((TW: Gore, blood, and childbirth for this chapter))

By the time two more weeks had passed, Natalia was bedridden. She continued to grow at an astounding rate, well past what full gestation with a single child would be. The doctor came to check and measure her daily and was flabbergasted by how quickly the children inside her must be growing. As they grew, they became stronger, causing more damage to her body and organs as they moved about violently.

She awoke coughing, blood spurting out of her mouth. As the red liquid came flying out of her, she could not even speak. Natalia tried to cover her mouth, in vain, but only succeeded in splattering her hands with blood as well. Terror struck her green eyes as she tried to fathom what was going on. She wasn't vomiting up blood she had drank. There was an hour to go before he'd been meant to wake her, and she should've been able to digest all of it she'd drank three hours prior. She was just coughing and blood was coming out of her mouth.

Marcello was by her side in a flash, getting thick, dark liquid on all his clothes. He had seen these twins tussle inside of her, causing pain, but this was on a whole other level. "Have they hurt you? Do you feel anything broken or bruised?" The fear in his voice was palpable.

Even though the doctor had warned them that as the two of them grew bigger and there was less space to confine their bodies, they would likely start hitting the rest of her organs. The sudden onset of blood, her own blood, pouring from her lips, was jarring. He had warned of internal injury, but it had prepared neither of them for so much, so fast.

Marcello grabbed a towel from beside the bed and began mopping up some of the blood as best he could. He had to stay busy, do something, or he'd go mad with worry.

The white sheets were ruined, and it appeared as if he had committed a gruesome murder upon them. She herself looked as though she had ripped apart some poor human with crimson dripping from her lips and covering her chemise. "I'll call the doctor! Just tell me if it hurts anywhere!" He pleaded, but she still could not answer as it continued to bubble out anytime her mouth was open.

What was he talking about did anything hurt? EVERYTHING HURT! Constantly!

Natalia couldn't cease her choking, and as she surveyed herself, it was clear her mouth was not the only place blood was seeping from. It soaked her nightgown thoroughly, as was the bed. Everything touching her was scarlet.

"Get the doctor! Quickly!" She yelled, horror sweeping through her. Either she was bleeding so severely internally that she barely had any time left, or the babies were coming. Either way, the doctor needed to be there now. Pain swept over her, and her stomach began to cramp. Natalia grabbed it, feelings all her muscles seize.

The doctor had said they needed at least two more weeks, but she hoped their continued rapid development meant they could come now and still survive. They had no choice. The children had to be born. She was going to die without it.

Once she peeled back the bed and Marcello saw the extent of the bleeding, it clicked in his head. This was the all-or-nothing moment. In his mind, a battle raged. It was too soon for them to be born. They might not be safe! But, even so, she definitely wasn't safe!

While his mind raced, his feet had already taken him to the doctor's door, and he pounded upon it. "NATALIA! SHE'S BLEEDING OUT!"

"You said she's bleeding profusely?" Even the doctor's voice had lost its usual soothing tone.

"Everywhere doctor! It's just everywhere! Unless you can do something, I have to turn her. Please save our babies!"

They burst through the door, and the scene looked even worse than when he had left. Blood covered her, and the bed was practically ruined. Natalia laid on her back, screeching like a banshee, her stomach moving so violently that it was shaking her whole body. He couldn't tell if they were fighting to get out or dying, but they were, without a doubt, killing his wife.

"Doctor please! She's going to die!" He was absolutely hysterical, tears pouring down his face.

Rushing to her side, the doctor tore her clothes from her body, attempting to see where the blood was coming from and at what rate it was being lost. It was clear she had been bleeding for some time, and every layer he ripped and threw into a heap. The pile of bloody cloth on the floor seemed to be never ending. Every time he removed something from her and the bed, there were more pieces soaked through.

"We need water, towels, sheets, and other than bringing in what's vitally necessary, NO ONE shall enter this room!" He yelled back at the prince. It was clear this was dire, and she would have to deliver the children and be turned quickly.

The doctor put his hands on her thighs and parted her legs, trying to wipe away enough blood to see her cervix clearly. She jerked as he put his hand inside her. "I'm sorry, my lady, I have to see if you are indeed in labor." She nodded, spreading her legs so he could get easier access. He nodded. "You're almost fully dilated. Were you not feeling labor pains?"

"Everything always hurts..." she said pitifully, and he nodded again sadly grabbing what he could from the adjacent bathroom.

He pulled Marcello to the side, whispering, "I hope they're strong enough to survive, but I can't be sure. They're tearing her apart. This is going to be hideous. She will have never felt pain like them clawing their way out of her. And it will literally rip her apart. But if she turns, she will heal. It's going to be very hard for you to watch. Even the husbands who cared very little for their wives had difficulty. Just... try to prepare yourself..."

They'd been telling him this for years. He had read many of the stories that described babies clawing their way forcibly out of their mothers. Sometimes tearing their way through the bellies, breaking whole rib cages, and playing in the blood that flowed out from the wounds. The thought had disgusted him then, but looking at his wife now he could start to picture it and it made him wince.

Both he and the doctor grabbed the assortment of towels and fresh blankets stored in the closet. He filled the water jug and another basin in the washroom joined to their bedroom. Each second took what felt like years. Eventually, what could be gathered was gathered, and all he could do was to stand back and watch.

The doctor had her in the birthing position. Legs spread wide, grimacing and contorted in agony. It was hard to watch her as she lay back, unable to move or even think straight. Her eyes looked to Marcello, and he came back to her side, pulling her head into his lap and bathing her brow with a cool cloth.

The doctor perched at her opening, looking alert and ready, as if he had practiced this countless times before. Opening a case of medical tools, he grabbed a knife. Natalia's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?"

"We're going to cut you open. If we don't, they may rip their way out."

"I can't just push them out?" She asked, hyperventilating.

"There's not time, Natalia. There's not time to even try." The doctor gave Marcello a tough but slightly bendable cylinder. "She will need this to bite down on." He took it and stroked her cheek as she gritted her teeth. Natalia shook her head no, but he was stronger than her and pried open her jaws, forcing it inside as tears streamed down her face. "It will be alright, my love. We have to be strong. You have to be strong."

She shrieked and bit down on the item as he cut into her with nothing to suppress the pain. She had assumed she would birth the babies just like any normal woman. Unfortunately, this birth was anything but normal. She felt the creatures inside her—she couldn't have called them children at this point—ripping their way out of her.

He sliced through skin and muscle and organ, exposing the children to the air for the first time. Liquid gushed from within her, and one of them hissed as a little light hit it for the first time. He opened the wound wider with his hands, reaching into her abdomen as blood poured out onto the bed. Grabbing one of the wriggling children, he brought it out, carefully clipping the cord that attached it to its mother and wrapping it in a blanket. He handed the baby, who was still thrashing, but growing less wild as it no longer had a constant blood supply, to its father. "It's a girl..."

She looked to be about the size of a normal newborn. The doctor then reached back in and pulled out the boy, with him coming copious amounts of blood. He was significantly smaller than his sister, and it was clear one of them had been getting far more of the nutrition. He did not immediately cut his cord, choosing instead to let him soak what he could from his mother for a few moments before she would have to be turned. "Your boy..." he whispered. He was not as spunky as his sister, and he was barely moving.

Natalia spit out the cylinder despite still being in excruciating. She sputtered, blood pouring out of her mouth. "Is he alive?" She screamed, though she choked on the wine colored life force pouring out of every orifice. The doctor quickly cut his cord and wrapped him. Then he took the girl back from Marcello. "Turn her. She will not last more than a few minutes." he ordered, exiting the room with the children.

Natalia screamed as he left with her children. "Just let me see them!" She cried, trying to reach out but barely able to move. Her vision started to go dark as the adrenaline ebbed.

I'm dying...