Barbatos's heart

Trails Part 3: Tribulations

Barbatos and Elaina sat in their bed, relaxing while Wendy took her evening nap. Barbatos was reading happily while Elaina lazily laid horizontally over his lap and played on her D.D.D. "Can we get a kitten?" Elaina asked nonchalantly. "No, you want a baby. No kittens." -"hmph" Elaina pouted, making Barbatos chuckle as he patted her head.

Everything was nice a quiet, then suddenly Elaina shot up and screamed out in pain. "What!? What, Elaina, what's wrong!?" Barbatos panicked as he held his wife in his arms. "I-I dont know. It hurts!" She cried. "What hurts!?" He bleated. She pointed to her stomach unable to speak through the pain. She jumped up and ran into the bathroom. Her wings came out in the process, shocking Barbatos into a stupor. Her wings only ever came out involuntarily when she was feeling immense anger or pain. He rushed to the door and found Elaina on the floor vomiting. He rushed over to her as she let out a startled yelp. She was throwing up straight blood.

He picked her up in a panic and called Diavolo. They didn't know what was wrong. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. Diavolo suggested they travel to the Celestial Realm to see if they can find some answers, Michael might know something since he is one of the wisest and oldest among them. Barbatos agreed and they opened the portal to the Celestial Realm. When he arrived a soldier greeted them and asked him to state their business. Barbatos almost lost his cool as Elaina whimpered in his arms. He demanded to see Michael immediately! The soldier took him to Michael, who saw the state his daughter was in and called the doctors.

"What's wrong with her?" Barbatos grieved, looking up at Michael and the head doctor. "Her body is disagreeing with the demon blood." The doctor stated. "Demon blood?" Barbatos and Michael questioned in unison. "Yes, the baby's blood. The Princess's body wants to reject it." The doctor explained. "Baby?" Elaina croaked. "Yes, you're pregnant. You didn't know?" They asked. "No," Elaina whispered. "We have another child, she's almost a year and a half. Elaina didn't have any problems carrying her." Barbatos explained. "That's because Wendy has to have more Celestial blood in her," Michael answered. "I mean, she has angel wings for goodness sake. However, this child must have more demon blood in them." He finished. The three of them sat in silence in the infirmary as they dissected the news. The doctors had told them that Elaina would have a very, very rough pregnancy and that both Elaina and the baby were at risk of dying.

Barbatos blamed himself. He told them that he should have known better. "If only I had looked into our future!" He choked. "No Batey... You promised to never look into our future and that's the way I want to keep it." Elaina groaned. He looked down at his wife, trying not to lose his cool again. "Michael, may I speak to Elaina, alone?" He asked. Michael nodded and left the two to talk. "Why don't we terminate the pregnancy." Barbatos pleaded. "Absolutely not!" Elaina yelled. "The baby already has a heart beat and is growing inside of me. I won't give my baby up. I am determined to carry it." Barbatos tried to plead with Elaina for the rest of the evening but she refused to give in to him.

It was decided that Elaina should stay in the Celestial Realm until the child was born or otherwise since they seemed to have a better handle on how to deal with the situation at hand than anyone else in the three realms. It was extremely rare that Demons and Celestials mixed but not unheard of. Barbatos would go and recover Wendy from Devildom and bring her to the Celestial Realm where they could be together as a family for now.

It was nice to have Wendy see the sun and to spend so much time with her grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They took good care of her while her parents were dealing with everything. "Caleb and his wife want to take Wendy and the boys to the lake tomorrow. Will that be okay?" Elaina asked as Barbatos was fixing her blankets for her. "Huh? Oh, sure. The doctors are coming by tomorrow. I was going to ask if they could watch her anyway. The boys have taken a liking to her. Caleb says they always ask to play with her." He explained.

"You seem distracted." Elaina worried. "Why would I be distracted? It's not like the love of my life is suffering right now." He sassed. "Ooookay mister! I don't need your attitu-" she ground her teeth and inhaled in pain. Barbatos held her hand as the cramps took over. They happened pretty often and although the doctors didn't seem too concerned, Barbatos felt differently.

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A month had gone by since the couple arrived and it seemed that things were going no better than before. There were a lot of complications but Elaina took them like a champ. "Barbatos, I need to talk to you." She said one day after they met with the doctor. "What is it?" He asked. "I think it's time for you and Wendy to go back to Devildom." Barbatos just blinked silently, trying to take in what Elaina had said. "N-no. No! Absolutely not! How could you say that!? I won't leave you. Don't you need me?" Barbatos freaked. "Of course, I need you Barbatos, but think about Wendy! It isn't going to end well if she gets too used to the Celestial Realm. She needs to be home and so do you. Diavolo needs you too." Elaina reasoned.

The two discussed the situation. It was true that Wendy's schedule was getting all messed up. She was sleeping when she shouldn't and vice versa. Diavolo had also been having issues back at the palace without Barbatos, although he tried his best to handle things by himself. After a long discussion, Barbatos reluctantly agreed to go back home, but only if he could visit any time he needed, to which Michael agreed. He left the portal open to Barbatos at all times. "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm leaving you here..." Barbatos cried. "I'll be okay, Batey. If I need you, I'll contact you. You're just a portal away. I love you." She kissed him softly. "I love you too! We both do." Barbatos responded, giving her an additional kiss on the forehead. "Give mommy a kiss, Wendy." Barbatos bent down a little to let Wendy kiss her momma, something they had worked on while Elaina was on bed rest and feeling down. It was adorable.

After a very heartfelt goodbye, Barbatos and Wendy left to go back home, while Elaina stayed at the hospital in the Celestial Realm.