The Tale From the Goddess: Remember Her Angel

Tale of Tass: The Future Champion

Did I ever tell you that someone asked if my partner was gonna lay an egg?" Maxwell fiddled with his mate's wings.

"Now why would someone ever think that?" Tass chuckled, then cringed after Max pulled out a "keepsake feather."

"I don't know. Maybe because you have wings, I guess?" He lowered his hands on Tass's stomach, "plus, you do look a little...big."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up bearing twins," Palutena interjected while walking by.

"Lady Palutena! I am not that big!" Tass blushed as her eyes darted down, "...am I?"

"Tass, you're literally wearing one of my dresses because-and I quote-'the loose fit feels better.'"

 The angel and the goddess exchanged looks before the latter let herself out.

Turns out that angels gestate slightly longer than humans.

They do what, now?

You know how female humans are pregnant for nine months?

Yeah...?

Well, your mother carried you for twelve.

...is that why my birthday's so late?

Maybe.

"You think the baby's gonna have wings?" Maxwell thought aloud.

 "Why wouldn't it have wings?" Tass was both confused and humored.

"Because you're an angel and I'm a mortal? The thought just came to me. You are  technically carrying a crossbreed."

A crossbreed? What's that, Lady Palutena?

The result of two different species having a baby.

Is that why I can't fly?

No...there's another reason for that...

It didn't take long for Tass to fall asleep, and it was another case of her doing so on her mate's chest. (When an angel commits to a relationship, it shows in many ways.)

It was almost like a cat getting comfortable on her owner. 

Sometimes Tass would stir a little bit in her sleep due to a restless baby poking at her(she was near due soon so that was a given), a somewhat easy calm-down with a touch from either Maxwell or Palutena. Despite the former being her lover, the latter volunteered for that more. Maybe it had something to do with Tass being her beloved champion?

* * *

Tass had been looking foward to three things: resuming her duties, being able to fly again, and most importantly, seeing her baby for the first time. Sure, she hated being cloud-bedridden, but it felt more and more worth it as her final trimester progressed. A lot of her "imbalanced" feathers had molten at this point, and she lined her cloud-bed perfectly with them.

"Maybe you really are gonna lay an egg," Palutena joked.

"Lady. Palutena," Tass stood from where she was lying down, "for the last time," she gently slapped her belly, "This. Is not. An egg."

"I don't know...it is fairly uncommon knowledge that angels aren't too far of descendants of birds."

"What do you know?"

"Did you just ask the goddess of wisdom and light what she knows?"

Wait. Are angels really-

Pit, I was just messing with her. Can't a goddess have any fun?

 
 

"Don't listen to her, baby," Tass muttered through a wing-formed cocoon while cradling her belly, "she's just tryna get on Momma's nerves. Besides, given how much you move in there, I highly doubt you'd come out as a egg."

So what if a lining of loose feathers provided extra comfort? So what if it doubled as an extra way to stay warm? Winter had just begun! Tass needed all the heat she could get! 

She needed to get up. She didn't care if she got jelly legs, she had the urge to just get out of bed.

But at the very moment she stood up, a sharp pain shot through her stomach.

"L-Lady Palutena...? Maxie...?" Her words sounded agonized.

"Tass?!" Palutena re-entered, "what's wrong?!"

"Go and get Maxie...he's about to be a daddy!"

* * *

Maxwell had a lot of questions regarding the state of his poor mate.

"What's going on with my sweet angel? What hurt her? Why are her wings flapping like crazy? Wh-"

"MAXWELL, ENOUGH!" Tass shouted while stomping.

"The wing flaps are an angel's sign of distress," the goddess explained to the human, "It's enough movement to draw attention but not enough momentum to fly-"

"Why is she so stressed out? Answer me, goddess!"

"She's so stressed because she's about to have your baby!"

"Stop fighting..." Tass choked on pained tears, "you'll make it worse..." She held onto both of them tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Tass..." Palutena embraced the hug. The wing flapping calmed down slowly, "You know this has never happened to one of my angels before..."

Yeah...the rest of that day was spent making sure everything went alright.

Lady Palutena was the first thing her champion's newborn saw.

"Hi, baby," the goddess cooed, "I'm the goddess Palutena."

The infant grunted and shifted in the goddess's arms, revealing tiny, fuzz-covered wings.

"...he has wings..." Maxwell was awestruck, then suddenly in tears.

"Is everything alright?" Palutena nearly let out a nervous laugh.

"I'm fine! The guys were definitely right about fatherhood making a new man out of you," he bearhugged the goddess once her hands were free, "Thanks for everything you've done for us...Lady Palutena."

Palutena's heart lit up at those words. He'd never called her "Lady" up until this moment. (Normally from him she got "Miss" or "M'am," and she couldn't care less about those terms.)

"You've made a good choice," she glanced over at a tired-but overjoyed-Tass, "my sweet angel mama."