Only peace and tranquility was breathed in the old home of the seer, which at that time was being occupied by two lovers who were sleeping peacefully after the arduous task of conceiving a life. Both rested half-covered embraced in the middle of an improvised nest of fabrics and cushions, ignorant of everything around them, they did not know of the chaos there was in the palace due to their absence, or how worried their relatives were, or the great change that their lives would have.
They slept full of happiness, but like everything in life, that beautiful moment had to come to an end and the first to come out of her comfort bubble was Orchid, who opened her eyes lazily. She felt heavy, but extremely satisfied, as if some longing or very old wish would have finally come true.
A pair of arms wrapped her waist, and in the midst of her drowsiness she limited herself to turning around and hugging the one with whom she was sharing her bed, he between dreams rubbed his face against her neck making a very tender sound.
"I'm in heaven" thought Orchid.
It was so wonderful to be able to receive cuddles from her lover, she loved it. She rubbed her tail against him, obtaining a gentle caress that drew a sigh from him. The best thing would be to calm down, if they continued like this they would end up repeating the previous night...
This was enough to wake her up at once, her eyes widened and she jerked away from from Hollow, who opened his eyes disturbed by the abrupt movement of the mantis.
"Mmm... Good morning Orchid..."
Hollow spoke, that was not a dream, the Lord of Shades turned him into a normal insect and gave him all their characteristics such as voice and reproductive organs and they had made it...
The mantis looked in terror at her tail, which was undoubtedly swollen and showed all the signs of a passionate encounter. Had that happened during her heat? Now that she noticed it, she was no longer surrounded by the typical sweet aroma of that state and she felt her mind clearer, but when the act occurred she was still in her fertile period, it was the same pheromones that made them copulate. Given the circumstances, she must now be pregnant.
Orchid screamed such that Hollow thought he would go deaf, even the shadows that swarmed the graveyard flew to hide in fear.
"Ah... What the hell is wrong Orchid..."
"You... I..." she pointed at him with a trembling claw. "We did it."
"We did it?... Ah! That, yes". A soft blush settled on his face "It was pretty"
"I don't give a shit if it was pretty! We did it during my heat! Hollow I'm pregnant!"
The realization of that reality left him frozen, just what he did not want, what for no reason he wanted was happening now, he was going to be a father
"Uh... are you sure? There is no possibility that..."
"No! This has no exceptions, if you do it during heat you will inevitably get pregnant! Why Hollow? Why did you do this? I didn't want to have children with you!"
This statement hurt him, he did not want children either, but it bothered him that her complaint was only about having them with him, as if he were some kind of disgusting creature.
"You don't have to be like that, I'm sure I can father healthy and beautiful children."
"Crossbreeds Hollow! You and I are of different species! Filthy half-breed ... I'm going to be the mother of those abominations! This can't be happening to me... No no no no! But there must be a solution... Yes... Sure, it's very easy, when the eggs come out I'll break them"
"No!"
Hollow screamed and lunged on Orchid, each of his hands against one of her claws immobilizin under him. She gave him a cold, resentful look. But the mantis did not flinch or let her mind wander in fiery fantasies, now that her heat was over she was able to keep a cool head depending on the situation.
"Don't even think about putting a claw on those eggs."
"Why? They are not bugs, they are just a bunch of protein contained in an oval receptacle, they will not suffer or anything."
"I will suffer to see them broken."
"Do you want to be a father so much?"
"No! I don't want to... but I couldn't bear to see you kill them..."
"They are not alive until they hatch from the egg. And neither you nor I want them, it's easier to get rid of them."
"But they are our responsibility, they are also the fruit of our love..."
"Don't start with that cheesy stuff please, love isn't enough to raise a brood." "he looked away taking a distant attitude.
"And what else do you need? A nest? I can build one in the palace. Food? There are plenty of. Opportunities? They have them all. Anyone who wants to take care of them? I am willing to do it. What does it cost you to let them live? I will raise them alone if necessary."
"But they're Hollow crossbreeds!" Now she yelled angrily.
"And what's wrong with that? My sister is a mixed race and she is one of the coolest people I know, my nebligs are mixed race and they are adorable, there is nothing wrong with them despite their species. Would you also kill them for what they are?"
"They already exist and there is nothing to do about it, but I don't want to be responsible for the birth of new crossbreeds, bugs that if they reproduce could contaminate the species."
Hollow tightened his grip on her in fury at Orchid's words, but she remained stoic without a single whimper.
"If the father of these eggs were a purebred mantis, would you let them live?"
"Of course."
"You're cruel..."
Finally he released the mantis and stepped away from her as if he was touching a filthy and stinking being, tears of rage falling from his face as the mantis did her best to maintain her cold and strong posture.
"You are like my father!" Hollow yelled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You are going to throw away some poor innocent children just because they are useless in your eyes."
"What? Hey, it's not the same Hollow, you and your siblings are different."
"Yes, we had even less right to live, we weren't normal, we were strange things, but these children... What's wrong with them?"
"They are Crossbreeds..." Orchid's wall of coldness was beginning to crack.
"And?"
"They're bad, they're bugs that..."
"They're bugs that... What. They're not necessarily weak, they're not necessarily evil, sick, or harmful. What's the problem? What bad thing have you seen in them?"
"I... Nothing... But it's what they always told me to believe" Orchid's convictions collapsed, she lowered her head with such an attitude of pity that even in his anger, Hollow was moved. "They always told me that I should look for a powerful mantis to have my children, that it was preferable not to have babies before not fulfilling that mandate, that it would be a shame and a disgrace if I did not do it, and now... Now..."
She clenched her fists and hit the ground, she was not going to cry, now she was able to contain herself, but the desire was not lacking.
"I have dishonored them, I failed, I did what I should never do, I have sinned, I am a garbage, I..." She couldn't go on because Hollow's embrace interrupted her. The knight held her close to his body and rubbed her back tenderly.
"Orchid... You have not done anything wrong, they are wrong, there is nothing wrong in bringing a crossbreed into the world and the boy or girl can be happy regardless of their species."
"But..."
"Also think about this, the Lord of the Shades turned me into a real bug to be able to be with you, he himself told me that I was your gift. If you take this into account, we can say that he agrees with our union and if a god blesses us, what does it matter what mortals say?"
Faced with such an argument, Orchid had no way to reply, she limited herself to burying her head in Hollow's neck and hugging him.
................................................
In the end, the improvised clothes that Orchid had made turned out to be useful, with the time that had passed, the order to arrest Orchid had already spread throughout the kingdom and if they wanted to get to the castle safely, hiding the mantis was necessary.
So she dressed in that improvised disguise, Orchid pretended to be a grasshopper and together with the knight they arrived at the door of the palace. At that point her identity could no longer be hidden, because although she was escorted by the captain of the royal guard, for security reasons it was necessary to keep a record of everyone who entered the site.
When the mantis took off her hood and revealed who she was, the guards approached Hollow with a questioning attitude, they had orders to eliminate her, but it was clear that the knight would not allow anyone to put a finger on her and everyone knew of his strength, so no one wanted to face him if they could avoid it.
"I will take responsibility for the life of this mantis." Both guards were surprised to hear Hollow's voice. "I will take her to her room and go talk to the king. Woe to you if you do something to her while I'm gone."
This last statement was accompanied by such a threatening tone that the bug shuddered and obediently nodded, letting them pass.
Hollow left Orchid in his room, which fortunately they had not yet evicted, the few belongings of its occupant were still there, the lord's crown, the royal mantle, her spear and the tik tik plushie.
As soon as the lady entered she took her toy and hugged it, then sat on the bed and gave a pleading look to the knight, who approached to caress her face seeking to provide calm.
"Don't worry Orchid, I'll fix this mess, you'll see that everything will be fine, Big will come to his senses and we will have the same peaceful life as before, I promise you, just trust me."
"Not that I have a choice," Orchid wailed. "Escaping is no longer an option for me, I could not survive the pregnancy alone."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you later, now go with your brother."
When Hollow came out he found a couple of guards at the door, they did not seem to have intention of entering the room to take the mantis, but he gave them one last warning glance, whoever dared to touch his lady would pay dearly.
After a few minutes of walking he reached the office of his brother, at that time he would undoubtedly be there doing paperwork and reading reports. A terrible nervousness seized him, sure that Big would be angry for having scaped from the punishment, he would also be furious when he found out that he had spared the mantis, maybe things would get worse when he told him she was pregnant, now he was dying of fear, but he bite the bullet and knocked on the door.
As soon as he heard a "come on" he opened the door only to find that Big was not alone, Hornet was there with him, it almost made him want to run away at that moment, especially with the penetrating gaze they both gave him.
"Hollow..." Big growled.
"Eh... Hi...."
Then a small pause followed, neither of them knew what to say to the surprise of hearing his voice.
"Ho-Hollow, are you... Are you talking!?" Hornet exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yes, well, these last hours have been very crazy..."
"So what Green said about the Lord of Shade's miracle is true."
Big stood up and walked over to his brother to examine him closely.
"Now you are a normal bug, not a shadow..." he opened Hollow's cloak revealing his black skin. "Your body has changed." He brushed his hand over Hollow's belly and he immediately squealed and pulled away from him.
"D-don't do that, I still haven't gotten used to it and... it feels weird."
"You're a normal bug now," Big repeated. "And as such..." A sinister smile crossed his face. "You're ticklish."
As soon as he guessed the King's intentions he tried to escape but Big was too fast and too close to him, he grabbed him and rubbed his belly making him laugh uncontrollably.
"Hahahahaha, Noooo, hahahahaha, Big please! hahahaha. Stop! Hahahahahaha."
"You need an exemplary punishment, don't go out again when you're punished, besides, you didn't tell anyone where you were going, you don't know how worried I was for you."
Hollow's punishment lasted a few moments longer until Hornet herself decided to put an end to this.
"Stop! Behave like the adults that you are! And have some dignity please. Big, you are the king, you cannot do this silly things! The same goes for you Hollow, you are the captain of the royal guard."
"The door is closed, no one has to know." Big finally released his brother and let him breathe easy. Hollow between gasps tried regain composure.
"Ah... I'm... Sorry.... Ah.... I didn't mean to.... Ah.... Worry you.... Ah...."
"Anyway, since Big took it upon himself to teach you a lesson, I'll let it slide. Now I would like you to explain to me, how are you talking? Green and Lumis said something about a Lord of shade's miracle."
"That was what happened. I fell asleep and dreamed of our lord, he said he was going to grant a miracle and when I woke up, it was normal, my shell is now naturally hard, my head is attached to my body, I can speak like everyone else and I have a penis. A penis, Hornet!"
"Yeah yeah, I get it," Hornet looked embarrassed. "Do not repeat it so much, normal people do not go through life talking about his penis, those are private things."
"Ah... Okay."
"Ah... what am I going to do now..."
The spider queen covered her face and began pacing the room making it clear that she was worried.
"Suddenly my brother turns into a normal bug and he has no idea how to be one, and with his little common sense surely he causes a disaster... Why lord of the shades! Why!"
A chill ran down the spider's back and when she turned to look she found a painting that was hanging in the office, in which the lord of the shades was represented in all his splendor. Normally that painting showed the deity as someone terrifying, but she swore she saw an expression of amusement in his eight eyes. She shook her head trying to convince herself that they were just her ideas and then turn to her brother again.
"Look Hollow, this transformation is something very important and many things will change for you, from the fact that now you will have to take care of your diet more, until your way of relating to others will be different. Now you could get sick if you are not careful, You must be aware of the needs of your body and be responsible with it, in addition to that... Oh no."
Hornet again put her hands to her face as she paced the room.
"No no no no."
"What's up Hornet?" Big asked worried.
"I was prepared to discuss sexual responsibility with my children one day but not with Hollow."
"Sexual responsibility?" Hollow repeated nervously.
"Sure, there are a few things you should know before you even think about having a girlfriend, Hollow, at least these days please stay away from any female."
"W-why do you say that..."
"I's nothing so terrible either, but I don't want you to accidentally get some girl pregnant."
"Accidentally pregnant... Uh... Uh... Hornet, I think there are a couple of things you should know..."
Something in the tone of her brother's voice triggered Hornet's alerts. Her eyes grew so cold that a chill ran down the knight's spine.
"What did you do, Hollow?"
"Uh... It wasn't my fault... Well, more or less, but it was an accident, we couldn't help it, the pheromones were very strong."
"Hollow... Don't tell me... Who did you do it with!"
"O-Orchid..."
"Not 24 hours Hollow! You haven't been normal for 24 hours and you've already got a female pregnant !! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
That seemed like a figurative statement, but in reality it was more literal than expected. Hornet drew her needle and immediately attacked her brother, who, as he could, blocked the attack and then tried to escape from her.
"Please Hornet! We can talk about it!"
"Talk to my needle!"
"Are you trying to leave a brood fatherless?"
"No, I'm just trying to beat you up so you can think twice about having another one."
The chase lasted a few minutes, in which Hornet managed to land some blows, but not enough to feel satisfied, she was furious that Hollow had been so irresponsible. She planned her own family with such care and this stupid had them accidentally.
The uproar they made threatened to destroy the integrity of Big's office, so Big decided to put an end to the whole conflict, he waited for the right moment and caught the spider queen, raised her to a certain height and let her squirm until she get tired and was willing to speak civilly.
"Let me go Big! I still don't hit him enough!"
"You'll hit him later, now we have other business to discuss."
"Hey!" Hollow complained.
"If you got Orchid pregnant, that means you managed to find her. Where is she?"
Nervousness invaded Hollow, but he remained firm and determined.
"Before speaking of that I want to make it clear that Orchid is willing to keep our secret. Alone gave her a book where the entire history of the kingdom was narrated and thanks to that she now understands us and is willing to accept us even if we are shadows, therefore it is no longer necessary to eliminate her."
"Are you willing to trust her Hollow?" His sister asked.
"She promised that she wouldn't say anything and I believe her."
"And where is she?" Big asked again.
"But you won't hurt her, will you?"
"Tell me where she is."
"She really wants to cooperate."
"Hollow."
The knight pressed the hilt of his nail, if Big intended to harm his mate, he would not hesitate to fight him, he did not care if he was his brother or his king.
"Now she is in her room, the same one that she has used since she arrived".
As soon as he answered the question, Big left his sister on the floor and practically teleported out of his office to go to Orchid's room, meanwhile Hollow came out like an arrow in search of him. Who would reach the mantis first?
Orchid meanwhile was in her room playing with her stuffed animal trying to distract herself, the wait seemed eternal and the uncertainty was overwhelming. She had to trust Hollow, but it was difficult for her to do so, the situation was extremely delicate, there was the possibility that They did not believe her and simply considered that the best thing was to eliminate her, still pregnant, at least she had the consolation that if they killed her she would not have to witness the birth of her crossbreeds, that matter was very bad for her.
She sighed and lay down on the bed to look at the ceiling. How long would their reunion take? Were they fighting or something? she wish they were over soon, she was getting hungry.
Suddenly the door of her room was opened with a loud noise eliciting a small cry of fear, as she laid her eyes on the entrance she saw the King of Hallownest standing up to the full extent of him and with a fierce expression on his face.
The thought that they were going to assassinate her invaded Orchid's reasoning, the king was a superior and immortal force that she could not fight against, she would die at that precise moment. But if that was the way things were, she would face her fate with aplomb. She sat proudly, her face hardened without showing an iota of emotion, closed her eyes and resigned herself.
But instead of a deadly thrust that would end her life, what she received from him was a hug.
"Thank you Orchid, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Eh what? No... Weren't you going to kill me?"
"Why I would do tat? You already promised that you would not tell our secret and I believe you, besides, you are pregnant, it would be a crime to murder a pregnant female."
At that moment Hollow came scared to death with his heart jumping in his chest with such force that he already felt it in his throat, and when he saw his mate safely in his brother's arms, he fell to his knees and sighed in relief. He expected to find a bloody scene worthy of a horror movie, but everything was fine, Orchid was still alive and Big had accepted her, he could now breathe easy and allow himself the luxury of being angry.
"Big! Why didn't you tell me that you had forgiven her and that you just wanted to hug her! You don't know how worried you had me!"
"You deserve it," Big growled, letting go the female. "You have behaved very badly, you skipped your punishment, you didn't tell anyone where you were going and you irresponsibly got Orchid pregnant."
"Please, you have punished me enough, I'm sorry, I know what I did was wrong but stop now". He stood up and walked toward the king.
"Okay Hollow, you're already forgiven, I couldn't be mad at you, not after the precious gift you've given me."
"Gift?"
Big again wrapped Orchid in a hug, but this time he included Hollow.
"Yes, a gift, the most wonderful you could give me, now Hallownest Heart will finally have an official heir."
"Whaaaaaaat?!" Screeched Orchid.