Mpreg Central

The three were waiting at the restaurant for a while, well past eight. "Man, where's Astien? Why's he keeping us waiting like this? That's not like him."

"I'll go look for him," Marius said as he stood up from the table. "You two stay here. Don't order anything until I get back with Astien." He ran back to the castle and to the record hall.

A guard came in and spoke to Marius. "Are you Marius? The three of you are requested in the infirmary. A carriage has elready been sent to retrieve your friends."

Marius nodded and sprinted to the infirmary. "Astien?!"

Outside the infirmary, a small group stood. Hjulmir held his infant son in his arms, clutching him like a precious treasure that would be snatched away should he relax his grip for even a moment, a look or horror and worry etched onto his face. Aralith stood beside Anaru, his hand around her shoulder, grief and sympathy on their features. Heceril and I'Karis also stood. Heceril still had his usual face of somber blankness, but it was tinged with worry. I'Karis, the more expressive of the duo, made no attempt at hiding the horror, fear, and worry on his face. As Marius drew near, none of them said anything. Words had fled their minds.

Marius made his way to the bedside, frightened as to what he would see.

Loke sat on the edge of the bed, squeezing Astien's hand reassuringly and stroking his hair as tears quietly ran down his face. Meanwhile, Astien lay on the bed, sobbing like the world was ending. His other arm was draped around his belly… only his belly wasn't there anymore. Where once was a prodigious bump housing a growing child now was a flat stomach. Aiden was gone.

"What happened?" Marius voice shook as he knelt beside the bed. "Where's Aiden?"

Astuteness kept his eyes clenched shut, silently hoping this entire ordeal was some sort of twisted nightmare. He couldn't speak through his cries. Loke did it for him. "Faeries. They took Astien, and stole Aiden from his womb…" though Loke spoke the words quietly, the recounting of the ordeal made Astien cry ever harder.

Marius slowly blinked as he took Astien's hand. "We'll get him back. I promise you, we'll get Aiden back."
Cormac came into the room with Delas. "When did this happen?"

"I don't really know." Loke said. "We find him in the rose garden at about seven. From what little he's said, Astien doesn't seem to remember much besides the faeries surrounding him and casting some kind of magic."

Cormac nodded and ran out of the room. Marius went after him. "Where are you going?"
"To get Aiden back," Cormac stated.
"Then I'll go with you," Marius demanded.
"No, you stay here."
"Please, let me help. You don't have to do this alone. You're not the only one capable of getting Aiden back."
"Marius, I can fly and I can use a sword and I can breathe fire."
"Let me help!"
"Then stay with Astien!" Cormac shouted. "I'm Astien's assistant. I'm his bodyguard. You are neither of those things. You are far more important than those. You stay with him and you don't ever leave his side until I return with Aiden." He turned on his heel and rushed to pack a few things.

Anaru grabbed Cormac's shoulder a he tried to run past, and spoke to him for the first time, his voice deep and booming. "We have sent word to the drake-father. He should be here by morning. We will wait for him, and then we all go to rescue the baby together."
Aralith nodded. "You think you're going to fight faeries alone? You forget, these creatures are practically made of magic. Half drake or not, they'll kill you in an instant, and use your body for something sick and twisted. And you're nowhere as capable with a sword as we are."

"We wait for the drake-father," Hjulmir said, "He should arrive by morning. Then the faeries are dead."

"We also need time to figure out how to put the fetus back inside Astien." Heceril pointed out. "Killing the faeries won't do much good if we can't get Aiden back in the womb he belongs in."

"You can put him back?" Cormac asked. "I mean, he's already out."

Heceril shrugged. "They uses magic to take him out, so we should be able to use magic to put him back in. From what Astien told me, they didn't truly take him out, they just put him in one of the faeries' wombs."

Cormac nodded and he ran his hands through his hair. He took a deep breath and returned to his room. Marius returned to Astien's side. "We'll get him back," Marius said as he kissed Astien's head. "We'll get Aiden back."

Astien took a deep breath and finally spoke. "I am going to make each and every last one of those bastards pay. I will end them all in the most gruesome and painful ways they deserve."

Marius nodded and kissed Astien's forehead. "I'll help."

Astien nodded and sniffled. A voice came from behind Marius. "I believe I can be of some help too, if you'll let me."

(Bbl, work time.)

Marius turned to look behind him.