GEARS 4 SPOILERS DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU'RE NOT INTO THAT
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i wrote this for a few reasons: as a joke, as a result of weird headcanons, and to figure out how to factor Kait being probably-Myrrah's-granddaughter into my larger headcanon verse. despite my appearances, i do try to adhere to canon.
technically, Reyna would be Skorge's aunt and Kait his cousin, but that requires more headcanon explanation that i didn't want to get into.
Incessant, ceaseless screaming echoed through the corridors, and for once it wasn't coming from one of Skorge's "projects." The child had been wailing since last night and hadn't let anyone on this wing of the palace get any rest. Normally, Skorge would deal with things that were causing him a problem, but he couldn't touch this one.
Because the child was the Locust Princess.
Myrrah's daughter, Reyna.
Skorge growled and pressed the sides of the pillow deeper into his ears. He'd already closed them-Locust could do that to prevent dust or debris from getting inside-but despite the double protection, it didn't do anything to alleviate his frustration. Today was going to be busy and he got maybe two hours of sleep.
He hopped up, gritting his teeth. He slung the pillow against the wall, then the blankets, then the entire mattress. He opened his mouth and matched the infernal infant in volume and pitch.
Loud banging on his door two seconds later made him jump, yelping in spite of himself. "Shut up," Myrrah snapped from the other side. Judging by the way the crying had grown louder, she must have had Reyna with her. "The last thing I need is for you to start fussing!" He heard her mutter "overgrown infant" as she walked away.
Skorge slid his bedroom door open and saw the Queen strolling down the hall, her back to him. She was in a regular nightgown, and her hair was undone, parts of it slightly wavy from being braided. Her arms moved in a bouncing motion, indicating she was trying to soothe Reyna. She passed her private chambers, and when she reached the end of the hall she turned and started towards him again.
He wondered how long she had been doing that and felt bad for yelling. He approached, head bowed apologetically, waiting for her to approach. She looked more tired than he could imagine feeling.
He whined, and she regarded him coldly. "Don't apologize. Just help me."
He nodded, ever ready to obey her commands.
She held her arms out with the squalling, limb-flailing, bald human baby-thing towards him. He drew back, having second thoughts about his earlier conviction.
Everyone had their lines, man.
Still, after a second, he lifted his hands uncertainly. He'd held a baby once in his life, during his ascension ceremony where he officially became the High Priest, and dropped it. The event ruined his whole day, in no small part due to the lawsuit.
(The lawsuit related to a previous incident and had nothing to do with the dropped baby. The dropped baby was just an extra drop of water in the bucket of suck.)
As such, he was quite reticent about holding Reyna. But with Myrrah's guidance, he managed to secure the infant with her fine-haired head in the crook of one elbow. She was swaddled, so his spikes wouldn't be much of a problem. He wasn't wearing his armor, either, which further reduced the chance of accidental infant impaling.
"What am I-"
"Just watch her," Myrrah said. She stretched her arms like she hadn't had the opportunity to in a long time. "I must see to our human guest."
The human guest, Adam Fenix-the one who was supposedly going to fix their Lambency problem. Myrrah was keeping him in the Hollow somewhere, and checked up on him frequently.
"Why not RAAM does this?" Skorge asked, glaring at the wriggling, whimpering baby. "He's patient." Or he was, in relative terms to the High Priest.
"He's all the way on the other side of the Hollow," Myrrah said. Done with stretching, she started to rub her temples, eyes squeezed shut in pain. "You'll be fine."
Another thought occurred to him. "How to feed baby?"
She sighed and turned around, already heading away. "There's breast milk in the refrigerator."
Skorge nodded, then knotted his face in confusion. "What is breast mi-"
She had rounded the corner, gone, looking more than a little hasty to get away from her own daughter. He growled.
"And what is refrigerator!"
With nowhere else to go, he retreated to his own room. It was a bare and small place, a glorified closet with a bedframe really. The mattress and blankets he'd thrown about took up most of the floor, and he flushed scarlet. He really had to stop throwing tantrums. He wasn't a whelp anymore.
Speaking of which, the round, toothless, too-smooth-looking human wretch was still shrieking and wriggling around in his arms. He sat down with her on the discarded mattress and decided this was how he was going to die. Kantus were loud all the time too, but their noise wasn't this infuriating.
Sometime later-if he had to guess, he'd say five minutes, but time was meaningless in hell-his door creaked open and a pair of timid eyes looked at him.
"Baby," came a gravelly voice. The Drone was crouched, and more sets of eyes appeared above his, from guards that were standing over him.
"Baby," the palace Therons agreed.
"Queen baby," the Drone went on, as if this was a revelation.
"Go away," Skorge snapped. Yes, she was less than a week old and these men had probably not seen her yet, but that didn't mean he had to put up with them.
The Drone must have been more brain damaged than usual, because he did the exact opposite of what Skorge ordered. He pushed the door in, stood, and walked over, his curious yellow eyes always locked on the strange-looking bundle.
The palace guards were more cautious, staying on the other side of the threshold, treating it like an invisible wall between them and the rageful Kantus. Skorge narrowed his eyes at the Drone.
"Baby!" The idiot extended a clawed finger. Skorge snapped his jaws and the Drone bellowed out in fear, retracting his hand.
Reyna opened her eyes to look at the new source of noise. Her arm had managed to come loose from her swaddling, and her hand flailed around. Her little fingers grasped one of the Drone's, and she fell quiet.
Skorge's hearts almost stopped from shock. His eyes went wide and he stared at Reyna, disbelieving. Her blue eyes were locked on the Drone in front of her. Her other hand was stuck in her mouth.
He looked at the Drone and honestly felt like crying. He even felt tears coming on. "Oh my god, I love you," he said. In his sleepless state, it made sense.
The Drone tilted his head, rumbling questioningly. He looked at Reyna, wiggling his held finger around a little. Obviously, he enjoyed this kind of attention. He wouldn't get this kind of affection from the Queen herself.
One of the palace guards stepped forward, taking the opportunity since Skorge was momentarily pacified. He was happy that he didn't have to clench his ears shut anymore, so he allowed the intrusion.
The guard dug in a pocket and drew out a small tablet and a writing device. He looked at Skorge. "Place bet?"
He narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "About what?"
"Who sired baby," the guard said.
Skorge blinked, heat rising to his face. He preferred not to think of his Queen in such indecent circumstances. "Well, ah, I don't know?"
"He think RAAM," the guard said, indicating his partner, still standing in the doorway. "I think Adam."
Skorge contorted with such severe disgust he suspected he might fall into another dimension. He felt sorry for Myrrah, that they had to choose the worst potential possibilities to gossip about. "Uh…third option?"
"Mm…" The palace guard nibbled on the writing device, looking at his tablet with great thought.
The Drone, with innocent wide eyes and a bright smile, looked at Skorge and then the guard. "What if Skorge?"
"What if Skorge what?" He glared.
"Skorge dad," the Drone said.
He couldn't process that thought for a good three seconds. His jaw lay agape, his eyes as open as they could get. When he finally understood what this stupid, substandard ape was implying, he clenched his jaws together and growled. He was seething, limbs trembling slightly, only restrained because of the baby he held.
"Out!" Concern for Reyna's eardrums was the only reason he didn't scream at his maximum volume. "Out out out out out out!"
The men bleated in alarm and tore out of the room, the last one to leave slamming the door behind him. Reyna started up her wailing anew, tears leaking down her face. He must have scared her.
He sighed and moved her so that she was against his chest, her head resting on the soft place between his neck and shoulder plate, trying to mimic what he'd seen Myrrah do. She continued crying. This time it was his fault. His reaction had probably not done good for him, either.
But what nerve! Suggesting that he of all people was this creature's sire! Even if he liked women, Myrrah was like a mother to him-if anything, Reyna was his sister!
Thinking about it like that made him feel guiltier about upsetting her, so he accepted his fate and sat there without complaint. He deserved any nasty rumors. Myrrah already had plenty of rumors to contend with, so adding him to the mix was like adding a single leaf to a wildfire-it was so insignificant at this point it couldn't even hurt.
"Please stop," he groaned, too tired to be embarrassed that a mere human, one that hadn't even grown teeth yet, had reduced him to begging. "Please just stop…"
The halls were quiet when Myrrah returned. She found Skorge's door cracked open, like someone had shut it in a hurry and it bounced off the latch. The sight inside was enough to warm even her frigid, unfeeling heart.
Skorge was sprawled out on his mattress which was, for some reason, on the floor. Reyna had at last grown tired herself, and slept on his upper chest. She doubted this arrangement was his choice-the baby must have fallen asleep first and then he, with no energy left, decided to collapse where he was.
She considered taking her daughter so he could relax more, but there was a risk Reyna would wake up and that was the last thing anyone needed. She shut the door and went down the hall, towards her next duty.
If I knew his baby was going to be that loud, she mused, I would never have fucked Richard Prescott.