Work Text:
There was once a child of a dragon and a fallen angel.
The child hailed from the Baltics, and they spent all their early years raised by their draconic mother.
They moved across Europe together, the mother and child.
But one day, the dragon mother met a meek little fallen angel, scared of his own strength.
The dragon mother and fallen angel were soon married, so the child gained some of the fallen angel’s strength, and their family was happy and content.
Somewhere along the way, the dragon mother left to never return.
Around the same time, the child gained more and more siblings.
The final one was a little eagle, who gained none of the fallen angel’s strength when adopted.
The child hated that one.
Their mother never came back, but their father had friends.
There was a dove woman who always wore armor with fleur-de-lis motifs everywhere, and a man with deep black eagle wings who stayed wrapped up in his cloak all the time.
The child made friends with their children, an extravagant consumerist girl always wearing the finest fashions and a shyer boy who danced ballet.
The boy was their best friend in the whole world. They would even bully the child’s youngest brother together.
Eventually, the fallen angel grew weaker and weaker, and the fallen angel got a name.
Aquila, Spirit of Prussia.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
Aquila liked fighting.
They found that it was a fundamental part of them, the same way that Kingdom of France could not live without her parties nor could the Russian Empire live without his ballet.
It might have been an odd choice of hobby, though. Whatever, it didn’t matter, their husband didn’t mind. Marrying Brandenburg had been a damn good idea on the hazelnette’s part. He was a tall, lithe figure, with the red wings positioned behind his ears constantly covering his face like the other Prussia would do. He wore simple outfits, although no less extravagant—but that might be due to Aquila’s tastes. He was quiet and reserved, and Aquila appreciated that in their partner.
Their friends did not raise their kids at all, so they raised the kids themself along with their own little son. Sylvester Hohenzollern. It was curious how he came to be, but it didn’t matter. They had an adorable little heir. They quite liked the others, too—their were the twins First French Republic and Napoleonic France, who had taken a keen interest in how badly their mother treated their people. Aquila made sure to encourage and assist them in that opinion, pushing them a bit more towards socialism. There was Alaska and Ukrainian People’s Republic Russian Republic and USSR, although Alaska got sold of fairly quickly; Aquila didn’t approve of that particular decision of their old friend.
America was… interesting. The northern regions were also known as the Articles of Confederation, and died off pretty quickly after the revolution. A pity, they had quite liked them. The middle was the United States of America or Constitutional America, and he was the one who Aquila spent the most time with. They heard that he went by Ame Washington nowadays. They approved of the name. Finally, the southern parts were known as the Confederacy or Dixie. He believed in slavery. That was a big turn-off for Aquila. All that without the states and cities, of course. They would have to visit again soon, bond with their son and brush up all their training.
They still did not like Austrian Empire, although his foolish marriage proposals finally stopped coming into their mail once he had married to the Kingdom of Hungary. Might as well made rounds through the whole of Europe too before that through. Aquila scoffed in annoyance just thinking about it.
While on the topic of thinking, they thought of how the little deal they had made with that demon they had summoned to assist in winning the Seven Years’ War would play out. They had sold out their bloodline for it, of course, but a bit of their soul was a temporary setback. They had grand plans for the whole world, and they would do anything to make it come to fruition.
Of course, their own patron goddess, the Fair Lady of Victory, had told them not to make deals with demons, but at that point it was her own fault for not interfering in the conflict on their side. They needed to win. They didn’t know who they were without their precious army.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
Aquila and Brandenburg were gifted with a second son. They named this one Hansel, although the name the universe gave him was German Empire, or Second Empire of Germany. The same way Sylvester's name given by the powers above was the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Aquila did not understand gods, nor were they on any god’s level. But, with the boost of the demonic deal and their meticulous planning, the day that they were on an equal footing against gods inched closer and closer.
Relating to the demonic deal, Hansel was both extremely tall and extremely strong, and he had a little mask that let him go into a more demonic? form. It was a bit concerning, but hey… that’s the price of selling your bloodline for military victories.
Hansel got along with the child of the Austrian and Hungarian Empires. They were older than him, but they were almost inseparable. Aquila quickly learnt things like how their human name was Marie, that they were blind, that they liked hunting, that they always wore this one sash, that their favorite color was red, and they loved this one specific type of bread… they knew their son was smitten. They didn’t really mind; Marie was a good and convenient match.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
Marie and Hansel had gotten married, and soon after had… four kids. The Weimar Republic, or Wilhelm, was the oldest. Wilhelm was a bit sickly all the time, but he was reliable. Then there was the second child, the Third Empire of Germany, or Reina. They were a… chaos art gremlin. The two youngest, twins, did not have proper human names yet. They were Austria and Hungary.
The two youngest would never get proper names, because soon after Marie and Hansel both died. Marie fell first, with Hansel soon after. It was devastating.
Aquila stayed by dear Sylvester's side as he cried his heart out for his little brother, soon forced back to the land he was tied to. Wilhelm worked constantly, while Rei drew and drew and didn’t do much of anything else. Thankfully, central Europe cared for the twins: nobody else had the fortitude for it, especially after their family was crippled like that.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
Aquila ended up drifting away from everyone else, becoming the Free State of Prussia. They proceeded to ignore the rest of their family, and noting their limited time, began to dive harder into their research.
By the time they were annexed, they were halfway to finding a path to godhood.
By the time the war was lost, they had a solid plan.
By the time 1947 rolled around, they were ready.
Aquila Hohenzollern was supposed to die.
Instead, they became a god.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
They met their patron goddess when they ascended. The Fair Lady of Victory looked upon them and tilted her head.
“Hello, infant god.”
Aquila smiled. “After everything, I achieved what I craved. Godhood.”
The Fair Lady of Victory smiled at them.
“Go on, settle your form.”
They relaxed, and envisioned a new form for themselves. Their hazel hair stayed in the crown braid, but a new pair of wings burst out from behind their ears and two more sets of eyes opened, one on top of his original set and one below. Two more pairs of wings burst from their back, and they position them so the lower two functioned as a skirt (they were wearing pants underneath though). Each of their ankles had a pair of wings, which wrapped around their feet. They wore stiletto boots, silk gloves that went up to their biceps, a sleeveless turtleneck, and a corset.
They felt more godly now.
The Fair Lady of Death smiled once again and sent them back down to Earth.
☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
The first person they made immortal was Brandenburg. They couldn’t stand to live without their husband.
The new godliness was a bit of a shock, but Aquila didn’t change as a person; this was their plan all along.
Through them, the old sprites could exit the veil of death and interact with the living again.
They brought back Hansel first.
Everything was right again, once their family was united again. Of course, Aquila had new responsibilities. But it didn’t matter. Everyone was together again, forever.
And such was the story of the God of Purgatory.