Oberon is back. For anyone that wants to know what that means, visit my profile. Otherwise, enjoy the words below.

Eureka seveN

Novicius Aetas

By:

Oberon the Dark

Part I

Prologue

Sunrise Beach

The gentle breeze of the beach lazily blew by, spreading the sweet scent of ocean spray. The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon creating an awe-inspiring array of colors. The scenery was wonderfully peaceful. Gentle waves crashing on the shore, sea breeze wafting on the air, and a breath-stealing sunrise.

It was the perfect retreat for the young couple that managed to get themselves stranded there. The two lovers that only just recently prevented the destruction of mankind at the hands of a madman. The perfect place for them to unite, as they had only three months ago.

They lay together in the soft light of the newly risen sun. Eureka under Renton’s arm, lightly whispering to a nearly lost dream. Her prayers had finally been answered only a little while ago. The prayers for whatever power be to let her express her feelings for Renton. She thought she couldn’t before, when she lay mostly unconscious and trapped in the sphere of the corallian-event. Her faith had almost died, until she heard his voice pierce through the void-like realm into which her consciousness had fallen.

Her dreams would forever be graced by the sensation of the first kiss which she shared with Renton in the event-sphere.

Renton lay with his left arm affectionately wrapped around Eureka. Dreams flooded his lightly slumbering mind. Dreams of his new life, the one which he would share with his love. His mind feverishly remembered the none-too-distant act of union which he committed with Eureka. A family was likely to come of this, that much he knew. What he anticipated was the togetherness of an entire family with his dear Eureka.

Though he had little knowledge of marital law, he intended to be wed with her whenever the chance presented itself. She was the one, and now he was with her forever…

Chapter I

Search Over,

The Boy And Girl Are Found

“Holland, we’ve got a signal!” Gidjet yelled to the leader.

“Isolate the frequency of trappar reflection. I want you to be sure it’s them.” he replied sternly.

“The frequency of the reflection signal matches that of known corallian and human patterns.” Woz chimed into the conversation.

Upon hearing those words, everyone aboard the Moonlight dawned a smile across their faces.

“Then it’s them?” Holland questioned.

“Yep! I’m sure of it!” Gidjet replied excitedly.

“Take us down!” Holland ordered.

So, the signal of descent was activated as the craft began its landing.

-----

Eureka stirred slightly under Renton’s arm as a sickening feeling set into her stomach. The feeling that brought her dreaming mind into consciousness was only slightly familiar. It was one she had never understood, as it had only appeared twice before. The first was when she was born from the scub, the second was when she had first piloted Nirvash.

She groggily opened her eyes so she could navigate her way behind a bush. Once she managed to do such she fell to her knees and sat, waiting for the feeling to either do its work or pass by. It got more intense leaving a burning feeling in her stomach. Not the pleasant kind like Renton left, but a frightfully painful one that seemed like she had swallowed acid.

Eureka gently clutched at her stomach as though it would burst if she didn’t. She could feel the food passing back out of her as she wretched the contents of her stomach onto the sand. The harshness of it stunned her, being that it was much more intense than when it occurred on the previous occasions.

Eureka sat there, trying to recover from the intense pain of her ordeal. The sick feeling left her after the contents of her stomach were gone. She was startled by Renton as he came to check on her.

“Eureka, are you alright?” he asked with a worried look on his face.

“I- I think so. Just a little bit nauseous…” she replied.

Renton helped her onto her feet and took her to get some water. Their supply of fresh water was almost out, but they still had enough for roughly two days. She gratefully rinsed her mouth out, welcoming the refreshing taste of spring water.

“Hey, Eureka…”

“Yes?”

“Well… Do you think the Gekko-State is looking for us?” Renton asked her.

“I really don’t know. They probably have other things to deal with…” she said.

“Yeah. The Izumo is probably on their asses again. We might should think about how we’re gonna get home, right?”

“Yeah…” Eureka replied sleepily.

Sitting on the beach, enjoying each others company and watching the ocean, Eureka laid her head on her lover’s shoulder. Renton gently put his arm around her and sat his head lightly on hers. The scene was like that of Romeo and Juliet, the perfect couple in the perfect place.

Their cuddle was interrupted when they began to notice the sound of military-grade jet-engines. They both looked up in unison to behold the beautiful streams of trappar waves trailing behind the Moonlight. Apparently their question of how to get home was answered for them.

“Renton,” Eureka said, “looks like our answer is here.”

“Yeah, I guess it is, huh?” He replied with a grin on his face.

So they sat there, waiting until the Moonlight landed and they could go home.

Chapter II

Welcome Home

The Moonlight was making its way ever closer to the ground, the crew preparing to welcome the heroes home at last. Holland and Talho were standing at the bridge, looking out at the peaceful scenery of the beach they were approaching. Holland had his arm wrapped around Talho’s waist, as she stroked her bulging stomach.

“The baby’s almost here Holland. Almost here to greet us, and we still don’t have a name.” she said to Holland.

“Name? What exactly did you have in mind for him?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“Jonas.” Talho replied bluntly.

“Well,” Holland said laughing a little, “you always were good with names. Jonas it is.”

“Well, now that that’s settled we should think about how to welcome our heroes home…”

Finally, the Moonlight had reached proper altitude to land. The craft bumped around a little as it landed in a fairly clear part of the jungle surrounding the beach.

-----

“Eureka, it finally landed.” Renton said as he lightly shook Eureka awake. She had dozed off on his shoulder as they were sitting together.

“It has?” she asked while yawning.

“Yeah. We should probably head toward were it landed.”

“Alright, lets go then.” she said with a smile.

They got up and walked in the direction it had landed. The jungle was lovely in the mid-day sun. The rays of light shining through created a surreal prism of green colors around them. Before very long, they reached the clearing were the Moonlight had landed. Already Holland and Mathieu were leaving the craft to search for them. Mathieu was the first to spot them.

“Hey Holland, look who’s here!” Mathieu yelled excitedly.

“Well, if it isn’t our heroic duo! Come on you two, we were just about to go looking for ya.” Holland told them with a grin on his face.

Once they boarded the Moonlight they were greeted with the warm and smiling faces of its crew. Linc, Maeter and Maurice all ran up to Eureka and hugged her yelling “Mama!”. Renton wasn’t forgotten by them, as they ran over to him next yelling “Papa!”.

“I hate to break up the reunion,” Mischa chimed in, “but I need to take Eureka into the infirmary for some diagnostics and a physical.”

She took Eureka to the Moonlight’s infirmary and proceeded to hook her up to pulmonary monitors and brain-wave analyzers.

“Alright, let me see your arm. I need to take a blood sample.” Mischa told her.

Eureka stretched out her arm so Mischa could draw the blood.

“Very good.” Mischa told her, “Nothing seems to be irregular in your blood pressure or the patterns of your brain-waves. The only thing strange here is the sequence of your DNA chain. It seems that the extra link present in corallians is missing.”

“Uh… What exactly does that mean?” Eureka asked, puzzled by the data Mischa had recited to her.

“It means you’re not a corallian anymore. Or at least, not completely…” Mischa said with a puzzled frown on her face.

“How can that be?” Eureka asked.

“I’m as confused as your are dear, but I’ll be looking into it.”

“Okay.”

“By the way,” Mischa began, “have you felt strange lately? Like any abnormalities or such?”

“Well, I was kinda sick to my stomach this morning. Just a little nauseous really…” Eureka replied.

“Interesting… I’ll need a urine sample from you, in that case.” Mischa said and handed Eureka a specimen cup to use. “Alright, I’ll tell you the results of the test in the morning.”

“Thank you Mischa.” Eureka said as she bowed and walked out the door.

-----

Renton was in the dining area with the rest of the crew, recounting his tale of how he had brought Eureka out of the Command-Cluster. Eureka walked into the room with a tired look on her face. She sat down beside Renton as Talho served the evening meal.

Eureka and Renton only ate between the questions they were bombarded with. Everyone wanted to know Eureka’s side of the story as to what happened inside the Command-Cluster.

Once they finished the meal, they both went to their separate rooms to rest for the night. Eureka got to her room, only to notice the empty feeling of Renton not being there. She tried to sleep, but the bed felt cold and void, so she decided to head to Renton’s room.

He had only just fallen into light sleep when the door slid open.

“Eureka?…” he asked sleepily, “Is something wrong?”

“I wondered if I could bed with you. My room seems rather… empty really.” She said with a slight blush on her face.

“Er… sure.” Renton replied, blushing as well. “Hey…”

“Hm?”

“What do you think we should tell everybody? You know, about… us?” Renton stammered.

“I really don’t know…” Eureka said. She looked a little worried at what he had mentioned, so Renton put his arm around her to comfort her.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” He told her with a smile on his face. She looked back at him with a puzzled look on her face.

“What bridge?”

“It’s just an old saying, forget about it. Now, let’s get some rest.”

Eureka did something that caught Renton off guard a little. As she laid down beside him, she locked her lips against his in a kiss. His cheeks lit up red with the heat of a blush. He, of course, feverishly returned the kiss. Their kiss finally broke and they slept.

Chapter III

What Did You Say?!

Finally, daybreak came. Mischa had spent the night processing the urine sample from Eureka, and was bewildered by the results. She only sat there, checking and rechecking the data on the sheet of paper.

“Jeez,” Mischa sighed, “I didn’t think you two would be so forward…” She whispered as she trailed off into a laughing fit. Once she had gotten her senses back, she got up from her desk to get Eureka. Upon arriving at Eureka’s room she was none-too-surprised that she wasn’t there. She simply turned around and walked down the hall, towards Renton’s room.

Just as she figured, Eureka was asleep in Renton’s room. She gently tapped Eureka’s shoulder to wake her up. Eureka woke up easily enough and went back to the infirmary with Mischa.

“Eureka,” Mischa began with a serious look on her face, “I have something important to tell you…”

-----

Renton was still in his room, asleep, by mid-day. He was happily dreaming about his new life with Eureka. In his dream they were walking down an aisle of friends and family. He was wearing a deep black tuxedo and Eureka was in the most vibrant violet dress one had ever seen. Just as they met at the end of the procession, a familiar voice woke him…

“Shrimp! Wake up lazy!” It was Talho trying to wake him for the news. He didn’t respond to her calls, so she landed a soft kick in his gut. It woke him as expected.

“Argh! Wha- what was that for?…” He whined to her.

“Mischa has some news for you, so get up!”

Renton sat up, yawning away the last of his dream. Talho walked out of his room to let him get a change of clothes on. Once he had dressed, Renton ran down the hall towards the infirmary. He arrived to be greeted by Eureka’s smiling visage.

“Renton!” she yelled excitedly, “Mischa just told me something wonderful!”

“Uh… what is it?” he asked puzzled.

“Mischa said I’m pregnant! She says I have a child growing inside me!”

Renton didn’t grasp her statement immediately, so he stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. Mischa spoke up to clarify things to him.

“Indeed she is Renton. I don’t know what you two ‘did’ out there, but Eureka has conceived. The match is positive to your DNA. You’re going to be a father soon.”

Renton was still lightheaded from being awoken so abruptly, so the news shocked him into fainting. He simply keeled over onto the floor, a sleepy smile on his face.

-----

“Renton… Renton… Wake up Renton…”

A wavy voice called out to the boy in his sleep. The voice was one he meant to answer, but couldn’t because he was sleeping. The thought to answer the voice kept being unconsciously pushed away. It wasn’t until he felt the voice’s lips on his that Renton awoke.

“Ah!” Renton sat up with a yell after Eureka’s wakeup call, “E- Eureka? Wha- What happened… Ow! Damn, what happened to my head. It hurts really bad…”

“You fainted from shock at the news, Renton.” Mischa said with a matter-of-fact tone.

“News…?” Renton said, still rubbing the back of his head.

“Hmm… you’ve been out-cold for about an hour. The fall probably knocked it right out of your head…” Mischa told him.

“Knocked what out of my head? Did I forget something I was supposed to do?” He asked, still puzzled to what was going on.

“Eureka is pregnant with your child.” Mischa said bluntly.

“She’s… pregnant?…” Renton mused, “Well, I could see how I guess…”

“Just make sure you take responsibility towards your’s and her future. It takes two to make, so to two the responsibility falls.” Mischa told him, reciting almost exactly what his sex-ed book had written in it.

“I know what you mean ma’am. Could I speak to you in private about something though?” Renton questioned, beginning to blush at the plan he was making.

“Uh… sure. Eureka, could you step out of the room for a moment?”

“Sure.” Eureka said, and walked out of the room.

“Now then, what was it you wanted to ask Renton?”

“Well, I was wondering about- I mean, if I can carry my… relationship with Eureka- if we could…” Renton tried to ask his question but only stammered the beginnings of about three different sentences.

“Spit it out Renton. I’m gonna be busy here shortly.” mischa said, growing impatient with his stammering.

“Ugh… I want to know if I can… if I can marry Eureka!?” Renton blurted out.

“Well, I knew this would probably come up.” Mischa mused, getting her typical tone of wisdom about her, “What I want to know is: Do you truly plan to stay beside her? Forever?”

“Of course!” Renton half screamed in reply.

“Well, the only thing I see in your way is the lack of a ring…”

“Umm… I do have this. It’s a ring my father left for me. It was in an envelope that read: ‘for the one’. does it look good?” Renton asked as he handed Mischa a bright silver ring inlaid with two beautiful stones. One stone was a light blue sapphire, the other was a deep violet amethyst. Both were as clear as spring water and shined beautifully in the light.

“Renton, this ring is amazing! Where in the name of Christmas did your father get it?” Mischa asked with an intrigued look on her face.

“I think it was a gift to my mom at some point.” He replied.

“This will do just fine as a proposal gift.” Mischa told him, “Wow, I’m kinda envious of Eureka now for such a wonderful ring.”

“Thanks.” Renton bowed and left the room.

“Well, that makes two more mouths to feed.” Mischa mused, “I better get started on balancing the budget…”

Chapter IV

Will You…?

Renton could hardly contain his excitement to ask her the question. It made his heart try to crawl up his throat thinking about how he would ask, but the determination was there. He grasped the ring of his father’s with nervous hands, hoping he wouldn’t have to ask her in front of others. As he was walking down the hall, his mind occupied with day-dreams, he accidentally bumped into Gidjet.

“Hey, watch were you’re going!” she told him.

“Sorry Gidjet. Hey, you know where Eureka is?”

“Yeah, she’s eating breakfast with everyone else in the dining room.”

“Thanks.” Renton said.

“By the way,” Gidjet began, “congrats on the news!”

Renton only blushed as Gidjet walked away. He couldn’t believe that the news of Eureka’s pregnancy had already gotten out. He knew it wouldn’t have been her that told, but more likely Stoner and Mathieu had heard it being discussed in the clinic. Still, he had a question he needed to ask. He planned to do such, even if it was in front of the whole crew of the Moonlight.

He turned down the hallway and headed for the dining room, his heart racing like it was going to burst.

“It’s finally here Renton.” he thought to himself, “The moment you’ve been waiting for since you met her. It’s here, don’t let it slip.”

So he took one more deep breath before stepping into the scan area and opening the door to the dining room. Just like Gidjet had said, everyone except for her was there. All eyes were on him once the door had opened. He looked around the room, giving his nerves a moment to calm, then walked over to Eureka and knelt in front of her.

“Renton, is something wrong?” she asked him in the meek voice he adored.

“Eureka,” he began, “there’s something I need to ask you…”

He could feel the eyes of everyone looking at him, and for a moment he lost his nerve. For only a moment, he wasn’t sure that he could ask her. It was the look of her beautiful violet eyes that reminded him why he wanted to ask. His confidence was restored by her compassionate eyes.

“Eureka… Will you…” he began again, yet didn’t finish.

“Will I what?” she asked.

“Will you marry me?” he finally managed the words. After asking, he offered her the ring, and nearly passed out with anticipation of her answer.

Eureka’s face lit up with joy as soon as Renton’s words had left his mouth. It obviously didn’t matter to her if everyone saw, seeing as how she threw her arms around him. The only reason she knew what it meant was her talk with Talho before entering the Great Wall.

“Oh Renton! Yes, I would be happy to!” she yelled to him, then firmly planted her lips against his. He forgot all about the others in the room and wrapped his arms around her, returning the kiss. Holland was the one who broke them out of it.

“Hey you two!” he said sternly, “Feelings aside, shouldn’t you get a room?”

They both lit up bright red in the cheeks. The moment had caused them to disregard any fear of embarrassment, making them forget there were others in the room.

“Well,” Talho started, trying to break the silence, “ I guess we’ll need to plan a reception, eh Holland?”

“Aren’t they a little too young?” Holland asked.

“Yeah, but I think an exception can be made. Considering what they went through to be with each other, right?”

“I guess, but they’d better be sure this is what they want.” Holland said with a wry smile, then winked at Renton.

“Well then,” Stoner began with a yawn, “I suppose I should call in a couple of favors, eh leader?”

“You just do that Stoner.” said Holland, “What I wanna know is, who should we have to wed them? We don’t know any holy ones…”

“What about Miss Tiptory?” Talho suggested, “Maybe she’d be willing to preside over the wedding.”

“Then it’s settled!” Holland exclaimed triumphantly, “We’ll get started on the planning Renton. Meanwhile, you two should think about some things…”

The crew got up from their positions, everyone muttering about what they planned to do for the wedding. They all walked out the door, heading their separate ways, except for Holland and Talho. Holland walked over to Renton and motioned for him to follow. They both walked out the door and headed towards Holland’s room. Eureka started to get up to follow, but Talho put her hand on Eureka’s shoulder telling her to stay.

“You and I should… discuss some things.” Talho told Eureka with a wry smile.

“Hey Renton, are you sure about all this?” Eureka asked him in her meek voice.

“Of course!” he replied “To tell you the truth, I’ve been wanting to ask you this since I met you. It seemed like a silly dream then but…”

“I’m glad.” she said, cutting him off. She softly laid her head against his shoulder and drifted off to sleep. Once more they lay sleeping together, unconsciously counting down the days before the wedding was scheduled to take place.

Only a month lay between them and the date of their ultimate union. They would be one in the eyes of the Almighty, and their love would be known to all. It was what Nirvash had meant for them to do, and what they wanted. Their union would be shouted out to the world.

Add to it that their child would be born around six months after their marriage, and you can see why they’d be so happy. It was only a matter of waiting now. Waiting and anticipating.