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"I don't know," Eliza said. "Um.... pardon me..." she said, addressing the bird that perched, completely motionless, on the polished rock.

"Who sent you?" the heron asked, in a cool, liquid voice.

Faust jumped. Eliza seized his arm to calm him. "Lucifer has sent us... he said that you will help, Heron?"

"I will," the Heron sighed. "You are in the family way... what could you want with me?"

"I want you to give us a little one! Give us a little one, so that when it's heart stops beating, we have something to comfort us."

"Your baby is dying," Heron said, as though just realizing it. "Like the last three. You don't have enough life left to make something come to life. Even though your husband stopped the disease in your body, no one can give you back what it had already taken from you."

Eliza gulped, eyes brimming with tears. "I... I want to be a mother! I want to hold a child in my arms, a child that knows me, that loves me!" Eliza broke down and wept, placing her hand over her stomach as though trying to keep her baby from leaving her.

Faust passed his hand over his sharp blue eyes, wiping away his own tears. "Eliza... dearest...."

"I must drink of your blood," Heron said quietly.

"The blood of an unborn child," Heron said, it's blank eyes distant.

"What....?" Eliza gasped. "No! No, that's terrible, I'd never...!" she gasped, looking down at her dress. "Oh, God, no!" Faust ran to her, helping her to sit.

"Eliza... Eliza, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..."

"Bring her to the stone," Heron said, in her strange, liquid voice.

"No child," the heron said, it's beady, blank eyes watching Eliza's blood soak through her skirt.

Faust cradled Eliza. "Mein Gott.... we have to stop this bleeding...." he rested a hand against Eliza's bloody thigh, sighing. "We had such high hopes... for this one..."

"I must drink of her blood," the bird repeated, fixing them with it's blank stare.

"She's losing too much as it is!" Faust said angrily. "She is my wife. It's my responisibility to take care of her! We have to leave, now!"

Eliza clutched his sleeve as he started to pick her up. "Johann... take me to Heron... please.... if she can help...."

"Of course not.... but she's losing the baby, just like he said..." Mephistophiles sighed. "Do it," he called. "Do it, if you want any good to come of this..."

Hesitantly, Faust carried Eliza to the polished stone. The blood trickled down the sides of the rock, and Heron craned her long neck to catch the rivulets in her beak.

"It's OK, honey," Eliza said softly. "It only hurts a little... not like last time at all..."

Faust shut his eyes and squeezed her hand.

"Enough," Heron said. "Your child would have been beautiful, had she lived."

A low moan started in Eliza's throat. Suddenly, having a gender attached to the baby made it twice as difficult. "Heron!" Faust said, his own voice thick with unshed tears, "What do you have planned? What is this?"

"You must carry me to the top of the mountain," Heron said, dropping off of the polished stone, its bloody beak open and gasping for air. "A feather... something that your wife made for you... and a strand of her hair. Weave them together... and wrap me in them..." the bird took a last breath and died.

"Me, either," Faust said, gritting his teeth, "but you heard Heron. She ust drank the blood of my wife's miscarriage... we might as well finish this. I'll carry Eliza... can you take Heron, Netsubo?"