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It was up to Alexandra and the twins to come clean about what happened in the Bilibid prison with Talagbusao and the other people involved with the disturbances that had happened with the citizens of the underworld before they could wage war against the humans. She called together a council meeting, all the heads of the many tribes gathered around one table.
“Plenty of the other Tikbalangs from my tribe were found dead at the scene, Trese. As much as I trust you had nothing directly to do with this, it’s causing a state of unrest within my tribe,” the Great Stallion spoke and before Alexandra could come up with a response, one of the heads of the Aswang clan chimed in.
“How do we know you didn’t call this meeting just to protect your beloved humans, Trese?” the aswang questioned, rashly slamming his fist against the table. Whispers echoed throughout the room as the others began shamelessly speaking amongst themselves and voicing their “concerns” regarding Alexandra as though she didn’t stand in the same room as they did.
“And the bombings? What will become of the buildings soon? How are we sure these bombings won’t happen again? How do we know we’re truly safe to resume with our routines?” one of the other nunus questioned.
“I’m sure Bossing has an answer for each and every one of your questions. Now, if you’d let her talk—” one of the twins made an attempt to mediate the situation, but his efforts were dubbed useless as the other creatures’ words began to overlap with each other, every word pouring from their lips driving Alexandra further and further off the edge.
“Okay, that’s enough,” the raven-haired girl started, resting her palm against the table with a hardened expression on her face.
“You know, I bet if your father had been the one calling this meeting—” another voice cut in only to be silenced as the lights in the room began to flicker before, along with the candles, going out altogether, leaving the room shrouded in silence.
Panic came across the whole group as they made attempts to light up the darkened room. Alexandra found herself gripping her dagger tightly, holding it in front of her, prepared to strike anyone who dared come too close for comfort.
It wasn’t until the lights slowly flickered back on that everyone noticed the figure that stood in the middle of the room, a beautiful h/c-haired woman with pale fabrics draped onto her figure. Everyone in the room watched wide-eyed as she examined the expressions on each and every one of their faces. They knew exactly who she was; she was y/n, one the daughters of Bathala and the one who would inherit reign over humanity.
“I believe the lady said she’d had enough of your talking,” she spoke, making a gesture with her hands to force the lips of the aswang who’d mentioned Alexandra’s father shut. She pulled herself a seat at the center of the table, opposite to Alexandra’s seat, and motioned for her to carry on.
“Everything that’s been happening in the underworld; it was all Talagbusao’s doing. He was the one who pulled the strings of everything in pursuit of a prophecy he said was planned out long ago. I don’t understand how, but he managed to pull the strings in the occurrences in some of the cases I investigated recently,” Alexandra explained, as murmurs in the room grew. The head of the tribe of the Diwatas raised her hand, patiently waiting for Alexandra to address her in fear of upsetting y/n. Alexandra sent a nod towards the glowing woman’s direction, urging her to address her concerns.
“If Talagbusao really is back, none of us are safe. He’s a god, we’re all outnumbered in more ways than one,” she spoke diligently, her voice shaking slightly, allowing the fear to seep through her voice.
“I took care of that problem already,” Alexandra responded curtly, a vague memory of how she found herself swirling through the dragon’s blood with Talagbusao flooding her mind.
“If Bathala sent one of his daughters—and not just any daughter, he chose to send the most powerful one—I doubt you were able to properly dispel Talagbusao. Our lives may still be at risk,” one of the spirits cut in.
“My presence here is not to combat against Talagbusao, but to see to it that the rift in the Underworld is mended soon. It’s rare for my ama to request that I take care of matters here in the mortal plane, but I suppose he had no other choice,” y/n huffed before her e/c stare hardened on nobody in particular, “I mean seriously, it feels almost as though you enjoy creating discourse amongst yourselves.”
“And how do the matters of the Underworld concern you, oh goddess of the heavens?” a Kapre cut in as the demi-goddess rolled her eyes.
“The matters of the Underworld concern both my Ama and I when you’re nearly at the point of no return. Bagyon Lektro and his son are dead, I don’t doubt it would take long for other tribe leaders and their heirs to follow in their footsteps with all the unrest that’s been caused to the Underworld. So, if you’d let Alexandra speak on her ideas, it would be my pleasure to sit in silence,” she let out an overly fake smile as she settled comfortably in her seat.
“As I was saying, I feel like we need some new accords; a new set of rules that we can all agree with. We’re going to need to build a steady foundation amongst the tribes of the underworld in case something of this sort happens again,” Aleksandra explained, earning nods of approval from the tribe leaders.
“And what of the traitors? What punishments will they be receiving?” a dripping Berberoka tribe leader questioned as she too caught wind of the traitors amongst the pale girl’s circle of trusted friends and allies.
“That’s the beauty of these accords; I’m offering you a week to decide on provisions or rules you’d want in the accords and when we all meet again, we’ll discuss which terms make it into the accords so we all come to an agreement,” Alexandra explained slowly before adding, “Please, keep in mind that anyone to break the agreed-upon terms will be punished accordingly.”
A while later, the council meeting ended as Alexandra, the twins, and y/n. They all sat there in silence before y/n’s angelic voice cut through the quiet.
“You handled that well, young Trese,” she smirked, getting up from her seat and slowly making it towards Alexandra, “I knew that if anyone would manage to unite the tribes once more, it would be you.”
“If you had faith in bossing, why are you here?” Basilio questioned, raising a brow at his fellow demi-god.
“It was under my ama’s insistence that I came here,” she explained before letting out a soft smile, “Though it didn’t take much persuasion. It’s good to be in your presence again, Alexandra. I do hope the sentiment is returned.”
“I’m sure to bossing, the sentiment is very much returned,” Basilio cut in as Alexandra’s cheeks flushed pink as both the twins chuckled.
“Oh? Would it be too forward of me to ask that our paths cross again? Preferably when there are less issues at hand and more…conversation and enjoyment,” y/n suggested as Alexandra struggled to keep her guard up; y/n, the beautiful demi-goddess daughter of Bathala, was blatantly flirting with her. What was she to do?
“Are you asking me out on a date, y/n?”
“Only if you’re not saying no, Trese,” y/n winked before the lights flickered once more and she was out of sight. There were no shreds of evidence the goddess had even been there except for the piece of paper with a string of numbers and the goddess’ name in neat calligraphy written onto it.