"What the hell is this supposed to be?"
The next morning, Shin and his men were all dressed and ready to depart to return to their mission on Amassierre.
It should’ve been a relatively simple ’hi’ and ’goodbye’ situation, but unfortunately, Shin was learning that nothing would be quite so simple in the Tathamet house.
"Why am I looking at two of your ugly mugs?"
Abaddon#1 and #2 glanced at each other, then back at Shin.
"You want to try that again?"
"Sure, I’ll use more colorful language this time so that you can really get it."
"Dad!" Aj, Fiona, and Kayla elbowed their father.
"Alright… so, what is this?" Shin sighed.
"It’s what it looks like." Abaddon#1 shrugged. "I’m going back with you."
"Which one of you?" Shin looked back and forth between them.
""Doesn’t matter. Take your pick.""
"If this is some kind of joke, I really-"
"Do we have the kind of repertoire where I would joke with you leisurely and without reason? You’re aware of my constitution, so why are you acting as if you don’t know how this is happening?"
Truthfully, it wasn’t until just now that Shin remembered he was standing in front of a multi-headed individual.
"...I thought those were just for show."
"Of course you did. I would have needed to take you seriously in one of our confrontations for you to get the impression otherwise." Both Abaddons grinned.
Shin felt the motor oil running through his veins heat up.
True, in their multiple confrontations, he had never been able to deal a true, meaningful blow to the dragon. He hadn’t even seen him in his true form unless it was from within the safety of his spaceship.
But Abaddon didn’t have to be such a dick about it...
"I don’t want some half-assed clone version of you." Shin snorted. "You’re either in or you’re out. Why would I need a dragon with its teeth filed down?"
Abaddon’s faces became ugly. His so-called ’filed down teeth’ were on full display and as sharp as ever.
"You miserable, decrepit spec of human garbage...! I do not make clones! I am not bound to a single body as you are! I am free to separate myself ten times freely without diluting my own strength..!"
Instead of becoming hot-headed right back, Shin smiled as if he had just caught Abaddon in a massive lie. "Oh really. My scanners are telling me differently."
Shin had re-run the diagnostic several times just to be sure, and there was no mistaking it.
Abaddon was currently operating at a diminished capacity.
It was hard to accurately quantify a being of near limitless power who didn’t happen to possess a physical form, but Shin had the necessary tech to accomplish such a thing.
Abaddon had no physical tells, but Shin was certain that he wasn’t at his best.
And hearing him admit it was all the sweeter.
"...My condition has nothing to do with you if you must know. And you can be assured that it will not affect my ability to prolong the life of yourself and your men."
"I don’t need your protection-"
"Our enemy is a being who’s robbed even Gulban of his power. If I let you go anywhere by yourself you would be dead in minutes."
"He seems to only have an interest in gods. Perhaps I should feed you to him and spare myself a headache."
Both Abaddons stepped forward. "You dare...?"
Shin stepped right up to him without missing a step. "Yeah, I do. Might as well let the two greater evils duke it out and deal with the winner afterward."
"You are going to make me abandon all of my principles, Shin Nagumo."
"Yeah, like what?"
"I usually abstain from hitting women."
"Bastard-"
"Okay then!" Fiona clapped her hands together as she stepped between the two men. "Let’s all just take a breather for a moment."
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Both men huffed.
Fiona smiled reassuringly as she turned to both Abaddon’s. "Thank you for agreeing to come with us and keep my brother and sister safe. We’re very appreciative."
Abaddon’s hostile demeanor immediately dissipated as he smiled right back at Fiona. "It is no trouble. My daughter cares for your family very much so they will all be safe under our roof. You have my word."
Shin grumbled some more unkind words under his breath that Abaddon chose to ignore.
"And they better be studying while they’re here too."
"Lailah’s mother will make sure they’re properly educated."
"And make sure they’re not lazing around doing nothing while they’re here! Let them get part-time jobs or something."
""Dad!"" Kayla and Aj tried to restrain their father, but he wasn’t done dolling out demands.
"And if you take them anywhere strange, I swear to god that I will make Tehom see its first natural disaster!"
"Dog-"
"Okay, well we should be going now!" Fiona took the liberty of opening a portal before things somehow got worse.
One version of Abaddon walked through the portal, and Shin begrudgingly followed him with the rest of his men. Fiona waved her brother and sister goodbye before she inevitably followed them.
Once the portal shut, Abaddon was left standing around with two children whom he barely knew.
He’d never had to entertain someone else’s kids before. None of his ever brought anyone over for such a thing to be necessary, so he never got the chance.
He was honestly a bit unsure of what to do with them. They weren’t at the age where they still needed to be entertained, right..?
"R-Right, well-"
"Good morning!!"
A ray of gothic sunshine came floating down the hallway as Courtney arrived- still in her pajamas.
Abaddon rubbed all three of his eyes three different times.
Whoever this was certainly looked like his daughter, but.. it just couldn’t be!
"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
Courtney furrowed her brow. "Dad... what are you talking about? "I’m your kid, remember? Isn’t that what the paperwork says?"
Abaddon checked his phone. "The only daughter I have who gets out of bed this early is Nubia... You don’t even crack your eyes open before 12."
Courtney’s brow twitched. "Real funny, Dad. You should do stand-up."
"I look like I’m joking?"
"Dad!"
One of the doors opened down the hall and Nubia came wandering in with her husband. Zheng, like most sensible people, was still yawning- but Nubby was wide awake.
And evidently, she was surprised to see Courtney awake as well. "Sister? What are you doing out of bed at this hour?"
"I-I can get out of bed early, okay?? I have practice at 5 am during the week!"
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"During the week, yeah, but you aren’t even going today... And you’re bathed.. and your teeth are brushed and... are you wearing makeu-"
"GAAAJAJJAHHHH!!!!"
Courtney chased her sister out of the room and down the hallway.
Zheng seemed completely disinclined to aid his wife in any way and merely headed for the fridge where some sweet-sweet orange juice was already calling his name.
But before he could reach it, a large hand clasped on his shoulder and pulled him in a different direction entirely.
"Aj, Kayla, this is my only son-in-law Zheng." Abaddon introduced. "He’ll be escorting you back to campus to pick up your things later."
"I will...?" Zheng rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"You offered last night." Abaddon reminded.
"I did...?"
Abaddon manifested a cup of coffee and passed it to Zheng.
After he took exactly three sips, he wiped his eyes again with much more clarity.
"I did."
-
Abaddon finished dealing with the kids quicker than he expected to. Zheng was in need of a few more cups of coffee, but eventually, he was able to take over on his own.
Abaddon walked through the hallway back to his room, and his hand occasionally went towards his ribs or head.
He really did hate Shin Nagumo.
The fact that Abaddon still wasn’t 100% after inscribing those runes was something that he was trying to keep a tight lid on.
It was... embarrassing.
Abaddon hadn’t been under the weather in billions of years. Not since he originally went mad in this timeline.
It was as frustrating as it was humbling. Perhaps Abaddon had become a bit too full of himself for a long time now.
He needed a reminder that no matter how he felt about it, there would always be a bigger fish.
If he was in this state after just three hours of rune carving... he shuddered to think of what it would be like to fight against Chaos.
*Click!*
A door opened down the hallway and Izanami started to poke her head out.
Their eyes met and a silent exchange passed between them.
Izanami blushed slightly and Abaddon recalled exactly what she was thinking about.
Now both of them were embarrassed.
Izanami silently closed the door after standing there awkwardly for too long to be considered a coincidence.
Abaddon wanted to tell her to wait so that they could talk, but... for some reason, he didn’t.
"Still haven’t figured that one out, huh?"
Tatiana appeared behind her husband silently with a knowing smile on her face.
Odessa was strapped to a carrier across her mother’s chest and held her arms out for her father as soon as she laid eyes on her.
"Not at all, I’m afraid…" Abaddon sighed sd he liberated his daughter from her uncomfortable confinement.
"Well… we’ll figure something out. As soon as we figure out how to dance around such an awkward subject." She smiled wryly.
Tatiana placed her body against his and kissed him.
However, she paused shortly after and stared at him with a veiled worry. "…Come back to bed. I’ll keep our little one preoccupied so you can rest."
Abaddon smiled awkwardly before he spoke. Tatiana knew that look well because it was the one he specifically only used whenever he was about to say something that would make her mad.
"I’m afraid I can’t… I want to accompany Lailah when she leaves."
Tatiana hated it when she was right.