Author's Note: You may notice I've broken my one word chapter naming scheme. This is in the run up to the finale. I want more dramatic chapter titles, and can't always do that with one word titles.

This contains a minor spoiler for the chapter, so skip it if you want, it's obvious anyway. In this chapter Arcadia gives birth. Hence the title. It's written very poorly. I've never seen anybody give birth unsurprisingly, then have to deal with it in a medieval hospital. So all in all it's written terribly. If only I paid attention to bad hospital dramas! So I apologise for that being a bit bad.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I've sped things up towards the end now, deciding a quick and good ending is much better than a slow and crappy one. I'd predict four chapters left at the moment, maybe more, maybe less. Sad to think this story is finally coming to an end…

CHAPTER 54

BIRTH AND BETRAYAL

Olose smiled in the massive crowd as Astra felt the crown be placed upon her head. She was Queen, and nobody had been able to stop it. The city had been reeling after her victory in the competition, and the Leader had disappeared from the city. Any violent outbreaks were soon placed to rest, and Astra had secured her position as a deserved ruler. Arcadia had made the journey to be there, despite being heavily pregnant, along with the Destiny II's crew.

Most the crew were enthralled by the ceremony, only Suse being bored, but she amused herself with a butterfly that had landed on her lap. Of course, it flew off, leaving her sad, but she could watch it fly around the massive hall. It wasn't until the ceremony was over and that she got her chance to speak to Astra she was happy. The entire crew knew her pretty well in the aftermath to the last incident in San d'Oria, and so everybody enjoyed seeing her again. Trevia took great pleasure in introducing her to Jeren, who was thrilled to meet her, an elvaan Queen, and who was in general enthralled by San d'Oria.

Nadia decided to take her time in San d'Oria to explore the city. It had been her home for so long, and she had to admit ,she missed it. She smirked as she saw the barracks, her old home. She wondered if the troops had more respect than she had back then. She knew what it meant to be loyal now. To care about your leaders. Olose. Back then she had just been a rebel for the sake of it, but she had been much younger. And Norg had been there, as annoying as he was, he was a friend. If he was still around, she'd of been just as loyal to him as she was to Olose. But that chance was taken away.

"You miss him, don't you?" Came a voice.

"What?" Snapped Nadia.

"Norg. That friend of yours." A figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" Nadia growled. The figure lowered his hood, the thick robe he wore hanging from his body. His grizzled features scanned her. His grey eyes looked over every part of her body. "You're that guy Olose talked about, aren't you?" She guessed, drawing her sword quickly. "He may have let you escape, but I won't!"

"Please. I come here under a flag of peace." He held his arms up plainly.

"I don't believe you. You nearly destroyed Kazham. You're evil!" Nadia circled him, ready to strike.

"Please. Kazham is a bias society. I did what I thought was right." He paused. "As I do now. I only intend to spread the truth."

"What do you mean?" Nadia asked suspiciously.

"Interesting facts that I have found." He explained. "Take a look at this." He passed her a copy of the San d'Orian Times, the elvaan's own version of the Vana'diel Tribune.

"This is the paper the day Norg was murdered." She said, reading the headline about the victim who was mauled by a beast. A werewolf.

"Yes." The Leader laughed, passing over another sheet. "Look at that."

"This is the prison records." Nadia whispered.

"Indeed. Check the dates." The Leader told her. She did so.
"That's odd." She remarked. "They don't match up. Abaj didn't escape until a day after Norg was murdered." She said curiously.

"Exactly." Stated the Leader. "Abaj Tuh was in jail when your friend was killed by a werewolf. There aren't many werewolves in the world."

"This is a trick." Nadia decided. "And Olose said you were smart."

"Both of those are taken from the elvaan archives. Check for yourself. Go to the elvaan library and look." He smiled warmly. "I am an enemy of Olose yes. And I do seek to turn you against him. But my weapon is truth, not trickery. The facts speak for themselves."

"But Olose was with Arcadia!" Nadia argued. "It can't have been him!"

"Was he?" The Leader smirked. "When I saw this I became suspicious. Final evidence that Olose was evil? I took it. I found a letter in Arcadia's manor. Claiming it was not easy, but I did it." He passed it over. "It's a letter from Olose. It states that he has arrived in San d'Oria, investigating what he believes to be an assassination attempt against Arcadia. The dates match up. He was in San d'Oria the night Norg was killed."

"No." Nadia stated. "No. This is fake!"

"Fake?" He laughed. "It would be a clever scheme to fake yes. Why don't you research it yourself. You may be surprised." He turned and left. Nadia was too stunned to do anything.

Olose was far more stunned than even Nadia. At that very moment in time, he was stood over Arcadia, who was screaming. They were in the elvaan hospital, having been rushed there from the Chateau.
"Come on Arcadia!" He cried. "You can do it!"

"No I can't!" She replied painfully.

"Yes you can!" He argued with a smile.

"Perhaps you want to try." She said through gritted teeth.

"Come on. Push." The doctor said in a business like way. Olose held her hand tightly.
"It is so easy for you to say that." She spluttered. The doctor slowly lifted the baby out of her and she collapsed, breathing heavily.

"Congratulations. It's a girl." He smiled, cutting the cord.

"I…knew….it." Arcadia panted. Olose stared in awe at his own child, holding her in his arms delicately. She squirmed, crying, covered in blood. He lowered her down and passed her to Arcadia. Arcadia looked into her baby's eyes, smiling. "I can already tell you're going to be trouble." She managed to say, still panting, her hair disarrayed and her body covered in sweat. "Suse! Never get pregnant!" Suse, who had been watching, only managed to nod sheepishly.

"Let's change ourrrr plans for tonight." Trevia decided to tell Jeren in shock, prompting a laugh.

"Did I mention that hurt?" Arcadia panted. Olose managed a teary smile as he looked down at his daughter.

"I'll need to take her away to rest. We'll check everything's alright." The doctor explained. "I suggest you let your wife rest." He told Olose. Olose nodded, smiling to Arcadia, who sighed a beautiful smile back. He released her hand and got up, walking out. The others followed.

Nadia was in the great San d'Orian library, completely unaware of the events at the hospital. She was engrossed in records. Everything did point to Olose being the murderer of Norg, but she couldn't quite believe it. Could it be a hoax? No. The official elvaan archives were out of bounds, and that mysterious man had been a hume. There was no way he could have. There was one other possibility she hadn't considered. That there was a third werewolf. Another survivor somewhere in the world. But then why was Olose in San d'Oria? Was he even? That letter could have been faked. Nadia rose. She decided she had to speak to Arcadia. She would tell the truth, even if Olose didn't.

Olose looked down at his daughter as she resided in her crib, sleeping peacefully. He smiled as she seemed to stretch. She was so small. Smaller than Olose had expected. He'd never seen a newborn baby up close, and this was his daughter. The feeling was impossible to describe. She was fully awake now, and seemed to be squirming with effort. He just watched her as her little limbs moved. He wasn't sure what she was trying to do, but then again, neither was she. He held out his finger and her little hand grabbed it, wrapping around it. She seemed to smile at her efforts, and didn't let go.

"Wow! She's rrrrrreally tiny!" Suse beamed as she stuck her head over the crib.

"I know." Olose grinned.

"What's she doing?" Suse asked, turning her head as she stared at the child.

"I have no idea." Olose was still grinning.

"She doesn't look much like you." Suse remarked. "She doesn't have any hair or anything!"

"That's because she's just been born." Olose laughed.

"Oh." Suse answered simply. "Does she grow it?"

"Of course." Olose smirked, realising Suse must have never seen a baby before, or at least not a hume.

"And they cut herrrr tail off! Is that why you don't have tails?" Suse asked curiously.

"That wasn't her tail, Suse." Olose explained. "It's what fed her while she was inside Arcadia."

"You get fed through your tails?" Suse said in surprise. Olose laughed.

"Not quite." He told her. Suse gave up and just went back to staring at the baby in awe.

"What's herrrr name?" She asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Olose answered. "Had a few ideas. Arcadia talked a few over with me."

"Which ones?" Suse questioned.

"Aw, I dunno. I like 'em all. Aeria, Leine, Maialin, Arziel. Things like that." He explained. Suse didn't seem impressed.

"They'rrrre rrrrrubbish." She purred. "All good name's start with an 'S'!" She beamed.
"Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that." Olose grumbled, noticing his daughter had fallen back to sleep.

"She's cute though." Suse decided to comment. "All little and snuggly."

"I don't think that's a word." Olose observed gleefully.

"Sooooo?" Suse asked, sticking her head in front of his face.

"You have a point." Olose admitted.

Nadia jogged into the hospital, her search for Arcadia having revealed that she had been rushed there. Part of her burned with rage, the thought that Olose was there, happy with his child, when he may have murdered Norg, her mentor, and his best friend. However, the more logical part was fighting it. Telling her that he had no motive. She knew that to be true. There was no reason to kill Norg, so he couldn't have. She was trusting a plain villain, and it was obvious that wasn't smart. But the evidence seemed to stack up. It seemed to be true. But it couldn't be! The elvaan records could be tampered with, it was possible, and the letter could be a fake. After all, if this man was allied with the Cardinal during his reign over San d'Oria, he could have easily edited the records. He certainly seemed to be a man of planning.

She had to give Olose the benefit of the doubt. She was certain of that. He had been loyal, her friend, and saved her life more than a dozen times. And then there was this clearly evil stranger. Who to trust was obvious. She was stupid to not kill the villain when she had the chance.

Olose turned to see Nadia almost running towards him. He grinned as she looked down at the baby.

"Wow." She remarked, smiling. "She's so tiny."

"I said that!" Suse called. Nadia laughed. She loved these guys. He couldn't have done anything wrong.

"She's got your eyes Olose." Nadia remarked.

"Let's hope she doesn't have my teeth, eh?" Olose said, sounding slightly concerned. Teeth that killed Norg? No. Couldn't have been.

"I dunno. Might not be such a bad thing." She laughed. "A mortal Sampson just wouldn't be right."

"I am a mortal Sampson, thank you very much." Arcadia smirked from the door, clearly awake. She was wheeled in in a wheel chair by Jeren, who smiled down at the baby.

"Now that's cute." He remarked.

"That she is." Olose laughed. "How you feeling?" He asked Arcadia.

"I think I know how you feel when you regenerate." She commented with a groan. "Although death has to be less painful than what I just went through."

"Where's Trevia?" Olose asked curiously. Jeren laughed.

"She's feeling queasy after that. Don't think she wants to come back to the hospital." He laughed.

"Trevia. Hardened assassin. Scared of hospitals." Nadia joked. "Sounds like her." Jeren chuckled to himself.

"Come on guys." Olose waved them out. "We had better go. Don't think we're all supposed to be crowded in here."

The group filtered out of the room and went their separate ways for the evening, Arcadia and Olose staying in the hospital. Nadia was walking home when the figure re-emerged behind her.

"Nadia. Stop." He spoke simply. She turned around. "Your lack of action says that you do not trust me."

"True. That's 'cause I don't." Nadia snapped.

"You don't believe my truth?" The figure curiously asked.

"No. No I don't." She stated. "It's difficult to fake, but can be done."

"What would I gain from lying to you?" He asked. "I can take out Olose myself, if necessary."

"You're sadistic. You want to see me try to kill him. Simple." She continued to walk away. "But you made a mistake. Olose has no reason to kill Norg."

"You mean apart from the fact he was having an affair with Arcadia?" He smirked. She spun around.

"What?" She whispered.

"I know more than you can imagine." He chuckled. "While I was in jail, Norg enjoyed taunting me, telling me what he got up to, knowing I'd never tell anybody."

"You were in jail?" Nadia asked curiously.

"But he disappeared. He died. I knew who had killed him right away." He paused. "It was at that point I decided to break out. Enough time had passed. I escaped the following day."

"You broke out of prison the day after-" She paused. "Norg. Died." She gasped in utter shock. "Impossible!"

""Quite possible, I'm afraid." He laughed. "I'm-"

"Abaj Tuh." Nadia said in disbelief.