A Samhain I'll Never Forget

"Come on! Let's go!" I yelled.

"You are that human." I whipped my head around and looked at Maldade. Even smaller than I had just seen it, the spell Maldade had just cast must have been to a disadvantage, something that hurt it, and let it kill Centaurs. Maldade was certain I was one. That is why it used that spell, now it was the same height as I was, neither of us was at a size advantage.

"You...killed...him."

"Yes, and it was supposed to kill you too, but you must be human for it to not have worked on you."

"You would be right." I didn't have time to cry, not now, I had to show no weakness, I HAD to finish Maldade off now! I started shooting my arrows at Maldade, one after the other in rapid fire succession. When I was done with those, I charged Maldade raced after me, and we collided in one huge body whumping discordance. We hit each other at such force against one another that we did not move, but it should have killed us both. Maldade and I fought as hard as we both could. Punch for punch, hit for hit, until I drove my last arrow into its eye, and I had such force behind the blow that it went in easily. In anger, I kept hitting, kept going, kept fighting, kept moving. Obviously that was what I was supposed to do because Maldade shrank and then disappeared into nothingness.

I was crouched over the spot, breathless, my chest heaving with my taking in air from what I had just fought. I was half expecting Maldade to come back, and stood rooted to the spot. Then I remembered Starlight. My eyes flooded with tears, I ran as hard and as fast as I could, I wanted to see if he was truly dead. I found his body laying on the ground, a mess, dirtier than it was the night before.

"Get up!" I ordered. Starlight didn't move.

"I SAID GET UP!" I yelled as loud as I possibly could. I turned myself into a human again, not paying attention to anything else but Starlight. I hit him, punched him, and tears started running down my face as I realized the truth. I gathered his upper body in my arms, holding him close to me, crying because that bitch had killed him and I had grown to love him. I wrapped my arms tightly around him. No one was going to take him from me, never. Then there was a swarm of aqua colored light around me. "Noooo!" I yelled, realizing what was happening, I was being taken back to the human realm. I was still in my armor stained with Starlight's blood when I saw Breeze. I ran to her and flung my arms around her. We both cried hard, her for the brother she lost, I for the lover I would never have again. We cried for hours literally, then I said, "I am so pissed off, turn me into a centaur, I need to get rid of this anger, and the safest way is by running it out."

"Someone will see you."

"At this point in time, Breeze, I really don't care. I...need...to...run." I felt the same warm sensation that had passed through my lower half when Starlight and I had tried to fool Maldade into thinking she could kill me. I looked at my lower half, found that my colors were the same as Starlight's. They hadn't been before, what was going on? I didn't have the time to think, I took off and ran as fast and as hard as I could, jumping over branches, rocks, streams, rivers. I was too livid to stop and think. Then I realized I was fully human again, and I looked behind me, Breeze had followed me and for the first time I saw her as a centaur. "I'm sorry, I had to stop you, to slow you down somehow" she said when she saw I was angry with her, "Those are not your colors, you mated with my brother, didn't you?"

"If it's any of your business, yes I did."

"Now wait, don't get mad at me, I want to explain something. Sit, and listen. For a centaur, the greatest thing is to grow up and have a family. They only mate with one other ever. That one was you." I collapsed with the realization, I started crying again.

"So he chose me? Knowing he'd have the possibility of never having a family, he chose me?"

"Yes." Breeze and I sat together again, my head lying on her withers.

~*~

"How are you doing?" I was walking to the doctor's and Breeze was outside cleaning up the leaves from around the front of her store.

"Horrible. Some smells make me gag, others make me throw up, my sinuses are stuffed because I keep sneezing, I need to go to a doctor because herbs aren't helping anymore. How about you?" I replied.

"Better than you." Breeze laughed.

"Meanie. Anyway, I have an appointment in 15 across the street, I'll let you know how it turns out." I walked into the doctor's office, and he drew some blood after I told him my symptoms. I walked out of the doctor's office stunned, and barely remembered how I got into "Ye Olde Things".

"Uhm...I don't know how to tell you. I don't think it's quite set in with me yet. But uh, well."

"Come on...out with it!"

"I'm pregnant, with Starlight's child."

"I thought so."

"Thanks for the warning."

"I'm not a doctor, I wasn't sure. There's two reasons for taking on another's colors, you had sex with them recently, and being pregnant with their child. Since there's two possibilities, and it had been within 48 hours since you had sex, I couldn't tell for sure."

"You thought it was a possibility for THAT long?"

"I said there was no way of knowing for sure."

"True...if anything, all of this has made us closer, but I have to leave soon. Starlight said there's no way either the child or I will survive."

"I'm glad you're out of your suicidal desires."

"I'm feeling better, but also, this child is a reminder for us both, of the one we both love, and since it's only a month and a half later, we both need this."

"I'll come and visit. Until it learns how to change into a human."

"I don't know if I can last that long there...everything would be too much of a bad memory. I'll see." Then I felt a pair of strong arms around my waist. I jumped and hit whoever it was that touched me in such an intimate way. I whirled around and backed away. Then I squealed with delight as I flung my arms around the stranger. Breeze was laughing in the background, my eyes were filled with tears of the most happiness I had ever felt. "Don't you ever die on me again."

"It was meant for me to die, but the elders pulled some strings, they saw that you were the only one I was with, and I was willing to risk not being a father just to have those few hours with you. They also knew you would need someone to help you during your pregnancy, and none of the others would do it, by my being dead, the child was cursed. So with weeks of deliberation they decided for your sake, and the sake of our child, I should be brought back to life."

"I'm glad they did."

~*~

Starlight and Sarah had a beautiful boy, named Osiris, another boy named Firedancer, and a girl named Luna. Breeze visited quite often.