Lullaby Child - Chapter 3

Marluxia smiled as Vexen hugged him, but that smile got wider as Demyx asked ‘He’s what?’ He wanted to make sure first, since he didn’t want to get his hopes up only to have them crash down around himself and Vexen further down the road. And he was pretty sure that he was, considering he had all the symptoms of pregnancy. He moved over to the other, giving Xigbar an apologetic glance. Plus he really wasn’t that far along, and he knew that their children would be close in age. Since Xiuying was a month old or so when Demyx found out and the new baby would be born not too long after Demyx’s twins.1

“Are you really? I mean how far along…” Demyx finally asked, finally smiling at his friend. Somewhere deep inside he thought it was too soon for his friend to be pregnant again, but if it made Marluxia happy then he was happy. And he was really never one to truly voice his opinions. But he also had a feeling that Xemnas, Saïx and even Axel were being a little too quiet about his own pregnancy.2

“I’m guessing about a month or so. I’ll see on an ultrasound later. But I know I am… I had the same symptoms with Xiuying. But… what’s Xemnas going to do when he finds out? I mean I’m worried because you’re starting to show and he will catch on. He did with me.” Marluxia spoke softly.3

“I’ll have to tell him when he’s in a good mood then. I don’t want him to find out and then have me go into labor the next day. And I don’t want to fall asleep on him either. No offence Marly.” Demyx smiled toward his friend. He remembered when Marluxia fell asleep on Xemnas, but it really was no fault of his own.4

“He’ll find out either way. He’s sneaky like that, but be thankful he didn’t corner you when you were walking down the hall and look like death warmed over.” Marluxia smiled, helping his friend off the table. After Demyx was standing he pulled him into a gentle hug, putting his hand over the other’s stomach.5

“Yeah, I remember that Marly. That was before I talked to you wasn’t it? But I’ll be careful, I promise. I know he’ll find a way to find out, he has Axel remember? I should go and rest up, and that will leave you and Vexen alone for awhile. How about we go to Agrabah or somewhere tomorrow?” Demyx smiled, reluctantly pulling away from his friends hug. But he didn’t mind the sentiment.6

“Agrabah is too hot for me, Demyx. I’ll find somewhere for us to go alright? You go rest up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Marluxia smiled before he watched his friend and Xigbar portal off together. Presumably to their shared room, he didn’t know for sure. He decided to stay with Vexen for the time being, creating a small portal next to them before Xiuying appeared in her bassinet.7

“You never cease to amaze me, Marluxia. I know you were able to do that with Namine, but our own child? I underestimated you again.” Vexen smiled, picking up Xiuying carefully from her bassinet as the infant cooed softly. He could tell she would probably end up favoring him when she got older, but only time would tell for sure.8

“I’ve been practicing. Then again she’s smaller than Namine was. The bassinet with Xiuying is not even half the size of her, so it was easy to transport. We should go to Dr. Katska though and see how far along I am.” Marluxia smiled, watching Vexen with their daughter. It was amazing to see how much he changed over the last few months.9

“I thought you knew.” Vexen laughed before putting an arm around his lover, he just had a feeling something was going to happen as soon as they walked out of the room. It had been too quiet, and missions had been getting fewer. That alone got the blond worried, knowing that their leader almost always had something planned for everyone. Or some off the wall mission to partake in.10

“I have a guess, Vexen. But I don’t want to be caught off guard and end up having the new child in the middle of Deep Jungle or somewhere. I know I’m not that far along, but you know what I mean.” Marluxia spoke softly, moving to kiss the other’s cheek gently.11

Vexen shook his head, moving his arm around the others waist. He decided that they should go to the meeting room along with the others; just in the off chance Xemnas was holding a meeting without his knowledge. Of course he was also aware that Axel would more than likely not even inform him about said meeting. Nor would anyone else if they wanted to keep him in the dark about their superior’s plans.12

“I am not taking her to the meeting… we’ll all fall asleep if Xemnas keeps us for 4 hours again. Wait; is there even a meeting going on? I didn’t see a dusk lurking around to summon us.” Marluxia asked, with a concerned tone to his voice as he watched Xiuying cling to Vexen the best she could.13

“Intuition. I’m one of the original six; I pretty much know when he’s going to summon us for a meeting. We should go anyway; he has to know about your pregnancy so he doesn’t find out about it the hard way again.” Vexen spoke, handing Xiuying over to Marluxia gently before he crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t happy about it either, but they had to go.14

Saïx smirked as he stood outside the room, watching Vexen and Marluxia appear with Xiuying. He also saw Demyx and Xigbar walk up not too long afterwards. He could already tell something was up with the young nocturne, especially since his form was changing just like Marluxia’s was a few months earlier. This was definitely going to be a rather interesting turn of events; he even knew what was going to happen if anyone else announced an unexpected pregnancy.15

“Good afternoon. Everyone else is present; I am rather surprised you came at all. But that’s not important at the moment; Xemnas is requesting your presence.” Saïx spoke before he portaled off, soon ending up in his chair that was close to Xemnas’s chair. He looked over at the others, knowing that Axel was just itching to say something about Demyx.16

Vexen just blinked, watching Saïx portal off. He shrugged that aside and smiled toward Marluxia before he too went off to his chair. This was going to be an interesting meeting, not really sure what was going to happen during it. Or if it was going to last 4 long hours as the meetings tended to do. So many unknowns and there was not enough time to figure it out. He looked up at his partner who had the higher chair.17

“Everyone is here, sir.” Saïx spoke, staying silent after addressing Xemnas. He wanted to see what exactly was going on, mostly concerning Demyx who was obviously pregnant now. He could care less about Marluxia, but something deep inside his chest he had a feeling that the younger assassin was hiding something as well. He shrugged it off, knowing full well that if anything else was amiss Xemnas would be the first to mention it.18

“Thank you, Saïx. Now first off, I want to point out that I know one of you is pregnant. Rather, it is quite obvious as to who it is. That is one reason why I called you all here. The other reason is quite simple really. I have a rather large mission planned, requiring us to double up. And since there will be 12 leaving, it will be easy for you to pair off. If you have a partner request, speak up now before I do it for you.” Xemnas started, crossing his arms over his chest lightly. He knew that Vexen would want to be with Marluxia, it was a given. He wasn’t sure about the other eight members sitting across from him.19

“Very well. You know that I want to be paired with XI that is my only request. You can pair off the others however you please.” Vexen replied, inwardly glad that Xemnas didn’t pair him off with Axel or anyone else. But he also knew that his superior could easily surprise him at a moment’s notice.20

“Of course. If no one else has objections, you may all depart for your respective missions. That is all.” Xemnas spoke, watching as all of the pairs departed the room. He crossed his arms over his chest lightly, knowing that Saïx would stay behind. There were still a few things left that he had to get finished.21

Saïx true to form did stay behind, a light smirk crossing his lips. He knew something was up with the neophytes, but he wanted to wait until the relatively newer members were gone before he spoke his concerns and his mind. Even though he was aware he had to go out and collect hearts to pick up for the slack the pregnant members may be causing in the ranks.22

“Something is on your mind, Saïx. Care to tell me what it is? And I doubt it can be about our much deserved time to ourselves.” Xemnas spoke, looking at his second in command. There was definitely more to it than that, but he wasn’t about to let the others have their kicks and find out they were right.23

“I know that IX is pregnant, but something tells me that our least favorite member is hiding something from us as well. If my suspicions are correct, what should we do?” Saïx asked, looking up at his superior. He had his ideas, but he wanted to see what the slightly older man said first.24

“Then we’ll have to keep an eye on XI. Good work, Saïx. We will do something different tonight.” Xemnas smirked before he headed off, the blue haired berserker close by his side. He would find out one way or another about how the respective members were faring. The last thing he needed was to have his best assassin out of doing missions again for an absurd amount of time.