Lullaby Child - Chapter 4

Two more weeks had finally passed, this time Demyx was at the point of finding out the genders of his twins since he was now at eighteen weeks. But he had a feeling that Marluxia was either going to be bringing him somewhere, or there was somewhere he had promised to take his friend. He couldn’t figure out what was going on at the moment, but he knew he had to talk to the other to see how he was holding up and how far along he was. It still came as a shock to him to see that he was pregnant again, but he wasn’t unhappy for his friend either. As long as Marluxia was healthy, and his unborn baby was then it really didn’t matter to the younger that much. 1

“Hey Dem. I didn’t expect to see you here so early in the day. How are you holding up?” Marluxia asked softly, offering a smile toward the younger male. He looked the other over carefully, definitely seeing his stomach now. But with twins, he looked a little further along than four and a half months. 2

“Marly, you’re psychic. I was going to ask you the same exact thing. I guess to answer your question, I’m fine. The throwing up has passed, thankfully. I hated that… I couldn’t keep anything down at all. But I’m sure you know about that since you’re pregnant again.” Demyx smiled, moving over to Marluxia before he offered the taller male a gentle hug. He chuckled softly as his belly just slightly pushed him back from the rose haired man.3

“Lucky…I’m not even out of the first trimester yet. But I’m not feeling ill right now, just a little dizzy and achy. It’s nothing; I’ve been sleeping more often. This time I didn’t miss any meetings so Xemnas won’t get suspicious again.” Marluxia spoke softly, gently putting one hand on his friend’s growing belly. He knew it was still early to feel kicks, that didn’t happen until 20 weeks or so. All he could do was smile warmly to his young friend and hope the best for him.4

“Oh I know. I only missed one, but that wasn’t my fault. I was camped out in the bathroom then slept all day. Xiggy was worried about me, but I suppose that’s natural since these are our first babies. Hey… do you know when you’re due?” Demyx asked softly. He was genuinely curious; of course he knew that if Luxord asked Marluxia it would have been for a baby betting pool or something along those lines. 5

“If it’s for a baby pool, tell Luxord to count me out. I’m not interested in when everyone thinks the baby will come.” Marluxia spoke, crossing his arms over his chest. He knew Demyx wouldn’t do that to him, but he didn’t know if the older gambler was planning something or not. It was hard to tell really, especially since Luxord rarely talked to him as it was.6

Demyx just laughed and shook his head, hugging his older friend. He wouldn’t put his friends through that. And he especially wouldn’t put Marluxia through it, considering Luxord would be calculating every week, hour, minute and possibly second of his pregnancy. He wouldn’t even wish that upon himself now that he thought about it. He was just slightly amused that Marluxia would even think that he’d do that.7

“Of course not. I just want to know, so I can figure out how close our babies will be in age. This is kind of cool though, I know Xiuying will be close in age to my twins. Your new baby will be about a year younger since she’ll be 1 when he or she is born.” Demyx smiled, trying to reassure his friend that nothing was going on. Or at least that no one was actually betting on when the babies would be born. 8

“According to Vexen, it will be sometime in May. So Xiuying will be a little over a year old by the time the baby is born. Or babies with how things have been going around here. You’re due in January right?” Marluxia asked softly, offering a light smile toward the other. He was only guessing, so he could have been entirely off. 9

“I doubt you’ll have twins Marly. But yeah, Vexen said January. Probably the 5th or so, but we’ll see. He also said that twins come earlier than one baby. I just hope that they’re not too early. I don’t really want anything to go wrong.” Demyx smiled softly to his friend, happy that their respective children would be born only a few months apart from each other. He also knew it wouldn’t do him or the unborn twins a lot of good if he worried too much about their impending arrival.10

“Right. Was there somewhere you wanted to show me? I know I still have to go back and talk to the flowers in Wonderland again, I feel bad for neglecting them once more. It wasn’t long though, only a couple months or so. But I’ll go anywhere you want to, since it’s only fair.” Marluxia chuckled softly, offering a light smile toward the other. 11

“I told Xiggy I wanted to take you to Atlantica; you were just busy that day. Probably worshipping the porcelain god again Marly?” Demyx smiled, putting a hand on the other’s shoulder. The sooner they left, the sooner Xigbar wouldn’t start missing him too badly. He was aware the older male was probably going through morning sickness again.12

“Funny. I was talking to Vexen, and then worshipping the porcelain god.” Marluxia laughed, but nodded in agreement with where Demyx wanted to go. He figured that the other would love it in Atlantica, and that was also probably his home world as well. The older male just feared what would happen when he got there, or if he’d end up as jellyfish again. A cold chill ran down his back at the memory of that. 13

“Right. But let’s go! I feel bad for leaving Ariel and Flounder behind a few weeks ago. They’ll be so surprised to see me now.” Demyx smiled, putting his arm around Marluxia’s shoulders. Sure the other was taller than him, but he managed somehow. Perhaps because Marluxia was still sitting on the bench, making him a little bit shorter than he normally was.14

“Oh I know they will. But let’s get a move on alright? The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back.” Marluxia laughed softly before he moved his hand over his stomach lightly, it was still flat for now. But he knew that it wouldn’t stay that way forever. He shook his head once Demyx opened a portal, only half fearing what would happen next. 15

----16

“Ariel...” Flounder frowned, clinging to his friend. He saw she was swimming off toward the border of Atlantica again. But why? He tried to get her to stop or slow down, he figured it must have been something really important or there was another discovery that he didn’t know about. Or really didn’t want to find out about, just in case it was dangerous or scary. 17

“Oh come on. Don’t be such a scaredy fish.” Ariel laughed as she swam through the coral, only to come face to face with another strange merman. She backed up slightly, then spotted Demyx and swam past the other male who had a hammerhead shark tail. She didn’t know why though, considering she and the others didn’t really get along with the shark.18

“Hey Ariel. I’m glad to see you. Don’t be scared of Marluxia, although he does look kind of scary like that. I don’t know why he turned into a shark though.” Demyx laughed as he hugged his friend gently. He looked at Flounder who was shaking like a leaf behind Ariel. Tilting his head the younger male raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was so scared.19

“You know him? He’s a shark, that’s all we see. The orca that was with you a few weeks ago didn’t seem as scary. That’s just me though.” Flounder spoke as he slowly moved his head around Ariel’s shoulder before he darted back behind her. It was unusual enough seeing a gray-brown tailed shark with pink hair as it was. 20

“Like I said, I don’t know why he is. Last time he was a jellyfish. He might have been better like that. But his name is Marluxia; he’s also my best friend. I promised him that I’d show him where I am from since he showed me where he came from.” Demyx smiled, looking over at Marluxia before he redirected his attention back to Ariel and Flounder.21

“Ah, that’s understandable. Feel free to show him around, but make sure he stays clear of daddy. He doesn’t really like outsiders around here. But he knows you, Myde. I’ll try to stay around you two while I can. You know how Sebastian is; he probably wants to do another concert practice soon.” Ariel spoke before she smiled, hugging Demyx gently. She could tell he was getting bigger, and was aware he wouldn’t be able to come visit for much longer.22

“I will. Don’t worry; we won’t over stay our welcome.” Demyx spoke before he swam off with Marluxia, offering a light smile toward Ariel and Flounder. He knew well enough to stay way from Triton, at least with Marluxia still with him. He was worried, but mostly about his older friend’s safety than his own. The young nocturne knew Atlantica better than the rose haired male did. 23

“You seem nervous Dem. Care to tell me what’s bothering you?” Marluxia asked softly as they swam off toward the coral reef. It was rather gorgeous in his eyes, and he figured they could collect a few things for back home. He also figured that perhaps they could bring some of the flowery anemones back and he could have them in a tank in his garden or something. 24

“It’s King Triton. He doesn’t take kindly to us, Marly. He knows me though because this was my home world, kind of. It doesn’t surprise me since I love water, I control it… I have water clones. You get my point. But we should probably head back soon so Xiggy doesn’t worry.” Demyx smiled, picking up a few shells for the others. He also knew that Vexen would worry as well, considering his friend was pregnant again. 25

“Us who? No one likes the Organization, we all know that. We don’t get out to that many worlds, yet they all seem to know who we are. I’m not worried about Triton, however I do agree. We should go back. Knowing Xiuying she’s probably getting into something, or Vexen is watching her sleep.” Marluxia laughed as they headed behind a rock before he opened a portal. It was safer this way, so no one else could see them leave. 26

-----27

“Xiuying… that is not a toy. No, get daddy’s papers out of your mouth.” Vexen sighed, trying to get his important research papers out of his young daughter’s mouth. Granted she was almost at the teething stage, but it still didn’t really give her any right to chew on his papers and pencils. The blond picked the five month old infant up, holding her close to him while he looked up to see a very familiar face staring at him after turning around.28

“IV, I demand a test. I assume with the rash of pregnancies here, you have devised a pregnancy test. Or have you not gotten that far in your research?” Saïx asked, looking at the older male. Granted the blond outranked him, but he was desperate and he knew that as second in command he technically had authority over the other male. Gold eyes practically bored a hole into the other’s head while waiting for a response.29

“VII… of course I have pregnancy tests. I created them after IX got pregnant, and figured that perhaps others would end up in the same situation as him. Care to tell me who it is for? So I know who I would be checking on.” Vexen asked, looking up at the berserker while keeping Xiuying in his arms. His daughter pulling on his cloak tassels lightly.30

“It is none of your concern, IV. Go back to whatever you were doing. If it warrants your attention, I will inform you.” Saïx spoke, not saying any more about the issue. Or about whom the test could possibly be for, especially since it could potentially end up spread throughout the entire castle. Although he knew that it could be for himself, but he hoped it wasn’t true. It would be near impossible to control his berserker state if he was pregnant. 31

“Very well. Just be sure to inform me, just in case something goes wrong.” Vexen spoke, handing a few tests to the berserker. He prayed to anything and everything that was out there, and to anything that listened, the blue haired male was not pregnant. He hoped it wasn’t the case, but if it was everyone’s safety was put at greater risk. 32

Saïx nodded before he walked off, tests in hand. He knew the risks, and he prayed that he really wasn’t pregnant. However he showed all the classic symptoms, including being moodier than usual and getting ill in the mornings. Plus he was also having food aversions as well, but he didn’t dare tell that to Xemnas. 33

Vexen sighed as Saïx finally left before he held his daughter close to him. Maybe he should check up on his partner later, but he also still had to worry about what was going on with the others as well. He figured he’d hear from Saïx either way, or hear Xemnas screaming down the hall. Right now he’d focus on those that he knew were indeed expecting. 34

He looked at the calendar, praying that if the berserker was indeed pregnant that his due date wouldn’t fall on the same day as Marluxia’s. Vexen knew full well that would be a dangerous time, but right now he could only speculate. He knew well enough to track everyone’s well being, mostly for his safety and the others as well. Now was just a waiting game. 35