There was no throne for her, no temple or priests, no unified way to worship or win Babel’s attention above the others. She would say she never played favorites, but that would be a lie, because she did have favorites. As she strolled through the sprawling city she smiled warmly, waving or nodding at those who recognised her, making her way to her usual haunts to see the families who regularly called on her.

“So, this is Babylon?” a voice asked, causing Babel to startle ever so slightly. Babel turned and saw Danny walking beside her, except it wasn’t quite Danny. The person who walked beside her was far more Demon, with her horns, tail, and strangely lit eyes. It looked like a version of Danny, but not quite. “I don’t know what I was expecting. The bible makes this place sound like a den of sin and evil.”

“Don’t believe everything you read, especially anything King James had rewritten.” She continued walking through the streets as she spoke to Danny. “I admit, I feel like I’m missing something. How are you here with me, Danny?”

She turned, smiling warmly at Babel, her fangs catching the morning sun. “I’m not Danny. Well… I am, but I’m not. I am her Eidolon.”

“Oh, I guess that makes a bit more sense. How, though?” Babel asked.

Eidolon smiled warmly at Babel. “You saved Danny’s life by using your Meta to rebuild her mind, and through that you achieved your goal.”

Babel stopped walking, blinking as she thought.

“I’ve made her my child,” Babel thought out loud, bringing her thumb to her lips and biting on her nail in concern. “She’s going to hate me for this.”

“I doubt that,” Eidolon said, shaking her head. “She’s repressing a lot of her memories right now, and she’s having problems being able to identify reality. It’s something she’s inherited from you, but it should get better with time.”

Babel tried recalling one of the last things that Meta had told her, about how she’d been unraveling.

She sighed as she took in her surroundings. “If we’re here, then I’m unconscious. That’s not a good sign.”

“Perhaps not, but really the question shouldn’t be ‘how are we here,’ instead: why are we here? I don’t know any more about this place than Danny does,” Eidolon sais, admiring the architecture.

“Babylon,” Babel turned to face where her home was, seeing the sprawling tower still being constructed, “was always beautiful to me. Vibrant, loving, a hodgepodge mishmash of culture and society. I loved it because this was where everyone was unified in the belief of moving forward together, not for the sake of any one God or Goddess.” Babel leaned against a wall, taking the sun onto her face. “I was there, long before the Gods… well, we were.”

Eidolon stood across from Babel, getting comfortable. “The Parturients?”

Babel shook her head. “No, the Tutelaries. We were among the first to interact with Humans, but we were never very strong or powerful. Not compared to other Demons or Gods. I… can almost remember before Humans even had a word for ‘house,’ before they’d tamed dogs or learned how to farm or sew. They used to call on us to protect them, help them through hardships, defend them from ‘Evil Spirits’, even to bless their babies. We didn’t desire or need the Human’s worship, all we needed was to be acknowledged.

“It was here, in Babylon, when I began to see more than just cults forming. It wasn’t just other Tutelaries growing in strength or influence, and it wasn’t some Human attempting to conquer. I felt the birth of something powerful, something well beyond my understanding. It organized the people, or at least, it started to. I didn’t mind overall, because if the Humans were happy, so was I. And then they began performing rituals, purges, forming doctrines and lines in the sand, becoming ‘Us and Them’. The Humans I had grown to love were changing, and not by their own accord.”

Babel sighed, her eyes drifting to the dirt at her feet.

“What happened?” Eidolon asked, curious but shaken.

“Religion wasn’t a foreign concept to us. Those of us who lived among the Humans kicked the idea around from time to time, though under different ideals and such, but we always found it distasteful. It was nothing short of manipulation. Manipulate people to get stronger, organize them and eventually weaponize them towards our own ends. Most of us declined the ideas, and those of us who found it appealing grew to become lesser known Gods, some even major. In the end, though…” Babel turned her gaze back to the tower, and it was fully built. The sky was dark and the clouds hung ominously in the air. “I couldn’t let them do it without a fight.”

Something that looked almost like a flaming bolt fired from the top of the tower, shooting into the clouds and beyond. For a moment an impossible silence deafened the city. Then a blood-chilling roar of hatred and displeasure rang out, shaking everything. The tower was struck by several massive red bolts of lightning, and in an instant detonated. People ran from their homes and screamed in terror, the whole of Babylon under siege from the red lightning. There was screaming, fire, agony, and then… silence.

Babel could not lift her eyes to survey the ruins around her. She didn’t need to. “That tower was my home, a testament towards not needing a unified theology to be a unified people. I was taken from my lover, Nimrod, in the middle of the night. I don’t remember anything about my captivity, not directly, only that there was a pain so blinding I hardly could remember I existed as anything else before it. Though, what the being who took me didn’t know was that I had begun teaching Nimrod how to use Legerdemain. I had taught him some basics, mainly how to read certain texts, but after I was taken he read up on some of my more… advanced magic.

“He ran to the top of my tower, and fired an arrow at ‘God’. It must have hit the creature, and it must have hurt badly, because in his wrath he destroyed my home and my city. I woke up among the ash and the dead days later,” Babel said, her voice getting quieter as she spoke. “A people I had protected since before Humanity had villages… all dead in a single afternoon because I taught them to have their own ideas.”

“That’s horrible, truly, but why would we be here, right now? Are you still kicking yourself for this?” Eidolon asked.

“Yes, but no. That was bad… but… after I awoke…” Babel started, but was cut off by terrible screaming. She flinched from the sound, a saddened sigh escaping her. Babel pointed off into the distance, where someone stood over a corpse, wielding a rather large sword. The man looked… off. The angles of his face were sharp, his body moved rigidly but powerfully, his demeanor was entirely devoid of emotion, his eyes burned with an immutable intelligence… and they never blinked. He walked through broken down homes and other debris, and when he found a living person he would run them through with his sword. Their flesh would burn, pop, and sizzle at the touch of the blade, as if it itself was red-hot.

“What the fuck is that?” Eidolon asked, fully facing it.

“That, dearest one, is the Angel Justitiarius. This was the first time I’d ever seen an Angel. I’d heard of some people seeing these creatures before this moment in time, but no one I knew or any spirit I knew, had ever seen one. They felt like a fantasy story, until it was here.” Another person screamed in the distance, causing both Babel and Eidolon to jump. “There is only one Justitiarius, but I’ve never known there to be need for more. This… is why I’m here. Because I’m afraid.”

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I doubt it even knows you’re alive.” Eidolon said, trying to comfort Babel.

“You don’t know, but we’re on a timer. There’s a countdown that neither of us can stop now. When it happens, Danny will become what she desires most, and I will be the one to birth her into this new form. When that happens…” Babel waited for the screaming to happen again, looking with terror into Eidolon’s eyes. “He will come for me, and by extension, he will come for her.”

**

Danny smiled shyly as she put her clothes back on, occasionally stealing glances at Ariana. “I… that was…” Danny chuckled at her own stuttering. “Thank you.”

Ariana winked at Danny, smiling confidently as she slipped herself back into her pants. “You’re such a bottom.”

Danny chuckled, running her fingers through her hair again.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. One of us has to be emotionally constipated,” Danny said, raising an eyebrow, causing Ariana to look back at her with humorous shock.

“Did you just call me, ME, emotionally constipated?”

“It’s okay that you are,” Danny said, toying with her.

“Excuse me, little miss ‘I need to be possessed before I’m willing to admit my feelings’!” Ariana retorted.

“Oh, you’re absolutely excused,” Danny said, sticking her tongue out at Ariana and giggling to herself. Danny was finally over being frustrated and was moving into contentment. She still wanted to leave, but she doubted they’d let her just saunter out. Not unless she threw a huge fit and made a mess, but then if she did that, Mr. Dick could take her head off before she could get two steps out. “So… what are you up to when you’re not here?”

“Not much,” Ariana replied.“I’ve gone to work and class, explained to our friends that you got sick and are quarantined, and I made sure to get a Doctor’s note for your classes so they don’t think you’ve just dropped out.”

“Oh, right! I’d almost entirely forgotten school. How’d you manage to get me two weeks of leniency?” Danny asked. She imagined several scenarios, some of which involved her begging, some of her getting angry and yelling at the teachers. She had to admit, the thought of aggressive Ariana was starting to- NO, no. Danny shook her head, trying to get the invading feelings to leave.

“Well, first off having a world-class surgeon sign a note stating that you’d been in a severe accident at the hands of something supernatural, and that you’ve come down with a rare disease in the meantime seems to be fairly persuasive. I barely had to do more than give them the note,” Ariana recounted, a conspiratorial look to her eye. “They may not know what it is you’ve come down with, but if you’re wanting to ever go back to class, you’re going to have to come out, babygirl. They’ll notice something’s different.”

Danny looked at herself again in the mirror, tilting her head. “It’s so strange, there are moments where I remember bits and pieces of my old self. Being Trans seems like… such a foreign concept. I feel like I just AM a woman, you know? I feel like if I stop concentrating on it, I’ll forget it again.”

“Well, as the Doc said, you’re lucky you’re even alive. You pulled through because of your link to Babel--who knows what that did to you?”

“My mother saved me, simple as that,” Danny said, sighing slightly. “I wish she’d come back. I haven’t seen her since I was very little. Her saving me doesn’t make up for her disappearing on me, but it does give her a good reason to attempt to talk again.”

“Baby, Cinthia is your mother, not Babel,” Ariana said, taking Danny’s face in her hands.

Danny’s face contorted in confusion. “I… I don’t… what?” Danny gently removed Ariana’s hands from her face, staring directly at her in frustration. “Ari, Babel is, in fact, my mother.”

“Would you please explain it, then? None of us understand how Babel is your mother.” Ariana said, concern leaching into her voice.

Danny merely smiled widely, unperturbed, almost excited. “She just is. I don’t know how else to explain it except that, more than just being inside of me, she is a piece of me. I am changing, and I will continue to change, both because I want it and because it’s what I am.” Danny reached up and began playing with an earlobe, chuckling a bit. “Maybe I’d be more concerned if I could remember everything, but the fact is, I don’t. Not right now, anyways. Although…” Danny’s eyes lit up ever so slightly, and she looked deep into Ariana’s eyes, a comfortable smile crossing her lips. “I will remember. I will get it all back. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. And until then, for your sake, I will try to hold off on more… elaborate… changes. That way you know it’s me and not just her influence.”

“And what if you don’t remember?” Ariana’s eyes were sharp, accusatory.

“I will.”

“But what if you don’t?” Ariana’s tone was heavier than before, and Danny could feel the weight of her conscience grow in doubt.

“But… I wi-”

“Answer me.”

Danny froze, her eyes darting between Ariana’s. The idea that she wouldn’t regain her memories didn’t even feel like a possibility, she felt that it was a guarantee. Though, under the pressure of Ariana’s gaze, she knew doubt. “Then… I will defer to your judgment on how to proceed. If I’m really that broken, where I’m no longer me, then I trust you know me best… and you would know what I’d really want.”

Ariana sighed, folding her arms. “But then… that’s not fair to you. If you’re all that’s left of Danny, or the Danny I knew, I would be robbing you of your life like she was robbed of hers.”

Hearing Ariana refer to her as if she was someone else… it hurt. She remembered Ariana, how they met and all of the secrets they’d shared, the intimate moments. Danny felt like the same woman Ariana had always known, and yet she felt like Ariana regarded her as someone not quite Danny. Danny turned around, dropped her hands at her sides, and let herself become lost in thought. Her fingers drummed the long-practiced beat against the side of her leg, anxiety building up in her.

“I am still me...” Danny whispered to herself.

**

Ariana watched as Danny’s usual tic presented itself.

“I am still me… I’m still Danny.”

She could barely hear Danny speak, and when she walked closer to get her attention, Danny walked hurriedly to the other side of the room, avoiding her. She mumbled imperceptibly from the other side of the room, not allowing Ariana to get any closer no matter how she advanced.

“Baby, please talk to me,” Ariana said, reaching out for Danny again, only for her to pull away. Ariana wasn’t sure what she’d said or done wrong, but the feeling that she’d triggered this episode was eating at her core.

“Danny,” a voice said from the bed, “come here.”

Both Danny and Ariana turned to see Babel sitting on the bed. She looked tired, but still she smiled. Albeit, her smile was different than usual, more inviting.

Danny raced over to Babel, throwing herself into Babel’s embrace. Babel rubbed Danny’s shoulder as she held Danny.

“Do you remember what I told you about us being like blobs of paint?” Babel asked, evidently knowing the questions on their lips.

Danny nodded.

“Normally, we would mix you and me together to make a third, separate being. Because you were almost killed… I had to do more than that to save you.”

Danny sat up, holding one of Babel’s hands. “What do you mean?”

“I had to give something up, and instead of mixing to make a third color, I had to make you that third color.” Danny watched Babel silently as she explained, while Ariana seethed on the side.

“So… you really did remake her,” Ariana accused, her fists balled.

“No, I didn’t. She is still herself. To use the same paint metaphor, there’s always varying shades of self, and right now it’s this shade that’s present. She is healing from major psychic trauma.” Babel looked up towards Ariana. “She is healing.”

“How can you know that for sure?” Ariana wanted to reach out and strangle Babel with her bare hands, only making Babel look at her with a softer expression.

“Because to save Danny, I’ve killed myself.” Babel took a shaky, ragged breath. “I revealed myself as soon as I was able, to tell you that Danny will be okay, but also to tell you to be careful. Things have been set in motion that neither Danny nor I can avoid, with serious permanent consequences. What you need to know, and all I can say for now, is that something will come for her. Something that makes that Cambion seem like a trip to the lazy river at a waterpark. It will come for her, and it won’t stop until it has her, and it will kill everyone that defends her.”

**

“Fuck me…” Skylar said, sitting down in a chair after hearing Babel talk. Richard wasn’t a man easily moved by his emotions. Time and experience had taught him that keeping a calm, level head about these sorts of things was almost always the best way forward.

Richard pulled his cigarettes from his pocket, lighting one and taking a long, thoughtful drag. “Call your Uncle. We might have caught ourselves a big fish.”

Skylar didn’t say anything, just stood up from where she sat to go call him in private. Richard, on the other hand, stood at the two-way mirror, staring at Babel. He had muted his feelings, but watched her intently, trying to figure out what her angle in all of this was. Why here, and now?

Richard didn’t believe in coincidences, he believed in patterns, and he didn’t like where this one was leading.

KrakenRiderEmma

Parturient is written by The Wolf Among the Woods and presented by KrakenRiderEmma as part of the Nexus NYC shared universe. She's currently planning on writing about one or two chapters per week. The Wolf Among the Woods is a growing author, so please be sure to encourage her with a "TFTC," a favorite or a comment! She's interested in your thoughts and feedback.

If you’re looking for some more bizarre, supernatural gender-bender stories, check out our other series set in the same universe, written by the KrakenRiderEmma collaboration:

• Succubated! — a parish priest possessed by a succubus who wants his body... transformed into hers!
• Redraw Me — a trans girl discovers a magical means of transition, but it's not without complications...
• SYNCHRONY::OVERRIDE — a private investigator gets abducted to a pocket dimension and a strange new body.
• Samira's Curse — a smutty little romp about two friends who run afoul of a misfiring family curse.