Archive of Our Own

Furina doesn't actually how it all happened.

All she remembers was that she came to the Archon gathering, had a bit of fun here and there, had her ass drunk and all of that crap, went back to her apartment with Barbatos. She woke up the next day completely hung over and naked with Barbatos equally naked next to her in bed, to which she already knew what happened the night before, paid it no mind and went on with her day.

And the next thing she knew, was that-

There were two blue lines in the stick in front of her, right while she locks herself in the bathroom, the stick resting on the bathroom sink as she stares at it, her wide eyes unbelieving.

She just kept staring at it, hoping that maybe somehow, she was just hallucinating.

But the more she stared at it, the more it stared back at her, the more it became clearer.

She has never been so sure in her life, so sure that she's pregnant. And that thought? That thought alone left her frozen as she leans against the bathroom sink, her body trembling violently, a hand gently caressing her stomach in denial, in dismay, in anger, in disbelief.

There are seven stages of grief, as they say.

And the first one is denial.

“It’s definitely a false positive.” Furina tries to calm herself as she throws the stick away and pulls out another one. She’s glad she bought multiple tests just in case.

So with that, she takes the test again.

And again.

And again.

And… again.

All of them had the exact same result.

Fuck.

“God damn it all,” Furina curses under her breath as she throws the last stick away.

She’s really pregnant.

And that’s not the end of her problem yet.

Barbatos…

Furina takes a sharp inhale.

She had known the Anemo Archon for so long. Far too long, in fact. And she knows that he’s not one for relationships, even more so when it comes to settling down, having responsibilities, being tied down- all that crap. He’s known for always leaving, not staying in one place for too long, especially when a problem that he got himself involved in turns out to be a huge pain in the ass, and he tends to run away from them. It was a massive mistake to have slept with him, even though she was drunk as hell, she should’ve at least forced one of her instincts to act. Ugh.

She knew that if she were to tell Barbatos the news, he would just leave her alone here in her own nation to deal with their child. And if anything, Furina can't bear the thought of being a single parent, even more so since it was her first child.

So that brings it to the second stage of grief. Anger.

She grits her teeth and clenches her fist against the sink in frustration.

It was painfully obvious that Barbatos was going to do the same with this situation the moment he finds out. He would probably fly out, leave her to raise their future child by herself.

Heavens above, what exactly did she do to be faced with such situation?

It’s her own fault (and Barbatos’ too, obviously), but still!

Furina groans as she starts to contemplate on telling him or not.

After another silent moment, Furina finally came to the decision of telling Barbatos the news to prepare for a worst-case scenario of him leaving her. She takes a deep breath before putting her clothes on again and leaving the bathroom.

She immediately orders Neuvillette to arrange a meeting with Barbatos right this instant.

“So,” Barbatos starts as he sits in front of Furina in the meeting room of the Palais Mermonia. The maids had prepared some cakes and tea to accompany them. “Why did you call me here so suddenly? Did you need something?”

Furina avoids his gaze, instead looking down at the teacup she held in her (trembling) hands. “...there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Well, alright…  do go on.” Venti nods, listening carefully.

“I'm pregnant,” she replied without hesitation. There was no need for her to beat around the bush about it when she just needed Barbatos to know as soon as possible. She looks up at him again with a grim expression. “It’s yours.”

Heavy silence fills the room.

The tension was clearly thick in the air as her eyes dart back toward her tea cup, gripping it firmly. Maybe she shouldn’t have said it after all...? She knows Barbatos is going to leave whether she tells him or not anyway. But she wanted to let him know no matter what, even if the outcome of the situation isn’t exactly going to change.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, she finally spoke up again to break the quietness.

“I know that you don’t like to be tied down, especially when it comes to these kinds of things, so I’ll make it easy for you.” Furina starts, “I’m keeping the child. You don’t have to get involved, at all. I’ll be taking care of them, and you’re free to-”

“I’ll do my best.” Barbatos suddenly speaks up, to Furina’s shock.

“What?” Furina looks baffled. What is he saying...?

“I’ll do my best to be a good father to our child.” Barbatos says, which shocks her even more. “I haven’t had any children before. But even though this was unexpected, and we aren’t even together on top of that, I can’t just leave my own child behind. It’s my responsibility too.”

Oh.

Oh.

Wait a minute. He’s staying?!

“You’re- you’re staying?!” Furina’s eyes widened, the realization dawning in on her. Oh god, what? Is she hearing things? Did she wake up in another universe? No, wait, if she did, then she wouldn’t be pregnant in the first place.

Barbatos gives her a firm nod. “I know we’re not together and we don’t exactly see each other in that way, but I’ll raise the child with you, since you planned on keeping it.”

Furina’s jaw almost drops.

Holy shit.

Is he really Barbatos?!

“What’s the catch?” Furina asks carefully. He must want something in return for… all of this. She’s sure of it.”

“What catch?” Barbatos sounded confused.

Oh crap. He’s serious.

He’s not possessed, right?

Furina stands up and goes over to him, examining every part of him.

“What... are you doing?” Barbatos asks awkwardly.

“I need to make sure you didn’t hit your head on the way here.” Furina replied with the same seriousness as the question she's asking. “Are you really Barbatos? What’s your title? Which nation do you rule? What element do you hold? What dinner did you have last night?”

“Ah… that’s…” Barbatos chuckles nervously. “Furina, calm down. I’m fine.”

“No, I will not calm down!” Furina shoots back, refusing to even consider the idea of her getting any calmer in this situation. “What you've told me so far was so out of character for you that I refuse to believe that you're the real Barbatos until you prove it!”

Barbatos sighs and snaps his fingers, a gust of wind ruffling Furina’s hair.

Okay. Fine. She’s talking to the real Barbatos then.

Not that she didn’t know that.

Ahem, anyway.

“We don’t need to be an actual couple to co-parent our child,” Barbatos says. “Let’s just be there to raise them until they’re old enough… and we don’t need to tell them that we’re not really together. Is that agreeable?”

“Well, I guess that’s the plan now. We’ll do it your way.” Furina nods, just extremely glad that she won’t be left alone in the next several months. Hopefully. Although, it’d be weird actually living with Barbatos under the same roof for quite some time.

____________________

Furina has heard a lot about Fontainians and how they dealt with their pregnancies.

She had overheard them talking about their experiences many times, but she never once thought that the same would happen to her. Hell, she couldn’t believe that it happened to her. It was almost absurd. She was supposed to be immortal, wasn’t she? She’s not exactly like any other human. She knows it. But even then, there will always be the lingering possibility of the unknown.

And this is just one of them.

In one of her many conversations with her people, she’s been told of how hard it is to be pregnant. Though unlike Fontainians, her stomach won’t get bigger. Instead, the element mark of the Archon who impregnated you would be visible on your lower abdomen, indicating the sign that you’ve been knocked up. That much, she’s been informed by other Archons.

What she wasn’t informed, however…

Is that being pregnant means going insane.

It’s already been a few months since her pregnancy has started. Barbatos was temporarily living with her at the moment to take care of her, and while Neuvillette was highly opposed of the idea, he had no choice since the god was the father of her child, so with much reluctance, he prepared a room for Barbatos as well as some other personal maids. Furina didn’t go out of her own room that much, feeling extremely tired and nauseous lately that Neuvillette quite literally banned her from doing any of her duties.

The hormones were driving her absolutely crazy.

She often had random mood swings. One day, she's feeling happy and giddy, and the next, she's angry and irritated. Sometimes, she’d think about a brick, some days she’d suddenly want to shove some awful tasting food down her throat. One moment, she can't stop thinking about eating ice cream and wanting to eat it in every meal, but the next moment, she's suddenly disgusted by it. It's just never-ending torture for her at this point.

And then, there were also the random outbursts. The huge tantrums for every minor inconvenience.

“Get out of my sight if you can’t get me that rose scented candle!” Furina screams at Barbatos, throwing some of her pillows at him. She’s been wanting to light up some scented candles in her room, but the other had told her that all the shops around Fontaine were already closed due to it being so late at night, and that caused her mood to drop.

“Furina, calm down, I’m sure I can get them tomorrow morning before you wake up.” Barbatos tries to console her, catching the pillows with his hands.

“No, I want it now!” Furina shouts back at Barbatos, throwing the rest of her pillows at him before getting out of bed and stomping her feet. She stomps her feet over and over again, until she’s looking like a child losing their sanity because they didn’t get the toy that they wanted, just repeating the process over and over again out of anger, frustration and irritation.

Barbatos sighs, trying to get closer to her, carefully. “Furina…”

“I. WANT. IT. NOW!” Furina’s voice was so loud that the whole Palais Mermonia probably heard it. “GET ME MY SCENTED CANDLES!”

“Furina–” Barbatos tries to reach out to her only for Furina throw a vase at his direction. He quickly dodges the vase and used anemo energy so the vase wouldn't fall to the group and shatter, his expression a bit horrified.

As Furina continued her temper tantrum, Barbatos sighs. He really has no choice now.

“If you don’t get me my scented candles, I’ll-” before Furina could continue her threat, she was suddenly pulled against the other’s arms, restraining her from doing anything.

“Let me go!” Furina started struggling against Barbatos’ hold. Damn it! “I swear, I’m going to-!”

Barbatos’ lips suddenly pressed against hers, forcefully silencing her.

Furina let out a loud squeak as Barbatos suddenly silenced her with a kiss. She tried to resist for all of a few seconds before she completely went limp. She’s way too distracted by the sudden kiss to even notice that she made the decision to kiss back and give in to it. Her mind went completely blank at the moment. She felt her body growing hot feel her heart racing in her chest. Her face was suddenly completely flustered as her cheeks became flushed red.

Damn this guy.

Furina starts deepening the kiss, because why the hell not. Barbatos started this. He should’ve known what he had gotten himself into.

She then feels Barbatos trying to break it.

The Hydro Archon clings more tightly onto Barbatos' body as her arms tighten around his neck in response to the idea of him pulling away, not letting him escape from their kiss as she tries to keep him from breaking it, wanting to keep the moment going for as long as possible. Furina then hears Barbatos’ muffled chuckle as he continues to kiss her despite her clinginess.

But the realization of the situation sets in. She wasn’t supposed to be kissing Barbatos.

Almost immediately, she pulls away from him, extremely embarrassed for having being carried away.

“Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” Furina groans, pulling away from him. Did she really have to do that...? Ugh.

“I’m expecting my scented candles tomorrow morning before I wake up,” Furina forces herself to glare at Venti to save face before storming out of her room.

The next day, she had completely forgotten all about what she was so mad about the night before.

On the 7th month of her pregnancy, Furina was feeling more and more out of it.

She could tell that the due date was getting closer and closer, at least by the way her body is changing. She can feel more and more aches and pains as the months passed by, alongside the insane mood swings that have been taking a toll on her. She honestly doesn't even think she even knows herself anymore ever since her pregnancy. She just can't think clearly anymore, especially with these damn hormones affecting her mind and body so much.

She can’t exactly tell what was making her tired anymore. The pregnancy or the constant mood swings that she’s been having. Her feet were starting to swell, making her waddling more obvious. Her lower back felt like it would snap in half at any given moment. Walking was also taking much longer now than it did before since she was taking extra precautions to not accidentally trip and fall on anything and hurt herself and her child along with her. She can’t even hang out to have tea with Nahida anymore!

Furina has been spending most of the days in bed since day one, but this time, she couldn’t get up at all. It was not only getting harder for her to stand, but her legs were now sore as if she had run for miles. It was just a constant feeling of exhaustion, irritation and nausea that she was feeling every day, and it never seemed to disappear in every waking second she was alive in this state.

She’s exhausted, frustrated for no reason and nauseous. Everything was a pain to do.

Neuvillette would come to check up on her every twice a week, bringing all sorts of cakes, and other necessities she needed, to which she was grateful for, but his worrisome personality can be a little too much sometimes that she has to get the maids to drag him away from her room at some days. Clorinde would also visit her, bringing her baby toys and all that stuff, even Navia bought her some things like clothes for her soon to be born baby. She was honestly thankful to everyone, especially Barbatos.

After all, he was the one who had been there for her the most through all of this hell, even if they weren’t exactly a couple. He was the one who constantly had to deal with her extreme mood swings, her intense cravings, her random outbursts over the littlest things. He handled her well without even snapping once. He even went as far as to give her forehead kisses before she sleeps for comfort and would lay by her side so she could get a good night’s rest better.

She’s beyond grateful to him, even though he’s only there for the sake of their child.

On the 8th month of her pregnancy, she feels like dying.

She can almost feel her body giving out on her. Every movement feels like a struggle she can’t win. Her legs are aching in pain, her stomach feels like it's going to burst open any minute now and her head is pounding with the headache she has been feeling for a while now. Her legs felt sore, her body feels heavy and she’s also constantly out of breath. She’s also constantly feeling tired. Every time she sleeps, she only wakes up even more tired and more nauseous than before. Even drinking water has been a real hassle for her lately because of the nausea. At this point, she’s not exactly so sure how she’s still alive.

On the 9th month (a.k.a the last month) of her pregnancy, she was absolutely terrified of what’s going to happen to her.

Sigewinne had checked up on her for the last time to make sure she was ready for her upcoming due date. Everyone was excited for her, and her baby’s necessities were already ready and prepared in her little one’s room. The maids were already preparing the things she’s going to be needing in the labor room in the bag so she wouldn’t have to worry. All she had to do was wait now.

But with the preparations that needed to be made, it’s only making things even more nerve-wracking for her and she just feels more scared, anxious and nervous as the time goes by, as she doesn’t know what to expect with the labor and birth. The realization that her due date is right around the corner sends her into an overwhelming state of fear. Just one more week until the day when she has to give birth to her and Barbatos’s child. Just one more week until her first child is born.

She’s absolutely horrified.

“I think I’m gonna die,” Furina shakily says, her hand gripping Barbatos’ own as she sat in bed with the other accompanying her. It was the night before her due date.

“Calm down, it’s going to be okay.” Barbatos attempts to reassure her, but it only serves to heighten her anxiety.

Furina’s grip around Barbatos’ hand tighten. She never imagined herself ever giving birth to begin with. She never even thought of having children until this very moment where she found herself pregnant. And that was another question that kept popping up in her head. What the hell was she supposed to even do with the child once it was born?

“What if I don’t turn out to be a good mother? What if I die during labor? What if our baby dies during labor? What if-” all different kinds of scenarios were already playing out in Furina’s head, haunting her.

Barbatos places his hand on her cheek, caressing it. “It’s going to be alright. I’ll be there with you. We’ll be fine.”

“I’m scared,” Furina says shakily. Who the hell knows what might happen tomorrow? This might be her last night with Barbatos, in this bed, in this world- and even if she makes it, how certain is she that she’s going to be a good mother to her child? She’s never looked after a child before, and now she’s going to have one of her own. It’s all so petrifying to think of. “What if I turn out to be a mother? What if my child ends up hating me? What if-” it turns out that I wasn’t ready after all?

She couldn’t say it. The words were stuck in her throat.

“Furina.” Barbatos says firmly but gently. “We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen. Even I’m not sure whether I’ll be a good parent or not. But no matter what the outcome may be, I won’t leave your side. So, please… trust yourself.”

“But what if that’s not enough?” Furina asks brokenly, her eyebrows meeting together as she looks at Barbatos. What if she’s not the mother the child deserves? What if her inability to do her best as a mother ends up making the child resent her? 

“It is.” Barbatos assures her, pressing their foreheads together. “You’ll always be enough. You’ll be a great mother. Our child will love you. I know it.”

Furina slowly calms down the more Barbatos comforts her. Even if no reassurance could convince her that she’s going to be a good mother for the child she’s raising with Barbatos. She’s just too scared, too worried and too anxious at this point, and she won’t believe anything else until she actually holds her baby in her hands and knows for sure that the child is her everything from that moment on.

“Let’s go rest, okay? You have a long day tomorrow.” Barbatos says softly.

Furina stays silent for a long moment before sighing, but she eventually agrees. She just wanted to rest, to hopefully get her mind off of the fear that’d consume her in the next day. After all, there was nothing she could do until her due date comes. She allows herself to be led to the bed, falling into it and wrapping herself around Barbatos before her eyes starts to close, hoping that she can sleep without the worries that’d plague her every waking moment.

The next day, her water broke.

Furina was rushed to Sigewinne’s clinic, who already had her materials ready. The other nurses that were going to help had already been waiting inside the room. Furina’s body just went into autopilot mode as she let herself be led into the delivery room with the nurses.

“Where is… where is Barbatos?” Furina chokes out as the nurses settled her on the delivery bed. Where the hell was he? She needed her right now, for god’s sake!

“He insisted staying in the waiting area.” Sigewinne says. Huh?!

“What?! Why?!” Furina growls. What the hell came in that idiot’s mind?!

“He said that you might not want him here and that he’ll just be interfering the delivery-”

Oh, now Furina’s mad. And hysterical.

“GET HIM IN HERE, GODDAMN IT!” Furina snaps. She swears she’s going to rip him to shreds if he doesn’t show up right now when she needed her most.

One of the nurses immediately hurries out of the delivery room.

Sigewinne gathers enough elemental energy in her hands before hovering it over Furina’s stomach. “I need you to push for me as hard as you can, okay? In three… two…” right as she says that, she pushes the elemental energy right into her body.

Her face is scrunched up in pain as she continues to give it her all, gritting her teeth and letting out a long, audible scream of pain every time she tries to push, her arms grabbing onto the bed and her legs moving around as she tries to help. She can feel the pain, but not feel the baby yet. She doesn’t even know why she’s still waiting for the baby to come, but this is just pure torture that she wants to end now.

After a few moments, the door slams open and Barbatos enters inside, rushing to her.

“Furina!” Barbatos calls out to her, concern in his voice. In response, she looked up to see him sprinting to her, immediately grabbing his hand and pulling him beside her.

“You… damn… idiot!” Furina rasps out, her grip tightening.

“I’m sorry. I’m here now.” Barbatos whispers, pressing his forehead against her head.

“It hurts,” Furina whimpers. Oh god, she’s never going to have another child again after this.

“Again!” Sigewinne pushes another elemental energy against her body.

Furina lets out another scream of pain as she continues to push the child out again, her eyes shut tight as tears fall from her eyes. She wants all of the pain to end, just for it to all go away, but she’s stuck in this nightmare, unable to escape. Even if it hurts, she can’t stop herself from pushing the baby out. The pain just keeps getting harder and harder as she gives it her all yet again. She can only hope she won’t die from this.

Sigewinne continues trying to work on getting the baby out as Furina continues pushing it out as hard as she can. The deliver was lasting forever, and she was so fucking tired but it was quite too late to give up now, so she just proceeds with this hell.

She never heard from her people that giving birth was this hard! Ugh!

After one to two hours, she can feel the head of her baby coming out.

“Lord Barbatos, would you like to see it?” Sigewinne asks as she was getting the baby out.

“Ah… see w-what...?” Barbatos asks nervously.

“The head.” Sigewinne answers him simply, to which Barbatos almost chokes. Furina forgot how mischievous Sigewinne can get sometimes. “It’ll only be for a few minutes. It’ll be fine.”

With a tensed body, Barbatos takes a little peek at whatever it is that was going on in there. However… once he does, the sight becomes too much for him to see, and he faints out of shock.

“Oh… oops.” Sigewinne chuckles. “Forgot about that part.”

Furina stares at Barbatos in horror. Seriously? She’s the one giving birth here! What the hell?!

The nurses carried Barbatos out of the delivering room while Furina continues on pushing the child out.

“One last push.” Sigewinne tells her. Furina readies herself.

She gives it another final push as she lets out a loud cry of pain from the sheer agony she’s in.

The moment it was all over, the first thing that was heard throughout the delivery room was an ear-piercing cry.

She heard it. She finally heard the child, the thing that was going to change her life for the years to come, cry. She couldn’t help, but smile as she heard her child’s cry. It was so loud, but she also took a moment to be relieved that she actually made it through the pregnancy and gave birth.

She just let her body rest in the bed, completely exhausted and worn out from the birthing process.

She can’t believe that she made it…

“It’s a girl!” Sigewinne happily announces. She went over to Furina, carefully placing the baby near Furina for her to see.

Furina’s face is filled with relief and joy as she sees the tiny baby, her daughter, in her arms. Despite the overwhelming weight that is now on her arms, she couldn’t help but feel happy with the knowledge that she was able to give birth to her child.

“My little angel, you’re here…” Furina murmured, feeling all of her anxieties and worries slowly dissipate as she held her daughter in her arms for the first time. Several months ago, she was absolutely horrified of the thought of seeing her unborn baby. But now that she’s in this situation herself, all that she felt was extreme happiness.

“What are you going to name her?” Sigewinne asks with a smile. Furina was about to speak, but doesn’t continue, remembering that she’s not the only parent around here.

“I think… I’ll leave that up for Barbatos to decide.” Furina says, looking down at her baby. For now, she just wants to rest.

“Alright then.” Sigewinne nods before she gestures for the other nurses to take the baby to the nursery room. “I’ll transfer you to another room so you can rest.”

Furina just nods to that as she let the nurses take her newborn baby to the nursery room. Now that she has the time to herself, she just decides to just close her eyes and rest for as long as she could in the meantime.

Immediately after being transferred to another room, she falls asleep, too tired to stay awake.

Several hours later, she slowly opens her eyes, her gaze meeting with Barbatos’ own.

“Barbatos…” she tries to move herself a bit in the bed, but she finds herself too weak to do so. Barbatos helps her to sit up.

“Careful, the doctor says you shouldn’t be moving too much.” Barbatos tells her.

Furina grunts as she sat up on the hospital bed. “Our child… how is she?”

“She’s currently sleeping.” Barbatos says, arranging the pillows behind her back so she could be more comfortable.

Furina just sighs in relief as her body slumps back down to the bed. She’s exhausted, both physically and mentally, and she’s definitely too tired to get up. She’s just glad that her baby is safe and healthy, but of course, she also wishes that she could at least hold her own child.

“Sigewinne visited earlier to check up on you,” Barbatos informs her. “She also asked me the name of our child.”

“…And? Have we decided yet?” Furina asks as she looks over to him, hoping that Barbatos has already decided on something. She’s still too exhausted to think right now, and she just needs a name already to keep her mind at ease if nothing else.

Barbatos smiles sheepishly. “Well, she was hurrying me to think of a name even though I wanted to discuss it with you, but I had no choice so… I named her myself. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course, I don’t mind at all, but… what did you name her?” Furina asks as she waits for him to tell her the name he picked out. She wasn’t really too picky about what name to give the child at the moment, but as long as the name isn’t something too out there or bizarre, she knows that she would be happy with it.

“Rina.” Barbatos answers with a small smile.

Furina’s eyes widened. “You named her after me?”

“Yes. You know, because she cries a lot. Just like you.” Barbatos teases.

“You jerk!” Furina pouts, looking at him with an offended expression. However, she can’t help but laugh herself.

After an hour later, one of the nurses came to Furina’s room, carrying their daughter with her. She places it on Furina’s arms.

The moment she feels the weight of the child in her arms, Furina’s heart melted. Her body is still sore, yes, but nothing compares to the feeling of seeing her own baby in her arms for the very first time. She just stares at her baby, gently cradling her and rocking her back and forth, and she just doesn’t have the strength to speak.

“She has your eyes.” Barbatos says softly as his finger hovers over the infant’s small hand, to which the child wraps her little fingers around it.

Furina chuckles. “And apparently, that’s the only thing she inherited from me. She quite literally looks like you.”

“I’m sure she’ll inherit more from you in the future.” Barbatos smiles lightly.

“As long as she doesn’t inherit my bad attitude or my stubbornness, I’m fine with that.” Furina adds with a nervous laugh. She really hopes her precious daughter won’t get her short-temper.

“I’m sure she’ll be lovely no matter what.” Barbatos says softly. “You’ll be a wonderful mother.”

“The same goes to you.” Furina smiles softly at him.

They lean in close, closing their eyes.

But right before the distance could close, the door slams open, startling the two who immediately pulled away from each other.

“Lady Furina!” Neuvillette barges in the room, seemingly out of breath. He must’ve rushed here. This was the first time she’s seen him so out of composure. Behind him were Clorinde and Navia.

Well, damn.

“Oh, the baby’s so cute!” Navia gasps as she walks over to the bed, looking at the child in her arms.

“They have your eyes.” Clorinde comments, “But it seems they inherited the rest from Lord Barbatos.”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Furina smiles, allowing the three to take a closer look at her baby.

“Can I hold her?” Navia asks, sounding excited.

“Of course…” Furina replies as she holds out her baby to Navia with a soft smile. “Just be careful, and try not to move her too much.”

“Oh, she’s so tiny.” Navia coos, “What’s her name?”

“Her name’s Rina.” Furina tells them.

“Hello, little Rina. I’m your Aunt Navia,” Navia starts playing with her.

The baby grabs Navia’s finger with her tiny hands as she starts sucking on it, making Navia gasp.

Furina chuckles slightly at the sight. It seems they’re already getting along well. She leans against Barbatos, who was standing beside her, his arm around shoulder to steady him. Clorinde also takes a look at her child, and Rina starts reaching out to her as well, taking the other by surprise.

“It seems that she caught your extroverted personality.” Furina muses. She’s sure that this child of hers is going to grow up very active, no doubt.

Neuvillette also takes a look at the child in Navias arms.

But the moment Rina sees his face, it only takes a second for her to start crying loudly.

Ah…

“...and it seems that she inherited your distaste towards Neuvillette as well.” Furina comments.

Barbatos laughs nervously as Neuvillette just stares at him sharply.

However, everyone else laughs at this moment. Neuvillette’s appearance is something that they all agree is a little unsettling, so seeing him have his own personal boogeyman in the baby they all adore so much was enough to lighten the mood in the room a bit.

Even Furina herself can’t help but laugh as she stares at Neuvillette’s disgruntled expression.

“Here, you try to hold her.” Navia hands the baby to Neuvillette.

“Apologies. I’m afraid I don’t know how to hold… tiny humans such as children.” Neuvillette admits.

“Oh, come on. Here, I’ll show you.” Navia insisted as she carefully places the baby on Neuvillette’s arms. “Now, relax your expression. Don’t scare her. Try to smile!”

Following her instructions, Neuvillette tries to smile at the child, who got even more scared and cried harder. She started pulling on the man’s hair.

She tries to hide her smile. Furina knows that he’s doing his best, but the baby is clearly too afraid of his face to even consider accepting his attempts at smiling at her. She can’t really blame her child though. If your first impression is of a man with a permanent scowl etched into his face, it’s not surprising that the first thing you’d feel towards him is fear and anxiety.

Neuvillette hands Rina back to Furina as he takes a step back, trying to keep a neutral expression, but she can already see the look of defeat in his face.

“It’s okay,” Navia pats a depressed Neuvillette’s back with a sympathetic smile. Maybe when she’s older, they’ll get along just fine… but not now, that’s for sure.

The three stayed in her room for a couple of hours to converse with the both of them while Clorinde had also brought some food. Furina was extremely grateful to them.

“We’ll see you soon, Furina! Lord Barbatos!” Navia waves them goodbye while they all headed to the door. “And get well soon!”

The two waved back at them as they close the door, finally leaving the two of them alone.

Furina sighs, exhaustion taking over her body.

“You should rest.” Barbatos suggests as he slowly takes Rina in his arms.

Furina looks over at Barbatos, giving him a tired nod as she lets him take Rina out of her arms.

“Please take good care of her…” she whispers, and just with that, she finally closes her eyes, giving into her tiredness and letting herself sleep.

She hopes she’ll be a good parent.

And she trusts that Barbatos will, too.

____________________

A hundred years has passed, and Rina has grown into a healthy young girl.

Being a parent turned out to be just as hard as she expected it to be. It definitely required a lot of patience. But with Barbatos, she managed well in raising their child. And even though they aren’t exactly a couple, he had kept his promise and took care of her and their little angel.

Rina has taken a lot after Barbatos himself, while she had her mother’s sense of fashion in the other hand. She grew up to be gentle and kind, always understanding and helping others without expecting anything in return. She was also very friendly. Thankfully though, she didn’t inherit any of Furina’s anger management issues. Unlike most children, she never went through the rebellious phase. But just like Barbatos, Rina was quite the sister figure to everyone. The people absolutely adored and looked up to her.

“Maman, Papa? May I ask something?” their little girl comes up to them once with a curious gaze.

“Yes, dear? What is it?” Furina smiles at her.

“Do you love each other?” Rina asks.

The question caught both of them off-guard.

“What made you ask that, Rina?” Furina asks back, “Of course we love each other very much.”

“But… I don’t see you and papa kiss, or hug. I see my friends’ parents kiss and hug each other all the time. You guys don’t do that.” Rina looks up at them, frowning.

Ah, well what was she supposed to respond to that? No, honey, we don’t kiss and hug because we’re not exactly a couple. We got drunk one night and decided to fuck.

Yeah, no.

“Ah, well, your father and I… express our affection for each other in our own way. You don’t need to worry about that.” Furina reassures her. “What’s most important is that we love you the most.”

“Really?” Rina gazes at them curiously.

“Yes, sweetheart.” Barbatos nods, stroking her hair. “You might not see it, but I love your mother very much.”

Well, that’s not exactly true, since all Barbatos does is bully her once they’re alone.

But they were able to convince their child anyway, so that doesn’t really matter.

They just have to continue keeping up this facade. There’s no way they’re gonna explain the truth to Rina yet, mostly because Furina doesn’t know how to explain it, and she’s still a little ashamed that she isn’t completely honest with her daughter about what’s really going on with her and Barbatos. Rina will know soon enough, when she’s older.

As they watch Rina run outside of their home to her friends, Furina couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“She’s growing every day.” Furina sighs.

“I know.” Barbatos responds.

“Thank you for staying with me.” Furina suddenly says. “I’m not sure how much I could handle if you decided to leave that day after finding out, or if I didn’t tell you and just kept it to myself.”

“I’m here because I wanted it.” Barbatos replies. “I would’ve been devastated if you decided not to tell me.”

“And what made you stay?” Furina couldn’t help but ask. It was a question she’s been meaning to ask all these years.

“Well, that…” Barbatos trails off for a moment before continuing. “Perhaps it’s because I love you.”

Furina’s eyes widened.

“That’s…” Furina mutters, her face heating up. “Stop teasing me, Barbatos.”

But Barbatos only looks at her with a gaze that says “there’s nothing playful about what I just said”.

“...why didn’t you tell me then?” Furina’s brows furrowed. If Barbatos did truly love her, they why did he keep it hidden? Why did he only tell her now?

“Well, because I can see that you didn’t exactly see me in that way.” Barbatos sighs as he gently takes Furina’s hand in his. “But as long as I was able to stay by your side all this time, seeing you happy and our child, that’s more than enough for me.”

Furina can feel her heart beating so fast, it’s like a drum pounding against her chest. She can feel all the emotions washing over her as she looks back to Barbatos, and she tries to say something, but she can’t.

“You… you idiot!” Furina suddenly hits him in the arm.

“W-What was that for?!” Barbatos asks, caught off-guard by her.

“For not telling me that this whole time! If you knew you still love me this entire time, then you shouldn’t have just stayed silent like this!” Furina says, her face starting to blush more and more as she lets out a small growl.

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t you ‘I’m sorry’ me!” Furina pouts, but then she tackles him in a hug, burying her face in his chest. “Stupid… you’re so stupid…”

“I’m sorry,” Barbatos whispers, wrapping his arms around her. There was nothing more than Furina wanted at this moment than to kiss him right now.

And so, she does, pressing her lips against Barbatos for the first time in a whole while, enjoying the taste of him on her lips which still tasted the same as all those years. She kisses him with all her pent-up frustration, pent-up feelings, making up for all those times that they kept their feelings from each other.

“I love you.” Furina whispers to Barbatos as she pulls her lips away from him, though she just keeps her face close. She can feel her heart racing again, but for a different reason now, and she knows Barbatos feels it too, and the two of them are just so happy that they’re able to kiss each other again after all this time.

“I love you so much.” she adds, and she wants to kiss him again, to show just how much love she feels for him right at this moment, but she’ll settle with just holding him close for now.

“I love you more,” Barbatos couldn’t help but smile softly at her.

“I love you most.” Furina caresses his cheek. “I’d say I love you to the moon and back, to the sun and across the world, to every single star in the sky, and beyond it, but I love you way more than that, Barbatos.”

Just to prove her point, she leans closer again and kisses him once more, this time longer and deeper than before. She’s making up for lost time, and she can’t help but feel just a little satisfied with herself.

“I guess we really are Rina’s parents now, huh?” Furina giggles when they part.

“We’ve always been.” Barbatos presses his forehead against hers. “And I’ve always been yours.”

As a response, Furina just kisses him again.

“As well as I.” she smiles. “But from now on, I’m gonna make sure you know that.”

“I look forward to it.” Barbatos chuckles.

Just a couple of hundred years ago, the thought of being with Barbatos like this would never have come across her mind, let alone have a family with him. Furina has always thought that she’ll just continue doing her duties as the Archon of her nation. Not once did she expect any of this. Not once did she expect for Rina to change her life forever, filling that empty hole she has in her heart for the longest time.

But looking back at it now, a lot of things has changed. Especially between her and Barbatos.

This was something worth protecting, after all. The two people closest to her heart.

And she wouldn’t have it any other way.