(Five months later)
(A/N: Big time skip, but the story is basically coming to an end, and I'd rather this than constant one-month time skips that will tell the same thing. And the remaining chapters will be shorter and also be long time-skips. There'll probably be three more chapters at best, and then it'll be the end and on to a new fic if I decide to do one, which I most likely will. Also, say what you will when you read towards the middle and end of this chapter, but that's what I wanted to write, so I wrote it.)
A constant tapping noise could be heard from the tile floor of the hall, like a jackhammer. Outside the clinic's delivery room, Artoria was sitting in a chair, her leg moving up and down. The tile below her foot had small cracks that spread out. Her hands were clasped, and her eyes were closed. She was so focused and distracted that she didn't even notice she wasn't breathing, not that she needed to.
The only ones in the delivery room were midwives, nurses, and other medical personnel. Artoria wanted to be in the room, but with so many children Shuna would have to deliver, the room was already a bit full of medical personnel. But what really convinced her was Shuna telling her to leave, which was all that was needed.
And now, she was out in the hall waiting for the news she wanted to hear.
It all happened so suddenly.
(A few hours ago)
"Okay, so construction of the railroad to Lubellious is going as planned. The North is giving us all the rights as a way to repay their debts. The South is all but a failed state in name. Their king is barely hanging on to power and that's only because of support from the Western States. Our domestic rail network is finished, and now we're starting to build the sports arenas for the future." Rimuru put down the general report as Artoria listened.
"And the Eastern Empire? Benimaru should've already finished helping Masayuki reconstruct his empire. In fact, that entire thing should be over by now, right? I really want to end the support now."
"Yeah, Masayuki and Velgrynd are coming over for diplomatic purposes. They want to negotiate an end to the occupation."
"That's great. I was getting tired of having to send all that money for so long. While we negotiate that, we should also negotiate a few treaties with them as well while they're here for that one. You know, establish a formal alliance and whatnot."
"Yeah, we should get re—" Rimuru was interrupted suddenly when Artoria got up, knocking over the chair she was sitting on. Her hands were shaking, and her breathing quickened.
"Artoria? You, uh, okay?" Rimuru was concerned about the sudden way that Artoria was acting. He'd never seen her this…excited? Nervous? He didn't know what to do.
"Rimuru, change of plans. You handle all that stuff we just discussed." Artoria said as she started to run to the door of the room.
"Huh!? What? Wait, you're leaving everything to me?! You better have a good reason!" Rimuru's yell fell on deaf ears as his voice was nothing more than an echo in the hall, as Artoria blitzed her way through the building.
'Rain, if you're messing with me, I'm going to kill you.' Artoria sent a thought communication to Rain as she made her way to a clinic.
'My lady, I'm being truthful.'
'You better be.'
(Present)
'Hey, Artoria, can I tell you something? It's about our negotiations.'
'Rimuru, I told you to only contact me if it's more important than what I'm doing.'
'But you said nothing is more important than what you're doing. How can anything be more important if what you're doing is the most important thing in the world?...Oh, I see.'
'Yeah, now you do. Anyway, good luck on negotiations. And if you're in doubt, just use Raphael.'
'Yeah, I know.'
'Cool, now leave me alone.' The thought communication ended just as quickly as it came.
For what felt like hours, Artoria kept waiting and waiting; the seconds felt like hours. She was ready to use Excalibur or Rhongomyniad on any random thing she saw. Eventually, she felt something, a connection. Something deeply instinctual. She stopped to look at the door. She knew what had happened.
And this was only the first one. As more time passed, she felt more and more connections, until there were seven. Feeling was one thing, but she had to see. She needed to see them, but she had to wait until she could be let in, which caused another horrible wait for her. She knew they were there, but she couldn't go in.
Finally, a sweet mercy fell upon her when the door opened, revealing one of the midwives, who was an oni. News still hadn't spread about what happened, so the only ones who knew were Artoria and the medical staff in the delivery room. Needless to say, the oni were beyond ecstatic: this was their princess giving birth and a monumental moment for all oni in the empire, as soon as news got out, of course.
"Lady Pendragon, I'm happy to say that Princess Shuna is perfectly healthy and fine after giving birth. She is resting, but you can finally go in. It was a long process, but it went smoothly. Magic was of big help to us."
"And the gender of the children?"
"One boy and six girls."
"What? Uh, wow, that's, uh…great. What are the chances of that? So, I can go in and see them now?"
'Yes, you may."
The midwife led Artoria into the room. Shuna was lying on the bed, and Arotria immediately went to her and held her hand. "Shuna, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. There's no need to worry. You should meet our new little ones instead. We need to come up with names for them."
Artoria looked over, and there were seven little cribs nearby. She was very nervous. She took a little breath before she went over to look at them. Seven names, but it might not be as hard as she thinks if she thinks what'll happen does happen.
As she looked at the first child, it was a bit suspicious.
'Blonde hair, green eyes…but where are Shuna's features? This one is the boy.' Artoria thought to herself as she carefully picked up the boy to get a closer look.. 'Wait a minute….there's no way.'
"Your name will be Arthur." Artoria set him down gently back into the crib.
Artoria looked over and saw the 6 girls. 'Wow, this is slowly starting to set in. Let's see…three blonde hair and green eyes, one kind of ashy hair with teal or turquoise eyes, one with pink hair and yellow eyes, and blonde hair and blue eyes. Geez, did Shuna's genetics even put up a fight? And wait a damn minute! No, there's no way this is normal. This…this has to be…fate or some higher power beyond this world or above. This is no coincidence.'
Artoria looked over and over at the girls. They look how they do now, but when they grew up, she had a feeling what they would be.
'I know I had suspicions that it would be saberfaces because of Hero Creation, but this…this is something else. I didn't think it would be in this literal a sense.'
Artoria wasn't panicking, but she was just surprised at the absurdity of the situation. Of course, she ignored any implications or thoughts that went into the deep end. As far as she was concerned, they just looked like them, nothing more. Just because they looked maybe a bit too similar didn't mean she would treat them differently. They were still her and Shuna's children.
"Your name will be Lily."
"Your name will be Artoria C. My name basically, but there's nothing wrong with it. I'll add in a Jr. at the end. Yeah. Artoria C. Pendgraon Jr."
"Your name will be Jeanne. Probably the most well-known French person after Napoleon. They haven't really done much since Napoleon, though, so the competition isn't that good."
"Your name will be…Okita? Souji? How do the names work? Souji would be the first name, or given name? And Souji would be your last name, or family name, right? So, since the family name isn't needed…would it be Souji? Yeah, your name will be Souji."
She set her down and finally looked at the last two girls. 'There has to be some kind of irony here. I don't really know what to say, but this…this has to be weird in some way.' She picked up one of the girls. Light, ashy colored blonde hair, teal or blue eyes. The features were there.
"Your name will be Morgan. Let's throw in Le Fay as well. Why not?" She set her down. One more to go.
'There she is. Considering the others, this should've been obvious, but…I feel weirder about this one. I guess fate or whatever other nonsense has some humor.' She picked up the last girl.
"Mordred. Your name will be Mordred. Let's hope for a better run this time around." She set her down.
Artoria went back to Shuna. "What do you think, Shuna? I have to say, they really took more after me than I thought they would."
"Yes, but how they look doesn't matter. But you know this is only just beginning, right? Seven kids."
"Yeah, yeah, let's enjoy this moment of bliss before reality sets in quickly."
"Yeah, we should."
A few minutes later, the sound of babies crying could be heard in the room.
"And away we go. Don't worry, Shuna, we only have to deal with this for a few years. It's going to be tough, but not that tough."
Turns out, it was that tough.