Lux’s ending: The baby boom

Yes/No (Likely): Does Lux get pregnant after all? | [3,4] Yes

Yes/No (Likely): Is it Apalos’s? | [3,5] Yes

Lux isn’t sure it’s possible for her to turn pale. She can only imagine she’s somehow managing it; it feels like all the blood has drained out of her body. She stares at Willow with searching, imploring eyes.

“You’re sure?”

Willow nods, her expression warm, serious, compassionate. “There’s no doubt.”

It’s been a few weeks, countable in real days now, since Athisz was killed. A blur of activity as a whole village of stunned mortals came to their senses and started returning to their lives. Many of them with new realities to face – whirlwind romances, reforged relationships, and no small number of not-quite-explained pregnancies. Gill and Rosabel got married a few days ago, a moment both had secretly dreamed of for a long time. As for Fionn – there are those in the village who say he’s always been away with the fairies. Now, it’s a bit more literal. Nobody knows when he’ll be back, but Lux wishes him happiness with his new love.

Sylvia and the Erlking, stunningly regal even in their embarrassment, addressed the folk of Hollowstone to half-apologise for the crisis that had unfolded and to offer their support in putting the pieces back together. The village women who had become pregnant by satyrs, and who were too far along to do anything about it, were told that the offspring they delivered would be taken back by their own kind, and all would be made well in the end. More or less.

Lux, having since learned the difference between a satyr and a faun, didn’t give that offer as much thought as she perhaps should have. Over the weeks that followed, she was kept more than busy enough helping with the relocation of the villagers back to their homes, couriering messages to the concerned halflings back in Wicker’s Dale, and one thing and another; all she could think of was her next chance to rest. Besides, she’d been feeling a bit tired and sick…and…

Oh. Oh no.

She hurried back along the now open pathways into the Valley, to the familiar sanctuary of the dryad glade. Willow was there to welcome her with open arms, eager to help. But the news she was able to share after her examination has just confirmed Lux’s worst fears.

Lux presses a hand to her belly now – surely she can’t already feel a bump? Memories rush back, bad ones. She bows her head, pent-up emotion overflowing. “I’m so sorry, Willow,” she wails, as the tears begin.

Willow gently cradles her head. “For what, my love?”

“For – I – ” Lux stares at her, searching for words. “I just got carried away with – I should have come to you – ”

“Lux, Lux.” Willow shakes her head. “All I want is for you to be happy. You had every right. Besides.” She shrugs. “I can’t get you pregnant. It would hardly make sense to be jealous about that.”

Lux can’t help but laugh a little, despite herself. She leans forward, and lets herself be guided to rest her head in Willow’s lap.

“Lux,” Willow says, softly, “I’m here for you, whatever choice you make. Nothing will be **** on you. No matter what you decide, everything will be all right.”

The choice. Lux shivers slightly, processing it. “Is it… Can you tell if…?” She bites her lip. “Gods, what kind of stupid slut am I that I have to ask who the father is – ”

“Apalos,” Willow says, quietly. “I can feel it. It’s his.”

That figures. Yes, please, to anything was a pretty stupid thing to say to any random stranger, especially one who’s basically a walking fertility idol. Lux hardly gave herself a chance there.

“And what happens – would happen – after?” she asks. “Is it like the satyrs – they’d come and take away the…?”

“If that’s what you want, yes.” Tenderly, Willow brushes Lux’s cheek. “My love, I promise, whatever you choose in the end – I’ll make sure that’s what happens.”

Lux closes her eyes. Different visions of her future flicker through her mind. She could just put all this behind her, get back on the road, back to her adventures. Or perhaps, after all that had happened, things she can no longer call near misses, she needs something else. To be here with Willow, or to settle down in Hollowstone for a while, or… She does want to see Apalos again – whether it’s to slap him, to tell him off, or to see if she can suck his cock all the way to the base, she’ll have to decide when she gets there.

None of this feels fair. She’s been through it all, a version of it, so recently – and this time the whole process is going to take months. Getting heavier, slower, more helpless, and what it’s leading up to…she remembers that pain all too well.

But in a way, perhaps, after the horror she endured in the maze, carrying a child that isn’t a parasitic monster would be some consolation…

“I think – ”

Silence for a while. Willow doesn’t press her. She finds the words she wasn’t sure she’d ever say.

“I think I want to have this baby. But I am going to complain about it the whole time.”

Willow nods. “That seems fair.”

“And afterwards.” Lux sighs. Finally letting herself relax as Willow gently strokes her hair. Feeling that soft glow of warmth in her belly. “We’ll…we’ll see.”