12. Birth

Lucario-

This shouldn't have been happening...

It can't happen.

Could it?

You stared at Link from the other side of the room, watching his every move. He had his head in his hands, full of shame for what he had done. His foot was tapping, nerves were getting to him. You knew that it wasn't intentional, it was an accident. But you still couldn't believe that it had happened. He looked up at you, his eyes were bloodshot."Lucario..." he said, his voice cracking. "I'm so sorry...you have every right to be angry at me...I don't expect forgiveness. But please understand that I didn't mean for any of this to happen-"

"Its fine, Link. You can go see Zelda if you want to..." you said, wishing for him to leave you alone. He smiled slightly and walked over to you, resting a hand on your shoulder in comfort.

"Lucario, she's a fighter. No, a Smasher. She'll get through this...you'll see." With that, he left to join everyone else outside of the room. Everyone wanted to see her...everyone liked her. As soon as the door was open a few centimetres, Pichu ran inside through Link's legs.

"Pichu! Get back outside!" You order was for his own good, you didn't want anyone to see her like this. Especially him...

"But I have to see her, Lucario!" he said, quick-attacking over your head and landing by her side. His eyes went huge as he saw her lifeless body, a giant red patch of blood escaping through the sheets. Her eyes were shut and her head rolled slightly to the side, facing him. You didn't stop him from crawling up towards her, touching her cheek with the utter-most care. But when tears filled his eyes, you attempted to pull him away.

"No!" he screamed, fighting against you. But you picked him up, holding him in your arms. He pushed his face into your chest, just as Piper had whenever she was upset. His sobs brought tears to your eyes, he loved her so much. Nearly as much as you did...

"Mr Lucario?" said the innocent voice of Peach. She saw Pichu crying and sighed, leaving the door open for Zelda and Samus to come in. They all had running mascara, black gothic marks on their cheeks. Peach was silently sobbing every now and then while Zelda held a handkerchief to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.

"How is she?" Samus asked. You shook your head, not really able to say anything.

"She's dying isn't she?" Pichu asked, looking up at you with sad eyes.

"She'll be fine, Pichu. Din shines on her," Zelda replied, taking him from you and sitting him down next to Piper's head.

"Ladies...as nice as it is having you all here to see Piper...I-I'd prefer it if-"

"We understand Lucario...we'll leave you two alone," Samus finished for you. And with that, Piper's four close friends left with tears in their eyes. You sat back down, exhaling heavily as you put your head in your hands.

"Damn it, Piper..." you whispered. "Why did this happen?" You were so frustrated with everything...at her, at Link, at yourself...you should have told her to stay out of this one! You should have done something, anything! It was your fault she was like this...it was all your fault...

"L-Lucario..." a whisper said. You looked up to Piper, your heart racing as you saw her. You slowly walked over to her, wondering if it was just a dream. She didn't say anything else and her eyes remained shut.

"Dear Piper..." you whispered, stroking her cheek gently. She somehow managed to look beautiful for a girl on the brink of death...you sighed and sat back down on your chair, but pulled it closer towards her side. That's when you noticed 'it'...

...'it' was a black stain on Piper's sheets, but it wasn't dried blood. It was coming from just below the other stain, just in between her legs. At first it was nothing, just a tiny dot. But it was soon spreading into a stain larger than her pool of blood. You slowly uncovered the sheet, revealing her barely-covered chest. She was only wearing her underwear and bra, plus bandages around her stomach from the stitches she needed. You pulled the sheet off of her, dragging it down her body.

"What the..." you breathed, your eyes going huge at what you saw. The black stain was some sort of substance that came from inside of Piper, and there was a hell of a lot of it. You dropped the sheet, leaving it around her knees.

"What is this?" you asked, barely touching it. As soon as you made contact with it, the substance turned to black and purple smoke. It was a lot like the smoke that made up her guitar. It wrapped itself around Piper, touching nearly every inch of her body. As soon as it made its way up to her face, you lashed out at it with your paw, trying to fan it away. But it didn't move, it just lightly pressed against her cheeks, making her moan.

"Please..." she whispered. You cupped Piper's face in your paws, trying to keep her safe from whatever the hell this thing was.

"Piper! What's going on?" you asked, half-yelling out the words. She remained silent, her eyelids flickering slightly. You gently rested her head on the pillow and bolted out the door, looking for Dr Mario.

Piper's POV-

"Rise and shine, my precious Piper..." said an unfamiliar voice. "Don't worry...I'm here..." Your eyelids slowly opened, but you wanted to keep them tightly shut. You were in a room with no walls, no floor, no door and nor windows. It was just...black. Just like when you were falling down the pipe, the whole world was black and empty. Except for her...you somehow recognised her, even though you had never met before. You were about to say something to her, but no sound seemed to come from your lips.

"Hi there," CrazyAcorn123 said. "Surprised to see me?" You tried to say 'yes', but the silence in your voice remained there. So you merely nodded, worried about what was about to happen.

"How are you?" she asked again, crouching down by your side. You suddenly realised that you were lying on where a floor should be with your hands by your sides. You started to sit up, finding that there were no scars or blood-gushing wounds. In fact, there was no pain at all.

"You're inside your own mind...in the deepest and darkest part of it, actually," CrazyA answered. You thought that you could hear faint sounds in the distance...but as soon as you heard them, they vanished.

"If you're wondering what happened to your voice and wounds, I took it away temporarily. I just don't want to deal with people screaming and complaining at me all the time...it's so frustrating!" You watched her float upward, crossed legs like a Buddha. She flipped upside-down, still crossed legged and watched you, her blonde hair falling around her face and her pointy fox-ears twitching.

"Don't worry about Lucario," she said with a smile. "He's going alright." You exhaled, relaxed at last. But you tensed up again when you heard the voices at last.

"She's dying, isn't she?" Pichu asked. You gasped, looking around for the source. You jumped to your feet and ran in the direction of the voice, trying to find him. Zelda's voice appeared from behind you, causing you to turn on your heel.

"She'll be fine, Pichu. Din shines on her."

"Ladies...as nice as it is having you all here to see Piper..." said a voice that you've wanted to hear for a long time. You stopped in your tracks, suddenly needing Lucario badly. You turned around and saw CrazyAcorn123 standing behind you, a smile on her face.

"So...he does love you after all...and you love him back..." she said, lost in her own thoughts. "I just shoved you in the story to have a bit of fun with them all...I never realised that you'd actually fall for someone!" She looked back at you, grinning before walking away to leave you alone. But just as she turned around, she tapped a hidden cane on her mouth for some unknown reason. You shrugged to yourself and turned around, wondering if he was going to say anything else. He did...

"Damn it Piper…why did this happen?" You could clearly hear the anger in his voice as his blood boiled. You wanted him to stop this anger...to see him smile again.

"Lucario..." you whispered. Your voice was back! It was CrazyA's staff, when she had tapped her lips. Wait...that was the thing that was keeping you here. If you had it, then you could go back and calm down Lucario. You ran over to the peaceful CrazyAcorn123, deciding to take it by force. In one swift movement, the girl lifted the staff out of your grasp and pinned you down with it.

"Fine, no voice for you!" she said, poking out her tongue as she moved away the cane. You were about to call her some horrible British slang, but your curse got stuck in your throat.

"Listen," she said as she bent over to get closer to you. "I am not going to give you the privilege of a voice if you keep this up. So play nice and I'll be nice." She moved her cane off of you, the gold top shining. Giving a final smile, she continued walking away from you.

"What the..." came Lucario's voice. CrazyAcorn123 turned around, her ears twitching as she listened in. You sat up, getting to your feet sharpish and listening. You didn't know what was going on in the real world, but you knew that it was something bad about you.

"What is this?" he continued. Your heart raced faster than ever and you quickly turned to CrazyA. You silently begged, screaming at her for mercy but without any sound. She just stared at you, a completely blank expression. Tears ran down your face as you sobbed, crying at her feet. She crouched down in front of you, comfortingly rubbing your head.

"Please..." you whispered. You looked up at her, smiling through your tears at her kindness. But she had tears in her own eyes.

"Piper...please don't be scared by what you see. If you trust me, then I swear that nothing will go wrong. Alright?" she said, trying to hold back a sob. You nodded, the two of you standing up in unison. She smiled, looked down at her shoes and tapped the cane on the floor. The world began to shake, as if a tsunami was coming your way. You looked around the place, wondering what was going on. All you could see was CrazyAcorn123 give a smile as the world fell down around you and a white light swallowed you whole.

"Piper! Please wake up!" Lucario said, shaking your shoulders. Your eyelids snapped open and you looked into his ruby-red eyes...

"I missed you in the darkness..." you whispered. He smiled and embraced you, wrapping his arms around you as you rested your head on his shoulder. A tear crawled down your face, but you were smiling all the way. Until you felt the cold presence wrapping around you. You opened your eyes and sat a dark mist of smoke come from underneath the sheets.

"What the fuck!?!?" you screamed, sitting upright like a post in the ground. Lucario pulled away from you, sighing and looking over to Dr Mario.

"Yeah, I think she noticed it..." he said grimly. "It's hard to notice something when it's coming out from between your legs."

"WHAT?!?" you screamed at the two of them.

"Way-a to go, genius," Dr Mario said sarcastically. But sarcasm wasn't going to explain what the hell was happening. It was as if he could read your mind, for Dr Mario walked over from the end of the bed to your side, looking concerned.

"Miss Piper...I don't-a know how to explain-a this...but you're currently giving birth...to-a this," he gestured to the smoke that was crawling up your body. Your pupils went tiny as you stared at him in disbelief. The twins were made...of smoke?

"So I was pregnant...with smoke-twins?" you asked, looking over to Lucario. "You said that they had good auras!"

"I didn't sense any of this!" he replied, as confused as you were.

"I believe that I-a have more to say..." said Dr Mario, frustrated by your bickering. "They only turned into this when Link stabbed you with his-a sword. They'll be born...but they'll come out-a...wrong." You sighed, accepting your fate. This was it...just as you were looking forward to something beautiful...it slipped away from your grasp. You cried, the purple and black smoke winding around your neck. But it didn't strangle you, it just lovingly held you. Like a child would...Lucario saw your tiny smile and kissed your forehead, stroking your back.

"How are you going?" he asked. You shrugged, still smiling as the smoke lightly touched your lips.

"It's easier than I thought it would be...but then again, I'm only pushing out mist." Suddenly, as if God wanted you to suffer even more, an extreme pain came from your innards. It was like a million periods wrapped into one little combination.

"Bugger!" you screamed, your face scrunching up in pain. "It hurts like hell!" Lucario got off of your bed, giving you space. Dr Mario lifted up the other end of the sheet, looking at what was happening 'below the equator'.

"I see a head!" he cried. You kept screaming as the pain continued, not really giving a rat's ass about the baby at the moment. The door opened and the kids of Smash Manor, Young Link, Diddy Kong, Nana, Popo, etcetera walked in after a smiling Peach.

"See, children! This is how babies are born!" she said happily.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!" you screamed at her. She pouted, looking slightly hurt.

"Please don't use that language, Miss Piper. Can't you see we have children present?" she said innocently. But these kids were far from innocent...

"What the hell is with all that smoke?" Toony said, pointing at the mist of darkness that was coming from under the sheets.

"Wow, you're British?" asked Popo.

"Say 'bottle'! Please?" Nana pleaded. You said a bit more than that...

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" You sobbed, resting back on your pillow. Your screams got louder and louder as the children left, scarred for life. Dr Mario was saying something, but you couldn't hear him over the top of your pumping heart. The blood in your body (what was left) rushed straight to your skull and you screamed as you gave a final push. Your muscles relaxed immediately, it was a relief to be free of the pain. You nearly forgot what the whole point of the pain was...

"How are they?" you said, too weak to look up. Dr Mario and Lucario were staring at something buried underneath the sheet. Their mouths were open, nearly hitting the floor in amazement. Or fear...

"What?" you asked, fear swelling up inside of you. "How are they?" You sat up and pulled at the sheet, revealing the crying things. They...they were...

"They're beautiful..." you whispered. They wouldn't win any beauty pageants, but they were the sweetest things you'd ever seen. Covered in dark mist, the smallest one with bright pink eyes looked up at you with innocence. She was so sweet... You picked her up in your arms, crying lightly. She didn't have a body; she was just pure smoke and mist.

"Wish..." you whispered. "My little baby Wish..." You looked over at Lucario, who was staring at you with tears in his eyes. He was holding another bundle of mist, except this one had bright blue eyes. Blade... he was so cute. He looked up at Lucario with eager eyes, a smile on his face. You had never seen Lucario this happy before...

"I love them..." you whispered, looking back at Wish. She smiled, bringing tears to your eyes. But then...

"Piper!" someone greeted from the corner of the room. "Long time no see!" It was CrazyAcorn123, waving at you with a smile on her face. Everyone in the room stared at her, including the twins.

"What are you doing here?" you asked her. She walked towards you, suddenly looking depressed.

"I'm here to..." she stopped, her voice cracking. "I'm here to take the kids."

"What?" Lucario barked, nearly dropping Blade. You stared at her, wondering if she actually said what you thought she had said.

"I have to-"

"WHY?!" you yelled, causing Wish to cry. You pulled her closely towards you, not letting this...monster take her away from you.

"Can you imagine them growing up here!? In this environment?!" she yelled back, snapping out. "I'm doing this for them!"

"I'm not letting you take our children away!" Lucario yelled, charging up his power for a blast at her.

"Please, Piper! I told you to trust me!" she screamed, tears filling up her eyes. She managed to swallow them back, keeping her mouth zipped. You stared at her, finding yourself on the brink of tears, too. You sighed and handed Wish over, not saying anything else. CrazyA smiled and gently lifted her from your clasp, not wanting to hurt her.

"Piper! What are you doing?!" Lucario yelled in disbelief.

"She's right...Lucario, I don't want to see my children grow up in here..." you closed your eyes, wishing for everything to go away. "Give her Blade...please..." Lucario growled, but handed him over without saying anything else.

"Thank you..." she whispered. "I understand how hard this must be hard for you-"

"No you don't," Lucario interrupted. CrazyAcorn123 glared at him, holding the infants closer to her.

"But it's for the best, I swear. You'll have them back in sixteen days...sixteen years in my time..." she continued. You opened your eyes to see her tap the black and gold cane on the floor, a portal of purple swirls opening up behind her.

"But for now, my friends. I bid you farewell..." she said, smiling. And with that promise inside your heart, you knew that it was, in fact...

…the end.

***

CrazyA: And that, my friends, is it! But, credit goes to Pikana, the original baby-snatcher. Before anyone starts flaming, please note that she let me do this. So thankyou, Pikana! You've taken a whole load of stress of of my shoulders! Don't worry, Wish and Blade will come back in the sequel! So, huzzah! Thankyou for those who have given me advice, reviews (hint hint) and other random stuff that makes me go all pink! I love you all!! ^^ -^---- (it's a rose, dumbie!)