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Laslow sighed as he walked out of a restaurant with a bag full of packaged meals.
“I really hope this is spicy enough….” He looked inside the bag to check the food inside.
“It’s not hot enough!” Selena threw a plate at his face, “you call this spice?! It needs to be hotter!! Go out and get me something with some kick to it!”
Her loud voice still rang in his ears like a queen ordering her subjects. He should probably pick up something sweet too just to be safe. Knowing her, she's going to change her mind the minute he walks through that door.
Laslow’s eyes closed with a massive yawn; for a brief moment, there was a sense of relief for his aching and weary eyes. The seconds of bliss were immediately ripped away from him as his eyes opened to the ashen gray Nohrian sky above.
“I miss the sun….” He said before walking down the bustling streets of the town.
It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to the lack of the bright warm glow of the daytime sky. He spent most of his life growing up without it, after all. He could still remember the day he saw it. The bright light brimming with hope after an eternity of despair. The gentle warmth that kissed his cheeks as his tears glistened in its orange glow.
“She probably misses it too,” he muttered to himself as he continued walking down the road.
—-----
“I swear if he doesn’t come back soon…” Selena grumbled to herself as she continued to whittle away at the edge of a comb handle.
She felt a soft kick from the inside of her belly.
“Oh calm down, Carmilla!” She looked down at her enlarged stomach.
Selena paused.
No Carmilla sounds weird. It’s definitely not cute enough. Yeah, no absolutely not.
Selena sat up and grabbed a journal off of the desk. She flipped open to a page that read: potential baby names in big bold letters. Below the title were two long lists of names with many crossed out and many that weren’t. She grabbed a nearby pen and quickly scanned the list for Carmilla. Selena crossed it out and pressed the back of the pen to her chin.
“Summer, Sayo, Taiyang….” She looked at that last one for a moment but shook her head, “How about Sky!”
She felt another kick.
“What, you don’t like that one?” She leaned forward with her chin in her hand as she looked up at the bright blue moon outside of the small window. “Well, it’s not like you could come up with anything better…” She grumbled.
However, those thoughts were interrupted by a loud thunder thrashing from her stomach.
“And when is that idiot getting back with my cream puffs!”
—---
“AAACHOO!!” Laslow sneezed and almost dropped his coin purse.
“Are you okay, sir?” The baker looked up at him as she placed a pastry in the bag.
“I’m fine, thank you,” he rubbed his nose, “Allergies, am I right?”
“Right….” She gave him a bit of a side eyed look, “I’m surprised you didn’t try to turn that into one of your dumb pick up lines.”
“If I did, my wife would kill me,” He said with a sheepishly nervous laugh, “She tends to have a sixth sense for that sorta thing.”
“You royal retainers are so carefree,” she breathed an exasperated sigh as she put another pastry in the bag, “anyway, how many cream puffs did you say you wanted?”
“As many as you have in stock.” Laslow said.
“That many?!” The baker glanced up at him before reaching for the cream puffs, “what? Is your wife pregnant or something?”
“Yup!” He nodded with a proud bright smile, “oh and get a couple of cream pies too; she likes those.”
“I’ll bet she does…” The baker sighed as finished packaging all of the pastries and put them on the counter, “That’ll be 150 gold and congratulations on the baby.”
“Thank you,” he pulled out his coin purse and handed her the payment, “Hopefully this will be enough.”
He grabbed the bag of pastries and walked out the door.
“Now which way were the deeprealms again?” He scratched his head as he looked out at bustling market streets.
“Halt!” A familiar voice spoke up.
Laslow looked over to see Odin with his hand over his face in what could only be described as a flamboyantly edgy and exaggerated pose.
“After all these years, my eternally fated rival appears before me carrying nefarious…” He suddenly broke out of his stance and walked a little closer, “wow that is a lot of cream puffs.”
“Yes it is,” Laslow sighed and rolled his eyes, “and please could you spare the theatrics.” He tried to hide behind the two bags in his arms, “People are staring...”
“Right, sorry.” He walked over and grabbed one of the bags out of Laslow’s arms, “Here, let me help with that.”
“Thanks, Odin.”
“So I’m guessing these are all for Selena,” Odin snickered.
“Yeah,” They started walking down the town streets, “You know how she can be.”
“She really does order you around like a dog.”
“Not that I mind all too much,” He yawned, “Seeing her smile makes it all worth it in the end.”
“So have you decided on a name yet?”
Laslow breathed a tired sigh, “For the last time, Odin; we’re not using any of your suggestions.”
“Oh come on!” Odin stopped and pulled out his ‘manual of justice’, “I have an entire section dedicated just for the occasion!” He flipped it open and started reading out names.
“Here we go,” Laslow rolled his eyes again.
“Let’s see, how about Helios the solar destroyer!” He struck another pose.
“Odin, she’s going to be a girl…”
“Oh right….” He flipped a couple pages, “let’s see here…AHAH!” He struck another pose, “Latigrerra the flaming lion!”
“Wait Lion?! But then why is Tigrerra a part of it?!”
“Lion is the first part of it!”
“How does ‘La’ equate to Lion?!”
“Because it….uhhh…” Odin paused for a moment as he put his hand to his chin in thought.
“I don’t have time for this,” Laslow breathed another exasperated sigh and started to walk away from his weirdo cousin, “Selena is going to kill me if I take any longer.”
“Hey, Laslow! Wait!” Odin scrambled to catch up to him, “You forgot half of your cream puffs!”
—----
“Geez, it took you long enough!” Selena stuffed three cream puffs into her mouth, “TerraoandIverhumbry…”
“You should swallow first,” He said with a nervous sweat, “And sorry, as you can see I got a little distracted.”
Selena swallowed with one big gulp, “a little?! You were gone for three whole days!!”
“Three days?! But it was only a couple….” He paused for a moment. He almost forgot that time moved faster in the deeprealms.
“Geez, you’re such a moron,” She ate another cream puff, “Isn’t that right, Amelia?”
“Amelia?” Laslow snickered as he poured two cups of tea, “I thought it was Tabitha.”
“That was three days ago!” Selena crossed her arm, “Tabitha was so not cute! Though Amelia isn’t that cute either…”
Laslow laughed as he sat down and placed one of the cups on the table in front of her, “Then how about Noelle.”
“Nope,” She shook her head, “That sounds too stuck up and prissy.”
“Like the pot calling the kettle black…” He mumbled as he took a sip of his tea.
“What was that?” She glared at him.
Laslow flinched, “Nothing, dear!”
She narrowed her eyes as she took a sip of her tea.
“Okay then how about Ino?” He set his tea back on the table.
Selena spit out her tea, “What?! Our daughter isn’t a pig, you moron! Have you been slacking on your hoshidian?!”
Author’s note: Ino is the Japanese word for boar or pig. Pig means fat.
Laslow looked down at his now soaked shirt and sighed, “All right,” He grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped himself off, “then what about Akane?”
“Ugh no that sounds too boyish!” She placed the tea down, “Akane probably walks around shirtless in public and hits on girls like Kjelle.”
A small bump rippled on Selena’s stomach.
“See, even she agrees!”
“Oh?” Laslow leaned forward and placed his hand on Selena’s stomach, “Then why don’t we ask her what she’d like to be called.”
“What are you, an idiot?” She looked down at him with her normal judgemental stare, “she can’t talk yet!”
“Right right,” He sat back up with a sheepish smile.
He took a sip of his tea and looked out the window at the pitch darkness where the moon had descended beyond the shadowy horizon.
I couldn’t see even the reflection of the sun…. How disappointing….
“Then what about Soleil?” He glanced back at her.
“What? Like that dumb circus from back home?”
“Dumb circus?!” Laslow threw his tea cup onto the table and stood up, “That circus was where my mother learned her favorite dance!”
Selena flinched, “Inigo I…”
Inigo immediately sat back down and turned his head away from her, “Sorry, Severa I just…”
A loud silence echoed across the room. He looked back out at the empty sky.
“H-Hey…” Severa said softly.
He glanced back at her, “Yeah? What is it?”
“Do you ever miss the sun?”
Inigo looked back at her as her twintails wilted across her sheets. He placed a hand on one of hers with his eyes trained on the cold dark floor.
“Yeah, every morning,” He said in a quiet somber tone, “it’s warmth, it’s light, it’s….”
He paused as he thought back to his mother’s smile. The day she died. The day he and Lucina buried her. The day he saw her once again. The smile that glowed more bright and warm than anything in the bright blue sky. But, that light was gone here in Nohr just like the future they grew up in.
“And what about you?” he asked her.
“I…” Her eyes slid down, “g-guess I do….j-just a little bit…”
Another bump popped up from her stomach.
“You stay out of this, Soleil!” Severa pouted as she looked down at her stomach, “geeze…”
“I think she’s telling you to be a bit more honest,” he laughed.
“And what do you know!!” She crossed her arms and scowled at him, “I think Soleil is telling you to shut up!”
“Soleil huh?” He said with a smile, “That’s the first name you said twice in a row.”
“W-Well I…” She looked down and wrapped her arms around her belly, “I-I guess it’s an okay sounding name…even if you came up with it….”
Inigo stood up and sat on the bed next to her. He wrapped one arm around Severa’s shoulder and placed the other on her big round and soft belly. It felt warm like he was basking in the sun’s rays for the very first time once again.
“Our little sunshine,” Severa smiled, “It’s kinda cute when you think about it.”
“Yeah, just as cute as the beautiful moon who gave her to me.” He smiled as he looked at Severa’s radiant smile glow in the golden rays of the rising sun.
“Hey, don’t say that kind of stuff around her…”
“Right, Sorry Soleil,” He looked down and rubbed Severa’s belly.
“Soleil…” He repeated softly, “Yeah, it has a nice ring to it.”
It sounded warm and bright just like the beautiful morning sun that now draped over all three of them in a golden glow.