Ice-cold but safe

Arc 3 chapter 20

Hellooo, a shorter chapter but more will come don't ya worry!

Happy readings! :D

Warning!: angst, sex change, mythical creature, ship children, 

Enjoy!

"Dev?" Kier's voice shook. Dev leaned closer and nudged his head against Kier. "Dev, you're bleeding," Kier said as blood dripped and slid down Dev's throat.

"I'm not leaving you. And I'm not leaving our eggs." Dev's voice was inspiring, and Kier felt bad for leaving them all. He was ready to die. Give up. But Dev didn't. He was stronger. Dev still wanted to fight.

Dev let go of the human and turned to the queen. His anger toward her was still strong and he was not ready to end their fight yet. He wanted to win. He had to. He wanted to protect his family. And she was weak. She had become weak over the years and a new alpha had to take charge. A new queen. A new king.

Dev growled threateningly at her and she understood that he was not done fighting.

Her own blood had made her almost blind, but she could still fight.

A bigger crowd than before surrounded them in a ring. There was no escape.

Qndres was there too. He placed himself right next to Kier. He would always protect his own.

Even Dev's brother who wasn't allowed was here. Dev's mother too. Other family and friends were here. His pack and most other packs were here.

Dev couldn't tell who the crowd wanted to win. Their queen was their everything. She gave them a safe and secret place to lay eggs, but they didn't like many of her rules. She was selfish and rude. They wanted someone new, but they didn't want a king. A king wouldn't understand the females, as well as a queen would.

The fight didn't take long. The old queen was too weak, and the young male took over. 

Dev quickly got the upper hand while blood slid into the queen's eyes. She was blind and that was the reason for her defeat.

Dev wouldn't have liked the idea of killing her, but he did. He couldn't stop himself when memories of her crushing his eggs flashed before him.

"I am your new ruler," Dev spoke with his light not to kill the eggs. "I am your new king and queen. New rules will be made, and I will do my best to make us thrive as we once had before."

The queen's body lay in a puddle of blood in front of him.

The crowd blinked happily back at him. They wished him luck. They greeted him as their new king and queen. Many asked how he could be both and he simply answered them.

He told them about Kier. How they met and how he meant everything to him.

He told them how his body had changed. How his genes were broken, making them able to have offspring.

They liked him. He was a queen in their eyes. He could understand the females. He knew what they needed.

They needed their partner when they laid eggs. Dev knew that. He had wanted Kier to be by his side.

There was only a month left... In a month their eggs would hatch.

Dev was right when he allowed males to follow their partners inside the cave. The females had needed it.

They became less careless, and the deaths of females dropped. The new parents were happy. They were a family.

The cave quickly got more crowded when males were allowed to come in too. 

Dev had told them to stay in the waterways as much as possible. On land, they could easily accidentally crush a whole nest. 

There was more chaos than before, but the families felt safer.

Now the females were allowed to stay here too. The males were advised to come and go with food or just to be supportive. But they could be here if they wanted to. All of them.

Kier was forced by Dev to stay out of the ocean. Kier's body bled and he hadn't even been in a fight. The rocks were too harsh on him.

Kier stood, sat, or lay on a beach where the sun and water were like medicine to his sore body.

Kier wanted to be by their eggs, but Dev couldn't let Kier stay in pitch darkness for two months. Kier could barely even see his own wounds.

Kier had found out why their eggs had glowed while others hadn't. Dev told him why. It was because their eggs had felt safe. When they feel safe, they glow. The other nests' eggs weren't feeling safe. They felt at risk and not to lead predators to them they stopped glowing.

Dev had said the reason for the eggs not feeling safe could be the change of temperature, noise, and when they can't feel their parents' presence.

When they glow, they tell their parents they are feeling good. That they are healthy. If an egg didn't glow but everyone else did... It could mean it was sick or dead. 

Their glow was to tell their parents they shouldn't get rid of them.

Because if an egg is dead it could lead to sickness. And the parents would take the sick or dead egg away from the others leaving the sick egg to die.

After the parents were allowed in the cave after the eggs were laid, even more light came. Eggs and parents shined bright and healthy.

It was a true wonder. Kier couldn't explain the beauty.

Kier was of course brought back to the cave from time to time.

Days went. Days became weeks. Kier was alone in the nest with their eggs when one of the eggs moved. It made a cracking sound and Kier shot up.

More eggs began to move, and Kier had no idea what to do. He wanted to help them hatch.

He had once heard though that you shouldn't help eggs hatch.

Kier smiled brightly and wanted to call for Dev. Dev was getting them fish. He would soon be back.

A small black creature popped out of one of the eggs. Kier reached for the small body.

It was his child. The little life. It was living. It was healthy.

Kier picked it up and studied it. It didn't have legs but a tail like Dev. It would be living in water then, Kier thought.

Kier had a hard time seeing in the dark. It was hard to see what his children looked like.

The small child screeched quietly. Kier couldn't help but smile. It looked so much like Dev. But Kier noticed something that reminded him of a human. Its upper half wasn't scales. It was skin. Human skin.

The hands were webbed but had no talons.

It only had three fins. One was located on its back. It reminded Kier of Dev's fin. It was torn but this little one was fine. The two others were located on both sides of its fish body.

Dev had more fins. More on each side. One on his back too but also under his tail.

"You are beautiful," Kier said as he held the small creature right in front of his face.

It screeched again but still not too loud. 

Two others hatched right after the first. At that moment Kier realized they had indeed fifteen eggs. There were a lot of children. And they were all coming now.

Kier looked for gills on their small bodies and found some in the same place as Dev's. I guess Dev had been the most dominant, Kier thought as he studied his children. But there was definitely still something human in them.

Dev will be so proud and happy Kier thought and smiled at the thought. He felt whole. He felt warm and nothing could take that away from him.

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