging the sky red, but the night sky remained solid blue through the still open window. Gourry saw Lina half sitting up, clutching something to her chest. Gourry approached her, curious. He sat next to her. Lina looked at him sleepily. Smiling, she whispered, "It's a girl." Lina's eyes were softened, like she'd been crying a lot. "She's finally here." Gourry quietly plucked the swaddled blankets from Lina's arms, and looked down into it. "She's got blue eyes, just like you..."
"And red hair, just like you..." Gourry continued. "She's kinda cute... think she'll have small boobs too?" Lina simply laughed, and Gourry smiled. "She is cute... and perfect... But what do we name her?"
"What else should we name her? We'll name her Rei." Lina smiled sleepily.
"Yeah, I like that name..." Gourry unfolded some of the blanket to look closely at Rei. She opened her enormous eyes, and stared at him. Gourry kept one hand behind her head, and held her upright. Shyly, little Rei reached out and touched a strand of hair stray from Gourry's ponytail.
"Wai..." She whispered. As a new baby, she was too little to make out exactly what she wanted to say or communicate right, so she made a little sound in her throat to say she was thinking something.
"You can have a ponytail too someday..." Gourry whispered. Amelia, Xelloss, and Filia all waited by the door. Martina and Zangulus were right behind them.
"Good job, Gourry." Xelloss smirked. "Another girl." Filia whapped him.
"What's wrong with girls?"
"Nothing, it's just that his highness will have a tough choice choosing between the three."
"My bets are all on Kinsei." Amelia joked. "Gourry, can I hold the baby?" Gourry's eyes widened.
"But there are three yards between you and I. What if I drop her?"
"The usual fatherly fears." Xelloss snickered. "You won't drop her. And if you do drop her on her head... well, she has you and Lina for parents, so she's bound to grow up a little headscrewed anyway..." Filia whapped him again. Amelia walked up to Gourry and took Rei from him.
"She's so cute! And she has such pretty red hair!" Lina smiled proudly.
What do babies think when they're being passed around to everyone, put on display? Only Gourry would ever know what Rei was thinking. She yawned, and simply fell asleep. After all, being born is pretty tough work. She didn't mind being examined by all her mommy and daddy's friends. She didn't mind one bit.