Overlord Legacy - Chapter Seventeen - When Everything Crumbles

Midnight wakes up early to get ready for work, deciding to spend a few extra minutes in the shower. She'd expected to to enjoy the last few days, and in a way she has. Midnight's sensual desires and fantasies are satisfied whenever she wants by two different men - and she sometimes wants to multiple times in one day. Midnight can grab Jakkson when Oliver goes to the salon, and when Oliver returns, she can simply send Jakkson out to hunt. Neither man has any idea what's going on behind their backs. It is truly the delight of an evil Overlord slave owner.

However, other factors have worked to dampen Midnight's spirit. For one thing, Phantom's coming and going has been more and more erratic, so she additionally has to guess when he's leaving the castle to make love to one of her other men (for surely if he found out what was going on, she doubts even stuffing a sock in his mouth and locking him in a closet would keep him silent). Secondly, it's getting harder and harder to keep her own emotions out of the way. The last thing she needs right now is to actually get attached to one man or the other.

Thirdly, the last couple days she's been feeling awfully sick. She doesn't understand it, except that Phantom has recently been putting honey into his peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. He claims it's perfect quality, but with Midnight throwing up throughout the day, she's starting to seriously doubt that claim.

Midnight steps out of the shower, not sure if the extra time really made a difference in her mood or not. She reaches up to touch her hair and is shocked when her fingertips come back hot pink.

Midnight: "What in...?"

Midnight: "Why, Phantom, why?!?"

Phantom, of course, can't hear her. He just finishes his gardening outside when he hears a musical jingle coming up the street. Curious, Phantom wanders into the front yard. Parked in front of the house is what used to be Rufus' biggest nightmare - the ice cream truck.

One man's nightmare is another fairy's delight, however. Phantom zooms up to the window, gardening money in pocket.

Ice cream man: "What'll ya have?"
Phantom: "Hmm....ooh! What's the bunny thing?"
Ice cream man: "The bunny thing? Meh, I think it's strawberry-flavored or somethin'."

Phantom: "...I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life. If I ever grow up, I think I wanna be an ice cream truck driver."

Phantom eats his ice cream, then comes back inside to find Midnight's finger waving in his face.

Midnight: "YOU need to stop putting honey in the sandwiches! I'm feeling sick again."
Phantom: "But it's perfect quality honey."
Midnight: "Well, maybe I'm allergic to honey. Just quit putting them in the sandwiches! Make something else!"
Phantom: "Okay, okay...I'll go do that right now."

 Midnight: "Urp....oh please, don't tell me I have to call in sick for work..."

Midnight: "....Ugh. This is.....sigh. I can't...I can't go into work feeling like this. We have drill practices today. I won't last five minutes without barfing."

Disgusted in herself, Midnight takes the day off from work, hoping Phantom quits putting honey in the sandwiches and she gets to feeling better soon.

Almost as soon as Midnight hangs up the phone, it rings, startling her. She checks the caller ID. Her heart hits the floor. It's her mother. No....please, no....not right now....
Midnight: "....Mother?"
She can barely recognize her mother's voice over the sobbing and choking. Midnight closes her eyes and wishes with all her heart that her's mother's just ridiculously upset because Daddy tripped and broke his hip or something. Midnight wishes with everything inside of her that her father is in the hospital, hurt badly but still holding on. Tears immediately spill down Midnight's cheeks without restraint, but she hopes, she hopes, she hopes.

 Her hopes are dashed. There the gravestone sits, and underneath it lies the body of Rufus Overlord. Midnight is in shock and disbelief. Her Daddy's an Overlord. He was supposed to have lived forever! How could he die? How could this happen?

Shaken, Midnight begins to think about her own position. Now it's all up to her. Rufus' legacy of dominance can only be fulfilled through her now - she can't fall back on her father. If she screws up, everything her father ever dreamed of slips down the drain, never to be revived again. What if she doesn't have it in her? What if she fails to overtake the military? What if she becomes weak and collapses?

Worst yet, what if the hero destined to overthrow her shows up now? Traumatized and sick, Midnight is in no shape to fight for her overlordship right now. Her father meant everything to her. How is she supposed to be strong without him? How is she supposed to take over the military and further world domination if he's not there to talk to?

Midnight stays at Rufus' gravesite until evening. She tries to make sense of it all.

Grief-stricken and trying to find a way to carry on somehow, Midnight goes back home, trying to clear her mind. As she crosses the bridge and steps onto the landing, she notices bundles of strange-looking clothes on her doorstep.

As the Sim Deity, it's time for me to inform her that she has to wear those clothes. She has to wear them for the next three days.

Midnight: "Okay. These clothes are ugly and don't look right on me at ALL. Why am I supposed to wear them--......what? Oh no...."
Yes, Midnight. You're pregnant.

Midnight: "WHAT?!? That's....no!! Not right now!! I'm at the turning point of my career, I'm beginning my plans to overtake the military, I'm...I'm mourning my father....this CAN'T be happening. Not now. Please, oh Sim Deity, not now. This is the worst time..."

Midnight's outburst of screams and then sobs carries all the way upstairs, where Phantom is setting another fairy trap on the toilet. Frightened by the noise, Phantom hurriedly flits downstairs to see what's wrong. Midnight is pounding on the table, screaming, bawling her eyes out. Phantom freezes, his stomach twisting violently. The emotions are too intense - he can feel them all. He heard Midnight's father passed away this morning. With how often Midnight talked about him, Phantom assumes they were close.

Phantom: "Midnight?.....Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Midnight stays silent for a moment or two, then scares Phantom half to death by her sudden and fiery reaction.

Midnight: "OF COURSE SOMETHING'S WRONG, YOU TWIT!!! Go get those other two subhuman freaks and sit down on the couches! Do it NOW!"

In a flash, Phantom fetches Jakkson and Oliver and obediently sits down in the living area as Midnight commanded. Oliver and Jakkson sit down as sell, nervously looking at each other. Midnight's had her freak-out moments before, but she's never made them all sit down formally for something.

Midnight: "...Thank you all for coming. I've got a question for you. Do any of you fools see anything...different...about me?"
Oliver: "....You bought a new dress?"
Midnight: "Oh, I didn't buy it. I didn't...buy it. No, I found this flimsy piece of garbage on the front porch. And I have to wear it because of one of you."

Midnight: "Which one of you WRETCHES did this to me?!?"
Jakkson: "I don't...I'm not the one who designs or works with clothes."
Oliver: "I don't understand. I haven't designed you a dress yet, and even if I had, it wouldn't look like that."
Midnight: "No! You bungling idiots! It's not the dress I care about, it's what's underneath the dress!"
Oliver: "....Midnight, I don't understand what you're saying."
Midnight: "Ignorant FOOLS! Get up! Don't just sit there and look stupid!"

Jakkson: "Midnight, you're gonna have to start speaking clearly. All I can tell is that you're insulting us in a rage for no reason at all."
Midnight: "I'm PREGNANT, you dolts! I have to wear these horrible clothes because I'm PREGNANT."
Oliver: "...Pregnant?"

Desperately uncomfortable silence fills the air for a moment or two. Both Jakkson and Oliver are stunned. Oliver slumps back into the couch. He knows he'd always used protection whenever they slept together. Could this really be possible? In silence, Jakkson thinks the same thing. With Jakkson still standing, Midnight begins to aim her wrath at him.
Midnight: "Was this you?! Am I in this dress because of you?!"
Jakkson: "Midnight, I..."
Midnight: "SAY SOMETHING. For SIM DEITY'S SAKE, say something! Don't you stammer at me now!"
Jakkson: "I don't know what to say to you!"
Jakkson flinches and dodges Midnight's fists, which suddenly launch towards his face.

 Jakkson: "What on earth are you doing?! Look, I know this is unexpected, but how am I the only one to blame? It takes TWO to make babies, Midnight!"
Midnight: "WRETCH! Was it you?!"
Jakkson: "Wait, wait....what do you mean, was it me? You mean...you mean you're not sure?"

Immediately Jakkson turns to look at Oliver, whose white face indicates he's made the same realization. Here he was, shocked and wondering what on earth to do now that he's fathered a child. But he's not the only possibility now. He's been had. That special relationship with Midnight wasn't specially for him.

While Oliver stands in stunned silence, trying to fight the confusion in his mind, Jakkson turns his confusion outward.

Jakkson: "You're telling me you've been seeing her all this time and you never told me?! You never told anyone?"
Oliver: "It's...I...I thought it would be best not to say anything."
Jakkson: "You knew she and I were together and you did this behind my back anyway? You thought you could just screw around? You think pretty-boy vampires are entitled to everything? You couldn't leave it alone, could you?"

Oliver: "Wait, what the hell are you talking about? You've painted me a sly deceiver meddling in others' relationships and slipping away after I've destroyed them, and I have done absolutely nothing to deserve having my reputation slandered like that. I never told you she and I were sleeping together because I feared awkwardness, not because I knew you were sleeping with her too!"
Jakkson: "You mean you had no idea she was with me?"
Oliver: "With you?! Now you talk about it like you were something official?"
Jakkson: "I thought we were!"
Oliver: "She was with me!"
Midnight: "Idiots! You can complete your petty jousting later. There's more important issues at hand!"
Oliver: "Important issues? Like what, who impregnated you? You think we know? This whole thing could've been a thousand times easier to figure out if someone hadn't played the whore."
Midnight: "Ex-CUSE me?!"

 Phantom: "Guys, please...the tension here is so thick I can hardly breathe. Can we not work this out in a calmer way? I can't take it..."

Midnight: "Stay out of this, glowworm. You have no part in this."
Phantom: "I just...I just wanted to help..."
Midnight: "UGGHH! I'm done with this. I can't think about this anymore tonight."

 SLAM.

Stunned silence fills the air. Physically trembling from the encounter, Phantom quickly flies down to the dungeon to lay down, desperate to get away from such a tense situation. Jakkson and Oliver stay for a few moments more, breathing deeply and trying to comprehend everything that just happened. They'd both been cheated on, and now Midnight's pregnant and one of them is the father.

Jakkson feels betrayed, but most of all he wants to know why. Did Midnight cheat on him with Oliver because he wasn't good enough? Because he was too awkward? Because he's a werewolf? Because he wasn't assertive enough in bed? Is there anything he could've done to keep Midnight close to him and not looking elsewhere for something better?

Is there anything he can still do?

Oliver is disgusted and trying to pick up the pieces of his destroyed pride. He'd been certain he and Midnight had something special, now he realizes he just played the fool. She didn't truly care about him like he cared about her. She just wanted to use his body for her personal pleasure. All of Oliver's beliefs that Midnight had feelings for him, that she actually had the ability to care, that she was anything other than pure unadulterated evil insanity...all those beliefs were wrong.

  Jakkson: "...I can't think of anything left to say. I need...I need time to think this through."
Oliver: "I agree. I need to sleep on this. Maybe things will make more sense in the morning."
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Author's note: *Dramatic music.* Alas, Midnight has to produce Generation Three at some point. Unfortunately it could've been a better point for her. She's not even a sliver as excited for it like Bambi was. Terrible parenting, here we come.

And now the great debate arises. Who's the father? The vampire or the werewolf? Cast your votes, ladies and gentlemen.