Miraculous Taboo

A fanfic by Setsumi-san

Chapter Twelve: Fading Pearls and Joy's Name

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Pyron shielded her in a flash and was thrown against the wall. She screamed. What was going on? She tried to run to his aid, but another contraction instantly brought her to her knees.

"How cute," Sheng Ju sneered, "It's sad, really. I was expecting more from your family's finest weapon."

Panting, Jun scampered against the wall and glared. He deliberately sauntered toward her with an indecisive look on his face, as though he were a maid trying to decide whether or not it was worth it to scrub a very tiny spot out of a nice shirt, before strangling her. She gagged and wriggled helplessly in his grip. If she weren't in labor now they could have easily taken on this freak together. Suddenly, he cried out in agony and let go as a powerful kick was delivered to his back. It was Pyron.

"I don't know who you are or how you got here, but I won't let you hurt the woman I love," the kyonshi declared.

He kicked his opponent outside and grunted when a blast singed his arm. Crap, how could he outsmart someone whose attacks used raw energy? He might not be able to die, but he had someone precious to protect! Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, several weapons erupted from the ground and a chui (8) dislocated his knee from the back. The kyonshi slowly opened his eyes and immediately felt a surge of confidence. Ren Tao had come to the rescue!

"H-How?" the monk croaked.

"Power like yours is useless if you have bad aim, stupid. Next time you try to destroy somebody's soul, make sure you destroy all of it," Ren said.

"D-Damn you…" he sputtered.

"Pyron, get her to a safe place while I finish off this cockroach!" Ren ordered.

Pyron began to retreat, but their enemy was not about to let them escape. Heaving, he crawled pathetically toward him and grabbed his ankle. The disgusted martial artist stomped on him and wondered how some opponents could be so stubborn even after their defeat. Then, much to his surprise, he heard him laugh.

"Heh, heh, heh. You're…both…good. Never thought I'd… have to…do this," he weakly said.

The entire island shook and they were almost blinded as infinite orange spirit balls suddenly cocooned the astrologer. Laughing insanely, he snapped his knee back into place. His muscles bulged to the size of tires, his hands grew claws that were almost half a yard, his teeth morphed into evil fangs, and he merged with his tiger-skin cape. He was now a striped half-man half-beast.

"What just happened?!" Pyron screamed.

"It's an oversoul with all of his tiger spirits! Find and destroy the medium!" Ren shouted.

He merged Bason with the kwan-dao and the allies charged.

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Meanwhile, Jun whispered her heroes' names like a prayer and pushed painfully again. It looked like she was going to be on her own for a while, so she desperately staggered toward the sink and drank from the faucet. It was poor relief compared to a cool washrag on her head or a glass of ice water, though. It was poor relief.

Did she and Pyron really deserve this? They'd had so many hopes for their girls! It seemed only yesterday that they decided on making the nursery look identical to the empress's bedroom in the legendary Forbidden City. Moreover, she'd planned to hire the most talented circus performers in the world for their first birthday party. Oh… and when their wedding day came…

Suddenly, she was seized with a bold impulse. There was no guarantee it would give her children a fighting chance at life…yet stranger things had happened. The dao-shi slumped onto the rug and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

"Goodbye my darlings," she whispered, "Mommy loves you."

She became a volcano of blazing emerald energy and sweat gushed from every pore. Her heartbeat was a streamer in a thunderstorm and blood dripped from her nose. The priestess was giving all of her furyoku to her children in hopes that they would develop enough to live and she would at deliver them properly.

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The Tao man slashed Sheng Ju's back and he blasted him into a nearby tree. Next, he pounced on Pyron and would have bitten off his hand if he hadn't blocked him with his nunchaku. Time held its breath as the two struggled…for a second, but the zombie finally managed to throw him off. Arrrggghhh! He was twice as strong now!

"What's the matter, boys? Where did that confidence go?" Sheng Ju growled in a creepy and distorted voice.

He threw several energy balls at them and they barely dodged. There was so much smoke left over that Ren felt as if someone had filled up his lungs with sand. Overcome, he choked violently and fell into his partner's arms. At the same time Pyron noticed Jun's blast of furyoku coming from inside the cabin.

"Oh no!" he cried.

"Go," Ren wheezed.

"No, I won't leave you behind!" he exclaimed.

"I don't have any children. She does. Now go," he hissed. His partner hesitated briefly and then sprinted off.

"Oh no you don't!" the monk shouted.

He threw some sand at him and sprinted toward the cabin. Pyron cursed and rubbed his eyes. If only they knew what the oversoul medium was! From what he'd heard it was usually an obvious symbol of the ghost. What else could be associated with a tiger? Claws, stripes, fangs…

Wait! Could he have…? There's only one way to find out! he thought.

He caught up with him and knocked out one tooth with a furious right hook! Ker-thwok! Sure enough, one spirit fell out of it. Whack! Pow! With the fury of an F-5 tornado, he kept knocking out his opponent's teeth until he reverted to a cowering mass of gelatin.

"I was right. You oversouled your spirits into your own teeth, didn't you? Well, it looks like curiosity killed the cat this time," the White Dragon said.

CRACK-A-BLAM!! He threw him fifteen feet up and broke his spine with one kick. With that, Sheng Ju Hui plummeted into the sea like a stone. Lee Pyron had won.

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The pine-haired woman floated in a silver tunnel covered in only a pink satin sheet and knew this had to be Limbo. She smiled serenely and knew it meant she had done her job as a mother. For just a tiny split second she wondered if she should go back and check on her daughters, but realized she would get too attached to the material world if she did. They couldn't handle having two dead parents even if they could see them.

"Wait!" cried a young voice.

She turned around but saw no one.

"Wait! It isn't your time yet. Your family needs you!" it called again.

"Who are you? Show yourself," Jun said.

A green-haired, chocolate-eyed, and winged toddler waddled up to her in a sky blue gown. Jun felt a little chill run down her spine. This little girl gave her a sense of déjà vu…but it wasn't happy.

The child began to fly away and said, "Mommy, thank you so much for doing everything for me. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough. I love you."

She did not understand, yet something suddenly cried out in her not to let her go. She clung to her gown…but only succeeded in getting a torn piece as she flew away. Pearls and feathers rained from the sky and she ran after her until her feet bled.

"Come back! Come BACK!! C-Come back…" she sobbed.

Jun gasped, bolted upright, and realized she was in a hospital room with Pyron and Ren by her side.

"Huh? Did I…?" she mumbled.

"Yes you did," her beloved replied, "I can't believe you pulled such a miracle off. Your brother took all of us here on the jet he had waiting on the other side of the island."

"My babies! Where are my babies?!" she questioned alarmingly.

"Wan Mei is fine. She'll be in an incubator for a few months though," he said.

"And Zhen Zhu?"

"By the way, the assassin's dead."

"That's nice, but-"

"You should have seen your brother. He fought amazingly."

"I'm sure he did and I love him very much for it. Now-"

"Pyron actually delivered the final blow!" her brother blurted nervously.

"JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO ZHEN ZHU!!" she screamed.

Then it hit her like an eighteen-wheeler. Her brother pivoted and looked out the window so she couldn't see his face. Pyron's face crinkled in what would have been a prelude to tears for a live person. No…no…no! Wan Mei was supposed to have a sister to play and share secrets with!

"Zhen Zhu's lungs…were too small," Pyron croaked grievously.

Jun fainted.

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The young mother and uncle had their first heart-to-heart talk in what seemed like a millennium two weeks while watching Wan Mei in the NICU.

"Do you want me to send someone out to buy tea for us? This hospital sludge isn't fit for pigs," Ren said.

She shook her head and kept staring miserably at her fragile little daughter in the incubator. Her brain would explode if she didn't tear all of the tubes off her gingersnap skin and cuddle her wispy brunette hair soon. What kind of mother let one child come into the world in so much pain and another die? A miserable glick noise escaped her throat.

"Oh Big Sister… please don't cry," he begged.

"I…I want to…but I don't think I can anymore," she replied.

"Come again?"

"Remember reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in fifth grade and the scene after Lucy and Susan finish crying over Aslan's death? I…I'm feeling that same emptiness now."

He didn't know what to say, so he just wrapped his arm around her and offered and rubbed her back.

"By the way," Jun gradually said, "did something happen on your way to the island? You look…"

"About five years older? Heh. I'll explain it to you later," he chuckled.

Just then the priestess felt something warm wrap around her pinky finger. She curiously arched an eyebrow and gasped when she realized it was Wan Mei. A shaky smile crept onto her face for the first time in weeks and she drowned in a paradox of elation and grief. Maybe she couldn't cry anymore…because she had finally earned eternal joy…joy named Wan Mei.

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"What about The Story of Lady Chang?" Jun suggested.

"No. It will sadden her," Pyron firmly replied.

"Alright, what about The Magic Finger?" she said.

"That will encourage her to be greedy."

"The Story of Hok Lee?"

"My little princess will not have nightmares about demonic dwarves!"

Jun sighed and slumped against the nursery wall. Sometimes Pyron was so overprotective it made her want to bash her head against a tree. They were trying to decide on a good bedtime story for Wan Mei, although he'd already rejected half of her suggestions. Honestly!

"Okay, okay. What about The Abduction of Queen Guinevere?" she asked.

"Heavens no! She might fall in love with Sir Lancelot!" he exclaimed.

Wan Mei burbled gleefully from her crib.

"See?" he pointed out.

"Oh Pyron, he's a storybook character," she groaned.

"And she's young and impressionable! Daddy is the only man in your life Angel, yes he is," he cooed to the girl.

Jun had to smile as she watched their daughter babble back to them. She mused on the past year. When Wan Mei had been conceived it was a taboo. People always said scientists were not God and he would not have been pleased with this. However, Jun knew that they must have done something right to deserve their own living breathing miracle.

"That's what she is," she whispered, "Our miraculous taboo."

And come hell or high water they would raise her into a fine young woman.

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8. A type of Chinese weapon with a huge ball on the end of a stick for striking one's opponent