See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
(Side note: I decided to make this story in the third person perspective because it follows the point of view of all the characters whereas 'Light of Hope' was from the point of view of Nyx and Infinite. Thank you).
Chapter 5: Birth of a Future Guardian
Everyone was in a tizzy after finding out that Rouge's water had just broke and was now going to have her baby a whole month earlier than she was supposed to, but none more so than Knuckles because he was currently having a panic attack.
"The baby! What, now? The baby's coming! Did you guys hear that? Cause sometimes I imagine it in my head, but..." he trailed off as his panic attack was getting worse. Having had enough of this and knowing his best friend didn't need this right now, Shadow grabbed a glass of water and threw it into Knuckles' face, effectively shutting him up. "Ugh, thanks for that Shadow. I really needed that", said Knuckles.
"Your welcome. Now that we're all calmed down, we need to get Rouge to the hospital quickly", said Shadow.
"Good thinking, I'll go rev up the X Tornado and—"
"There's no time for that! Knuckles get Rouge onto my back and then grab onto my wrist", Shadow said cutting Tails off. Knuckles complied as he carefully lifted Rouge onto Shadow's back before grabbing onto his wrist; Shadow then pulled out his green Chaos Emerald, "Chaos Control!", he said as he and the expectant parents teleported away leaving an entire party of friends confused as to what to do.
"I guess we'll have to find our own way to the hospital. Hey Tails, do you have enough extra room in the X Tornado?", said Sonic.
Meanwhile, Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge reappeared inside the hospital effectively scaring the ever-loving crap out of the hospital personnel and patients. "Someone help us! My wife's is labor, the baby's coming!", shouted Knuckles. "What?! But it's only been five months, there's no way the child is ready to come out yet", said Dr. Reiner. "Well, this is the spawn of Knuckles we're talking about. One can only assume she inherited her impatience from her father", said Shadow with a smirk.
Knuckles was too concerned about Rouge to be even slightly annoyed by what he said. "Nurses, help me get Mrs. Bat to the delivery room!", shouted Dr. Reiner. Four of the nurses helped Rouge onto a gurney and began wheeling her to the delivery room with Knuckles following close behind; Shadow stayed behind in the waiting room as he knew only the father was allowed in the delivery room.
As he stood there, Shadow bumped into a familiar face. "Hello there, Mr. Shadow", said a small young voice. Shadow turned around to see it was Cream who had spoken to him, he smiled at the young rabbit. "Hello Cream, its nice to see you again. You look a little taller than the last time I saw you", he said. Cream smiled, "Yeah, I'm nine years old now. My mama says I'm a big girl now", she said. Shadow smiled and patted her on the head, "Yes you certainly are a big girl now. Why are you here in the hospital anyway?", he said.
"My mama brought me here for my dentist appointment. Why are you here, Mr. Shadow?", asked Cream. "I had to bring Rouge here because she's having her baby today, she's in the delivery room right now with Knuckles", said Shadow. Cream smiled when she heard the good news, then she heard her mother calling out to her for her dentist appointment.
Shadow went to sit in the waiting room just as the others arrived, he had informed them that Rouge was taken to the delivery room with Knuckles. "Oh this is so exciting! Rouge is finally having her baby! I can't wait", said Amy. "I'm just surprised that she's having her baby earlier than she was supposed to. I hope she's okay", said Sonic.
That's when they all heard a loud, ear piercing screech cut through the air...and screeching is the sound bats are known to make.
"Or I could be wrong!", said Sonic. "Are they helping her have a baby or are they torturing her in there?!", shouted Amy. Nyx hugged Infinite tightly as she was very scared, not just for Rouge's well-being as well as her baby's but also because she knew that in three months time it would be her screaming in pain in that delivery room; in fact, she was so scared that started crying. Infinite held onto her and comforted her as they all waited for this terrifying ordeal to be over.
Finally, Dr. Reiner walked out of the delivery room. The others suddenly rushed him, all of them desperately wanting to know if Rouge was okay or if she was even still alive. "Everyone please calm down, Mrs. Bat is going to be just fine. We tried to deliver the baby by normal means but it was too dangerous so we had to perform a C-section, but both mother and child are perfectly safe and healthy", said Dr. Reiner. The others all breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the good news.
Meanwhile in the recovery room, Rouge laid fast asleep in a hospital bed; the torturous amount of pain she went through took a lot out of her and she passed out almost immediately after her baby came out of her. She laid on the bed while Knuckles sat in a large armchair next to her, waiting for the nurses to finish cleaning up his daughter so he could see her.
Just then the nurse, a female canary, quietly walked into the room holding a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket; she slowly approached Knuckles and gave him the small bundle so he could see what his child looked like, and he was utterly shocked by what he saw.
His daughter looked just like him, and not just a few facial features, she looked like a miniature echidna with soft pink fur and a peachy muzzle. She had the same bony spikes on her hands that Knuckles had and she his zigzag tail; one could've been mistaken for thinking she was a purebred echidna if it wasn't for the three foot long, jet black wings that sprouted from her back.
Knuckles looked at his daughter in awe before he smiled softly and gently pressed his forehead to hers, tears of joy pricking the corner of his eyes. But he wasn't only crying because he was now a father, he was crying because he was no longer the last of his kind; granted, his daughter was only half echidna but Knuckles didn't are, to him half was better than not at all and after years of living with the emotional pain of being the last of his kind after his clan was wiped out, it brought him great happiness to have another echidna in his life.
And this particular echidna was his own daughter.
A tiny whimper caught his attention, he opened his eyes to see his daughter slowly opening hers, revealing her to have Rouge's teal colored eyes. "Hello there, I'm your daddy. Its nice to finally meet you little one", he said. Just then, Dr. Reiner walked into the room with an unreadable expression on his face; this made Knuckles tense up, "What is it? What's wrong?! Is there something wrong with my baby?!", he whispered/shouted.
Dr. Reiner put his hands up in front of him, "Calm down, Mr. Echidna. There's nothing wrong with her, though I wouldn't exactly call your baby a 'her'", he said. Knuckles was now confused, "What do you mean by that?", he asked. "Mr. Echidna, I don't know how to say this without it alarming you, so I'll say it as delicately as I can: Ruby-Emerald was born with both male and female reproductive organs", said Dr. Reiner.
Knuckles was taken aback by this, "Are...are you saying my daughter is a...a hermaphrodite?", he asked. "Well yes and no, you see she has both male and female genitalia but not entirely: she has a fully formed uterus with ovaries and a vagina, but she also has a fully developed penis; what she doesn't have is testicles or a prostate gland.
"I'm telling you this because there's a procedure we can perform to remove the penis, this won't in any affect her in the long run, but I'm asking because in this situation we present the parents with two options: they can either choose to remove the extra organs or they can wait until their child is older and let them choose what gender they want to be identified by. So what is your decision?", said Dr. Reiner. Knuckles sat there in silence as he didn't know what to think or say about this.
"We'll let her choose".
Knuckles turned around to see that Rouge had woken up, "Rouge, you're awake! How do you feel?", asked Knuckles. "A little sore and a bit groggy but I'll manage. Anyway, I heard the whole conversation and my decision is to let our daughter choose when she's older. As a kid, I grew up with a mom who didn't want me and never expected much out of me, that's kinda part of the reason I became a jewel thief.
"Then after I started helping the others save the world every so often, joined G.U.N and even married Knuckles, I realized that I could whoever I want and I won't let anything hold me back. I wanna give my daughter that same chance as well, so when she's old enough to fully understand, we'll let her choose what she wants to be. And whether she chooses to be a boy or a girl, we'll still love her either way, right Knuckles?", said Rouge.
Knuckles stood in awe by what she said before he smiled softly and went to give her a kiss on the lips; a squeak drew both their attention and they looked down to see their daughter giving them a pouty expression, they both laughed. "Oh don't be jealous sweetie, you get kisses too", said Rouge as she and Knuckles peppered her tiny cheeks with gentle kisses. Another nurse soon came into the room, "I apologize but I have to take Ruby-Emerald to the NICU right now, just to make sure she's taken care of while you recover", she said.
As reluctant as both of them were to part with their baby, Knuckles and Rouge gave her over to the nurse, but they weren't the only ones who were hesitant; little Ruby-Emerald started whimpering and pawing at the air in the direction of her parents, when she first opened her eyes and saw Knuckles, she immediately imprinted on him. Then she caught her first whiff of his scent, she knew he was her father; then when she came in contact with Rouge, she knew she was her mother.
And now she was being separated from them and needless to say she wasn't happy because she soon began crying loudly, it broke her parents' heart to hear her crying out for them but they knew it was for the best.
Later, the others were gathered by the glass window of the NICU, peering in at all the babies trying to see which one was Rouge's. Amy had her face plastered to the window in her excitement to see the new baby, "Which one is it? Which is it? Is that one? Or that one? No, is it this one? Ooh, I can't take the suspense!", she said.
Just then a nurse came up to the group, "Are you looking for the daughter of Mr. Echidna and Mrs. Bat, she's in the cradle in the third row to the far left", she said. Everyone looked in the direction she pointed in and saw the little echidna/bat hybrid, "Awwwww, she's so cute!", said Amy and Nyx. Sonic looked at the baby with awe, "She...she looks just like Knux! It's almost like they could be twins, if it wasn't for the pink fur and bat wings", he said.
That's when Knuckles walked over and joined them by the window to see his daughter again, the tiny baby smiled widely and giggled as she saw her father looking at her through the glass. Sonic walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, "Congrats Knux, I'm real proud of ya buddy", he said. Sonic then felt his shoulder quiver under his hand, and he looked up to see that Knuckles had his forehead pressed against the glass, looking down at his giggling baby girl with a river of tears flowing from his eyes.
"I'm not...I'm not the last one anymore... I'm no longer the...last of my kind", Knuckles murmured as he sobbed openly. Sonic gave him a sympathetic smile before he pulled him into an embrace, he knew all too well how Knuckles felt about being the last echidna ever since Knuckles explained to him what happened to his tribe on the day they first met, and he had always felt sorry for him.
Its actually surprised him how emotional Knuckles was being since he never openly expressed his sorrow over losing his family and tribe, but it seemed that being blessed with a half echidna daughter had finally made him open up in front of his friends; he was finally able to release all that pent up sadness at once and now, all he felt was unbridled joy.
"Its okay, Knux. Just let it all out, we're here for ya pal", said Sonic as he held the crying echidna. They were soon joined by Tails and then Nyx who also joined in to hug Knuckles and give him some comfort; Tails had also felt sorry for him when he was told about the loss of his tribe on the day they met, and Nyx knew what it was like to lose family.
From inside the NICU, little Ruby-Emerald watched the scene with innocent curiosity as she was born no less than an hour ago and wasn't intelligent enough yet to understand what was going on. She simply laid in her cradle and pulled her zigzagged tail in between her legs, gently nibbling on the tip with her toothless gums as she watched her father being comforted by his friends.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 5, everyone welcome Ruby-Emerald the Echidna-bat to the world. Next time, we'll see how Knuckles and Rouge handle parenthood while also seeing how Nyx is doing during her pregnancy before we meet her child. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!