Alexa-Pettis

@ziccarra_liafador:

"Can't believe your momma never taught you this", Alexa chuckled, her lips curling warm as though Ziccarra were her own daughter. "Does this mean my granddaughters don't know how to braid their hair too?", she jested, running her fingers through Ziccarra's hair, smoothing it softly. "Wait", Alexa paused, struggling to process what she was being told as she worked her hands through her daughter-in-law's hair, "The Soviet Union... collapsed?", she asked, her voice heavy with shock and disbelief, "And there was a truce?! Well I'll be damned", she chuckled, finding it impossible to rationalize the path history had chosen. "This is... it's a lot to take in. With the amount of doom and gloom about Soviet spies during my time, it's just crazy to think a truce was made".

"You know the government wanted to use Alexis as a weapon against the Soviets? Raise my boy as a weapon of mass destruction to point at any country you want like a gun to a criminal? Over my dead body", Alexa scoffed, crossing locks of Ziccarra's hair over others. "I still can't believe the Cold War's over. That dominated every aspect of our lives back then, hun. And I was at the heart of the system so I saw it all. How we'd come up with anti-Russian propaganda, put it on TV and everywhere we could. Always makin' the bad guys in movies Russian. The government really wanted people believin' that the Russians wanted to destroy our way of life", she recalled. "People thought the Soviet Union was hellbent on buryin' America in a sea of atomic fire. Most folk back then were ready for war, one way or another". The leaps in science and technology however, drew out a childlike sense of wonderment from Alexa.

"Hehe, a part of me wishes I was still alive to drive a car that fast", she confessed with a smirk. "So you can talk to anyone in the world face to face with these devices? This stuff was science fiction when I was still alive", she laughed. "Years later and people still can't get along huh? Can't say I'm surprised. If there's one thing I know well, it's people. And people are not all good. That's why mothers like you and I have to teach our kids to be nice to others, to share and show respect to their elders, and not to judge others for bein' different. Cause goodness is learned, it's taught. But I see people still choose teaching hatred instead", she sighed, disappointed at the lack of progress in the human race. "But I don't wanna turn this into anythin' somber. So I'll ask you this... is Looney Tunes still on TV?", she laughed, "But no, what I really wanna know is... what's music like now? How much has it changed?".

"After this, you're braidin' my hair. I'll walk you through it, hun", she smiled.

@ziccarra_liafador:

A grandchild named Alex? Alexa couldn't help but shake her head and chuckle at the thought. "Knowin' him... you might be right", she laughed, her smile widening in jest. "It hurts me to know that. That your mother hasn't really been there for your children. Lord knows I'd be there every day if I wasn't you know - dead", Alexa shrugged, the laughter dying softly as her smile warmed and her eyes softened. "I would've loved to have known those kids. And to see you and Alexis in action as parents. And as a couple I guess. I always wanted to know what kind of woman would get his attention, and how he'd act around the one who does. There was a time when I thought he'd never settle down", Alexa confessed. "It was the time his senses really came to life".

"It was hard for him to think about anythin' else when he could hear every scream and cry around the world, every murder victim beggin' for their life. It was really hard for him because as many of those people he'd help, he couldn't be everywhere at once", Alexa paused, shifting on the rock to settle her eyes on Ziccarra's. "I think, maybe that's what he liked about you. I remember from the little I saw here, you two met doin' heroics and whatnot. I think knowin' that you were the one woman who could relate to what he'd feel. The one woman who didn't have to look up at the sky to see him. The one who could stand with him at eye level and give him a good one to the jaw if he ever got stupid", Alexa chuckled, "I think knowin' that you were his equal caught his attention. And then everythin' else about you, your passion, your determination, your strength and steeliness, that all hooked him good".

Truthfully, it was why Alexis hadn't treated Ziccarra any differently when she'd been stripped of her divine powers. To the Herald of Hope, Ziccarra was the Goddess, powers or not. She had her fortitude, her passion, her strength of mine and the resolve to do what was right even when mocked by the world for her crimes. "It's probably why your little girl wants to be like you. She saw in you what my son did", she smiled. "Oh good! At least now I know that if your niece comes lookin' for you, I don't have to worry about her hurtin' you. Military trained so I'd be ready to step in for you anyway", she shrugged, joking but serious all the same. But as Ziccarra spoke of her time with Ashley, and flashed her the wedding ring Alexis had given her, Alexa could do little to fight the fool's smile on her face.

"And I applaud you for bein' who you were. I remember when the world wanted you in prison or dead, and you told everyone to shove it and just kept on bein' the hero they didn't want but needed. But that ring", she paused, squinting her eyes as she looked over it, "That diamond looks so pure. Looks like it was sculpted by lasers or somethin'". And in truth, it had been. It was a diamond Alexis had plucked from a high-pressure carbon planet. "Wait, you don't know how to braid hair?", she asked, somewhat surprised. "Tell you what, I'll teach you how to braid hair and you tell me what I've missed since I've been gone. How much the world has changed and advanced. Deal?".

@ziccarra_liafador:

For a moment, a part of her heart warmed and relief washed over her as Ziccarra spoke, easing Alexa's fears by retelling how fondly Alexis spoke of her. And she could do little to fight the touched smile on her face. "I miss him", she sighed, the gleam of a proud mother in her eyes, "I wish I could'a seen in person how he turned out. It's different watchin' from here. Seein' small glimpses here and there", Alexa lamented, "Bein' able to stand there, look into his eyes, see how much that boy's changed... makes me wish I'd never gotten on that test flight. Called in sick or something'. Maybe then I'd still be alive. I'd see the kids he had with you. My grandchildren", her smile softened, "And see if the one he named after me looks like me", she laughed.

Laughter however, that was soon drowned out by the soon of Ziccarra's armor clanking on the ground. It was then that Ziccarra - stripped of every shred of divinity - answered the question she'd been avoiding. "Your niece!?", Alexa exclaimed, the shock and horror widening her eyes at the thought of her grandchildren being demanded as sacrifices. Gathering her bearings, Alexa shut her eyes and breathed out. "If that niece of yours is here somewhere, it won't be too long before she finds you. And unless you two plan on findin' out if there's an afterlife after this one.. you'll be doin' a lot of talkin' I bet". Sitting by the dead goddess' side, Alexa grew silent, her smile wistful as she lowered her gaze at Ziccarra's question. "I never married", she finally answered, her voice lowering in pitch. "My life... was not easy".

"When the government has you workin' with top secret or classified military projects, there's no time for any of that. And I grew up in Texas, a conservative state. And I died in the 60s. Neither the time nor place they'd even think about lettin' a woman marry another woman", she scowled, angry at having been denied the chance to marry. "I'd see glimpses of Alexis' life from here, his life with you, how happy you two seemed and I was pretty mad that I never had that. But what can you do?", Alexa shrugged with a sigh. "If my son was here, he'd probably talk science to me and tell me there's a universe where I married, I'm still alive, you're still alive, and everythin' is great. Course, I'd just tell him it doesn't matter because this me isn't in that universe, I'm in this one", she chuckled, her laughter dying as she held Ziccarra's gaze in earnest.

"We need to find your niece. I was never part of the family you and Alexis created but the least I can do is help you make peace with her".

@ziccarra_liafador:

Withdrawing her hands from Ziccarra's face, Alexa smiled, sympathy and empathy gleaming in her eyes. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. I wasn't there but from the sound of it, you'd never voluntarily hurt your own family, hun", Alexa assured, casting her eyes skyward as she gazed up at the gloomy skies of the afterlife. "And they all know that. They all know you did your best. Your daughter, Catalina, that's the one Alexis loves the most", Alexa smiled, the thought of her son favoring any of his children over the others left her shaking her head in amusement. "He loves em' all with all his heart but Catalina, she's the one that's got a special place in that big heart of his. Might be because he always saw you when he looked at her".

"Might be the same reason you always liked the boy, Leo, a little more than the others. He looks like his daddy", Alexa chuckled, hoping to lighten Ziccarra's mood. "Maybe takin' on this new role will help your daughter see how hard you had it jugglin' bein' a hero and takin' care of the family. Or not", she shrugged, her demeanor warm and playful - like Alexis'. "Did he ever talk about me?", she blurted out before quickly dismissing the question, "Ah but that's not important". Falling silent for a moment, Alexa held Ziccarra's gaze in earnest and finally asked, "Who killed you, Ziccarra?".

@ziccarra_liafador:

"Oh good!", Alexa breathed out, the relief escaping her lungs at the knowledge that her son wasn't responsible for Ziccarra's death. "You're a mother so you understand that fear we all have that you might not have raised your child right", she confessed. "And what luck!", Alexa chuckled, "I'm talkin' to the only other woman who knows what's it like raisin' kids we have to look up at the sky to see. You always wanna make sure they have good values. Those powers... they're a license to a nuclear arsenal to take out whoever you want in the wrong hands. That was always in the back of my mind when I was teachin' Alexis what's right and what's wrong". The thought however, of Alexis doing his damnest to raise Ziccarra from the dead, left a somber shade on Alexa's face.

"He's in a coma, hun", Alexa anguished as the creeping despair of knowing her son's condition stripped the color from her world. "I get some glimpses of his life down here. It wasn't lookin' good but your daughter, Tassi, whatever powers she has she made sure her daddy wasn't joinin' us down here. Not awake yet but... he's doing' better", she sighed, a lump thickening in her throat until the sight of Ziccarra's tears drew out her maternal instincts. "Aww, come here, hun", she insisted, wiping the tears from Ziccarra's cheeks before encouraging her to sit on the rock she'd just risen from. "If there's anything I've learned from seein' what little I can of your life with my son from here, it's that you're strong. Real strong. And you never wait for anything to happen. You make it happen. You wanted to make things better for Spain, you became that country's leader".

"You wanted redemption after your mistakes, you got it when you fought the good fight as the Goddess. You'll miss them? Well then get out of here because it's not your time. Not yet", Alexa assured, as though it were Thee Champion himself speaking through her. "It might be a long way back but there is a way back for you. This isn't how your story ends, not with you givin' up. Not unless you want it to".

@ziccarra_liafador:

It was strange. To be neither here nor there - but somewhere in between. During her time alive, Alexa had done many a great deed and committed just as many a sin. For every patriotic feat to her name in the American military, she had killed hundreds in war, downed so many enemy fighter jets in the air that she'd lost count. In her story, as the American patriot fighting for her country, in wars known and unknown, she was a hero. But to her enemies, to the people she'd murdered, she was the villain. It made sense then that in the land of the dead, she was just as polarizing. Still, as she leaned against the thick bark of a tree, her military garb hugging her athletic frame, and the medals and badges adorning her chest, Alexa was proud.

As her mind ran through every stage of her life, she was proud because for all the great deeds she'd done for the world, the greatest of them all was ensuring that the most powerful being among them - a god, in other words - was raised into a caring and good-natured man. That one of the first few Capes humanity encountered, did not cast fierce judgement on them. So she smiled, her mouth pulling back into something of warmth and pride as she thought of Alexis, a son she never gave birth to but had been his mother in every way that mattered. Her ideals and values lived on strongly in her son's heart. And just as she had, another woman had left a strong imprint on her son's heart. A woman she had watched from afar, from the misty wasteland she believed to be purgatory. A woman she had never in her wildest dreams believed she'd ever meet.

So as Alexa ran her fingers through her short golden hair, and shut her eyes wistfully at the memory of her son, her heart skipped a beat at the echo of a familiar voice floating nearby. Stepping out the tree and wafting her hand through the mist, Alexa's brow furrowed in confusion at the sight before her. "Ziccarra?", she said, shocked and in disbelief. "Good Lord, I didn't think you'd be down here this quick", she almost laughed, the irony of a dead goddess banished to the land of dead mortals drawing a measure of amusement from her. "But then again, I didn't think you'd be down here ever", she paused, arms folded under her breasts, the Texan twang in her voice subtle but there. "I'm Alexa Pettis", she smirked knowingly, "We got a lot to talk about".

Stepping closer to the Goddess, Alexa continued, "I'd say have a seat but looks like that rock's plenty comfy. Now who in the hell managed to kill you? It wasn't my son was it?", she asked, half-joking but half-worried.