Ruby Rose couldn’t sleep. The young Huntress paced back and forth in her hotel room, sighing to herself. She and her teammates had reached a total dead end and were very, very worn out from fighting Grimm. Every muscle in her body ached. She knew that she’d be able to rejuvenate herself with the power of Aura, but it was still laborious for her to move.

Opening the window, Ruby took in the night air, leaning her arms on the sill. Breathing in with a sigh, she wrinkled her nose at the sound of activity outside and looked closer. A shadow was darting down the streets, trying to stay out of the light.

She dismissed Grimm as the culprit, knowing that no solitary creature would make it inside of city limits, but considered any number of unsavory alternatives instead. Lifting her chin, she reached for Crescent Rose. Tired or not, a Huntress’s job was never done.

Looking out the window again, Ruby, frowned. The shadow was gone. Abruptly, she heard a ragtag series of knocks on her own door. Glancing down, she saw a shadow standing on the step.

She considered leaping down to face it, but decided against it. If someone meant her harm, they wouldn’t announce themselves like this. Taking the steps two at a time, she readied her semblance—just in case—and then opened it.

On the other side was a face she knew very well: Emerald Sustrai. The green-haired thief was leaning against the doorframe with one hand, panting, while the other cradled an enormously swollen pregnant belly.

Emerald glanced up, and gave Ruby a strained smile. “H-hey. I, uh… I need your help.”

---

The following morning, Ruby still couldn’t help but stare at her new guest. Formerly an enemy of hers, now Emerald was asking them to shelter her?

The former thief was as Ruby remembered—smooth brown skin, green hair cut chin-length with a long tail in the back, spare clothing made of brown leathers. What had changed was that the normally trim woman was now very, very pregnant—so heavily gravid that Ruby was astonished that Emerald could even walk. She looked overdue with triplets. And according to Emerald herself…

“You’re only a few weeks along?” Ruby yelped.

Emerald nodded. “Yeah. I, uh… may have made assumptions about myself that weren’t entirely correct. Such as being human. Turns out there’s a rare breed of insect queen Faunus who have no indications on the outside, but are every bit as fertile as their provenance would suggest.” She rubbed her belly with a loose sigh. “Thankfully, it won’t last nearly as long as normal, and I’ll even get some enjoyment out of it. Even now, I feel stretched, but not in an unpleasant way. But I can expect more. A lot more. Insect queen hormones… who’dve thought, huh?”

“Um…” Ruby tried not to stammer. She’d never, ever seen any woman with a womb as big as Emerald’s—and it was going to get bigger? She tried to swallow, but found her mouth dry and her heart fluttering. Emerald looked… well, if Ruby wasn’t going to lie to herself, she looked positively gorgeous this way.

“H-how…” Ruby managed to force out. “And—wh-who?”

Her face scrunching up, Emerald leaned back with a sigh, her belly jutting out. If Ruby looked close, she could see small bumps on it as Emerald’s babies wriggled and maneuvered underneath. “Does it really matter?” Emerald said. “It was the usual way—and consensual, thank you very much. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a passing night’s enjoyment, but instead I got knocked up… to put it lightly,” she added wryly, glancing down at her own hugeness. She raised one hand and rubbed her taut skin, a small blush spreading over her cheeks.

“When I realized what I was, and how many children I was going to bring into this world—and how soon—I realized that I couldn’t have children around the people I’ve associated with. Salem, Tyrian, Adam Taurus… even Mercury and Cinder. I’d considered them my people, but even the ones who wouldn’t try to use them against me would still be less than ideal role models. I sat up all night, rubbing my growing belly, and I had a change of heart. I was batting for the wrong team.”

Emerald glanced up at Ruby, looking at her insistently. “So please. I’ll be willing to tell you what I know, lend my assistance, do whatever you need of me, just… help me bear my kids and help them be safe. I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but… I need this.”

With a sigh, Ruby sat back, trying to take it all in. Emerald Sustrai, a Faunus? An insect queen Faunus? Pregnant with dozens of kids? Turning on her team? It was all so hard to take in. What if this was some ruse on Salem’s part?

But looking at the other woman, seeing the worry and the hope glinting in her eyes, Ruby’s doubts vanished like ice in summer. This was real, and Emerald needed help.

Slowly standing up, Ruby gently placed a hand on either side of Emerald’s belly. The thief—the former thief—gasped and looked up at her, but didn’t move to push her away.

“I’ll talk to the girls,” Ruby said. “You’ve got me to help you out, Emerald.”

Her smile was everything.

---

The other girls didn’t take much convincing once Ruby made her passionate plea. They’d agreed to set up Ruby and Emerald in a quiet villa near town, where they could wait out Emerald’s pregnancy with Ruby there to help her.

As Ruby was helping Emerald get situated only a day or two later, she couldn’t help but marvel at how enormous, how spectacularly big Emerald was getting. She had grown even larger in the last few days, to the point where she often had to pause for breath after moving even a couple of steps.

It was at one point, where Ruby walked in to see Emerald leaning against a wall, gasping for breath, that she grew worried.

“I’m fine,” Emerald said with a feathery smile, waving away her concerns. “Like I said, perks of my type of Faunus is it doesn’t hurt at all—but I’m still not used to carrying all this extra weight. I run out of breath real quick.”

“How big are you gonna get?” Ruby asked, unable to contain the excited curiosity from her voice.

Was that a smirk that Emerald shot her in response? “Well,” she said, “see how big this is? It’s gonna get bigger. Waaaayyyyy bigger. I literally won’t be able to move by the end of it.” Emerald’s levity fell, and she grew stern and serious. “Seriously, Ruby, I’m going to need your help. While I’m like that, I’m going to be… well, defenseless. Even my illusions won’t help if I’m so pregnant I can’t move. If they come for me and my kids…”

Drawing Crescent Rose, Ruby grinned. “If they come for you and your kids,” she said, “then they gotta deal with the best Huntress around! Not to mention that all my friends are just a shout away.”

“Thanks, Ruby,” Emerald said with a smile.

“Mhmmm! Oh yeah… there’s one thing I want to show you. Come on.” Leading a curious Emerald through the villa, not minding at all how the other woman was slowly making her way down the wood-paneled hallways, Ruby creaked open a door.

The bed inside was enormous, at least double the size of a king, and plush, with a pillowy mattress that caressed one’s body.

Emerald gasped with delight, waddled over to it, and sank in, cooing with pleasure. She rested on her side, her belly sinking into an enormous part of the softness, occupying a massive portion of the bed’s real estate.

“Thank you,” the soon-to-be mother repeated with a long, grateful look. “Really.”

Ruby just blushed and smiled.

---

Two days later and Emerald was even bigger. She was so enormous that when she stood, her belly almost touched the floor. It was constantly teeming with bumps and activity beneath it. Amazingly, miraculously, she could somehow still move, but her waddling gait was so encumbered and slow that Ruby had to do almost everything for her.

Not that she minded.

It was when Ruby was walking in to give her companion a mid-morning snack that she saw Emerald sitting in a large, cushioned chair by the window, the drapes open and letting the sunlight in. She was rubbing her belly, her hands gliding soft circles over the skin. She turned to Ruby and shot her a smile. “They like the sun,” she said. “It’s always so fun to feel them active.”

Ruby could only stare at display in front of her. “Uh… Uh-huh,” she said, her voice weak.

Flashing her a devilish smile, Emerald grinned. “Ruby, the way you’ve acted around me the last couple of days, I’d almost think you have a thing for me and my big pregnant belly.”

Ruby felt a blush burning her cheeks. “I… I, uh…”

Emerald silently crooked a finger, beckoning her, and Ruby slowly approached, her cheeks still burning.