Hey everybody, I'm back~! Sorry if this took too long I've been really busy with keeping up progress on my other stories. Well, last time we've seen Tom's POV after Kaz decided to sneak out of the castle to visit Ulmar about her pregnancy and he's seeing drastic changes in her behaviour, though someone else is going to find out about her little secret. Also I'm going to combine the two's POVs every once in a while to make the chapters a bit more lengthy so their not too short, cause when I do Tom's POV they tend to be a little short in my opinion and for chapters like these, its to make the whole thing a little more sensible.
Now on for the disclaimer! I do not own Chaotic or any of its characters human or creature wise, but I do own Kazlyn and CJ, along with any other OCs that may appear later on in time! And on with the showJ!
Chapter 3: Tom's POV
When Maxxor, Aivenna and Intress arrived for their monthly peace meeting with Chaor or whatever is the Perim term for months, they came with a surprise Goulimonie fish one of my favourites. It was obviously a Perim native fish, one of the many that was safe for humans to eat and looked like a pike, but had a violet colour with a pale indigo strip on its back and large fins.
Being stuck here meant Kaz and me needed new clothes, but Kaz didn't have much of a problem with it as Takinom had made a whole wardrobe for her already for when she would stay for a lengthy amount of time in the past, I, however, am never going to get used to wearing so much red. I'm sorry, Underworlders like Kazzy, but I can just barely stand wearing the color, despite how many would say it looked nice on me, so I try to wear as much black and yellow as I can.
For this occasion, I chose to wear a pair of baggy, black pants with a crimson trim on the bottom edges with a matching sash belt tied in a knot on my left side. I wore a black, muscle-shirt like tunic with a rustic-red trim and gold stitching along the front and back in a diagonal pattern over a pale yellow, long-sleeved shirt and rustic red shoes.
"Stop pulling at your tunic," Intress hissed like a scolding mother. Honestly, she's worse then my two oldest brothers at times, at least Lee knows when to bend the rules.
Everyone was seated in the dining room. The room itself was no different from the rest of the castle in basic interior with a twisting-like style in appearance to the walls between the windows and the legs of the table. The only real detail was a dark, multi-coloured crystals that had been imbedded into the cervices of the spirals. The china was actually rather impressive, made from something similar to silver just darker in color with the Underworld symbol along the edge. On the table was gold and dark glass vases filled with plants that resembled belle-flowers that were indigo in color. It was honestly rather nice, a sharp contrast to the bright marble and gold walls of Kiru's castles or the dark wood of my traditional home back in China.
Chaor sat at the head of the table, of course, Takinom to his right and Niveena sat next to her. Maxxor sat across from Takinom with Intress next to him and Aiveena was next to her, across from Aiveena was Peyton, who sat next to Lulu. Across from the redhead was Sarah and I sat next to her. The seat to Chaor's left was empty. Being Chaor's human advisor (and daughter figure) Kaz was just as much by the red giant's side as Takinom and Agitos was.
Speaking of Agitos, I hadn't seen him much since Kazzy and I were rescued. But from what Niveena told me, he was simply off on a personal mission for new mugics and honestly, I wasn't very worried about him, since he was pretty much the Underworld equivalent of Na'jarin, who could take on both Maxxor and Chaor at once, so, yeah.
Anyways, Kaz was still missing. "Sorry, I'm late!" Speak of the devil and she'll appear! "I had to finish my thesis!" Of course she'd be working on home…wow…
As Kaz walked in, my only thought was 'wow, she's beautiful.' Takinom had really gone all out to make the orangey-redhead to feel at home. She wore a lovely sundress that reached a little past her knees that was loose from her mid-drift down and was a fiery-orange in color with tinges of brilliant yellow along the skirt. It had thin straps that hung loosely below her shoulders to resemble a 'y' giving a modest amount of cleavage with nearly no back with gold, high-heel sandals with sparkling, white rhinestones. Her only jewellery was her sun-pendant and her hair was up in its usual ponytail with her bangs swept to the right and pinned up with a gold sun clip.
"Nice dress," Sarah chuckled knowing that Kaz didn't like dressing up much, she could put up with it, she just didn't like people gawking at her like she was a doll on display.
"It's the simplest one I could find," Kaz shrugged and I noticed Takinom look at her funny, which made CJ look over at his sister with a raised eyebrow. However, I couldn't take my eyes off her as she went over and sat in the empty seat between Maxxor and Chaor. "So, Tommy, whatdoya think of Kazzy's dress?" Aiveena asked with a teasing grin, making me wince as everyone's (including a certain pair of golden brown) eyes looked a little at me.
Dammit, Aiveena. "I probably look like a walking, talking doll," The owner of those brown eyes said, sounding both used to the fact and annoyed by it. "Actually, I think you look really…" I said trying to find a word that won't get me in trouble, but then blurted out the first one that came mind, "Gorgeous." I turned beat red as the twins, Sarah and Peyton snickered a little, while Lulu, Maxxor and Intress smiled knowingly, however, Chaor and CJ were throwing me pointed death-glares and Takinom looked torn between amused and mad.
Daring myself to glance at Kaz, I was a bit disappointed to see she was looking away from me. Man, me and my big mouth.
Then, the fish came in. My mouth almost watered at the sight of the fish having been cooked just the way I like it: sliced thinly and grilled with some sort of spice, Intress never told me what it was. However, just as the plates were being placed, I noticed Kaz squirm a little, uncertainty in her eyes, before putting on a polite smile as she stood.
"Actually, I'm quite full," She politely declined making me drop my fork in shock, "I…well…H'earring kind of went overboard with my study-time snacks and I don't think I can fit another bite in me."
I looked over and my eyes locked with CJ's, we were both wearing identical looks of disbelieved-shock added with suspicion. Sunlight loved fish almost as much as I did and that's saying something; in my village fish were a popular dish and no one went a week without eating some kind of seafood dish. Heck, Sunlight loved fish more than she loved ice cream and trust me, she truly loves ice cream.
And another thing. Full? Bull! I've seen that girl put away a whole pizza, a burger and then attack a whole bowl of ice cream sundae in the past. What the hell is going on here?
"Are you sure Kazlyn?" Takinom asked her second daughter-figure, looking a bit confused, "Maxxor and Intress even went out of their way to get Masugi fruit."
"Really, Mom, I'm not hungry," Kaz said not seeming to notice the slip, but everyone else did and had mixed reaction, which went like this:
1)Chaor nearly choked on the piece of fish he had just started to eat. Guess it's a good thing you have to take the bones out of thing first before you cook it.
2) Maxxor did a spit-take, thankfully back into his glass.
3)Intress dropped hers.
4) Aiveena's jaw was almost touching the floor at this point.
5) Niveena had the biggest grin on her face.
6) Peyton and Lulu were trying miserably to hide their laughter.
7) Sarah was also gaping, but was being more subtle about it and looked rather surprised.
8) CJ looked both surprised and hurt that his sister called Takinom 'mom' and I can't say I blame him.
9) Takinom dropped her fork, looking stunned for a moment, before a grin slowly broke out onto her face.
As for me, well, to be honest I saw it coming, so aside from nearly choking on my water, I recovered much quicker then everyone else and just resumed my careful watch of my Sunlight.
Sunlight didn't seem to notice the change or what she even said, cause she turned to CJ and said with a sly smile, hands on her hips, "Are you going to eat it, CJ? It would be nice if you'd finally give seafood a fighting chance instead of turning up your nose like a four-year-old." I snort at that, leave it to Kaz to come up with something like that.
It was no secret that despite Kazzy's love for seafood, CJ hated it with a passion and always said that if fish were meant to be eaten raw, then he would've been born with gills. Kaz and me loved to tease him about it every chance he got.
"Ugh, yeah, no," CJ stated in a deadpanned-voice, shuddering as I took another bite, "Raw fish is disgusting. End of story."
"It's delicious," Sarah stated matter-of-factly as she ate another piece of her own fish, making CJ give a grossed out face, "If you'd just tried it, you'd see what you're missing." I then noticed Kaz was looking a little green-faced and nauseous.
"Oh, trust me, I'm not missing anything worth missing," CJ said firmly, before grimacing in disgust as he leaned away, saying, "Oh, gross! Niveena, you don't have to show me!"
As Takinom scolded her adopted-daughter, I noticed a hand fly to Kaz's mouth and before I could say anything, she bolted out of the room, nearly knocking her chair over. Everyone froze up a little, before I stood in alarm and rushed after her.
"Kaz!" Peyton and Lulu shouted as they quickly followed and I heard everyone quickly follow them.
We found her in a servants' quarters, wrenching into a waste-bin. "Kazlyn!" CJ cried rushing into the room, incidentally the quarters belonged to the evening servants so no one was there, he rushed to her and knelt by her, rubbing her back soothingly, "Your okay; you're alright…"
Despite the comforting words, Kaz only got to give him a brief, grateful smile before throwing up again making everyone wince as we watched. Peyton told Lulu to prepare some vitamins and water, before joining the siblings, kneeling on Kaz's other side.
"Just relax," The emerald-eyed youth said to her gently, "Let it all out." She nodded and her whole body shook as she tried to get herself under control.
Finally, after a few minutes, she finally managed to get up shakily as she stammered, "I-I'm s-sorry…I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I assured her as she moaned softly and would've fallen had CJ not caught her, "You can't help being sick, Sunlight."
"Lulu, go get a damp cloth, cool, but not cold," Peyton instructed, "CJ get Kaz to bed." Kaz gave a quiet groan, but allowed her brother to lift her into his arms.
I raised an eyebrow as the siblings past as I noticed something. The now clinging material of Kaz's dress revealed a tiny, almost unnoticeable bump in her stomach, which had me confused. Peyton was only allowing her to eat very light meals so it couldn't be weight from over-eating.
As Aiveena lead me away back into the dinning room, I couldn't help but worry for her as I fiddled with my crescent moon pendant. Kaz hardly got this sick before and it was starting to really scare me about what might be wrong with her.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," Aiveena's voice cut me out of my thoughts, "Why do you call her 'sunlight' and she calls you 'moonlight'?" I gave a small smile at this, dully noting this got several others' attentions.
"Because that's how different we are," I explained holding up the necklace for her to see, "We're as different as night and day, but we work." Aiveena nodded, accepting the answer while I noticed the others seemed to be thinking this over and seemed to find truth in this.
(Kaz's POV)
Ugh, I've never been so embarrassed in my life and that's saying something. I've already experienced several cases of morning sickness, but its always passed pretty quickly and I was able to get to a bathroom before anyone could notice anything. Yet, it happened; I threw up right in front of not just my second family and friends, but Maxxor, Intress and Aiveena too. Just great.
It was the smell of the fish, I just couldn't take it. Luckily I found that waste-bin just in time.
Just as CJ helped into my bed, Lulu arrived with the damp cloth and placed on my forehead. "Sis?" CJ asked in a small voice, which instantly got my attention since I rarely heard him sound like that, "Are you okay?"
"I guess it's just a bit of a flu or something," I lied trying not to look at him, mind-reading was much easier with eye-contact regardless of mind-barriers, "I guess the smell of the fish just set it off."
"Just try to get better," Lulu said as she smiled, "Nobody wants to be sick and throwing up is no fun after all, so it isn't anyone's fault." I was far too tired to argue, so I simply nodded though I could tell there was something she wanted to say, but she kept it too herself.
But then, Peyton came over with a glass of water and some pills. "No fever," He said after feeling my forehead, then handed me the water and pills, "Here, take these. They're for the nausea."
I insistently felt panicked; Ulmar still hasn't cleared my baby medicine yet, even though I was starting to show a little earlier then I expected. So, I used a little trickery to hide the fact I wasn't really swallowing the pills and upon noticing CJ giving me a suspicious look, I took a large gulp of water to make a show of 'getting down the pills.'
"Now close your eyes and breathe deeply," Peyton instructed and I nodded, doing so, "Just relax."
I just hummed tiredly as I breathed slowly, waiting for the nausea to clear up. I really hated vomiting. The whole purging thing really took a lot out of me and I usually had better stamina then this, not to mention it hurt my stomach and it was flat out gross. Eventually, my stomach began to calm.
"I'm going to try and sleep," I stated as my shaking finally stopped, "You guys can head back, I'll be fine."
"But-" CJ began and I shot him a frown, knowing exactly what he was thinking without having to read his mind. "I'm not fragile Conner," I said thinly, making him cringe at his full name, "I'll be fine."
He nodded and followed Lulu out, followed by Peyton. Once they were gone, I sighed as I shut my eyes. As I waited for sleep to come, I couldn't help but think to the little innocence growing in me, 'You better be worth all this, Love.'
And that is that for this chapter, hope it isn't too short for anyone's taste and again sorry for the big hold up, but my 'Sleeping Viking and the Snow Wings' fic is pretty popular so, I'll be working a bit on it more compared to others.
Feel free to review; bye-bye!