KAOS
I stared at the sleeping child, so peaceful. Her brown skin glowed under the sunlight as she slept, She had blue eyes just like me and I would have argued she was the tiny version of me but then she had a patch of black hair admit the whiteness of her hair just in the middle of her head. A tiny person, a product of Dhara and I. it's so surreal that we are parents now. I had months to prepare myself for this moment but nothing beats this feeling of pride that I'm a mother now.
I turned to face him. He held onto my waist tightly, murmuring in his sleep. This man looked happy even in his sleep. I planted a gentle kiss on his forehead and he stirred.
"we're stealing kisses now?" he yawned. His now equally blue eyes stared into mine.
"Your eyes...they changed" I frowned "is that normal?"
"Apparently yes. After teaching me everything I needed to know about being a death god, Tsatu, let's go of the reins and completely merged with me. There's no need for her to be let out or in" He explained.
"I didn't know" I turned to look at the sleeping baby. "I'm tired of being a human now..." I shivered, "I'm ready to take on my role as a god again..."
"Why?" his eyes widened. "Did something happen while I was gone?" he shot up from the bed.
"Yes, I went into labour while you were gone, it was terrifying." I deadpanned "I didn't want your brother to see, so I tried to act tough but secretly I was terrified I would lose the baby...It was my idea and one I didn't think through. I had forgotten how back then, women would call on my name, praying for a safe delivery and I never asked why they never asked for a painless one." I paused and turned to face him again. "Dhara, I think I've experienced enough...you are a full on god now with your own realm, I want to make a home with you... I'm serious." and I was.
He fell silent for a while. I sighed. He probably feels pressured now.
"I guess it's time I told you... I can't hide it from you anymore..." he revealed "Tsatu showed me how punishment works in the underworld. She said it was her dream to get it developed and it was the least I could do in appreciation for keeping me alive. While I tasked the resident souls to help with that, I built us a house. It's not too big or too small but it is comfortable.
"Let's do this now! I wanna see it..." I chirped excitedly
"What about the baby?"
"She'll be fine, Hika will be watching over her. Come on!"
"Naga, you literally just gave birth. We will definitely see it. I need you to rest and heal, love." he ran a hand through my hair.
"But..." I murmured
"Please..." he kissed my forehead and I calmed down a bit
"okay...but only because you asked nicely."
"I thought of a name for our daughter..."
"really?" my ears perked up
"Sol...it means the sun in one of the human languages" I nodded in agreement, looking over at our baby.
"Sol..." I repeated and a small buzz of light from her cot made the two of us race to her side. The light enveloped her and her a speck of gold swirled in her eyes, settling as a rim around her irises.
"What's happening?" Dhara quipped
"Her name took effect... It's only a matter of time before we know what goddess she will grow into.
"I love you." I went rigid. I don't think I've heard him say that before. I turned around and stare at him in disbelief "what?"
"I love you back." I pulled him by the collar and kissed him like my life depended on it.
"Woah..."
"don't woah me! you don't hit me with I love you and expect me to just gape at you" I pinched his cheek and we burst out laughing, hugging eachother.
DHIJI
The room was set and the only thing left was my guest. I had laid out the only nice blanket I had on the floor on my apartment which was right above my restaurant. I prepared my best food on the menu and I prayed it didn't get cold before she arrived.
"Nice place, you got here..." my guest came out from the shadows. At this point I didn't even need to ask how she got in.
"how long were you standing there?" I scratched my head puzzled.
"not long." she held her wrist up to show me her new tattoo. It was blue dash on her wrist. "I did it..."
"You did it..." I beamed and she hugged me. "Congratulations" I nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck.
"All thanks to you and Chaela" She ran her hand softly through my hair. "Thank you."
"But I didn't do anything..." I pulled back. "You did it all...I'm so happy for you and I guess this calls for a celebration." I grabbed the wine in the ice bucket and opened it, poured us a glass each. "To being free"
"To being free" we downed the wine, both clearly nervous.
"So what next?" I led her to the pillows I had laid around the blanket. "Are you taking a break like Kaos did?"
"I want to follow in Kaos's footsteps, well, minus all the kidnapping and dying..." she chuckled gracefully. Everything about her was so graceful.
"I guess she's cleared the path for you..." I took a bite of the food in front of me and she copied my actions and her eyes went wide.
"Why the fuck is this so good?" she mouthed between bites.
"you'd choke, careful..." I handed her a napkin. "It's the food that put us on the map." I said proudly.
"Well yeah...This is amazing! you could dine with the gods with this meal!! Chaela would love to taste this..." her eyes still wide with a mixture of surprise and shock, trading looks from the food to me and back to the food.
"The g-gods?" I stuttered, just realizing what she said. "wouldn't that mean I'd have to be dead?" I frowned slightly in confusion and she laughed.
"No..." she managed out "The gods have messengers you know and they can come down if they so wish just like Kaos and I did." She explained, setting the now empty plates aside.
She crawled over to me and pushed my plates aside and looked up at me coyly. I felt my ears burn.
"Hi" I murmured and she dipped her head and planted a kiss on my lips.
"I'd like to work with you at your restaurant and live with you like couples do and maybe have a nice little family of our own and maybe you could become a god too, like your brother...if you want. Chaela could make you one....again, if you want"
"you're so confusing, you know that?" I grinned.
"I am?" She pressed her lips to mine again.
"you basically mixed three proposals together..."
"I did?" she kissed me again, pushing me down on my back this time as we made out.
Yes, you did. Was what I was gonna say but it was swallowed up by her fervent kisses. Whatever kind of spell she cast on me, I'm glad she did but now that I think about it, It doesn't seem like it. I've been enamored by this goddess through everything we've been through. And I'm really glad.
Everything really did work out for us. Kaos accomplished her goals perfectly, she was so elated when she told me they named the baby. Sol, it was very pretty. They finally moved to Dhara's realm, to finally settle down. Dhara was a god now and he seemed to be having a great time with his new role and his family.
And I have one the most supportive woman besides my mother. Strife, no, Mana, had decided, adopting a more human name was necessary since she would live on earth with me. Apparently she fell in love with the name because of the little boy that first prayed to her. She decided to immortalize the boy by adopting the name. She was cute, adorable, that way.
As promised, the gods did descend to dine at my restaurant and they loved my cooking, we didn't see Indera though, which she was very thankful for and it seems this wouldn't be the last time they would be here. It was funny setting aside a day where we'd be hosting the gods, I feared my team would start asking questions but I didn't need to as the gods had a way of taking any trace of their presence with them to avoid investigation. Insane as it maybe, having Ethereal guests patronizing the restaurant every Tuesday did have its perks, this is even more insane, they paid with gems. Mana had a good laugh the first time I walked in with a arm load of gems into our apartment. to be honest it was funny as it was surprising.
I never saw or heard from Neema since the last time I saw her. Mana had mentioned she had seen her once loitering around Dhara's old house after they had moved and thought she really had a death wish after being marked by Omen. I shook my head at the thought and somewhat forgot about it after that.
Everything really did work out of us.