"How long are you lot going to lie there like that?"
Darius was still extremely annoyed by the sight of Abaddon lying on top of the ground without a care in the world, a pile of curvy mature beauties on top of him.
For the past twenty minutes, they had been playing a game of couple's catch up as they discussed everything that had taken place in their time apart.
It was cute at first but now Darius was so sick of it that he didn't know what to do.
"Hm? You're still here?" Abaddon asked as he peeked out from behind Lillian's hair at the small dwarven man a few feet away.
"...Why wouldn't I still be here when this is my home!?"
"Hmm... I guess you're right."
Abaddon suddenly got up from the ground with Eris, Audrina, and Lisa all clinging to him like koalas.
The rest of his wives looked like they were burning up with envy from the mere sight.
"We'll take our leave then." Abaddon looked up into the sky and two large portals immediately opened up, and his armies immediately began to fly home.
"What am I forgetting... Ah, that's right."
Abaddon gave one of the Euphrates a mental command, and they suddenly dropped a large burlap sack out of the sky.
"Catch."
"Hm?"
Darius held out his arms expecting to catch a light package with ease only to be completely knocked over by the sheer weight of the sack.
Gideon and Godfrey poked their heads out from a small opening and they took in their surroundings while trying to suppress their nausea.
"Damned demons... did they truly drop us from the sky!?"
"And onto a bloody rock no less! I would have felt less disrespected if they had just killed us!"
Darius growled and shoved off his two irate sons with all of his might. "Who is the bloody rock you stupid brats!?"
While internally relieved that his children were alive, he could not forgive the way that they had crushed and then insulted him.
They would have a sweet and mushy reunion after he pounded some respect into their stupid heads.
Abaddon shook his head before opening up a smaller portal directly in front of he and his wives.
Darius was reunited with his family, now it was time for him to do the same.
-
Abaddon and his wives appeared in their home right in the middle of their foyer, and it was clear that they couldn't have been more relieved to be back.
"There really is no place like home." Audrina said dreamily as she dropped her hands lower and lower on Abaddon's body.
"My love... we are right by the front door." He reminded.
"So?" His wives asked aloud.
Honestly when Abaddon saw the burning look of desire in their eyes, his rationality was nearly broken.
But a flurry of footsteps coming from upstairs quickly reminded him of why such a thing was not a good idea.
The phoenix sisters, Apophis, Thea, and the triplet maids all came rushing down the stairs a moment later, clearly elated to see Abaddon and his wives after a month of absence.
"You're home!!!"
"We have missed all of you very much."
"The house felt so empty without all of you here!"
For the first time since reuniting, Abaddon and his wives separated from each other to embrace their children and closest friends.
But as touching as this moment was, Abaddon could not help but miss the presence of his two youngest daughters.
"Where are my little ones? Don't tell me they are not interested in seeing us after so long away."
For some reason, his question caused the entire welcoming party to flinch, and they suddenly froze as if they knew something that he didn't.
Abaddon's wives started to become curious as well, and soon they were also staring at the group like they were waiting for an answer.
"Ah, well... hold on a second."
"Yes, there is something we need to do first."
Thea and Apophis quickly spun into motion, displaying magnificent teamwork.
While Thea ran outside to collect something, Apophis lined all of his parents up side by side like he was arranging a bouquet.
A moment later, Thea returned with the family pet Entei in tow.
She directed the fluffy creature to stand behind the neat line of Tathamets, where it promptly lay on the floor and closed it's eyes as if it were about to continue it's nap.
"What are you children doing?" Eris asked in genuine confusion.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Valerie added.
Again, the welcoming party looked at each other only briefly before coming to a unified conclusion.
"Yes, yes it is."
Finally, Abaddon folded his arms and sighed as if he was tired of all the cloak and dagger.
Suddenly, he sensed two familiar presences coming from atop the stairs and smiled warmly when he recognized his two daughters without even seeing them.
And to make matters even better, Mira seemed to have evolved as well.
"Are my girls not going to come and say hi? You're hurting your father's feelings a bit, you know?"
He head a small sigh, and his two daughters stepped into view.
But... they were not at all like he remembered them.
Both girls looked to be around fourteen and fifteen years old respectively, and they were a positively radiant duo.
Gabbrielle was wearing a basic white dress that matched her natural curly hair color and travelled all the way down her back.
Her horns were significantly thicker and longer, and her bright red eyes had lost their cute childish sparkle.
She had a slim yet charming figure that was almost identical to the girl beside her, although she admittedly was slightly more pronounced in the hip and chest areas.
While it was a shock to see her in this form, it was already well known that Gabbrielle was capable of aging up but usually chose not to.
On the other hand her sister was... a complete and utter shock.
Long and silky black hair that travelled all the way down to her waist, a slim and toned figure that was not ripped yet still showed her utmost dedication to her training, and a pair of wickedly curved horns.
She wore a sleeveless bloody red dress with golden bangles around her wrists that contained flowing red fabric.
Her eyes were still just as cute and mischievous as before, and as always she could be seen with her trademark cookie crumbs on her cheeks.
"Welcome home, father!"
"Welcome back, daddy!"
Hearing their voices, Abaddon could no longer deny the truth even if he wanted to.
"Mira, you..."
"H-How long have we been gone...?"
"My sweet baby is... a big girl...?"
The first to react was Lisa.
Her mind was so overwhelmed by the sight in front of her that she fainted out of pure shock.
As if a chain reaction had been set off, all of the parents started dropping like flies.
One by one, they all fainted and fell backwards onto Entei's soft and warm fur, proving that Thea and Apophis' precautions were indeed necessary.
As the most level headed one in the group, Lailah was able to hold out a bit longer than others but... eventually she lost the battle too.
When the eight of them fell backwards into dreamland, Apophis finally folded his arms and nodded.
"This went better than I thought it would, honestly. I was expecting them to cry like Momma Seras did when we showed her."
Thea briefly recalled the phonemail that caused her seventh mother to weep like a newborn and blow a hole in her wall.
Compared to that, the reaction of all of them was rather mild.
"I think they took it rather well." Thea said proudly. "Shall we move them?"
-
Abaddon wasn't sure how long he was out for, but when he awoke it was already night time.
He sat up and realized that he'd been moved to his room at some point, and was surrounded by all of his wives.
But apparently, that was not all.
The soft sound of sniffling played from within the room, and Abaddon found Mira sitting at the foot of his bed, her hands and knees tucked against her chest.
As soon as she sensed movement behind her, she turned around and Abaddon's heart was wracked by the sight of her tear stained face.
"Mira... why are you-"
"Do you and my mothers not love me any more.... because I'm not small...?"
Abaddon made a heartbroken expression and held open his arms, allowing Mira to fly into them.
"How could you ever think that...? We were just a bit surprised that's all."
"N-No..! You weren't happy at all...Even though I did this to be strong, I wish I could take it back..."
Finally, Abaddon had a realization about his daughter's mental state.
Though her physical body was around fifteen, her mind was still far behind that.
It was no surprise that she believed that they were unhappy with her because she'd gotten bigger.
Abaddon could only hold his daughter tightly as he tried to alleviate her worries.
"If I am honest, I was disappointed but I would never say that I was unhappy. We have good lives, significantly better than most, but sometimes I feel as though we've sacrificed something important. "
"I-Important?"
"These lives we live that are always in conflict... I worry that we have not kept that part of us far enough away from you and your siblings.
I wanted to watch you and your sister grow slowly, day by day. But because you felt burdened to take up blades and fight, both of you ended up growing up in the blink of an eye."
Just like Mira, Thea had also grown up out of her childhood years all because she wanted to be strong for her family.
But before Abaddon had ever even had children, he knew that he never wanted them to concern themselves with adult issues.
Being a child would be the simplest and most fun time of their lives, and he had started to feel like he hadn't done enough to preserve that experience for them.
He initially thought it harmless when they took up blades with the goal of becoming more like himself and his wives, but what if he made a mistake?
Should he have guided them away from such things and encouraged them to be children instead?
Gabbrielle and Apophis were always special, so he was not as upset when they suddenly became teenagers but Thea and Mira were relatively normal.
And yet, their determination to gain power had forced them to grow up at an insane speed.
All so that they could feel like they were contributing and 'worthy' of the Tathamet name.
As if such a thing ever had to be earned in the first place.
"I do not understand..." Mira said honestly.
Abaddon realized that his words were probably very difficult for a child to follow, and he patted her lightly on the back as he tried to simplify as best he could.
"I just do not want you to grow to resent the fact that you lost so much time because you wanted to fight alongside us, or because you felt you needed our acknowledgement."
Abaddon suddenly cupped Mira's cheek and wiped away the lingering water on her face.
"Because from the moment you ran up to Lailah and I in that bookstore, you were already my daughter and my most prized possession.
Even if you did nothing for the rest of your life, I would never be any less proud of you. No matter how big you get, you will always be my little girl."
Even though Abaddon had just finished wiping Mira's face, her red eyes quickly filled with tears once again and she buried her face in his exposed chest.
There were a lot of things that Mira wanted to say, but she simply did not have the vocabulary needed to express herself.
But with her father's ability to read emotions, she hardly needed to.
Familial love, appreciation, and more than a small amount of relief.
Her mothers woke up a short while later, and they more or less told her the same thing while also competing on how beautiful she had become.
Again, Mira did not know how to put this overwhelming feeling of fullness into words, but she knew that it felt incredibly warm and all encompassing.
In the end, she ended up going to sleep in the same bed as all of her parents.
Why? Because according to her mothers she was a princess and she could do whatever she wanted.
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