The nausea hit her again like a punch to the gut. Casca hunched over, waiting for it to pass or for her to throw up. After waiting for what felt like hours, but in all probability was just a few minutes, she stood up, thankfully not having thrown up her lunch.

Casca hoped whatever this illness was it would pass soon; it was hindering their travels and causing the others to worry about her. Well, worry about her more than they normally would. She didn't have a fever, so it hopefully wasn't a disease, but maybe something she ate? But the entire group had been eating the same things for the past week and none of them were sick. And besides the nausea, bloating, and fatigue, Casca was fine.

Fixing herself, Casca walked back through the brush and leaves back to the group where they waited. Before she was within sight of them she heard Isidro loudly complain, "How many pee breaks does she need to take? What's she trying to do, flood the forest?"

Casca felt herself flush slightly, out of annoyance more than anything else and as she joined them, gave him a thwack on the head, reprimanding, "As many times as I need to, besides is that anyway to speak about your teacher?"

After losing a glaring match between the two of them, Isidro looked away, kicking the dirt and muttered, "No, sorry."

Not totally satisfied with his response, but willing to accept it, Casca nodded and joined Farnese as the group continued their journey.

That boy… while on the Seahorse, Casca had become his teacher, as much for her benefit as his. She was used to dealing with cocky young men, but no one in the hawks was as vexing as Isidro. He kept trying to find shortcuts and ways around training, quoting something Guts had said about trying to find his own style. Having your own style of fighting was important, but having basics would also make learning everything else much easier.

He should count himself luck he had someone willing to train him. Casca certainly did as it gave her a chance to survive and rise in the ranks. Almost everything Casca knew she had learned from… Griffith. And with that she felt sick to her stomach, but for different reasons entirely.

Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Her inner mantra continued.

Because with as much progress she had made, it was much easier to just not think about it. Although even that wasn't very easy. Because if she thought about him, that meant she also thought about Pippin and Jeaudo, and-

"Casca," Farnese asked, braking her out of her thoughts, "Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine." Casca said, collecting herself, "Just- I'm fine."

That answer didn't placate Farnese as she still looked worried. Casca ignored this and put more concentration into walking. Her frustrations were mounting, which did nothing to ease her symptoms or her thoughts. Why couldn't things just go back to the way they were before, in that golden age where things were hard, but so much more simpler. Why did she have to deal with all of this?

No, bad Casca, she scolded herself, its that mentality that started this whole mess. Still it was tempting to back to her regressed state, because as nightmarish as it was, there was a strange sense of peace. Like she knew she was in a dream and nothing could actually hurt her. But she would never go back. Never.

"Could I examine you when we make camp for the night?" Farnese asked. Before Caca could respond with another unconvincing 'I'm fine' Farnese said, "It's more for my sake, training and all."

Reluctantly Casca agreed. If anything was actually wrong with her, which there probably wasn't anything major, magic could surely fix it, right?

…

They stopped for the night in an abandoned building, the least damaged structure in the deserted mountain town. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time they had come across such a town.

After the merging of the worlds, small towns (well pretty much all human settlements, but they had only seen small towns besides Ith) were wiped out. The people from as far as they could tell had either fled or been killed by what must've been roving hordes of demons. Possibly roaming because there had only been a few weak monsters in the ones they stayed in. The partial skeletons in the streets on this town left little to the imagination as to what happened to its citizens.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Asked Isma, pulling a cobweb from her hair.

"For now at least." Guts said. The house was split into two main rooms, one with a hearth that they used to cook dinner and another that must've been a bedroom or something.

They all lay out their bed rolls in the hearth room, preparing for the night. Protective charms were cast on the building, although with the two mages going to sleep they wouldn't be as strong. Casca wanted nothing more but to fall asleep, but she had promised Farnese that examination.

"Just lie down, it should be quick." Farnese told her. Casca obliged and lay on her bed roll in the bedroom room. Farnese hovered her hands above Casca's abdomen, a warm glow emanating from them. It wasn't quite healing, more like probing. Farnese's calm, but focused looked grew more confused as the minutes went by.

"I don't understand." She muttered, probably to herself.

"What's wrong?" Casca asked.

"That's just it, as far as I can tell, nothing." Schierke, having noticed Farnese's magic, had wandered over. "Teacher, could you?" Farnese asked.

"Of course." Schierke moved to the opposite side of Casca and repeated Farnese's motions. After a few more moments of her own probing, Schierke moved her hands to Casca's forehead and brand.

"There's nothing." She said, "Well except…" She moved her hands back to Casca's abdomen, but slightly lower. "There seems to be two ods coming from your body."

"Two? Is that possible?" Farnese asked. "Could it be another animal underground or something?"

"No, it's definitely human, actually remarkably similar to Casca's own signature, but mixed with something else…"

"You've seen this before, Schierke." Ivalerra said, fluttering down to sit on Casca's chest. At Schierke's confusion, Ivalera sighed, "It was a while ago, but surely you remember all of Mistress Flora's lessons."

"Of course I do!" Schierke said.

"Then you must remember that fox with two ods."

"Fox…" Schierke's face steadily became blushed, "Oh, so it's- ah."

"What is it?" Farnese asked, "Casca will be okay, right?"

But by this point Casca wasn't listening all that closely because a crazy, insane thought had occurred to her. Two ods, the one that wasn't hers being very similar. Her lack of period, which wasn't something she had thought of much, there were always more pressing matters, but oh it should have been obvious. Her activities with Guts- was she stupid? This had all happened before. She was-

"I'm pregnant." Casca said. Loudly, maybe too loudly because a quiet had descend upon the camp.

"What?" Someone said. But everything was going out of focus again, so Casca didn't even try to place the voice. A child, her child, she placed a hand on her still flat stomach, unsure of the feelings bursting from her. Her heart felt like it would rend from her chest, like some had it in a stranglehold and refused to let go. She took a breath after realizing she forgot to breathe. Let it out. Inhaled, tried to get a hold of the wild emotions running through her.

Protectiveness, of this life within her. Love for her child. And fear, fear of the world.

Dampness flowed into her ear from her eyes; she was crying. Why? She wasn't sure. Happiness? Sadness? Fear? Some combination of all three? Her other hand draped itself across her eyes.

"Yes." Schierke confirmed. "I believe so."

Slowly the world came back into focus, the group having gathered around her. Farnese was holding her in a sitting position, hugging her gently. Her hand fell from her face. Through her tear blurred vision she made eye contact with Guts who had an unreadable expression.

Once she had calmed down enough to speak, she said, "See I told you I'm fine, I'm just- just pregnant." A smile made its way to her face. A hesitant smile came to his as well, and Casca found his hand.

…

She wasn't just pregnant and they all knew it; no one ever was 'just pregnant.' Even Guts knew that. Admittedly he was still in state of shock. How could he not be.

It was true he had imagined a life with Casca, one that included children, but that was always a distant dream, something for when all of this was over. If he could fight to protect that dream, there was no way he could let the rage and hate take over. He couldn't tell how Casca felt about it either. She seemed happy enough, but if he was this confused, she must be as well. After he heard those words all other thoughts left his brain.

First he was flooded with joy. He loved Casca and he would love this kid. He'd be the best father in his capacity, no, better. He'd do everything he didn't for their first child, not that he exactly had the chance. But then the fear creeped in and held him like the tightest snare.

He wasn't fit to be a father. He'd taken far too much life to be able to give a life properly. And this damned world, how could anything grow up right? There was no way, just keeping Casca alive was hard enough and now he'd have two of them. And if he died, who could protect his family? And Casca? There were a million things that could go wrong. And with his luck they would.

He met her eyes. They were dark, a deep brown almost black, with tears in them. He couldn't really process what she said, but then she smiled and he couldn't help but smile back. Everything would turn out okay.

"Casca's gonna have a baby!" Isma exclaimed. "Can I be the godmother?"

"Aren't you too young to be a godmother?" Isidro argued.

"I'm older than you."

Isidro couldn't argue back without admitting how young he was. Turning his attention back to Casca he snarked, "Well this was kind of inevitable wasn't it."

"I looove babies!" Ivalera said. "Mistress Flora sometimes took me with her when she was midwifing. Babies are kind of potato-y at first but they are so lively."

"I guess we're lucky to have fairies with us for many reasons." Serpico murmured.

Farnese was supporting Casca's weight, helping her sit up as she has been for the past few minutes. She just gave Casca's shoulders a gentle squeeze. The adults seemed to realize how serious this was, how risky it was. Not that the younger ones weren't, but they were still somehow innocent enough to think of the baby and how it pertained to themselves.

"Um, Schierke," Casa asked, "Is there any way to tell how far along I am? Magic wise, that is?"

"I- I don't know." Schierke admitted, "Mistress Flora taught me a lot about child birth, but I don't remember as much as I should." tears brimmed in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's fine." Casca reassured, "You already know so much, and we can just rely on the old fashion way."

"Old fashion way?" Schierke asked.

Isidro, who was already tired, left when the excitement wore off, or when he deemed it officially uncool to still be excited. Isma left too, although it was interesting because the farther from a body of water the less stamina she had. Serpico seemed to guess this was veering into women's talk and took his leave. The fairies had also crashed, even though from the sounds of it Ivalera could have provided some needed information. The thought of leaving didn't even cross Guts' mind.

"The old fashion way, which is counting all of the periods I've missed and the first possible conception date." Casca explained. Sure Schierke was young, young enough to not have a period yet, but if she was going to be a healer it was probably good to know this stuff. Casca had learned from her mother and aunts and older sister before she had left home. After that it was harder to come by as she lived and interacted with primarily men.

"Oh, that makes sense." Schierke said, still flushed slightly.

"And I don't think I've had one in at least two months, maybe three."

Blushing as well, Farnese spoke up, "It should be three."

"Three?" But that would mean-

A small laugh escaped Guts. They all looked at him.

"Casca," He said, "We did it again."

"What?" but then she did the math. Three months ago they were on Elfhelm… so Guts and her had only done it once or twice at that point meaning- "On the first try?"

"Again?" Farnese asked.

"Well, um-" Casca stumbled on her words. "Before all of this, we-"

"We were together once or twice and she became with child." Guts finished for her. "I didn't' know until, until after everything." He became quieter with each word.

"So either we're just really lucky, or just very fertile." Casca added.

"I would say you are lucky to be so fertile." Farnese said, "I know some noble families who would kill to rid themselves of infertility. Well," She thought a moment, "If they aren't dead now already."

"I do know that at three months is normally when you start showing." Schierke supplied.

"And just when I got back into shape." Casca sighed.

"You'll still be a shape." Guts said, preparing himself to get hit, "Round is a shape you know."

"Guts, if you weren't the father of my child, I would strangle you." Casca said, although more tired than normal.

"You should rest." Farnese said.

"Yes, that's the most important thing right now." Schierke affirmed.

The two witches stood up almost awkwardly, as they both realized that Casca and Guts wanted to be alone now. Neither really wanted to leave, but the atmosphere was growing heavy with something and they realized it had nothing to do with the two of them. They joined the rest of the group where they slept, around the hearth of the house.

Guts moved so he could hold her. She let him, as she normally did. He didn't trust his mouth not to say something stupid so he kept it shut.

"I'm scared." Casca said. Now he should reassure her, tell her everything would be fine, but Guts was a horrible liar, so he held her closer and kissed the crown of her head. It was all still too new, they could deal with the consequences in the morning. For now they just needed to rest and face the unsure tomorrow.