Chapter 1
Pale fingers dripped with the life blood of the bodies laid out in pieces around a small feminine figure that sat on a rock among the carnage. She brought her hand to her mouth and licked the side of her index finger as a small smile came to her face her eyes glowing an eerie unnatural shade of blue.
>>>20 years ago>>>
A heavily pregnant woman sits on the floor back against the corner a protective hand on her stomach subconsciously rubbing back and forth trying to both comfort herself and the unborn lives inside her. She was pale and her dark long hair, which had not been washed in some time, only paled her further. Her eyes were the most unusual thing about her being a faded shade of red that could be mistaken for brown from a distance, like dried blood.
The woman's eyes fell at half mast her exhaustion catching up to her from constant vigilance when her stomach gave a sudden painful clench, The woman's eyes snapped open in surprised confusion for a moment before the cramp came again more insistently and a small gushing came from between her legs.
"Oh no." She whispered "Please no my darlings, not yet. Not now. Please." she begged breath quickening with her panic
Over the next few hours the woman did everything she could to remain quiet and keep her captors ignorant of her condition, but it was futile. Eventually a particularly nasty contraction hit her and she was forced to make a small sound and that was enough to alert her guard.
Moments later they and her "doctor" appeared.
"How long has the subject been in labor? How far apart are the contractions and how long do they last?" the "doctor" asked the guard monotonously with no indication that the "subject" as he called her was a person with sentience
"I'm unsure sir. I only just heard it a few moments ago when, I suspect, it could no longer keep quiet. It has likely been some time and it may already be approaching active labor now." the guard replied clinically
The doctor huffed before finally acknowledging the woman "You are being very obstinate subject 43601. What if we had not been alerted? What if we now lose one of the offspring due to your stubbornness?"
"Better they be dead then held forever in a cage by madmen like you." the woman panted "And my name is Ketsueki Orihime!"
"Have them prep the birthing chamber and...knock her out. We don't want any further complications do we?" the "doctor" ordered and left with a smirk thrown over his shoulder at Orihime
With that the two "men" left the room and the ailing mother-to-be.
Another contraction rocked through Orihime and she clenched her stomach, one eye closing at the pain "Shhh." she hushed her stomach "It's alright. I don't know how and I don't know when, but somehow everything will turn out alright...you'll see....you'll...see."
The woman trailed off her hand slipping from her stomach. In the time since the two others had left she hadn't noticed the faint hiss and gas was released into the room. In mere moments it had knocked her unconscious rendering her and her unborn babies completely helpless.
My birth was not a happy affair. There was no father holding my mother's hand. No eager older sibling fidgeting in the hallway. No Aunts or Uncles waiting to meet me. Just my mother scared, cold, and completely alone. I don't know if she ever got to hold me while she still lived. From what is left of her, a crumbling statue, I'd like to think she was reaching for me in her last moments. But I will never truly know. What I do know...my mother's name was Ketsueki Orihime....and she was beautiful....even in death. To me...that makes Death beautiful.