Heart of Glass (A Minecraft EndermanXReader)

Chapter 15: To Break Our Hearts

Elianore crashed into the church. "Quiet!" Elan barked from where he was kneeling in front of the altar.

"Emila!" Elianore gasped happily.

Emila's face was bloodstained, bloody tears continuing to run down her face. "Elianore..." She murmured.

He ran to her, kneeling next to Elan to meet her on the ground. "You're alive!"

She nodded solemnly. You could see from the doors that she had a piece of paper wadded tightly in her hand.

"What's that?" You asked, trying not to sound immediately accusatory.

She pursed her lips and turned her hand over, opening her fingers to show it as you approached.

Elianore took it from her and looked down at it. "Wow...am I allowed to be offended at how badly they drew my face?"

Emila's shoulders quivered slightly.

You glanced at it over his shoulder. It was a wanted poster, with the reward offer and everything. Elianore's face was printed in the middle, although it was profoundly obvious that whoever drew it had never seen the face under the bandanna.

"Why--" you stifled a laugh-- "why did they draw your teeth like that?"

"Excuse me, I'm extremely proud of the fact that I don't have fangs jutting through my lips, or a messed up nose." Elianore smacked the paper. "I put so much care into making sure these teeth came in straight, and they just slap them wherever they want!"

Emila finally snorted a laugh.

Elan rolled his eyes, but continued examining the tearful girl. "Tell him what happened, Emila."

"Oh, right. I couldn't find Exceed anywhere, and I missed the new moon because of it. I ended up at a monster meeting instead, and there was a witch there--get this, with an Enderman son--she helped me out for a few days, and did the best she could to contact some other witches who could help search for him, and then she scolded me for traveling like...this," Emila gestured to her belly, which had definitely begun to show a lot more since the last time you saw her, "and told me to go home, but I went to the stronghold and found this," she slapped the paper, "and--and I didn't know what to do or where to find Elan so I was roaming around crying for a while, but then I smelled him near here, so I came in and--oh, I'm so glad you're alive too!" She wailed before slumping forward. Elan and Elianore both caught her in a hug.

"Hey, it's okay, kid." Elan stroked her hair. "Everything's okay here."

She sniffled. "Is it? Really?"

Elianore smiled and patted her cheek. "Of course it is. The villagers are kind. There's an iron golem who keeps this place safe."

You smiled softly at him. He turned so tender, so gentle, when dealing with those he loved. He left himself open, vulnerable, if there was any chance that vulnerability would help someone else.

"I will keep this place safe." His hand ran through her hair.

Even Elan looked at him with surprise at that. It had almost been eternally unspoken that Elianore would protect his friends at all costs. To hear him say it was odd.

She sniffled as Elianore thumbed bloody tears from her cheeks. "Everything will be okay. Not right now. But someday."

Elan smiled. "As for your physical health, you're in perfect condition. And both of your babies are as well."

"Both?" Emila's eyes widened.

"Well, you're finally far enough along that I can feel how many you got in there." Elan chuckled. "Twins."

"Oh." Emila rubbed her belly silently.

"I'll be right back, I want to update Percy." He stood up and started to walk out, but paused to gesture for you to follow.

You glanced at Elianore, but jumped up to follow Elan outside, where Percy was waiting.

"How is she?" Percy asked immediately.

"Physically, she's in perfect health. She's been eating, she's well-hydrated, her pregnancy is coming along well, especially considering the circumstances." He paused.

"But?"

"I have concerns for her mental health. I've talked with her a few times, and she usually avoids discussing her pregnancy, or her mate. But from what I've gathered, her mate was abusive, and she may not have even been consensually mated to him. She's under constant stress, physical and emotional, from being in the overworld."

"Poor girl." Percy sighed.

"And with the latest...event..." He glanced back toward the door, as if to gesture at Elianore through the wall. "I'm beginning to grow extremely concerned."

"How so?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

Elan turned to look at you. "I'm counting on you to tell Elianore this as well, and I'll probably tell a few trusted villagers who will be interacting with Emila fairly often, but she's at high risk of rejecting her children once they're born."

"What?" You gasped slightly.

"It's not...uncommon? For us." Elan sighed and slumped down onto the stairs. "If an expecting mother gets too stressed out during her pregnancy, or has reason to not properly bond with her infants, there's a chance that once they're born, she just won't take care of them. And while it's not something super common, it's not...well..." He took a deep breath. "It's about one in ten women will go through it. If it's caught, the babies can be adopted out or taken care of by someone else until she recovers. Unfortunately, mothers can be a bit violent about protecting their children, even ones they've rejected."

"So..." You prodded.

"I want as many eyes on her as possible. I want people taking care of her, helping to reduce the stress she's under, and just generally supporting her. We have a few months to try to reduce her risk, and if she feels safe here, that will help drastically."

"I see." Percy hummed. "Should I assume she'll be staying here then?"

Elan sighed again. "I can't force her to stay in the village, let alone the church. I doubt she'll leave the village, since both me and Elianore are here, but I'm not sure how she'll feel about living in the church."

Percy hummed again. "So what do we do if she wants to have independence?"

"Build her a small home within the village, preferably. Someplace close enough for me to get to in a hurry."

"What about you?" You asked now. "Are you planning to stay in the church?"

Elan shook his head. "As much as I appreciate your generosity, Percy, if I'm going to be this village's official doctor, I need my own clinic. I'd also just prefer to have my own space."

Percy smiled. "There are always more people to fill the extra beds. And I agree that you need your own clinic, especially for our Enderian friends."

Elan smiled. "So, for now, just keep an eye on Emila. And as long as this village makes her feel as welcome as they've made me, I'm sure we'll be just fine."

~~~

A/n: hope y'all like angstea because that's what I'm serving up tonight

Suffer

And as always, thanks for reading, please remember to vote, comment, and share, and I'll see y'all soon!