Author's Notes:

Rejoice! My problems with posting chapters have been fixed! I will be able to post chapters more reliably now. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy chapter 43!

Chapter 43: Life

Three weeks passed since Vindobona fell and the war was won for the allied powers. The allies temporarily controlled the nation to prevent anymore violence, and had called for the people to decide on a new form of government, or a new royal family.

They had explained that Albrecht's family was innocent and should not be harmed, so many of the people wanted his wife, Augusta, to become queen, as she was known as a gentle person and had historically been very adamant on putting the people's well being above the well being of the country. She was also extremely beautiful, with silky black hair, bold red eyes, and luscious lips. With her considerable bust and tall height, many of the men in Germania lusted after her, while the women wished they looked like her.

Albrecht children, Hermann who was six and Friedrich who was three, were also beloved by the nation, so having their mother as Queen was very appealing. They were both very handsome, inheriting their mother's hair and eyes. Even as small children, the people knew they would be blessed with excellent looks.

After three weeks of debates and collecting votes, Augusta was elected as the new Empress of Germania. Before even going to her coronation ceremony, she asked for a meeting between herself and the other leaders. It did not take long for the meeting to take place, as they were all nearby the city while the elections took place.

They met together in a large dining hall within the royal palace. A large banquet was laid out for them, perhaps as an attempt by the newly crowned empress to buy their forgiveness.

"I'm sorry for bothering you." She said.

"We are pleased to meet with Germania's new leader." Louise replied.

"How may we assist you?" Wales asked.

"I would like you to show me the treaty that you showed Albrecht." She replied. "It is only fair for each of your respective nations to be rewarded appropriately for your losses during the war."

Wales pulled a rolled up paper from a pocket inside his coat and handed it to Augusta. For several minutes, she looked over it, thinking about how its terms could affect the country.

"I suppose these terms are fair, but I request that Germania be allowed to keep its capital city." She replied.

"Of course." Wales replied. "I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we will help to rebuild Germania."

The other leaders all nodded in agreement.

"Thank you very much." Augusta said. "I don't know how I can repay the families who lost loved ones during the war, so hopefully, making the citizen's lives better will help fill the holes in their hearts."

"You'll do just fine." Louise said. "Do be careful, though. I am sure there are groups of Germanians who remain loyal to Albrecht."

"I will remain careful. Thank you all very much." Augusta replied. "You are welcome to stay in Germania for as long as you wish."

"Thank you very much." Charlotte replied.

"Louise, is your husband not joining us today?" Augusta asked.

Everyone stiffened when they heard that question. They never dared to mention Saito since the war ended. They knew it was a minefield to even mention his name, so they did their best to ignore the fact that he was absent. Fearfully, they all found ways to disappear without being noticed.

"He…can't join us." Louise said, very obviously feeling a complex mixture of emotions. "He was hurt during the war."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Augusta replied. "I was unaware."

"It's okay, your highness." Louise said. "He's alive, that's what's important."

"Thank god." Augusta sighed in relief. "I see you've already thought about the future of your household."

"I suppose." Louise said. "I'm slightly worried about how safe it will be to have a child at this point."

"Well, it seems that you're beyond the point of being capable of stopping it. You might as well enjoy the experience." Augusta said.

"Aren't you afraid of people coming after your kids?" Louise asked.

"The threat is there, but if I do my duty as a mother, there is no reason for harm to come to them." Augusta replied, preparing to leave to the balcony where her coronation would take place.

Louise watched as she held her children's hands and walked away towards the balcony. She got lost in her thoughts as she imagined walking through her own palace holding the small hands of a child close to her. She snapped out of it when a guard told her that it was time for the leaders to gather on the balcony and crown Augusta as Empress. She took a deep breath, then ran to the balcony to begin the ceremony.

In Sasha's House

Saito lay on Sasha's bed, unconscious for four weeks straight. Mariel and Sasha had spent the entire time monitoring his condition. As Sasha cooked herself food, Mariel ran through her door, panting as if she had run a long distance.

"Make yourself presentable, older sister." Sasha said.

"Little sister, I have some news!" Mariel said.

"What is it?" Sasha asked, irritated at her older sister's refusal to calm down.

"I took a sample of the magic that his body is producing and took it back to my lab in the mountain!" Mariel replied.

"You told me that already. What is your news?" Sasha said.

"When I took it to the mountain, it fused with the magic that the mountain already contains." Mariel said, finally catching her breath.

"And what is strange about that?" Sasha asked.

"The only magic that could fuse with the mountain is that of the god of time's counterpart." Mariel said. "This boy and his dragon somehow have magic that this world hasn't seen in over ten thousand years."

"It could be a fluke. The only other mortal whose magic was capable of working with that of Tempus was Brimir and even then, it was magic he stole. He never told me how he acquired it." Sasha said.

"It's not a fluke. I'm sure you've noticed how similar this magic is to that which Brimir used during his conquest. I suggest we test Louise's dragon when she comes back." Mariel replied.

"Louise is facing a lot of stress at the moment." Sasha said, sipping her tea. "Let it rest until her child is born and she is healthy again."

"Very well, but we must address this quickly." Mariel said.

"It's not like Brimir is alive." Sasha replied. "The boy seems to have a good heart, so we may have nothing to worry about."

"If you say so, little sister." Mariel replied. "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about regarding her child."

"We must watch the child closely, yes." Sasha said.

"That child will possess immense power." Mariel said. "With Saito incapacitated, Louise will be in danger from anyone who knows about her pregnancy. I want permission to watch over her in the human world."

"Making your presence known in the human world is forbidden. You know that, older sister." Sasha replied.

"Even if it's forbidden, family must look after each other." Mariel said. "I would love to have her live with us and raise her child here, but she is a leader with responsibility to govern her people. If I cannot protect her here, I will protect her in her own world."

"I get the rather strong feeling that my opinion will not sway you." Sasha said. "If that's the case, please do your best to protect her, older sister."

"Of course." Mariel said. "Please take care of things here while I'm gone. I'll make sure no one knows I'm there, so don't worry."

Sasha nodded and gave Mariel a hug in a rare expression of emotion. Mariel hugged her back, feeling both happy and sad that she'd be leaving for quite some time. They remained in a hug for more than a minute, with neither one wanting to let go.

After some more time passed, Mariel pulled herself away and kissed Sasha's forehead. Sasha kissed Mariel's cheek, with her own cheeks turning red. Mariel smiled at her, then departed to prepare for her trip.

In Louise's 'Palace'

Three turbulent months passed since Augusta was made Empress of Germania. As was expected, there were several groups who were opposed to her rule, although there had not been any attempts on her life.

Louise sat at a desk behind a mountain of paperwork. She was currently using the large mansion that she, Saito, Alex, and Shion went to as a temporary palace until her official one was built. She was becoming increasingly exhausted, both from the stress of running her now rather large country, and from the baby that she was carrying with her.

It was already nearly a year since she was unknowingly made pregnant, and her belly was now quite large. As she worked non-stop on her paperwork, she eventually became too tired and decided to rest her weary head. As she laid on her bed, one of her newly acquired guards knocked on her door.

"Come in." She said.

Because of the armor that Louise had her soldiers and guards wear, it was impossible to deduce anything about their features. Even their gender was unknown unless they spoke. Of course, with Louise's power, she was easily able to identify people by both their looks and the feeling of their magic.

"Your Highness, a message has been sent for you from Her Majesty Augusta." The guard said, bowing towards her. Louise instantly saw that it was a woman, but didn't recognize their magic from any of her palace guards.

"What is this message?" She asked.

"Augusta's soldiers have identified a secret underground room they believe was created by Albrecht." The guard said. "However, they are unable to get into this room as it is surrounded by several layers of metal."

"Can any mages manage to break through the metal?" She replied.

"No, Your Highness." The guard said.

"I see. Please thank Ms. Augusta for this information." She said.

"Of course, Your Majesty." The guard replied.

"I have not seen you here before. Were you transferred here from another country?" Louise asked.

"Hm, I suppose you could say that." The guard said.

"Remove your helmet, please." Louise said.

The guard remained still, but rather hesitantly removed their helmet. It was a fair skinned woman with dark brown eyes and blonde hair braided into a single pony tail.

"So beautiful. It's a shame that you're forced to wear a helmet." Louise said.

"Ah, it doesn't bother me." The woman replied. "Will that be all, l-I mean…Your Highness."

"Yes. Please rest for the rest of the day." Louise said.

"One more thing, if I may." The woman said. "Your child will be born soon. When that day comes, we will need a lot of security to make sure both of you are safe."

"Yes, you're right." Louise said, taking some time to think about it. "I will handle that matter."

"Well, I suggest we put you in a safe place right now." The woman said. "Your child will be born within the next two months. Anything could happen in that time."

"You know an awful lot about this kind of thing." Louise said. "Do you have children of your own?"

"Somewhere out there, yes I do." The woman said. "Please, go somewhere safe. Just in case."

"Very well. If you insist." Louise said.

Feeling satisfied, the woman walked away, closing the door behind her. Louise laid back on her bed and looked at the ceiling. She now couldn't wait for the child to be born. Not only because she was just happy to have a son or daughter, but because she wanted the anxiety of the past year to disappear.

"Not much longer now…" She thought to herself.

Her thoughts then turned to the fact that Saito wouldn't be there to support her during this time. She had already received dozens of letters from random lords and dukes throughout Halkeginia who, because of a lack of Saito's presence, had assumed that either he and Louise split up or that he was dead.

Either way, each of them sought to gain power by marrying Louise. Of course, Louise had rejected every one of their proposal. Most of them simply accepted their rejection, but some others were more adamant in expressing their desires, going so far as to personally visit her at her own palace. When she would tell them to leave, they would simply refuse to until she either hurt them with her magic, or called guards to detain them.

Eventually, she imposed a ban on unscheduled visits to her palace so that the harassment would stop. All of this added onto the already catastrophically high levels of stress she was experiencing from having to govern a newly formed nation. She had to create a system to allow Germanians who now lived in her new territory to gain citizenship, move funds to different parts of the nation's growing budget, and sort out her much larger military.

After resting for a little while longer, she decided to think of a place where she could have her child in safety. Having the baby underground was out of the question. There was no particular reason she was against it, but it was a revolting idea for her. After several hours of thought, she chose to have her child on an island off the coast of her country. It was covered with a dense forest and lacked any form of human civilization.

She had her soldiers and mages begin constructing a stone structure on the island where she and her doctors could be alone when the time came. Because mages were helping to build the castle, it ended up only taking two weeks to complete.

When it was complete, she and a group of a dozen doctors and a dozen mages entered the castle. It was effectively a large room surrounded by stone. Inside, there was a large, comfortable bed. The room was lit by several candles and had boxes of dried food for whenever Louise became hungry.

Outside, hundreds of soldiers patrolled the island while dozens of ships sailed in the seas that surrounded it. On the coast of the nation, several artillery units and thousands of soldiers lined the beaches, making sure that anyone who requested passage to the island posed no threat to Louise.

Inside, Louise laid on her bed and began her paperwork again. Doctors monitored her condition every hour, making sure her heart rate was normal and she had no abnormalities in her behavior. For weeks, this cycle continued.

One day, as she was having her heartrate checked by her doctors, she suddenly began feeling strange. Her heartrate began to increase and her breathing became shallow. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her body. Her doctors were forced to hold her down as her arms and legs flailed violently.

"Breath, Your Majesty!" The doctors said.

Still in excruciating pain, she took in several deep breaths. Realizing what was happening, she began her several hour-long ordeal of giving birth.

In Saito's head

Saito had spent the past several months conversing with Gandalfr about an array of subjects from war to relationships. In their discussions, Saito learned that Gandalfr once fell in love with a human woman. Gandalfr quickly changed the subject as soon as he realized that he had let this secret slip. Ever since then, Saito had bothered him about the subject every day.

"Come on. At least tell me her name." Saito said.

"I'm not going to tell you, so stop asking." Gandalfr replied, lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Ughhhh, fine." Saito sighed.

He was about to ask Gandalfr another question, but his heart suddenly felt heavy. He dropped to his knees in pain, wondering what was happening. As he rolled around in pain, he heard the sound of screaming in his ears.

He quickly recognized the voice as that of Louise, making the experience doubly worse. For hours, he felt unbearable pain in his heart, bringing him to tears. After more than five hours, the pain finally subsided.

His breathing was heavy as he recovered from the pain. After several minutes of lying motionless on the ground beneath him, he got up to ask Gandalfr about what happened.

"What was that?" He asked, still breathing heavily.

"Your body is fine, so I'm not sure. Did you see or hear anything?" Gandalfr asked.

"I heard Louise screaming. She must be in danger!" Saito exclaimed with fear.

"Relax. She is alive." Gandalfr said. "I can sense her magic even from here."

"Then what happened?" Saito asked.

"I sense three other powerful sources of magic around her. Her magic is now calm, so I assume they are friendly." The beast said.

"Thank god." Saito said. "I wonder what that was…"

On Louise's Island

Louise, bathed in sweat, panted on her bed with exhaustion. She was pale and felt very weak. Despite this, she was extremely happy as the same blonde woman she had met before brought two small beings that were wrapped in blankets into her arms.

When she moved the blankets aside, she saw the faces of two small human beings, with their little hands curled up in front of their faces. Tears welled up in Louise's eyes as she heard them cooing in her arms.

"Congratulations, little sister." The blonde woman said, wearing a wide smile on her face.

"Little sister?" Louise asked, weakly.

"Sorry! I mean your Majesty!" The woman said.

"Little sister?" Louise asked again.

The woman, seemingly defeated, sighed and looked into Louise's eyes. The woman closed her eyes as a bright aura of magic surrounded her. When it disappeared, her hair had turned black and her eyes turned emerald green, while pointed ears poked out from her hair.

"Mariel?" Louise said.

"I was worried about you, so I had to see you." Mariel said.

"It's good to see you." Louise said. "But I thought it was forbidden for you or anyone else from that place to come here."

"It is forbidden, but I wanted to be here for you, so I broke the rules." Mariel replied. "Sasha will probably give me a lecture whenever I get back."

"Thanks for coming." Louise said, smiling quite weakly.

"One is a boy and one is a girl. What will you name them?" Mariel asked, looking down at the two small faces in Louise's arms.

"I won't name them until Saito is back." Louise said. "I want him to feel proud that he named his own kids."

"You're such a good wife." Mariel said, rubbing Louise's forehead. "If you need help caring for them, you can ask me."

Louise looked down at the babies in her arms and was surprised to see that their eyes had opened. One featured vividly purple eyes, with their iris having a thin orange band around them. The other had equally bright and vivid reddish-pink eyes.

Both of their eye glowed brightly in the dimly lit room, making some of the doctor concerned. Of course, that was not all that bothered them. Both of the children had long tails that glowed brightly like Saito's, but whose color corresponded to the children's eye color. Louise hadn't seen their tails yet since they were wrapped in blankets. Louise cradled them back and forth until they eventually fell asleep.

"Ma'am, we are concerned about your children." One of the doctors said. "They've been born with…abnormalities."

"They're fine." Louise replied. "They're just like their father."

Author's Notes

Sorry for the late chapter. I've been spending the past few days trying to decide how to go about the next arc, which deals with the Ancient Dragon. I just decided that since I'm having a hard time figuring it out, I'll let you guys send in some ideas. Do you want it long or short? Similar to the canon, or different in some way? Send me a PM and let me know. Thanks for reading!