When I tell you this is the fastest chapter I've ever written most of in one go, it's this one. The main writing draft was written in a day. Good lord.
Anyways it's finally time! Have fun!
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Eda never liked being awakened when she was asleep. It wasn't uncommon, but that didn't make it any less annoying.
Tonight was no exception. Especially considering Eda woke up in pain. It had been a while since something like that had pulled her from sleep's ever-pitiful bliss. One thing she hadn't missed about her curse being present. The aches she'd wake up having.
Though this was a different kind of ache. Eda was familiar with how this felt.
Damn Batson's Hick.
That's what had woken her up. Eda laid still for a moment, sharply inhaling to ease the pain she felt. It felt like forever, but she chalked it up to being because she'd just woken up.
Once it was over, she sat up. She stared over at Raine's sleeping form. They were so peaceful, how much Eda envied that. She let out a sigh before struggling to get up and put on her sweater so she wouldn't freeze outside the nest. She stared outside for a moment, the pale light from the moon being the only visibility she had.
That's when she noticed the white flakes falling down from the sky.
"Well damn…" Eda muttered to herself. She figured those photos would end up happening. Ugh. She didn't feel like even attempting to look 'pretty' anymore.
A quick smack of her lips though and she could tell she was thirsty. The uncomfortable feeling of being parched was not something she wanted to go back to sleep with.
Being careful not to wake Raine, she left the room and walked down the hall. Once she made it to the stairs she realized she'd have to go down by herself. Not a pleasant idea but she was too far to go back.
By some mysterious means, she made it down the stairs with determined effort. Eda let out a sigh of relief when she made it down. Hooty was clearly asleep, the only lights in the house were the candles Raine would leave burning downstairs in case Eda or themself went downstairs in the middle of the night.
She slowly but surely dragged her feet to the kitchen. She found a cup in the cupboard and opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and placing it on the kitchen table with the cup.
Eda grappled the bottle lid and began twisting it, realizing it was much tighter than she had expected.
…
She ended up using her teeth to snap off the cap.
With the bottle now opened she poured the contents into the cup and lifted it up. Eda took a sip and hummed lightly. It was incredibly cold. Just like the entire house was.
Eda made a mental note that she would ask Raine to start a fire in the fireplace in the morning to heat the place up.
Oddly enough, Eda's belly was partially keeping her warm. It was weird, she didn't even understand why. With how tired she was it was relieving though, so she didn't bother trying to grapple with herself.
She stood in silence alone for several minutes, continuing to drink her water. She felt a kick from the baby during that time, which made her freeze and then giggle.
"Hey, thanks for keeping me warm," Eda whispered down to the belly, "This cold weather is insanity." She lifted the glass to take another sip but was paused by a… funny feeling.
Setting the glass down she realized she felt warm liquid running down her legs, making the inner sides of her flannel pants stick to her.
Eda stared down at the ground, confused. That's when that unsavory feeling that woke her up came back. She realized it was longer. Much longer than any Batson's Hick.
After taking a deep breath she realized what was going on.
Her entire body froze, staring down at the table.
"Eda! I'm sorry, I could have gotten you a glass of water if you woke me up," Eda was startled by the sudden appearance of Raine. She didn't even hear them come down the steps. They were laughing. Could they not see what was in front of them?!
As soon as the thought went through her head she heard their laughter die down.
"I…" Eda tried to speak, but couldn't form the words.
"Oh!" Raine exclaimed, stepping forward, "You dropped it, I'll clean it up dear, you can go back to bed."
"Raine it's not… it's not water," Eda corrected them. She lifted her head up, and she could now see Raine's beautifully clueless face.
"Eda…" She witnessed as the realization hit them.
"It's… it's…" She couldn't speak. Her mind was in full-on panic and she could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate.
"Oh Titan!" Raine said, racing over to stand beside Eda, "Are you okay? How are you feeling?!"
"I-I… I feel…" The effects of her short breaths caught up with her as she began sliding down to the ground. Raine caught her and helped her sit down in a chair.
"Mother Titan this is really happening," Raine said, pulling up a chair for themself and sitting down in it, "I… wow. That's shocking."
"No shit," Eda grumbled to them.
"… okay. Well, how long has this been going on?" Raine asked.
"It just woke me up, so I assume it's not been too long," Eda said, "Though I am pretty tough and able to sleep through a lot so…"
"Althea. We need to call them," Raine stood up and ran out of the room to find a crow.
Eda was aware they were mildly overreacting. But here she was, nearly passing out because she was also in an absolute panic. She was even growing nauseous now just thinking about it all.
They raced back in, already dialing the crow Althea's number. After a few moments, a voice came over that Eda could hear.
"Who is this? It's the middle of the night…" Althea sounded exhausted on the other end.
"Althea! Eda! Baby! Come quick! Please!" Raine seemed to be going through their own shock.
"Oh! Oh Titan, I'll be there soon. While I get my stuff though," A few noises from the other end likely were the shifting of items wherever Althea was, "I need to know, how far apart are her contractions, is she having any bleeding, and has her water broken yet."
"I don't know! She woke up because of them and came downstairs, I don't know how long-"
"Ten-ish minutes," Eda said.
"Ten-ish minutes according to Eda!" Raine said, "I don't see any bleeding, and yes her water just broke!"
"Alright, I'll go ahead and come over. She's not too far into labor but it's best to keep an eye on her due to her curse," Althea explained, "Raine. You need to go ahead and be sure she's going to be comfortable. Eda's not going to enjoy this."
"I'm aware, thank you very much!" Eda shouted.
"Oh hello!" Althea said, "Eda, how are you feeling?"
"Loaded question. Honestly feel like I might throw up," She said back.
"That's normal, don't worry," They assured.
"We know! We watched a documentary last week, I think we're aware now," Raine said.
"Oh please tell me it wasn't that new one…" Althea sighed on the other end. Raine slowly looked over to Eda again and vice versa.
"The… new one?" Raine muttered quickly to the crow.
"It said it was new on the cover…" Eda said.
"Yeah no it's incredibly watered down," Althea let out an exasperated sigh, "I'll explain how it's actually going to go when I get there. I'll be on my way now, see you soon!"
"A-alright! We'll see you t-then!" Raine said, letting the crow go.
The two stared at each other for several moments. Eda's nausea quickly escalated.
Raine noticed and immediately raced for a trash can.
It'd been around half an hour by the time Althea arrived. Raine had helped Eda back upstairs to get her changed into a different pair of pants.
Afterward, she'd decided to sit on the stool by her vanity while they waited. In that roughly twenty minutes she had two more contractions, which had seemed relatively tolerable to her so far.
Of course, it was only going to get… worse.
She was surprised she had only thrown up once thinking about it so far.
Raine had woken Hooty up to let him know to let Althea in when they showed up… and to not bother if there was any screaming in the house. Eda and Raine knew they had arrived when Hooty started excitedly ranting to someone. Within moments footsteps came up the stairs and Althea entered their bedroom.
"Oh my," They said when they looked over at Eda.
"Oh my what?" Eda shot at them.
"Okay okay, you're stressed, humor isn't needed I can see," At least Althea was understanding.
"Thank you," Eda muttered. Althea approached her and knelt down to her knees.
"Are you okay if I examine you?" They asked. Eda nodded. Althea drew a spell circle and Eda felt a familiar tingling from all the other times they'd examined her. Althea commented, "It seems like things are moving along smoothly on the inside. You're in for a long one, my partner's an Oracle and predicted I'd be here until tomorrow morning."
"As in this morning?" Raine asked.
"No, as in over 24 hours tomorrow morning," Eda felt sick again.
"That long?!" Raine exclaimed.
"It's normal. Unfortunately the documentary I suspected you watched greatly underestimated that time," They sighed, turning to look up at Eda, "In a minute I'd like you to lay down so I can do a pelvic exam, is that alright for me to do?"
"Sure," Eda mumbled. Her mind had decided to both blank and enter a settled state of fear. On the outside she felt numb.
Of course, this was swiftly interrupted when that stabby feeling hit her again. She tightened up and groaned. Althea looked alarmed and stood up.
"Alright so ten minutes, that's a little bit closer than contractions at this stage usually are," Althea contemplated for a moment. Eda stared up at them, totally lost. She wanted to ask what they meant by that but she couldn't put her strength into speaking words without also wanting to scream.
"Is that a bad thing?" Raine asked. The brunette shook their head.
"I'll take a closer look when I do the pelvic exam, but it likely has to do with her curse," Another thing to make Eda go wide-eyed. Althea crouched back down to Eda's level, "You should steady your breathing. It'll help."
"I d-doubt that," Eda said through clenched teeth. Althea began breathing in slowly and breathing out in a weird pattern. Eda watched for a few seconds before the pain suddenly got worse again and she figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to try it. Somehow it helped her calm down.
"That's right," They placed their hands on her shoulders, "Deep breaths, you're going to be okay."
Despite the comfort in those words, Eda wasn't sure she could believe them.
By mid-day, Eda was ready to both choke Raine and cry into their arms until she couldn't breathe. It was around three in the afternoon and Eda was growing bored by how long this was taking.
Now she stood by the back door, admiring the pillowing snow outside. It was below freezing now and the snow had yet to stop falling from last night.
The cliff where Eda often sat to clear her thoughts was covered in snow. It was jarring to see so much white fluffiness everywhere.
She sat alone in her thoughts. She was in no way ready to be a mom. She was not a mom, not by any standard. Who could look at her and say that? Raine may have commented on her maternal-esc tendencies but Eda knew all of it was just her stupid hormones making her feel that way.
She knew one thing, she hadn't wanted this kid. Yet, in just a few hours that kid would be here. That kid would be in her arms.
She was horrified.
In the silence it was painful. A pain worse than any of the physical pain she'd ever felt. She wasn't ready, she didn't want this.
Eda leaned up against the door frame and quietly let a few tears fall down her face. Staring ahead she saw her breath puffed in the air. Sure, she'd accepted this was her situation and that she needed to get over herself, but it was so so hard. She felt trapped. Trapped in a box she put herself in.
This was a new kind of self-hatred. She hated herself for wrapping Raine up in this, wrapping a soon-to-be living breathing witch that was innocent in this. She should have said something. Sure she would have lost Raine but at least then she wouldn't have-
No.
What was she thinking? She was supposed to take care of this child and this was all she could think of.
She heard footsteps approaching from behind. Assuming they were Raine's she quickly wiped her face with her sweater arm.
"I just got off the crow with my Mom's, they said good luck," Raine said. Even with the flip in their attitude towards her, the last people Eda would want to talk to right now would include Deliliah and Aileen.
"You want some company?" Raine asked her. Eda crooked her neck around and nodded to them. They joined her in the door frame and stared outside.
"It's weird, all this snow," Eda said. Raine hummed in agreement.
"I can't believe I was right," Raine chuckled.
"Oh shut up," Eda smirked, rolling her eyes. There was a pause before Raine spoke.
"How are you feeling?" Raine asked. Eda didn't want to respond entirely honestly to that question.
"A lot of things, emotionally and physically," Eda said. She could cover part of it up.
"Would it make you feel better talking about it?" Raine said, offering a hand to Eda. Eda took it and sighed.
"I… I don't know," she said. Raine caressed the top of her hand with their thumb. Eda smiled at the gesture.
"I think you'll be a great mom, in case you were worried about that," Raine said. Eda looked away from them.
"That's… that's not it, Raine," She mumbled.
"Then what's wrong, love?" Raine sounded concerned, raising a hand to her face and pulling it towards them.
"… I'm scared," She said, "This all… it's… everything is perfect. Everything with us right now. It's all perfect..."
"Eda…"
"It feels too good to be true, how did either of us deserve this? What's going to go wrong? Why am I allowed to mother a child I thought I'd never even be able to have?" Eda could feel her body shudder as tears streamed down the sides of her face.
Eda expected a typical loving reply from Raine. Just like every single time she felt like this and all they could do was reassure her this is what she deserved because she was so amazing.
But this time… they leaned forward and hugged her. Eda choked out a sob as she accepted the embrace. She didn't return it. She couldn't do that. But she didn't fight against it. She only cried harder into their shoulder.
"I can't promise things will stay like this forever, that's unrealistic, but I can promise that I'll always be here for you," Raine sounded sad. Titan, she hated making them feel that way.
She cried for several minutes, and even through the next contractions, she continued to sob. She hadn't ever cried that much in front of Raine. Althea had even asked if she was okay and Eda caught a glimpse of Raine shaking their head.
She was bad at hiding this. She wanted out.
And she especially wanted Raine out of this hurt as well.
When would this end?
Eda had asked herself that question all day. For the past twenty hours, she'd been in utter agony.
The words she'd been waiting so long to hear finally were said by Althea.
"It's almost over, this is going to be the hardest part but it's almost over," Eda didn't think it could get much worse, but they were right. It was the hardest part.
She'd been moved up to her nest a while ago with the help of Raine. She was barely able to move around anymore due to the pain.
The next hour of her life could be described in one word. Agony.
As every pain grew ever closer together, hurting a hundred times more than the last, Eda's screaming only grew louder. Raine sat by her side, encouraging her the entire time. Offering their hand when she just wanted to break something… which unfortunately led to what Eda felt and could assume was the fracturing of several bones in their right hand.
By the half-hour mark, Althea explained that Eda was going to need to start pushing. Titan, she just wanted it done. She didn't want to do anything! Anything at all! Damnit she'd never even wanted this.
Of course, she did it anyway. She didn't have much of a choice in that matter.
By that point her screaming was followed by crying. She kept on yelling that she just wanted it over with and that she can't keep doing this. It felt like a fever dream by this point even if it was happening in real time.
Raine offered reassurances and kisses to her cheeks and forehead. Eda would come to appreciate it later, but now… now it was horrific. She was scared, tired, and in tremendous pain.
"Alright Eda," Althea said, "The head is about to crown, this is the worst part but you're so close to being done."
"JUST GET IT OUT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The pain that followed as Althea told her to keep pushing was somehow worse than any of the other pain.
"You're doing so well! I think this next one will be the last big one!" Althea assured her. Eda panted, and Raine squeezed her hand again.
"You've got this, Lord Calamity," Raine said, "You're not a quitter."
"Yeah…" Eda felt a part of herself flood back into her mind, "Yeah! I-I can do this!"
By the time the next contraction hit her, she used her last bit of strength. The scream she let out was piercing. Almost as loud as the ones the Owl Beast would let out when she'd transform.
And within moments…
…
From everything Eda had read, she'd been told this moment would be the most important.
The room moved to a still. The faint lights grew warm in her eyes as a cry could be heard throughout the room. Her eyes, tired as they were, looked up at Althea. They held a small form, an infant, who they quickly swaddled up in a scarlet red blanket. Althea raised a finger and circled it above the baby, performing a quick spell before they lifted the baby towards Eda and Raine.
"A girl, she's frail looking, but she appears healthy," Althea announced. Eda took the swaddle and held the baby up to her chest. She was so tiny, her little face red as she screamed, it was like she was angry at the world for simply being born. Her skin was a deep tan color, only a few shades lighter than Raine's. Eda noticed the sprouts of orange hair on the top of her head.
"Skin to skin contact would be a good idea. Raine, you should help her get her sweater off. I'll be sure the rest of this goes smoothly," Althea instructed. Raine looked at Eda with wide, glimmering eyes.
"Think you can do this?" Raine asked. Eda scoffed.
"I just pushed her out of me, I think I can do anything by this point," She sat up and allowed Raine to help her slide off her sweater. The cold air stung against her skin.
The baby was quickly laid up against Eda's tank top and a blanket was shoved up to cover herself and the infant. The baby was warm and gooey. Considerably gooey. It didn't bother Eda for some reason.
It was perplexing to her, seeing such a tiny witch be so… expressive. Only a few seconds and she was already making statements! It was as if… as if this was her…
That…
Eda lifted her hand to wipe the baby's face. She fussed back at her. At least she was calming down now it seemed. She was surprised when the baby grabbed her hand. The tiny hands were attempting to drag her hand down to lie on her chest.
Within a few minutes, Eda was shocked to find the infant had nearly calmed down and was almost asleep.
"Eda, you should probably let her nurse," Raine reminded her.
Right.
That was something she had to do.
Althea momentarily stopped examining Eda and came to help her get situated. Once the infant settled, Eda began to relax for the first time in hours. Somehow this felt natural.
Like it was right.
"Althea, you didn't have to…" Raine said. Eda was situated now in the nest properly. The baby was fast asleep in her arms. It was around five am by that point.
"You've both been a pleasure to have as clients, plus I've been very excited to meet this little one," They said. Eda peeked over to where the two were sitting together. Raine's now wrapped up broken hand held a small gift while Althea smiled widely, encouraging them to open it.
They opened it and pulled out a brown wooden box.
"What is this?" Raine asked them.
"A music box, it plays a lullaby, try it out," Althea explained to them.
Raine twisted something on the side Eda couldn't see and opened the box.
Out of it came a melody, and in it was a small animated pair of witches dancing together. The box was clearly old. Older than Eda's parents even (she snickered to herself at that last thought).
"That's a beautiful melody," Raine said, sitting the box to the side. It went on for a few minutes while Raine and Althea continued to chat.
Eda looked back down at the sleeping baby and wondered to herself how she helped create this thing. She was adorable, that was for certain. Her squishy looking face was scrunched up leaning against Eda's chest.
She continued to admire the infant for a bit while the other two chatted. Mostly about things to expect for the next while, including some comments about things Eda wasn't quite looking forward to.
"What do you think you two will name her?" Althea asked Raine. Raine looked lost for words before glancing over at Eda and the baby.
"I… well, I had an idea," They said, "Your music box made me think of a name I've heard of… Lydian."
"Lydian?" Eda questioned, "Isn't that a musical term?" Raine looked down to the side and chuckled.
"Sorry… it's what a lot of this song has in it," They apologized, "I figured I'd suggest it, we don't have to go with it."
Eda thought about it, looking down at the baby. She smiled, "I like it… I think it suits her."
"Lydian it is then," Raine said.
"Then I think that's all, if you'd like I can get out of you two's hair and you can spend time together as a family," Althea stood up, brushing down their clothes.
"Alright, I'll help you get your things together," Raine said. The two went to leave the room before Althea stopped.
"Eda," They said. She looked up, puzzled, "I'll see you again soon but know that you two have been some of the most pleasing people I've helped in my career so far."
"T-Thank you," Eda said.
"You know, you're an amazing mom already, I hope you know that," And with that, the two left the room.
Eda sat, frozen by that comment.
She looked down at the baby. Lydian. They named her Lydian. It fit her so well, Eda thought.
This was… her Lydian.
Eda could feel small tears prick at the corners of her eyes momentarily. She blinked them away. Lydian was seemingly fast asleep. As the song ended though, Eda discovered she was moving again. Her eyes squished and… opened.
They were green. Just like Raine's.
A shudder hit Eda across the back as she felt a million things hit her at once.
What in Titan's name had she done?
This was her baby.
This was her daughter.
Her and Raine's daughter.
Why had she thought all those things? Why had she tried denying this? This feeling… It felt so nice. She didn't deserve this, she knew she didn't. Yet here she was, with Lydian in her arms. The baby she never wanted. The baby who was now making her move to tears.
You didn't want this, and now you've been given her. What are you going to do about this?
… you know, Eda, you never saw yourself being like this, huh?
Maybe it's a feeling you'd be willing to accept.
A role she'd be willing to take.
It's not yours to take, Eda.
You've been given it.
She's your daughter.
You're a mom now.
Eda lifted her knees up, cuddling herself up against Lydian's tiny form.
Maybe this is okay.
You've been given her, now don't fail her.
Don't fail her, Eda.
But what if she did that? What if she failed her?
You don't know that for sure, do you?
She supposed she didn't.
Look at her. Lydian's soft orange locks will eventually grow to be long and voluminous, just like yours. Those jade green eyes match Raine's ever so perfectly. She has their face. This is the baby you two have together now. Don't fail.
She wouldn't fail. She couldn't.
Failure wasn't something she would do.
After all…
This was what she stayed for, wasn't it?
…
She figured she'd try.
And looking down at Lydian, who stared back up at her with those familiar green eyes, she decided this was worth fighting for. This was her family. Her daughter.
And she'd protect her, no matter what. She'd be there for her, no matter what.
She wouldn't fail her family this time.
December 2nd, 1999
Diary,
I don't think I want to spend much time writing so I'll make this brief. The baby is here! It's a girl and we've named her Lydian. She's really… frail looking. It concerned me when I first saw her but Althea assured us that she was fine.
Eda on the other hand seems to be okay physically. She's a bit… unsure right now, for a lack of understanding. She told me today that she felt like things were too good. It broke my heart. I need to try talking to her more about it. This must've been a lot on her, I'm sure of it.
Aside from my vents though, being a parent so far has seemed fun. Eda's taken on the mom role quite well. It suits her. Lydian so far has mostly slept and is pretty easy to soothe with my viola. I know one day she'll learn it, or maybe another instrument. Gosh. She just got here and I'm already thinking ahead! I really am a parent now, huh?
That's about all to say,
Raine (now a parent!)
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Lol I changed it up. Why? Well the whole purpose is to see inside the character's head and how they're approaching their emotions. I decided hm. Let's mix it up. Eda's brain is going to be fun to write more a bit after Lydian's born than now.
Always expect the unexpected... expected with me (if you get what I mean)
ANYWAYS
I did mention I was going to be taking a hiatus. I have another writing project I need to focus on this month + other important things irl mostly relating to school I need to put my energy towards. I'll be back hopefully in January before the episode airs. See you all then!
