System Change

It was the middle of the night when Derek felt his communication crystal buzzing from within his storage bracelet. He wasn’t out cold, so it had woken him up easily. With a frown on his face, Derek flicked his wrist, and the red crystal appeared in his hand.

‘Derek!’ Jacks’s voice sounded from the other end.

‘Jacks?’ Derek asked. ‘What’s up? Do you need something? Is Rayna okay?’ he rattled off a few questions.

‘No, she’s not… well… yes, she’s okay… but…’ the man obviously was having a hard time gathering his thoughts because they were basically coming through as stutters even though the communication was based on thoughts instead of spoken word.

‘Slow down,’ Derek said.

‘It’s happening!’ Jacks finally said.

‘She’s having the baby?’ Derek asked. He knew exactly what Jacks was trying to say now.

‘Yes!’ Jacks answered.

‘We’ll be right over!’ Derek sent back, and as soon as he did, Jacks cut off the communication.

Derek jumped out of bed and, with another flick of his wrist, stored the crystal and equipped his clothes all at the same time. Then he ran out his door and into the hallway, directly to Malorie’s room. He hesitated. He wanted to just barge in and shake her awake, but he instead chose the less intrusive option, albeit still pretty forceful.He curled his fist and pounded on the door just light enough to not send it flying off its hinges. His hope was that Malorie hadn’t activated the sound dampening runes before she went to sleep. If she didn’t answer, that meant she did. And his next plan was to pull out his communication crystal again, and if that didn’t work, he’d break down the door and rush inside.

Luckily, it didn’t come to that. Instead, a bedraggled Malorie opened the door quickly and looked up at Derek with wide eyes. She looked slightly afraid.

“What is it? What’s wrong? Is Brandi okay?” she asked in quick succession.

Derek almost laughed because it was almost the same reaction that he’d given Jacks. “Brandi’s fine… probably,” Derek said. “It’s Rayna. She’s having the baby. Jacks just contacted me.”

“She is?” Malorie’s face changed from that of hesitation and wariness to one of shock and joy. The next instant, the woman was wearing her usual business clothes and pushed Derek to the side as she rushed out of her room. “We have to hurry!”

With a half-grin, Derek watched as Malorie frantically ran up and down the halls, waking everyone up. Everyone just so happened to only be Rudy. Derek wasn’t sure, but Bones didn’t seem like he slept much—even though he had a room in the main building, and one in the other building that was made for any employees. It was the one where Ogre slept for the most part.

However, as Malorie was rushing back and forth, Bones appeared out of nowhere and crept up beside Derek. He was wearing his formal butler attire, as always. Derek wondered if he ever took it off. The skinny man seemed to like the look—either that, or he took his job way too seriously… or both.

“The baby is on the way,” Derek said before Bones could say anything.

“I see,” Bones replied. “I will stay and keep watch of your shop.”

“You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Derek asked. “You and Ogre are part of the family now. I’m sure Rayna and Jacks would like to have you there.” 𝘙АꞐ𝔬ʙΕs̈

“We will visit the little one once everything calms down,” Bones replied.

“She’s having the baby?” the sleepy-eyed Rudy asked as he approached Derek and Bones with a yawn.

“Sure is,” Derek said.

“Finally,” Rudy said. “I was starting to think it was never going to happen. Are we sure that she’s only having the one?”

“Huh…” Derek furrowed his brow. “I… actually didn’t think about that. Would that make the birth more difficult and dangerous?” he asked. That question drew a frown from both Rudy and Bones, and normally, Bones was very passive and emotionless. “What?” Derek asked. “Did I say something weird?”

“Why would the birth be difficult and dangerous?” Rudy asked. “Rayna is not in a village anymore, and she is friends with an amazing alchemist in Roman. If she’s currently in labor, I will be surprised if she has not already had the child… or children, by the time we get there.”

“Oh…” Derek muttered. He was still thinking of birth back on Earth before the system came. It was much safer than it had been many years ago, but tragedies still happened. It also wasn’t the safest thing even after the system came… at least for a while. He wasn’t sure now. But, of course, it would be different in such a magical place with a system that had been around for ages. “And it’s not dangerous for the child, either?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Of course not…” Rudy said.

“Then why did Jacks sound so panicked?” Derek asked.

“Uh… because he’s having a child?” Rudy answered. “Isn’t it natural to be anxious for such a thing? Becoming a parent is a big deal… so I’ve heard.”

“I see…” Derek felt a little silly. The whole time, he was mostly nervous about the safety of Rayna and the baby. It seemed that he was worried over nothing. Though, she did talk about how she was basically debuffed because she was carrying a child, and that it was very draining. I guess I shouldn’t feel too silly. Now, his nervousness had changed into excitement.

“Derek! Rudy! Bones! Let’s go!” Malorie called from the bottom of the stairs.

“When did she get down there?” Derek asked, but Rudy shrugged while Bones stayed quiet.

Derek chuckled. “Let’s go,” he said, and they ventured down the stairs. Once in the shop’s lobby, he took note of everyone who was there. Malorie was standing beside a relatively clean Brandi, and Silvi was sitting on the top of the girl’s shoulder.

Since everyone was there, Bones walked to the front and held the door open for everyone. Then everyone left while the butler stayed behind—even though Malorie tried her best to get him to go.

Once out, it was all Derek could do not to race over to Rayna’s residence. He was so much faster than everyone other than Silvi, but, because he didn’t want to be rude, he kept pace with everyone instead… everyone except for Silvi.

Derek looked at Brandi’s shoulder, and Silvi could no longer be found. He snorted and shook his head. The bunny had gathered and waited with everyone. Then, as soon as they were outside, she took off by herself. Most likely, she was already at their house. What was the point of her even waiting for everyone?

Still, he couldn’t blame his companion. Ever since Rayna had called her ‘aunt Silvi,’ the little chef had been even more excited for the baby to come than almost anyone. Hell, she may have even had the right idea. At the pace they were going, which was fast, but not fast. Perhaps only Silvi would make it in time. A couple of times, Derek even thought about picking the other three up and carrying them before deciding against it.

However, they still made good time and found themselves standing at the front door minutes later. With no preamble, Derek opened the door and walked in, with everyone behind him. When they entered, they found Silvi waiting patiently in front of a door down one of the hallways. The little bunny was just sitting silently in the floor, starting up at the door nob.

“Did we make it in time?” Derek asked.

Silvi tilted her head and looked over at Derek. “Jacks is inside, about to deliver niece or nephew,” she said.

“Jacks… is going to deliver the baby?” Derek also tilted his head, though, his was in confusion. He really should have asked around about how that stuff worked. Was there no midwife or doctor or anyone? With a shrug, Derek turned and sat in the living room to wait, and the other followed—except for Silvi. She stayed at the door.

Derek listened intently, but really didn’t hear anything. It was all very quiet. Rayna wasn’t screaming or anything… there was no shouting, it was just… silent. That was until he heard the cry—one of a newborn. Then he heard another cry and smiled. It seemed that his guess was correct. Rayna and Jacks just had twins. I knew she looked a little bigger than normal for someone at that term in their pregnancy.

When he had first gotten back and seen Rayna and her belly, he would have guessed that she was later in her pregnancy than she actually was. And this held true the entire time. He never actually asked how long until she was due—well… he really never asked much at all about it, which is why he felt a bit silly and ignorant of everything.

As he was thinking these things, he heard the sound of a doorknob turning and quickly stood up. He moved over to where he could see the hallway and watched as… a perfectly fine looking Rayna, who looked almost the same as she had the day they’d met—other than her clothes, which were much better—walked out holding a baby in each arm.

Then, trailing so close behind her that they were almost touching, and wearing a giddy smile on his face, Jacks walked out. He was so distracted by his children that he almost didn’t even sense it when a small weight appeared on his head. Silvi had hopped up on top of the man to get a better view.

“So small!” her voice chimed from her crystal. “A bit ugly… looks like potato… but has thumbs… will do good.” Her head then tilted, and she said, “Two potatoes!”

Derek chuckled at the lack of a filter that Silvi had, then waited for Rayna to finish bringing them into the living room. When they got there, he finally got a good look at them. Silvi… wasn’t wrong. They did have a slight resemblance to potatoes, but didn’t most babies until they were a little older? Of course, Derek wasn’t going to say that.

“But they are my potatoes,” Rayna said with a giggle.

“Our potatoes,” Jacks said from behind just as the front door slammed open and Jake, Jack’s son, came rushing inside.

“Am I too late? Did I miss it?” He slowed when he saw Rayna, then his father standing behind her. He ran up close, then hesitated. “Two!” he shouted excitedly.

“No, you didn’t miss anything. We just came out, and yes, there are two,” Rayna said. “Now, everyone sit down before you upset them.” As the mom, she held all the power in their current situation, so Derek was the first to find his way to one of the chairs, and soon, so did everyone else.

“It was quite the surprise,” Jacks said. He had taken a seat next to Rayna on a couch. “I certainly didn’t expect there to be twins.”

“I knew,” Rayna said. “I could feel them. But I didn’t say anything. The look on your face in there was priceless.” The woman laughed.

“You knew?” Jacks looked appalled at his wife.

“Of course I knew,” Rayna said.

“We guessed!” Rudy said.

“And how did you guess?” Rayna looked at Rudy and raised her brow.

“Uh… well… you…” He started motion out to his side with his hands, but stopped before he got himself in trouble. “It was just a guess.”

“I see,” Rayna said with squinted eyes, then laughed again. “It’s fine. I’m just messing with you. Nothing could make me angry today.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” Rudy started.

“Don’t push it,” Malorie said, and the man shut up. Then she looked back over to Rayna. “Two boys?” she asked.

“No.” Rayna shook her head. “A boy.” She rocked the baby in her right arm to show which one she was speaking about. “And a girl.” She did the same to the one in her left arm. “Now, Derek,” she said.

“Huh? Yes?” he asked, breaking out of the slight daze he’d found himself in while staring at the newborns.

“Come over here,” she said.

Not knowing what she wanted, but not daring to disobey, Derek stood and walked over to Rayna and the babies. Once there, she raised the boy up a bit in her arm and said, “Derek, meet Hunter.”