—Talia—

Saying that the three days I was imprisoned were hell would be an understatement. While I was held captive within this mysterious cage, my day consisted of various agonizing experiments that were performed on none other than me. I would have ridiculous quantities of weight dropped on me to see how much I was able to take before my bones broke, forced to fight various other inmates until I collapsed from exhaustion, and then put back together by the scientists just to do it all over again. The worst was when they removed some egg cells from within me and artificially inseminated them with Kyle's DNA.

I watched in horror as the weaker ones of the bunch grew from an egg to a fully grown newborn in less than an hour and were subjected to such cruel experiments. One was grafted with the wings of a bat and died due to infection and rejection of the new limbs. Another was stimulated with vast amounts of electricity to try and access their Scale Form, but died from overexposure. Yet another had their pain capacity tested as their bones were broken by the men conducting these tests. I wanted to sob. How could people do such horrible things to children that hadn't even had the chance to live yet?

Luckily, they left one of them alive. He had been birthed as a dragon egg, and his growth appeared to be accelerated like everybody else's. He was on the verge of hatching any moment now. They had named him Y-OR3 and treated him better than the others, but I was afraid that it was only a matter of time before he was killed mercilessly like the rest of his siblings.

On the day that I was to rendezvous with my friends, I stole my child from his incubation cell. As much as it had disgusted me, I took out some previous broken shell bits, scattering them around to make it appear as if he had indeed hatched. I then winced as I took one of my stillborn children and laid him in the middle of the cell. I almost cried, then shook my head as I realized that I needed to focus on protecting my unborn son from reaching the same fate.

Luckily, I had been given a hospital gown to return home in, so I used that to create a place for me to hold my egg in a sash over my shoulder. I also managed to steal some extra gowns to create a padding for the new child. Nobody even checked me as they took me to the car, as I had put the sash under my shirt, they must have assumed I was pregnant or something like that. As I was pushed into the back of the car and blindfolded, I held tightly onto my stomach to make sure the child was okay.

I began to cry. As much as I couldn't let this child die, how was I going to raise it? I had only become an adult a mere six months ago. Sure, I came from a well off family, so money wouldn't be an issue, but how would I assure that he would survive during a time like this? I couldn't just bring him into battle like some warrior version of Sacagawea.

Suddenly, my biological father's voice rang in my head.

"Dearest Metalia, I never expected you to come into my life and I definitely wasn't prepared to take care of you. However, when I looked at you and saw myself staring back at me, I knew that I loved you and would do anything to protect you."

I gently rubbed the area where the egg rested against my stomach. I hadn't wished for a child at all, that much was true. I don't think there was ever a moment in my life where I had consciously thought about becoming a mother. It looks like I wasn't left with a choice in the end, though. This child was mine, and it was my duty to take care of him.

Him...he didn't even have a name, did he? That wasn't appropriate for a member of the noble Stalin line. I leaned in close to the egg and whispered silently. I didn't know if the child inside could hear me very well, but it didn't stop me from speaking.

"Son of mine," I said in my native tongue. "I promise I will take care of you. You will know a life better than that which your brothers and sisters have, and will receive the love that I never got." I thought for a moment. I smiled as I decided, then spoke again. "Dearest child, I shall name you Yuri Argentum, the newest child of the Stalin line."

The tears began to flow down my face even more. I had just given my child a name. I couldn't get rid of him now, even if I wanted to. As soon as I had named him, I made an oath that I would take care of him.

But what would everybody think? More importantly, how would Adrian react to all of this? My head drooped. He would know that the child wouldn't be his, as we weren't mates. Would that mean he would find me undesirable? He'd no longer want to be with me after he found out about Yuri.

I shook my head. Adrian wasn't like that. Once I told him the way that Yuri was created, he would take pity on him and realize that what I was doing was the right thing to do. But that didn't mean that his image of me wouldn't be tainted after I had told him about these things.

I remember coming into his room to come visit him one day and finding that he wasn't there. Instead, there was paper scattered all over his room; full sheets, crumpled up balls, full notebooks, partial notebooks, all full of words. I was originally just going to pick it up until my curiosity got the best of me and I started reading what was scrawled between the margins of the college-ruled paper.

Laid out before me was an absolute confession of love. Adrian was planning on telling me how he felt. Throughout the cheesy poetry, the heartfelt letters and the random thoughts jotted down, it had all made me so happy to read. I had uncrumpled all of the papers, flipped through all of the notebooks and even dug through the trash to read every single one. Even though each one was different, there was one line that remained the same throughout each.

If only you could see how perfect I think you are, you'd never worry about not being good enough ever again.

My moment of reflection was abruptly cut short by someone dragging me out of the car by the collar of my shirt. My blindfold was ripped off and I came face to face with my friends. Kallan was in tears, the whites of her eyes completely bloodshot. JIan looked angry enough to murder someone, almost to the point where I wondered if he actually had a concealed weapon on him. Hazu seemed worried, but she tried to look brave through it all. Next to her was a pale girl that I had never seen before, black hair hanging loosely around her.

"You've got the Blossom, right?" My captor snapped angrily.

I silently willed my friends not to hand it over. It wasn't worth it under any circumstances.

Kallan handed over a box with shaking hands, tears in her eyes. I gripped tightly onto my unborn son as I was pushed over in their direction. I noticed a smirk on Jian's face as Hazu muttered something under her breath. What was going on here? Was I missing something?

The men snatched the box from Kallan's hand and opened it, producing a small broach with a plum blossom. They scanned over it with a remote-like device, smirking as it lit up green. They then walked off, drove off, and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Everybody cheered once they were gone and attempted to hug me. I growled and backed away, showing them that I wasn't in the mood for an embrace of any kind. I quickly began to lift up my shirt and take Yuri's egg out of it's makeshift pouch. I held him close to my chest and began to sob. He was okay.

"Talia," Hazu started.

"What's that?" Jian asked.

I growled, letting my draconic side show in my ferocity. "It's not a 'that'! This is a Scale Child. Show some respect." I snapped, taking the extra gowns from the inside and creating a makeshift nest from them. I placed Yuri in it and held him close to my chest.

"A Scale Child?" Kallan asked incredulously. "Don't tell me it's-"

"Mine? Yes, he is. He came to me without my consent, but he's still my son, no matter how I look at it. My blood runs through his body, and that's all that matters." I looked at the egg and sobbd. "They created him artificially and were going to perform brutal experiments on him. I couldn't just sit there and watch him die like all the others did." I felt the tears flow from my eyes, pouring down more ferociously than any rainstorm I had ever experienced.

"It was so awful to watch." I cried. "One of my daughters was thrown into a pen full of dogs and was torn apart limb from limb in an attempt to make her access her dragon form. Her screams will haunt my nightmares for years to come...and I had to watch as another was dissected after being beat to death! They put him under a scalpel, and there wasn't anything I could do to make it stop! The worst was when they burned one of them alive! What kind of person could do this to a baby?!

"That's why I took him. I couldn't live with myself if I knew that he could have gone through something like that. Besides, he's mine. It's my duty to protect him!"

Nobody said much after that. They just started at me with open mouths in complete wonder. I could only imagine what kind of things they were thinking. Maybe it was a mixture of shock and disgust that someone had actually done this. Maybe it was surprise that I was openly crying for somebody else. Maybe it was pride and pity that I had gone through a situation like this and decided to do the right thing.

It seemed like they all understood what was going on and let me load myself and Yuri into the car that we had rented. I asked to borrow someone's phone, to which Kallan immediately gave me hers in response. I dialed a familiar number that I had not contacted for three days. I set Yuri down along with his makeshift nest. Just to make sure that my son wouldn't be harmed in any way, I buckled him in.

I pressed the call button on the phone and felt anxiety rising within my chest with each ring I heard. One. Two. Three. I finally heard a voice on the other end answer after the fourth time.

"Kallan?" Came Adrian's voice.

"No." I said sternly. "It's Talia."

I swore I heard him sobbing on the other end of the line. "Tal? I'm so glad that you're okay! I was so worried that you would never talk to me again!"

"Adrian, how could you-"

"I was seriously worried about you! I thought you'd found some sort of reason to hate me, or that you died or something awful like that. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that you're okay!"

I growled. I had to tell him about Yuri. Now wasn't the time for a happy reunion. He needed to know.

"Adrian, we both know that would never happen. Now about my rather long hiatus-"

"Talia, it doesn't matter. I don't care what your reason is, but I need you to know something really important. I've never had the courage to say it before, but now that I realize that nobody can promise tomorrow, I need to tell you now. Just in case you go again..."

"Look, you can say it later-"

"No, I have to say it now. I don't know if I'll ever have the courage to say it again if I don't say it now." He took a deep breath. "Metalia Aurum Aria Gaia Karina Stalin, ever since the two of us met, I have never seen any girl in the way that I see you. You're beautiful, smart, brave, kind-hearted, and most importantly, my best friend. I know you might not think much about me, but I think you're absolutely perfect. You've given me a reason to want to keep living, to keep fighting. I've never met anyone quite like you and I just want to say...I love you, Talia, and I want you to be my girlfriend."

I wanted to cry. Under any other circumstances, I would have loved to hear that. But now, as I looked at the egg that was next to me, I felt tremendously guilty. I couldn't say yes. I needed to tell him the truth. I took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Adrian, the reason that I didn't contact you for so long was because I had been kidnaped and used as a bargaining chip in order to be traded off for the Fertile Blossom. While I was there, they experimented on me. They took a bunch of my egg cells, about twenty or thirty, and artificially inseminated them with the DNA of another inmate. All of them died except for one." I took a deep breath. "I saved him from that fate. Basically what I'm trying to say is that...I'm a mother."

There was silence on the other end of the line. A soft growl sounded in the background, similar to that of a guard dog ready to attack an intruder. I was nearly paralyzed with fear. This was a side to Adrian I had never experienced. The voice that spoke to me next was no doubt his, but it as much more gravelly and threatening than I had heard before.

"Who hurt you?" He demanded.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. My palms were shaking and sweating. What happened to him? This wasn't the mild-mannered boy that I had saved from his own suicide. It was like I was actually talking to Kali's son. You could tell he was ready to kill as soon as he got the name. I couldn't afford to let that monster out. God knows what it would do to him. Logically, I did the only thing I could in that situation: I lied.

"I don't know his name. I don't know the name of the corporation that hurt me, either."

Well, at least half of that was true.

"Come on, Talia," He spat, another growl rising in his throat. "Tell me! They'll pay for what they did to you!" He began to breathe heavily, like some kind of animal. "You've been through so much shit in your life. You don't deserve this, Tal!"

"I'm telling you that I don't know who they are." I insisted.

"What's his name?! Who's the father?!" He yelled at me.

"He doesn't have a father!" I snapped back. "That man merely brought my child into existence! He might never have an actual father!" I sobbed. "I'm just going to raise Yuri by myself...that's better for everyone."

There was more silence on the other end of the line. When Adrian spoke again, his demeanor was back to normal. "Talia...can I offer a suggestion?"

"What is it?" I snapped, not in the mood for talking to anyone after that confession. I just wanted to be left alone so I could cry.

More silence. "Maybe...maybe I could help to raise him? Maybe I could be his father."

I felt my jaw drop. "What?"

"I could be his father." He repeated.

"But-"

"I don't care, Talia. He's your child and I want to help you take care of him. I love you more than anything, and he's a part of you, right? I'm pretty sure if I were to raise him, I'd fall in love with him as much as I did with you." I could hear him sniffling on the other end of the line. "So please, let me into your life. I won't ever abandon you, or your child. I'll be there for you at your beck and call, anytime you need me. That's a promise."

I couldn't help but smile a bit. I then let out a chuckle. He was determined as always, ready to prove that he always meant what he said. I began to cry some more. He wasn't going to abandon me, was he? He was going to stay by my side through thick and thin. I cast a glance at Yuri. We'd need a man like that to raise him.

"Alright." I said. "If you're that prepared, I guess I'll let you be a father to Yuri."

"Yuri? Is that his name? I like it."

I scoffed. "But you've got to promise that you'll be the best father in the world, otherwise I'll...I'll..."

"I will, Talia. In fact, I want to see him. Send me a picture, please." Adrian seemed to be very happy considering all that he had been told and what was going on. "You're mine now, and I'm going to take care of you, just you watch! We'll both finally have what we've always wanted, a real family."

I smiled. Adrian sure was stubborn. And quite the dreamer. I'd give him that. However, I knew for sure that a family was indeed what I wanted for the two of us, considering our rather awful upbringing. We both needed something like that.

"I'd like that a lot."

Even though it was a dangerous and uncertain future that laid ahead of us, we still made a promise about what would happen. Little did I know of both the blessings and tragedy that would occur in my life. It would happen as unexpectedly as Yuri breaking out of his egg only moments after.

It started with a rustle, which I blew off as him shaking in the car. But little by little, the shell began to crack, and then a huge wing broke out. It wasn't much longer before a tail followed, and then a fully formed arm. Once the entire shell broke, a beautiful baby boy came out.

His hair was jet black and slightly messy, which might have been caused by the golden metal spires that grew from his head. His wings were long and thin, used for gliding, not actually flying, and his tail was tipped with a sharp metal blade. He wrapped it around his waist once he was sure he was out of his egg, then opened his eyes and looked at me. They were bright silver.

I began to panic. I hung up the phone and looked to JIan. "Something's wrong! Eggborn don't hatch until three months of incubation! Why did he hatch after three days?!"

Jian quickly curbed the car and let Kallan take the wheel as he switched places with her. He held Yuri in one arm as he covered his face with his hand, orange lines spreading all over his body. Jian's brows were furrowed in concentration, and only relaxed after a minute or two. He placed his pointer finger and pinky on his forehead, causing an orange symbol to temporarily appear on his head. When he took his hand off, he handed my baby back to me.

"He's fine. His pituitary gland was just overactive, which I guess is the fault of your captors." He tapped Yuri's nose, which caused the newborn baby to try to grab his finger and stick it in his mouth. Luckily, Jian was fast enough to avoid that. "He'll be a fine, healthy kid. He may be a bit of a late bloomer as far as Scale Children go, but he'll be fine."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I swaddled Yuri in a hospital gown, since it was all I had. I smiled and ran my hand over his tiny head. When I rested my free hand on his stomach, he grabbed my finger with his small hand and looked at me with a big smile. He was absolutely perfect.

I silently vowed that I'd never let him feel the way my father had raised me. I would protect him and show him the love that both him and his father never received. I planted a kiss on Yuri's head and giggled.

"He's so cute." Hazu whispered.

I nodded. "Yes he is."

Yes, I warned you. This will destroy your feels. It destroyed mine while I was writing them. It was awful. I can't tell you  how many times I wanted to just throw this entire chapter away and be done with it. However, I kept writing it because I honestly felt it was a necessary part needed to develop Talia's character. Also, Yuri. Idk why I made him come in this early, but he did. Say hello to Yuri Argentum Stalin! If you wanna know more about what he's like when he grows up, read my book Royal Rebellion!

Signing Off, Kiera Savage