Jenna had woken up to a beautiful morning, the kinds where the sun was always shining, and the birds were always singing, and peace and happiness ruled eternally throughout the world. Immediately Jenna had squinted, rubbed at her eyes, and muttered incoherently something about it being one of those days.
It wasn't as though it was obvious, though. Nothing bad had really happened to Jenna yet, she just had a gut feeling about it, which stayed put inside her as she carried out her monotonous morning chores. And if Jenna knew anything about gut feelings, it was that they were not to be ignored, or else they would result in rather... unpleasant events. Such as Felix losing his footing while scaling Air's Rock and dragging everyone down with him. (It had been such a long fall too.)
But for some reason, the feeling inside Jenna was a different sort of feeling. It didn't immediately scream out "DANGER!" like in the previous incident at Air's Rock. It was more of a foreboding sort of feeling, more dangerous and sinister. But try as she might, Jenna could not put her finger on what it was implying. So, instead, she swept it under a mental carpet, and called her brother down for breakfast.
Felix came down quietly enough, since he never did like to say more than was neccessary. Piers followed him soon after. Jenna had often wondered why Piers had neglected to return to Lemuria for such a long time, but whenever pressed for a reason, Piers had always insisted that he simply could not return to his home until his boat was repaired. Which, in Jenna's humble opinion, was pure bullshit, as the boat was working perfectly fine. After all, they got home, didn't they? However, Felix didn't seem to have any problems with their comrade extending his stay, and so Jenna decided that, if he didn't have a problem, then she wouldn't either.
There was no real word of commencement. The three simply sat down and dug in. While they ate, Jenna slowly removed the gut feeling from its hiding place and began to carefully examine it, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. However, when she reached out for a roll that just wasn't there, she began to notice something very odd.
"Um, Felix?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you eating so much? You usually don't eat a lot at breakfast."
"Um..." Jenna could have sworn a blush tinted Felix's face, something that rarely happened.
"You're getting pretty chubby too. Maybe you should go on a diet."
At that Piers looked indignant. "No, that'd be bad for the -" but he soon shut up at a quick glance from Felix.
"Bad for what?" Jenna was a very confused girl at that moment. The gut feeling laughed at her, but she ignored it for then. "Felix?"
The blush on Felix's face deepened. "Uh, Jenna..." he coughed, unsure on how to continue. "See, the thing is... I'm, um, pregnant."
Jenna immediately started choking violently on the scrambled eggs she had been in the process of eating when Felix's confession came. The gut feeling smacked her in the face several times, laughing all the while. Piers and Felix watched anxiously as Jenna pounded the table, continuing to choke.
After a while, however: "WHAT. THE. HELL. FELIX!"
"I'm pregnant," Felix repeated bluntly.
That was just too much for poor Jenna. The fiery temper came out, and she jumped up, knocking her dishes and cutlery to the floor. This was shocking, it was outrageous, it was...
It was...
Wait, how the hell was that even possible! Jenna wailed miserably in her mind. Felix was an effing male, and unless Kraden had been horribly mistaken when he had deemed it time to teach them an important lesson about the birds and the bees, males just simply did not have the equipment for bearing children.
"... Jenna? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jenna snapped back angrily at her brother. Gotta calm down... breathe, Jenna, breathe... After a few deep, cleansing breaths, Jenna sighed heavily and looked back up at her brother. "Okay, so, before I go into how all of this is physically impossible, I'd like to know: just who is the father?"
Instantly Jenna regretted asking such a question, but it was too late. Much to her horror, Felix slowly pointed at the Lemurian sitting beside him.
"...Ooh..."
It was around then that Jenna passed out.
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"Jenna?"
Slowly opening her eyes, Jenna looked groggily around her. She was back in her own room, with a concerned Mia hovering maternally over her.
"Oh thank Mercury you're alive Jenna!" Mia squealed as she threw herself at Jenna in a big bear hug. "I was so worried when Piers called me over and said you suddenly had a fainting fit."
I wonder why, Jenna thought cynically to herself. Slowly prying herself loose from Mia, she smiled at her friend and said, "Thanks for your concern Mia, but I'm fine now."
Mia smiled widely. "Oh, I'm so glad! I was really worried for a minute there. But," she tapped her lower lip thoughtfully, "you know, Jenna, if you're feeling sick, then you shouldn't be doing all those chores by yourself. At least get some help. I'm sure Felix or Piers wouldn't object to helping you out a bit. And, by the way, is it just me, or is Felix getting rather chubby around the sides?" she added in an off-handed way.
"I'm not sick, Mia," Jenna assured her friend with a painfully forced smile. The last thing she needed was to be reminded of her brother and, more importantly, her brother's situation. "I think I was just needed some fresh air. Which, speaking of, I'm gonna get right now."
With an energetic leap and an extra spring in her steps, Jenna waved cheerily to Mia, "See? All better! See you later!"
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Jenna was sure that she was far, far, far, far away from her home before she even dared to let herself slow down. By the time she felt it was safe to stop, she was almost completely out of Vale.
The morning's events flashed back painfully into her mind. Waking up, odd omnious feeling of doom, breakfast, Felix announcing his pregnancy, spitting out the breakfast, Pier's revealing to be the father of Felix's child, fainting.
Jenna blinked. Wow, when she put it all into that perspective, it all seemed so... ridiculous. Seriously, how the hell could someone like Felix, who was very male, if the lack of boobies was anything to go by, become pregnant? How!
And Piers was the father, Jenna remembered with a wince. Eck, that last thought made her feel even more defiled. It was bad enough that her brother was with child; Piers was just the icing on the bitter, repulsive cake, that last bit that simply made her want to faint and vomit at the same time. Which probably wouldn't have been a good idea, as then Jenna would've choked on her own vomit, which was just as gross as the idea of Piers and Felix having a kid, if not more.
On second thought, no, Felix's pregnancy was much more disturbing. You couldn't get more disturbing than male pregnancy, Jenna concluded with a firm nod.
The afternoon sun breaking out from behind a few scattered clouds reminded Jenna of the time, and how if she didn't get back to a 5 mile radius around Felix soon, then, pregnant or no, he'd come dashing through the woods to her rescue and haul her sorry ass back home. And then he'd probably have a miscarriage, or something else would happen that would result in Piers giving her a sound beating.
Jenna sighed. Life sucked so very much at the moment. Slumped over in dejection, she reluctantly began to tread back home.
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Shortly after arriving in the Vale marketplace, all of Jenna's previous common sense and reasonings left her, and once again she couldn't bring herself to return home. She still wasn't ready to face the music, and accept that her brother was truly... you know. In fact, it would be long before Jenna could think about Felix without a sudden urge to scream, not to mention quite a lot of poking at Felix's stomach with a pointy stick (all in the name of sisterly love and concern, of course.)
Sighing heavily, Jenna plopped herself down onto a bench. All resolutions to go home had long ago been eradicated from her mind. Screw Felix. If he wanted her home so badly, then, hell, he could come and drag her home. With that decided upon, Jenna folded her arms across her chest and leaned back.
Sighing some more.
One more sigh. Just for good measure. And then she'd be fine.
And...
Jenna paused mid-sigh, mouth agape, staring straight ahead at the person walking towards her.
Well, walking wasn't exactly the best word for it, as the person seemed to be weighed down by a particularly large belly. Perhaps wobbled would have sufficed instead, or even waddled. In any case, there was no doubt that said person was slowly making their way towards her.
For a brief, hopeful moment, Jenna gibbered incoherently quietly in a corner of her mind. It wasn't who she thought it was, it just couldn't be oh no today was not that sort of day granted it was a pretty shitty day but no day could get as shitty as this and no she was just hallucinating because of Felix stupid Felix...
During her momentary lapse of hopeful thinking, the person in question approached and (ZOMG! Jenna's mind went involuntarily) against all hope that Jenna had in her panicked state garnered around her, began to greet her in a jauntry tone.
"Hey Jenna! I didn't think I'd see you here. What are you doing?"
It wasn't the sentence that did it, nor was it the fact that Jenna was forced into staring at the large, round, belly, but in any case something in her snapped, and before she could control herself she had clutched at her ears and shrieked shrilly, "OMIGOD DON'T TALK ANYMORE IVAN!"
Ivan blinked a few times in confusion. "Um, okay? ... Are you alright?"
"NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT THANK YOU VERY MUCH," Jenna snapped back, beginning to rock and forth, hugging her legs as closely as she could. Today was not real, today was just a nightmare... a horrible, horrible nightmare...
"Oh, Ivan!" Soon a third person joined them. Jenna recgonized the voice, and began to feel a sense of dread again. "Where'd you go?"
"I saw Jenna, so I decided to say hi." Ivan scratched at the side of his head. "But she's acting weird."
"I can tell," Isaac responded dryly.
Jenna felt like crying at that moment. "Why, Ivan, why!"
Ivan blinked again. "I'm sorry?"
Jenna waved her hand accusingly and angrily at Ivan's stomach. "Why the hell are you like that, Ivan?" she demanded before she could help herself. Eep, her mental self went.
Ivan only beamed. "Because, Jenna... I'm pregnant." Judging by Isaac's sheepish-yet-slightly-proud grin, it was obvious as to who had gotten the boy knocked up. Such a fact only made it worse. Jenna completely broke down at this point, sobbing into her arms.
"Um, Jenna? Are you alright?" Isaac put his hand on Jenna's shoulder in a concerned fashion, but was rewarded with Jenna knocking him away and wailing miserably, "NO, WOULD YOU BE ALRIGHT IF YOU WERE A GIRL AND JUST FOUND OUT ALL THE GUYS YOU KNOW ARE SUDDENLY PREGNANT OR JUST GOT SOME OTHER GUY PREGNANT! NEXT THING YOU KNOW, GARET'S GOING TO HAVE A KID TOO!"
To her horror, Isaac coughed into his fist, blushing slightly, and muttered, "Actually, Garet's is due anytime now..."
However, Jenna was only vaguely aware of Isaac's response to her outburst as she continued to rock back and forth, muttering to herself as she stared ahead like one in a daze.
"Jenna?" Isaac waved his hand before her face, looking quite concerned for his friend's sanity, or lack of one. "Jeeenna?"
At this Jenna blinked. Looking up at Isaac with the eyes on one in a trance, she slowly uncurled herself and stood up, walking away without a word to either of the boys.
As they watched her retreating form disappear among the crowd of the marketplace, Ivan put his hands on either side of his hips and beamed happily, "My, she's certainly taking it well, isn't she, Isaac?"
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Jenna wasn't ever completely, absolutely, 100 sure what exactly it was that had caused her to act the way she did, but she greatly suspected it had something to do with Felix.
She had returned home, no longer in a trance, though still rather shaken. Jenna just wasn't someone who was made for dealing with sudden random male pregnancies, and found that the more distance between a pregnant man and herself, the more she could function normally.
It was at that moment, however, that Felix came waddling over to her. For some obscure reason Jenna found she could not take her eyes off Felix's midsection, which was suddenly a lot larger and rounder now that Felix wasn't concealing it underneath the table. The appearance of a pregnant boy was not a good omen, as Jenna had found out several times earlier that day. A whimper came from her throat, though she couldn't understand why.
Then Felix spoke.
"Jenna, I've been having these really weird cravings for chocolate-covered pickles. Do you know if we have any?"
Jenna, being the sensible girl she was, replied in the only way that seemed appropriate.
She began to scream.
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"Jenna! Jenna!"
A pair of hands grabbed onto her wrists, and Jenna snapped open her eyes. Felix and Piers were hovering over her bed, staring at her worriedly. Felix gently shook her arms.
"Are you alright, Jenna?"
Jenna's first response was to break out of Felix's grip and immediately fling her hands at Felix's stomach. Much to her immense relief, it was as flat as a healthy teenager's stomach could get. Despite all her pokings and stabbings there wasn't a trace of a bump or anything similar to a pregnant belly.
Felix and Piers gaped at her soundlessly while she continued to inspect his stomach. "Um... are you alright...? Jenna?" Felix asked slowly after a while.
To this Jenna's head snapped up, and she stared wide-eyed at him, as if she hadn't noticed his presence before. "FELIX!" she exclaimed so loudly, both boys started. "YOU'RE NOT PREGNANT!"
Felix's face began to blush hotly. "What? Of course I'm not pregnant!" he replied haughtingly. "Why the hell would you even think that!"
Sighing with relief, Jenna ignored the outburst and slumped back against her pillow. "Thank god... Thank god... it was all just a dream... a horrible, horrible dream..."
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In the middle of the night, Garet awoke screaming, drenched in cold sweat. Quickly he sat up, tossed aside the cover and ran his hands against his midsection urgently before falling back against his pillow with a sigh.
"Thank goodness... it was just an awful dream... I'm not pregnant," he breathed with immense relief. Sighing once more, he closed his eyes and was soon asleep.