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Lucky

Marigold, the flower of luck

By Tyler C DouglasPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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Lucky
Photo by v2osk on Unsplash

"What was that you said before, love? 'Let's take the train, dear. We shouldn't strain you much more than we already have.' Something like that?" snarked a short woman with long, golden-haired as she raises her steel tonfas up to protect herself from a massive white talon. The muscles on her arms bulge as she guards against the impact.

"Look, I just thought ‘we had done a job, and you're pregnant and could give birth at any moment; maybe we should splurge and take the train?’ How was I supposed to know everyone on this train was having a bad day?!" A tall, broad man desperately shouts back as he scurries to reload his shotgun, avoiding a couple of deep-red bull-shaped beasts.

Lilac Lockwood and her husband Bastis Lockwood are trying to make their way back home to their hometown of Knoll. Knoll is a small, nothing-special sort of town resting along the coast in the continent of Highland. Lilac and Bastis Lockwood, like many others in the continent of Highland, are hunters of the dark creatures. Dark Creatures are beings born of the negative feelings that all living beings hold inside of them. Dark hunters like Lilac and Bastis Lockwood protect people by fighting off these nightmare creatures. The more people feel safe and protected, the more likely the number of dark creatures will reduce. That will lead to less fear, anger, sadness, and all manner of negative feelings that birth these beings from thin air which will lead to less monsters and so on. These two are currently engaged in battle atop their train.

Bastis finishes reloading his shotgun and turns around to take his shots. He gets off one shot which completely blows one of the red bulls back, causing it to roll and tumble off the top of the train and begin rapidly desiccating. The dead bull's friend notes this, and its temper flares, causing it to burst into bright, hot flames. Bastis gulps as he waits for the bull to come towards him. With the reaction time proper of a dark hunter, Bastis rolls out of the way of the flaming bull causing the bull to slide unsteadily along the train's roof and almost sending off the edge of the train. The sheer heat emanating off of the creature does cause slight burns on Bastis's bare arms.

"Ennnn." Bastis groans, sucking air through his teeth.

Lilac Lockwood is locked in a fierce stalemate with a dark-blue-colored crow-like monster on the other end of the train. Creatures born of a specific negative emotion tend to get specialized powers centered around that feeling. Anger produces red creatures which tend to be able to manipulate fire and heat. Green creatures are creatures of envy who can quickly adapt to their opponents' fighting styles to overcome them. Dark-blue creatures are creatures of the unknown, born of a living being's uncertainty of what they do not know, and they are some of the most unpredictable dark creatures.

Lilac holds steady blocking the crow's attacks. Each tonfa batting off the crow's talons with ease. Tired of being on the defensive, Lilac opts to duck under one of the crow's slashes and attempts to use her rising momentum to her advantage and uppercut the massive, monstrous crow assaulting her. To her surprise, the tonfa passes through the crow's form as if it wasn't even there. Lilac blinks in confusion only to notice the crow making its way to a downed Bastis who had just been burnt by one of the bulls he was fighting.

"It can make itself intangible!" Lilac yells. Suddenly she grits her teeth. Pain shoots through her in her abdomen, causing her to fall to her knees.

Bastis hears his wife shout out to him, followed by the sound of beating wings. He turns his head enough to look back and see the dark-blue crow coming his way while his wife is curled up on the roof of the train car groaning in pain. Bastis checks his ammo patch and he only has one extra shell left aside from the one in his gun. He looks back in front of him, and the bull has finally gotten turned back around and is starting to charge forward. Bastis gets turned around and starts running directly towards his wife as fast as he can. In his way is the massive deep-blue crow. Bastis raises his shotgun as he runs. The crow extends its talons to tear into Bastis. Taking an enormous gamble, Bastis fires his shotgun when the barrel nearly touches the crow's face. In an act of self-preservation, the crow made itself intangible to avoid being shot to bits. This intangibility allows Bastis to pass through unharmed and continue his dead sprint towards his wife.

Confused by Bastis' tactic, the crow becomes tangible again, only to be gored by the raging red bull. The bull's charge is hardly impeded by the crow or its now desiccating corpse on its horn as it charges towards Bastis. He makes it to Lilac.

"The baby's coming, Bastis."

Bastis panics, "N-now? Right now?"

"Yes," Lilac answers bluntly. "I have an idea, but it is risky at best."

"I...I trust you." her husband responded.

The bull continues to charge forward, picking up speed as it goes. Bastis picks up Lilac in both hands and runs toward the edge of the train. The bull sees this, its temper flares at the idea of its prey escaping it. Hence, its fire starts burning brightly again, and its speed rapidly increases. Bastis jumps off of the train top, and sure enough, the bull follows suit jumping after the couple. As the bull was getting ready to land on Bastis and Lilac, a gun barrel appeared underneath Bastis' arm, pointing directly up at the bull. A gun roars. The shot blows the red bull's head clean off and sends the couple rapidly towards the ground.

Bastis flips his and Lilac's position moments before impact and ends up taking the brunt of the blow as they land on the ground and slide down the hill that leads down from the train tracks. Bastis' huge body acts as a makeshift sled for the pregnant mother as it displaces the ground beneath them. Eventually, the duo slides down far enough and makes it to the bottom of the hill. They start rolling a little more wildly once they make it to flatter ground until their momentum eventually gives way. The couple finds themselves lying in a field of wild marigolds.

"Bastis?"

"Yes, Lilac?"

"You okay?"

"Yes. Well, no, but yes. I'm more concerned about you and the baby."

Lilac reaches down to touch her womb.

"It still hurts like it did on the train, so I think the baby is okay."

Lilac lays flat on her back and closes her eyes for a second, and tries to get a handle on her breathing. She reaches out her hand and grabs Bastis' hardy palm. Bastis feels a warm sensation traveling up from his hand and through his body. His pain starts fading, and his wounds feel a little less severe. Lilac and Bastis, like many dark hunters, have special abilities that allow them to better combat the monsters they fight or help others in the fight. These abilities are thought to be extensions of who they indeed are or want to be.

"Lilac, I don't think you should be using your power to heal me while you're about to give birth."

"Someone's gotta help me deliver this baby, Bas. Unless your power also lets you sense when doctors are around, then you're going to have to step up and do it."

Bastis sits up, groaning a little from his injuries. "B-but I don't."

Lilac strengthens her grip on Bastis and stops healing him.

"You can do it, big guy. It's like baking a cake."

"How?"

Lilac's firm grip becomes a crushing one.

"If you don't take off my pants and help get this baby out of me, I will lose my mind."

Bastis stops trying to fight it and gets Lilac ready to give birth. He tries to prop her up in as proper a position as possible using his various equipment pouches and such. Lilac breathes rhythmically with her contractions, and Bas offers encouragement and support when he can. They work together as best as they can with what they have. Bastis suddenly perks up and looks around.

"Monsters are nearby. A lot."

"ARRRRRGH!” Lilac yells. “You better pray for a miracle then, love. Because I can't get up and fight them." she adds.

"And I'm out of shells...Maybe I can pick you up?"

Bastis attempts to pick up his wife, but she shrieks in pain as he tries. This prompts him to return her back to her original position. The man looks around. Yellow creatures of fear, shaped like wolves, start enclosing around them. Bastis is trembling. His shaky hands pick up Lilac's tonfas which just barely jut out past his knuckles, and he can scarcely grab them by their handles since his hands are so much bigger than his wife's.

"C-c-come and get it."

At his prompt, one of the wolves jumps forward to attack. Bastis' eyes shut as he threw all his power into a punch to hit it back. His arm, fully extended and shaky, doesn't meet any resistance. He opens his eyes and sees the yellow wolf that approached him and all of the others around them had been taken down. Large shards of ice jutting out from their rapidly desiccating bodies. Light snow began falling. Bastis turned around to make sure Lilac was okay.

Lilac, lying in a field of Marigolds, sweaty and tired, was holding a beautiful little girl. She smiled down at her daughter then looked up at her husband.

"Look who survived falling off a train while being born," Lilac said, waving one of the baby's arms. Bastis immediately ran and kneeled beside them.

"Our luck just keeps piling up. I don't even know what to say."

"Marigold."

Bastis shakes his head, exiting his stupor. "What?"

"That's her name, don't you think? Marigold Lockwood. She was born in a field of marigolds, after all."

Bastis looks down at Lilac and his daughter. The mother gently swayed their daughter back and forth. Bastis feels tears start to form in his eyes. He picks up a marigold from the field and tucks the singular flower behind his daughter's ear.

"Marigolds are said to bring good luck. And we've been nothing short of lucky all day." He cups his daughter's tiny face. "I think Marigold is the perfect name."

Lilac elbows Bastis. "Always got to be so sentimental."

Bastis and Lilac share a laugh then cuddle close to baby Marigold amid the marigold field as a light snowfall comes down and melts quickly on the ground. A cloaked figure hiding behind a distant tree smiles before disappearing into the thick of the trees.

Fantasy
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