I couldn't have planned this better - the twin's birth published on my birthday :) This may also sound like an end but I can't leave you hanging with the introduction of a new character.

The giggles didn't fade as Black Star entered the kitchen but they started to trickle to nothing as he funneled the other boys in, dejected faces in bright juxtaposition to the twittering.

"What's this?" Patty was instantly leaning into Black Star and he caught her, wrapping a playful arm around her waist.

"These idiots let me down while I was gone, so obvious punishment is kitchen work," he scoffed. "They have to learn that if the captain of their guard is out saving a damn princess that they should be training twice as hard instead of jackshit."

Patty batted away his arm, getting in a quick tap to his face before scurrying back over to her sister. "Oh, and please, tell us, how much saving did you do? Liz was saying-"

"You all know better than to let anyone else tell a story," Black Star crowed. "Not to mention Liz was living it up at Marie's while I was taking care of the princess."

"Living it up," Liz scoffed. "And are you trying to insinuate our princess is difficult?"

While the next insult would normally easily come to his mouth it was Tsubaki's eyes that derailed him, the first time he'd let theirs meet since he'd come home. It was an utter mistake, a complete miscalculation and all of his congratulations of skill were fluttering away with each bat of her eyelashes. Black Star had to force air from his throat, making it scrape and clear away the tightness. "I didn't come here to entertain you, though. Just dropping off these idiots since you all should be preparing for the feast, shouldn't you? And I need to see Soul-"

"Oh, no, you don't," Kim was waggingly a finger in his direction. "It's the first time they've been alone in weeks, so leave them be for at least an hour."

"Honestly, she's already pregnant," Liz huffed.

"Liz," Tsubaki chided.

"That's right," Black Star warbled weakly with a sigh. "You act like you don't need a roll just as much as she does." The girls all gasped but it quickly fell into giggles, making Black Star huff again as he waved the boys over to the table. "Will you take them already? And shouldn't you get started? Again, the Queen expects a feast tonight and you're all gossiping instead."

"Fine, fine," Liz groaned as if getting from the seat meant leaving a strip of skin behind. "Come along, boys, I guess it's dough-making for the lot of you." Patty followed quickly, grasping Kim's hand and yanking her along. Tsubaki was the last, offering him a barely enough glance before she took a step to join the train.

Black Star grabbed her wrist and she brought a devastating smile to greet him. "Since I'm disallowed from seeing the prince, I might as well ask what needs to be done here."

"You're probably tired," Tsubaki offered back softly.

He scoffed at it as he wrinkled his nose. "The last thing you need to do is treat me like I'm soft."

"I didn't say soft," Tsubaki warned as she shook her head. "But when's the last time you had a good night's sleep?"

"Wasn't really planning on getting much sleep tonight." It was a mutter but as the pink hit her cheeks he could barely contain the volume of the rest. "That's not what I meant. Just, between the two of them, Soul or Maka, it's always some damn trouble and I'm the only one to save their asses. And with her pregnant like she is…" he sighed with abject futility.

She was easing her wrist out of his grip but not without letting her fingertips slip over his. "Has she been alright?"

"No," he answered back sharply and tried to shake his head of it, tossing aside the memories but finding them stuck like tar, "but between you and all the other girls and Soul as long as he keeps his act together she should be fine."

"And you," Tsubaki offered with a laugh.

"Last thing she needs is me," he scoffed.

"She said you made her laugh," Tsubaki answered gently, the furrow of her brow forcing him to melt a little further as that wrinkle left him perplexingly enamored.

"Like I'm some sort of fool," he murmured, meaning for it to snap but finding his words weak in reply to her stare.

Tsubaki shook her head but he couldn't tell with what since that smile was still tilting her lips. "Get some rest, won't you?"

As she turned away he felt his gut churn, words left unsaid on his tongue for just this once.

It was the pure exhaustion of being passed around all night, the center of attention that wasn't exactly the center, more just a vessel. So when Maka collapsed in bed that night after Soul's sweet love and the unending line of congratulatory strangers, a dark veil of sleep took her soundly, even blanketing the movement of the babies enough that they barely stirred. While he would never say he was just as drained, Soul's eyelids drooped heavily but he watched her sleep all the same, his eyes lazily trailing from her face to the swell. It seemed as if he'd only shut his eyes for a moment, but the sun was already starting to blare through the window as Black Star woke him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Get up," he muttered.

Soul narrowed his eyes momentarily at Black Star before looking back at Maka, watching her still sunken in slumber. He sighed before sliding out from between the sheets. By the time he was standing, Black Star was tossing him a shirt and starting for the door, Soul barely trailing behind as he threw the clothing over his head. As soon as he'd whispered the door shut behind him, Soul rushed to play catch up, getting shoulder to shoulder with Black Star. "What is it?"

"Someone's here. Never seen him before. Asked for an audience with your father so I thought…" Black Star let that trail off with a shrug.

Soul was running possibilities, dangerous scenarios pitter-pattering across his brain. "He didn't announce himself?"

"Refused," Black Star snorted. "Looks kind of like a lord though. Could be one of those northerners looking for more help than we gave. Who knows. Just seems a little strange. He started rearranging the candlesticks."

All Soul could do was shake his head, hoping that quirks would be the most he'd have to deal with today. They were practically to the hall when the steward stopped their forward motion. "My prince, the priestess is here for the princess."

"Shit," Soul muttered. "Hey, go wake her, will you?"

"Me?" Black Star balked, "Since when am I your servant?"

"She was saying that she was planning on talking to you anyway," Soul offered back with a grin that made Black Star cringe.

"That woman, I swear," Black Star grumbled.

"You swear your loyalty? Your undying fealty and protection?" Soul continued to let his smirk grow as the opposite plagued Black Star's face. "She's going to wear you down one way or another."

"I see whose side you're on." If the steward hadn't been so close Black Star probably would have knocked him one and Soul's face said he knew it. "Fine. Princess duty yet again." He had technically wanted to stay, to study that odd man a little more but even with Soul's grin he could practically taste the apprehension coming off him. Black Star started quickly away back down the road they'd come together, cursing in the back of his head for not waking Maka with Soul. Instead, he'd had some stupid idea that she deserved her rest, some sweet kind of notion - disgusting really - that maybe she should be pampered for once instead of dragged into every last problem.

He huffed, not from lack of breath, as he reached the hallway before their room. There was a threat to slow his steps, to dawdle in that absurd feeling from before when he heard the shout. Black Star was there just as the guards opened the door, gliding effortlessly between them to be the first on the scene, ready for another fight but finding nothing but Maka standing at the desk, her hands clenched into the back of the chair. "What is it?" Black Star let the annoyance saturate his voice as he moved towards her just in time to practically slip on the floor, his boots catching in a mess of liquid. "What the hell? Did you drop the fucking basin?"

"That's my water, you idiot," she hissed through clenched teeth before it crumbled into another groan as she dug her grip harder into the chair.

"Oh, shit," Black Star croaked and for a moment he was gone, brain useless as his eyes moved between the puddle and her snapped jaw. Her next helpless yelp finally cinched everything together, Black Star's head turning to the men in the doorway. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for, dummies? Get the fucking priestess up here now and tell Prince Soul his little meeting is over with."

The room was empty besides the strange man working his fingers over the arrangement of candles, moving them mere millimeters one way or the other with soft grunts to accompany each unsatisfactory shift. Soul paused for a moment on the threshold, giving into a momentary need to appraise the man that couldn't be that much older than himself, lithe to the point of almost scrawniness. "Who are you?"

The man jumped but was only off-guard for a breath's worth of time before turning smoothly to Soul. What he thought was black hair turned to white in strange stripes across his forehead, glowing yellow eyes unblinking in his direction. "You must be the prince."

"Soul," he nodded sharply, "but again, who are you?"

"I'm Kid," he offered without an ounce of flourish.

Soul paused, waiting for some kind of pedigree to trail after but all he could do was let his eyebrows furrow as nothing came. "Look, if you're some northern lord-"

"I'm not," Kid returned simply. "Or, technically, I am a Lord but that's not the capacity I'm here in so let's not bother with it. I'm actually surprised. I assumed I wouldn't be allowed to meet with you."

"Why's that?" Soul tried to lean nonchalantly in the doorway but his muscles were still clamped tightly, eyes trying desperately to untangle the cool on Kid's face.

"You were ill, weren't you? Some mysterious sickness that earned you the interesting nickname of the Sullen Prince," all of this was displayed with a dry categorizing that made Soul feel bare. "That is until those absurd marriage games that took the countryside by storm where a particular common-girl who'd been miraculously elevated stole the show to win your heart and your bed." None of the words came with dynamic storytelling, less of a bedtime tale and more a laundry list. "The origins of that common-girl have been much discussed-"

"If it's Princess Maka you have a problem with you can excuse yourself right now," Soul barely kept that from a hiss, leaving it as a low rumble in his chest. "Leave, don't come back, or I'll-"

"Not a problem," Kid cut him off sharply. "But I wonder if she's told you who her mother is, who her father is, and why that would bring me."

Soul chewed that over, teeth grinding until his jaw ached. "Her mother's a witch-hunter, her father a soldier."

"Technically both witch-hunters in their own right," Kid answered cooly, "which makes her one by default, or at least that was the plan. That's why she was allowed to live with Stein after he'd asked for permission from the council."

"What council?" Soul snapped.

"The Great Old Ones, but that's not important," Kid wiped away the thought with a hand but couldn't snatch it from Soul's mind.

"It is important when you're trying to say they decided my wife's fate," he hissed.

"Decided is a harsh word, maybe guided," he corrected nonchalantly. "But you, your sickness, plus Maka's power has created an interesting conundrum, hence why I'm here. Stein said-"

"Stein talked to you?" Soul balked.

"He's one of us, too," Kid answered with a shrug. "Partners with her father before her mother came around. She didn't tell you?"

"She told me," he spat, "but as far as I know she's not aware of some idiotic ancient order pulling strings and that the man she would consider a father was part of that."

Any of the anger in the room tumbled off of Kid's front, his expression of apathetic ease never changing. "Stein warned me that I should come for myself to see your children. I think I might be early, but-"

"My prince!" One of the breathless guards was in the doorway. "Black Star's requested you come to the princess."

Kid's eyebrows finally raised, "Looks like I'm right on time."

"My kids are none of your business," Soul snapped before pinning the guard to the stone. "You stay here with him. Don't let him move and don't say a fucking word about the princess." A thick gulp and a barely-there nod were all he got in return before Soul shot past the soldier. Each step was an eternity even though Soul's heart was racing without time. It's too early, isn't it? Too fucking early. She's how many weeks? I… I can't fucking remember but it has to be too early.

As he turned the corner at the top of the stairs he collided with Liz, eyes wide but smile still amiable. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"The babies," he pulled her close so the words only sputtered between the two of them. "I need you to get Kim, just in case, and don't, don't let anyone else know. Not my mother, not my father, not even another fucking guard in this hallway."

Liz's forehead wrinkled as she started to grip him back. "Kim? Why Kim? And why are we keeping this a secret? Wait-" Liz cut off to give herself time and space to balk. "You still think they're going to hurt her, don't you? That they could be-"

"We don't know," Soul growled back, "but I'm sure as hell not taking any chances. So Kim and then you, all of the girls, keeping everyone out of here, keeping it quiet, please." Liz allowed one more shake from him before she peeled away, still a little of the dumbfounded daze on her face as she hurried back down the stairs. Soul started on his way again but his rush turned into a run as soon as he heard the raised voices.

"I'm not looking!" Black Star bellowed.

"That's not the point," Maka blared back as Soul rounded the corner of the doorway. "Soul," he was hoping for some relief in her voice but it was practically a growl, "get Black Star out of here before I kill him."

Black Star, who had been standing tucked in the corner, his face practically to the stone, threw his head over his shoulder to Soul. "I was only going to fucking stay until you arrived but she got completely unhinged as soon as Mira got here."

Mira sent exasperated eyes Soul's way as he looked between the two of them. Soul got three steady footsteps in, just starting to reach for her with his hands and his soft voice, "Maka, I'm sure he was just-"

Maka's mouth opened but instead of the retort came nothing more than a guttural groan as she clutched into the back of the chair again.

"Her contractions are very close together." Mira's hands went from Maka's back to the table, starting to arrange vials and pull over the basin. "We'll need fresh towels but other than that I'm fairly sure we won't be waiting long. Oh, maybe some hot water for tea."

"Tea?" Black Star balked. "She's fucking screaming and you want tea?"

"She's bound to scream," and to punctuate Mira's mirthful answer Maka let out another low bellow. "And it won't be for me. It'll be for her, for when it's over. Between the exhaustion and the need to nurse the babies, she'll want it. So, Black Star, please, would you mind?"

Black Star huffed as he turned out of the corner to come shoulder to shoulder with Soul. He dropped his voice to a low whisper, "Do you need me to take care of that man?"

"His name is Kid," Soul sighed back, "and, no, not for now. I feel like we'll need to talk to him, but the babies are a little more important right now. Help the girls keep the peace outside."

That should have been enough and his feet should have been catapulting him forward but Black Star let a breath pass between them, his eyes going from Maka to Soul before he barely let the words eke off his lips. "The babies are important but so is she, right?"

"Of course," Soul muttered back. "Her life…"

"Yeah," Black Star nodded. "I'll be back. Right outside the door though."

"Thanks." Soul bumped a fist to Black Star's, both exchanging soft grins before the boys parted. "What can I do?" Without guidance as Maka moaned again his fingers went to her hair, smoothing it from her forehead and away from the sweat that had started.

Those green eyes hit him with jumbled desperation, forcing out a slow breath through her nose. "You can tell me it's going to be fine," she murmured as she clenched her jaw against another sound.

"And you can put this cloth to her head," Mira finished with a soft smile as she glided the basin across the table. "Make sure it stays cool."

"Got it." His fingers hurried in their instruction as he tried the best smile he could in the face of her another blood-curdling groan from her. "It's going to be better than fine," he murmured as he ran the cloth along her hairline, clearing each bead of sweat as he pushed back the errant strands. "They'll be perfect, just like Stein said." Say it again, say it a million more times, and make sure you smile while you say it because you don't believe it just yet yourself. He swallowed the bitterness of it and Maka only thought the wince as a reply to the way she let out another miserable sound as she leaned against the chair.

Kim finally entered, towels tucked under her arm and tea tray in the other as she hurried nervously to Mira's side. "I've never delivered babies before."

Mira offered her a small smile, "Another set of hands never hurts."

"Especially your hands, Kim," Soul gave her a sure nod before looking at Mira. "Please trust her with everything."

"Even though she's a witch?" Mira offered back with a nonchalant air that made Kim freeze mid-hand off of the towels.

"Yes," Maka muttered through her teeth.

"Your mother would certainly have something to say about that," Mira started softly.

"Which one of them is here?" Maka sent a determined look over her shoulder. "Kim could have left a million times while my mother could have stayed. And who is here?"

Mira didn't say another word, just nodding slowly as she turned a gentle gaze Kim's way. "Will you pull up her dress for me?"

"Yes!" Kim jumped to be of help, rolling Maka's gown up around her waist.

"Maka, you'll want to lean a little more, bend and bow your legs if you can," Mira started behind her, letting two gentle hands run to her hips to try to ease the position. "Stay just like that."

Soul made a point to concentrate on Maka's face rather than the strange puddle that he was starting to notice on the floor or the bundle her gown was in. "How do you feel?" he heard the stupidity of the question as he loosed it and watched the ill-humor take her face.

"Like I'm being torn apart, Soul," she growled. "And the fact that you didn't even bother to wake me this morning-" her voice cut as another rasping, grinding groan but as soon as it was through she was sucking in air again to continue, "is practically unforgivable, especially since I managed three steps before the babies made it very clear that today was the day." Soul could hear Kim and Mira chuckle in unison as Maka paused for another breath. "So what the hell was so important that the two of you snuck off without me?"

Soul sighed as he rang out the cloth again and pressed it to her burning cheeks. "There's a man here, Kid, he wanted to talk to my father but apparently it's more that he wanted to talk to me."

"A man or a kid?" Maka narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Kid is his name," Mira corrected from somewhere near the ground, obscured by Maka's skirts. "But you'll have to fight about this some other time. Maka, it's time to push."

"So you know him, too?" Soul rasped at Mira, almost threatening to look over the swell of cloth at Maka's back to see her.

"Later," Maka reminded him swiftly with a hand suddenly clenching tightly in his. "I know this is a stupid question, but are you sure, Mira? Now?"

"Do you want this to take longer?" Mira chuckled.

"No," Maka groaned. She slowed, taking a purposeful breath to fill her lungs as she desperately prayed for instinct to fill her.

Regardless of the panic electric in the room, Mira's voice came evenly without a hint of trembling. "Soul, take her dress from Kim, please. I'll need her hands."

His eyes left Maka's only long enough to replace Kim's hand, pulling up the fabric to the delicate curve of her back. There was a sickly wet sound, a splattering drip, and Soul just barely squeezed the terror from his eyes. "Maka-"

"Yes, Soul, it hurts," she snapped at him, "but that wasn't my guts. I'm fine."

"Good," he murmured tightly as he forced his other fingers back to their job, clearing hair and soothing the cloth over her face.

"Maka, push again."

Push, push, push, her mind rattled frantically but her body already seemed ahead of her and with another bolstered breath a second wave took her.

"Once more." Excitement was unmistakably twinkling in Mira's voice.

"You're doing amazing, Maka," Soul murmured to her and Maka could only nod quickly before sucking in air again.

This push rattled her, sending a strange weightlessness as a rush of blood seemed free in her veins. It was a desperately needed relief until the sound of Kim's gasp broke the quiet. "What is it?" Maka practically shrieked as she pulled in another breath. "Soul, the baby!"

His mind couldn't explain the hesitation, the way he wanted to just take in her face, for her to be the only thing he saw because of all the options that were waiting for him behind the gown. Soul swallowed dryly, it clattering through his throat rather than a smooth roll as he leaned to see Mira transferring the little thing to Kim's hands. As if it was nothing more than another one of his nightmares, the face was black, a thin veil of midnight strangling the baby's face. "Mira," he choked.

"It's fine," and those words came as if to describe the weather. "It's rare," she calmed Kim's trembling hand before reaching to the table for the knife and carefully sliced a shallow line over the membrane. "It's a caul. Technically good luck."

"And a sign of power," Kim whispered shakily.

"That, too," Mira nodded slowly as she peeled away the layer from the baby's face, letting a wild bray echo in the room. "But see? Perfectly fine and a boy at that."

"A boy." The relief rattled all the way to Maka's bones, only bolstered as Soul's lips touched softly to her forehead.

"And perfect," he reminded her as scarlet eyes met hers. "I thought for sure…"

"I know," Maka croaked, "but let's wait to celebrate until the second."

"Maka's right," Mira chimed before disappearing under Maka's skirt again. "Kim, wash our little prince and give him to his father, won't you?"

Now Soul's eyes wandered freely, watching as Kim rinsed the wriggling, crying little thing in the tepid water.

"Soul, it may sound strange, but take off your shirt before you take the baby."

"It does sound strange," Soul murmured almost incoherently, his mind still clinging to the little movements in the tub, the wailing that had sputtered down to little croaks.

"The warmth of your skin," Mira's voice was just as soothing, "and your heartbeat will calm him. Keep him still and good until Maka's ready."

"Alright…" His mind was still barely there but he tossed the washcloth back to the desk before fixing Maka's gown in place. He lost his shirt just in time to see Kim lift the baby out of the water, using a fresh towel to wipe away the last bit of detritus. The little body was tinier than Jason but as Kim moved the bundle to Soul's arms it eased to him as naturally as breathing. He let his son nuzzle to his chest, still tiny cries breaking from even tinier lips. Without much thought, he started to try to find that rhythm as Stein had instructed him weeks ago.

While Maka wanted to take her time to watch the moment, her body was still urging towards action. There was no rest, just another profound push upon each of Mira's instructions. Maybe it took longer because of the anticipation, the way that one in the world with the promise of a second left them all on edge, but Maka ticked away the minutes as she stared at Soul so utterly taken with his first son. It was relief in the sight of pain, surety blossoming in no way tenuously in her chest. If there was any last speck of doubt about them it drifted off especially as he ripped his eyes from the tiny face to look at hers, eyebrows suddenly furrowing at his neglected job. He went back to juggling her and the baby, dabbing the rewetting cloth to her forehead.

There was still no cry, even as Maka felt that final weight fall from her, and Soul peeked over her shoulder to see the same, a black face waiting to be freed. Mira was quicker this time, ripping the caul without a second thought as Kim cleared the rest away from the baby in the basin. "Another boy," Mira said with mirth and wonder.

"Two boys," Maka let out a long breath, trying to let the reality of it settle in her. "Wes and Crona. Our two sons."

"Wes and Crona," Soul echoed as he looked down at the little bundle in his arms.

"Why don't you help her to bed?" Mira asked gently as she easily scooped the baby from Soul's arms, leaving a strange emptiness to his fingers. He filled it with Maka, gently lifting her into his arms from the strained position at the chair before transferring her to the bed. He watched in dismay as there was still some staining to the sheets, a pale sheen to her face. "It's expected," Mira read the thought right off his face. "She'll bleed a little, obviously be tired, but nothing about that birth was strange."

"Nothing?" Soul narrowed his eyes at Mira. "Those… cauls you called them? The black, that wasn't strange?"

"Cauls I've seen before," Mira answered steadily as she brought the first boy to Maka, laying him gently on her chest. "Rare, like I said, but not unheard of and good luck at that. And, no, not black, that's a first, but we could have expected something like that."

Soul couldn't help the grimace but it dissipated as Maka reached for him, her warmly burning fingers trailing his chest. "They're both fine, Soul. Look at them. They both look like you," the pride of that purred off her tongue. "Red eyes, both of them. Wes and Crona," she repeated with a wisp of delirious happiness. Kim laid the other baby on the other side of Maka's chest, mirror images of each other.

"Maka…" he climbed into bed next to her, careful to arrange his arms to keep the babies close to her, to hold them all together. "Thank you," he murmured softly as he nuzzled his nose to her hairline, planting soft kisses there.

While Maka would never be entirely sure what she was being thanked for at that moment, she tilted her head and let their lips meet sweetly, sealing the memory with a kiss.