Mephiles searched that entire week, having not rested or ate once. He was hungry and exhausted. But he couldn't seem to find Silver as his nose was filled with ash from whenever he had attempted eating. He couldn't even sniff him out. It was a hopeless cause.
On the last day of his visit to Emerald City, he received news from his household. The demoness had given birth. But the child did not move nor cry when it came out of the womb. It was a stillborn, just like Silver had promised. That evening he prepared to go home, so sick of his own existence at this point.
Meanwhile, with Silver......
The young male shivered terribly from where he sat deep within a cave, trying his best to keep warm from the small fire he'd managed to make for himself. There was a winter storm brewing outside and would hit within the next few days. That window of opportunity would be all he'd have to get everything else he would need for his birth. But, he was just so tired...
He now knew that he shouldn't have placed that curse on Mephiles that night, but he just couldn't let that bastard get away with any of this. It had drained him rather quickly of a huge amount of his energy that could've gone towards the pups, and he had no one but himself to blame for that.
He did, however, manage to gather some berries and nuts while out the other day gathering firewood. He'd seen a river nearby and he would go get some water and probably a few fish to at least give him that bit of energy before the pups arrived.
The uke sighed heavily, his eyes saddened as he rubbed his distended belly.
He wished Manic were here....
A week from then Mephiles was already home, still tired and hungry. It was a good thing he was a full blooded demon, or else he'd probably die from no food, water, and sleep. But he couldn't help but doze off every once in a while, however, only after a moment or two he was shocked back awake. Even while he was awake he saw fragments of his nightmares from the corner of his vision. It made him paranoid and had him uncertain of what was real and what wasn't as the hallucinations went on.
One day, he saw blood seeping from underneath a door, and hardly able to stop himself from looking, he glanced in the room. He immediately tensed at the sight. It was what he imagined his child to be as a toddler. A young boy that took very much after him, staring at him with big, wide innocent eyes. But covered head to toe in blood. That was it, he couldn't take these images anymore. He packed a few things and soon left, determined that if he went far enough, the memories would get left behind.
........................
Something was wrong at this point, it had been nearly three weeks since he had left that curse on Mephiles and he should've gone into labor by now. Fortunately, the pups weren't dead, they still kicked and gave signs of life...
And though he worried something was wrong, Silver was a bit thankful that they hadn't come yet; it gave him a little more time to make the small cave he resided in a bit more inhabitable. He'd managed to catch few rabbits last week using snares and keeping the meat for himself, he used the furs to make blankets for his babies to keep them warm.
And as he looked around the small area, he saw that he had everything. Now all was he needed was foliage to cover the entrance and some herbs that would mask the smell of blood once the birth was upon him.
And so, with a groan, the now thin male managed to get to his feet to hopefully make one final trip out before the pups came.
They were, now taking a serious toll on his body, the little ones draining him of energy now more than ever and something as simple as a small walk from the cave entrance to the nest of blankets he'd made would leave him out of breath. He didn't look anywhere near as healthy as he was while with Manic. Now, he looked as malnourished as before--everything on him was thin and showing his bones other than his stomach.
He didn't know how much longer be could hold out....
Silver was very tired by the time he made it out a far distance. He managed to get branches to hide his home and some very smelly herbs that kind of nauseated him to hide the smell of blood. By the time he returned, he practically collapsed as he hit the cave wall.
He'd known that he'd pushed himself too far this time, and so, with just enough energy left to place the thorny branches at the entrance to make his place of dwelling as intimidating as possible, he went over to his nest and curled up, knocked out sleep the very next second.
Around this time, Mephiles, was around Silver's area. He had managed to make it over the mountain safely while he found himself stronger than he was now.
He was just moving around, trying to stop himself from falling asleep. He was so tired; he hadn't had a wink of sleep since he left.
Later on that night, Silver awoke to being cold. He frowned slightly in confusion, managing to lift his head and see the small fire still going which kept the cave relatively warm, so....why was he cold in only one spot?
Looking down, he had his answer as he sat on the now soaked blankets beneath him. His eyes widened as realization hit him.
His water had broken.
At this point he was freaking out, but in unmeasurable amounts of pain, he gathered what he needed that was in the cave, and he propped himself up against a rock. He wasn't ready for this... Not alone...
He gasped as his first contraction came.
And releasing a heavy exhale once it passed, the laboring male whimpered in fear.
He was scared. He didn't know what was going to happen and he didn't want to do this alone.
At that, a choked sob escaped as he silently cried. He wanted Manic to be here so badly....He needed him now more than ever.
He tried to remember all the things Manic had said to him, to make him feel good. All the things he did for him... He clutched the necklace of jade beads he had given him when they first met. It held such great importance to him.
But he knew it was going to be a long night...
And after many hours of painful contractions alone, Silver finally got the instinctive urge to push.
And so, biting back a scream when the next contraction hit, the laboring male took a deep breath, bore down, and pushed.
And many hours after that, with a loud wail, his first child came out, weakly crying. It was a miracle it was alive, so with what energy he had, he cleaned his baby and the wrapped it up, too tired to really process its gender. But, he had more to go and it was just best to hurry it up.
And once he was sure the pup was safely tucked away nearby, Silver's breath hitched with a painted gasp as another contraction hit not too long afterwards. Given no time to rest and feeling the next pup coming down the birth canal, the heavily panting uke once again composed himself as best he could, waited for the next contraction, and went through the entire process again of bringing his children into the world.
Including the death of his mate, it was twice more that the hanyou was found in such emotional pain, for the last two pups were stillborn. He blamed himself for wasting his energy. He only had one pup and it was going to die too. It was obvious how weak it was. He had failed; if he had any energy left to give it, there might be a chance for it to live just a little bit longer...
And so, with what very little bit of energy he had left, he still wrapped up his stillborn children in their blankets and kissed their foreheads as he cried, whispering, "I'm so sorry..."
And after pushing out the after birth, Silver had absolutely no more energy to give. It was now around this time that his mate was to supply him with his energy since all of his own would've been used for the birth.
But...there was no one there.
Silver could feel his vision began to blur and fade as his body grew colder--his core temperature now freezing with no energy to supply him with warmth. He was able to hold his live pup once more--the little one whimpering and crying as if it could tell something was wrong. But using a claw to slice open a finger, Silver brought the bleeding digit to the infant's lips where it began to nurse a moment later--the dying mother not having enough energy left to produce milk for his little ones in the end.
Shivering terribly, and not from the outside cold, all he could do was slump down where he lay, unable to move if he tried. He could feel his heart getting slower and slower. His vision was blurred now and not from mere tears alone. With all three pups in his arms, Silver kissed his only live pup goodbye--a little boy--before darkness claimed him for good this time...
