Odie threw open the door with her usual cheerful expression.
It was a sight most would be delighted to see, but Michael was aptly horrified.
He imdiately turned to flee. "I-I’m sorry, I have to go-"
’Waittt!!!’
Before Michael knew it, Odie was holding on to his leg in an attempt to stop him from leaving.
’You just got here, why are you leaving already?!’
Evidently, Michael seed to find this an even worse scenario to be in.
"I made a mistake, I should not have co! Please unhand , small human child!"
’NOOOOO!’
Michael contemplated taking off and letting Odie drop to the ground. However, if she were to get injured as a result of his decision, he may very well have never forgiven himself.
Odie suddenly stopped squeezing Michael’s leg so hard and stared up at him in suspicion.
’You’re not here to propose to too, are you? Because I’m still in high school.’
Michael fainted almost instantaneously.
-
Michael woke up after being given the biggest bitch slap of his life.
His cheek instantly turned fla red as a deep glowing handprint was plastered onto his face.
’Auntie!’
"What?" Kanami blinked innocently. "It wasn’t that hard, he can take it."
Michael spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth.
*Gasp!* "My rug!"
Zahara slapped the shit out of Michael and put him right back to sleep. This ti, Michael’s flesh burst open and blood dribbled past his ear.
’Mommy!’
Zahara suddenly beca sheepish. "I-It wasn’t that hard... and I really liked this rug!"
Odie narrowed her eyes at her mother.
"...Okay, I’m sorry." She acquiesced.
Abaddon ca over with a large ball of water floating above his fingernail.
He dropped it right on top of Michael’s face, making Odie scowl further.
"We missed the opportunity to waterboard him." Kanami pouted.
Abaddon suddenly seed hopeful. "Wait, he’s not awake yet, we can still try."
Straga created a white towel out of thin air. "Do you need sothing to strap him to also, or-"
’Why is everyone being so an to Mr Angel man!?!’ Odie yelled in indignation.
A natural cloud of silence fell over the room.
Odessa noticed her parents’ faces beco tight and difficult to read.
She realized the problem with her words almost as soon as she said them.
Ayaana was the one to take her daughter by the hand and stare into her eyes lovingly.
"My girl... I would love to be a kind person who forgives and moves on from the past, but unfortunately, my heart is not that warm and gentle. I will hate this man until the day that he expires. Because he almost took you from ."
A darkness suddenly filled the room.
From behind Odessa, a large shadowy creature rose out of the darkness.
It was a completely pitch-black figure that resembled a serpent from the waist down.
It had many heads, but the number was always changing. Sotis it was only six, while at others it was twelve or even nine.
Every head appeared feline, with glowing red eyes and long whiskers like steel thread.
It’s teeth were larger than icicles dangling from a roof in the winterti.
It possessed only two arms that ended in adorable, fluffy paws.
Ayaana smiled at the creature fondly.
She held out her hands and took one of the creature’s heads into her grasp. She lightly scratched under it’s chin and between her ears.
’...Is this all because I’m not that?’ Oie asked quietly.
Ayaana took one of her hands and grabbed Odie’s hands. "This is you. You’re just not connected. And no, it’s not because you aren’t whole. Now I just have two of you to love.
But every day that you co downstairs smiling, singing, showing your wonderful paintings, and using internet slang that I don’t understand, I realize that I could have been deprived of all of that. Because one man was afraid of your father.
The thought of that future is what I can’t forgive. My world would have been so much darker had you not been allowed to co into it. And if anyone would so easily show such little regard for , then how can I honestly be expected to show them any of the sa?"
Ayaana tried her best to hug both the large creature and her humanoid daughter.
"I’m sorry. You must be disappointed by . By us.."
Odie shook her head. ’I guess I’m just... not used to seeing you all like this.’
Ayaana and everyone else in the room had no idea what they were supposed to say to such a thing. They looked away as if they couldn’t stand to et her gaze anymore.
"You don’t... need to bla them... their reaction is entirely justified."
Weakly, Michael sat up on the sofa with his cheek already turning black and blue. Odie winced at the sight.
"I did sothing... irreparable. Unforgivable. I would think less of your mother, your father, and your aunt if they were still civil with after everything that has transpired. Family should always be one’s staunchest defenders and fiercest offenders."
"So you won’t complain if you spontaneously go up in fla?" Monica asked dangerously.
Odie narrowed her eyes at her.
"...I an that as a simple hypothetical, of course."
Michael shook his head regardless of whether the threat was real or not. "Indeed not. I will accept any punishnt that cos my way-"
"Hey, I thought I slled pigeon pussy!"
Abruptly, Satan ca wandering into the room with his usual wide gait and booming voice.
He strode right up to Michael, grabbed him by the hair, then jamd his face into his ass.
Satan proceeded to release the most obnoxious, wall-shaking, demon-slaying fart that the earth had ever had the displeasure of hearing.
"Eww, Satan!"
"What the fuck, uncle..?!"
"Fucking hilarious."
Satan slapped five with Straga as he left the room, uncaring for the damage he had just done to everyone’s sinuses and Michael’s self-esteem.
The archangel’s skin had beco a slight green color, and his eyes watered like he had just washed them in onion juice.
"I... can endure this... I am deserving of far greater punishnts... This is only sowing the seeds that I have reaped."
Abaddon furrowed his brow while he covered his lower face with his hoodie. "I think you an reaping the seeds you have sown."
Michael blinked with a dazed look. "Sorry.. I do not believe my mind is operating at optimal output at the mont..."
Straga was already texting his brothers the hilarious story of how an archangel was bested by an ultra-wet demon fart.
Everyone except Bashenga would be devastated to learn they had missed the scene.
’Bleh!’ Odie and her avatar gagged in unison.
They crumpled to the floor in pairs as they crawled away from the scene of the butt-bombing; hopelessly searching for fresh, clean air that did not burn the hair out of their noses.
Zahara spun her hand around and gathered up all of the foul-slling air into one pocket.
Flinging open a window, she hurled it outside where it could no longer plague the inhabitants of the house.
Unbeknownst to her, her actions resulted in a patch of grass wilting and a flock of birds falling out of the sky.
While Fiona went to check on and introduce herself to Odie, Abaddon stepped forward and handed Michael the sa cloth he was about to waterboard him with.
"You seem to need this."
Michael glanced in a nearby mirror to check his condition.
His nose and eyes were running terribly. He looked no different than if he’d been hit by tear gas.
Michael reached out to take the cloth. "...Ib theems I tho. Thunk you." (It seems I do. Thank you.)
Evidently, demon gas also had the effect of producing allergic reactions in angels. Michael sounded like his tongue and throat were swelling up.
"Why have you co here?" Abaddon asked as the angel wiped his face.
"I... wanbed do lend a hand. I thoughb abow coming to de eting earlier, bud I couldn’t convince myself to co in ti..." (I wanted to lend a hand. I thought about coming to the eting earlier, but I couldn’t convince myself to co in ti.)
Abaddon was quite aware that either he or Ayaana could have fixed Michael up in less than two-tenths of a second. However, there was also a part of him that enjoyed seeing the angel this miserable.
Even if he was a little difficult to understand.
"Please..." Michael’s voice seed to finally recover in so way, making Abaddon frown. "I know that I still have a penance to pay... I want to do it by helping others who are in dire need. It’s what my father would want. It is what would make my mother happy."
Abaddon found himself staring at the wings fluttering gracefully out of Michael’s back.
In that mont, he thought a lot about Odie’s capacity for forgiveness, and why it was so many leagues above his own.
No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t there yet.
"...We don’t need-"
"Holy hell... that’s it."
Everyone in the room suddenly turned to Shin, who looked to be having a true eureka mont.
"I hope your offer to help wasn’t just empty words, Mr. Angelman. Because you may just be the key to blowing this whole thing open."
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