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Trinity
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“Young Talia, you are very right. We were not as attentive as we should have been. We never should have let things get to this point. Because we were not paying attention to the people that reside in our realm, we did not know what was happening.” Hades lowered his head in shame.
“Ve truly are sorry.” Lucifer came forward. “I do zink zat ve all got a little complacent. Zat is entirely our fault.” I noticed immediately that Lucifer was speaking with a generic Russian accent. I couldn't pinpoint where it was from, but he was definitely speaking like someone from that general area.
“Why though? Why were you not paying attention? Why did my mommy have to work there for you?” Talia was not pulling any of her punches. She was definitely giving them a hard time about this. That was how she was, but I was worried about her right now. She was taking on some seriously powerful people right now.
“Vell, to be honest, little Talia, ve simply got to ze point vhere ve did not care. I am appalled and ashamed of myself to admit zat, but it is ze truth.” Lucifer looked more ashamed than I originally thought that he would. This was not the response that I thought that I was going to be hearing, and seeing, from all of these people.
.....
“Excuse me, Lucifer, but why are you all being so repentant and looking so ashamed of yourselves. What exactly is going on here? Why are you all here?”
“We came to speak with you, Queen Trinity.” I heard the words in English, even though I knew that they came out in Turkish, complete with the accent. “We need to discuss some things with you.”
“And it is very good that Talia is here as well.” These words were not in English either, as they were spoken by Supay. Still, I was able to understand them all completely.
“What does my daughter have to do with this?” I asked Supay, worried about what it was that he wanted with my little girl.
“Ve have decided to step down, Queen Trinity. Ve understand zat ve have been irresponsible. Ve need to make zings right. Ve need to step aside. Zere needs to be a new leader of ze undervorld.”
“A new leader? As..As in a new person to rule the entirety of the underworld? Why? Why would you all give up on your positions?” I didn't understand at all. I didn't know why they would be doing this.
“Has it not been a new thing?” Hades asked me flamboyantly. “Have we not seen several other deities choosing to be reborn?” He had a point, but I didn't really understand why he was bringing this up.
“That is not the only reason.” Hel, the Nordic Goddess, seemed to be speaking in English and completely devoid of an accent. And I couldn't help but notice that she was looking just as repentant as Lucifer had been. “We understand that we have made mistakes. And we want to make things better.”
“Yes, perhaps over the last several hundred years, we have all grown bored of our positions and stopped performing our duties properly.” Again, I heard the words in English with a Japanese accent this time as Susanoo spoke next.
“Basically, Queen Trinity, what it all comes down to is that we all recognize our faults and we want to make things better.”
“Zat is very true. Ve vant to propose a new leader zat will replace us. Ve vant ze undervorld to flourish. Perhaps our vays of zinking are a bit archaic and old. Ve need someone zat is able to put zeir all into running ze undervorld.”
This was a lot to process. Did they mean what I thought that they were meaning? Were they wanting me to run the underworld? Is that what was happening here? I don't know if I could take on that sort of responsibility. I had already been so busy before this whole ordeal. I was supposed to be taking on less responsibility now, not more.
“Look, Lucifer, all of you guys, I am not sure that I am up for that task.” I started to tell them that I didn't want the job, but they stopped me before I could get any further.
“I do believe that you are misunderstanding, Queen Trinity.” Hades laughed as he heard my words. “When we first decided to come here, our original thought was to ask you for a suggestion, an idea of who you think would make the best replacement for all of us.”
“Okay so, if that was your original idea, then what is your idea now? What changed your mind?” I was so confused. What was it that they wanted from me to be exact?
“Well, I do believe that we have found ourselves a candidate of our own. Someone that we think possess the right powers and the right sort of soul to rebuild the underworld.
“Okay, and just who might that be?” That was the important thing that I needed to know, right? That was the only thing that I couldn't go without finding out.
“Your daughter.” All six of them said at the same time.
“I am very sure zat ze remaining gods in ze undervorld would agree zat zis little girl is the right person for ze job.” Lucifer smiled at my little Talia as he explained this to me. I didn't know how to respond though. I was at a loss and therefore was just staring at these people.
“Lucifer is correct.” Hel continued. “From what we had heard prior to our arrival, your daughter is already connected to the underworld. She had a magic that binds her with the afterlife and that makes her that much more suited to bear this responsibility.”
“Of course we will not leave her to her own devices.” Susanoo added. “We will take our time to help raise her up and prepare her for this. She does not need to take on the role as leader until she is much older.”
“When she is ready to take over, when she has all that she will need, we will give our souls to her and be reborn.” Supay spoke softly, most likely in an attempt to soothe my motherly worry.
“How can you ask such a thing from a child? She is four years old. Do you truly expect her to set her future in stone right here and now?” The anger was clear in my voice when I yelled at them.
“Shhh.” Talia placed her tiny hands on my cheeks and brought my eyes to meet hers. “It's okay, Mommy. I know what they are asking me. And I accept. If it is not something that I think that I can handle later on in life, then I will tell them to find someone else. Or I will find that person myself. But I already told you, Mommy, I want to help those people. I want to make the underwear world more fair.” My sweet little girl was willing to sacrifice so much for this already.
“Did ze child say undervear vorld?” Lucifer looked at me with a grin on his face.
“She is four.” I snapped at him. “She just says the wrong thing at times. That is all.”
“I did not say zat it vas a bad zing. I just zought zat it vas cute.” He really didn't look upset about it at all. In fact, all six of them were looking at Talia like she was the cutest thing that they had ever seen.
“I will work on saying it right from now on.” Talia nodded at them. “If I am going to be its leader someday, that is something that I need to do, right?” She was smiling happily at them all.
While I watched what was happening in front of me, I had to wonder how this even happened. How did my little Talia get wrapped up into this plot to be the next ruler of the underworld? Why did they want her? She was such a pure and sweet soul. Didn't they know that she was going to be too lenient with everyone. Then again, she did verbally reprimand all of the gods that came here today. Maybe she wouldn't be too lenient on them all.
“Talia, are you sure this is what you want to do? Are you sure that you want to become the next Goddess of the Underworld?” I had to know. I had to make sure she knew.
“Yes, Mommy. That is what I want. I promise that I will work hard so that I can be a good goddess for everyone.”
“That is wonderful news.” Hades clapped and danced flamboyantly.
“Ve are very happy to hear zat, Talia. And ve vill make sure zat ve teach you everyzing zat ve know. One of us will come to teach you on a regular basis. Is zat acceptable to you and your mother?” Lucifer was making it clear that he intended to include me in this as well. As long as they weren't going to try and throw my little girl to the dogs all on her own, I guess I could temporarily accept what was happening.
“Yes, that would be lovely.” Talia smiled at him.
“I will approve of it on a conditional basis.” I nodded at him. “However, if there is ever a time that I do not think that Talia is up to the task, I will tell you to break the deal. You or Talia will then find a new candidate. Is that understood?” I made the terms very easy to understand.
“Exactly vhat I tought a mother would say.” Lucifer grinned at me. As long as he and the others understood my position on all of this, that was fine. We could conditionally say that Talia was the Goddess of the Underworld, but that was all it was for right now. Words and nothing more.
