Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I told you there could be another chapter today, and here it is! I'm not sure how long it'll be, or how good it'll be for that matter, so don't go in with high hopes. Anyway, enough of my blabbering. Enjoy chapter 27!

Chapter 27: Love and War

"She is not pregnant." Saito said. "I've checked every day since the first time we…had sex."

"Oh, but she is." Sasha said with a slightly monotone voice. "It seems she has been for…one month now. Perhaps two months."

"I would have noticed by now." Saito said. "With my power, I would be able to see it."

"Not necessarily." Sasha said. "Because you are clearly no longer human, I suspect that the child will take much longer to develop than normal."

"Louise has more than enough magic to support any child, so that makes no sense." Saito said, rather defensively.

"It is not magic that is the issue. The issue is your body." Sasha explained. "It requires more material for such a child's body to develop. I've seen it a lot here in this Kingdom. Some members of our races have taken wives and husbands from another. The children they have take a much longer time to be born than normal."

"If that's the case, why have I not seen any foreign magic inside of her?" He asked.

"Magic does not become endowed upon the baby until they form an embryo. Slowly after the baby forms, they will develop their own magic." She replied.

"I don't believe you." Saito said, bluntly.

"You will believe me when the child is born." She said, equally as stubbornly. "I may not look it, but I am a very old woman. I have powers that I have not shown you. I promise you that she will give birth to your child."

"And when do you say that will happen?" Saito asked.

"It depends on the person. When I had my children, it took more than a year for them to be born. For Elves, it usually takes upwards of two years, but it took a shorter time for me because it was easier for my body to support half human children." She said. "I suspect it could be even more for you."

"I can't afford for her to have a baby right now." Saito said with his voice filled with fear. "It's too dangerous."

"Well, a king needs a family to protect." She said. "However, since you will not always be around her to protect her, perhaps she needs training of her own."

"What kind of training?" Saito asked.

"She needs to know how to use magic better than she does now." She said.

"Wait, how do you know she can't use magic well?" Saito asked.

"I've had someone go to the human world and find information about you two." She said. "Information about you is hard to come by, but she seems to be well known. I am well aware that she is somewhat incapable of using 'normal' magic, but her void magic is quite powerful."

"How do you plan to help her control it?" He asked.

"I used to watch Brimir practice, so I have a little knowledge about what might help her." She said. "He was capable of casting large explosions without reciting the incantation. In the rare cases that he did need to recite it, it was several times stronger. I doubt any void mage will ever reach his level of strength and control, but that doesn't mean they are weak."

"If you do want to train her, you will have to ask her yourself." He said.

"I plan to." She replied. "I plan to train you, as well."

"Me?" He said with surprise.

"Yes. If you do plan on protecting her, you must be as strong as possible." She said.

"I think I am strong enough to protect her." He said. His tail slightly twitched in agitation.

She stood up and opened the door. "If you believe yourself to be capable, perhaps you won't mind if we spar for a little while."

"Don't do it, partner." Derf suddenly said. "She'll eat you alive."

"There's nothing to worry about, Derf." Saito said, filled with confidence. "Are we going to use weapons, Sasha?"

"I do not mind either way. You may decide." She said.

"Well, since you don't draw on Gandalfr's power anymore, I guess it would be unfair." He said.

Sasha led him deeper into the woods until they reached a large clearing. It had the dimensions of a full size soccer pitch. It had short grass and was clearly used for training before, as the trees surrounding it had sword marks on them. They stood at opposite ends of the field, ready to begin their fight.

"We may begin whenever you please." Sasha said.

"Got it." Saito replied.

He remained motionless for several seconds before suddenly running as fast as he could in her direction. In less than three seconds, he was upon her and about to throw his first punch. She did not move and her face did not change.

As his fist was about to make contact with her face, she calmly raised her right hand. Seemingly without effort, she stopped him in his tracks. His eyes widened with surprise, and the next thing he knew, she threw him back across the field into the dense trees.

He was in a lot of pain. When he opened his eyes and looked up, Sasha was standing above him, looking down at him with the same, slightly sad and bored expression she always had. She kicked him back across the field, making him cough up a bit of blood.

Again, when he opened his eyes, she stood above him. He was prepared to feel the hateful feeling of being thrown one hundred yards in the other direction. However, she instead helped him to his feet.

"I believe our match is over." She said. "You are injured. I will have doctors attend to your wounds."

"It's fine. I'll be healed by tomorrow afternoon." He said, feeling defeated.

She looked at him for a few seconds, then helped him back to her cabin, letting him lean on her as they walked. The whole way down the hill, he was staring at her. He couldn't believe that someone so gentle looking and beautiful could be so powerful.

When they arrived, he sat on one of her chairs as she prepared them a snack. He looked down at his hands. When he thought about it, he didn't know very much in the way of fighting when he wasn't using a weapon. However, what bothered him most of all was Sasha's sheer physical strength.

"Are all Elves that strong?" He asked.

"No. I doubt there are many elves who could fight you. Perhaps our Generals could hold their own, but even they do not have the same physical strength that you possess." She said.

"Then how did you get so strong?" Saito asked.

"I was experimented on by Brimir." She said, bluntly. "It's also how I became Gandalfr. He lied to me. However, the secret to most of my strength lies elsewhere. However, that story is for another time."

As she said this, it was the first time Saito heard the feeling of pain in her voice.

"I'm sorry." He said. "About Brimir.

"Don't be." She replied. "His experiments backfired on him. They gave me the power to eventually kill him."

She gave him a plate of soft cakes. They had several flavors of fruit and were perfectly sweet. He ate them silently for a little while as he thought about everything that was happening.

"I'll need you training." Saito finally said. "The humans may be at war soon. Louise and I might be able to change the war's outcome."

"Your current abilities are sufficient for dealing with any humans you may face. Besides, it is best to train the girl first. If she can focus her powers, she will be a strong ally to you." She said.

"I understand." Saito said.

They finished eating their snacks a few minutes later. As Saito helped her clean up, he remembered the dream he had before arriving to Sasha's kingdom.

"Hey, if I may ask, where are your sons?" He said.

"They currently reside in the human world." She replied.

"I met them in a dream." He continued.

"Interesting." She said. "They were always fond of dramatic introductions."

"I thought this kingdom was supposed to be for elves." He said. "Or at least, that's the impression I got from them."

"It was originally meant to be for elves." She explained. "However, we soon began taking in those who were survivors of Brimir's genocide. We allowed them to live here. They became so integrated into society, that we just decided to make it a kingdom for all. The term 'kingdom' also seemed to stick, although we have no king."

"I see." Saito responded.

"Would you like a tour of the kingdom?" She said.

"I do not think the people like me." He said. "I doubt it would do any good for you to be seen with me."

"You are probably correct." She replied. "It is getting late anyway. Perhaps you should go back to your fiancé."

"You're probably right." He said.

He stood up and bowed towards her. "Thank you for having me."

"Of course." She said.

He left the cabin and made his way towards Helen's palace. He was in quite a lot of pain, so he could only move about half as fast as he normally could. Still, it took him about an hour to arrive, at which point it had become dark outside.

He slowly made his way upstairs. When he was outside the bedroom door, he heard what to him sounded like screaming. He immediately assumed the worst and ran into the room. However, he found that there was, indeed, screaming. But it was Louise having a pillow fight with the maids. He watched them laughing together, utterly dumbfounded. After a few minutes, Louise noticed him staring at them with a look of disbelief.

"Welcome back, Saito!" She said, smiling at him.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We were just having fun." She said as she walked towards him.

When she got closer, she noticed that he had several bruises. "What happened to you?" She asked.

"I just sparred with Sasha for a little bit." He said. "I'll be fine."

"That's no good." She said.

She looked at one of the maids she was playing with. "Could you please fetch him some medicine?"

"Right away, ma'am." She said. She quickly left the room, while the other maids wrapped Saito in bandages.

After they all attended to his wounds, they left Saito and Louise alone in their room. Saito laid down on the bed and thought about the day. About what Sasha had said about Louise. He couldn't help but keep staring at her belly.

"Hey Louise." He finally said. "Do you feel strange at all?"

"Strange?" She replied. "Strange how?"

"I don't know." He said. "Does anything feel abnormal or different in any way?"

"I suppose I've been really hungry lately. Why?" She asked.

Saito cursed under his breath when she told him that. "No reason. Just something Sasha told me to look out for."

Louise sat on Saito's lap, seemingly making herself look seductive on purpose. She leaned her lips close to his left ear and spoke in a soft, quiet voice.

"Saito, we're engaged. You don't have to hide anything from me." She said.

The feeling of her breath on his ear made his heart jump. He thought about how he should tell her what Sasha said. After a split second of contemplation, he decided that it would probably be best to just tell her in a straightforward manner.

"Well, you really want to know?" He asked.

"Yeah. How bad can it be?" She said.

"Fine, you asked for it." He said. "She told me that you are pregnant."

His immediate reaction was to turn his face away in fear. He waited for anxiously for her reaction. After about a minute of silence, he looked back at her with a face of confusion and fear. Her face was completely blank.

Saito waited patiently for her to say something. A few seconds later, she suddenly started laughing. Saito was confused. He had expected a much more…violent reaction. She left extremely hard for several minutes until tears began to form in her eyes.

"I thought so…" She finally said.

"What?" Saito replied, both scared and confused. "What do you mean?"

"Helen stopped by earlier and started asking me all sorts of questions." She explained. "She asked me if I could smell things more than usual. If my stomach hurt. If I was very hungry lately. Then she suddenly just told me that…I was."

"They have to be making a mistake…" He said.

He thought silently for a few seconds, then his eyes lit up as he had an idea. "World door!" He suddenly said.

"What?" Louise asked.

"You need to create a world door to my world! We have ways to test pregnancy there!" He said, holding her shoulders.

"I'm not very good at making them yet." She explained. "I've had no time to practice lately"

"Louise, don't you want to know whether or not we'll have a baby?" He asked her. It was probably the only manipulative thing he'd done in his life.

"Okay…" She conceded, after a few moments of thought.

She raised her wand and closed her eyes. Her only thought was of opening a gate to Saito's world. Eventually, a bright oval appeared in front of them. Through it, Saito could see parts of Tokyo that he recognized.

"Keep the portal open." He said as he jumped through it. "I'll be right back."

He wrapped his tail around his waist and covered it with his shirt. He then disappeared into the maze of tall buildings. Louise looked through the portal, enchanted by the various sights, sounds, and smells she was experiencing. In the sky, there was only a single, white moon. All of the buildings shined with flashing colors on large screens. The smell of cars and various food was in the air. She would have jumped in herself, but only about three minutes after leaving, Saito returned.

He was holding several paper boxes with what was, to Louise, strange writing. Saito explained that it was a pregnancy test. If she was pregnant for as long as Sasha had said, then there would be a large chemical change in her body. The test would pick it up and they'd have their answer. He explained to her how the test worked, then handed her the boxes.

"I got several of them so that we'd have a definite answer." He said. "I'll leave you to it."

He left the room and sat on a sofa downstairs. A look of fatigue and defeat was written all over his face. All of the maids arrived before him and bowed.

"We apologize for our disrespect earlier. You look down. Is there something you need?" They all said.

"Don't apologize." He replied. "I'm just tired, that's all. You guys can stop working now. I'll be fine."

"Thank you, master Saito." They said, before giddily running upstairs.

"Please give Louise a few moments." He said to them. "She's um, doing something. You can play with her when she's done."

They all nodded and kept going upstairs. He waited downstairs for several minutes, soon becoming bored.

"Maybe getting twenty tests was overkill." He thought to himself.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Louise came downstairs holding them all in her arms. She laid them down on a table in front of Saito.

"I can't read what it says." She said.

"I probably shouldn't have gotten the ones with screens, huh?" He said to himself.

He picked one up and looked at the little black and white screen that read their result. His face turned white when he read the first one. In bold, Japanese characters, the word 'positive' was written on the little screen. He hastily looked through each and every one of them, and they all looked back at him with the same message.

His face was motionless, with his eyes twitching slightly. Just as Louise was going to ask what they said, he fainted onto the floor. She deduced that this must mean that the tests were positive. She lifted him back onto the sofa, slightly amused at his reaction.

After a few minutes, he woke up. He looked very tired and gazed into nothingness. For several minutes, they were completely silent as he stared up at the roof. Louise started to become quite afraid of what might be going on in his head.

"Saito..?" She finally said. "Are you mad?"

He didn't say anything for a few seconds. Eventually, and much to her surprise, he pulled her into a hug. He held her tightly, as if she would somehow disappear and leave him. Eventually, after several minutes, he let her go.

"Sorry." He said. "I'm not mad. I'm really happy."

"I thought you didn't want this." She said.

"It's not that I didn't want it to happen." He explained. "I just didn't want to put both you and a baby in danger. But, I guess I did kind of let this happen."

"I'm glad." Louise said, rubbing her stomach.

Saito put his hand on hers, wanting to feel her belly. They sat together for a long time, feeling a great amount of love for the other. However, their thoughts were entirely different. While Louise was thinking of how she wanted to raise the baby, Saito was thinking about how he was going to protect Louise and now his baby in the coming years. Especially the next few months, due to Germania's threats.

"I want you to stay here if Germania goes to war." He said.

"I'm going to fight with you." She said, stubbornly.

"I can't afford to have you get hurt." He replied.

"I won't get hurt. I promise." She said.

"Sasha wants to help you control your magic." He said. "I think you should let her teach you if you want to fight."

"I understand." She said. "I don't want to be helpless. A mother has to protect her baby, after all."

Saito gave her a kiss and stood up. "I'm going to get stronger too. You don't have to worry." He said. "The maids are waiting. You should play with them."

She nodded and ran upstairs. Saito could hear them chattering together. With more pressure on him now than before, he decided to go on a walk onto one of the frozen lakes. He could see the reflection of the stars on the ice of the lake.

He sat on the ice and looked at the sky. He was happy, of course, that she was pregnant, but it created another set of problems. After he solved Halkeginia's problems, he would have to take her to meet his parents. Explaining that she was pregnant to her own parents would be an ordeal in itself, but telling his own parents could be suicide.

"You're going to be a father, Partner. I'm happy for you." Derf said.

"Thanks." Saito said. "I guess now I have two things to protect."

"It's been nice to see you grow up." Derf said. "I thought you were a total loser when I met you."

"Wow, that makes me feel better." Saito said, sarcastically.

"I'm serious." Derf said. "You've grown into quite the respectable man."

"Thanks." Saito said. "I assume you want to be returned back to Sasha? She's the one who created you and you spent a lot of time with her."

"To be honest, I've thought about it." Derf said. "I suppose I do belong to her, but what would you do without me, eh?"

Saito was silent for a while. "How did Sasha even make you?"

"She used a type of Elven magic." Derf said.

"I see. I really don't want to have to make another weapon." Saito said.

"If I can, I'd rather stay with you." Derf said. "You make life interesting."

Saito looked at Derf's blade. "I still have to figure out where this blade comes from." He said.

"That will have to wait." Derf said. "You have a lot more enemies to use it on before you can start worrying about its backstory."

At this moment, as if on cue, one of Eres's messengers landed in front of him.

"Human, the Council of Representatives has summoned you! Please come with me as fast as you can!" He said.

"As fast as I can, huh?" Saito said. "Sounds serious."

He grabbed the messenger by the collar and, within a few seconds, arrived at the Council's building. The messenger was out of breath and shocked from the experience. Saito left him outside and made his way to the room where he met the four council members. They were sitting in their usual seats, waiting for his arrival. He got on one knee and bowed towards them.

"I was told you wanted to see me." He said, looking at the ground.

"Yes." Sasha said. "We have some news from our scouts in the human world."

"Please tell me." Saito said.

The words she spoke next pierced him like a knife through his heart. He had just experienced the happiest moment in his life with Louise, and now it was followed by news he wasn't expecting to hear this early. He looked up at the council members as he contemplated Sasha's words.

"The humans are at war.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I planned on posting this chapter yesterday and…I forgot. So sorry about that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There will probably be one every day for the next week. See you next time! Take care!