Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rolling his eyes, Kero pretends to ignore them, focusing instead on nuzzling his mate.

Meanwhile, Kero has snuggled up close to his mate, and is gently holding her, letting his own calm nature override her distress.

"It will be okay, Beloved. You will see. I know it will."

Kero nods, sadly, and nuzzles his mate.

"At this point, we can assume it is true, I am afraid. The thing to do now is figure out how we go about dealing with it.

Kero shrugs his shoulders as he stands, walking around a little bit to clear his mind and center in. He feels the emotions roiling around inside himself, but quiets them for now. He needs to think clearly.

"Well, then, the obvious solution is to not go to Shar, isn't it?" Kero says, raising a paw to stop Ai's protesting voice. "I mean it. Why do we need to go back to Silver Falls for this little incident. You and I can birth the child here, if child there is, and raise it here. I have been doing my Research on this realm as well as on your condition and symptoms. Time here is much different. An hour here is a minute there. You and I have only been gone from Silver Falls for five minutes, roughly. Yes, it will seem like we had gone for a while, should we raise our child here, but it will not be the years and years it would seem to be. As well, I found that this realm puts a freeze on my Magical Maturation...in other words, the Ambient Twilight here prevent my Rejuvenation from reaching completion, or even moving forward, as long as we remain here. Should we take eighteen years here to raise a child, we will have been gone for only about three months."

"So now that you know the facts, what do you think we should do?"

Nodding, Kero sits and thinks again.

"Well, then, which nest of trouble is easiest to deal with? We've got enough on our plate without taking the hard road too."

Kero shakes his head and closes his eyes...trying...and trying...He manages to turn himself into a duck and back without even realizing it...though he has a big feather on his nose when he opens his eyes again.

"I...I don't think I can. Maybe...Maybe...Did Hopian leave a vial of his blood? I seem to remember him doing so?"

Grimacing, Kero nods, though his eyes bespeak a certain fear. He clearly doesn't want to call Hopian, and when Ai asks why, she gets a little more than she bargained for.

Kero pounces her, concern for her well-being filling his eyes as he gently holds her down to the floor, nuzzling her and licking her. "I can't lose you, Ai." He says, with a hint of a whine in his voice, "I just can't. And I know...I know that if I call Hopian, then he is going to be super mad about this whole affair...as he should be."

After much Coaxing and cajoling, Ai is able to get him off of her, but is unable to get him to agree to call his brother. Finally, an idea occurs to her...one that is so cheating, but she knows it will work.

"Dulcha...Kero…" She begins.

"Yes, Beloved?" he replies.

"I am ordering you, as your parent, to summon your brother. You need to talk over this with your older side, and to do that, you need his blood."

"B…B…But don't...isn't there a vial..." He stammers, scared.

"There is no vial of his blood at Silver Falls. Now call for him, Dulcha. I'll be fine."

Steeling himself, Kero makes ready to do as she asks...though his glare promises her dire retribution afterward. Sitting on his haunches, he takes one paw and places it symbolically forward, intoning the words in a much deeper voice than usual.

Hopian, hear now my plea
By the blood that binds us, come to me

At this, Ai is amazed. Those aren’t the words Hopian had taught her, and et he appears in a flash. Sparks cascading down his body, he shakes off the electrical energy that gathered around him during the trip. Looking to Kero, he goes and gives him a great big hug. Then suddenly, a scent reaches his nose. One he hasn’t smelled in quite a bit. Though something is off here. He smells the pregnancy, but cannot tell who. Then, he looks at Ai, and the full scent reaches his nostrils.

With a growl, Hopian spreads his wings wide, revealing the gathered electricity stored within them, as he rounds on both Ai and Kerobian.

“ARE YOU TWO SO DENSE AND SO DESPERATE THAT YOU WOULD TURN TO EACH OTHERS LOINS FOR COMPANY?!” He screams, and would likely go further, if Kero hadn’t stepped in and slapped him across the muzzle. Not even Hopian could ignore that. Kero was a lot stronger than he looked.

“Listen, Hopian, and listen well.” Says Kero, startling Ai with how much he sounds like his older self. Kero might have a lot of growing up to do still, but he was maturing rapidly. Of course, she realizes with an internal grimace, he had already matured in some ways. At that thought, her mind turns towards the child in her womb as Kero reads Hopian the riot act for threatening Ai.

Soon, the two of them lapsed into Desert Miner, in which Kero reveals the entire story to Hopian, who is getting calmer and calmer as Kero explains, though whether this is from their blood bond or from Kero’s explanation is impossible to tell. Finally, Hopian reaches out and secures a vial from his pack, and with a single cut, he gives it to Kero and sparks off, though not before he slaps both Kero and Ai on the rump for their stupidity.

Looking at the vial in his hands, Kero gulps, looking to Ai. At her nod, he swallows it, and one Anti-Flash later, the Lord of Emptiness is sitting before the Angel of Love.

“I know why you have awakened me, Mine younger self. Now, what is it you wish to ask of me?” Says Kerobian.

“Other me…What should I do? I..I think I’m ready to raise a child, but isn’t there some way..” Kero starts, but Kerobian interrupts him.

“Okay. There are three things going on here. Firstly, to answer your question, no. Short of divine intervention, there is no way to halt or stop a pregnancy without harming or killing the child and/or the Mother. Secondly, as for you, what Tes told us is true. As long as you are willing to return, she will not care if you have dallied with another. She meant what she said, Younger Me.”

Turning to Ai, Kero’s eyes are reassuring and calm, seeming to stare into her soul, and accepting it completely. “And thirdly, you Ai, need to realize that sometimes, things happen. Yes, what happened here probably shouldn’t have. But it did, for some reason. Now all that remains to do is live with it. You love Kero…the younger Kero, correct? Well, then, love him. Love is never a bad thing, and it’s physical expression is fine, in this situation. Okay?”