Ginny Iterum was of child.

It had been a week. 

How such an occurrence was possible was unknown to her, untouched by her husband and never fully dirtied by the ringleader. But life shifted inside of her, indifferent to logic and reason. Blessing or curse, she was undeniably laden. Thankfully she had not grown a prominent stomach, and the group had failed to grasp the full extent of her situation.

She tried to rid her mind of this troubling occurrence by fishing for the group, watched at a safe distance at all times. 



There was rarely a private moment in her life. And even in times of true solitude, still, she was blessed with Laetitia's invisible presence. 

Day in, day out, the patient goddess oversaw her lost child, indifferent or unaware of her brethren's dissent. The goddesses whisked and rumbled over the chaos born of her plan, but their noise had never reached her ears. 



And even still, never once had Ginny lost hope, showing a strange awareness of  the goddess' presence that Laetitia had not anticipated. She had not felt betrayed by the Goddesses and waited patiently for their judgement to come to a close - and with it, her imprisonment. 



And in another week, such an end was to be reached. 

She was guided through childbirth by the alert physician, the only other member awake at the late hour. He did not question the absurdity of the situation, and simply carried out his job. 



Ginny found the kindness in his face necessary to fight the rolling pains. She briefly wondered what type of man he had been before the fall.



When she held the first child in her arms, she was content, but knew that not all was right. "Twins?" she briefly considered. The oldest was swaddled and laid to the side, oddly quiet but healthy nonetheless. 



Twins, indeed. The physician led her to a remote bank to continue her birth. He did not want possible crying to wake up the rest of the crew. The last shreds of the moon in morning glow trailed Ginny's footsteps, unwilling to abandon her.  

And then the triplets followed. The physician raised an eyebrow. Quadruplicates? Was there even a medical term for a count past five? Children unnaturally gushed from her legs. Laetitia watched in silent pride, having never witnessed a human birth since the beginnings of man.



The doctor, on the other hand, stepped backwards in silent horror. This was not normal. Though he tried to maintain his composure, sweat cascaded down his brow. 



"Pierce?" he yelled into the the bleak, scooping up a child as if for physical evidence. Ginny yelped and tried to reach out to grab his arm, but physical weakness bowled her over. She could barely prop herself up on her arms. The world's frame bucked as Ginny's eyes filled with black.



The trees quivered with anticipation. 

---

"Twelve."

Ginny's eyelashes fluttered softly in a hot breeze. 

"Twelve children."




She was pulling herself up now, and the ground was giving way. Sand? It was too hard to be so, but it had a strange consistently. If she had been far from her home before, this might of well had been a separate planet. 

"So which one of you was it?"



Pierce rounded the circle, suspiciously eyeing each of his men. Ginny wondered how far she had been dragged.

"Which one of you bastards slept with her?" 

He pulled a single child up by the arm. Ginny yelled and bolted from her position on the ground, but was swept from her feet by Pierce's well placed shove. He continued speaking as if she wasn't there. 

"You know what? I don't think that I even want an answer. When we stole this woman, I just wanted to prove that I could. But not with the price of a damn family."

"So let's leave her," a grunt grumbled.

"Agreed," another chipped in.

For the first time, Pierce turned to look at Ginny, who had finally wobbled to her feet. She cowered under his smoldering glare.





"Sounds ideal to me."

Pierce dropped the baby into her arms, sparing no words. He motioned to his group with a flick of the wrist. As if herd animals, they suddenly darted for the hills, Pierce hot on their heels. Even if Ginny had wanted to follow them, she could have not have matched their speed nor balanced all of her children. It was over before she knew it.

She wanted to reflect on her new found freedom, but she had the concern of her children to deal with. But when she turned around to count her children once more, they were gone. 

In place were eleven beautiful women. 

---

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