Hours later Gokudera rolls over and onto his back, his chest heaving.
"Jesus…." The silver-haired teen looks at Phoenix. "I hope to God that we never get too old to do this."
Phoenix looks at him and laughs.
"You and my both."
Phoenix pants as she rolls over onto her side and rests her head on his chest. Gokudera wraps one arm around Phoenix's naked body and pulls the blankets over them with this other. Once they are covered he leans his head back into his pillow.
"What time is it anyway? I swear I can see the sun coming up."
Phoenix glances at the clock.
"Three thirty." She looks up at Gokudera with a smile. "We're gonna be sleep deprived soon."
Gokudera smirks.
"Babe, we're always gonna be sleep deprived as long as we're near each other." He runs a hand through his hair, brushing away some strands that stuck to his sweaty forehead. "If it's not sex, it's gonna be a mission. If it's not a mission, it'll be paperwork. If it's not anyone of those, I'm sure it'll be a baby or two. We're screwed either way.
Gokudera chuckles hoarsely and Phoenix lets out a short bark like laugh.
"Ha. Paperwork. That's what my teams for…and you will be on night duty for any kids we have."
"Oh come on, I'm gonna be busy the whole day. My duty will be serving Juudaime and along with that I'm going to have to deal with the other idiot guardians. Have some sort of mercy."
"What I got out of that is that you would put Tsuna ahead of your kids."
"Well my previous job description was to hunt down and break any threats against the O-Loughlin Crime Family no matter the cost. And I still put you first." Phoenix reaches up and kisses her lover. "Besides wouldn't Tsuna want you to put me and the kids first?"
Gokudera frowns.
"It's not like it's a matter of life and death. I just think it'd be best if you had the night shift. I know you don't like waking up in the morning anyway."
"Not true. I only don't want to wake up when you're next to me. Normally I wake up at five AM everyday…but not around you. It's strange."
"You're a freak Aydan. Five in the morning is just…insane. Look, we'll get a fucking nanny or something."
"What? Five thirty is when all the best sparing partners were in. And that was normally when the nightmares woke me up so why not work out then? And I don't want a nanny raising our kids!"
"And why the fuck not! We're both gonna be busy as hell. There' no other way."
"Okay, see this argument; this is something we can figure out when I'm actually pregnant."
"Fine."
Phoenix reaches up and kisses Gokudera.
"But you're still taking the night shift."
Gokudera glares down at the red head resting on him.
"I'll find away."
He wraps both arms around her and Phoenix smiles.
"There we go, that wasn't so hard was it?"
Gokudera glares at her again but lets it go, content with just holding Phoenix to him. A few minutes later Gokudera asks the question that had been bothering him for a while.
"Aydan…why are you so warm during the day and so freaking cold at night?"
"Fallow. She…thrives in the sun and sleeps in the moon light."
"What?"
"Basically while the sun's up Fallow is away and active, driving up my body temp but at night she's asleep so she flames are less so my body temp drops. Don't worry, I was given protection against the rapid changes and it doesn't harm me at all."
"How can someone do that? The only thing I can think of is magic. And for that matter how did Fallow get bonded to your soul! She said your elders made the contract long ago but I don't understand how they could've."
Phoenix laughs.
"No it's not magic. My elders…Okay I'm going to have to explain some stuff to you that you have to swear on your very life not to tell anyone. Not even Tsuna."
Gokudera bites his lip.
"O-Okay."
"I have to hear you say it Hayato."
"I…I swear on my life that I won't tell anyone."
Phoenix takes a deep breath, exhaling over Gokudera's chest.
"A very long time ago in a small village in Ireland there lived four brothers. Now at the time a great dragon was terrorizing the village, stealing people and livestock with abandon. One day the dragon stole away with the youngest brothers betrothed and he went to his brothers and begged them to help him save his love. The other three agreed to help him but they all knew that four simple humans could do nothing against a dragon so they made a pact to go off the four edges of the land and find one to help them and return in a weeks' time.
The Eldest brother, a man of great strength, went to the great cliffs and cried to the rocks.
"Oh masters of the earth! I beg of you, teach me your ways for I must give my strength to help my brothers!"
A master dwarf heard his cry and came to him asking.
"Why do you wish to learn our ways?"
To which the eldest brother replied.
"I must help my brother save his betrothed from the dragon, but I have only a week to become as strong as the masters of the earth."
The dwarf took pity on the man and taught him everything he knew about the earth in which he worked and once he had done so, the master dwarf bonded with the eldest brother so as to lend him his strength.
And so the first Child of Earth was formed.
The second brother, a man of great soul, went to the sea and cried out across it
"Oh masters of the waves! I beg of you, teach me your ways for I must give my soul to help my brothers!"
A Nereid heard his cry and came to him asking.
"Why do you wish to learn our ways?"
The second brother replied.
"I must help my brother save his betrothed from the dragon, but I have only a week to become as soulful as the masters of the waves."
The Neried took pity on the man and taught him everything she know about the water in which she lived and once she had done so the Nierid bonded with the second brothers soul as to lend him her strength.
And so the first Child of Water was formed.
The third brother, a man of great mind, went to the forest and climbed the highest tree he could fine and cried out across the sky.
"Oh masters of the sky! I beg of you, teach me your ways for I must give my mind to help my brothers!"
A Swan Maiden heard his cry and came to him asking.
"Why do you wish to learn our ways?"
To which the third brother says.
"I must help my brother save his betrothed from the dragon, but I have only a week to become at wise as the sky."
The Swan Maiden took pity on the man and taught him everything she knows about the sky in which she flew and once she had done so the Swan Maiden bonded with the third brother's soul as to lend him her strength.
And so the first Child of Water was formed.
The youngest brother, a man of great heard, went to the middle of a field and built up a great fire and called into it.
"Oh masters of the flame! I beg of you, teach me your ways for I must give my heart to save my beloved!"
A great phoenix heard his cry and came to him asking.
"Why do you wish to learn our ways?"
To which the youngest brother says.
"I must save my beloved from the dragon, but I have only a week to become a full of passionate as the flame."
The phoenix took pity on the man and taught him everything he knew about the flame which flowed within him and once he had done so the phoenix bonded with the youngest brother's soul as to lend him his strength.
And so the first Child of Fire was formed.
The four brothers met once again at the small village of their birth and went out to fight the dragon. A fierce battle ensued in which all four received great wounds but each found that they were able to heal themselves with the power of the creatures bonded to their souls. In the end they slew the dragon and returned to the village with the youngest' beloved but their happiness was short lived as they soon found that they could not separate from the creatures who had helped them.
And so, as to keep from angering the kin of these creatures, the four brothers made a pact with them. Every child will be given to a host of creatures by the time they turn six months and one of the creatures will take the child as a host. If but one child is withheld for any reason then the creatures will have permission to reclaim their bodies, which they had discarded to become bonded, and destroy any of the family that still lived." Phoenix takes a deep breath. "And that's all I know."
"They four brothers…they're your ancestors?"
"Yeah. Carrick Lynch, The Elder of the Earth. Ronan Lynch, The Elder of the Water. Enda Lynch, The Elder of the Air. And…Aedan Lynch, The Elder of the Fire."
"Aydan? But…isn't that a girls' name?"
The girl laughs.
"A-E-D-A-N not A-Y-D-A-N. My dad didn't just choose a strong name; he chose a name that exemplifies…me."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm a Child of Fire. And Aedan was the first Child of Fire."
"But wasn't he a man?"
Phoenix laughs again.
"Children of Fire are called the Children of Fire until the day they die. And no, Aedan Lynch wasn't much older than us during t-th-" Phoenix yawns. "This."
Gokudera smiles slightly and kisses the top of his girlfriends head.
"I think you're getting tired. Why don't you get some sleep and well finish talking about this in the morning, okay?"
Phoenix nods and snuggles closer to Gokudera, wrapping her arm around his stomach.
"I love you Hayato."
Gokudera smiles softly and wraps his arms around Phoenix, holding her to him.
"I love you to Aydan."