Novel Full Chapter 1101: We Build Again VII
Chapter 1101: We Build Again VII
Abaddon and Yemaja didn’t have a long talk that day. He didn’t have much he wanted to say anyway.
His daughter stared at him for a long time. Abaddon could feel her gaze boring into the side of his head.
“…I’m not sleeping, and assuming that I am is insulting.”
Yemaja lowered her head. “Sorry…”
Abaddon couldn’t believe it.
“Are you serious? No wisecracks about my age or anything?”
Yemaja shrugged.
Abaddon looked like he was bordering on serious exhaustion. You could even see his spirit cracking underneath the tension.
“I’m not upset with you, Yem.” Abaddon suddenly said.
“You should be.”
“I believe that’s my decision, not yours.”
“Dad, I-”
“You didn’t do anything. So please, just let it go.”
Yemaja didn’t know how to let anything go. Her mind was completely swamped with regret and shame.
“I don’t know how things turned out this bad… never in a million years did I think that he would do what he did, and now I feel so stupid that I-”
“You are not responsible.” Abaddon held her face. “If it makes you feel better, blame me.”
“You..?”
“Perhaps if I had been more welcoming, then he would not have made the decision that he did. I couldn’t look past my own preconceived notions.”
“Your notions turned out to be correct.”
“But I didn’t know they would be, and I operated as if they were fact.”
“I was the one who didn’t heed the constant warnings you gave… If I weren’t so concerned with thrillseeking, then-”
Abaddon placed his hand over his daughter’s mouth. When he released his grip, her lips were missing.
“Mmh!”
“We have enough people with guilty consciences in this home. I’d really prefer it if we did not add to the already impressive tally.”
“Mmh!” Yemaja tried in vain to grow her lips back, but it never worked.
“No, I’m not fixing you. At least not until you return to your usual rebellious little self. If you’re not going to say something Yemaja-original, then why do you need a mouth?”
Yemaja started using sign language.
“Now that’s just plain offensive.”
The sea goddess’ gaze was so fierce she could have turned her father to stone. But Abaddon just shrugged it off.
“You know, I should have done this when you were kids. A pity I’m only having this thought just now…”
Yemaja took a swing at her father. He didn’t make any moves to stop her.
“Feel better?” Abaddon asked with a new red mark on his face.
Yemaja looked down at her hands, and she began to tremble.
Abaddon grabbed both of her hands and held them firmly.
“Yemaja Bahari Tathamet. This day has already taken too much from us. I refuse to let you be another victim of demonic machinations.”
All three of Yemaja’s eyes watered as she stared at her father.
She brought her hand up to her head and let it stay there.
For a while, she held unwavering eye contact with a father who was growing increasingly concerned.
“…You’re not being funny. I’m not doing that.”
Yemaja continued to stare at him.
“This isn’t the way to do things, Yemmy.” Abaddon said solemnly. “I know you’re upset, but this can’t be-”
Yemaja started using sign language again.
‘Dad. Please.’
For a while, Yemaja thought that her father wasn’t going to listen to her. It wouldn’t have been the first time. And what she was asking for certainly wasn’t easy to swallow.
It crossed a very particular boundary.
But Abaddon, for all his faults, was a man who persistently tried to do the right thing by his children.
And if Yemaja was going to make this decision, all he could do was ensure that she wouldn’t end up regretting it.
Abaddon extended his arms to his daughter, and she came in close.
He wrapped his arms around her warmly and placed a small kiss on the crown of her head.
He held that position for a long time before inevitably pulling away.
When they separated, Yemaja had a renewed clarity in her eyes. Though her mouth was still missing.
She gestured to it with exhausted eyes.
“…” With less energy than it would take to think, Abaddon put her mouth back.
Yemaja pulled out a mirror and held it up to her face in admiration.
“Ugh… thank god. You know, you’re a little old to be playing practical jokes, Daddy. And my lips?? How could you? They’re my best feature!”
Abaddon rolled his eyes.
“All of your features are good. You get them from me.”
“I will not deny that.”
The two exchanged a brief fist bump before Yemaja stood up.
“Well, it was nice hanging out with you for a bit, but I want to get going soon. The multiverse awaits, and it’s in need of a little more life, don’t you think?”
Abaddon smiled halfheartedly. “I’m starting to think that maybe I shouldn’t have told you to go.”
Yemaja smiled and placed her hand over her heart in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion. “Oh, I’m sure. How will you even get out of bed in the morning without the precious light of your life around to give you a reason to smile?”
“Odie’s leaving too??” Abaddon’s spirit deflated.
“… You’re not funny, old man. You’re really, really not funny.”
Abaddon begged to differ, but he thought maybe he was being biased.
Yemaja opened the door and was about halfway through it when she suddenly turned back to her father.
A big, meaningful hug right before a send-off wasn’t really her way. Instead, she met her father with a cheeky smile and a slightly sad gaze.
“Take care of yourself while we’re gone, Dad.”
Abaddon smiled back at her. “I’ll do my best. Fragile old man that I am.”
Laughing, Yemaja finally exited the room and closed the door behind her.
Abaddon remained seated on his bed.
When Yemaja was already down the stairs and gone, he reached inside of his mouth and pulled something out.
A small blue marble, glowing with an odd, mystic power and containing a sea of moving images within.
Abaddon let out an exhausted sigh.
He opened up a small hole directly beside him and dropped the marble inside.
Looking down at the floor, he found Gandora staring at him from a curled-up position.
“…Don’t give me that look.”
“…” Gandora continued to stare.
“She knows that something is missing, okay? If she ever wants it back, all she has to do is ask.”
Gandora shuffled forward and placed her head in her master’s lap.
Abaddon suddenly felt unbridledly foolish.
“…So you weren’t judging me, you were just begging for food?”
Gandora let out a low purring noise.
“Yes, I have a guilty conscience, wouldn’t you?” Abaddon murmured before remembering a key fact about his pet. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have children. You’ll never understand what it’s like.”
Gandora made another noise. Abaddon’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE KIDS!?”
–
Departure was always a bitter moment. But never more so than that day.
One by one, every face that came to bid Abaddon goodbye chipped away at his heart a little more.
By the end of it all, he almost felt sick.
Seeing his sisters and father leave was perhaps the hardest.
His mothers had decided to stay behind, only because of Asmodeus’ insistence. But they didn’t exactly look happy about it either.
At the end of the day, the house was quiet. So quiet Abaddon couldn’t stand to be inside of it anymore.
Which was how he ended up in the cave where he and Ayaana consummated their marriage. Staring into the pool of otherworldly water that kept their lives safe from the prying eyes of the other Egoless.
Abaddon lounged by the water like a lizard sunbathing.
All ten of his heads were filled with empty, discontent eyes.
Though this didn’t seem to be something his smallest children noticed, judging by the way that they crawled all over his scaly body.
Abaddon had begun to think that maybe he should install jungle gyms in their rooms. Maybe then, they wouldn’t treat him as one.
It only took a few moments for him to dismiss the thought. If today had taught him anything, it was the real value of time with his children.
Abaddon felt like everyone had grown up in the blink of an eye. Even Courtney, who seemed like she was going to be a little girl forever, had gone and left him.
He would have given anything for just a little bit more time.
Abaddon turned one of his heads to K’ael.
He was wrapped in an intangible layer of magic that would protect him from the intense atmosphere in the cave. Just like his sister was.
But Abaddon had begun to suspect that he might not have given them sufficient protection.
“Bah!” K’ael pointed towards the water, seemingly looking at Abaddon for permission.
“That’s… not exactly a pool for you to go swimming in, baby boy. You’re not really dressed for it either.”
K’ael pouted.
“…Alright, here.”
K’ael blinked, and suddenly he was in the middle of a giant inflatable pool.
His clothes were replaced with swim trunks, and a pair of unicorn floaties were wrapped around his arms.
He splashed around the cold water for a moment before complaining. “Dah!”
“Oh, right.”
The inflatable instantly became filled with boiling red magma, and K’ael let out a happy giggle as he stuck his head underneath the surface.
“Seems like you three are having fun… mind a little company?”
I fucked up and tried to watch the real old Goosebumps show because I didn’t think it would bother me any more now that I’m grown. I have no idea how I’m going to sleep tonight.