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"What?" Anubis was stunned by the turn of events.
He looked from one child
to another
and tried to comprehend what just happened. How could one live
while the
other died?
He looked down at Mia and saw
her hug the lifeless bundle, trying to give it
her own life.
He never could stand to see her cry so he took the baby from her.
She
reached for it, but
he kept it away.
"Anubis?!" Mia hugged
herself after he moved away from her. How could he do
this to
her? She wanted the baby and wanted to die with it.
The people in the room started
to move in on him until he looked up from the
baby. His
eyes narrowed at what they wanted to do.
"All of you leave!! If
that is all you need to do, then leave!!" He looked
down at the
baby in his arms again.
Nobody argued with him. The
midwife almost did but kept it shut. He was
going to try
something, she knew it.
When the others in the room
already left, the people form outside came in.
Cale was at
the forefront and stopped when he saw Mia's tear-stained eyes.
A child was
in her arms
but where was the other one? He knew they were having twins.
He looked
around the
room and spotted Anubis at a corner of the room. He was looking
down at a
pile of
towels in his arms.
"Anubis?" Cale asked as he walked towards the Warlord.
He didn't answer but a light
started to glow around him. The light was
directed at the
sheets he looked at. Cale stopped from advancing when he realized
what it
was within
the folds. He turned to Mia who was keeping her child very close
to her.
"Mia?" he called out to her.
"I didn't feel anything
Cale! Nothing!!" Her eyes were frantic when they
looked up to
him. "Nothing!!"
"It's going to be okay."
He held her, careful not to crush the child between
them. "He's
going to make everything alright. You know Anubis. He always
has a plan."
I hope, he
thought.
***
He was on a long hallway, all
white, all bright. A figure was ahead of him
and it carried
something. He knew what it was.
"Stop!" The figure did and turned to him. "Where do you think you're going?"
"You have no authority
here Warlord," the figure said. "You do not belong
here."
"And my child does? You
have to admit that he hasn't even lived long enough
to walk
here."
"It is what he wanted."
"Let me talk to him and
we'll see." The figure went to him and handed the
child over. It
disappeared the instant he let go. "You are not going anywhere.
You are
going to come
back with me to your mother." He looked down at the child.
"What would you do for
him Warlord? Half of his soul has already left. He
has no fight
left."
"Then I give him mine."
"You will do that for him?"
"Are you going to let me do it?!"
"If you are willing."
The figure appeared behind him
and grabbed hold of his shoulders. Before
Anubis could
pull away, he was racked with a paralyzing pain that all he could
think of
was what
would he tell Mia if he failed. The pain covered him and he blacked
out.
***
Mia still cried on Cale's shoulder
when Anubis suddenly slid down to the
floor. He had
the baby close to his chest so as not to hurt it, but his eyes
were closed.
Mia looked up
and saw him slide down.
"Oh no you're not!"
She pushed Cale away and she ran to kneel next to him.
"If you
wouldn't let me go with Kieran, then you're not going with him
either." She
was about to
hit him when a movement and sound came from the folds that he
held. "What
the...?"
She pulled the bundle away from
him and found the baby she thought dead alive
and
well. Her hand tentatively reached out to the little face and
she could feel
a familiar
essence around him. It dawned on her what he must have done to
get her baby
back.
"Who's Kieran?" She
stopped and turned to him. Anubis was rubbing the back
of his
head.
"You're alive?!"
"Of course I am. Couldn't
let you have all the fun." She sighed and rested
her head
against his shoulder.