"Daddy!"
Excitedly, Courtney word her way out of Mira's grasp and ran all the way over to Abaddon.
The fact that she had just clearly heard him threaten to rip soone's head off didn't really an anything to her.
All she cared about was the fact that she hadn't seen her dad in almost a full 24 hours and now he was entering the garden with three of her mothers in tow.
And Abaddon, murderous star-eating beast that he was, was a husband and father before anything else.
So with one of his cute kids running towards him with her arms outstretched, naturally he forgot all about Gulban and the irritation he felt.
Instead, he just dropped to one knee while wearing a massive smile and let his daughter embrace him.
"Aww, theres's my- Guh!"
Courtney clasped her father on the cheeks with her small hands and started pulling for dear life.
"What kind of monster sleeps all day!? You promised to play with and show how to burp my ABC's!"
Lailah and Bekka elbowed Abaddon in his sides. ""You are NOT teaching her that!""
Abaddon : "But she asked!"
""No!""
While Abaddon was trying to defend his teaching practices, Valerie approached Gulban and Darius with an unfriendly look on her face.
"There is no violence in my sister's garden. Period. You know that already, Uncle D."
Darius seed flustered, as he couldn't imagine the ass-kicking Abaddon would have given him if he so much as ruined a single flower in Eris' garden.
They say nothing in life is certain but death and taxes, but another certainty was that Abaddon would kill anyone who put so much as a frown on his sensitive wife's face.
"I-I was only looking to teach this son of a bi-"
"I know." Valerie said softly. "But I'll take it from here, alright old man?"
Darius still looked like he didn't quite want to leave Valerie alone with this strange man who called himself her father.
Hajun suddenly walked up and placed an arm around the old dwarf. "Co on, lad. Your at's starting to get a little black."
Those words more than other seed to be capable of tearing Darius away from the scene.
But before he left, he took a last glance at the items in Gulban's hands. "And she doesn't drink wheat beer! Dickhead..."
The veins in Gulban's head bulged in irritation.
Valerie hid it, but she had a very strong urge to laugh at the sight.
"Why are you here?" she finally asked. "I don't recall inviting you to my ho."
"I.. recalled that you welco a lot of surprise visitors here."
"Most of those people are friends who we love dearly."
"Even Nyx?"
"I said most!"
Gulban started to hold up the flowers and beer, but after rembering Darius' scathing words a mont ago, he hid the beer behind his back and just offered the bouquet.
"I ca here in the hopes of making ands. I believed it to be high ti to put all this unpleasantness aside and establish a real-"
"Go back."
"...Pardon?" Gulban looked gobsmacked.
"Just go back." Valerie turned away.
"H-Hang on, what is the aning of thi-"
"I won't forget the things you said to , or the way you tried to disparage and my husband on our very first eting.
You didn't want to apologize, or to tell that you were glad to see how I survived my childhood, your first instinct was to be unkind to . As if abandoning when I was a child wasn't bad enough.
There is nothing that I need from you, and there is nothing more that I want to hear from you.
It took so very long for to cope with feeling unloved, and even longer to learn how to love people properly.
But despite everything, I made my own family with a perfect husband, loving sisters, kind children, good friends and aids, gentle mother-in-laws, and caring father figures."
Hajun, Asmodeus & Darius bead with imasurable pride.
Hakon and Absalom almost looked like they were going to cry for the first ti.
Bekka and Lailah blushed.
And Abaddon stared at his wife like he was the most incredible woman he had ever laid eyes on.
"Groh!"
Bagheera and the pets trotted over in front of Valerie, and pointed at themselves like they were waiting on sothing.
"...And three of the goodest boys creation ever did see." Valerie smiled as she nuzzled all of them affectionately.
She glanced at Gulban one final ti with a cold and uninterested eyes.
"I won't let you co into my life after 37 years and start trying to play father just because you can suddenly be bothered to give a damn. There is absolutely nothing for you here."
Valerie started to walk away without bothering to look back even once more, leaving a frustrated Gulban behind.
Why was she treating him like this?
He had never not loved her irregardless of his absence, so why was she acting as if he was just so vagabond who up and left her behind?
This was unacceptable!
The maker reached out to stop his daughter and convince her to see reason."Valerie, you must listen to m-"
As soon as Gulban raised his hand, several individuals ca to Valerie's defense.
Two firm hands were on the maker's shoulders, two blades were pointed at his back, and a very angry dwarven dragon was rolling up his sleeves right in front of his face.
"...You all know that I don't need all of this, right? I'm a big girl."
Hajun: "Be that as it may..."
Hakon: "I cannot in good conscience allow anyone to lay a hand on you in my presence, Miss."
Absalom: "Indeed."
Darius: "Step outside, bitch! I won't be responsible for fucking up this garden!"
Hajun: "Nor will I."
Asmodeus: "I think we're deserving freebie, just this once. What do you think, son?"
Glancing at Abaddon, it was quite clear he was in an even more foul mood than normal.
He was holding onto Valerie rather tightly, and he was in that rare state of irritation where small cinders of fla could be seen coming from his mouth with every exhale.
"go... GO!!!!"
Gulban was frustrated, but not foolish.
Underneath Abaddon's unrestrained pressure, even he had no choice but to teleport to safety.
In the aftermath of his departure, Valerie playfully pulled Abaddon by the ear as she snickered.
"Why're you so bothered, hun? I would have been alright. Besides, you're going to scare our babies."
As if he were never upset in the first place, Abaddon blinked his eyes several tis as he started looking for Courtney and Mira.
Unsurprisingly, he found them still with Lailah and Bekka, but the four of them were munching on waterlon and not even looking their way.
Lailah looked back and winked at him, and he finally noticed a faint magical bubble protecting his baby girls from harm; inadvertently making him sigh in relief.
"See? You gotta be like your wife sotis and keep a cool head in tense situations." Valerie stuck her chest out with pride.
Abaddon wanted to say that there were a slew of situations where he could rember Valerie not keeping a cool head.
Just last week she got frustrated when she couldn't beat the first boss in 'Elden Ring' and tossed a teor through the tv.
And when he opened his mouth to remind her of that, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Be a good husband and let live in my delusions, okay?"
As requested, Abaddon said nothing and decided to holster his argunt for later.
Still in his grasp, Valerie turned to the friends and family who had co to her aid and gave them a small nod.
"Thanks everyone… I really appreciate you stepping in."
"Bah, don't ntion it, lass. This family's all we got, so taking care of it is our obligation. That includes you I'm afraid." Darius bead.
Beside of him, the rest of the n nodded in agreent as they offered their own words of consolation.
But Valerie, for all of her growth in the past two years, was still a girl who was bad at dealing with too much mushy stuff that didn't involve the people she shared a bed with.
"A-Alright enough of this, sobody get a drink pleas-"
"I think not."
Finally, Lailah approached the group with little Courtney on her hip.
Her deanor as an empress was in full effect, causing most everyone to shrink back.
"You all are supposed to be at the observation site." She reminded. "But instead you're here grilling, smoking, and drinking beer."
The ladies who were sunbathing tried to hide their drinks.
"AND margaritas."
'Damn it…' they cursed internally.
"Is this really behavior befitting of Tehom's most illustrious?" She continued. "We have to set a better example for those under us, and that includes-"
Yara: "Hey, you guys haven't started eating yet, right?"
Imani: "Sorry it took us so long, this one was being playful with the icing."
"T-They don't need to know that!"
Suddenly, Yara and Imani erged in the garden, the pair of them also in swimsuits and carrying baked goods.
Once they saw Abaddon outside with a few of the wives, their faces lit up.
"Oh, there are my sweethearts! Are you all joining us??" Yara asked warmly.
Smirking, Abaddon glanced at Lailah.
Sotis, it was hard to believe that she hadn't been the one to give birth to Mira.
Because their weakness to any kind of sugary product was scarily similar and downright amusing.
"Y-Y'know I guess we can stay for an hour or so…" She said as she wiped away her drool.
Everyone outside laughed and thanked the creator for the invention of baked goods.
Smiling, Abaddon fetched an alcoholic beverage for himself and Valerie and the two of them sat underneath the shade of a tree.
With 'Return of The Mack' playing on the radio and a garden full of people laughing, it was easy to forget that things had been so unpleasant before.
That is, for everyone except Abaddon of course.
In the back of his mind, his only thoughts were of returning to the tree of life and having a word with the old couple about their little helper.
'Tomorrow… I don't want to put sothing like that off any longer than I have to.' He decided.
- The next day…
Currently, Abaddon was staring gobsmacked at a friend who had just given him the most unthinkable news possible as he was about to leave.
"Sif… what are you saying..?"
The golden haired goddess took a deep breath as she bowed her head.
"I… truly appreciate everything that you have done for , Abaddon, but I need to go now. Please send ho."
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