"The more I think about it, the more I’m sure that’s where things started.
Whether we realize it or not, we carry things from previous lives we’ve lived into others later down the line. It’s how we develop the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that we otherwise can’t explain.
From the mont I held your older sister in my arms, I knew that what your mothers and I had been missing from our lives was finally here. Children.
Dragons are very paternal, yes, but it was so much more than that. I felt a desire to protect her in ways that I never could have understood.
It wasn’t until I got my mories of prior tilines back that I finally saw the whole picture. I got lucky in this life. Your grandfather may be a demon, but he’s a good man.
He took care of and my sisters and tried to set a good example for us, the best way that he knew how.
He made mistakes from ti to ti, but I don’t really hold them against him. He didn’t really have a good example either, after all. I think I turned out pretty alright in the end, don’t you?"
Abaddon turned his head toward Thrudd, only to find her finger deep in an order of buffalo chicken fries.
"Mhm!" She nodded, and her cheeks wobbled like overstuffed water balloons.
Ordinarily, dragons from Tehom find food outside of their lands to be barely edible.
But there’s a little bit of magic to fix everything. Though in all honesty, Thrudd was sothing like a human garbage can. Abaddon didn’t know if she tasted food so much as she inhaled it.
People often asked him how he was sure that all of his children had the sa portion of blood from all of his wives. He would usually point them towards instances like this.
Abaddon turned back to his own plate before his daughter’s hands started wandering.
"In my first life, when I was separated, Asmodeus wasn’t my human father. That man was. And my childhood was about as stable as you’d expect."
Thrudd finally paused her eating and looked at her father. She found him absentmindedly pushing around the remains of a sandwich.
"He and my mother were either fighting or high, with little else in between. If I think about it, I guess that’s where my disdain for humanity really started.
I started living with my grandmother shortly after CPS took away. But she died before I was even eighteen, so I beca emancipated. I was on my own from then."
"Dad..."
Abaddon finally realized Thrudd had been staring at him. The look in her eyes was a fragile one.
He grabbed one of the napkins from his bag and cleaned off Thrudd’s mouth like she was still a child.
"I’m not telling you this because I want you to understand , not because I wanted your pity." Abaddon emphasized.
"From the mont I started having kids, I wanted to be a far better parent than what I had. I suppose I’ve let that beco my obsession over the years.
It’s led to do so very... unsavory things under the guise of protecting you and your siblings. But I just wanted to give you all a better experience than what I had."
Abaddon’s experience with Eloy hadn’t just altered the way he treated his children. It affected the way he treated his wives, his friends, his parents, and almost everyone.
He loved those who loved him twice as hard. He hated his enemies with a fire that he wished he could inflict on Elroy.
At least he used to.
When he ca back to earth for the first ti after reforming, he laid eyes on a man who wasn’t worth his rage.
With Lisa’s help, he was able to move past the issue altogether. He barely even thought about that man anymore.
"When I..." Abaddon paused to bite his lip uncomfortably. "... Did what I did to bring you into my life... I was a bit-"
"Are we seriously going to have the ’you were an accident’ talk?" Thrudd rolled her eyes.
With how often her parents got together, she was shocked there weren’t a lot more accidents running around their house.
"You weren’t an accident, Thruddie. Never say that."
Thrudd was trying her damndest to make this situation as unserious as possible, but her father was stubbornly acting as a wall.
"Dad... I understand, okay? Grandma K already told everything."
Abaddon shook his head. "She couldn’t have told you that I’m sorry. Or that I’ve been trying to make up for what I did every day since rembering. Or that I..."
"Do you... regret having ?"
Thrudd’s voice was fragile and small. The taste of her al had suddenly gone sour.
"....No. I’m sorry that I don’t."
Abaddon placed his plate behind him and wrapped his arm around Thrudd’s shoulders.
He brought her close and kissed the crown of her head tenderly.
"In a million different lifetis, I would make the very sa choice over and over again. I guess I’ve learned that in addition to my lingering childhood trauma, I’m quite a selfish individual. I guess there’s more of Leroy’s influence in than I ever thought."
Thrudd shook her head as she wiped a tear from her eye. "You could stand to be a little more selfish. Being everything for everyone else has to be exhausting."
Abaddon threw his head back and laughed. It was a joyful sound in not only feeling, but soul as well.
The clouds overhead dispersed. The blue sky beca just a little bit brighter.
Abaddon finally settled down, and he squeezed Thrudd even tighter than before.
"Tell you what, let’s make a deal. I’ll be a little more selfish when it cos to you and your siblings. I’m never helping Nubia pick out clothes again..."
"She has a husband, wife, and social dia for that; I’m sure she’ll barely notice."
"I’ll stop calling Apophis for dinner."
"He hasn’t missed a taco Tuesday in 6000 years, Dad. It’s on his calendar."
Abaddon smiled as he leaned in towards Thrudd. He pressed their foreheads together and pinched her cheeks like they were made of rubber.
"And you... In every single life we live, in every story that gets told about us, I’ll make sure that you are my daughter. And I’ll steal you away from anyone who tries to dispute that."
Thrudd wrapped her arms around her father and squeezed him in the tightest hug imaginable.
"No need, old man. Because if I had even a single shred of mory left, then I would always co running back ho on my own."
Despite what so children would think, parents are not always pillar-like figures who never crumble.
Sotis, there are things parents need to hear that heal broken parts of themselves. And sotis, only their children can give them that gift.
Perhaps that was why Abaddon wasn’t very surprised when he suddenly beca misty-eyed.
Thrudd wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass by without a little light ribbing.
"Go on, you can say it. I’m your favorite."
Abaddon cackled. "Fat chance. You still have so steep competition between K’ael and Odie."
"They haven’t even developed personalities yet!"
"Oh, that’s the beauty of it."
Abaddon sighed contemplatively as he leaned back on the hood of his car. "Since they can’t talk, that ans they don’t say things like ’no’ and ’I don’t feel like it’ and ’get out of my room’ or ’this is who I’m dating’."
"Preaching to the choir, handso!"
Abaddon and Thrudd looked behind them.
They found a young woman sitting on the hood of the car with both of their plates in her lap.
"You struggle like hell to push those big headed babies out horns and all, and what do you get in return? A bunch of ungrateful little rats who don’t even lay down to watch a movie with you anymore..." Bekka chewed angrily.
For so reason, Thrudd felt like her mother was throwing indirect jabs.
"I’ll lay down with you." Abaddon said with dreamy eyes.
Bekka giggled in her human disguise.
She cleared her throat as she put on a forced southern accent that was, frankly, quite offensive. "You better be careful there, handso. I’m already spoken for, and... I’m a bit too old for you."
Thrudd saw a look in her father’s eyes that she absolutely, 100%, never wanted to see co from a parent.
"Guys, gross. You’re ruining the mont we were having before."
Abaddon couldn’t hear anything over Bekka’s jean shorts and crop top.
At the mont, he barely even rembered he had a daughter. But he sure was planning on having one in the next eight hours.
Bekka took her husband’s face in her hand. She caressed her thumb along his cheek and sent shivers down his spine with just a look.
Her eyes beca distant and emotional. The longer she lay eyes on him, the bigger her smile got.
"This face really does bring back so mories... Looking at it almost makes feel young again."
"This face could make you feel a whole lot more if we-"
"GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS!!" Thrudd yelled.
"My gods, what is wrong with you people!? You’ve been together for like four billion years now how much more do you have to keep proving that you like each other?"
Abaddon tilted his head. "Forever?"
"I get short-term mory loss sotis." Bekka agreed. "We have to be thorough."
Thrudd felt the urge to vomit everything she had just consud.
The urge only beca stronger when she noticed they were clearly having a telepathic conversation.
She couldn’t tell what it was about, but when she saw both of them glance towards the back seat, she finally had enough.
"OKAY, that’s it, I’m leaving!" Thrudd dusted herself off and slid down the hood of the car. "You two can stay here and feel free to violate whatever public indecency laws you want."
"Thrudd."
Thrudd turned to the sound of her father’s voice. He stared at her with a helpless smile on his face.
"See you at ho...?"
After everything, Thrudd found her father’s question to be almost amusing.
"See you at ho, Dad."
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