“Devilla…” Lucy began only to cut herself off with a frown. “Are you doing that thing you do where you say something super ominous by accident?”

“No?” I replied with a puzzled frown of my own. “At least I don’t believe I am. I said exactly what I meant - that I intend to eliminate the Grand Patriarch and remove him from the equation. Perhaps the petrification spell is an option? It has proven surprisingly useful.”

“Devilla!” Abigail was the one who interjected this time, narrowing her eyes at me. “You can’t just petrify all your problems.”

“Yeah!” Lucy agreed. “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to learn the spell. What if something happens and a limb breaks off or he shatters entirely?”

“Then I’ll fix him,” I replied curtly. “There’s little our healing can’t accomplish, so long as I manage to keep his head intact. Probably.”

“Probably?” Abigail repeated, arching an eyebrow.

“He tried to enslave Lucy!” I pointed out, feeling somewhat annoyed at their reluctance. “He doesn’t deserve any sympathy in my mind. Especially not when Luci could be outfitting him with another of those collars even as we speak.”

“The collar won’t work on her anymore,” Doll declared. “Not now that she’s an angel. Perhaps it would work if Luci gave him something made of divine magic, but I highly doubt she would ever give a mortal something capable of actually harming an angel. She may look down on her descendents, but she holds mortals in even greater contempt”

“She’s probably right,” the Goddess said even as I watched Lucy mouth the word ‘angel.’ “That said, she’s probably already done with whatever she was planning, seeing as how I’m back to running interference between our worlds again.”

“I don’t suppose you have any idea what she did while you were distracted, do you?” I asked, only to receive confused looks from Abigail and Lucy. “Ignore me. I’m just talking to the Goddess that Doll apparently forced into helping us so that we could save you from annihilation by turning you into an angel.”

“Is that why I feel so different?” Lucy asked. “I mean I kinda remember making the choice to become stronger, but I thought maybe you just found a way to enhance my Heroine abilities, or something…”

“It was the only way to save you,” I explained, a touch hesitant. “You’re not angry, are you?”

“She better not be!” the Goddess huffed. “I put a lot of hard work into getting my angels just right!”

“I’m not!” Lucy said, unable to hear the Goddess. “Just a little confused, I guess? I’m not really sure what being an angel means. I mean, I don’t feel all that different? Just stronger.”

“Yup! My angels are basically just humans with extra bits, so that makes sense! She should be able to sprout wings now, too!”

“The Goddess says you should be able to sprout wings,” I informed her.

“The Goddess?” Lucy asked, finally registering who I was talking to.

“As in, the one who theoretically maybe abandoned us?” Abigail asked. “The one that Doll thought might be back and yet not doing anything?”

“Hey! I was busy jamming communications between the mortal and administrative realms! Though at this point I’m… not doing that, anymore, I guess, seeing as how I’m talking to all of you, so I’m mostly just blocking Luci from descending on you. Thankfully she’s locked out of the world broadcast section of the system, so without being able to descend she’s stuck just talking to one person at a time… But still! I’m the only reason the Grand Patriarch didn’t find out all about you from the very beginning! Though, uh, to answer your question I’ve got no clue what Luci might have sent over while I was distracted with you.”

“I’m grateful for the help, at least,” I replied, much to the apparent confusion of Abigail and Lucy. “Though I must ask - is there any way you could talk to the group instead of just me? Because this is becoming rather awkward…”

“Well, you could just use your magic to broadcast my words,” the Goddess replied. “It’s a pretty simple application of arcane magic, right?”

“That’s an option?” I asked.

“Of course! Arcane magic’s pretty flexible, you know? I mean, it works better if you know exactly what you’re going for, but with enough magic power you can brute force most things.” 

“Well, in that case, please do introduce yourself, would you not? I need some time to stew in the fact that I apparently can’t simply petrify the man who tried to enslave Lucy.”

“Do you really want to do that?” Lucy asked with a frown. “Can’t you just… throw him in the dungeon or something?”

“He’s a risk,” I whispered, anger seething in my voice. Anger I could only hope Lucy knew wasn’t directed at her. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to apologize, regardless. “We don’t know what Luci - the traitorous bitch in heaven - has outfitted him with. And to be frank, this is already less than what I truly wish to do, which is scourge the flesh from his bones and rend him limb from limb.”

“Where was that when I was kidnapped?!” Abigail demanded. “You were fine with just exiling her!”

“Alira was one of my people. One of those I held responsibility towards. Now she is no longer. The Grand Patriarch never had that protection to begin with. Make no mistake, Abigail - I would as readily have imprisoned or even killed Alira rather than sending her free were she not previously a subject of mine.”

“A proper Queen would have disposed of her altogether,” Doll stated. “As you should do with the Grand Patriarch.”

“A proper Queen according to who?”Abigail demanded. “The only queens you’ve ever known have been under a geas! Unless you mean the one who put them under it to begin with?”

“Enough!” The Goddess’s voice interrupted, made audible by the arcane spell I’d wrought. “Lucy, I appreciate your love for all my people and your desire to protect their souls. Abigail, I appreciate your attempts to make Devilla back down, as prickly as they may have been in presentation. And Devilla… I get it. Someone hurt the one you loved. Of course you’re upset! I’m pretty sure I’d be, too! I mean, I cry when it happens in, like, TV shows so of course I’m here for you now!”

“TV shows?!” I interrupted. “What do you even… Why do you know so much about Earth?!”

“I mean, other than the fact that it’s famous?” the Goddess asked, her voice raising in pitch as she began to gush about Earth. “It’s a naturally developed world from a home-grown universe that started with a big bang and holds stable to this day! Not to mention the sapient populace - do you have any idea how rare that is to find, and occuring organically no less?! Lots of gods just straight up copy paste it when making their worlds! Also, it’s technically one of my parents’ holdings, though they’ve mostly abandoned it. Like, they love the idea of it, but it’s just too much according to them… I always used to sneak over to the Monitoring Room and just watch it, though. It’s how I grew so close to humans! And why I made myself into one. More or less.”

“Into one?” Doll asked, the first of us to snap out of our collective daze. “Do you mean that you gave yourself a human shell, like with your angels?”

“Sorta?” the Goddess replied. “Except it’s less a shell, and more just… me. Gods technically don’t have souls, after all! We’re basically made of magic - or rather, we are our magic? There’s no difference between the spells I create and the being that I am. So when I magically twisted myself into the form of a twenty-one year old human lesbian, that’s what I became. Mostly. I did get rid of a few flaws - like, my hair doesn’t grow longer than I want it to, or shed at all, I don’t sweat - which is fine, since I’m still made of divine magic at the end of the day and therefore impossible to overheat - and I don’t go to the bathroom, either… You know, the same basic functions I gave you angels and… Well, also now you Abigail. Alongside all the other true demons down in Hell.”

“Wait,” Lucy interrupted. “Hell is a real place?”

“Yes, but it’s not a place where the damned go, like the church teaches - it’s more just a processing plant where all the negative energy is extracted from a soul and used to either fuel the city, its citizens, or - if there’s surplus - to feed me. Same with heaven, really, except for positive energy - the afterlife is a whole other thing I created to give souls a break between lives. A little downtime, you know? Not that the angels are letting anyone make use of it, as is… They’re so desperate for souls, they aren’t even taking the time to scrub them free of their past lives before sending them on! Which is going to be causing problems for them down the line if nothing is done, let me tell you, but does Luci care? Of course not!”

“Yes, well, as intriguing as that all is,” I interrupted, “can we please get back to your reasoning as to why I shouldn’t tear the Grand Patriarch apart? Because, my own anger at him aside, the fact remains that he’s a threat with angelic backing.”

“I’m actually on board with you doing that,” the Goddess said to everyone’s surprise.

“Shouldn’t you be against killing anyone?” Lucy asked.

“I mean, sure, if they’re decent people, but I just got finished telling you I’m as human in my thinking as the rest of you! And that douchebag hurt someone I care about! I mean, mostly indirectly, since it’s sorta Devilla I’m most invested in, but still! It was very bad, and honestly kinda upsetting, even before we get into the whole ‘stripping a person of free will and ordering them to kill their loved ones’ thing being so fucked up that even I’m not sure they deserve any mercy… So I’m honestly onboard with whatever - I just don’t want you to do anything you will regret, Devilla.”

“Because you care about her?” Abigail asked with a frown. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? That you care about her in particular for some reason?”

“It’s… complicated,” the Goddess hedged, “but yes. I care about her.”

“Complicated?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “It seems to me that you just got finished telling us that your thoughts are no different than that of a human’s. So tell me - why do you care so much about me?”

“Well, it’s hard not to care about someone you’ve been watching so closely!” the Goddess answered. “And… uh…. Well, there’s other reasons, but I don’t think now is a very good time for it.”

“I see…” I murmured. “Then let’s start with something simpler, shall we? Like why you interfered with the Rite? Why you chose now to take a stand, rather than doing it for any the Demon Queens before me? It can’t be about the odds - Doll was very clear that those remain out of my favor - so why?”

“Cut me some slack, I only really got back a little before you were born!” the Goddess said. “So it’s not like I was just sitting back and watching this whole time…”

“Is that the only reason, then?” I asked her. “Because I was the first one after you returned? Is it truly that simple?”

“Well… not exactly… but it’s… connected to something I really don’t want to talk about with you just yet? Weren’t we moving on to something else?”

“...Well, at least you’re being honest about it,” I muttered after a moment, shaking my head with exasperation. “Very well. If that’s too much for you, then let me indeed move on to something else - your name. Referring to you as ‘the Goddess’ every time we reference you will get old pretty fast.”

“My… name?” the Goddess asked, surprisingly hesitant about such a simple question.

“You must have one, don’t you? Something people call you by? You said there are other gods, so you can’t possibly just be the Goddess to all of them.”

“Well… No…?”

“Is it something mortals can’t pronounce?” Lucy offered, kindly giving her an out.

“Not… exactly…” the Goddess replied. “I… Look. Please don’t broadcast this next part?”

‘...Alright,’ I replied mentally, quietly discontinuing my spell.

“My real name is… ugh. It’s Belizitera. Or at least that’s how it’s pronounced by mortal tongues. I hate it! I mean, it’s so ugly! And way too close to blister! Who wants a name that makes you think of blisters?!”

‘Right… Have you considered a nickname then?” I suggested. “Liz, perhaps?’

“Liz? Isn’t that, like… an Earthling nickname?”

‘Well… yes, I suppose, though I didn’t think of it that way. Some of the names I’ve heard in Solla have been pretty similar to those I’m familiar with from Earth, after all…

“Oh, that’s just because I gave all my angels and demons names I heard on TV! Much more importantly though - Liz! My new nickname is Liz. Oh Em Me I love it!”

“...Right, well, if that’s all I’m just going to turn the communication spell back on,” I murmured. Truthfully, I was a touch embarrassed by how happy it seemed to make the Goddess - or rather, Liz. Had no one ever thought to give her a nickname before?

“I can’t believe it! And here I was worried that you wouldn’t even like me… Ahhhhh, I can’t wait to tell Grimm!” Liz practically squeed in glee over her new nickname, apparently failing to consider the fact that she was audible once again.

“Wait, ‘Grimm?’” Abigail interjected. “As in, like… Grimmilla?”

A moment of silence. “...Right, uh… about that…”

“She’s dating my mother,” I explained, shaking my head. “Which might be why she cares, I suppose, but if so I don’t know why she’s being so cagey about it.”

“Yeah, Luci put her in the room next to mine,” Liz explained. “Wanted her to have a similar treatment to mine - you know, forced to watch her kid be mistreated? Her idea of revenge over just sticking her soul in stasis for all eternity. Except I kinda sorta ended up using my limited magic to talk to her - like I’m doing right now with you - and… Uh… Well, one thing led to another and… Oh, me, I did not want to be telling you like this, but uh… Devilla? What would you think about having me as a stepmom?”

~~~

Author's Notes

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for the editing! And the title. The main change from the rough draft is that the original reveal was just "I'm dating your Mom" - but that came out in chapter 80, with the revisions, so I needed to end the chapter on another note, and... Yeah. I decided to reveal this minor secret, instead. (Though I'm sure it feels a lot more major for Devilla.)

Also? LIZ! You have no idea how scared I've been of accidentally calling her by name before the big reveal. (I'm almost as much of a disaster as her, sometimes.)

In other news, depression is... less bad of late? Maybe? So maybe I'll be able to write tonight or tomorrow... We'll see. Wish me luck! (We're still at chapter 85 on Patreon, but I'd like to get that number up to 86 by next week.)