Submersion

Anael's eyes fluttered slightly as he stirred on his bed, immediately wincing and grasping his torso in pain.

He looked around his room, and it was hard to believe it was his own. Everything looked so foreign and strange...he squeezed his nasal bridge irritably, clenching his eyes shut. He couldn't remember how he had even arrived back at the academy. He smiled weakly as he thought of An. She must have carried his unconscious body back. Just as well, he thought to himself.

He had carried her up, and she ended up carrying him back down.

Anael's ears perked up as he heard a voice speak to him. "Daddy! You're awake!" He was promptly embraced by what appeared to be a 10-year-old girl with long dark hair and fluttering black wings. She was wearing a gossomer white dress and little slippers with a small feathery emblem on them. When she finally released him and looked into his eyes, Anael realized with some surprise that they were different colors.

She was beautiful.

I got up from the bed and looked at my daughter who was now 10 years old. I smiled and said, "Good morning, sweetie. How are you today?" I looked over at Anael and said, "Love, we need to talk about the next place we go to. I'm thinking about letting Emily come with us. After all, I have a feeling it will be less dangerous there than it was up in the heavens. What do you say? I just don't want to leave her again."

Anael shot up like he had been stung, face contorted with anger.

"Absolutely not! Do these damned realms of the gods look like a playground? It's too dangerous!"

Anael immediately regretted raising his voice to An. This was the first time he had ever done so since first meeting her a few short weeks ago. But even still, he felt as if his reaction was justified. They had barely returned from the heavens with their lives, and who was the say that the next encounter with the gods wouldn't be even worse? He couldn't even imagine what kind of dangers were lurking, unknown from either of their eyes. And with their own daughter in their midst...

"...I'm sorry, love...I shouldn't have raised my voice." He sighed quietly, standing to briefly kiss Angela's forehead and hug his daughter close to his legs all in one motion. "I don't want to leave Emily alone for even another moment. After all, we've already missed crucial early stages of our daughter's life, and I will never forgive myself for that. But...surely you must see the truth of my words?"

I looked down and said, "I know it's dangerous... I just thought... I thought for one moment you would trust me that I knew what I was talking about. Poseidon isn't nearly as strong as Zeus. People like to act as if oh their the big three so each of them is just as powerful but to be honest Poseidon is a lot weaker than Zeus. Hades is extremely powerful too about equal with Poseidon. Hades hasn't let us down yet. I don't reckon he plans on letting us down anytime soon as long as we're following his orders. We're almost done besides if things get too bad we can always have Emily teleport right back here. Please let her come with us. Who knows if she'll even be an adult by the time we get back and I don't want to be completely absent from her childhood." Emily looked at Anael and said, "Please daddy? Please let me go. I promise to follow everything you and mommy say. If you tell me to get out of there and leave you there I'll do it. I just want to spend some time with you before I'm all grown up. I'm already ten years old. I bet mommy was doing things far more dangerous at that age." I looked at Emily and said, "Now that's not fair. While it may be true, it's not like I had a choice. You have a choice in the matter and if you want to stay here where it's safe I'd feel comfortable with that but if you want to come with us and help us I'd protect you with my life and I wouldn't let anything hurt you." Emily smiled. It was good, in her opinion, to know that at least her mom was on her side. She just needed to convince her dad to let her come with them.

Anael's face was taut with worry. He looked back and forth between his soon-to-be wife, and his little girl, and he couldn't fathom losing either one of them. He couldn't bear the pain. His instincts told him that these errands they were running for An's father were too hazardous to be carrying along a child, and that he should stick to his first decision and leave her completely out of this.

However, his heart told him to trust An.

Anael finally released a deep sigh and smiled down at Emily. "You can come."

He swept her up in a hug, never wanting to release her. It felt so good to hold her like that. He had long been awaiting the time when he could hold his child like this, as the world momentarily stilled and all of his problems melted away. Everything was perfect for that instant, and he wished things could be like this always. Unfortunately, they didn't have that luxury.

Anael set Emily down and looked her sternly in the eye.

"But you have to promise me you'll be careful, sweetheart. Promise?"

Emily looked at Anael and said, "I promise daddy. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Just please don't make me stay here alone." She smiled as a shadow fox walked from the hallway into the room and jumped up into my arms. She pet it happily and said, "It's okay, Moonlight. We don't have to be alone anymore."

It broke my heart to hear Emily say that she didn't have to be alone anymore. I realized with great sadness that it was true. She had been alone for most of her life. I had been a terrible parent for her. I hoped that there was some way that I could make it up to her. She was so much like me yet so much like Anael as well.

Anael smiled at both of his two little angels and released them.

"Alright, sweetie. Go get washed up and come tell us when you're ready, ok?"

If they were to be leaving soon, he supposed he would have to prepare himself for another arduous journey. Reaching into his drawer, Anael pulled out some bandages and wrapped them around his arms and chest where the pain still ebbed slightly, and found to his delight that it soothed his wounds just enough to allow more movement. He flexed to test his muscles. Luckily there didn't seem to be any lasting damage.

"Where are we off to next, love?" He said as he slipped into a dark undershirt.

Emily went to go get ready to go. She was happy that Anael was allowing her to go. I looked at Anael and said, "Well the next and last thing we have to do is acquire Poseidon's trident. I reckon that it will be by his throne like Zeus' lightning bolt was. Do you have any ideas of how we should retrieve it?

Anael shrugged.

"I'm guessing we do it just the same as before. Once we descend deep enough into Poseidon's kingdom, we'll just use your father's keystone to create a portal right to the Trident." He thought for a moment. It all sounded so easy when he said it aloud, but there was always room for error, and the slightest error could prove fatal. They couldn't afford any mistakes.

"I only hope Poseidon doesn't try and stop us. Stealing my father's bolt was...almost too easy..." he remarked quietly.

I looked at Anael and held his shoulder with my hand. I said, "It's okay Anael. Whatever we must face we'll do it together. I have a feeling, just a gut feeling, that Emily is extremely powerful too."