Chapter 294:
– Layla –
The morning sun filtered through the curtains, and I stirred awake on the soft pillow bed I had made on the floor. A small smile crept onto my lips as I realized my three daughters—Hilga, Sia, and Lia—had woken up and all snuggled up against me sometime during the night.
I gently brushed a few strands of hair from their faces, leaning in to wake them softly. "Girls," I whispered. "Time to get up."
Hilga was the first to stir, blinking groggily as she stretched. Sia and Lia followed, rubbing their sleepy eyes and yawning. "Mommy," Sia asked. "Is everything okay now? Is the fighting over?"
I smiled warmly, stroking Sia's dark hair. "Yes, sweetheart, it's all over. Everything's okay now." As I looked at them, I couldn't help but marvel at how much they'd grown. Sia and Lia were starting to look more like their other mothers—Sia a near mirror image of Sona, and Lia resembling Rias more with each passing day. Even their expressions were the same. Hilga, on the other hand, had started to take after me more than Hela, though her nose and eyes were still unmistakably Hela's.
The door to the nursery creaked open, and Natasha strolled in. "I see you're all finally awake."
The moment the girls saw her, they perked up. "Aunty Nat!"
Natasha chuckled and made her way over to them. "Good morning, girls," she greeted them, ruffling Hilga's hair before turning to me. "Hestia's finished making breakfast. Come on, girls."
Hilga jumped up with a giggle. "I have to pee first!" she announced loudly, darting off toward the bathroom. Sia and Lia burst into giggles and chased after her.
Natasha sighed, shaking her head with an amused smile. "Hilga's definitely getting her crassness from Hela," she said, crossing her arms as she watched them disappear into the bathroom.
I couldn't help but laugh softly, nodding in agreement. "No denying that," I said. "But I wouldn't change a thing." A small sigh escaped me.
Natasha noticed right away, of course. She always did. "You okay?" she asked, settling down beside me on the pillows.
"Yeah," I replied, though I knew she could hear the regret in my voice. "I just… I missed the potty training years, you know?." I chuckled softly, rubbing my temple. "Although, I'm kind of thankful. Changing poopy diapers wasn't something I looked forward to. I used to have my Shadow clones handle most of that."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "You had your clones do the dirty work? Don't you get all those memories anyway?"
"Yeah, but at least I didn't end up getting peed or pooped on."
She laughed. "Smart move. And your girls were all mischievous little troublemakers during that time, I'd say you dodged a bullet." We sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Natasha's tone shifted slightly. "Speaking of dodging bullets… catch me up on what's been going on in Earth DxD the past few days. I need the full story."
I gave her a curious look. "I thought you weren't working with S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore?"
Natasha leaned her head on my shoulder. "I'm not in the field anymore, no. But I'm still technically a consultant. Fury's paranoid, as usual. He wants to know exactly what kind of chaos he's walking into in a week. So… how bad was it?"
I sighed heavily, feeling the weight of the past weeks settle on my shoulders. "It's been rough. Some countries were absolutely ravaged by the devils, while others barely felt the effects."
"That's not all though, right?" Natasha asked.
I continued to explain. "Before I came back here last night, we made a global announcement from Japan explaining that the two worlds—Earth DxD and this one—are going to merge soon. We figured it would be better to give all the people a heads up and not let global panic ensue."
Natasha raised her head off of my shoulder and nodded thoughtfully. "We'll have to make that same announcement over here, too. You know that, right?"
I groaned, rubbing my face with both hands. "I've given so many impromptu speeches lately, I'm exhausted. But yeah, I know it's going to fall on me again." Dropping my hands, I glanced over at her, my voice betraying the fatigue I felt. "I just hope people are ready for it. There's going to be a lot of confusion and panic."
"Andrea is supposed to stop by in the next few hours," Natasha mentioned casually. "They're going to start distributing the formula across Earth Marvel. My guess is they'll want to do the same over on Earth DxD soon."
I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "She and Tony don't need my permission for that. It's not like I'm the queen of Earth or something."
Natasha shot me a pointed stare, raising an eyebrow. "No? You're not?"
I pouted, crossing my arms defensively. "I'm not!"
Natasha smirked, as if she knew something that I didn't, before leaning in slightly. "Whatever you say, Layla. It's not like you could take over the planet anytime you wanted and no government could stop you. They're all very aware of that fact, by the way."
Just then, the sound of giggles echoed down the hallway as the three girls came rushing back into the room, their faces glowing with excitement.
"Breakfast time!" Hilga shouted, nearly tripping over her own feet in her eagerness. Sia and Lia followed close behind, grinning from ear to ear.
I stood up, shaking my head with a fond smile. "Let's go see what Hestia's whipped up for us."
Natasha gave a mock salute. "Lead the way, Queen Layla."
Rolling my eyes, I couldn't help but laugh at her teasing as I followed my daughters toward the kitchen.
Sitting at the breakfast table, I watched my girls eagerly dig into the stack of chocolate chip pancakes Hestia had made.
"Mommy! Look!" Hilga exclaimed with her mouth half-full, waving a fork loaded with pancakes. "Chocolate chips! Hestia made our favorite!"
I smiled warmly at her, my heart melting at the sight. "I see that, sweetheart. You're all so lucky."
Natasha sat beside me, sipping her coffee and casually scanning the room. I couldn't help but notice something was off. "Where are Frigga and Hestia?" I asked, frowning slightly. It wasn't like them to miss a meal, especially one with the girls.
Natasha set down her cup and shrugged. "They've been spending time with the half-devil you dropped on them. You know how they both are when it comes to family."
I frowned. I hadn't given him much thought since I dropped him off. "How's he doing?"
"Not great," Natasha admitted, her voice dropping lower. "Whatever was done to him was… borderline horrific. He's messed up, Layla. It's going to take a long, long time to heal him. Asia's been able to fix his physical injuries, but those mental scars? Twilight Healing can't touch those."
I nodded, feeling a tight knot of guilt form in my chest. I wasn't equipped to handle that kind of trauma either. What if there was no healing him? What if his mind was too far gone? A drastic idea crossed my mind, one I hadn't considered until now. "If he can't recover…" I started cautiously, "... we might need to erase his mind. Start over from scratch, make him a child again, and let him relive his entire childhood with a better family."
Natasha tapped her chin thoughtfully. "That could work, if it comes to that. Plus, your adorable little girls could get a brother."
At that, all three of my girls—Hilga, Sia, and Lia—perked up, their eyes wide with excitement, their mouths still full of pancakes. "WE'RE GETTING A BABY BROTHER!?" they asked in unison.
I chuckled, shaking my head slightly. "Maybe," I said. "But I need to talk to Frigga and Hestia about it first."
Lia, the most curious of the three, tilted her head. "Are they joining your harem too, Mommy…?"
I nearly choked on the orange juice I had just sipped, coughing and sputtering while Natasha burst into laughter beside me. She leaned over, patting me on the back as I tried to regain my composure.
"Where did you hear that word?" I asked, my voice still hoarse from the coughing fit.
The girls exchanged innocent glances before they chimed in unison, "TV!"
I groaned inwardly. My girls were smarter than most children their age, but it seemed like they had been spending a bit too much time glued to the TV in the penthouse.
"That's it," I declared, wiping my mouth and standing up. "We're getting out of the house today! Where do you three want to go?"
Immediately, the girls started shouting over each other.
"The park!" Sia yelled.
"No, the zoo!" Lia chimed in.
"I want to see the dolphins at the aquarium!" Hilga exclaimed.
I like that last suggestion the best. "The aquarium it is, then. Let's go see some dolphins."
The girls cheered, their excitement filling the room as they scrambled to finish their pancakes.
…
Natasha and I strolled hand in hand, watching our girls dart from exhibit to exhibit, eyes wide with wonder.
"This is nice," Natasha said softly, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "Not everything has to be explosions and death."
I smiled, appreciating the calmness. "It is nice," I agreed.
[Booooooo, yes it does!]
I chuckled quietly to myself, letting the System's comment slide.
We had rented out the entire aquarium for the day to avoid being swarmed by my adoring fans. Even now, I could sense hundreds of people gathered outside the building, held back by security. Still, my heightened senses picked up on something—or rather, someone—that had slipped past the perimeter.
"Andrea's here," I mentioned casually, glancing toward the entrance.
Sure enough, moments later, Andrea Stark strolled down the hallway. A glowing blue badge sat atop her chest, brimming with power. It looked like they perfected the nanotech suits.
"Hi, Andrea," I greeted her with a small wave.
"Hey, Layla. Natasha," Andrea smiled, greeting us both warmly. After the pleasantries, her expression shifted to a more serious one. "So, how bad was it?" she asked, clearly referring to the chaos back on Earth DxD.
I sighed. It seemed like everyone wanted to know about the state of things. I gave Andrea the same abbreviated version I had given Natasha earlier as the three of us fell into step behind the girls, who were now eagerly running toward the touch tank, excited to pet the stingrays.
"We've been watching the stars a lot more this past month," Andrea said as we walked. "Our telescopes are picking up weirder and weirder results. We're seeing stars we've never seen before in our night skies."
I nodded thoughtfully. "That means the Convergence is almost here," I said. "I thought we'd have at least a week, but now it's looking like we may only have days."
Andrea nodded, her face tightening with concern. "That's what Tony and I are thinking, too. We've ramped up drone distribution, but we wanted to check with you first."
I sighed and shook my head. "I already told, Natasha. I'm not the queen of Earth."
Andrea paused, raising an eyebrow. "I mean… Technically, you are…."
"Huh?" I blinked, my head tilting in confusion. I turned to Natasha, who was now pouting slightly at Andrea.
"That was supposed to be a secret," Natasha grumbled playfully before turning to me to explain. "Okay, so you know how Hela was queen of Asgard, and Asgard rules over the Nine Realms?"
Well, human governments were never really comfortable with that, but since Asgard didn't make Earth pay taxes and let the humans rule themselves, they never made a big stink about it. I nodded, urging her to continue.
"Right," she continued. "Well, technically, Hela only rules over eight realms now. She signed Earth over to you as some kind of betrothal present. It's mostly symbolic, but... it's official. Earth is yours now."
My jaw dropped. "Wait—what?!" I exclaimed. "She gave me the entire planet as a betrothal present?"
Natasha nodded, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Yep. She figured it wouldn't matter in the end since the realms will all unite after the marriage anyway. But yeah, she made it official. Most governments don't even know about it yet. It's been kept quiet to avoid a panic."
I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "Hela..." I muttered, exasperated. "She's always making these bold, reckless moves. But why did she think this was a good idea?"
Before we could dive deeper into that topic, my daughters came rushing back, their faces beaming with excitement.
"Mommy, mommy!" Hilga shouted, tugging at my hand. "We got to pet the stingrays! They're so soft!"
I smiled warmly, pushing thoughts of planetary ownership to the back of my mind. "That's great, sweetie. Did you have fun?"
The three girls nodded eagerly. I bent down, kissing each of their foreheads. "What's next?"
"Let's go see the dolphins next!" Lia was practically bouncing on her toes.
"Good idea," I said, standing back up. "Let's go see some dolphins."
"..."
…Sia pressed her little hands against the glass and complained softly, "The dolphins look sad, Mommy."
Lia, standing next to her, nodded. "Yeah, they're not swimming."
Hilga crossed her arms with a frown. "The tank's too small. They don't have room to swim." She stomped up to the glass, they just floated there in the water and staring listlessly at the walls.
Hilga then did something that made me blink and do a double take. She started making dolphin noises. Very accurate dolphin noises that seemed to get the attention of the creatures in the tank.
"Wait... is that Allspeak?" I asked, turning to Andrea in surprise.
Andrea held up her hands, looking just as surprised. "Don't look at me. I might have the body of an Asgardian now, but I didn't get the ability to speak every single language in the universe."
The dolphins swam toward Hilga, responding in their own series of clicks and whistles. My three-year-old was talking to the dolphins. I watched them, fascinated. "I think Hela mentioned something once about the true Allspeak… only the gods of Asgard can speak to animals, plants, sentients… basically anything." Sia and Lia were starting to look a little jealous that Hilga was the only one talking to the dolphins. I placed a hand on each of their heads and smiled softly. "Just wait until Hilga's done chatting with her new friends. I'm sure she's discussing very important things… like whatever depressed dolphins talk about."
A few minutes later, Hilga turned back to us, her big eyes wide with that irresistible puppy dog look. "Mommy," she started, her voice soft and pleading, "can we please rescue the dolphins? They hate it here."
I sighed, knowing what was coming next. Andrea crouched down to Hilga's level. "Sweetie, we can't just steal the dolphins. They belong to the aquarium."
Hilga shook her head. "But they want to go back to the ocean, where their families are! They told me they used to live there before they got captured."
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, Sia and Lia tugged on my shirt, giving me the same hopeful puppy dog eyes. And then, next to me, Natasha was trying—and failing—not to laugh. I sighed again, realizing I was trapped. "You know," I muttered under my breath, "I've done worse things than stealing a bunch of illegally acquired dolphins."
Andrea snickered. "You're going to spoil them, you know that, right?"
I rubbed my temples, crouching down so I could look all three of my daughters in the eyes. "Listen, if we rescue the dolphins, we're probably never going to be allowed back here. You understand that, right?"
Lia didn't seem bothered at all, bobbing her head. "That's okay. Other than the stingrays, the rest of the fish were boring. All they do is swim in circles."
"That's what fish do, sweetie," Andrea said with a chuckle.
Natasha had fully given in by now, laughing loudly at the situation, while I just shook my head.
"Alright," I relented and stood back up.
[Grand Theft Dolphin!]
The girls cheered, jumping up and down with excitement. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation myself now.
The dolphins floated in their tank, glancing at me expectantly. I raised my hand, focusing on some basic telekinesis, and one by one, I gently lifted each dolphin out of the tank. They squeaked and clicked in surprise but seemed to calm as Hilga spoke to them some more. With my other hand, I opened a portal to an empty beach in Florida. If I was committing a felony, it was definitely not going to be in the same state. Besides, the waters outside Manhattan were kind of gross. Florida's warm, clear ocean seemed like a much better option.
Hilga, Sia, and Lia all cheered as the dolphins were carefully deposited into the open ocean. The dolphins quickly swam off. The girls were already kicking off their shoes and running toward the ocean, playing in the shallow water and occasionally flying above it with their wings. Natasha followed behind them, keeping a close eye on the girls since none of them knew how to swim yet just in case.
Meanwhile, I stood there on the shore with hands on my hips, shaking my head. "I guess this turned into a beach day all of a sudden," I said.
Andrea smiled. "I mean, why not? Who doesn't love an impromptu beach day?" Andrea grinned at me. "You know what?" she said mischievously. "You should do your announcement video in a bikini."
I shot her a look. "You want me to deliver the most important news of humanity's lifetime… from the beach, wearing a skimpy bikini?"
She wiggled her eyebrows. "Absolutely. It will be sure to go viral immediately. I bet 70% of the world will click on it if only so they can stare at your chest." I rolled my eyes as Andrea pulled out her Stark phone, already hyped up about filming. "Come on, Layla, let's do it! It'll be hilarious! If you get it over with now, you won't have to do it later."
[She makes a fair point.]
I mulled it over for a second, fighting the grin pulling at my lips. It would be pretty funny. I remembered how serious and formal Amaterasu and I had been in our announcement video back on Earth DxD. We were straight to the point, completely serious as we tried to prepare people for what was coming. This would be a stark contrast.
Eh, Screw it…
"Alright, let's do it," I said, pulling a black bikini out of my inventory. The beach was empty so I didn't mind changing there in the open. I slipped my clothes off and put on the bikini.
[Historians will watch this hundreds of years from now and be very confused…]
Andrea grinned and held her phone up. "The lighting is absolutely perfect right now. Florida beaches are great for filming."
"Alright," I muttered under my breath, letting out one last sigh. "Let's get this over with." As Andrea hit record on her phone, I stepped into frame, with the waves softly crashing in the background. "Citizens of Earth Marvel, I'm Layla of the Fallen, and I have some very important news to share with you all…"
– Nick Fury –
"Duh fuck is this shit…?" Nick Fury grumbled to himself as he watched the video of Layla telling the people of the world that they were about to merge with an entire separate Earth.
–Tony Stark –
Damn, she looks hot in a bikini." Tony said with a whistle. "This video seems pretty important… I wonder if I should watch it in the bathroom–Ow!" he flinched as his wife, Pepper, smacked him upside the head.
– Carol Danvers –
She'd spent the last two years settling the endless conflicts in space, and finally made it back to Earth. She was in the process of getting reacquainted with life on Earth when the new phone she'd just purchased dinged with a notification. She watched the video of the beautiful woman she hadn't seen in two years with a smile on her face. "You know, I think I recognize that particular beach," Carol said to herself.
XXX
A bit of a calmer chapter…