Another week passed, and Yae came to Liyue when she learned from Guizhong what happened.
"Have you learned your lesson?" asked Yae with a cold voice.
"Yes, yes. Now please release me" Kenshin begged from his position, hanged from the ceiling. "I was wrong for fighting the Geo Archon. Now please release me, or I will lose my feet from no blood reaching them."
Yae looked coldly at Kenshin one last time.
"OUCH!" Kenshin fell face first on the ground from a meter high. "To believe you were so sweet after sex...."
"That doesn't mean I can't be angry" Yae said, her cold expression returning. "You are lucky I won't tell Ei or Makoto anything, I don't know how Ei's anxiety would affect the baby."
"Why do you think I didn't tell her anything?" asked Kenshin standing up and rubbing his hurt nose. "I know how much trauma she has about losing people, but I was not going to die."
"Even if that's true, there is no reason for you to do that stupidity" Yae insisted, her anger unchanging. "I already knew you were even more stubborn than Ei, but why now?"
"I thought Rex Lapis now should be able to face the birth of his child as a father" argued Kenshin with a wronged expression. "I think it was an extremely beautiful and laudable reason, why am I being scolded?"
"Because you are stupid" declared Yae.
"You are just worried, I get that" Kenshin sighed, sensing the whole feeling permeating Yae's soul. "Just....ignore this alright? I knew I was not going to die, and I got to help a friend."
"Promise me" Yae shed her angry expression, and only worry remained. "Promise me that you won't do anything like this again."
"I prom-"
"You are not alone now Kenshin" Yae grabbed Kenshin's shoulders with both hands and looked at his eyes closely. "You have a family now, and I'm not talking about the child. Sara, Jean, Shenhe, me and of course Makoto and Ei count on you. And a few of us won't be able to recover from losing you. Please Kenshin, I'm begging you."
"I-I get it" Kenshin was surprised seeing Yae's begging expression as it was the first time he had seen it in his whole life. And the fact that the only thing Yae begged him for was to stay alive made him feel guilty, as Yae shouldn't have needed to beg for that.
He decided to share his life with them, and that obviously implied that he held a responsibility now, the same one the girls had for him.
"I won't do anything stupid" agreed Kenshin, hugging Yae closer to him. "There is no reason for me to do it, everything is okay now. Rex Lapis' problem was the last one I needed to deal with, but he is alright now."
"I hope so" Yae hugged Kenshin back, feeling his warmth between her arms.
"By the way, shouldn't Guizhong's baby be born soon?" asked Kenshin with a pondering look. "A God's child is special, but I saw the baby's soul after arriving in Liyue after a few years, I don't know how much time has Guizhong been pregnant."
"Hmmm" Yae, still between Kenshin's arms, hummed in thought. "She should be giving birth anytime soon. Her belly is quite big now, and considering that she has been pregnant for more than a year she-"
"KENSHIN!!" Xiao appeared with a panicked expression.
"No need to say more" Kenshin released Yae and approached Xiao. "Too many flags put together."
In a second, Xiao took Kenshin and Yae towards Morax's house.
"FUCK!" Guizhong's curse was the first thing they heard. "It hurts!"
"I will help" Yae, who had seen almost everything there was to see in the world, entered the room where Guizhong's curses were coming from. "I know a bit of a God's pregnancy, I will help her."
"G-Good luck" Kenshin was nervous now that the moment of truth approached.
Yae left for Guizhong's room, and a pale Rex Lapis, whose hand was undoubtedly fractured, came.
'A pregnant woman is scary' muttered Kenshin, looking at Morax's crushed hand that not even Azdaha had damaged this badly.
Morax sat on the couch and leaned down covering his face with his hands.
Kenshin just sat beside him, trying to give him some support and knowing that words were useless.
Xiao nervously looked around, but the other 2 ignored him.
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"Waaaahhhh!"
After an agonizing hour where Kenshin learned more insults that he had uttered in his life, the cry of a baby was heard in the humble family of now 3.
Rex Lapis' didn't move from his position, but a slight twitch on his body told Kenshin that the God was aware of the meaning the cry had.
"Go" Kenshin pushed the unmoving body of the God, who felt how his whole world shook now that the reality he had been aware of for months arrived. "I know you may be scared of the future, but you need to be strong as you have always been. But now, it will be in a different way."
After receiving another push, Rex Lapis stood up, and with a pale face he approached the room where his born child was.
Kenshin stood in the living room, knowing that this wasn't a moment he could intrude in.
"Ufff...." Yae came out of the room, pale and tired, but equally emotional seeing the little life being born in this world.
"Wash up, and we will leave" Kenshin said, making Yae nod.
The moment the baby had been born, Xiao had left to probably inform the other Adeptus.
Rex Lapis had now a son, and the Adeptus needed to know about it. Even if the child grew up in human society, every single being in Liyue had a debt to the selfless God that they would never be able to repay, and the Adeptus would always be ready to help his progeny.
"Are you done?" Kenshin asked once Yae came up after washing up and using a talisman to eliminate what water couldn't clean.
"Yes" Yae hugged Kenshin, and they both left the house, hearing the cries of the perfectly healthy baby, the happy woman and the emotionally sobbing dragon.
They walked in silence, without a destination, hoping for their steps to take them where they were supposed to be.
"Should we eat here?" asked Kenshin, looking at the Wangshu Inn. "Knowing those 2, they will come after a few hours to say those unnecessary thanks."
"Hmmm" Yae, who had been oddly silent, hummed.
They took the elevator, ordered some food, ate it with gusto, and lay down near a tree after getting down.
"What's wrong Yae?" asked Kenshin in a soft voice. "I can sense that you are very...emotional, but there are too many things in your soul now."
"....." Yae didn't reply, but she hugged Kenshin tightly. After a while, she spoke. "Ei will give birth soon."
"I know" Kenshin nodded, but tried to keep his calm. "I already planned for every eventuality. Indeed, the soul will mature faster, but I prepared the last ball Albedo gave me. You, Sara, Shenhe, Ayaka, my mother... I taught every single person that could help with the birth how to use it. It's a fail-safe method that makes the birth 100% safe."
Yae nodded, as she already knew it.
"I saw how happy Guizhong was" Yae started and Kenshin listened calmly. "I saw the moment the baby came into this world. He is a boy, and his golden eyes resembled Rex Lapis', he looked at me with curiosity for a moment, before he started crying. That first look, the moment the baby came into the world, it was...special."
"I suppose" Kenshin closed his eyes leaning back on the tree and hugged Yae closer. Now her head was resting on his chest.
"I gave the baby to Guizhong, who was admittedly exhausted" Yae wasn't speaking to Kenshin, she was voicing her thoughts. "Despite her tiredness, even without your ability, I could sense something her her change the moment she laid her eyes on the baby. I could feel her priorities changing, and the loving look that will always be directed towards her son."
Kenshin calmly listened, gently caressing Yae's hair.
"I think it was a magical moment I had the chance to share" Yae confessed closing her eyes and feeling Kenshin's hand combing his now short hair. "I am not going to be a midwife, but it made something inside me change too."
"Do you want a baby now?" asked Kenshin, caressing the fox ears Yae didn't bother hiding now.
"I...want to experience that feeling Guizhong did" confessed Yae. "After Ei's child is born, maybe I will start thinking about it. I want to move forward in this life too, and the idea of having a child with you makes me feel....very happy."
"Hmmm" Kenshin nodded in understanding. "As you know, I'm still too young to be a father, I would have liked to wait a bit more, and be a little more mature before having a child, but now that we are here, I will do my best. I still don't know how will I react after holding my child in my arms for the first time, but I have no doubt it will also change me. We can think together what we can do after that."
"It sounds like a good plan" Yae mused, slowly falling asleep.
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After a few hours passed, Kenshin softly touched Yae to wake her up.
"Yae, the family is coming now" Kenshin muttered, and Yae's eyes fluttered, revealing her gorgeous pink eyes.
"Nnnnn" as always, Yae needed a bit of time to wake up, but by the time the family was in sight, she was fully awake.
Kenshin and Yae stood up, still hugging each other with an arm around each other's waist, and saw how the still crying Guizhong carried a baby in her arms, approaching them.
Morax had his arm around Guizhong's shoulders, and his face was solemn yet determined.
"Well, who is this little boy?" asked Kenshin poking the baby on the nose and making him scrunch up his face.
"He is Ken" Guizhong replied with a radiant smile and gave them to Kenshin, who cautiously took him in his arms.
"Hmmm" Kenshin looked at the small life in his arms with a pondering expression that hid how happy he was. For both the child and the parents. "I'm not receiving the expected slap."
"Do you think my child would be as bad as you were?" asked Guizhong, taking back Ken when Kenshin realized that Guizhong missed him. "Is....everything okay?" she asked with a bit of nervousness.
They had already taken him to Baizhu, the best doctor in Liyue who was somewhat aware of the Adeptus' identities. But all he knew was that 2 non-humans brought him a baby to be checked, not knowing it was Rex Lapis himself.
He reassured the parents that the baby was perfectly healthy, and that he was surprised by the vitality the child had.
Not a strange thing considering who his parents were.
But Guizhong was worried about what the doctor couldn't check, meaning his soul.
"He's perfectly fine" said Kenshin looking at the baby's soul. "There has been no influence in his soul by my ability or Guizhong's 'crafted' body. His soul is stronger than yours but weaker than Rex Lapis', in the end, the useless Goddess dragged the dragon down."
"He won't need a strong soul" commented Rex Lapis with a soft voice. "The only thing he needs to do is live a life he can be proud of."
Yae took the baby Guizhing offered her, and Kenshin sensed those complicated emotions inside her flourishing again.
Kenshin sighed, looking at the baby curiously looking at the pink-haired woman holding him.
"To think that 19 years ago my journey started, and now it's this little child's turn to start traveling..."