Author: Cristina
Category: Dark. Tess POV.
Rating: Pg-13/ maybe R. *shrugs*
Disclaimer: The show is not mine. The song is "All the Pretty Little Horses" and is a lullaby originally sung by African Americans in the southern U.S, it dates back to slave times and has been passed down orally so there is no author. However, the version I’m listening to was sung by Odetta.
Spoilers: An almost non existent one for Busted.
Summary: Tess sings her baby a lullaby and why Max felt his son’s distress in Busted.
Author's Note: I was just thinking about how dark some English lullabies are and then all of a sudden this idea came to mind.
I’m a FB Whore. Absolutely love it… so please w/ the FB.

This is dedicated to Liv, my silly sister and beta.
Thanks, Girl.

Hush-a-bye
Don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy, little baby.

Tess anxiously weaved her way through the maze of tall imposing trees, brushing past razor sharp branches that tore at her lavender dress and smooth peachy skin, jumping over dark thick tree roots that threatened to trip her and send her crashing onto the hard forest floor. She ran and ran, her heart beating like the wings of a caged bird against her fragile rib cage, until she finally broke through the dark forest coming to the sandy shores of the Antarian beach. She frantically clutched her infant son to her breast, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, and continued her frantic journey to where the ocean met the land.

When you wake,
You shall have
All the pretty little horses.

When her slippery feet touched the thick jello-like water, Tess stopped to peer into the innocent cherubic face of her beloved son. Illuminated by the light of the three full, burnt orange moons, Tess could clearly see her sweet baby boy’s smiling face and bright blue eyes. He looked like his Daddy in every way except for his eyes; it was like looking into mirror staring into her beautiful son’s trusting blue eyes. As Tess looked down at her precious child and out into the vicious black night waters, her arms began to shake and her breath to hitch as she tried to hold back her screams of sorrow.

Blacks and bays,
Dapples and grays,
All the pretty little horses.

She stumbled back from the water and sank to her knees, biting her lip to muffle her sobs lest someone hear her. Tess knew she had to hurry; that they must be looking for her and the heir, but she couldn’t seem to move from that spot. Tess looked up to the cloudless star-filled sky hoping that maybe it would offer her some help, but no, it could offer her nothing.

She gathered her strength and got up off the ground. Tess knew what had to be done. She knew her duty and she’d been raised to see duty as an undeniable absolute. She couldn’t shirk her responsibility because it was difficult. The things she had done on earth had been difficult, but still she knew it was what had to be done.

Way down yonder,
In the meadow,
Lies my poor little babe.

Tess held her back straight and her head high as she began to walk out into the water, softly whispering to her son.

“Oh, my poor baby. Mommy loves you and she’s so sorry. I’m…so sorry.”

Tess swallowed hard and tried to control herself lest she alarm the baby. She took a deep breath and tried to comfort herself with the fact that she was doing the right thing.

“Oh, my little angel, I’m so sorry, but Mommy has to do this… c-certain promises were made that were broken. I’ll never be Queen and you’ll never truly be King, my little prince.”

She stroked his cheek, reveling in the downy softness of her baby’s skin.

“He-he lied to me and you don’t lie to me.”

Bees and Butterflies,
A peckin’ out its eyes,
Poor little thing is crying “Mammy!”

When Tess had waded out into water waist deep, she stopped to take one final look at her beautiful baby son. She took his fat little fist and kissed it, and kissed his cheeks, his nose, all over his face. The tears kept coming, but they ran silently down her face. She knew if she was going to do this, she was going to do it with some dignity.

“I think it’s better this way. What kind of life would you have had as a silly little pawn in Kivar’s game? You’ll be much happier, much happier… and he’ll never have his kingdom, that bastard.”

Blacks and bays,
Dapples and grays,
All the pretty little horses.

Tess closed her eyes and dropped the baby under the water. She felt his little body struggle at first, his fat baby arms and legs waving and kicking. She felt in her heart rather than heard his screams of terror, but soon it was over with and his little life had faded away. Ever since his birth, he had never had strong lungs and she knew that this was the best way because it would be the quickest and safest, away from the palace. Tess lifted his limp and lifeless body from the water and knew she had done the right thing, the thing duty had demanded of her.

Mmm…
Mmm…
Go to sleepy, little baby.

Still, she cried. Pathetic whimpers broke away from her mouth as she walked out of the water, feeling cold and numb to what she had just done. She gently rocked him in her arms, hoping he wasn’t as chilled by the cool night air as she was. It wasn’t good for babies to be so cold or wet. Tess dried him off with her powers, smiling through her tears at how peacefully he slept. She gathered some leaves from the forest to lay down under him as a little mattress and prayed that he wouldn’t be scared when he awoke to find her gone, but she had to go and the palace guards wouldn’t hurt the heir. They needed him, but she had to leave so she laid one last kiss on her sleeping baby’s brow and disappeared into the deep dark forest.

When you wake,
You shall have,
All the pretty little horses.
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