Nafaud walked into the control room of the main ship, casting a weary gaze to Sheeba, who was the only one there.
"Hey, what is it?" Sheeba asked with surprise. She knew when he was worried, there was a good reason for it.
"There is a little rumor floating around the Empire that Lucretia DeCoy is, or should I say was, pregnant." He answered with a sigh. "Is it yours?" She asked. "Absolutely not, I would never stoop so low as to quote unquote 'do it' with Lucretia!" he answered, shocked at the mere suggestion of such a thing. "Then why are you so concerned? She got laid by almost every male alive, I wouldn't doubt that she'd do a dead guy, so it doesn't surprise me that she is, or really was." Sheeba answered sarcastically.
"It should." Nafaud growled and walked over to her throne. "Why?" "Rumor has it the kid is half Saurian." "A hybrid, and what's so awful about that? Need I remind you that you're a hybrid?" Sheeba looked down at her claws and studied them carefully. "In need of a trim." She thought to herself.
"Rumor also has it that the father of the child is Lord Dragaunus." He answered dryly.
Sheeba sat straight up in her throne and looked at Nafaud with fire in her eyes. "No, no, no! You know how rumors are! They spread like a wild fire and always get twisted around in the process!" She gasped and started toward him "Yes, but I've saw the child myself, and he does, in fact, look quite a bit like Lord D." Nafaud said with a heavy sigh. "This has to be some sort of mistake, I mean. . .doesn't it?" Sheeba whispered, feeling less and less sure of what she believed to be the truth.
"Judge for yourself." Nafaud said slowly, casting a shape shift spell over himself so he looked like a duck, then grabbing her and teleported to a different sector of the Reptilian City. Sheeba recognized it as the Avian Traitor's sector, and she felt a little uneasy about being surrounded by mainly ducks.
It was a large, dome shaped white ship they'd ended up in, one of the Empire's many hospital-like ships, it was just basically a large infirmary with flight and laser power.
"In there." Nafaud hissed, pointing to one of many
large silver doors.
Sheeba nodded slowly. "I don't want to do this."
"Then don't." He smirked. "I have to." She
answered and entered the small room he'd directed her to.
The small room was dark and not too well furnished, except for a chair, small table, and a bed in which Lucretia Rested, holing a small, whimpering bundle.
"Lu?" Sheeba asked cautiously. "Yes Sheeba, it's me, and yes, this is your mate's new son." She replied without looking up.
Sheeba gasp and felt her heart fall onto the floor and shatter. "How-when. . WHY?" Sheeba gasped. "Sit, Sheeba." Nafaud interrupted, pushing her down in the chair, fearing she'd faint. "I'm sure you know exactly how, why is because we were both. . .uhh, well, less than sober." Lucretia smirked and smiled at Sheeba. "But when?" Sheeba sighed and tried not to let it show she was about to start crying. "It was just after the first take over of Puck World." Lucretia continued. "Just after the victory party for your species' conquering Puck World."
Sheeba sank back in her chair and let it all soak in.
"Sheeba, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Lucretia began again. "No." Sheeba said calmly. "I blame no one. Lust strikes everyone at some point, and so I feel no anger. I only feel a little betrayed that you're a duck though."
Nafaud sighed. "Spoken like a true leader."
"I don't feel like much of a leader now, Nafaud." Sheeba answered.
There was a long silence in the room, a silence caused by everyone trying to think of something to say, unsuccessfully.
"Let me see the kid." Sheeba growled, suddenly over came by a strong wave of hatred. "Be nice, or you'll regret it." Nafaud growled and conjured up a large fireball, holding it in place. "I always am." She smirked as she gently took the hybrid from Lucretia.
He whimpered softly at being held by an unfamiliar female, but quieted down after Sheeba'd held him for a while.
"Nafaud, you were right, he does look like Dragaunus." She sighed.
The child was dominantly Saurian, with wispy little hints of
feathers on his forehead. His eyes were dark yellow, like his
supposed fathers, and his scales hadn't taken on their true color
yet because he was so young, but it appeared as though he was
going to have dark reddish-brown scales when he did get his true
colors. Satisfied, she handed him back to Lucretia and teleported
back to the control tower.
* * *
Sheeba later found Dragaunus in their quarters. "Our quarters,
yeah right" She thought sarcastically to herself.
"So how'd your day go?" Dragaunus asked looking at Sheeba over a large stack of papers he was holding. "Oh it was great." She answered optimistically. "I talked to Nafaud this morning and he introduced me to someone you should meet." "Who, a cutting edge scientist? The best assassin on the planet? A superior hacker with this side?" Sheeba laughed casually. "No, your hybrid son., of which the mother is Lu DeCoy" "What?! I was never with Lucretia! At least, not like that!" He snapped at her.
"The rumor that's all over the Avian Traitor's Sector? Lucretia says it's true." She answered innocently. "That's not true." He insisted. "I saw the kid with my own eyes, if he don't look like you then I'll go ta' hell! And if it wasn't for your armor, I'd kick you so hard where it counts that you'd still be sore NEXT MONTH!!" She snarled and slammed a vase against the wall, shattering it into a pile of pieces.
"Ohhh, looks like she's mad." Nafaud giggled at he materialized into the room. "Mad doesn't cover it." She whimpered and sank down in her chair. "I just thought I'd drop by and tell you Lu was lying." He continued. "You mean. . .that little hybrid isn't his?" Sheeba exclaimed and jumped up and started toward him. "Nope. They did a DNA comparison, there's now way that kid's his. The rumor was correct, except the starter of the rumor wanted to cause trouble."
Sheeba laughed evilly and rushed over to Nafaud, grabbing him and hugging him tightly. "Hey, watch the touchy-feely!" he growled and laid his ruffle of feathers back down the way it was supposed to be.
"I think someone owes me an apology, right Sheeba?" Dragaunus hissed and glared at her. "Someone who was too quick to assume that Lucretia was telling the truth." "I swear, sometimes I don't think you'll ever grow up." She sighed.
Nafaud started snickering. "Yeah Sheeba, say you're sorry." He laughed and cast a restoration spell over the broken vase "Nafaud, don't get me started." Sheeba growled
"What's gotten into you?" The Immortal Hybrid demanded.
"You used to have a personality, before the first take
over, now you're like one of the drones you order around! Don't
you remember life in limbo?" "Nafaud, you've overstepped
enough boundaries for one day, now get out!"
Holding his temper as well as he could, Nafaud pivoted around
and stormed out the door.
"Ya' know, the thing I miss most about not being stuck in the Raptor on Earth are all those gory medical shows they used to run on the Discovery Channel." Sheeba said, breaking a long silence. "I suppose you miss the Saturday morning cartoons also?" "No, that'd be Chameleon."
Dropping the conversation with her last sentence, Sheeba walked out onto the balcony and looked down into the city.
Everything was deathly silent. Anything very important was being held in any one of the numerous cloaked warships that kept the Reptilian City hid from the public's eyes.
The smell of death hung in the air, mixed with the smoke of burning homes and rotting corpses lying in the streets. It wasn't the scent of the Reptilian City; it was something that'd been carried on the breeze for miles, the scent of the smoldering remains of the DuCaine Suburb and the countless slaves there, dead or dying in their makeshift prisons.
The sound of the glass balcony door sliding across the metal floor brought Sheeba back to reality and out of her thinking.
She turned to see Dragaunus watching her . . .watching her watch the city.
"Our ancestors would call it what? The Scent of Victory?" She sighed, looking back out over the city. "Possibly so. I know what your thinking, Sheeba. You're thinking about all the innocent lives lost because of us. But think of all the innocent lives lost in Limbo. Disease, starvation, need I go on? They've brought it upon themselves." "Just stop. You don't have to justify it to me, yourself or anyone else." She interrupted. "What's done is done. Survival of the fittest, right? If not them, us."
"Sheeba, I'm going to do something I rarely do, I'm going to apologize to you." He slowly stalked over to her, pulled her close and continued.
"The night of the take over, when I asked you to be my mate, it was unspoken, you agreed without me actually asking, and I regret how informal it turned out." She glared strangely at him for a few moments, waiting for him to continue. "So, I'm going to ask you again, formally. Princess Sheeba, Trusted Ally of the Saurian Empire, most importantly, trusted friend will you be my mate? My companion for life and beyond?"
She smiled and pulled away. "And once more, formally of course, I'll say yes."