FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The nearby city was very much alive with lights and as the citizens were living their everyday life like any average Pokémon could. Some working, others homeless and struggling, and even some in gangs to survive the cold cruel world they live in. The atmosphere was heavy with so many views and politics weighing down its citizens yet not all were experiencing such strife.

The wilderness that borders the medium-sized city remains as beautiful and untouched by the technological advances made in Lavoma City as does the one residency that resides within the trees of their forestry housing. An oak tree with a cabin like treehouse was built within its branches as it housed the only forest ranger and his family within its safe walls.

A Decidueye of Hisuian descent was seen in his kitchen, frying up a big fish on his grill as he grabbed a pecha berry to help enhance the flavors. But as he did so, the oils on the pan began to sizzle and pop out as one drop splattered against his feathered hand. He recoiled and yelped at the slight pain as he shook the oil off his hand.

"Claude! Be careful! You may be a master chef as much as you are a ranger but you're not immune to burns that can come from either job," a feminine voice called out as Claude looked up to see his beautiful wife, a Decidueye from Alola, was standing in the entryway of the dining room cradling their gorgeous egg in her wings as she gingerly approached Claude.

She freed one hand to take his hand that got slightly burned before kissing at it. She smiled as she looked up. "There. All better. Doesn't the kiss of your beloved make everything right again?"

Claude chuckled wholeheartedly as he wrapped his wing around her hips and pulled her close against his side. "I've known that just by looking at you, Serena. But your voice is what truly lifts my heart and all my troubles away." He then went in to peck his beak against hers, but she pushed away.

"How many times have I told you to not bring me in so close to the grill when I'm tending to our egg? Are you hoping to serve a hard-boiled egg with that fish?" Serena lightly scolded him but with a jest smirk.

Claude shook his head at her. "Your sense of humor is quite twisted, my dear."

"What do you expect from a half ghost temptress like myself?"

"What I expect is that you try not to pass that trait down to our first child once they hatch out of that egg," Claude rebutted before turning his attention back to the fish as he grabbed a few spices before taping on the small containers to lightly season the scales on their cooking fish.

Serena let out a laugh as she laid the egg down in a nest, they had placed in the kitchen for the egg to remain safe in when they weren't holding it as she approached her husband once more. She then took the tips of her wings and brushed them lightly against his sides, making the Hisuian Decidueye shiver from the feathery touch.

"Oh, my darling. If they hatch and our baby shows any signs of playfulness that I displayed as a child, then you know you're out of luck on that front," she giggled as he eyed back at her.

"That's exactly why I'm hoping my genes take priority and make them a kind and relaxed child."

"Just what are you implying?"

"You know damn well what I am saying."

With a face of artificial mockery, Serena gasped with an overdramatic drawl. "Oh! OH! Claude! How you attack me to my core by insinuating such a thing about your most innocent wife!"

Claude felt his eyes roll but a smile crept on his face as he turned back to her and saw her hands covering her face. He slowly pulled her hands from her face and was unsurprised as she was now seen grinning mischievously at him.

He then caressed her face and replied, "You're definitely a lot better than you ever were as a child. I remember when we first met you just couldn't help but prank me almost every single day."

"It wasn't almost every single day," argued Serena, "It was absolutely every single day that I pranked you!"

"Remind me why I agreed to marry you?"

"Because your brutish attitude and dull personality couldn't help but be charmed by my bewitching beauty and perfect counterbalance to everything you were as a kid and still are as an adult!"

"You drive me crazy," Claude huffed.

"But I know I also drive you crazy~" Serena whispered lovingly to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he smiled back at her and took hold of her hips in return.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," Claude said before the two came closer and kissed each other. Their beaks fit together as they felt themselves get lost in it before a smokey stench hit their nostrils.

They quickly broke apart and noticed the fish was beginning to burn. Claude screamed out in horror as he plucked it off the grill with his tongs and placed it to the side.

"No! I ruined our dinner!" Claude shouted in disdain as he crumpled above his culinary disaster.

Serena rubbed his back to soothe him. "Oh honey, don't be so dramatic. It's hardly that burnt. Besides I like my marshmallows black so what's wrong with a black fish now and again."

Claude breathed in a breath of air to calm himself down as he looked towards her. "Maybe if I throw on those special herbs you got for me, it can help give it a better flavor."

"There ya go! Dinner has been saved by Claude the Magnificent Culinary Chef!" Serena gestured at him with big arm gestures as he couldn't help but laugh at her endearing words.

Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound as the two gasped in delight and looked over at their egg as it moved.

"They're moving again!" Claude said happily as they both ran over to the nest and watched the egg bounce up a bit for a few seconds before settling down and not moving again.

Claude's smile slowly turned sour as Serena nudged him. "Oh, stop it, ya grumpy Gus. They're moving so much more every day! They will hatch soon; I just know it!"

"But having an egg shake as much as it has with no progress in the actual birth taking place isn't normal. I'm worried something may be wrong," Claude replied as Serena cupped his cheek and made him look at her.

"Our baby will be okay. They will have their Ma and Da there no matter what," Serena said softly to Claude as he nodded, still looking a bit uneasy. Serena smiled as she dropped her hand from his face and suggested, "You know what will help? Singing our favorite lullaby to our egg."

Claude's face lit up at the suggestion as he knew Serena and him shared their love of singing, especially the same lullaby their parents sang to them as eggs and hatchlings when they were growing up as young owlet Pokémon.

Serena leaned over to a nearby cassette player and pressed the button to begin the beautiful piano and violin music composed by their close friends to go with their lullaby's lyrics as Claude swayed to the calming tone the music enveloped inside his soul as he breathed in to begin singing.

_ Claude: You came from a land _

_ Where all is light _

_ To a world half day and _

_ A world half night _

_ To guard you by day _

_ You have my love _

_ And to guard you by night _

_ Your friends above _

_ Both: So sleep, sleep _

_ Till the darkness ends _

_ Guarded by your angel friends _

_ So sleep, sleep _

_ Till the darkness ends _

_ Guarded by your angel friends _

_ Serena: There is one stands softly _

_ By your bed _

_ *And another sits close * _

_ With a hand on your head _

_ There is one at the window _

_ Watching for the dawn _

_ And one waits to wake you _

_ When the night is gone _

_ Both: So sleep, sleep _

_ Till the darkness ends _

_ Guarded by your angel friends _

_ So sleep, sleep _

_ Till the darkness ends _

_ Guarded by your angel friends _

Soon the music drifted to an end as they held their final notes long and harmonized before Serena pressed the button to stop the cassette player as they both felt light having sung the lullaby together for their child.

Serena's gaze drifted over to look at Claude as she spoke up after a brief moment of silence. "We still haven't decided on a name for our child."

"How can we when we don't even know what the gender is?" countered Claude.

Serena eyed him. "Hey! You're the one who refused to do an ultrasound on our egg because you wanted the gender to be a quote 'surprise', so don't get all high and mighty on me!"

"Then let's make it easy! If it's a boy, Claude Jr and if it's a girl, then Serena Jr. There! We've got our name for either a boy or a girl!"

"Ew! No! I refuse to have a junior in our household! It's so unoriginal and lazy!"

"Alright then, what would you name them?" Claude fired back at her.

Serena smiled as she brushed their egg gently and lovingly. "Well, I'm hoping for a darling boy, and I would love to have a son named Stolas."

"Stolas? As in the name of a high prince of hell?! Absolutely not!"

Serena pouted at him. "Aw come on sweetheart! It's not about the context of the name but how the Pokémon wears it! And while I do hope our child is a boy and is a Ghost-type like me, I'm not gonna hope he lives up to the name's sake. I want him to live a life of love and happiness with us there to support him and encourage him to do good for this world."

Claude rolled his eyes at her as he went to the cupboards. "We can discuss your dark name suggestions later. Let me just get our food seasoned and ready to eat."

Serena rolled her eyes in return to his as she sat down at the table next to the egg's nest. Claude opened the cupboard and reached in for the herbs but found the container and groaned in response.

"Everything alright?" Serena asked.

"We're out of herbs," answered Claude as he closed the cupboard door, looking very annoyed as he grabbed a basket and began walking away. "I'm not about to let this dinner be wasted. I'm going to pick some more."

Serena stood up and ran after him. "Darling, it really isn't that big of a deal. We can eat the fish as is."

Claude shook his head. "But it isn't perfect! This is the dinner to celebrate the birth of our child. Well, it was supposed to be if it would finally hatch. But regardless, I don't want this dinner to be a mess. I need it to be just right, and the herbs are the only thing that can save it."

"You act like it's alive and needs saving. But I already know your perfectionist nature will not allow you to enjoy this dinner no matter what I say so just get going," Serena shooed at him as they went to the front door and onto the patio together.

Claude turned back to Serena as they smiled at each other and shared another kiss together before parting. They hugged each other closely before pecking each other on the cheek one last time before separating once again.

"I love you, Claude. Come home safe," Serena said to him as he began stepping away.

"You know I will. I love you Serena and I hope to come back with a child soon on the way," replied Claude as he smiled at her before placing the basket in his beak before he fell off the patio and outstretched his wings before he began flying away towards the area, he knew they herbs would be growing in plenty. Serena sighed as she breathed in the fresh air of the surrounding forest home as she turned and stepped inside their home, closing the door, completely unaware of the multiple, looming red eyes that were watching her in the shadows of the trees below as they all slowly began walking towards the tree and house.

After about thirty minutes had passed, Claude was soaring through the thick pine air that filled his head with the strong smell he had loved as a young Rowlet. He was feeling content at that moment with where his life was at. Being able to live out his life as a ranger for the forest with another to become a culinary chef one day when he retired with his beloved wife by his side, always there supporting him, and the many children they would birth and raise together as they had always planned together.

Yet as he neared his home and it grew bigger within his view as he drew closer and closer, an eerie tingle threatened to consume his soul as he squinted his eyes trying to spot the source of this malevolence. But once he got close enough, he instantly felt his jaw slacken in horror as the basket fell from his mouth and herbs rained across a small section of the forest floors below, immediately forgotten as he flapped his wings faster as the desperation that clouded his judgment got the best of him.

He landed on the scratched-up edges of the patio and looked up to see the busted-down door of his home in shambles and all the lights of the home either turned off or broken. With no hesitation, Claude rushed inside the demolished entrance to his home and saw the damage done throughout with glass and wooden shards scattered on the floors of every room seen from the front door and furniture scratched and overturned.

"Serena!!! Where are you!?!" Claude mindlessly screeched out into the sinister silence that consumed the interior of the ransacked home. But when no answer came to him, he rushed into the kitchen for her, stepping on the burnt fish that now laid on the ground as well as the broken dishes, ignoring the searing pain as his feet were getting cut up.

"Please!!! Serena!!! No more jokes!!! Come out now!!!" He begged as he frantically ran over to the hallway leading away from the kitchen as he stopped to see a splatter of blood against the wall, still wet enough to show its freshness yet not enough as it wasn't dripping down to paint the walls with its crimson markings.

Claude felt his heart sink into his stomach as he began to automatically walk down the hall following a trail of blood that lined the floor as he slowly made his way to the broken door of their bedroom and nest. Claude's hand trembled as he reached forward and pushed the door that was halfway intact aside as a putrid stench overwhelmed his senses, but he powered through it as he felt his voice crack, trying to call out for his wife but failing to do so as he stepped into the room and saw it.

The room was a disaster with everything as destroyed as the rest of his home was, but his eyes didn't take in any of it as he couldn't tear his gaze away from what he spotted in front of their nest that was in disarray. The bloodied and mutilated body of Serena with her wings in tatters and chunks of her body having been ripped out as she laid on the ground, dead and carved up.

Claude's eyes were instantly filling up with tears as he collapsed to his knees as he gingerly crept up to her as he began to quietly sob. "No... Dear Arceus no... Serena... m-my darling... my angel..." He whimpered out as he shakily caressed her cold, unmoving face as he trembled more as the thought of his angel immediately made him realize something. He had not seen his egg yet!

But as this thought came to mind, he immediately took notice of a bulging mass underneath what remained of his wife's wings and prayed to Arceus that she had protected their egg as he slowly lifted her arm up. The blood-soaked feathers were lifted up and moved aside as he once again was met with a nauseating sight.

Fractured remains of the egg were seen smashed and bloodied with little baby feathers glued against shell with blood and skin chunks like it was a gut-wrenching decoration. The Hisuian Decidueye felt his whole body fall against the ground as the images of his murdered family now screamed into his reality in full as he began screaming out in pure agony and despair.

"GHAAAAAAHHHHH!!! NOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHAHAAAA!!!"

His cries echoed loudly throughout the forest as they could have and produced did reach the nearby city with his wails radiating so intensely. He looked over to a big shard of glass on the ground from a broken picture frame and as he cried out, slowly reached over to grasp at it before he lifted his head up to more easily expose his neck. He whimpered as he sealed his eye tightly, praying to Arceus to reunite him with his family.

But a sudden scuffle in the nearby closet made Claude jump up, dropping the shard as a result. He eyed the lightly scratched up door and blinked as he heard another scrambling inside.

He carefully pulled himself away from his family's remains and crawled over to the closet as fear of what may await him inside made him hesitant to open the door. But then he was reminded about how he had nothing to live for now that he lost the most important part of his life forever as he decided to embrace death yet again as he yanked the door open.

A sudden scream followed by a sudden ball of darkness flying into his face made Claude fall back with a startled shout of his own as the ball fell down and ran over to his wife's corpse. Claude quickly hoisted himself back to his hands and feet as he saw a light green thing shivering next to Serena's body. Claude, confused about this, slowly crawled back to get a better view of the mysterious thing and could only gasp in disbelief as he saw the face of a Rowlet on it!

A baby Rowlet of an unusual coloring whimpered and cried out as it desperately tried to hide itself away into the cold body of Serena's cold body as it shivered from the coldness it felt. Suddenly tears of joy were now mixed with the woe as Claude immediately realized that his baby survived! They must have hatched when Serena had escaped to their room before locking their baby in the closet and then either fighting off the attackers or letting them kill her to protect their first and now only born child.

"M-My baby... you're still alive!" He whispered as he slowly reached out to pick up his child, only to have the Rowlet see his hands approaching and quickly biting at him.

"Yowch!" Claude yelped out in surprise and pain, not expecting that reaction at all as the baby hid itself further into its mother's decaying body. Claude felt his heart break at this rejection and of his wife unable to do anything to comfort the frightened baby that it desperately sought out for her to provide.

"Baby, it's me. Da. Da is here," Claude gently spoke in a hushed voice, trying not to spook his baby but he had to pull back when it tried to bite at him again when he put a hand close in once again.

Clearly the baby was too frightened to be spoken to listen to reason no matter the cadence and tone he used as he felt at such a loss. Feeling the pain from the death of his wife and the distrust of his own child made Claude's head drop in utter sadness. That is until he heard a small chirping come from the baby Rowlet as it began to chirp with small breaks as it tried to chirp at different levels of frequency, eyes trained on Serena's glossed-over eyes as its chirping brought up a now identifiable tune that it was trying to do as it rang familiar with Claude instantly.

It was their lullaby! It was broken and out of tune but the way it tried to hold certain notes and when it tried to make a new one was without a doubt in Claude's mind reminding him of the lullaby they had just sung to it while it was in the egg still before he left.

Claude soon closed his eyes and began to breathe, desperate to settle his shot nerves as he felt as calm as he could be in their situation as he let his shaky voice begin to croak a bit while he began to sing.

_ "You came... from a l-land... _

_ Where all i-is l-l-light-t..." _

The Rowlet slowly looked back as it heard Claude's singing and blinked at him curiously while Claude continued on.

_ "T-To a world half day and _

_ A world ha-alf night..." _

The Rowlet immediately began to recognize the voice despite how shaky it was as the overall loving singing it heard in the egg was enough for it to recognize who the big creature there was as it stumbled on its rose-colored feet into the now open embrace of its father as Claude hugged it gently yet strongly against his chest.

"To guard you by day... you h-have my love

And to guard y-you by night-t..."

Claude paused as he felt his eyes drift over Serena's corpse again as he felt the weight of her death hit him again as he couldn't bring himself to sing the last line of the lullaby without saying the normal lyric but instead replaced it with, _ "y-your mother above!" _

At that point, Claude was once again crying loudly as he hugged his baby close, who was now cuddling into its father's warm embrace and being calmed and lulled to sleep within the confines of his wings despite Claude's crying. After what felt like an eternity of mourning, Claude sniffled as he now held his sleeping baby up and parted the feathers in between its legs to properly see what he was holding.

Once he knew, he smoother the feathers back over and stood up before carrying his baby out of the room towards the front door. He soon got outside and rushed off the patio and flew using one wing to steady himself as he began to fly to the nearby city to get the police with his baby tucked close into his unused wing.

"Don't worry," Claude whispered to his sleeping newborn child, "Da has you now, baby. Da will protect you... Stolas."