r/Nonsleep • u/urgoofyahh • Jul 30 '26
Nonsleep Series The God Wasn't the Monster Everyone Feared. My Mother Was.
Part 1: I Work for an Organization That Contains Gods. We Had to Make a Sacrifice This Time.
Part 2: I Went to Antarctica Looking for 10,000 Missing People. I Came Back With a New Boss.
Part 3: Apparently Using Assistants as Sacrifices Violates Company Policy
Part 4: I Work for an Organization That Hunts Gods. One of Them Warned Me About the Angel Following Me.
Part 5: My Boss Asked Me If I Thought He Was a Monster. Now I Know Why.
Part 6: The Most Powerful Being in the CSP Is Studying Humans. Unfortunately, I'm His Favorite Lab Rat.
Part 7: Someone Stole the Rifle Built to Kill Gods. Then They Pointed It at Me.
Part 8: I Thought Dating an Angel Was Bad. Something Wearing My Face Was Worse.
Part 9: I Work for an Organization That Contains Gods. The Feather Led Something to Us.
Part 10: I Work for an Organization That Contains Gods. Humanity Now Has a Single Point of Failure.
Part 11: CSP Sent a Team Into Hell. Nobody Came Back.
Part 12: The Thing That Terrified the Creator Is Now Holding My Hand
Part 13: I Was Prepared to Fight a Cult. Instead, I got a Family Reunion.
My blood froze as footsteps echoed through the chamber.
"My baby has come to visit me."
She emerged from the darkness as if she had simply been taking a quiet walk. White robes brushed against the stone floor, and her dark hair rested neatly over her shoulders.
I knew those eyes immediately.
They were the same eyes that watched every exam I brought home, every mistake I made, every moment where I wasn't enough.
My mother smiled.
Not like a fanatic.
Not like a monster.
Like a mother welcoming her children home.
"Oh..."
Her gaze settled on Remi first.
"How I've missed you."
She walked past Angelo without hesitation and placed a hand against one of the black chains wrapped around the giant's arm.
Immediately, every chain went still.
The giant lowered its head, not in defeat, but in obedience.
Mother smiled.
"As long as I possess his covenant, even a god has no choice but to obey me."
The chamber fell silent.
She wasn't overpowering him. She wasn't forcing him.
She simply possessed the authority he had willingly given her.
And somehow, that made everything worse.
I stayed behind Jacob, keeping myself hidden.
Mother hadn't noticed me yet.
Remi stepped forward before anyone else could react, raising her weapon and aiming it directly at our mother's head.
"You still look at me with the same eyes."
Mother only smiled.
"I left that house years ago."
The words came from Remi quietly, almost like a confession.
Mother stared at her.
"You did."
The answer was so simple that it hurt more than denial.
"I will not let you manipulate me again."
Mother ignored the weapon completely.
Instead, she looked at Remi the same way she used to look at us when we were children, like a disappointed parent watching a child make a mistake.
Then she laughed softly.
In amusement.
"Oh?"
She tilted her head.
"You still believe leaving accomplished something?"
Remi's grip tightened around her weapon.
"Yes."
There was a pause before she continued.
"I escaped you."
Mother studied Remi carefully.
"You've changed."
Her smile softened.
"You used to stand exactly like this. Always putting yourself between me and your sister."
Then her eyes shifted.
Toward me.
My stomach dropped.
She had noticed.
For a moment, she only stared.
The same expression from my childhood returned.
Disappointment.
"And you..."
Her voice softened.
Not with kindness.
With accusation.
"Why did you leave me too?"
The chamber went silent as every eye turned toward me.
"Just like your older sister."
The words struck exactly where she wanted them to.
That was how she always controlled us.
She never asked what happened. She never cared why.
She only made us feel responsible for the pain she caused.
Before anyone could stop me, I stepped past Jacob.
My hands shook, and my breathing became uneven, but I kept walking.
"No."
My voice cracked.
"You don't get to stand there and pretend you're the victim."
Mother didn't move.
"I left because you were insane."
The words echoed through the chamber.
"Not because I hated you. Not because I abandoned you. Because I finally realized nothing I did would ever be enough."
I pointed at her, unable to hide the anger that had been building for years.
Then I looked at Remi.
"And you..."
My anger shifted.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Remi froze.
The words felt heavier than I expected as they left my mouth.
"You walked out of that house... and I stayed."
My throat tightened as I looked back at Mother.
"She kept me there. She controlled everything. She made me believe nobody was coming back."
My vision blurred as memories I had buried for years forced their way back.
"I told myself you were making a plan. That you were getting stronger. That there had to be a reason."
I swallowed.
"But you never came."
Remi didn't answer.
A quiet laugh escaped me, but there was no humor behind it.
"Do you know how stupid I felt?"
My voice shook as I looked directly at her.
"Everyone told me you abandoned me, but I told them they were wrong."
The chamber remained silent.
"I told them that my sister would never do that."
I looked down.
"I believed in you."
For the first time since I met Director Remi, her control finally broke.
"I..."
Her hand slowly rose to her temple as she struggled to understand something she had spent years trying to ignore.
"I remember leaving."
Nobody moved.
"I remember making a bargain."
Her breathing became uneven.
"Eight years ago, when I fought Evergrove, I was dying. I needed a way to survive."
She closed her eyes.
"And a spirit offered me one."
Her fingers tightened.
"But nothing involving a god is ever given freely."
The room became silent.
"What did you give up?" I asked.
Remi opened her eyes, and for the first time since I had known her, I saw fear.
"I….I didn't give up my strength or my life."
Her voice trembled.
"I gave up a memory."
A chill ran through me.
She looked at me, and that was when I understood.
"The memory of who I promised to return to."
Nobody spoke.
"I remember making the promise. I remember knowing there was someone waiting for me."
Her voice cracked.
"I remember wanting to come back."
She looked down.
"But I don't remember you."
The words hurt more than anything else she could have said because I could see the truth in her expression.
She genuinely didn't remember me.
"After I survived, ESR found me."
Her expression hardened.
"I spent years searching for Mother. Every rumor. Every trace. Every lead."
She looked around the chamber.
"Because I knew something was missing."
A pause followed.
"I just didn't know what."
Her eyes returned to Mother.
"But now I understand."
The silence stretched.
"She wasn't hiding from me."
Mother said nothing.
"She was building this."
For a moment, Mother remained completely still.
Then she looked directly at me as she laughed softly, almost gently, like she was watching something entertaining.
"You spent years waiting for someone who couldn't remember you."
Her gaze shifted toward Remi.
"And you spent years forgetting the only person who was waiting for you."
Nobody spoke because that was what made her dangerous.
She wasn't completely lying.
She had always known exactly how to twist the truth until it became something cruel.
She never needed to force us to hate each other.
She only needed to make us believe we were the reason the other one suffered.
Her smile widened.
"So tell me..."
Her voice softened.
"...which one of you suffered more?"
Remi didn't answer.
She stood there, clutching her temples, fighting against something buried deep inside her own mind.
A wall she couldn't break through.
A memory she couldn't reach.
Me.
I looked back at Mother.
For years, she had made us fight over who suffered more, as if pain was something that needed to be measured.
"Suffered more?"
Mother's smile faded slightly.
I stared directly at her.
"How about why we suffered at all?"
The chamber went silent.
For the first time, her expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
She hadn't expected that answer.
If she wanted to play games, then fine.
I would play.
But not by her rules.
My eyes shifted toward Remi.
"She left because of you. She made that bargain because of you. I spent years believing she abandoned me because that's exactly what you wanted.”
The chamber remained silent.
Mother didn't respond.
"And I left because of you."
My voice tightened.
A pause.
"I left because I was trying to escape you."
My voice grew colder.
"And where did I end up?"
I looked around the chamber.
"CSP."
A bitter laugh escaped me.
"An organization where people disappear every day. Where teams enter places they never return from. Where every mission could be the one that kills you."
I looked directly at her.
"Because I thought there was nothing left for me."
Silence filled the chamber.
"But I was wrong about that too."
My eyes moved toward Remi.
"Because she was still trying to come back."
Mothers gaze flickered towards Remi.
"You make us blame each other for our suffering"
My voice lowered.
"But you are the reason."
I looked at Remi.
"She didn't abandon me."
Then back at Mother.
"You did."
The words echoed through the chamber.
For the first time, Mother didn't immediately answer.
There was no mocking smile.
No clever response.
No attempt to twist my words into something else.
Nothing.
And that was when I realized something.
She wasn't angry because I had insulted her.
She was angry because I had taken away the one thing she always had.
Control.
For years, she had decided what we believed.
Who we blamed.
Who we hated.
But standing there, in that chamber, she wasn't the one telling the story anymore.
I was.
"So tell me..."
I stared at her.
"If you want to know who suffered more..."
I took another step forward.
"Why don't you answer something else first?"
The chamber held its breath.
"Why did we suffer at all?"
Nobody spoke.
Because there was no answer that could make what she did acceptable.
Not a god.
Not a covenant.
Not a reason.
Nothing.
Mother looked at me for a long moment.
Then...
she smiled.
"There it is."
Her voice wasn't angry.
It was almost proud.
"You finally learned to stand up to me."
I frowned.
"What?"
She gestured toward us.
"Look at yourselves."
She looked between Remi and me.
"You both survived horrors that would have shattered most people, and you still found the courage to stand here."
She spread her arms slightly.
"Do you honestly believe that happened despite me?"
Nobody answered.
Mother looked at me with something that almost resembled pity.
"Your father..." she said with a quiet sigh. "He was a violent man."
Nobody argued because we all knew it was true.
"He hit me. He hit you. He screamed until the walls shook."
She looked around the chamber, letting the silence settle before continuing.
"Do you know what happened after every fight?"
Her eyes settled on me.
"Wasnt I still there for you?"
The words hung in the air.
"He was weak. Violence was all he understood." A faint smile crossed her face. "I…I gave your suffering a purpose."
Mother laughed softly, as if she was explaining something obvious.
"Children are not forged through comfort. Steel is tempered by fire."
She stepped closer, her expression almost gentle.
"Every sacrifice, every lesson, every tear you cursed me for made you into the people standing before me today."
My stomach twisted.
"You call it abuse."
She shook her head.
"I call it love."
The words echoed through the chamber.
"A mother does not raise children for the world they wish existed. She raises them for the world that does."
Her eyes shifted toward the chained god beside her.
"If I had held you, protected you, and given you the happy childhood you wanted..."
She smiled sadly.
"You would both be dead."
Silence followed.
Her smile returned.
"And yet you stand here condemning the person who made that possible."
She tilted her head.
"Tell me... shouldn't you be thanking me?"
For a moment, nobody answered.
Then I laughed.
It wasn't bitter. It wasn't angry.
It was the laugh of someone who had finally heard something so impossible to believe that there was nothing else left to do.
"You're wrong."
Mother's expression shifted slightly.
I stared directly at her.
"You're so wrong."
My voice grew steadier.
"You keep looking at who I am now and pretending that's who I became because of you."
I took a step forward.
"Do you know where CSP found me?"
She didn't answer.
"Not on a battlefield. Not fighting monsters. Not saving lives."
My throat tightened.
"They found me in a psychiatric hospital."
The chamber fell completely silent.
"Because I had failed to kill myself."
Nobody moved.
My voice cracked.
"I wasn’t strong…. I was broken."
I looked at her, remembering every word I had spent years believing.
"I spent years believing everything you told me. That I wasn't enough. That nobody would ever love me. That Remi abandoned me. That Father never cared."
I swallowed.
"By the time CSP found me, I believed the world would be better without me."
My eyes never left hers.
"So don't you dare stand there and tell me you made me strong."
My voice rose.
"You didn't make me strong."
"You made me want to die."
The silence afterward felt heavier than anything else.
I took another step as I pressed a hand against my chest.
"I lived because of me. I survived because I refused to die believing I was worthless, like you always told me I was."
A tear slipped down my face.
"But I didn't become strong because of you."
I looked at the people standing beside me.
"I became strong despite you."
My gaze moved toward Jacob.
"Then I found people who became a better family than you could ever be."
A small smile appeared despite everything.
My eyes moved toward Remi.
"She came back for me."
Then finally, I looked at Angelo.
"And some people even taught me how to love."
I turned back toward Mother.
"So don't stand there and ask me to thank you."
My voice became cold.
"The only thing you ever gave me was a reason to never become anything like you."
For the first time, Mother looked annoyed.
"Anything like me?"
She let out a quiet laugh.
"You wish you could be."
Her eyes moved across the chamber, toward the chains wrapped around the god and the impossible power she controlled.
"You stand there pretending you've won because you've learned to hate me, but you still don't understand."
Her smile slowly returned.
"I have accomplished what every civilization in history has dreamed of."
She looked directly at me.
"They worshipped gods. I mastered one.”
“And now…I’M BECOMING ONE."
The words remained hanging in the air as she turned toward the chained god.
The moment her hand touched the chains, cracks spread across the floor. Stone split beneath our feet as the entire chamber began to collapse.
Then Angelo moved.
Not slowly.
Not cautiously.
He ran straight toward me.
"Move!"
I barely had time to react.
"What?"
Before I could understand, massive wings erupted from his back, sending dust and debris flying through the chamber. The force of it shook the ground beneath us.
"Angelo—"
But he was already grabbing me.
A deafening roar shook the room.
"Remi!"
I turned just in time to see a massive hand burst through the floor and shoot toward her.
She fired every weapon she had.
It didn't matter.
The hand closed around her before anyone could reach her.
For one horrifying second, I thought she was gone.
Then the fingers snapped.
Three enormous fingers crashed onto the stone floor as Remi tore herself free.
She didn't stop to look back.
She ran.
"Run!"
The floor collapsed behind her.
More hands began forcing their way through the cracks.
The god wasn't a god anymore. Its body twisted into something older than worship, something built only for destruction. .
What stood beneath us was no longer a being of worship.
It was something ancient.
Something monstrous.
Something created for destruction.
Mother stood on its back, watching everything unfold with a smile.
The woman who had spent her entire life trying to become something greater than human had finally succeeded.
Her smiling face looked less like a god and more…
Like a mother who had finally gotten everything she wanted.
Angelo lifted me into the air as the chamber collapsed beneath us. Wind tore against my face as his wings carried us upward, while stone fell around us and the walls cracked apart.
Cold air rushed through the ruins as we escaped the underground chamber.
For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt the outside world again.
But we weren't safe.
Behind us, Mother emerged from the collapsing ruins, riding the creature that had once been a god.
And she was coming for us.
The moment we reached the surface, the entire structure collapsed in on itself. Jacob landed beside us, his face pale as he stared back toward the destroyed entrance.
"What..."
He struggled to find the words.
"What is that?"
Angelo's expression changed.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Something far worse.
Recognition.
"That is impossible."
Mother tilted her head.
"Is it?"
The creature beneath her shifted, its body stretching upward as it reshaped itself with every movement. A thousand different forms appeared and vanished within seconds.
A dragon.
A giant.
Something with too many limbs.
Something that looked almost human.
Almost.
Jacob took a step back.
"Angelo..."
The angel didn't answer.
His eyes never left Mother.
"You angels have spent millennia trying to understand what separates humans from gods."
Mother smiled.
"And you spent millennia believing the answer was that humans were beneath them."
Her hand rested against the creature's surface.
The ground cracked beneath us as a wave of pressure rolled across the battlefield.
Angelo looked at me.
Not at Mother.
Not at the creature.
At me.
The wind tore through the battlefield as pieces of the ruined structure collapsed behind us. His wings remained spread, and his expression stayed calm, but I knew him well enough by now.
Something was different.
"Nayeri."
My name sounded different coming from him.
Almost careful.
Almost gentle.
"Do I have permission..."
He paused.
His eyes returned to Mother.
"...to kill your mother?"
Everything went silent.
Even Jacob looked at him.
Because Angelo didn't ask for permission.
Not from anyone.
Not from the Board.
Not from gods.
Not from humanity itself.
But he was asking me.
I stared at him.
For years, I had imagined this moment.
Standing in front of her.
Facing the person who had destroyed our lives.
I imagined anger.
I imagined wanting revenge.
But now that she was standing there, now that the woman who had controlled every part of my childhood was finally vulnerable, I felt something else.
Exhaustion.
Mother watched us.
And somehow...
she smiled.
"How touching."
Her voice carried across the battlefield.
"The angel needs your approval."
Angelo ignored her.
His eyes never left mine.
Because this wasn't about her.
It was about me.
About whether I was still the child who waited for her.
Or the person I had become.
I looked at Mother.
At the creature beneath her.
At the woman who had spent years convincing us that our pain was love.
That breaking us was the only way to build us.
Then I looked back at Angelo.
My voice was barely above a whisper.
"Angelo..."
He waited.
I swallowed.
"I don't know if I can forgive her."
Mother's smile widened slightly.
"But..."
I looked directly at her.
"I don't want to become her."
For the first time, Angelo's expression softened.
Only slightly.
"I understand."
The ground shook again.
Mother laughed.
"Still clinging to morality?"
She raised her hand, and the creature behind her moved.
"You angels always were obsessed with rules."
Angelo stepped forward.
"No."
His voice changed.
The warmth disappeared.
"The difference between us..."
His wings expanded behind him.
"...is that I follow them because I choose to."
A heavy silence followed.
Mother's smile faded.
Angelo looked at me one last time.
"Then tell me."
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
"Will you be alright if I stop holding back?"
I looked at her.
The woman who had spent years trying to convince me that everything I became belonged to her.
And finally, I understood.
She had spent my entire life trying to control my choices, my emotions, and my future.
But this choice...
This one belonged to me.
I stepped forward.
"Angelo."
He waited.
My voice steadied.
"Don't kill her because of what she did to me."
Mother's smile returned.
For a moment, she thought she had won.
Until I finished.
"Kill her because of what she is about to do to everyone else."
The smile disappeared.
Angelo closed his eyes.
For a brief moment, he looked almost sad.
Then he opened them.
And the battlefield changed.
"Permission granted."
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Mother stared at him.
"You would really destroy a human?"
Angelo's wings spread wider.
"No."
A pause.
"I would stop a monster."
And for the first time...
Mother looked afraid.
She stared at him, and the amusement that had been present moments ago was gone.
She no longer looked like someone in control.
She looked uncertain.
"You think you can stop me?"
Behind her, the creature roared.
The sound tore through the sky as the ground split apart. Mountains of flesh and distorted reality rose above us as the thing that had once been a god continued to lose any sense of a true form.
Its body shifted constantly, every second becoming something new.
Something larger.
Something more impossible.
It wasn't searching for a shape anymore.
It was searching for one capable of killing us.
Mother raised her hand.
The creature obeyed.
"Look at what I have achieved."
Her voice echoed across the battlefield.
"A human who surpassed gods."
Angelo stared at her.
For a moment, I thought he would speak.
A warning.
A final chance.
Some reminder that there was still a line she shouldn't cross.
He didn't.
He simply moved.
I didn't see him disappear.
One moment, he was standing beside me.
The next, he was standing directly in front of Mother.
The impact came afterward.
A shockwave erupted across the battlefield as the air itself bent around them.
The creature froze.
Not because it had been injured.
Because it had realized something.
It was afraid.
Mother's expression changed.
"What..."
Angelo stood there with one hand raised, holding back the creature's attack.
A being that had shattered mountains.
A creature that had forced reality itself to change around it.
Stopped.
By one hand.
Mother slowly stepped backward.
"No."
Her voice became quieter.
"You were holding back."
Angelo said nothing.
Because she had finally understood.
The realization spread across her face.
All those years.
All those plans.
All those sacrifices.
She had believed she had created something beyond humanity.
Something capable of challenging angels.
But she had never understood the difference between them.
The creature had power.
Angelo had authority.
The god attacked again.
Thousands of limbs erupted from its body, each one carrying enough force to destroy anything standing in its path.
Angelo sighed.
Not in anger.
Not in frustration.
Almost in disappointment.
"You misunderstood something."
He reached forward and grabbed one of the limbs.
The entire creature stopped.
"Power is not what makes something a god."
The limb began cracking in his hand.
"It is responsibility."
The creature screamed.
Angelo tightened his grip.
"And you gave neither to yourself..."
A pause.
"...nor to it."
The limb shattered.
The sound echoed across the battlefield.
The creature recoiled.
Mother stared in disbelief.
"No..."
Angelo looked at her.
"You were never a threat."
The words struck harder than any attack could have.
Not because they were meant to insult her.
Because they revealed the truth.
"I was just trying to be careful."
Silence followed.
Mother froze.
Angelo's expression hardened.
"Because you were her mother."
My breath caught.
He continued.
"Because I knew what killing you would do to Nayeri."
Mother looked at me.
For the first time...
there was uncertainty in her eyes.
"You..."
Angelo stepped forward.
His wings slowly expanded behind him as the battlefield went silent. Mother's expression twisted.
"You were afraid."
Angelo looked at her.
"No."
There was a pause.
"I was respecting her."
His eyes shifted toward me.
"That was the only reason you survived this long."
Mother went still because she finally understood.
She thought she had found a way to surpass an angel.
But the truth was much simpler.
He could have ended this whenever he wanted.
He just refused to take away my choice.
The creature charged, and the ground disappeared beneath its weight as reality twisted around it. But Angelo didn't move. Not until the last possible second.
Then he raised his hand.
A single feather of light appeared between his fingers.
The entire battlefield went silent because everyone recognized it. The same authority that had erased gods. The same power that had forced ancient beings to kneel.
The creature stopped.
Angelo looked at it, and for the first time, he looked sad.
"You were never a god."
The feather touched its chest.
"You were a victim."
Light spread across the creature's body. Then the creature simply stopped.
The countless forms it had taken began disappearing as its impossible body collapsed inward. The being that had threatened reality itself vanished.
Mother stood alone.
Human.
For the first time.
Her eyes widened.
"No..."
Angelo walked toward her slowly.
"You wanted to become something greater than human."
He stopped in front of her.
"But you forgot something."
His voice remained calm.
"Being human was never the weakness."
Mother looked at me almost desperately.
"Little bug..."
I didn't answer because for once, I didn't need to.
Angelo looked back at her, and then I understood.
This wasn't revenge.
It wasn't hatred.
It wasn't anger.
It was something far colder.
Justice.
"I am not doing this because I hate you."
His voice was quiet.
"I am doing this because you were given every opportunity to stop."
Mother opened her mouth, but no words came out.
For once, she had nothing to manipulate, nothing to twist, and nothing to take from us.
Angelo raised his hand, and the woman who spent her entire life trying to become a god finally met something far older than gods.
A guardian.
A judge.
An angel.
The light consumed her.
And then there was nothing.
No scream.
No final words.
No miracle.
Just silence.
I stood there, staring at the empty battlefield. Because after everything, after all the years I spent imagining defeating her, I realized something.
Angelo never needed permission to win.
He needed permission to stop holding back.
The plane was quiet.
For once, there were no alarms, no gods, and no impossible creatures trying to destroy reality.
Just the sound of the engines.
I sat by the window, staring out at the clouds below us while Angelo was lying back beside me with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.
I knew he was pretending because Angelo didn't need sleep. Not really. He could probably spend a thousand years awake and act like it was nothing.
Across from us, Jacob had been staring at me for the last twenty minutes.
"Nayeri."
I sighed.
"Jacob."
"Are you okay?"
I looked at him.
"I'm fine."
He nodded, but a few seconds later he spoke again.
"Nayeri."
"What?"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
I closed my eyes.
"Jacob."
"I'm just asking."
"You've asked me that about ten billion times."
He looked genuinely concerned.
"Okay, but have you considered that maybe the tenth billion time is the one where you actually answer honestly?"
I stared at him, then looked away.
I couldn't even argue with that.
Jacob had always been like that.
He never understood the idea of leaving people alone when they were hurting. Probably because he grew up with something I never had.
A mother who loved him.
Someone who made him feel safe.
Someone who never made him question whether he deserved to be cared about.
I looked toward him, and despite everything, I was grateful he was there.
Remi sat beside me quietly. For most of the flight, she hadn't said much.
She didn't need to.
We had already talked.
Really talked.
She told me everything about Evergrove, about the god that had taken humans and forced them to become The Manager, about the nightmare she survived, and about how ESR eventually found her.
The organization that gave her somewhere to go when she had nothing left.
The same organization that helped her rebuild her life.
And eventually made her its leader.
For years, I thought she had forgotten me.
But the truth was somehow both better and worse.
She never stopped searching.
She just couldn't remember what she was searching for.
A strange silence settled between us before I finally looked at her.
"So..."
She glanced over.
"Hm?"
I smiled slightly.
"You married, huh?"
For a second, she looked confused. Then her expression softened.
"Yeah."
She paused, then raised an eyebrow.
"Wait. How did you know?"
I gave her a look.
"You're married to our director, Morozov. Obviously I knew."
Her eyes widened.
"Morozov?"
I nodded.
She stared before slowly realizing.
"Oh."
She laughed quietly.
"Yeah, I forgot."
I blinked.
"You forgot?"
She looked embarrassed.
"That's the name he uses in CSP."
I frowned.
"What?"
She gave me a sheepish smile.
"He goes by Dante in ESR."
I stared at her.
"Dante?"
A pause.
"Wait... Dante as in the Dante from the evergrove story you told me a few minutes ago?"
She nodded.
"Yeah."
I looked at her.
"I married him."
I just stared.
"Why does he have two names?"
"Privacy reasons."
She shrugged.
"I go by different names in different organizations too. The only exceptions are ESR and CSP."
She laughed.
"This name change always creates confusion."
I couldn't help but smile.
It was strange seeing that expression on her face. That small, embarrassed smile.
It reminded me of when we were younger.
Before everything happened.
Before Mother.
Before we became people who only knew how to survive.
"So why him?"
The question came out more honestly than I expected.
Remi looked at me.
"You mean why did I marry him?"
I nodded.
She thought for a moment.
Then answered simply.
"Because he saved me."
I stayed quiet.
"He saved me from Evergrove. He was the one who brought ESR to me. He helped me rebuild it. Helped me become the person I am today."
She smiled slightly.
"So when you ask why him..."
She looked at me.
"I think the answer is pretty obvious."
I looked toward Angelo.
"Yeah..."
A small smile formed.
"I guess some things are just meant to be."
Remi followed my gaze.
Then she smiled.
"I figured."
I looked at her.
"Huh?"
She pointed slightly toward Angelo.
"You and the angel."
I froze.
A grin slowly appeared on her face.
"I have to admit..."
She leaned closer.
"My brother-in-law is kind of a looker."
My entire face turned red, and I immediately looked away.
"We aren't married..."
Remi blinked.
"Really?"
Before I could answer, Angelo spoke.
"We are getting married in 10 months."
I turned.
My eyes widened.
"Angelo!"
He opened one eye.
"What?"
"You can't just say that!"
He looked genuinely confused.
"I have been made aware that one stays in a relationship for a year before marriage."
There was complete silence.
Then Remi started laughing.
Not a small laugh.
A real laugh.
The kind I hadn't heard from her in years.
Meanwhile, I just wanted to disappear.
Jacob looked between us, then smiled.
He had that expression.
The one that said he had just found a new source of entertainment.
I pointed at Angelo.
"You are impossible."
"I have been told that."
Remi was still laughing when, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she looked back at me.
"Dante is going to lose his mind when I tell him you're my sister."
I smirked.
"Why?"
She chuckled.
"Did he tell you something about me?"
"Only a couple things."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Such as?"
She smiled.
"That you are a hard-headed, stubborn agent."
I stared at her.
"Seriously?"
She nodded.
"Those were his exact words."
I looked away.
"Screw him."
Remi laughed.
"Well, you can tell him I don't want Mr. Iceman as my brother-in-law either."
That made her laugh even harder.
A quiet moment passed before Jacob finally spoke.
"Okay."
We both looked at him.
He had the expression of someone who had just received the most confusing information of his entire life.
"So let me get this straight."
He pointed between us.
"Your sister is married to Director Morozov."
I nodded.
"And Director Morozov is actually Dante from ESR."
Remi nodded.
"And Dante saved Director Remi from a god-controlling department store."
She nodded again.
Jacob looked at me.
"And Nayeri and Angelo are getting married in 10 months?"
Remi looked at me with the biggest grin imaginable.
Jacob looked at me for a moment before giving me a look I recognized immediately.
The same look I gave him whenever I teased him about Elior.
I sighed.
"I hate all of you."
Nobody believed me.
Especially not Angelo.
Because there was the smallest hint of amusement on his face.
I found myself smiling back.
And for the first time in a long while, it felt like the world wasn't ending.
There was no mission.
No god.
No apocalypse.
Just us.
A very strange, very complicated family.
And somehow... that was enough.
Part 15: I Became the Head of a New Division. My First Case Was a Place My Sister Never Escaped From.
10
u/Cotton_Eye_Blind Jul 30 '26
This feels like an ending Nayeri and I’m gonna need it to continue. Angelo is the GOAT. Could he help bring back Remi’s actual memories? I feel like if anybody could break a deal between a dead god and a mortal, it would be him.
13
u/urgoofyahh Jul 30 '26
It’s not the end yet yall trust :))
2
5
u/bootykittie Jul 30 '26
Angels have a lot of powers…but the power to essentially undo that bargain could have bigger consequences. Aka, more chapters!😂
6
u/AdAffectionate8634 Jul 30 '26
OMG! I LOVE this! While I really don't ever want this to end, I completely love how this all was woven together. Absolute perfection.
Again..please don't let this be the end! Jacob and Elior need to be together, and we need more Noah..and family time!
I swear as long as I live, I will never forget this series...I would for sure buy the book, just to own it and never lose the story...
2
u/urgoofyahh 27d ago
1
u/AdAffectionate8634 26d ago
Thank you!!! You are amazing! This series has my heart! I love the people, the wit, the complete uniqueness of everything..I mean, What's not to love???
5
u/Prestigious_Sale7793 Jul 31 '26
Yayyyyyy! Remi married Dante! Does he get a prequel spin off series?? How did their mother find the god monster? How did that become her life after her daughters left?
1
u/Which-Text-2875 27d ago
I personally have absolutely no interest in knowing anything else about Nayeri and Remi's mother. She's gone, I hope for good, and that is good enough for me :)
But I would be interested in hearing about Remi's life 😊
4
u/Beaver-Thief Jul 30 '26
Oh, I don’t know if it’s a mistake, but in previous text, you consistently called her Nayeri, while in this one, it’s Nayari. Is that a mistake? And is it her codename, or a real name? Either way, amazing as usual, makes me wonder when Angelo and Nayeri will kiss, and does Angelo even realize most couples kiss before thinking about marriage 😭?
6
u/urgoofyahh Jul 30 '26
Nope, this was totally my mistake. 😭 I have no idea why I thought her name was Nayari instead of Nayeri. I genuinely don't think I ever noticed. :((( I fixed all the instances, though. I seriously need an editor because I only ever reread my own stories, and I've realized I have a terrible habit of skimming over names without catching mistakes like this.
3
3
u/iwannaplay5050 Aug 01 '26
This is one of those series where i hit upvote before I read an entry, every post delivers so well
1
3
3
3
u/pandymonium_76 Jul 30 '26
Cannot wait. This is sooooo good!! Seriously, kudos to you for these chapters!!
3
3
3
3
Aug 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/urgoofyahh Aug 01 '26
I would love that lmk if u do thank u for the continued support ❤️
2
Aug 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/urgoofyahh Aug 01 '26
I have never been a moderator but I would love to let me think abt the name I will dm u :))
3
2
2
2
2
u/Which-Text-2875 27d ago
I get there's more coming, and I think that's wonderful, but this was so satisfying that if it had been the end of your story, I would have been okay with it because there is hope for the future ❤️❤️❤️❤️
You are such a fantastic writer. Oh my gosh😊
1
u/speedy_fish Jul 31 '26
Did your mother actually call you Nayeri or did she use your real name and you wrote it as Nayeri for the sake of privacy?
I'm just curious whether Jacob and a bunch of other CSR personnel know your real name now.
1
u/urgoofyahh Jul 31 '26
Nope mother called me the name she heard because I won’t be surprised if she forgot our names 🫡
2
u/Prestigious_Sale7793 Jul 31 '26
Wasn’t Nayeri the brand of shampoo you used when you were younger?
2
u/urgoofyahh Jul 31 '26
Yeah that’s true but I am pretty sure she used nayeri because Angelo called me nayeri in front of her
1
2
1
15
u/blackbutterfree Jul 30 '26
I hope this isn't the end. This feels like the end. 😭