All Across Solla
Hey everybody, it’s your Goddess here! Long ti no see, right? Though I guess it might be more accurate to say it’s been a long ti since you’ve heard from …? A-Anyways, don’t worry! You’re not just hearing voices, and that total certainty you’re feeling that it’s really is totally normal for a godly announcent!
As for the announcent itself… I just want to let everyone know that the current church does not represent . Hasn’t for a very long ti! Kinda got taken over by a renegade angel, who started spreading hate for demonkind - or rather, monster girls and demons, both of whom I’m totally fine with! Seriously. I am. They’re my creations, too, after all! Kinda, anyway…
Also, the Demon Queen, Devilla Satanne - who’s my future step-daughter, by the way - is totally aweso in my book! She just freed from imprisonnt, which is why I’m able to talk to you right now, and it’s also why I'm announcing her as my official spokesperson on Solla! Listen to what she has to say, alright?
Also also, the current Heroine Lucy is amazing, and should not be held responsible for any of the church’s sins or any wrongdoings past Heroines may have done! She’s been doing her -damn best for a very long ti, despite so unfortunate circumstances, and she actually worked together with my dear future step-daughter Devilla to free !
Also also also, don’t be too harsh on the clergy, okay? A lot of them are just doing their best, despite being misguided by all the longstanding lies and manipulations from church leaders and that rogue angel I ntioned before!
Anyway, uh… Let’s see… the church is full of lies, the Heroine is good, please don’t lynch the clergy, Devilla is a cutie…. Did I miss anything…?
OH! Right!
Call Liz, from now on, okay? It’s the super cute nickna my future step-daughter gave to , and it’s way better than my actual na, and much less stuffy than just calling ‘the Goddess’ all the ti, right? Until next ti, I love you all, bye!
***
Devilla
***
“Is anyone else experiencing a rather foreboding feeling all of a sudden?”
“You’re probably just nervous about eting your mom,” Abigail suggested.
“Possibly…” I confessed. Honestly, my heart was beating rather fast at the re idea of it. I knew next to nothing about her, after all - excluding the unreliable tales the generals had told , at least. All I knew for sure was that she apparently loved beyond all reason. Enough to turn the area around Dimona Tower into a wasteland, just to protect .
It was… difficult to wrap my head around. Everything I’d heard about her painted her as always being calm and commanding, always thinking of her people first… I wondered how much of that was a front she’d put on? Maybe even propaganda fed to by the Generals who sought to control how I acted? They’d always said that our people’s safety had been my mother’s greatest concern, and that the best way to honor her mory was for to pick up that mantle.
As far as her actual personality went, all I had to go off of was the letter she’d left for . Not much, to say the least. Especially since she’d written it before I was even born! Had the warmth she’d once gazed upon with all faded during her ti in captivity? Watching first act as a puppet, then a brat, must surely have disillusioned her - after everything she’d done, all the work she’d put into giving my freedom, I had almost wasted it and ruined everything. Only Liz’s intervention had pulled back from the brink - and even now, it was difficult for to accept that I had truly changed. I was still the sa person, deep down, after all, wasn’t I? Surely that ant I was still the sa brat I’d always been.
Even if I wasn’t, it hardly made a difference to the people I’d hurt. Ashley’s bad behavior had arguably been the result of an outside force - a much more direct and persistent one than anything I had dealt with. Yet I still couldn’t forgive her for what she had done… So… what right did I have to ask anyone to forgive ?
“You do realize you’ve been standing in place for, like, a minute at least, right?” Abigail asked, interrupting my thoughts with an exasperated sigh.
“She’s probably lost in her own head,” Lucy said. “Maybe it’s just nerves over eting her mom, like you said?”
“Or she’s beating herself up for not being worthy of eting her mom,” Abigail replied, narrowing her eyes when I flinched. “You do realize that’s hogwash, right? I an, you literally just saved Liz by diving into certain death. Beat up your ancestor, defeated the head of the enemy church, maybe even started real progress towards actual peace…”
“My accomplishnts don’t define who I am,” I replied, frowning. “I’m-”
“Shut up!” Abigail harshly interrupted my doubts. “Your accomplishnts might not define you, but they sure as hell say a lot about what you’ve put your efforts towards! You worked hard, Devilla. It’s alright to feel proud of yourself for it.”
“But everything I did-”
“Pales in comparison to what you’ve done since,” Abigail stated firmly.
Lucy nodded. “I’m sure your mom will agree!”
“Maybe…” I replied, much more hesitant. “But if she’s truly been watching my life play out, as Liz claid, then she knows of all the mistakes I made. The people I hurt.”
“The people you upset,” Abigail scoffed. “You yelled at so maids. Tossed people into a surprisingly well kept prison cell for a few days. Speaking of, you do know that there were special cells just for the people you unjustly imprisoned, right? It’s not like they actually underwent the full criminal experience. Not when everyone knew you were just being a petty brat…”
“I’m aware,” I replied, a faint flush touching my cheeks. “It wasn’t exactly a well kept secret… and since most of the people I jailed early on were those in positions of power, it’s hardly a surprise that they found a way to make their short prison stays more comfortable… but it still bothers that I just… threw them in jail for annoying . It’s not like I’m the one who took steps to soften the blow.”
“Plus, there’s all those girls you slapped,” Abigail added, putting her hand on her chin as she looked up lost in thought. “Though considering you could have blown their heads off with a flick of the finger, I guess I could maybe call that impressive restraint…?”
“...I thought you were supposed to be making feel better?” I asked, incredulously.
“I’m reminding you that you were a stuck up and petty bitch, not an ironfisted tyrant. Just the fact that people were allowed to complain about you without any real consequences sorta says it all, don’t you think?”
“I… just didn’t see the point in throwing literally everyone in jail,” I muttered, looking away.
“That, and you always cared about us,” Abigail insisted. “Even back then, you cared about your people’s well being. Didn’t you?”
“...” I didn’t have a reply to that. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I had. True, I’d never fled the tower, but that was largely because I had nowhere to go. Yes, I’d always intended to fight the Heroine to the death - repeatedly, even, until the day I died… but that’s just what was expected of , wasn’t it? It was always what had been expected of . In fact, it felt kind of funny to realize that such a death would never even co to pass…
“You cared,” Abigail repeated firmly, trust and resolve intertwined in her voice as she reached out to grab my hand. “Maybe you didn’t even realize it yourself, but you did. You still do. Just like you care about us. Just like your mom cares about you.”
“Bringing it back around to that, are we?” I grumbled good naturedly. A tired smile spread across my face. “I suppose you’re right… or at least I certainly hope you are. About my mother, in particular…”
“She is!” Lucy said firmly. “I an, how could anyone who watched you not be proud of you? After everything you’ve accomplished!”
“After everything I’ve done?” I questioned.
“After everything you’ve been through,” Abigail countered, before pointing down the hallway. There, just past the smoking remains of the wooden door I'd blasted open to free Liz, was my mother’s room, its own door still closed and locked.
I wondered if my mother was still watching ? If she could see this, even now?
“Go on,” Abigail encouraged , releasing my hand and giving a gentle push. “We’ll be waiting.”
“You’re not coming in?” I asked, surprised.
She shook her head.
“I think you should et her first, Eena,” Lucy said. “I an, it’s sort of a big reunion for you, isn’t it?”
“I don’t even rember her…” I muttered. “Other than a vague recollection of warmth, at least. I may have a perfect mory, but a baby’s brain isn’t built for storing much information or thinking things through very well…”
“Well, aren’t you curious about the source of that warmth?” Abigail demanded, giving a firr push. “Don’t you want to feel it again? For the first ti in twenty-one years? I know if it was my Mom I’d be rushing in there to see her.”
“ too,” Lucy agreed.
“Yes, but…” They both knew their mothers. Had known their mothers. That’s what I wanted to say,but how could I say that to Lucy who’d lost hers? And who only recently learned for sure how…
So, instead, I let out a sigh and moved towards the door, the key to the room grasped tight in my fist. “Here goes nothing…”
***
Grimmilla
***
The room was silent, other than the sound of my own footsteps as I paced. The screen on the wall, which had long been keyed to my daughter, had turned to static the mont Devilla first entered the void in preparation for her transport. Worse, I couldn’t even ask my Goddess what was going on - she’d barely been able to communicate with at all since her very first bit of interference, with Devilla’s reading of the rite, and now that she was actively helping out my daughter she’d been forced to cut the connection completely.
It hadn’t been so bad, back when I could see the effects of her interference on the screen - I was willing to bet she really had helped that one hunter catch a deer. It was just like her to waste precious bits of energy just to help a girl have a good al on her date…
I guess it could just as easily have been chance, though. Not like my Goddess was anywhere near all knowing enough to plan for every eventuality. In fact, she was actually sothing of a ditz. …No, she was an absolute klutz…
I loved her dearly, though.
Still, considering the lack of communication, I think my surprise at the door’s opening was understandable, as well as my montary fear. What if it was Luci, I wondered. What if she was here to take hostage against my daughter? Would that work? Would my daughter even care? Did I want her to care, if it would an her being hard?
All sorts of dreadful thoughts ran through my head in the instant it took my eyes to register and recognize the woman standing in the doorway. A young woman of twenty-one, in a red shirt and a black bottom that barely covered anything. With white hair, like mine, and purple eyes so much like her dam’s. Unfortunate, that - I’d have preferred it if she’d taken after my own red eyes, but alas. She was still my daughter, and I loved her all the sa.
“Hello, Mo-” was all she got out before I was upon her, my hands wrapping around her back as I bent forward, and then leaned back, lifting her in the air and twirling her around.
“Devilla!” I cried, undisguised joy in my voice as I spun her about. “You’re here! To rescue I hope? And not be a prisoner? I should probably have checked that first, but… oh, you’re here, and I love you, and you’re here!”
“I… tha’s…” she stamred, her face red. I lowered her to the ground, reluctantly letting go and backing up so that I could get a better look - and oh, what a treat those red cheeks of hers were! My adorable daughter, blushing under her own mother’s attention for the very first ti in her life.
That was… a sobering thought, actually. I shrugged it off a mont later in favor of smiling at her.
“And where are your girlfriends?” I asked. “I was so looking forward to judging… I an eting them.”
“J-judging?” Devilla asked, horror evident in her voice. “You can’t… I an, they’re my… they’re good… you can’t just…”
I laughed. “I’m joking, dear. …Mostly. It’s true that I don’t think anyone is good enough for my precious darling, but it’s also true that you’re old enough to be making your own decisions - and I must say, if anyone could be considered good enough, I suppose Abigail would count… and maybe Lucy, as well.”
“Maybe Lucy?” Devilla demanded, now flabbergasted. “I’ll have you know she’s a hard working, good girl, and just because she’s the Heroine-”
“Oh, it’s not that,” I interrupted. “It’s the fact that she’s human, and born from those two. Your dam was pretty close to her dam, you know? And eting those two… Well, it was the beginning of the end for her, and in turn my plans to have her raise you. Though, considering the events that followed from there it’s hard to be too upset about it…”
“Upset about… what? My dam’s death?” Devilla asked with a frown. “Do you… not care? It sounds almost as if you disliked her…”
“Dislike? No… it was more… distance, I suppose, for the most part? I picked her as my wife because I thought she’d be a good parent, and because I hoped you’d inherit so of her optimism over my… Well, I prefer to call it realism, but so people have been known to call it pessimism… Petty pessimism, even! Just because my motto is, ‘if I’m going down, I’m going to make it as annoying for you as possible, even if I can’t take you with !’ It’s… Okay, maybe deserved, but quite frankly Luci deserved every ounce of pettiness I could muster! Another reason I married your dam - a common soldier - was just to annoy her…”
“So you didn’t care for her at all?” Devilla asked. “Then why is it a bad thing that she reminds you of my dam’s death?”
“It’s not about her death - it’s just that thinking about your dam always makes think about my marriage. It was… unpleasant. Not through any fault of Issa, mind you. She just always wanted more than I could give - literally more than I could give, with the geas. It… didn’t exactly allow for open communication. I couldn’t ‘let her in’ no matter how many tis she begged. Couldn’t tell her how I was really feeling… I was compelled to get married and have a child, and I made the best of it, but… the entire ti I just felt trapped. I know it’s not exactly fair for to take it out on Issa’s mory, but… I don’t know. When I compare it to what I have with my Goddess… Well, it can’t even begin to compare.”
“...You really love Liz, then?” she asked. I could see the caution in her eyes. The uncertainty. She’d just discovered that I hadn’t really loved her dam, and now she had to deal with the fact that I’d already moved on to soone new. Soone better - not as a person, mind you. Just better for .
“Liz?” I asked. “Is that a nickna you gave her?”
“I… Yes,” Devilla confessed. “Do you not like it?”
“I do. So long as she does, at least. I gave my heart to her, and she gave hers to - just as you have given yours to your girlfriends. Though I guess you’ve got more of a split going on, with the whole polycule situation… good luck with that. I’d love to give advice, but it’s almost guaranteed to be terrible so… ask at your own risk?”
“...Thanks… I guess?” she said with an awkward smile.
I gave her an awkward smile right back, unsure of where to go from there. It was… different than I thought it would be, to see her. Not that I knew what I’d expected. Laughter and tears and many more hugs and cheek kisses, I guess? But… I was still a stranger to her. One that looked just about the sa age as her, no less.
It was probably going to take ti for her to really wrap her head around the idea of being her mother… but that was fine. I had plenty of ti to wait.
“Now, why don’t you go get your girlfriends so that I can start judging… I an, so that I can et them in a totally innocuous way?”
She glared at - actually glared at ! Her own mother! What a rebellious phase! One of the many things I’d missed, up in heaven! - then looked away.
“I thought you might want to talk to first, a bit more,” she said. “But if you’d rather-”
“No, no, no way!” I protested. “I’d love to talk to you more! I just thought you might find it a bit awkward just dealing with …”
“Well… maybe a little,” she confessed. “But… I don’t know… you’re my mother, aren’t you? Unless you don’t consider yourself such… I wouldn’t bla you, if so - you never got a chance to raise , had no choice but to birth with the geas, were forced into a loveless marriage just to have - and then I went and almost threw away all your hard work… Arguably it wasn’t even who lived up to your expectations. Not really. It was the mories of my past life that made it possible, after all - your daughter plus Jacob. I’m not… I’m not even sure if I qualify as your daughter, if you think about it like-”
“That’s enough,” I interrupted, gently but firmly, before placing my hands on Devilla’s shoulders. “You are my daughter and I love you. I just have no idea what to say or how to interact with you! Other than hugs, I guess? And a lot of affirmations, because I can tell you definitely need them… but for now, for real, why don’t you get your girlfriends so we can all et up as a family and… I don’t know. Discuss what cos next?”
“What cos next?” Devilla parroted.
“Yeah! You’re probably gonna wanna go back to Solla, right? Lead the land towards peace alongside your girlfriends?”
“I’m… not sure I’m the one who should be leading, to be honest,” my precious daughter murmured, looking away from . “The people don’t exactly like . Surely you would-”
“Be a terrible choice?” I interrupted. “I don’t care about the tower or its people nearly as much as you do, Devilla. In fact, I doubt you’ll find anyone among your ancestors who does. Not when we were all forced to fight and protect it against our wills…. But you? You actually care. And even if you’re not the best leader, you’ve got people who can take up the slack! …Plus, coming back would totally throw questions about succession into the air, considering none of your predecessors are dead.”
“None but one!” ca a voice from the doorway. A cheerful looking Liz stood there, smiling brightly at . Behind her stood Abigail, who looked resigned, and Lucy who gave an apologetic look. Devilla greeted them all with a smile, to let them know she was fine.
“And what do you an by that, my Goddess?” I asked, a hint of danger in my tone. Not that my dear fiancee noticed… She rarely noticed such things…
“I took care of Luci. She’s gone now. Also did a big speech to the world - you know, telling people that the church doesn’t really represent my will and was taken over by a renegade angel, that the leadership was rotten, that demons and monster girls are my people, too, that Lucy is a lovely heroine worthy of the title, and Devilla is officially the executor of my will on Solla! …Also, to call Liz and that we’re getting married!”
For a mont, there was silence. Then, Abigail, Devilla, and Lucy all started to speak at once, but a cough from was enough to silence them. I think they - unlike my dear Goddess - could see the anger on my face.
“So… let get this straight. You annihilated your forr head angel, before leaping into a world-wide announcent, completely upending the world order, without consulting or anyone else…?”
“Um… yes…?” my Goddess hesitantly replied, backing up a step. She seed to finally notice the irritation in my voice and on my face. “I know I’m not supposed to make big decisions like that without you, but… Uh….”
I moved forward two steps, then three, closing the distance between us so that I could reach out and grab her.
Then I pulled her into a hug. “Next ti you’re in pain and hurting? Talk to ! Rather than throwing your future step-daughter’s life and maybe the world into chaos just to buy yourself so ti to perfect that false smile…”
“...Sorry,” she whispered softly. “Did I um… Did I ss up that badly?”
“We’ll have to go over what you said,” I murmured. “But… maybe.”
“Probably,” Abigail muttered. Harsh, but I couldn’t really say she was wrong.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad!” Lucy said, though I could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
Devilla just groaned.
As for ? I smiled at my Goddess - my Liz - and took her hands. “Co on. Let’s all sit down and work through this together.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)