NOTE: Hello all...so...this isn't an additional epilogue or anything like that. If anything it's a 'pre-quel' I suppose. I felt it was best to add it on the end here so that Animula readers would know it existed (I'm not sure how many people watch the story vs watch me). I knew I said I was going to take a break from this universe, but I was feeling emotional and wanted to do a short story for this AU.

Animula: Birthright

New York, New York. August 25th, 1963

"I…I can't do this."

"Everything is going to be okay, Mary."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I love you."

Trying to hide her tears Mary buried her face against her husband's chest, the motion was made awkward by her large rounded stomach. Sitting on a small leather couch next to her David ran his hand gently between her shoulderblades to try and sooth her. He stared out the large glass window in front of them that looked out over the massive city. Born and raised upstate they had both always wanted to visit the heart of Manhattan, but neither one of them had until today. Looking out across the forest of buildings from a hundred stories up gave David an odd feeling of claustro and agoraphobia mixed together as the dazzling open air view was mixed with the feeling of being trapped in the gold gilded tower of the Market.

Technically they were free to leave any time, but until they concluded their business here they were effectively prisoners. They had an appointment for one o'clock, but something had delayed it and now they were being forced to wait. They'd had months to think about this moment, but somehow it hadn't seemed real until now. Mary was two days away from her official due date but the Market had insisted that they come to the city before hand so that they could induce the labor and ensure that everything went smoothly. So far things weren't going smoothly at all and the longer they had to wait the harder it was becoming to justify what was happening.

Mary pulled away from David with a sharp gasp as she wrapped her arm over her stomach. The closer she got to term the more it upset her to feel any kind of movement from their unborn creature. When they had first learned that there was something wrong with the pregnancy it had been too early to feel anything, she had just started to show a belly at the time. The doctor had a Market representative on the scene when he broke the news to them and before they could even think about what was happening let alone weigh the options they'd signed a contract for the future of their unborn Animula.

"I don't want to be here."

"I know, Hon, neither do I."

"I just want to take my baby boy home."

"Mary, we talked about this, he's not…"

"He's alive, David, I can feel him kick."

"No one said he isn't alive, but he doesn't have a…" David stopped as emotion caught his voice for a moment. "It's not human."

"Don't say 'it', please. You know I hate that."

"I'm sorry, I just…" David stopped and dragged his hands through his hair in frustration, they had had this argument too many times before.

"This day came too soon," Mary whimpered "I don't want to lose him today."

"We lost him the day the test results came back."

"We should have never taken it."

"That wouldn't have changed what he is." David said firmly. "It would have just been harder on us both to learn after he was born that he doesn't cry. At least this way we've had time to prepare for this."

"I'm not ready."

"You never will be ready, but in time you will get past it." David reached up and brushed Mary's tear stained cheek. "We just need to get through today."

Mary nodded vacantly, but he could see how heavily the grief weighed on her. David had thought about taking Mary to a less reputable doctor after they got the news and just end things before they got too far along, but he realized that it would be just as traumatic for her and at least this way the money could help them with a new life. When it came down to it they could barely afford themselves right now and he had wondered how they were going to support a child before he'd learned that they weren't going to get that chance.

"This is what is best." David said as much to comfort himself as his wife.

"I know." Mary agreed half heartedly "…at least that's what I keep trying to tell myself."

"The Market is where he needs to be." David said with forced confidence. "We wouldn't even know how to raise him, and we certainly couldn't offer him anything more than what he will get here. This way he will be cared for by people who understand what he is and what he needs. In a lot of ways he has a brighter future than most. He will never go hungry, he will always have a roof over his head, he will never have to worry about caring for himself, he will live in the luxury of the upper class where he will be valued and protected his entire life. He'll never know anything of the hardships and the heartbreak that the rest of us face everyday."

"He'll also never know love."

"Nothing can change that."

"David…"

"He's Animula, he's not capable of it or any emotion for that matter." David said darkly. "He is not human, he can not love."

"…that doesn't mean we couldn't love him."

Narrowing his eyes David's jaw tightened as he fought tears by turning to anger instead. He told himself she was being foolish thinking that any good could come from loving something that couldn't love her in return. It would be insane to even try. They could not afford to keep an Animula, it would ruin them financially and socially. Mary could feel the change in his mood from sharing her pain to resenting it and it added to her own nervous energy. She jolted as the tiny life she was carrying seemed to sense her increased anxiety and kicked at her. David jerked as well at her movement showing how on edge he was.

"There has to be another way." Mary said quietly. "Maybe, maybe there was a mistake, the test could have been wrong. What if…"

"No," David interrupted icily "there was no mistake."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You think this is easy for me?" David demanded as his temper flared. "You think I don't know that this is *my* fault?!"

"I never said it was your fault."

"Animula are only ever male…so he must have gotten it from me." David closed his eyes when tears spilt down his face as his brush with anger was instantly lost to grief. "Maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I have taken my own soul for granted too many times. Whatever I did, I'm sorry, I never wanted to hurt you like this...please forgive me."

"No, I can't forgive you because I don't blame you." Mary took David's hand in her own and held it tight. "No one is to blame, you're a loving husband, you would be a loving father. This can't be about good and evil. We didn't do anything to deserve this."

"Neither did he."

Knowing her husband was right Mary broke down once again at the hopelessness of their situation. David gathered her in his arms as best he could and held her close while she cried. He had told her that they just needed to get through today, but he doubted tomorrow was going to be any better. He'd seen what the loss of a child could do. When he was eight years old his mother had become pregnant with what should have been his baby brother. It had been exciting at first as they talked about adding a new member to their family. However after a few months she had become more reclusive from him and refused to talk about his unborn brother. In the last week of the pregnancy she had left and he didn't see her again for nearly a month. His father told him that she had gotten sick and that she had lost the baby and that she needed some time alone to recover. She had survived, and returned home but she had never really been the same, there was a hollowness in her heart that she couldn't hide.

Growing up David hadn't thought too much about the brother he never got to meet. The fact that his parents had money magically 'saved away' to pay for his college in full hadn't really bothered him at the time. However since learning about his own son David had been obsessing more and more about if his younger sibling had really died at birth or if Animula was a curse that ran in his family. His parents had died a few years ago and in a way David was grateful that his mother didn't have to lose a grandchild to Animula as well if his suspicions were true.

"We can't do this." Mary whispered suddenly. "We can't sell our son."

"We have to."

"We don't have to take the money." Mary said in a pleading tone. "David, please, I know we need it, but I don't want it, I can't, please…I…I know we can't keep him, but I can't bear the thought of selling him."

"Then we won't." David assured as he pulled her closer. "We'll be fine without the money, in fact we'll be better without it."

Mary was still trembling from the stress but she nuzzled against him, finding strength in his support. He had never really wanted the money either, he just hadn't known how to approach the subject feeling that she deserved something for her suffering. Becoming somewhat numb to the turmoil of the events David just stared blankly out the window. It felt like days passed before a nurse with a clipboard came into the room from the door on the far side. She didn't approach the couple, she waited by the door for them to look over at her. Mary buried her face deeper in David's shirt at first, but eventually she looked over at the nurse.

"Thank you for waiting." She greeted warmly. "We're ready now. Please come with me."

Mary looked to David with a desperate expression that broke his heart as she silently asked for another option. He shook his head sadly which caused her to lose the last shred of hope that she'd been clinging to. David slowly got to his feet and helped her do the same. He wanted to reach out and touch her stomach, he wanted to say good-bye to the life she carried, but he didn't. Knowing he had to be strong for her David silently stood by her side.

After taking a moment to find her courage Mary stepped away from her husband who was expected to stay in the waiting area, but she stopped short of joining the nurse. The nurse flashed Mary sympathetic smile before opening the door and silently encouraging her to follow her through. Putting her hands on her distended stomach Mary bowed her head in defeat with a miserable sigh as she stepped forward.

"Mrs. Burke?" The nurse asked in concern.

"I'm sorry." Mary whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I know this is hard. You don't have to apologize to me."

"I wasn't talking to you."