"Why…"
Lucian could feel it — his body merging with Shakira's unborn offspring. He truly only wanted to protect it, become its shell from those who wish to harm it. But he could feel…
…he could feel whatever life the offspring had fading away with each second.
And so, with each of those passing seconds, Lucian was putting more and more of his own life into it to prevent it from completely withering — he was giving his newfound life to the offspring, that was the decision he made.
It was his promise to Shakira, to protect her unborn child… but it would seem that even that, he was not being allowed to do.
Lucian was no longer keeping the offspring alive; the unborn child would forever just become that — unborn. And instead, with no wish of his own…
…he was replacing it.
The only thing he could really do now was once again apologize in his mind — that has been the only thing he could actually do the past few days — apologize. None of his promises, kept. He is weak, too weak to keep anything; no promises, no friends, no family.
Seconds. Hours. Days — he seemed to have all the time in the world to wallow in regret. And yet, even with Shakira's body already cold and lifeless, it still felt completely warm inside of her. Lucian had not actually had any time to sleep at all during his time as a sentient sperm… because he did not have the ability to sleep in the first place.
But now, as he seemed to have finally completely merged with Shakira's baby, he felt a certain rush of comfort he had not felt in a million years shower over him — and then, very slowly, the god of dreams gently patted him on the head.
"Kuk!"
But alas, this comfort was short-lived as Lucian found himself suddenly covering the large ears on top of his head that he inherited from Eduardo as a loud bang echoed inside the egg that was previously his napkin body.
And for the first time, Lucian actually opened his eyes in this new world — and the very first thing he sees is the two large eyes of a mutated butterfly, as well as its razor-sharp pincers.
"I am so fucking hungry!" — were Lucian's very first words in the new world. And without even hesitating or being intimidated by the large butterfly, Lucian stretched his tiny hand toward its pincer. He was going to pull himself up, but the part where he was grabbing the razor-sharp pincer just shattered, causing his tiny body that was about to emerge from the shell to just once again fall into it.
The butterfly tilted its head in confusion as to what just happened before starting to flap its wings — it was a scavenger, after all; it had no business trying to devour the living. But alas, as soon as its legs left the ground, several black tendrils suddenly shot out from Shakira's opened belly and started wrapping around him, completely preventing it from flying away.
And then, very slowly, Lucian finally revealed himself.
The black tendrils were his hair; already full and exaggeratingly long even though he was born just moments ago — and perhaps they weren't strands of hair at all, as they seem to hold the same consistency as the ooze from his previous sperm body.
No. It wasn't just his hair — his entire body was actually still pretty much as gooey and gel-like as before, but it now had an actual solid shape and color that it was trying to retain. But of course, Lucian couldn't care less about his new appearance and just wanted to eat something…
…and fortunately for Lucian and sadly for the mutated butterfly, it presented itself as the food.
But as a matter of course, the butterfly was not just going to give itself up for the sudden predator it found itself suddenly latched on to. It flapped its wings once more, this time even with more force which caused all the dust collected by the murky concrete glade to be blown away.
"Woah!" Lucian let out a small squeak as he felt himself being forcefully whipped out of Shakira's belly; the large rat-like ears sitting above his head, almost scooping all of the wind blowing onto him, "Why are you flying? Why are you flying!?"
The composition of Lucian's body was almost pretty much still the same, allowing him to control it expertly as he controlled his hair to tighten its grip on the butterfly — he truly only wanted to pull it down…
…but his hair just completely crushed the poor butterfly and separated it into tiny pieces almost instantly.
"Ouch," Lucian then monotonously exclaimed as he unexpectedly dropped to the ground along with the butterfly's bits and pieces. And for a moment, he just lay there; finally getting the chance to look at the world beyond the sewer — the sun, reflecting on his new body.
He did not stop to appreciate the sky for long, however, as he started consuming the parts of the butterfly while still lying on the ground; using his hair to get them and just feeding all of it directly in his mouth… which almost seemed like a black hole with the way it would just absorb the butterfly's flesh instantly.
"Omp."
His entire body was essentially still all goo and ooze; he didn't have an actual stomach at all, but rather, his entire body was digesting the food and absorbing it along with the radiation it contained.
It did not take long at all for Lucian to consume all of the butterfly that was probably 10x his size, even its wings. Lucian, however, was still completely hungry for some reason.
"Ugh…" He then finally sat up, not satisfied at all with his meal, "...I bet there's more food out up there."
Lucian stood up and looked at the opening above the sewers. But after looking at it for a few seconds, he just once again looked away and started slithering toward Shakira's corpse.
"I… suppose you could be considered my mother now, Shakira," Lucian then crouched beside Shakira and very gently held her forehead, while touching his own face, "...My face is human, and the only thing I got from you is this."
Lucian then lightly whipped his snake-like lower body.
"I… turned your son into a monster," Lucian whispered as he looked at his hand and stabbed it with his other hand, which just went through it like it was jelly… which his hand almost essentially was, "Oh, well. That's life."
Lucian then let out a long and very deep sigh as he then very gently lifted Shakira's corpse using his hair; his body was still quite small, perhaps he could even be compared to the size of a small mouse — one that could fit in an average human hand.
"This time, let me be the one to carry you, Shakira," Lucian whispered into her ear, "I know what did this to you — that, for sure, I can't mistake for I've seen several before — it's a god. And I would have you know…
…that I've also killed several before. I couldn't protect you and your child… so at least let me avenge you."
Lucian closed his eyes as he retrieved the napkin, his previous body, from Shakira's opened belly and covered her with it.
"But for now, Mother…" Lucian glanced at the outside world one last time before walking deeper into the sewer,
"…let's go home."