Killian tuned Cyrus out as he went to do just that. Hands clenched tightly together, he took one deep breath at a time as he tried to calm down, while starting to hum again. Killian’s voice only seemed to calm Ender for brief moments before the contractions came.
He flinched, tears forming in his eyes as Ender let out a shriek of pain that seemed to pierce his skull, doing his best to not let his memories claw their way up with the noise. Killian jerked as arms wrapped around him, and as he looked back at Cyrus, he whimpered while the feeling of helplessness washed through him.
“It’ll be—” Cyrus cut off when the hallway door opened and Ruby walked in.
The doctor was in pajamas, and had a leather bag on her shoulder, and an injector in her hand. If he had thought the hiss Ender had let out towards him had been fierce, he’d been sorely mistaken. As it had nothing on the feral sound the Gorgon released when she entered the room.
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t want me here, but you are just going to have to deal with it for a moment, so I can give you the dilator.” She waved the device in her hand. As she slowly approached the bed, Ender’s hissing ramped up with each step.
The Druid stopped, only a step away, when the Gorgon sat up, looking ready to attack. But then Ender’s whole body suddenly spasmed, the man curling back in on himself as he let out an animalistic shriek of pain.
Images of his mother mid-birth and in agony now running through his head, Killian held himself stiff, struggling to not look away while his fears threatened to drown him.
Ruby’s face pinched with determination as the Gorgon’s scream trailed off. “Ender, I am going to get on the bed, and you are going to hold real still while I give you this injection into your hip. Because based on that scream, your eggs are harder than we want them to be.”
Black started to creep around the edges of his vision at her words, his panic digging deeper with each second that passed that Ender didn’t react.
“Breathe,” Cyrus rasped softly in his ear.
He drew in air on realizing he’d been holding his breath. As he took one deep breath after another, he heard another heartbeat aside from his own racing just as fast. That was when he felt it…the trembling. The arms around him weren’t as steady as he first thought. Cyrus was afraid, just like he was. Killian gripped onto the Fate’s arms, and tried to cling to the knowledge he wasn’t alone in this.
His breath caught in hope when Ender uncurled.
“Quickly,” the Gorgon rasped, his word practically a hiss. The snake’s slitted yellow eyes locked on Ruby as she slowly crawled onto the bed.
When Dr. Corradetti finally pressed the automatic injector to Ender’s hip, removing it only seconds later, Cyrus had to hold him up as his knees almost gave out in relief.
Ruby scurried off the bed and back when the Gorgon let out another hiss that continued endlessly, as the man’s eyes became unfocused again.
“Okay, I’d say stay where you are, as he is no longer conscious enough to not bite,” the doctor said before facing them. “The dilator should take full effect over the next couple of minutes. I made the dose higher than what he likely needs,just in case. The eggs are harder, but it should be fine.” Killian flinched when she patted him on the chest. “Curb your panic a bit there, Killian. He’ll be fine, I promise. This is probably the least troubled Gorgon pregnancy in history. Now, I’m going to head out into the hall, call me back in when he’s done.”
With that said, she left, partly closing the door behind her as she did. As soon as she was gone, the hissing stopped, but only for a brief moment until Severo peeked his head in and asked, “How’s it going?”
Instantly, the Gorgon let out another feral hiss, and Severo yelped before disappearing into the hall at the clear threat.
“Stay out, and keep your mouth shut!” Cyrus snapped.
“Told you,” he heard Soren say with a snort from somewhere else in the hall.
Killian would have threatened him too, if he had the energy to do anything aside from stopping himself from losing it. He flinched when the Gorgon screamed again in pain, trying to convince himself that it sounding like it was less agony-filled meant it would be okay. He couldn’t completely. Too many weak screams had ended in death for him to fully commit to that reality.
Minutes ticked by, with them standing there unmoving as contraction after contraction hit Ender. The tightness in his chest was growing with each cry of pain, and Killian could only do his best to not hyperventilate and pass out.
But then it happened. While still curled up, Ender’s whole-body suddenly went rigid, the snake letting out a high-pitched hiss, as first one egg slid out into the nest, followed quickly by another.
As relief slammed into him, something deep inside him shattered, and for the first time since his mother died, Killian’s tears tumbled free. Cyrus inhaled in shock behind him when the droplets clattered to the floor, having turned into pearls.
Killian’s emotions were too much for him to understand, and his mind was blank, even as warmth spread through his chest while his gaze traveled over the perfectly intact eggs, and Ender.
With his tail curling around the eggs, the Gorgon’s body seemed to relax as he looked up at them, his face pale and wet with tears.
Killian crumbled further, a sob slipping out when Ender reached for them.
Slightly out of breath,Ender’s body ached, and he felt entirely exhausted as he reached for the Siren and Fate, while tears continued to trail down his face. With his mind floating slightly, he absently noted the teary-eyed yet slightly shocked expression on Cyrus’ face, and how pretty the grayish-purple pearls Killian’s tears were turning into were.
Both of them quickly curled up beside him, with Killian ending up in his nest with him, while Cyrus laid beside it, as the Fate called out, “Ready for you, Dr. Corradetti!”
Ruby entered the room, with a group of people behind her, consisting of Soren, Severo, Seri, Quill, and all the members of his inner circle that were currently on Earth at the moment.
