Astra's eyes widened with a mixture of confusion and, surprisingly, fear. She wanted to leap to her feet in shock and surprise, but the closest she got to that movement was raising her arms ever so slightly.

They trembled in the air, shaking with indecision, as she stared at the innocent little girl like she had seen a ghost. Which was saying something, since a ghost was possessing a suit of armour in the same room as her.

She wanted to lift the girl off, but her arms wouldn't move. She was reminded of the first moments after her first electrical drain, when her body was still violently lashing out with energy against anyone that touched her.

Although she had that condition under control now, she still had that same lingering fear of accidentally hurting or killing the girl just by touching her. It was like a delicate, extremely expensive Fabergé egg that she could crush to a pulp just by squeezing too hard.

Normal people were already scared of dropping babies, never mind crushing them like a toothpick.

The Dead Men standing nearby must have taken her apprehension and trembling arms, along with her face which was naturally angry and scary looking, to mean something else as they quickly rushed over and started to apologise profusely.

"We're s-sorry Ma'am. I don't know where she came from. It just appeared out of nowhere and was on you before we could stop it. Here, allow me! And please if you have to take your anger out on anyone, please do it on me.

I was already an elder in life, I don't need my second chance as much as the others."

While the elderly Dead Man was practically grovelling and begging for a merciful death, he was trying to pull the young girl off of Astra. The optimal word there being, trying.

The possessed armour was holding the toddler by her waist and was trying to lift her off, but the girl scrunched up her face and pouted in defiance. Her grip tightening around Astra so much that Astra's body was being lifted along with the girl.

"No! No! I'm helping! Stop it! I'm helping!"

The girl screamed and whined as she clung to Astra like a koala, refusing to let her go no matter what. After a few more attempts, Astra waved off the Dead Man.

"It's fine. It's fine, let her go."

Reluctantly, the elderly spectre released the toddler and stepped back, wringing his hands together in front of him nervously as he waited some kind of retribution for his failure. But no matter how long he waited, it would never come.

Instead Astra simply sat up, gently wrapping her arm around the girl and supporting her on her lap, as the toddler nuzzled into her more. Doing her best to infuse Astra with her most powerful healing hugs in order to help her heal, despite not being injured.

Astra's fearful nature around holding the girl had melted away in those last few moments, simply because she had felt the unbelievable strength of a girl so tiny. Never mind just lifting her off the ground, the tiny arms had been squeezing Astra so tight in order to stay attached that she was the one worried about being crushed instead.

Stroking the girls back softly, she smiled gently and spoke with a soft, reassuring tone. Although whether it came across that way with her natural expressions that made grown men shudder in fear, she had no idea. She just hoped she wouldn't scare the girl.

"It's okay... I uh... Thank you for your help. I'm all better now. No more soreness."

"Really? Goodie! Hehe~"

The girl looked up at Astra with big, sparkling eyes before breaking out into a chorus of giggles that were accompanied by a large smile. Her adorable face practically radiated joy, and as soon as her smile appeared, a new feeling wrapped around Astra's heart.

But it wasn't the barbed wire of guilt like before. Instead it felt like those adorable, tiny hands had reached into Astra's chest and were wringing her heart like a sponge, squeezing it tight with every high pitched giggle and forcing every ounce of love out of her.

A strange feeling shot through Astra's entire body, and it felt like some switch had been flipped deep in the core of her very being. A shudder coursed through every muscle as a wave of energy surged within her and nearly made her ovaries explode just from the power of that smile.

A singular thought not only filled her mind, but every fibre of her being.

'This smile must be protected at all costs!'

The girl's joy lifted her up, literally. As the girl giggled, her tiny body started to drift into the air, eventually leaving her seat on Astra's chest as she floated freely above the ground. She tumbled backwards, holding her feet, which only caused her to giggle and rise further.

Sparks flew around Astra's body as she shot off the ground, Gliding into the air after the floating toddler, and wrapped her arms around that tiny body once more. Placing her hand on the girl's back, Astra held her close to her body tightly as her feet touched back down onto the ground gently and elegantly, with the girl secure in her arms.

Containing those overwhelming feelings that were wanting to burst out of her throbbing heart, Astra gazed over the adorable, yet peculiar, little angel and couldn't help but notice a few... similarities in her appearance.

She had messy, shoulder length hair that Astra was already running her fingers through in an effort to straighten, but the hairs just stuck to her fingers from the small static charges and made everything worse.

The girl giggled more as her hair was made even more messed up, but Astra was more concerned about the colour of the girl's hair. More specifically the colours, plural, as it was two toned. Black and white.

Most of her hair was black, but strands of pure white framed her cute face.

The girls eyes were pure silver, like they had molten mercury poured into them, and had black fingernails. Even now in her young age, those finger nails were quite well grown, and already shaped into small points.

On the back of her fingers, her hands and along her forearms there were hints of red scales that weren't properly formed or hardened just yet.

Clearing her throat nervously, and feeling like she already knew the answer, Astra smiled softly at the young girl and spoke with a gentle tone.

"Sweetheart, do you know how you got here?"

"Yeah! Mama and Papa made me with magic!"

"And... do you know who your Mama is?"

"Hehe, that's a silly question. It's you, Mama!"

Astra smiled again at the girls angelic giggles, hugging her ever so slightly tighter as she did so. Her smile was... complicated. An absolute mess of emotions and newly awakened feelings were swirling and crashing around inside of her, eventually starting to leak out as a few tears that trailed down her cheek.

She kissed the girls head, hugging her tighter again as she rested her cheek against the top of the girls head. Her voice a soft whisper.

"Yeah... You're right. Mama was being silly."

At that same moment, a long groan came from across the room as Seth stirred. His hands slowly reaching up to his head before pressing against his eyes.

"Fuck.. Even like this I get migraines?! How is that fair. Oh god... Feels like he played basketball with my brain then ran it over a few times with a steamroller for good measure."

Grumbling and mumbling to himself, Seth slowly sat up and peeled open his eyes to be greeted to the sight of Astra, holding a young infant girl that was the spitting image of her, except for the eyes and lack of scarring.

He glanced between them silently for a few seconds, his face slack as his brain was struggling to catch up on what was going on, before he simply laid back down and rolled over onto his side.

"Nope... Not dealing with this one."

"Don't you dare go back to sleep on me Mister! Get your ass up and explain yourself!"

Seth let out sharp yelps as a few bolts of lightning struck him right in the butt, jolting him back awake and forcing him to leap to his feet from the pain. But instead of getting any sympathy, all he heard in response was the sound of a child's laughter.

"What is it with you always zapping me?! That's not very nice you know!"

Seth whined as he rubbed his rear, only to clamp his mouth shut as Astra held out a sparking finger while shooting him another death glare.

"It's time for you to explain yourself. But first, Meet your daughter."

Seth gulped nervously, stepping forwards towards them. He completely ignored the onlookers they had in the room as he slowly closed the distance.

He had made plenty of Anima before, and while he called them his Children and truly thought of them as such, something about this just felt... difference. Just at the sight of her, he could feel a connection.

The heart beating in his chest urged him forwards, as if it didn't belong to him anymore and instead to the pair before him.

With a trembling hand, Seth reached forwards and, as the girl's tiny hand closed around his outstretched finger, a bright smile blossomed on his face.

"Hey there sweetie."

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