Chapter 11 of DI Fic
Title: Islands Like Glass Towers - Chapter Eleven
Writer: lynxgriffin
Rating: No higher than G-PG for now
Spoilers: This takes place even before BBS, so there's some BBS spoilers
Characters/Pairings: Sora's dad/Sora's mom, with a side of Riku's dad/Riku's mom
Warnings: Pregnancy and childbirth in this chapter. Also expect some Final Fantasy cameos.
Notes: Big penultimate chapter! XD
The clouds lingered on the horizon for a long time -two more months, to be exact- before they finally touched down on the islands as tropical rain. The Islanders turned themselves in early that night, locking their doors and closing their windows tight. The children didn't stay out to play, leaving the kids' island empty and dark. Fishing nets were pulled in, and the livestock were brought into the barns. Even before the sun had set, everyone was safely indoors, their homes in turn guarded by a shield of rain-absorbing plants and palm trees. There was nothing to do but wait out the storm.
Emi, however, didn't know how long she could last it out.
She lay in bed, listening to the drumming of the rain on the roof, trying to get comfortable but failing. It felt too warm in the bedroom, but she couldn't open a window. She wanted to switch positions and lay on her side, but even that was too difficult now.
Most of all, the baby was due in a week. Just seven short days left, and she'd be a mother. She was excited, yes...but definitely scared too.
"Nngh..." she grunted, rubbing at her belly. The baby seemed to be moving again...shifting, kicking her sometimes in places where it really hurt. This last month it seemed like the baby had been moving around a lot, and she felt every motion it made. "Quit moving around in there..." she mumbled.
"Huh? I'm sorry..." Taro replied from the other side of the bed, and moved over to give her more room. It seemed his attempts at sleep were also unsuccessful.
"Oh Taro, I didn't mean you, I meant the baby." She sighed, trying to squirm down in the covers again.
Taro snickered a bit, and turned over to face her. "Guess the baby's got even less room than I do."
"Very funny," Emi replied, keeping her eyes closed. The wind howled against the sides of the house, rattling the window panes. "I'll be glad when this storm is over."
"Me too." He slid one arm around her, and Emi accepted it gratefully. "It'll pass soon."
She didn't respond. It wasn't like Taro really knew, but it was nice to believe him. The warmth made it seem to take forever, but eventually, the rhythm of the rain put her to sleep.
-----------------------------------------
That night, in the darkness of her dreams, she again found herself on top of the glass tower. And now, it was nearly done. Although she couldn't see the design on the top, she could see pieces of stained glass filling themselves in. She ran to the edge of the huge, round platform, but there was nothing below her but darkness. There was nowhere to go.
"Hello?" she called out.
Hello! It was the voice again...that thought in the darkness. Except now it seemed less like just words, and more like an actual voice. She turned to find it, but it didn't seem to come from any one direction.
"Please...who are you?"
A heart. But now I have to go.
Leave? Is this what this whole tower was building up to? "Why?"
I've felt lots of different hearts. Now I want to see them myself.
"I don't understand." More pieces of the glass were filling in, faster now, so fast that she almost couldn't keep up with them.
This place is too small. If I find more hearts, there'll be room. There'll be more light.
A heart...seeking more hearts. It still didn't make sense to Emi. And she didn't understand how she fit into it. "Why are you telling me this? Why am I here?"
You are the closest heart...the first heart. You made the light.
And as the voice spoke, the last stained glass piece fell into place on top of the tower. Emi tried to see what the picture was, but the tower lit up from the inside, growing brighter and brighter until it was too strong to look into. And when she looked out into the darkness, she saw more towers...hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, all lighting up like stars in the night sky. The light intensity increased a hundredfold, until for a moment she felt surrounded by it, weightless in its encompassing luminosity.
She wasn't as afraid as she thought she'd be.
-----------------------------------------
The next thing Emi became aware of was the sound of the rain on the roof. She slowly opened her eyes, only to see that it was still dark, both inside and outside. Taro was snoring softly next to her, his tousled black hair in his eyes.
Then, she became aware of the fact that there was something wet on her leg and the sheets. She pushed aside the covers, maneuvered herself so that she was sitting up, and felt down to check the source of the wetness. It didn't take her long to figure out what it was.
"Taro..." She leaned over, and began shaking her husband's shoulder. He mumbled in his sleep. "Taro!"
"Hunh?" Taro rolled over, blinking at her. "Emi?"
"Taro, I think you should call Doctor Cecil."
-----------------------------------------
Twenty minutes later, Cecil and Rosa both arrived, wet and windswept from the storm. Cecil carried a bag full of tools, and Rosa had a bag full of clean sheets and towels. Taro was pacing about the room, looking even more nervous than Emi. And Emi...she remained sitting on the edge of the bed, breathing as evenly as she could.
"Oh! Cecil... Thanks so much for coming over this early!" Taro sounded relieved that the doctor was here, which made her feel better...a little. "We were expecting the baby next week, but then she..."
"Don't worry you two, it happens all the time," Cecil assured them. "Here, let's make sure everyone is comfortable...especially you, Emi."
On the Islands, mothers usually gave birth at home rather than at the doctor's office. There was often more room at home, and without cars, it was easier for the doctor to come to them than for them to go to his office. Cecil and Rosa had obviously done this before, as they immediately set to work...laying out clean sheets, putting out the towels, and getting a basin full of water. "Now, Emi...you don't have to sit or lie down if you don't want to. Do whatever's comfortable for you." Cecil turned to Taro. "Now...how about you come with me and we'll make some coffee? I think we'll need some."
Taro gaped. "But...what if Emi?..."
"Taro, she's only just started...she could be in labor for hours," Cecil sighed, as if he'd heard this sort of thing before. "A little coffee won't hurt. And we'll need to get some hot water anyway."
Taro glanced between his wife and the doctor before giving him and following him downstairs. Rosa shook her head. "Cecil always does that...helps to calm the father down a bit."
"Rosa, I'm sorry to call you out here this early, I-" Emi stopped herself short, wincing as she felt another contraction. She had been expecting to have a week to prepare for this...and now that it was upon her, she didn't know if any more preparation would have helped. "...I guess I don't have much say in it, huh?"
Rosa smiled. "The baby always lets you know when they're ready."
The hours seemed to pass by in an agonizing crawl. Taro and Cecil returned with coffee, and the sun finally rose. Not that it was easy to tell...the storm persisted, keeping the sky shrouded in darkness. All the while, the contractions grew longer, harder, and more frequent. They started out simple enough, but eventually they began to hurt.
She stood for awhile, wanting to feel like she was at least being active, but eventually just turned to lay down on the bed. Every contraction seemed to drag out her labor longer, harder, make the end of it seem further away rather than closer. She tried to keep conversation with the others in the room, but that also started to become difficult. By the time the sun began to set again, Emi had completely lost track of the time...she was fully in labor now, focused on pushing, on breathing through the continuous waves of pain.
Taro was pacing back and forth by the bed, just as he'd been doing most of the day. Coffee and other hot drinks had helped him, but it was obvious how nervous he was. "Emi, is there anything else I can..."
"Just...stay here," Emi said slowly. "Stay by me."
"You're doing fine, Emi," Cecil assured her. "Just keep taking deep breaths."
"Okay..."
She tried her best just to focus on each breath...in and out, in and out, like her pounding heart. She was okay. Taro was there, the doctor was coaching her, she was safe in their home...it would be okay. Another wave of pain swept over her, making her whimper.
Breathe in, breathe out. It seemed like all sound around her was mushing together, drowned out by the feelings overwhelming her. She heard Cecil's patient instructions, but it was all just a series of words in the background. She heard Taro encouraging her, but more than that she felt his hand gripping hers. The rain became so quiet that it seemed to have stopped completely.
Keep breathing...had to keep breathing. This is what months of strange dreams, uncertainty and preparation had been building up to. She'd see it through. She had to, for the sake of this new life she and Taro had made.
Outside, there suddenly came a brilliant flash of light, as if lightning had struck. No one noticed that there was no thunder following it.
Another contraction, only this one brought with it a ripping, burning sensation that caused her to cry out. She gripped hard onto Taro's hand, tears stinging at her eyes. "Aahhh!..."
"Okay Emi, you're almost done, the head's showing now," Cecil said. "You're doing fine, just keep pushing."
She did so, gasping, crying out with every jolt of pain that shot through her. Time seemed to slow to a stop...the world closed in on itself. The pain dulled out everything except her breathing, and the feeling of Taro's fingers around her own. In her minds eye she saw lights that could have been like stars, like a thousand glass towers.
The next thing she became aware of was the sound of a baby crying.
She leaned forward, struggling to see what they were doing, but her eyes were still clouded with tears. She saw the doctor cut through the cord and tie a clamp onto it, then saw Rosa helping to towel off the little crying bundle.
"Emi, you did it!" Taro exclaimed, his words overflowing with relief and happiness. "Look, you really did it!"
She only managed to gasp back "I know," in a voice that said she almost didn't believe it herself.
Doctor Cecil finished wrapping up the baby in clean blankets, and stood up with a glad smile, cradling it in his arms. "Congratulations, Emi and Taro...you have a very healthy little boy."
A smile broke out across her face, and she wiped the tears from her eyes. She still hurt all over, but she barely even noticed it now. The doctor walked over and handed her the baby, and she carefully pulled him into her arms. Even having seen several newborns before, it felt like an entirely new experience, seeing and hearing and holding their child. He seemed so tiny, with a couple tufts of brown hair and grasping hands...still crying, but he started to quiet down as she held him close.
Taro learned over her, and reached a hand out to gingerly touch the newborn's head. His voice was quiet, filled with a kind of unnatural wonder. "Look at him, he's...he's perfect."
"He is," she said, grinning wide. All that buildup of fear and uncertainty didn't seem to be that important now, not while holding this tiny new life. "He is."
While they weren't done yet completely, Cecil and Rosa at least started to clean up a bit. "So Emi, what are you going to-"
They were interrupted by a sudden pounding on the front door. Whoever was knocking didn't wait for an answer...they burst in and came up the stairs, meeting Cecil halfway. Emi couldn't see them from the bed, but she recognized Hoku's voice.
"Doctor Cecil! They said you were over here...we've found a strange boy, on the kids' island. He looks extremely ill!"
Cecil's tone instantly changed from calm and happy to stern and authoritative. "Bring him to the downstairs couch, and I'll see what's wrong with him."
Emi and Taro glanced towards each other in concern...a stranger, found on the kids' island, and sick? It was clear from the way Hoku was speaking that he was serious. Taro started to follow the doctor out. "Maybe I should..."
"Don't worry Taro, I'll take care of it," Cecil commanded him. "You can stay with Emi." With that, he hurried to the downstairs living room with Hoku. They heard a bit of thumping and muffled voices as the aforementioned boy was brought in. Taro hesitated a moment, then sat down on the edge of the bed beside Emi.
"You sure picked a wild time to arrive, didn't you?" he said with affection, stroking the newborn's head.
Emi smiled down at him. The baby had stopped crying by now, and just looked very sleepy, obviously just as exhausted by the last few hours as Emi was. "I'm sure it was just the right time for him."
"So what should we name him?" Taro asked.
Emi thought for a little bit...she'd been pondering names for a long time, and now with him here, she could finally settle on one that felt right. "Sora," she said, the name making her smile a little more. "Let's name him Sora."
Taro thought over this too, but it didn't take long for that right feeling to get to him, too. "...I like it! That's you..." He gazed down at their child with a look of complete paternal pride. "You're Sora."
Sora finally opened his eyes, showing them to be a bright blue, and yawned. He curled up inside Emi's arms and drifted off to sleep with a contented smile, as if he knew that everything would be okay now.
Writer: lynxgriffin
Rating: No higher than G-PG for now
Spoilers: This takes place even before BBS, so there's some BBS spoilers
Characters/Pairings: Sora's dad/Sora's mom, with a side of Riku's dad/Riku's mom
Warnings: Pregnancy and childbirth in this chapter. Also expect some Final Fantasy cameos.
Notes: Big penultimate chapter! XD
The clouds lingered on the horizon for a long time -two more months, to be exact- before they finally touched down on the islands as tropical rain. The Islanders turned themselves in early that night, locking their doors and closing their windows tight. The children didn't stay out to play, leaving the kids' island empty and dark. Fishing nets were pulled in, and the livestock were brought into the barns. Even before the sun had set, everyone was safely indoors, their homes in turn guarded by a shield of rain-absorbing plants and palm trees. There was nothing to do but wait out the storm.
Emi, however, didn't know how long she could last it out.
She lay in bed, listening to the drumming of the rain on the roof, trying to get comfortable but failing. It felt too warm in the bedroom, but she couldn't open a window. She wanted to switch positions and lay on her side, but even that was too difficult now.
Most of all, the baby was due in a week. Just seven short days left, and she'd be a mother. She was excited, yes...but definitely scared too.
"Nngh..." she grunted, rubbing at her belly. The baby seemed to be moving again...shifting, kicking her sometimes in places where it really hurt. This last month it seemed like the baby had been moving around a lot, and she felt every motion it made. "Quit moving around in there..." she mumbled.
"Huh? I'm sorry..." Taro replied from the other side of the bed, and moved over to give her more room. It seemed his attempts at sleep were also unsuccessful.
"Oh Taro, I didn't mean you, I meant the baby." She sighed, trying to squirm down in the covers again.
Taro snickered a bit, and turned over to face her. "Guess the baby's got even less room than I do."
"Very funny," Emi replied, keeping her eyes closed. The wind howled against the sides of the house, rattling the window panes. "I'll be glad when this storm is over."
"Me too." He slid one arm around her, and Emi accepted it gratefully. "It'll pass soon."
She didn't respond. It wasn't like Taro really knew, but it was nice to believe him. The warmth made it seem to take forever, but eventually, the rhythm of the rain put her to sleep.
-----------------------------------------
That night, in the darkness of her dreams, she again found herself on top of the glass tower. And now, it was nearly done. Although she couldn't see the design on the top, she could see pieces of stained glass filling themselves in. She ran to the edge of the huge, round platform, but there was nothing below her but darkness. There was nowhere to go.
"Hello?" she called out.
Hello! It was the voice again...that thought in the darkness. Except now it seemed less like just words, and more like an actual voice. She turned to find it, but it didn't seem to come from any one direction.
"Please...who are you?"
A heart. But now I have to go.
Leave? Is this what this whole tower was building up to? "Why?"
I've felt lots of different hearts. Now I want to see them myself.
"I don't understand." More pieces of the glass were filling in, faster now, so fast that she almost couldn't keep up with them.
This place is too small. If I find more hearts, there'll be room. There'll be more light.
A heart...seeking more hearts. It still didn't make sense to Emi. And she didn't understand how she fit into it. "Why are you telling me this? Why am I here?"
You are the closest heart...the first heart. You made the light.
And as the voice spoke, the last stained glass piece fell into place on top of the tower. Emi tried to see what the picture was, but the tower lit up from the inside, growing brighter and brighter until it was too strong to look into. And when she looked out into the darkness, she saw more towers...hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, all lighting up like stars in the night sky. The light intensity increased a hundredfold, until for a moment she felt surrounded by it, weightless in its encompassing luminosity.
She wasn't as afraid as she thought she'd be.
-----------------------------------------
The next thing Emi became aware of was the sound of the rain on the roof. She slowly opened her eyes, only to see that it was still dark, both inside and outside. Taro was snoring softly next to her, his tousled black hair in his eyes.
Then, she became aware of the fact that there was something wet on her leg and the sheets. She pushed aside the covers, maneuvered herself so that she was sitting up, and felt down to check the source of the wetness. It didn't take her long to figure out what it was.
"Taro..." She leaned over, and began shaking her husband's shoulder. He mumbled in his sleep. "Taro!"
"Hunh?" Taro rolled over, blinking at her. "Emi?"
"Taro, I think you should call Doctor Cecil."
-----------------------------------------
Twenty minutes later, Cecil and Rosa both arrived, wet and windswept from the storm. Cecil carried a bag full of tools, and Rosa had a bag full of clean sheets and towels. Taro was pacing about the room, looking even more nervous than Emi. And Emi...she remained sitting on the edge of the bed, breathing as evenly as she could.
"Oh! Cecil... Thanks so much for coming over this early!" Taro sounded relieved that the doctor was here, which made her feel better...a little. "We were expecting the baby next week, but then she..."
"Don't worry you two, it happens all the time," Cecil assured them. "Here, let's make sure everyone is comfortable...especially you, Emi."
On the Islands, mothers usually gave birth at home rather than at the doctor's office. There was often more room at home, and without cars, it was easier for the doctor to come to them than for them to go to his office. Cecil and Rosa had obviously done this before, as they immediately set to work...laying out clean sheets, putting out the towels, and getting a basin full of water. "Now, Emi...you don't have to sit or lie down if you don't want to. Do whatever's comfortable for you." Cecil turned to Taro. "Now...how about you come with me and we'll make some coffee? I think we'll need some."
Taro gaped. "But...what if Emi?..."
"Taro, she's only just started...she could be in labor for hours," Cecil sighed, as if he'd heard this sort of thing before. "A little coffee won't hurt. And we'll need to get some hot water anyway."
Taro glanced between his wife and the doctor before giving him and following him downstairs. Rosa shook her head. "Cecil always does that...helps to calm the father down a bit."
"Rosa, I'm sorry to call you out here this early, I-" Emi stopped herself short, wincing as she felt another contraction. She had been expecting to have a week to prepare for this...and now that it was upon her, she didn't know if any more preparation would have helped. "...I guess I don't have much say in it, huh?"
Rosa smiled. "The baby always lets you know when they're ready."
The hours seemed to pass by in an agonizing crawl. Taro and Cecil returned with coffee, and the sun finally rose. Not that it was easy to tell...the storm persisted, keeping the sky shrouded in darkness. All the while, the contractions grew longer, harder, and more frequent. They started out simple enough, but eventually they began to hurt.
She stood for awhile, wanting to feel like she was at least being active, but eventually just turned to lay down on the bed. Every contraction seemed to drag out her labor longer, harder, make the end of it seem further away rather than closer. She tried to keep conversation with the others in the room, but that also started to become difficult. By the time the sun began to set again, Emi had completely lost track of the time...she was fully in labor now, focused on pushing, on breathing through the continuous waves of pain.
Taro was pacing back and forth by the bed, just as he'd been doing most of the day. Coffee and other hot drinks had helped him, but it was obvious how nervous he was. "Emi, is there anything else I can..."
"Just...stay here," Emi said slowly. "Stay by me."
"You're doing fine, Emi," Cecil assured her. "Just keep taking deep breaths."
"Okay..."
She tried her best just to focus on each breath...in and out, in and out, like her pounding heart. She was okay. Taro was there, the doctor was coaching her, she was safe in their home...it would be okay. Another wave of pain swept over her, making her whimper.
Breathe in, breathe out. It seemed like all sound around her was mushing together, drowned out by the feelings overwhelming her. She heard Cecil's patient instructions, but it was all just a series of words in the background. She heard Taro encouraging her, but more than that she felt his hand gripping hers. The rain became so quiet that it seemed to have stopped completely.
Keep breathing...had to keep breathing. This is what months of strange dreams, uncertainty and preparation had been building up to. She'd see it through. She had to, for the sake of this new life she and Taro had made.
Outside, there suddenly came a brilliant flash of light, as if lightning had struck. No one noticed that there was no thunder following it.
Another contraction, only this one brought with it a ripping, burning sensation that caused her to cry out. She gripped hard onto Taro's hand, tears stinging at her eyes. "Aahhh!..."
"Okay Emi, you're almost done, the head's showing now," Cecil said. "You're doing fine, just keep pushing."
She did so, gasping, crying out with every jolt of pain that shot through her. Time seemed to slow to a stop...the world closed in on itself. The pain dulled out everything except her breathing, and the feeling of Taro's fingers around her own. In her minds eye she saw lights that could have been like stars, like a thousand glass towers.
The next thing she became aware of was the sound of a baby crying.
She leaned forward, struggling to see what they were doing, but her eyes were still clouded with tears. She saw the doctor cut through the cord and tie a clamp onto it, then saw Rosa helping to towel off the little crying bundle.
"Emi, you did it!" Taro exclaimed, his words overflowing with relief and happiness. "Look, you really did it!"
She only managed to gasp back "I know," in a voice that said she almost didn't believe it herself.
Doctor Cecil finished wrapping up the baby in clean blankets, and stood up with a glad smile, cradling it in his arms. "Congratulations, Emi and Taro...you have a very healthy little boy."
A smile broke out across her face, and she wiped the tears from her eyes. She still hurt all over, but she barely even noticed it now. The doctor walked over and handed her the baby, and she carefully pulled him into her arms. Even having seen several newborns before, it felt like an entirely new experience, seeing and hearing and holding their child. He seemed so tiny, with a couple tufts of brown hair and grasping hands...still crying, but he started to quiet down as she held him close.
Taro learned over her, and reached a hand out to gingerly touch the newborn's head. His voice was quiet, filled with a kind of unnatural wonder. "Look at him, he's...he's perfect."
"He is," she said, grinning wide. All that buildup of fear and uncertainty didn't seem to be that important now, not while holding this tiny new life. "He is."
While they weren't done yet completely, Cecil and Rosa at least started to clean up a bit. "So Emi, what are you going to-"
They were interrupted by a sudden pounding on the front door. Whoever was knocking didn't wait for an answer...they burst in and came up the stairs, meeting Cecil halfway. Emi couldn't see them from the bed, but she recognized Hoku's voice.
"Doctor Cecil! They said you were over here...we've found a strange boy, on the kids' island. He looks extremely ill!"
Cecil's tone instantly changed from calm and happy to stern and authoritative. "Bring him to the downstairs couch, and I'll see what's wrong with him."
Emi and Taro glanced towards each other in concern...a stranger, found on the kids' island, and sick? It was clear from the way Hoku was speaking that he was serious. Taro started to follow the doctor out. "Maybe I should..."
"Don't worry Taro, I'll take care of it," Cecil commanded him. "You can stay with Emi." With that, he hurried to the downstairs living room with Hoku. They heard a bit of thumping and muffled voices as the aforementioned boy was brought in. Taro hesitated a moment, then sat down on the edge of the bed beside Emi.
"You sure picked a wild time to arrive, didn't you?" he said with affection, stroking the newborn's head.
Emi smiled down at him. The baby had stopped crying by now, and just looked very sleepy, obviously just as exhausted by the last few hours as Emi was. "I'm sure it was just the right time for him."
"So what should we name him?" Taro asked.
Emi thought for a little bit...she'd been pondering names for a long time, and now with him here, she could finally settle on one that felt right. "Sora," she said, the name making her smile a little more. "Let's name him Sora."
Taro thought over this too, but it didn't take long for that right feeling to get to him, too. "...I like it! That's you..." He gazed down at their child with a look of complete paternal pride. "You're Sora."
Sora finally opened his eyes, showing them to be a bright blue, and yawned. He curled up inside Emi's arms and drifted off to sleep with a contented smile, as if he knew that everything would be okay now.