Abaddon walked down the stairs groggily.
The extra weight he was carrying on his back and in his arms was still sleeping peacefully.
Neither Mira nor Zahara showed any signs of waking any ti soon, though they would occasionally stir just to nestle closer to him.
It was nice. A bit tiring, but nice all the sa. Abaddon had almost forgotten what it was like to wake up to one of his children hovering around in his room.
He made his way down the stairs and found his way into the kitchen.
Last night’s drinking party had dampened his capacity for speech. Instead of speaking to the individuals present, he was reduced to a wave of his tail and a gruff noise that barely passed for a greeting.
Ayaana fluttered lovingly to her husband and wife.
She kissed Abaddon and Zahara on the cheek once each and ran her hands through Mira’s hair.
"I hope the two of you didn’t miss much last night."
With his eyes a third of the way closed, Abaddon flicked his head toward Mira. "As you can see, we had our own little sleepover escapade... Actually, it’s still going on."
Abaddon had very little doubt that as soon as the three of them moved, all of the family pets had taken up residence in their bed.
Ayaana switched from rubbing her daughter’s hair to rubbing her husband’s ear sensually. "You hungry? I can probably make you sothing quickly before my ti runs out."
"You don’t have to do that." Abaddon yawned. "I really just ca down here to see why I felt our front lawn shaking this morning.."
"Oh... about that."
Abaddon followed Ayaana’s gaze towards the bar adjacent to the kitchen.
There, Courtney was eating with her nose buried in her phone while she tried to catch up on over ten years of missed horror culture.
Beside her was K’ael, whom Abaddon did not understand.
The boy was staring at his sister so hard that he could have bore holes into her. Abaddon was certain that he even saw his son’s eyes glitter.
To not have noticed such a thing, Courtney must have been incredibly focused.
"Why is he...?"
"Sibling stuff." Ayaana said. "Just a little bit of admiration."
Abaddon looked the two of them over once again. "And the reason why Courtney’s hair is wet?"
"Also sibling stuff."
Abaddon rightly assud that every question he was going to ask would end up having the exact sa answer as the first two.
So instead of wasting ti asking, he carried the girls over to the sofa so that he could lie down a bit more before he had to go to work.
Finally, Courtney put her phone down as she stabbed her remaining waffle with resentnt. "I can’t believe how many Child’s Play movies they’re up to... I’m going to have to clear my whole afternoon."
"Baby, you don’t have anything to do anyway." Ayaana reminded.
"I thought mothers were supposed to let their kids play pretend."
Ayaana blew her daughter an apologetic kiss.
Without warning, her form suddenly began to shimr with a white light.
When Courtney blinked, the kitchen was suddenly filled once again with an assortnt of familiar won.
"...Oh, yeah. That’s not going to be weird at all."
Courtney’s separated mothers took their turns kissing her on the forehead before they went their separate ways throughout the house.
"Gods, take your eyes off this family for one damn second..." As Courtney started to return back to the toasted waffles she had begged for, she finally noticed the rather heated gaze resting on the side of her face.
She turned to her brother with a slightly embarrassed look. "See sothing interesting..?"
K’ael nodded firmly.
"...I don’t have a water lily or sothing in my hair, right?"
K’ael shook his head in denial.
"Well, spit it out, guy. You’re making anxious over here."
"Were you not taking seriously in our contest? You did not draw your sword."
"Oh, that." Courtney realized. "I just assud that you didn’t want to break such a nice sword. Our parents made mine with their teeth, so it’s a little bit sharper than the average world-destroying weapon..."
The sparkle in K’ael’s eyes beca noticeably brighter.
"Fascinating... But what about those movents you started to use?? Why did you stop them at the last second?"
Courtney smiled at her brother and ruffled his hair. "’Cause you’re my cute little brother. I would never wanna do anything I thought might hurt you."
K’ael seed visibly surprised by her words. "It was a training exercise. I am quite aware of your lack of malice. My only goal was to learn from you."
Courtney didn’t know how to explain it to her brother. She had spent an unbelievable amount of years fighting with her life on the line and struggling to survive.
When she thought of using the sa attacks she had used to survive on her brother, she felt rather sick about it.
Perhaps she was just being overly sensitive. But whatever that feeling of resistance was, it wasn’t going away.
Though at the sa ti, she also had to admit to herself that she liked how much her brother seed to look up to her.
So she began to wonder if maybe there was no harm in showing her brother a few things in her own way."
"Tell you what, later I can show you the footwork, and we can go for a drive. What do you like to do?"
K’ael paused as he thought up an answer. Courtney read a slight loss of composure in his eyes.
"I believe that we will be unable to spend too much ti out. Father has a big ga tonight, it’s their hocoming and he wants us all to co support him."
While that was true, Abaddon was currently on the couch, unconscious with Mira and Zahara on top of his chest.
If he knew that he was being used as an excuse not to participate in so good-natured sibling bonding, he would have undoubtedly given K’ael permission to skip it.
"A ga? Sounds like fun!"
Courtney threw a grape over her shoulder, and it struck Abaddon right in his third eye, jolting him awake.
"Hey, old man, what ti’s the ga?" Courtney chuckled.
Groggily, Abaddon plucked the grape off his chest and popped it into his mouth. "Kickoff is at 6:30... attendance for this family is non-negotiable..." He murmured.
Courtney and K’ael gave each other helpless, knowing looks. ""We’ll be there."" They said robotically.
"Mmm.. you’re good kids.." Abaddon’s eyes started to flutter closed once again.
Suddenly, the sound of excited footsteps could be heard and a very excitable Odessa rushed into the kitchen.
’Good morning, y’all! How are you guys feeling!?’
This ti, not just Abaddon, but Zahara also woke up when they were hit by a wave of overwhelming positivity.
Courtney blinked. Her sister was like a fancy greeting card co to life. Even Thea wasn’t this cheerful this early.
"Morning to you too, kid... Got a big day or sothing?"
’Eh, not really. I’m just grateful that the whole family is back under one roof again, I guess. It feels good to wake up with the house this alive!’
Courtney felt like she was nearly blinded by her sister’s sparkling personality. She was the most precious thing Courtney had ever seen!
"Co here, you adorable little angel baby!"
Without understanding why, Odie suddenly had her face affectionately nuzzled by the older sister she had only just t yesterday.
She briefly t eyes with K’ael and smiled at him helplessly. "F-Family sure is great, huh...? But do you have any idea why this is happening..?"
K’ael had been in a relatively good mood that morning. But for reasons that needed no explanation, his expression quickly soured.
"...I believe I should retire for the morning. I am suddenly quite exhausted.
Twin flashes of anger suddenly showed up across Abaddon and Zahara’s faces.
"K’ael...!"
The young prince vanished before his parents could fully comnce with his ass-chewing. Upsetting them even more than if he had just stord off.
Courtney was completely baffled.
She looked towards her sister for answers and saw her staring at the ground with a hurt expression on her face.
"Am I... missing sothing?"
Everyone in the room seed to suddenly beco hard of hearing. No one seed to want to say anything anymore.
Abaddon started to open his mouth to speak when he suddenly felt his phone vibrating.
Taking it out of his pocket, he sighed when he realized that it was the one person he had been trying to reach since last night.
"Took you long enough to call back." He said impatiently as he brought the phone to his ear.
On the other line, he heard what sounded like the voice of a drunk woman.
"Don’t get snippy with , you big-horned asshole, I was busy... There was a... umm... a I-I don’t really rember, but it was important, and that’s why I couldn’t answer."
Abaddon was really beginning to wish that he had stayed asleep.
"He’s back, Gaia." He finally said.
There was nothing but silence on the other line.
Abaddon started to repeat himself, but he knew that he’d been plenty clear when his house started shaking.
Reviews
All reviews (0)