A/N: Hello once again folks from . And once more I am a terrible person. Not only have I not been updating my stories, but then I have to audacity to start a new one! Well, Sing Down the Abyss as I've said on my profile is getting a revamp. And Hira... Well, Naruto is still fricken' going with seemingly no end in sight and I just don't want to make any assumptions until I have all the facts. Which if you haven't read the manga is a lot by the way.

So, I have moved to a newer story which will hopefully get my writing creativity flowing again. It's 5 AM for me and I'm still cookin' so it's quite possible for the next chapter to be coming some time today. But as you've seen the work ethic with my other stories, I make no promises.

From the Sea of Souls

By: Azhdah

Prologue: Of Gods and Devils

...

In all the years he had lived and worked in his profession, he had never seen anything like it.

The child, still slicked with blood and fluid from his mother's womb and wrapped carefully in soft linen defiantly glared up at the doctor handling him. Violet eyes were slivered like a cats and glinted with an almost inhuman light and awareness. Chills ran up and down the doctor's spine and he quickly handed off the boy to his assistant to be washed, then busied himself with the post birth examination of the mother.

She herself was an enigma. Arriving to their secluded town in the mountains several months pregnant, begging for a place to stay until she gave birth and was able to work on her own. However, looking at her now, he judged that she wouldn't be able to work for a long while yet. Her body had given everything it could during labor and now she lay flaccid, her face tinted with a gray color and her brown eyes dulled in remembered pain.

"D-doctor… M-my baby…" She exhaustedly called to him.

He paused in his work and forced a reassuring beam, "Now don't you worry Miss Mullins, my assistant is checking on your son right as we speak, she should be almost finished."

Miss Mullins gave a wane smile, "Ah… that's good…" She breathed closing her eyes slowly. The doctor noted with some satisfaction that her breathing was evening out and that color was returning to her cheeks. He checked her pulse, it was still rapid, but that too was returning to normal. 'She may recover yet.'

Then as if on cue his apprentice walked in, carrying a swaddled baby boy gently in her arms. She smiled kindly at the resting mother and whispered, "Miss Mullins? Are you ready to see your son?" Immediately, the woman's eyes snapped open and she looked up hopefully. At the unspoken command, the Doctor's assistant lay the child down in the new mother's arms, being careful not to jostle him. She then looked at her boss, a very serious stare seemed to pierce him and he subtly tilted his head towards the door.

Nodding her head, she bowed to Miss Mullins muttering congratulations and then promptly left the room, shutting the door silently behind her. Making sure that the door was closed all the way, the Doctor turned to face the woman and her eerily quiet offspring, a soft expression gracing his features when he saw her cooing to the infant. He cleared his throat, "So Miss Mullins, have you decided a name for the boy?"

Her eyes briefly met his and she grinned before giving her attention back to the child, running her fingers through the sparse black hair, "He looks so much like his father… but I believe… I'll name him Jay…" Once again her eyes flicked about in thought, but with a satisfied nod she affirmed, "Yes, Jay Mullins, after my grandfather."

"Oh?" He responded, jumping right onto the subject that intrigued him most, "Is your family going to come and see you?" Hesitation appeared in her now very alert eyes and the Doctor back tracked, "Are… you not very close?"

"Uhm, no. No we aren't." She stated and quickly focused her interest on her son, who was currently suckling greedily on her forefinger with innocent abandon, eyes contently closed. "The only one I was ever close to was my grandfather and well… He's been dead for many years now."

The Doctor blinked dumbly, and then blurted, "Well, what of the father? Your husband?" She stiffened. "Wouldn't he wish to see his new born child?"

It took her several moments to reply her eyes overshadowed by the wet bangs on her forehead. After several moments of severely awkward silence, in which case the Doctor was distinctly becoming uncomfortable, she simply stated, "No."

Feeling he had pried too far, the Doctor just shook his head and murmured, "I apologize Miss Mullins, I shouldn't have been so intrusive. It really isn't my business." Then making a snap decision and praying to heaven above that it wasn't a mistake, he offered, "Your welcome to stay here as long as you need to get you back on your feet. We'll help provide everything you need in order to support yourself and your son."

At this she smiled warmly, "Oh! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!" Bending over her son, she cooed in a baby voice, " You hear that Jay-Jay? We've got a place to stay!"

One amethyst eye peaked through a squinted eyelid and a hum emanated from tiny vocal cords as if in understanding.

Softly, the Doctor closed the door to the bedroom, giving Miss Mullins some privacy as she nursed the child. His assistant fell in step silently behind him as he strode purposefully toward his office. It wasn't until they were safely enclosed within that she voiced her concerns, "Sir, there is something very wrong with that child."

Sighing heavily, the Doctor sat in his leather chair, his old bones creaking at the new position. "Yes I know." He growled, "I noticed it when I was holding him, even if it was brief." Pausing for a few seconds, he then asked, "Camilla, are you religious in any way?"

"…Huh?" She questioned, taken by surprise by the different topic. "Err, well not really sir… but what does-"

"Well, I'm not either." The Doctor interrupted with a grumble, pulling out a cigar from his desk drawer and lighting it before continuing, "But whether I believe in Gods or Devils or what-have-you, I know this: There is definitely something evil or unnatural within that child. We had best keep an eye on him and his mother. Understood?"

She nodded, a grave expression crossing her young face.

A/N: Okay and just to clarify, this story is going to be set up for the Manga/Brotherhood version of the series.