Rook squared his shoulders and went to stand in front of Chion. "I would not have come to you if I had any other recourse."
Chion's eyes narrowed. "What possible motivation do I have to help you regardless?"
Rook gestured to Quatre. "That boy is carrying a brood of wyrmlings from your son. The only way for the wyrmlings to survive is if they are birthed in this world. And as their host is a friend of mine, I desire him to live through it as well."
Chion's eyes slowly shifted to look at Quatre. "Come here, boy."
Quatre swallowed and hesitantly approached Chion. Chion's eyes raked over him with clinical interest.
"You're from Terra...so how is it that a wyrmling could survive at all..." Chion was more thinking out loud than actually questioning.
Rook spoke up. "He's an empath. His abilities work in his homeworld, albeit at a lesser degree than they do here."
Chion nodded. "Ah. Then that was what fed the wyrmlings development."
Duo finally couldn't stand it anymore and leapt up. Zechs made a grab for him but missed. "So just how in the hell did Quatre end up pregnant anyways? He's obviously not a woman."
Chion's gaze snapped to Duo. Duo suddenly had some second thoughts on so brashly approaching the god. Chion, however, seemed a bit too intrigued and distracted by Quatre to admonish him or destroy him. "My race, I learned, is akin to being parasitic. The only test case I have had previously was my own. The seed of the male can develop wholly within any host. Some genetic information is taken from the host 'parent'. I have not yet had opportunity to run any tests on the females of my race. I found out the nature of our reproduction entirely by accident."
Quatre's blush seemed almost enough to light up the room. "But I...he didn't...I....er..."
Chion stared at him for a moment. "Actual intercourse is unnecessary. However, it would not absorb through the skin. Oral ingestion would accomplish the same purpose."
Quatre looked about ready to die of embarrassment and Duo gave Chion a sharp glare. "Hey, quit acting like he's got some sort of freak disease. They're his kids. And you don't have to embarrass him."
Rook and Zechs exchanged a glance, both wincing. Chion stared at Duo hard for a moment before pausing, then turning to glare darkly at Rook. There was a dark swirl near the god's feet as shadows seemed to gather about him in response to his ire. "You know where my children are."
Rook nodded slowly. Chion's glare deepened, but Rook held up one hand. "Save my friend and his children and I will take you personally to see your children."
Chion's voice contained a dangerous rumble as he stared at Rook. "You dare to withhold something like this from me?"
"If I had any other guarantee you would help Quatre, I would tell you now. It is not my intent to anger you or earn your wrath, Ashir. Goddess only knows I have enough of the family mad at me."
"I give you my word. I shall operate on the boy and extract the wyrmlings with no harm to either of them."
Duo squinted and got defensively in front of Quatre. "Now just a minute here...how the hell do we know what kind of surgeon you are? You're just going to cut up my buddy here?!"
Chion narrowed his eyes. "You are most impertinent. You have observed Tempest?"
Duo frowned suspiciously as he looked at Chion. "Um...yeah."
"I created her in my laboratory one bit at a time. I crafted her bones, used biotechnology I had personally developed to grow her flesh...I built her one fragment at a time from nothing and brought her to life. You think, when I am capable of such a feat, it will be any challenge to me to simply cut open a human and safely extract a clutch of wyrmlings, then put him back together? I have done it before. "
Duo was somewhat mollified by this and he gave Quatre a concerned glance.
Rook looked at Chion and then spoke. "Very well. A compromise, then. You perform whatever operations you need and I shall retrieve Shaiyra and Ayrchad. They do not know where their sister is and have not seen her for some time.
Chion's expression - or lack thereof - did not change, but he nodded stiffly. "Very good. If you'll excuse me, I need to make haste." Here Chion looked at Quatre. The god's fingers twitched the slightest bit, and Quatre's eyes abruptly rolled back in his head as he keeled over, unconscious. Duo made a grab for the blonde, but paused when he realized Quatre was suspended in midair and was not falling further.
Chion abruptly turned, his cape making a slight hiss as it cut the air. He stalked to the doorway of the room, Quatre's body jerked along behind him as if on some invisible leash. Duo narrowed his eyes in determination and was about to follow, but Zechs' arms slid around his waist.
"We have to leave him to his work, love. I may not be overly fond of the man, but I do believe him to be capable."
Duo sighed reluctantly and leaned back against his lover. "Yeah, I know...man. This is going to be weird."
"What is?"
"Quatre's going to have kids. Little...dragons, but hey, they're still half his. Oh...shit. And then what about Chad? Quatre's too big a figure in our world to come here and Chad can't survive back home. The kids couldn't either. That'll chew poor Q to pieces..."
Rook appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps Chion can assist him. I know....that he genetically altered his own lover. Previously, his lover had been part demon, part angel. Chion apparently rewrote his entire genetic makeup. Now he's a shadowdragon himself."
Duo blinked. "He turned someone into an entirely different species?"
Rook nodded. "Do not underestimate the power of that man's intellect. He...very much enjoys genetics. He embraces forbidden technologies and uses his knowledge to create life from nothing. I was... counting on him finding this whole thing too fascinating a puzzle to pass up."
Duo nodded. "Well, you pegged him right at least."
Rook grinned slightly. "Give Tempest my apologies that I shall miss the refreshments, but I must go retrieve the other two."
Duo nodded. "Okay. We'll see you when you get back."
Without a backwards glance, Rook vanished into a portal.
// Find...find. We must finds. So broken, so broken...but not gone! Live, green-eyes. Find.....finds them, yes... //
In a dark hangar on Zechs' private island, Epyon's eyes suddenly blazed green. The suit was mostly repaired now, although the platinum blonde had been reluctant to fully restore the computer system.
// Finds them, finds them...it worked, She will rewards us...where, where! There! There, I finds them! //
The green fire slowly seemed to flow upwards from Epyon's metallic eye sockets, coalescing into one small fireball. The fireball abruptly winked out, and all was quiet and dark once more.
A green fireball appeared on a lush silver rug before a massive marble dais. The fire took the form of a small and ugly bat-winged imp. The creature groveled and prostrated itself before the ornate silver throne.
The woman in the throne slowly deigned to look at the imp. She set down her crystal chalice of red wine and leaned forward. Long honey-blond hair fell in wavy ringlets on either side of her face at the movement. Her skin was creamy and flawless, and her body was the epitome of perfection. Her eyes were a striking shade of sapphire blue, her lips blood-red. She wore a simple white silk dress, devoid of any decoration save for a slender silver belt at the waist. Her beauty was rumored to be great enough to make a man weep with joy at the simple sight of her...or go mad.
Her voice was soft and sensual, like a caress. "Tell me what you have found, my dear Ha'Ecta," she purred, holding one silver-ringed hand out to the imp. The imp hopped onto her hand and slithered halfway up her arm, practically bouncing with glee.
"I founds them!"
"I figured as much, dear creature," the woman purred, lightly stroking the imp's hideous face with the backs of her fingertips.
"Did the test work? Were you able to use this...machine...to pull one of those wretched dragons into that world so it would be destroyed?"
Ha'Ecta fidgeted, but would not dare lie. "I did, Your Holyfullness. I dids, I pulled it through but it escapeded. I tries to pull the other one through, but machine was broken, broken...the rift went the other way...I sent peoples to the dragon."
The woman smiled benignly. "But it does work...and can work again. A device that can do what no magic can...to affect and locate a shadowdragon."
The imp nodded eagerly and snuggled into her caress. "Yesses, Your Holyfullness. Many yesses."
The woman smiled. She closed her eyes for a moment. They opened then, regarding the blissful imp. Her hand shifted position with the speed of a striking snake, grabbing the creature by the throat. One sharp wrench of her fingers snapped the beast's neck. She hurled its broken body across the room. The dying imp burst into silver-white flame and only the faintest trace of ash was left to mar the polished marble floor.
"Lockealaal!" she snapped, leaning back in her throne. A figure wearing a wholly concealing black robe stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"My goddess?"
"The project was a success...the first in a long time, no thanks to that fool imp. He let the wretched dragons escape!" Here she paused, musing for a moment. "However...perhaps it is to my advantage. They may yet be able to play a role. I may have...use for them."
The cloaked figure nodded and looked up. His unnatural eyes - one green and one blue - eyed her for a long moment.
"Tell S'sira Shalli to ready himself. If he resists, break his wings and demand his compliance again. If he still refuses, I shall deal with him personally. I may finally have a way to destroy my greatest enemy, and I shan't pass it up."
"Of course, my goddess," Lockealaal's raspy whisper returned, and he bowed before heading out the door to do her bidding.