Our Home is Our Hearts

Chapter Six: And So It Began

Lukas hadn't been expecting the thing inside of him to start moving quite when it did. After a few weeks into month three, he was doing dishes when suddenly, a shift. A small movement but something that sent a few pains through his body, so much so that he dropped a plate. Mathias had come rushing in while Lukas leaned on the counter, hand on his chest and gripping his shirt tightly as the pains died down and he was finally able to breathe again without choking on air. Lukas was led into the sitting room and Mathias helped him sit down, telling him he would be right back after getting him some water. Lukas didn't need to wait that long for it to move again though, and Lukas was put through a bit more pain. He was glad to accept the water as he took a sip, looking up at Mathias.

"I don't know if I can go on with this.. It's not too late to end this, Mathias.. I could die trying but either way I could die getting it out.." Lukas said to the wolf, Mathias quickly sitting down and smiling nervously.

"Well, it's like, normal birth, right?" Mathias asked, but Lukas shook his head.

"No, not at all. It doesn't just come out of my ass. You cut it out. You'll have to take a searing hot knife, rip open my stomach, and pull it out before it can cause anymore damage to my body. That's how it's been done for centuries with our kind."

"Oh.. that sounds gross to look at, but I'm sure the next three months will fly by! You'll be just fine, and then we'll have a baby! No big deal!"

But Mathias was wrong. As another month passed, and the winter became more mild, Lukas's condition only worsened. With the growth of the fetus, he was being put into even more excruciating pain. He had expressed more than once that he felt like his ribs were being crushed every time it moved, or that his organs were in a tight squeeze. And the bigger it got the more it moved. Lukas hadn't been able to even leave the sitting room for two weeks, and he was having a hard time keeping himself awake. Mostly what kept him awake was that he was in pain quite often. But, so it seemed, Lukas came to sudden terms with something.

One day when Mathias was cuddling with Lukas on the couch, Lukas shook his head. "I'm not going to make it to term, Mathias.. I can just.. I can feel it, it'll come early."

Mathias had been mostly asleep when that was said, so he just nodded tiredly and repositioned himself, arms around Lukas. Though when he did it definitely caused a disturbance, And the vampire winced, causing Mathias to wake up a bit more. "Shit, sorry, Are you ok?"

"I think so.. It just.. Really hit a bad spot.." Lukas replied, rubbing his swollen belly a few times.

"You know, I hate just calling the baby.. 'It'. That just feels wrong, you know? Let's come up with a name! Something like, gender neutral! Throw one at me, come on!"

"Uhm.. Blaire..?"

"Huh. I like that! Cute, Lukas! Blaire sounds great. But it's naptime, so if Blaire can handle that, let's try to get some sleep in, huh..?"

Lukas nodded, doing his best to get comfortable through small bouts of pain until it worked out. Finally, Lukas found a spot where he was comfortable, and let Mathias cover them up with a blanket before cuddling up with him and shutting his eyes. Lukas smiled softly at this show of affection before shutting his eyes as well, more than ready for some rest.

When the Lukas woke up, he was feeling some pains in his side, not bad, but enough to make his muscles lock up as he kept his teeth clenched tightly. He luckily didn't wake Mathias up, but he wished he had because this was sort of his fault, after all. So he nudged Mathias and sighed, telling him to wake up, and that he needed some water. Mathias nodded and carefully got up, making sure Lukas was comfortable before going to the kitchen to get what Lukas asked.

In the kitchen, Mathias was still half asleep while he got Lukas his water, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Not like he left a light on upstairs, or forgot to do an important task, just that there was something weird in the air. Something he couldn't feel, but he could sense.. No he could smell it too. What was it though? He knew it but for some reason he couldn't place his finger on it. That's when it hit him. Smoke. He was smelling smoke. Mathias set the cup down and ran out of the room, looking around. Lukas was confused as Mathias ran upstairs, walking into Berwald and Tino's room, where the two of them were reading a book.

"Take two seconds and smell the air. Good whiff. Now. Tell me what you smell and tell me I'm not crazy because I smell smoke."

Tino stood up off of the bed and tilted his head. "Shit, you're right, I can smell it.." He muttered, looking around and beginning to shake slightly. "Berwald get Peter and Emil, Mathias and I will go investigate outside, keep this on the low from Lukas, we can't freak him out, he may hurt himself."

Tino and Mathias ran downstairs and stopped to look normal around Lukas, saying they needed to go out and grab some firewood. But the moment they walked outside, an ominous figure stood in front of them. Golden eyes stared menacingly at them as the man's hand was engulfed in flame, and in the other he was holding a young brunette that looked very embarrassed to be there by the arm, as he tried to hide himself from the two people. Tino looked over and part of their house had been completely taken over by glowing red hot flames, and Yao smirked.

Mathias growled, for once losing control, his eyes glowing bright as he tore his shirt off and lunged forward, his body morphing into that of a wolf, running at full speed towards the man, his heart beating hard in his ribs. Yao saw this as quite the inconvenience and boredly waved his hand, sending Mathias flying back into the side of the house causing a loud thud as he fell to the ground, returning back to his normal form, naked, and Tino went to cover him up with the shirt he had taken off.

Emil ran outside, seeing the scene unfold. "What the fuck?!" He yelled, glaring at Leon and baring his teeth at the two of them. "You said you weren't going to hurt us!" he screamed, pointing at Yao angrily. The Asian man snorted and was obviously amused by this. Emil looked up at the sky, seeing the sun had just set, and he started walking towards the two. Yao did the same hand motion as before, but Emil simply only stumbled, still walking.

"What..?!" Yao said, doing it again and getting the same response, and when Emil was close enough, the two people in front of them disappeared.

And now that they weren't in the way, they all focused on the growing fire and ran inside as quickly as possible. Lukas had managed to get himself off the couch for once, and was making his way slowly to the people rushing in. Mathias went to him and he chuckled softly at not wearing anything that covered his lower body. Mathias told Lukas to go sit down but not to get comfortable, then ran upstairs to put his clothes on.

"Emil, what's goin on?" Lukas asked, a little concerned now.

"There's really no good way or time to explain this, we have to go!" He said, looking absolutely terrified. Lukas nodded and told Emil to grab the important things from his study. Emil charged up and grabbed a bag, then ran into Lukas' study. He knew what his brother wanted, his books from when he used to work and use magic. Lukas hadn't seriously used his magic in centuries, not after he faked his death, but Emil knew how much they meant to him so he grabbed them. Then he went and packed some of the things from his room. His journals of course, and his clothing. Smoke was now starting to find it's way inside, and everyone regrouped on the first floor. Mathias helped Lukas out the door, and the six of them ran as far as they could away from it.

As they stared at their home, the one that took so long to make, where they made their lives. Emil frowned, tears brimming his eyes.

"We've been here for so long.."

"What are we going to do..?" Tino asked, almost in tears as well.

Lukas was staring at the house, which was starting to creak, parts of the wood crumbling off. "This house was our pride and joy.. We have nothing now.."

Mathias shook his head. "I have a suggestion on what we could do, but you guys need to get in the car. We'll talk about this once we're in a safer place." Mathias ushered them towards the truck, and once everyone had their items and themselves situated, they drove away. They had to come to terms with it. Their home was gone, and now they had nowhere to go, and only a few hours until sunbreak.