Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 228: Episode 227: Mother needs to talk to you.

This is too much for me to handle...

Roxy covered her mouth with her hands, her shoulders shaking violently.

"Iris," she choked out, her voice wet and thick. "My baby. My sweet, sweet baby."

In the projection, Ren stumbled forward. He looked wild, his fox ears flattened against his messy red hair, his green eyes wide with disbelief. He fell to his knees in front of the blue light, holding Iris out as if offering a tribute to a deity.

"Roxy?" Ren whispered, reaching out a trembling hand to touch her cheek.

His fingers passed right through the blue light.

He flinched, pulling his hand back as if burned. "I... I can’t feel you. You’re not here."

"I am here," Roxy sobbed, pressing her own hand against the glass wall of the Dry Lounge, matching his position in the hologram. "I’m here, Ren. I’m just... I’m projecting. Like a ghost."

Zarek shoved past Kaelen, his massive frame filling the view. He dropped to his knees beside Ren, his dark eyes scanning every inch of her.

He looked at her face, her arms, her waist. The loose, shimmering sea-silk dress draped over her body, concealing the early changes of her pregnancy. To them, she didn’t look like a mother-to-be carrying a sea-king’s heir.

She looked just like the woman who had vanished, beautiful, vibrant, and agonizingly out of reach.

"Are you hurt?" Zarek demanded, his voice rough with suppressed panic. "Who has you? Tell me where you are. I will burn the world to get to you."

"No!" Roxy cried, shaking her head. "No burning, Zarek. I’m safe. I promise. I’m... I’m in a safe place. It’s just hard to leave right now."

"Then how?" Syris stepped into the frame, his golden eyes sharp and analytical, though swimming with emotion. "How are you doing this?"

Roxy wiped her tears, forcing a wobbly smile.

"The Goddess," she lied smoothly, invoking the one excuse no one could question. "She saw how much I missed you. She... she granted me a window. A few minutes of grace."

Torian, the quiet bear, stood in the back, holding two rowdy wolf pups by the scruffs of their necks. Onyx and Axel were yipping, trying to run to the blue lady.

"Let them go, Torian," Roxy laughed through her tears.

Torian released them. The pups bounded forward, yipping at the hologram.

"Look at you two!" Roxy cooed, pressing her face close to the sensor. "Onyx! Axel! You’re getting so big! You’re going to be bigger than your dad soon!"

Kaelen stepped forward then, silent as a shadow. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at her with an intensity that made her breath hitch.

"I miss you," he whispered.

"I miss you too, Kaelen," Roxy wept. "I miss all of you so much it hurts to breathe."

She scanned the room. In the corner, a slender figure was leaning against the wall, trying to look cool but failing miserably as he wiped his eyes.

"Drax?" Roxy gasped.

The dragon boy stepped into the light. He had hit a growth spurt. He was taller, lankier, his features sharpening from child to young man.

"Hey, Mom," Drax mumbled, his voice cracking. "You... you’ve been gone a long time."

"I know," Roxy said, her heart aching. "I know, baby. You look... you look like a teenager! Stop growing! Wait for me!"

And then, crawling to the gathering was a beautiful baby who tumbled into a space. She had green eyes, scattered glitters on her face and Roxy didn’t need to ask.

She would recognize her baby anywhere.

Tanith.

Tanith seeing her mother, wailed, her tongue flicking out to taste the air, confused by the lack of her mother’s scent even though she was right there.

"Oh, Tanith," Roxy reached out, longing to stroke the girl’s hair. "You look beautiful"

Roxy let out a wet laugh. She looked at all of them—her chaotic, wonderful, mismatched family.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice firming up. "I don’t have much time. The Goddess’s blessing is fading."

Zarek clenched his fist. "When? When are you coming back?"

"Soon," Roxy promised. "A few weeks. Maybe a month. But you have to promise me something."

She locked eyes with Zarek, then Ren, Torian, Syris, and then Kaelen.

"Do not come looking for me," she commanded. "Do not do anything stupid. It is dangerous where I am. If you come, you could get hurt. You could get lost."

"Roxy—" Ren started to protest.

"Promise me!" she shouted, her desperation leaking through. "I need to know you are safe. I need to know you are taking care of our children. If I come back and find out you got hurt trying to be heroes, I will never forgive you."

Zarek gritted his teeth, his jaw working. "We are not heroes, Roxy. We are your mates."

"Then be my partners," she pleaded. "Hold the fort. Keep the Manor standing. Take care of the children."

She looked at the crying Iris, the stoic Drax, the confused Tanith.

"When I return," Roxy whispered, "I want to be proud of my big babies."

She looked pointedly at the men.

Ren let out a choked laugh, wiping his nose with his arm. "We are not babies."

"You act like it sometimes," Roxy teased weakly.

[System Warning: Connection Instability Detected. 10 Seconds Remaining.]

The blue light began to flicker.

"No," Roxy gasped. "Not yet. Just a little longer!"

"Roxy?" Kaelen stepped forward. "You’re fading."

"I have to go," Roxy cried, speaking faster. "I love you! I love all of you! Zarek, feed them! Ren, stop pranking Kaelen! Torian, hug them for me!"

She looked at the children.

"I’m going to bring you gifts!" she shouted as her image began to dissolve into pixels. "I’m bringing presents! I promise! Mama is coming home!"

"MAMA!" Iris screamed again, reaching out.

"I love you!"

The connection cut.

The hologram vanished. The Iron-Wood Manor disappeared.

Roxy was back in the silence of the Dry Lounge.

She stared at the empty space where her family had been seconds ago. The silence was absolute. It was heavy. It was crushing.

"No," she whimpered. "Come back."

She clawed at the air, as if she could grab the magic particles and force them back into shape.

"Please," she sobbed, collapsing onto the stone floor. "I wasn’t done. I didn’t get to say goodbye properly."

She curled into a ball, her grief pouring out of her in ragged, painful gasps. She cried until her throat was raw. She cried until she had no tears left, only dry, racking heaves.

She lay there for what felt like hours, staring at the cold stone, the image of Iris’s reaching hand burned into her retinas.

I have to get back to them, she thought, clutching her flat stomach. I have to.

The sound of the heavy pearl doors opening echoed from the wet room.

Roxy didn’t move. She didn’t care if it was Caspian coming again. She didn’t care if it was the guards.

"Sister?"

It wasn’t Caspian. It was Nimue.

Roxy slowly sat up, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She looked terrible, eyes swollen, hair matted, dress rumpled.

Nimue was floating on the other side of the barrier. She looked pale. She looked... scared.

"What?" Roxy croaked. "I’m not hungry, Nimue. Go away."

Nimue didn’t leave. She wrung her hands together, her violet eyes darting nervously toward the main exit.

"It is not about food, Roxy," Nimue whispered.

She looked at Roxy with a mixture of pity and urgency.

"Mother wants to see you," Nimue said. "Now. In the Throne Room."