Welp, here we are, at the final stretch, with all the fun, sadly, coming to an end. I might write an epilogue depicting the daily life of the Manbavaran-Kagari family later on, which will take place after a slight timeskip, but other than that, I guess I'll end this fic here. Heck, maybe I'll start a fully-blown spin-off later, but for the time being, most of my efforts are going to be focused on Hospitability and Trust, with the occasional Spicy Sukko Stuff posting.
Dang it. Lack of reviews makes me sad still.
kotomi101: Glad you enjoyed it!
And, eh, onto the fic now.
"Are you sure you'll be alright, honey?"
Ah, February. That particular month when winter launches all the heavy artillery it still has left, sometimes to the point where it's still snowing even in March. This particular year was no exception, with snowstorms happening almost every day, today's weather being just as unpleasant as, well, nearly every other day beforehand. And unfortunately, despite the down weather, Sucy still had to work that day over at her potion shop, much to Akko's disappointment. Not helping matters was the fact that the violette's wife was almost due, and Sucy's worries for the brunette and their child were skyrocketing.
"Aw, you're worrying too much, Suce! Just because I'm nearly due doesn't mean I'm going to go into labor right today or anything like that! I'll be fine! " – Akko remarked, giving her mauve-haired wife a kiss on the cheek a moment after. Even though Sucy felt that her wife was tempting fate way too much, she still gave the brunette's baby bump a few light pats before remarking: "Still, just remember that if anything's wrong – call me at once. I should be able to get home in time. "
"I will. Have a nice day at work, honey! " – The asian witch gave Sucy one more light kiss on the cheek before the mauve-haired girl walked off and closed the door behind herself.
Just after a few steps' worth of walking, Sucy noticed a certain familiar someone not too far away. That wavy two-tone blonde hair was too easily distinguishable even during a heavy snowstorm.
"Oh, hello there, Sucy. I take it you're heading over to your usual work space, are you? " – Diana greeted as soon as she managed to get a better look at the other witch coming her way – the snowstorm was borderline thickening with each moment that passed.
"Didn't expect to see you all the way out here. What brings you all the way over to this humble town, Cavendish?" – Sucy remarked, pulling her hood over her face as the snowstorm proved to be downright overbearing.
"Just figured I'd pay you two a visit. I've gotten a day off for today due to some shifts in the Academy schedule, so, as you can see- Ugh…" – Diana immediately reached for her wand and quickly cast a silent spell to at least partially deter the incoming intense snowstorm, making it so that the overbearing snow avoided a small area around her and Sucy for a short time. – "So I figured I'd pay you two a visit in the meantime. I take it that Akko is currently back at your home, is she?"
"Exactly. You may drop by if you want to, I guess. Just remember – Akko's nearly due, so call me right up if anything happens. " – As Sucy said that, she soon walked over to where her shop was, and immediately shut the door upon entering, while Diana continued onward, trudging through the snow.
In the meantime, Akko figured she might as well be at least a little productive, and decided to do some cleaning around the house. Luckily, being a far more experienced witch than in her academy years, Akko only really needed to fire off a few cleaning spells… Problem is, one of said spells was designed to literally take out all the dirt and dust out of the house, and thus…
Well, let's just say that when Diana knocked on the door, she was immediately met by something that could be best summed up as a miniature dust devil coming her way full-force, which dissipated the moment it hit her and left the blonde's hair as quite a mess, not to mention gave her a fair share of dust and dirt stains on her coat.
"Oh, hey Diana! Didn't expect you to-"
"Show up, yes, I know." – The blonde remarked as she entered the house and closed the door behind herself, later firing off a quick spell to fix her hair and dust her coat off. – "I've gotten a day off today, and I figured I might as well check up on you. How are you doing so far?"
"Eh, I'd say it's alright. The most I had to worry about lately was just a few false contractions, and maybe the occasional back aches, but other than that, I'm alright!" – Akko replied as she went over to the kitchen, Diana waddling in right after her. – "What about you? How's it feeling five months in?"
"I knew you were going to bring that up. " – The blonde replied, chuckling and eliciting a giggle from Akko as well. As the blonde ran her hand over her a bit less sizable belly, she continued: "Well, it's nothing too bad. A few occasional backaches, but nothing major otherwise."
"You've certainly had it much easier than I do, huh. How's Constanze doing lately, by the way? She's not overworking herself, is she?" - Akko continued as she went over to make some tea. As the blonde sat down at the kitchen table, she replied: "Constanze's been doing particularly well with her work lately. She even managed to get another of her inventions approved by the company, too, so things are certainly going well financially. Who knows, maybe techmaturgical appliances might get even mroe widespread in the following years. "
"I guess our respective spouses' work ain't so different from each other's after all – they both always have something new to discover and are always willing to experiment!" – Akko remarked, smiling as she served Diana some tea. While the blonde took a slight sip, the other witch continued: "Speaking of which, I guess it's a no-brainer Sucy had to lay off her experiments for the time being – after all, she wouldn't want to end up hurting me or our child."
"I see you two are really taking your parenthood quite seriously. That's quite the step up from your irresponsible academy years, I must admit. Constanze's also been worrying sick about me sometimes. I swear, whenever she gets a day off, she won't even let me off the couch or out of bed for the entirety of the day! " – Taking a cursory glance into her cup after slightly sampling the tea, the blonde remarked: "On an unrelated note – you might have oversweetened the tea. While I know you like your tea sweet, I'm more of a mild type. "
"Oh, no worries! I'll get you another cup! " – And before the blonde could tell Akko that it won't be so necessary, the asian witch walked over to the cupboard…
Only to suddenly stop and clutch her stomach and fall on her knees, her expression suggesting equal parts shock and pain.
"Are you alright? " – Diana asked, seeming quite concerned, as she ran over to the brunette. After taking some time to at least barely catch her breath, Akko feebly uttered: "I… I think… My waters just broke."
By the Nine, of all times for that to happen, it had to be now?!
"Oh dear… Akko, just… Sit down for a bit, or something, I'll go over and call the ambulance, I'll be right-"
"The nearest hospital… Is three hours' worth of driving away from here… Just… Call… Sucy…" – Akko grunted out, struggling to get back to her feet and to waddle over to the living room couch so that she at least wouldn't have to take the pain up standing. Diana quietly complied with the brunette's request and rushed over to the wall-mounted phone to call the asian witch's spouse.
Meanwhile, the violette was having quite the lively day, to say the least – clients were basically flooding in, buying a whole variety of things, be it medicine against various mundane illnesses or potions that existed to solve certain matters that no ordinary, non-magical medicine could not. And just as one of the more familiar students from Luna Nova, a particular green-haired girl, was about to voice her order, the desk phone rang at the worst of times.
"Be right back." – Sucy remarked as she reached over for the phone. And sure enough, she almost immediately heard Diana's distressed voice on the other end: "Sucy, no time to explain! Akko's going into labor, and she told me to call you for some reason… Instead of dialing 911, but that doesn't really-"
"Get her over to the bedroom and wait until I get back. I'll be there as soon as possible." – The violette slammed the phone back down and, turning over to her client, remarked: "Sorry, we're closing early today. I've got an emergency at home that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible."
"Oh, it's alright, I… I understand." – The younger witch lightly bowed and headed over to exit the shop, and as soon as she left, Sucy rushed right past her and back over to her house, not even turning around as she fired off a quick silent spell to shut the door and change the usual plaque to "EMERGENCY CLOSING".
As Sucy barged into her own home, she saw that Diana was already busy helping Akko off the couch, despite the blonde's own "burden" weighing her down quite a bit, though not nearly as much as Akko.
"Alright, hold up, I'm taking care of the rest from here. Constanze wouldn't like it if you were to get a miscarriage from all the heavy lifting, you know. " – Sucy remarked as soon as she entered the living room and rushed over to help Akko, with Diana letting go of the brunette for the time being, though the British girl did mutter something along the lines of "common misconception" as she did.
"Su…Cy… You're here…Auggh… Dang it, it hurts like- Auuuugh!" – Akko was visibly cringing from pain every now and then, so Sucy knew all too well that she and Diana don't have much time to waste, helping Akko get over to the upstairs bedroom. In actuality, Sucy was doing most of the heavy lifting, practically carrying Akko in her arms, while the most that Diana did was merely keep up a spell that, despite not being strong enough to lift Akko up completely, still lightened the load enough so that Sucy could lift Akko up with relative ease.
A few moments later, at the upstairs bedroom after a few necessary preparations with help from Diana, Sucy was basically left one on one with Akko, who was certainly going through quite the painful labor.
"Alright, now remember – just push every now and again, don't overexert yourself, and take deep breaths between each successive push. I know you can handle this, honey." – Sucy instructed, the only reply she got from Akko being a pained "uh-huh" as the brunette complied with her spouse's instructions.
Akko's pained grunts rang through the otherwise silent bedroom as the asian witch continued pushing. She knew all too well that the pressure was of both physical and psychological kind – she would certainly hate to mess something up and end up with an unhealthy baby. After all, she did read up quite a bit on – By the Nine, that hurt like hell!
"Okay, there it goes! Just a few more pushes, Akko! The baby's almost there! " – Sucy shouted out, her usual subdued tone of voice almost nonexistent for that moment, as Akko continued on with the process.
Just a few more pushes… Deep breath, push, some time to rest… Deep breath, a push, and a few more seconds to catch her breath…
"You're just about there, Akko! One! More! Push!" – And sure enough, with one more push, which felt a lot less painful than the previous ones, the deed was done. An infant's first scream rang through the room.
"You did it, Akko. You… Did it." – Sucy remarked, bringing up a pair of recently conjured pinking shears and cutting the newborn's umbilical cord. Well, that was a bit beyond her usual comfort zone.
"Th… There she is." – Akko remarked as Sucy handed the brunette her – no, their child. – "Well, Aiko… Welcome to this lovely world, I guess. " – The only response that Akko got from the little girl was another scream. Not that the brunette minded, as she lightly pressed the newborn to her chest and remarked: "Yeah…Not the best first impression, I know. "
"Still as silly as ever, even now. I guess some things never change even after such dramatic events. " – The asian witch's spouse remarked, giggling. Sure, from a side perspective, the situation was a little weird, but it wasn't like it mattered to the couple right now.
They really were a family now.
Later that day, after Diana helped Sucy and Akko take care of some other post-labor procedures before heading on home, the two proud parents were currently back over at their bedroom, with little Aiko currently wrapped in a typical mauve nappy and asleep right on Akko's chest, while Sucy was quietly watching the mother-daughter duo.
"So, she almost bit off your right boob, you say? She's only a few hours old, and she's taking after her ina already, ain't she. " – Sucy remarked, feeling an odd sense of pride for the little bundle of life that was the end result of her and Akko's strange decision nine months ago.
"You know full well I'm exaggerating, Suce." – The brunette replied, giggling as she slowly rocked the infant in her arms. – "But yeah, something's telling me that breastfeeding is going to be even more painful than I thought."
"Hey, it's as you said, Akko – no need to worry. After what you were through in the past nine months, I'm more than sure we can pull on through anything – mundane or magical." – Sucy walked over to Akko and leaned in to give her a light kiss on the cheek, then took one more look at little Aiko, who was still peacefully sleeping.
"Yeah, yeah, breastfeeding's the least of my worries, I know. I mean, we've still got the documents stuff to go through, then there's learning to properly care for our baby, and-" – Before Akko could stretch that list to the heavens, Sucy quietly silenced her with her index finger and remarked: "Please, Akko. No need to be a moment-killer. All that matters at this very moment is, we're officially a full-blown family now, and the worst is already past, so let's just relax and enjoy the moment for now. "
"Yeah… I think you're right." – Akko remarked as she pressed little Aiko closer to herself, with Sucy giving the brunette a light embrace as well, placing her hand on Akko's.
Even the normally abrasive and thorny Sucy couldn't help but soften up every now and then, this moment being no exception.
Welp, I hope I didn't mess this ending up too badly. I kept cycling through metric ton of variations for the ending phrase, and capped it off with what seemed like the best possible option in the context of the story.
And with that, this complete doozy of a fic is finally done, plus a possible epilogue chapter later on.
Man, even after getting out of the hospital, I'm hardstuck with a lot of university work to dig through. I've certainly got a lot to catch up on, considering I was out for almost an entire month. At least I can get the exams re-done at a later time, so I guess I'm not getting kicked out, and I might still have some spare time for writing too.
So, on that awkward note...
Darky Out!