Isyra: The Last Outpost

"So, what you're trying to tell me is that you... I mean, that you're actually..."


Words failed him; he never expected this to happen.


"Yes, I am. Just like the last ten times we went through this."


Her voice sounded bored and slightly annoyed, she didn't think him that dense. It couldn't be that hard for him to accept; she was the one it had happened to and she was out of denial in about five minutes. He was in it for nearly an hour now.


"But... but how?!"


"Well, given the time it must have been about two months ago when we were on that little trip to our homeland. It figures that this had to happen on home soil."


"But that's not possible! The timing... and the fact that we were careful...!"


He was having a Hell of a time accepting this as fact; he took ever measure to ensure that this couldn't have happened, short of having parts of his body physically removed and destroyed.


"Not careful enough, I guess. You saw the proof with your own eyes."


It was amazing to her the way he refused to just accept the facts. He always thought himself so damned incapable of error when he set his mind to something; or maybe he just didn't want to accept the responsibility.


"This can't be happening, this just can't be happening! Unless...."


He looked at her hard, his eyes glaring; it unnerved her quite a bit.


"Unless...?"


"Who else were you with?! Tell me his name!"


That hurt; it hurt a whole lot. She didn't think he would ever think of that, didn't think he could be that cruel. She was shaken, her eyes started to burn as she held tears back.


"... How dare you even think that? HOW DARE YOU! You've said and done a lot of fucking stupid things in your time but I never, ever thought you would ever dare think that I would do such a thing! Is that how you think I really am? Do you think I'm just some little slut that would fuck another man behind your back?!"


He was taken aback by her words; she rarely, if ever cursed. He always considered such crude words unfit for her... if she were saying such things it must have meant she was hurt deeply. He looked down and away from her, not wanting to look directly at her.


"How else could this have happened? You were on your period that time, you said so yourself. And I... I did everything in my power to ensure that this could never happen. I knew we both weren't ready for this, but now... after everything..."


His voice was so small and low, it was as though he had been humbled through a sound beating. And he had been beaten; all his plans had fallen apart, all the careful preparation to avoid this ugly little fact of nature, all the time he spent ensuring that this very thing would NEVER come up. Nature had beaten him. The odds had beaten him. Life had beaten him.


She knew how much he hated to be beaten, but more than that, she knew how much failure affected him mentally and emotionally.


"... Sometimes... these things just happen. Not all plans are fool proof; you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. It's not your fault, it's not my fault; it just happened. We can't spend time thinking about why and how; we have to look ahead."


Her vice was soft and calm, a far cry from the anger and rage she felt moments before. It still stung, but she understood the reason behind his words; she had made peace with how stupid he could act while under pressure.


"How can we do this? We never thought this would happen, we never planned..."


She could feel his voice shake as he spoke; it was finally setting in that their lives were going to change forever.


"It's already been a few months, so... we'll just have to use the rest of the time we have left to prepare."


She was so calm and cool about it, but he was a wreck.


"Can't we... get rid of it...?"


What he was asking was blasphemy, it disgusted her to the very depths of her being that he would even think of such a thing. Even if what they had done was a sin and a great taboo, to commit another was just... vile to her.


"How can you even suggest that?! Have you no heart; this is your child! But more than that, it's my child... our child. I thought you'd be happy to hear this... happy like I was when it finally set in.


Don't you want to have a family with me...?"


"I never really... thought about it. I mean, how could we when the two of us are..."


"That never stopped us from doing things, even when we knew that it was wrong."


She was right, but even still...


"I don't know how we can even consider keeping it... I mean, we'd be damning the child to some serious social stigma. And the risk for defects is higher. Can we really bring a child into the world with that over its head? Would it be right?"


He was trying to find a rational excuse to end this whole thing, but she wouldn't let him; she couldn't stand the idea of ending the life of their child.


"The others will accept the child, and for everybody else they don't have to know. And if it's still a problem, we could go somewhere else, somewhere where the people won't find out; we could start a whole new life together.


And so what if there's a defect? That doesn't mean we won't love the child any less; that doesn't mean it doesn't have a right to life."


"But still... I... I'm not father material! I'll screw the kid up, I just kno-"


She placed a finger on his lips to stop him.


"Everything will turn out fine Aeolus, you always worry too much. I know it's a lot to take in right now, but things will get better; I promise. So, please... don't ask me to get rid of our child and don't worry about what will happen months from now.


We have to live here, now... we have to come to terms with the fact that we're going to have a family. Even if our family... isn't exactly very tradition."


Aeolus took a deep breath and slowly, he nodded. She was the voice of reason he needed at this time... really, the voice of reason he always needed and will always need. That's part of the reason why he loved her; no matter what happened she managed to put things into perspective, she managed to talk some sense into him.


He took her hand into his own and squeezed it softly;


"This is just like you, Iltyhia; always picking the worst possible person to do things with."


Iltyhia smirked slightly before grinning;


"Well of course! That's because I'll never have to worry about somebody else stealing the man I love, and now the father of my child away from me."


"Oh really? So it's all about my being such a loser that nobody else would want me, huh?"


Aeolus asked in a joking manner; he knew she wasn't actually serious.


"Well, I also sort of owe you. I mean, you looked after me all that time when we were kids, and again when you found me in that Hellhole after our hometown burned."


He smiled at her and shook his head;


"You sure do know how to make a guy feel special, little sister."