My Good Friend Aleksander.

Shadow Ⅳ | Year 10: Illya

Alina writhed in pain, cries ripping themselves free from her hoarse throat as her body suffered through the severe contractions. Her pale hands gripped the white bedsheets so tightly they began to rip them apart, her nails digging into the palm of her hands.

She let out a shuddering gasp, tears slipping from her eyes as she went through a period of brief relief as the contractions stopped for a moment. Her pants and the soothing whispers from the midwife were all that could be heard in the room; she could feel her husband's absence acutely. 

Ever since the storm, she and Mal had gotten closer, with Mal giving her the distance she yearned for—allowing her to sort out all the pain she'd gone through, which helped improve their interactions immensely.

How funny, she mused in her bleary state of mind, distance brought us closer...

A shock went through her body savagely, the contractions beginning again. Alina screamed at the pain—it had caught her off guard—but the cool feeling of a washcloth brushing her head and the soft murmurs of encouragement from the midwife calmed her substantially.

"That's right Miss, just keep pushing, the baby will come soon." 

Her old brown eyes were gentle and kind as she stroked back the girls white hair; the midwife—Erina—tenderly wiped away the sweat and the tears from the young women's face. 

The girls eyes were fluttering and her chest heaved, but she persevered through the contractions, staying shockingly quiet considering it was her first birthing. It was a feat that Erina hadn't seen in many years, and though it was impressive, it told a very, very sad story to her; the girl had clearly suffered from deep pain prior to this experience, so much so that she'd built up a tolerance to it.

As she gently wrung the rag of sweat and tears—wetting it again with new water to help mop up the mess—she wondered privately why a girl who was 19 at most had suffered so greatly. She turned back to tend to the girl, only to see an odd sight that had her old face and her heavy eyes crinkling and widening at the spectacle.

The girl had seemed to be reaching for something, her hand facing the window's light as she seemed to yearn for the last gasps of sunlight left from the dusk. Tears had seeped from her eyes, her arm shaking as an expression of pure longing washed over her face.

 "Please..." the girl whispered before a contraction wracked her body and she cried out from the pain, her eyes closed and her hand... glowing.

The old women's eyes widened at the faint golden light that the girl commanded; only then did she realize that she was a Grisha, and a sun summoner at that. Erina glanced to the girls hair again, connecting the pieces at the white hair sprawled across the sweat stained pillow: the Sun Summoner.

Sankta Alina.

The women's eyes filled with tears as she rushed to the girl, holding her hand and gently wiping away her sweat, crooning gently till the girl only whimpered from the pain. 

The girl—Alina—opened her eyes and whispered in a faint, weak voice, "Thank you... for this..."

Erina nodded, her brown eyes moist and gentle, her expression tender and full of gratitude as she whispered, "Keep pushing dear, the baby will come soon. You're doing very, very well now. Do you have a name for them?" 

Alina nodded weakly, a faint smile coming to her lips as she murmured, "Illya..."

As the contractions once again took Alina's body and cries, Erina quietly muttered back with a smile, "That's a very good name."

Thank you, Sankta Alina. Thank you. You've done a very good job now, a very, very good job.

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