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The palace was in an absolute frenzy.
How could it not be? The long awaited day had finally arrived. Rex Lapis’ heir would finally be brought into existence.
Midwives swarmed the room, screams and grunts could surely be heard even in the bustling city streets.
Hours of piercing shrieks alarmed everyone within earshot of the agony of birth.
The sound only ceased once it was replaced with the cries from not one, but two small mouths.
Well, that wasn't entirely correct.
There were two mouths but cries could only be heard from one.
The nurses looked so terrified. They might burst into worse hysterics than the infant they'd just helped birth. Tears poked at their eyes.
What would it mean to fail to deliver their archon's child?
Would they lose their job? Their freedom? Their life?
Despite their terror, they immediately began working on making the older baby utter his first sound.
Dizzy from fatigue, Barbatos weakly reached out towards where the nurses were taking his eerily pale child. “What's wrong?”, he rasped. “Alatus…?”, he called out the name he and his husband had already chosen for their first born son.
A nurse rushed to his side with the healthy twin. She positioned herself directly in the middle of his field of vision. “Your grace, your son needs your touch,” she said as calmly as she could.
Barbatos stared blankly at her, not tired enough to forget about what was happening behind her, but too exhausted to argue.
He pulled the baby to his chest.
Warm. Loud. Tiny.
It was all his mind could conjure for a first impression.
The door flung open and the room went silent, save for one child’s cry.
Rex Lapis.
“My lord,” immediately flew from the mouth of the now empty-handed nurse as she reverently bowed.
The patron god of Liyue was incredibly astute. He took in the scene before him. His love carried a child in his arms but a distressed look was plastered on his angelic features. His cerulean eyes were flitting between the infant in his arms and the crowd of stiff nurses in the far corner of the room.
Something was wrong.
But what?
He pushed past the woman in front of him to move towards the large huddle.
His footsteps were enough to get them to part, one nurse still attempting to free the infant’s airways.
Rex Lapis’ gaze fell upon the child. It’s color was fleeting, it hadn’t moved, and there was hardly any elemental energy present in its body.
“It’s dead,” he announced in the language of his people. His tone was almost devoid of emotion. It carried just a drop of pity for that weak fledgling.
The midwives all shook their heads in spite of the still child before them all. This baby could not be dead. For all of their sakes.
The nurse kept trying, the baby was still warm, a faint heartbeat was still present, he just needed to breathe. He just needed to breathe.
The archon turned his back to them, and set eyes upon his beloved one whose pallor almost matched that of the baby the midwives were incessantly tending to.
Rex Lapis approached the bed Barbatos lay in. He leaned over to get a closer look at both of his treasures.
He laid a hand upon the other god’s sweat laden forehead, and wiped the stray hairs to the side. “You’ve done so well. He’s beautiful.”
Barbatos’ features twisted further, he was confused. There were two. Why weren’t they beautiful? He winced as he tried and failed to sit up properly, the baby in his arms only just quieting down. His voice was strained as he spoke just loud enough to hear.
“Wait… Did you see him?… Where’s Alatus?”
He frowned, “Alatus is right here, in your arms,” he gestured towards his husband’s chest.
An angry wail exploded from Barbatos, setting off his second born son into a fit of tears again. “Will anyone here tell me the truth? I birthed two babies today. Where, is my, son?!”, he demanded and as if to punctuate his sentence a gale of wind burst every window wide open, triggering a nurse to frantically close them.
Morax's frown deepened. Holding on to hope like this was quite useless. A waste of precious energy that his soulmate was all but depleted of. “My dove…”, he whispered. He was thinking hard, wracking his brain on how to continue his sentence and still have a home that didn't get split in half by a torrential wind. He spoke slowly, afraid that any one word would cause chaos to break. “They're… trying their best, but I fear… he is no longer able to be saved.”
Barbatos let out a squeak as the air was stolen from his lungs by a sickening flood of shock. He couldn't believe what his husband had just said. Those words couldn't be true. They couldn't. But… Rex Lapis didn't lie. His entire body was shaking, his fingers clung to the blanket that cradled his son.
Rex Lapis reached out for him but Barbatos sharply jerked away. “Save his brother,”he demanded through gritted teeth.
Another sigh left the archon's lips. “Beloved…”
Barbatos screamed in frustration. “Try! You're his father! Try!!”
He lowered his head slightly. “As you wish.”
He would try. Though he wasn't sure what he'd be able to achieve. The nurses tending to their son's body were adepti with the highest skills in healing and medicine. If they'd failed to revive him already…
Rex Lapis returned to the back of the room and waved the midwives aside. The infant’s color had worsened. Yet, upon closer inspection, Rex Lapis could see his heart still maintained a pulse. His body occasionally moved and there was a faint spark of elemental energy within him.
A fond look of admiration bloomed in the archon's eyes. “Resilient aren't you?”
As expected of a child of two members of The Seven.
Maybe there was hope.
The nurses had tried everything, his mouth and nose had been repeatedly cleared, there was nothing left to remove. He hadn't responded at all to any of their attempts at healing through elemental powers. They were losing him.
Rex Lapis thought hard, this child couldn't breathe, yet theoretically there was nothing preventing it. Perhaps… he just wasn't sure how?
Immediately he locked eyes with the nurse who was imbued with the power of anemo. “Conjure a slow and steady stream of air directly into his nostrils.”
The nurse looked shocked, it was so simple she felt like she should've thought of that before. But the weight of this responsibility was crushing. She hesitated.
Rex Lapis glowered, “Now!”
The nurse jolted and with a wave of her fingers two twin tails of air poured in gently to the child's airway.
Everyone stared in silence, the complete uncertainty of this infant’s future was an invisible gag.
Each second felt like an entire lifetime as time ticked by. Rex Lapis closed his eyes. Perhaps he was too late. He turned his head towards Barbatos and his heart sank, a heavy stone descending in a murky pond of grief.
He'd never seen his beloved wear such a desperate expression.
He had to save this child.
Rex Lapis laid his hand over the infants torso and summoned his own elemental power, replenishing his son's meager supply.
A sound.
He moved his hand away in surprise.
A sound really left the child's mouth. It was choked and strained, but it was a sound and then another followed by coughs and finally a very weak cry.
They'd done it.
The nurses clamored, Rex Lapis enveloped the sobbing whelp in his arms.
How could I have given up on you so easily?
He'd never forgive himself for that.
Never.
His son's complexion, though improving, was still ghostly pale. It was all the more visible once both babies were next to each other in Barbatos’ embrace.
The anemo archon sobbed more than either twin. He was unable to do much more than babble words of gratitude. He held his babies close as they drank their very first taste of sustenance. He drifted off as relief covered him like a warm blanket.
—----------------
When Barbatos woke up the scenery around him had changed. He lay on a luxurious bed, cleaned, dried, and dressed in loose robes. He noticed the heavy warmth on his chest that he had fallen asleep with had disappeared.
Where were his babies?
He rubbed his eyes and looked around as he started to come to a bit more. His throat was dry and the light from the windows was blinding. He tried to move but sharp pain from the waist down stopped him. He cried out at the sudden stabbing feeling, and immediately a nurse ran into the room.
“Your Grace, are you alright? Please let me examine you.”
Barbatos groaned and laid back without protest. He’d become accustomed to this ever since falling pregnant. Rex Lapis wouldn’t stand for a day to go by without a nurse checking on him.
“You’re recovering well,” the nurse said with a smile as she finished and tucked the blankets back comfortably.
There was little a healer could do in the wake of childbirth besides stop bleeding and bruising. There were some things that needed to repair themselves on their own. The form that Barbatos had to take in order to birth children had to heal on its own in time. Granted, his abilities as an archon helped to speed that process along. But due to his original state, that of a mere windsprite, he wasn’t all that physically resilient. In truth, the archon was shocked he was able to carry and bear a child at all. Which was why he was so stubbornly clinging to-
The archon gasped. His intuition was warning him of danger. “Alatus. Where is Alatus?”
Barbatos’ voice had lost all of its signature cheer. It was dark and intimidating, the poor nurse had no chance if she gave the wrong answer.
“The nursery with his brother, Your Grace,” she said with her head bowed. That was the last she had seen of him. So it wasn’t a lie.
Her stiffness was too reminiscent of the nurses from earlier. No.. yesterday? How long had he been asleep…?
Barbatos frowned, “Why haven’t they been brought to me? I need to feed them!”
Behind those words were the desperate pleas of a parent who so desperately wanted to complete their duties, but also the anxious worry that something was deeply wrong. He needed answers.
“Your grace, my lord wanted to ensure your recovery, so wet-nurses have been tending to the young lords’ needs,” she answered immediately as if rehearsed.
“Wet-nurses? I only had the chance to feed them once and he already hired help? It’s only been one night!”, he cried, but there was nothing the nurse could do but supply him with the information she had been given.
“My apologies your grace,but five days have passed since you were last awake,” she replied carefully, her head still lowered.
Five days. Nausea flooded his senses. Five days? His hands started to shake. He’d been asleep for five days? What had happened since then? His babies were so small and frail already, were they okay without him? Five days without his nurture…
“Bring them to me.”
The nurse stayed deathly still. Barbatos’ heart pounded, his blood rushing like tidal waves in his ear drums.
The god of wind’s voice cracked desperately as he begged her, “Please, please, ignore whatever he’s told you, please bring them to me. I need to see them.”
“Your grace, my sincerest apologies, but I am not allowed within the nursery at this time.”
Now Barbatos was even more confused, this woman was one of his personal nurses, why would she not be allowed within the nursery? What was his husband hiding? What was going on with his sons?
Barbatos strained to shift his body. A pained whimper escaped him. He could feel tension stinging in his lower half. He was definitely testing the limits of his nurses’ suturing skills but he didn’t care. He was going to rise from this bed and find out for himself what was going on.
“Your grace!”, the nurse exclaimed Please stay put. You must be terribly sore! I will let the other nurses know you’ve woken up and perhaps My Lord can come to explain the current situation.”
Barbatos shook his head defiantly. He had definitely been in this bed for much too long. He could move. It hurt, it all hurt. His body was heavy and sore, somehow even worse than his final days of pregnancy. But he was not going to let it stop him. “If you won’t bring them here, I’ll go to them,” he said and it wasn’t a threat, it was fact.
The nurse had to weigh in her mind whether she’d be in bigger trouble if she let Barbatos do as he pleased or if she brought the children into this room…
“Your Grace… at least, allow me to soothe your wounds first.”
“Quickly.”
The nurse quickly moved forward and placed her hands on either of his hips and let healing energy flow into the archon’s body. It worked as much as it could. Barbatos could feel his body become just a bit lighter, that burning pull had disappeared as well.
He slowly rose from the bed, the nurse was close behind nervously following his unsteady steps.
As soon as they stepped into the hallway, voices could be heard.
The anemo archon’s dizzy mind was having trouble deciphering the muffled Liyuen, but no translation was needed to understand the pure distress he was hearing.
“It’s because this humble servant is too incompetent! Please! I beg of your mercy!”, cried a woman’s voice. It was vaguely familiar, perhaps another nurse?
But…what in Teyvat was he hearing?
As boorish as Rex Lapis could be the servants of his household had never sounded so fearful. The head of staff must be under too much stress with the twins’ birth. Barbatos carefully treaded forward until the replying voice made him stop in his tracks.
His husband was speaking. “You are relieved of your duties, indefinitely. As of this moment, there is no place within Liyue that you are welcome.”
Barbatos couldn’t believe his ears. What could be happening that his husband would be exiling a staff member? Why did everything around him seem to be making less and less sense? He forced himself to follow the sounds to see for himself what was happening.
He pushed open the door hurriedly.
The sound that erupted from the nurse was ghastly as she threw her torso to the floor from her kneeling position. “My lord, I beg of you please!”
Rex Lapis’ gaze would’ve been enough to cut someone down alone, “Have you any idea what you’ve-”, he stopped when the door opened, “My beloved,” He looked at the anemo archon and the anemo archon saw a face he didn’t quite recognize.
His husband looked exhausted, but even through the fatigue, there was a touch of relief, but it was gone in an instant.
“Leave us!”, he commanded fiercely to the woman on the floor. Somehow, she understood that this was no longer a time to plead. The other nurse helped her up and they both closed the door behind them as they fled the room.
“Can you please explain what is going on? I just woke up and nothing makes any sense at all.. Where are our sons?”, Barbatos cried hopelessly. His only desire was to hear his husband say something pleasant but he was terrified that his intuition was correct. That only misery was directly ahead.
In their wedding vows, and in Rex Lapis’ personal moral code was a promise to remain honest.
He turned away from Barbatos, silent.
“No!”, he gasped, He lunged forward, fueled solely by parental instinct and gripped the collar of his husbands robes. “Tell me where they are! Morax! Tell me! Now!”, the god screeched.
“The younger of the two is resting. The older child… That nurse. She permitted a woman with an illness to feed him… and he immediately showed signs of the affliction.”
Barbatos shook his head in disbelief, “Stop it.. Stop,” he whispered.
A vow to tell the whole truth compelled him to continue. “His constitution had hardly improved from birth… the other nurses have been working tirelessly, however now he is unable to latch… or keep anything inside of him. It’s already been two days.”
Barbatos could only stare in utter shock. His child. He’d missed 5 days of his life. And so much of that short time was pure agony.
“My love, he is too weak to survive. There’s nothing any of us can do anymore if he is unable to fill his own stomach,” he said solemnly.
Barbatos pulled so tightly on his husbands clothing that he could hear the seams ripping. “You… you… you moron! Your insufferable arrogance…”, he cried out, completely defeated. He always thought he knew best. Wet-nurses? What was he thinking? Even if he was asleep, he could have fed his children. It was done all the time! Why would he get anyone else to do this?
“Why didn’t you just let me feed them?! You… you could have done something! Use me! I gave birth to them, it’s my responsibility! Why didn’t you let me?!”, he was screaming now as tears ran down his face.
Rex Lapis didn’t flinch away from any of Barbatos’ words. He was expecting his love’s fury. He could only stare back, just as hopeless. “I couldn’t lose you too,” he breathed out.
What? Barbatos shook his head frantically, “Where would I go? I’m fine!”
Rex Lapis’ reply was calm, as he lightly placed his arms around his husband. “The moment you fell asleep, no one had any idea when you would wake up. I had to assume the worst.”
What kind of answer was that? Barbatos yanked on Morax’s robes and pulled their faces closer together. “You aren’t making any sense! Stop saying idiotic things! I wouldn’t leave you all!!”, Barbatos was sobbing, he was denying his husband’s claims but deep down he knew those fears were justifiable.
Morax kept on talking as if nothing had happened, his tone was steady, a complete contrast to the man in his arms. “After giving birth you fell into a deep slumber, I couldn’t exhaust your body any more than what it had already experienced. In order to get you back as soon as possible… I did what I had to,” he admitted. A guilty tear welled in the corner of his eye.
Barbatos crumbled as he watched the teardrop make its way down his husband’s face. He let go of his robes and fell forward into them instead, succumbing fully to his emotions. He was losing his son. Sobs wracked his entire frame as he clung to his husband. “Take me to see him! Please, Please!! I need to see him... I need to see Alatus…”, he pleaded.
Even a heart of stone couldn’t ignore such a tearful plea.
He led Barbatos to where their son was once again crowded by nurses.
The anemo archon felt hollow, like the very winds he controlled were blowing right through his flesh. There was his son. Only a slight hint of color was visible in his cheeks, his eyes were closed, and he lay limp in his cradle. He walked towards his little one, completely disregarding everyone else in the room as he scooped the child into his arms and carried him away.
He was warm, just like the last time, but just as quiet and just as pale.
Barbatos carried the infant back into the room he’d woken up in, and carefully sat on the bed. He rested his back on the headboard and cradled his baby to his chest.
The archon’s voice was weak as he spoke gently to his son, “Baba told me you won’t eat anything, is that true my love?”, he asked as he opened his robe exposing his chest. “Will you try, just one more time?”, he asked in a whisper. He moved Alatus close to himself, but the child didn’t respond to his body. “Come on, he told me it’s already been such a long time since you had something to eat. It’s me. Please remember me. You took to me so well, I remember that you did. I remember it so please,”, he said and opened his son’s mouth slightly. His lips were no longer pink as they should be, but they still remained pliant. “Please. I’m perfectly well and, I won’t get you sick. I swear, so please.”
Barbatos begged his son to eat until his throat was raw and his eyes could produce no more tears.
He knew there was nothing else to be done. Nothing else he could do.
He didn’t know exactly how much time had passed, only that the sun had gone down and the warmth on his chest had disappeared.
A gentle breeze had carried it away.
—--------------------
A while later Rex Lapis had to pry the child away through a mess of his husband’s hysterics, but how long could he let them stay together like that? It was only going to make it all worse.
They were both tasked something impossible.
Bury a child while raising another.
Alatus was gone, but his brother was still here.
Despite his size, he was healthy.
He ate, he smiled, he laughed, he cried.
He truly was beautiful.
“He needs a name,” Barbatos said staring down fondly at the child who was falling asleep as he ate his dinner.
“You already chose a name for our child,” his husband replied.
“And it’s to be engraved on his headstone. He needs a name.”
Rex Lapis looked over at the child, he fit exactly within Barbatos’ slender forearm.
“Xiao.”