First Demonic Dragon

Hajun finally noticed that his daughter had gone quiet at the same time that he realized she was crushing his gift.

"Pinky-Pie?"

Ignoring her unfitting new pet name, Seras' voice came out low and demonic.

"No… She can't teach her. Not now and not ever."

Hajun nodded in understanding as he started to pat his daughter on the shoulder. "Yes, I know you might want to train her yourself, but I think this might be a great bonding chance for the three of … hm?"

When Hajun finally touched his daughter, he realized that she was burning up.

You could've fried an egg on her skin.

One look into her dark red eyes revealed a most horrid simmering rage.

"She can't teach her… She's not qualified… I won't allow her anywhere near my baby..!"

Hajun quickly grasped that maybe this was about more than just who got to have the honor of being Courtney's eventual teacher.

A pained expression crept onto his face as he lightly squeezed Seras' hand.

"My daughter… I thought that you had forgiven your mother for the past..?"

Seras reeled and snatched her hand away. "Forgive her?? After everything she's done!?"

"She didn't know what was happening… Neither of us did."

"Is that supposed to be an excuse?!"

"We have no excuses for our negligence, but your mother would have done something if she knew that you needed help!"

"I didn't need her fucking help, I didn't need anyone's help! I crushed those bastards underneath my foot all on my own!! They are nothing, and they will always be nothing compared to me!!"

The longer he listened to Seras' enraged rambling, the less he understood what was really going on.

The mood was so sweet just a few moments ago. How could everything have possibly become this unhinged this fast?

He had a vague idea, but he really hoped that it wasn't the case.

"Seras, did you… see your siblings..?"

Again, Hajun unintentionally used a criminally wrong choice of words.

Seras, who was already boiling over, snapped.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY SIBLINGS!!"

Seras' roar contained a deeply held anger that shook the entire room like an earthquake.

Glass cracked, furniture rattled, and Hajun felt his own ears bleed.

But nothing, and I do mean nothing, hurt Seras quite like the family picture on the wall falling to the floor.

Once the glass shattered, the reality of what she'd done finally set in for Seras. She lost her rage instantly and panic filled it's place.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Seras teleported across the room and tried to pick up the shattered remains of the picture frame.

But her hands were shaking too badly to even pick up a single broken piece.

She loved this photograph. It was her idea to put it up.

This was taken from the trip where she and the others traveled to a remote lake in Eden by themselves for a couple of days.

They'd put up a luxurious log cabin and everything.

Everyone had on a bathing suit that hugged their body tightly and accentuated their various aspects… except for Bekka.

She also had a plastic bib on because she insisted on hunting for crawfish in the lake. (There initially weren't any, but Tatiana and Lillian made a sizeable population so that she would have something to do.)

Looking back on it, this was without a doubt one of the most special days of her life.

Aside from the days she spent having sex, her wedding day, and the day she gave birth to Gabbrielle, she had spent everyday training for atleast an hour… or four.

This photo was of the first time where she was able to live simplistically.

There was no fire burning down her back to train in preparation of a enemy that might never even cross her path.

She felt whole, but more than that, she felt like she was enough as she was.

It was an experience that she never took for granted, because she hoped that everyday would be like that 10,000 years from now.

But this incident was perhaps a reminder of the fact that what she was wishing for was a pipe dream.

Because all it took was one single outside piece to send her into a spiral and make her ruin it all.

She wasn't stable.

She did not deserve such loving normalcy.

Inside, she was still too weak.

The last vague feeling that she recalled was that of the broken picture frame being held close to her chest while Hajun wrapped his arms around her.

Tears of blood dyed her whole vision red as she sobbed while hunched over.

She wasn't in control of her body or her mouth, but Hajun was painfully aware of everything.

Nothing could break a parent like hearing your child ask why they hated themselves quite so much.

-

A short time later, Abaddon appeared within the bedroom; clearly looking for Seras.

Hajun was already gone, but his wife was still inside.

Though not for long it seemed.

When he found her, Seras was already in the midst of packing.

"My love?"

"O-Oh.. hi." Seras just forced a smile onto her face in a vain attempt to make this situation feel less uncomfortable.

Abaddon immediately went to her and stopped her from packing her duffel bag.

"What's the matter? I felt your anguish."

"O-Oh, that..? It was nothing, I just… I broke our picture."

Abaddon glanced at the shattered picture frame on the ground a few feet away.

The walls and everything else inside were already repaired, but this was the one thing they'd neglected to enchant.

Abaddon raised his hand over the picture frame and put it back together as if nothing had ever happened to it from the beginning.

He called it into his hand and made sure it was perfect before handing it back to Seras.

"I've never known you to get upset over small things like this… So what's the real reason you're feeling like this?"

She smiled wryly, wondering why she didn't think of that beforehand.

"…I just needed to step out and take a look at myself for a little bit."

"That's not what I asked you." Abaddon gently took her hand so that Seras wouldn't take any more clothes and bolt without explaining herself.

Seras' sad and pitiful expression was one that he had rarely ever laid eyes upon; thus making it particularly heartbreaking.

"I can't give you an answer…"

"Why?"

"I don't have the words… I just don't want to feel like this anymore."

Abaddon brushed Seras' hair aside and started to touch her forehead.

She stopped him just a hair short of actually touching her skin.

"Please don't look… It's… not pretty." She begged.

"Do you think that I am with you because everything about you is pretty? My love for you is not so shallow."

"I-I know that already, but… There is still an image of me in your mind that I would like to maintain. I couldn't bear to see it crumble."

Abaddon saw Seras as a strong, dependable woman who didn't falter at anything; be it scores of blood or shit filled baby dragon diapers.

And it was an image that she took immense pride in; because it meant that even though the two were married, Abaddon would not see his wife as a damsel in distress who needed to be helped at the rise of any issue.

She valued her ability to solve problems independent of him or the others; and she felt fulfillment when her lovers praised her for overcoming difficult tasks and keeping her cool all the while.

She didn't want those things to change.

Her fear was that if Abaddon actually looked into her mind and saw just how close to the edge she really was, he would begin to see her as something that needed to be coddled.

Something weak.

And she couldn't live like that.

But their souls were already joined.

Abaddon could already feel the turmoil and anxiety raging within Seras. Even if he couldn't see exactly what was causing it.

Hence the reason he was so disinclined to let her go anywhere.

But she was equally undeterred.

"I just need to get out of the house for a bit… Clear my head, you know?" She forced a smile onto her face as she nudged him playfully.

But Abaddon wasn't smiling. He looked incredibly hurt.

And seeing the man who had never tried to do anything but love her unconditionally in such a state as he was now was enough to fracture her damaged mind even further.

'Stop it.'

'Please don't look at me like that.'

'I can't bear it if you look at me like that.'

"I-I'm not leaving forever, my love. I-I just need a couple of days to sort myself out, and then I'll come back to you, and the girls, and our children a-and it'll be like I never left!"

Abaddon wasn't worried about Seras coming back.

In fact, he knew she'd return within less than a week because her love for him and the family they'd built was immense.

No, he was only upset to see that Seras didn't even seem to consider opening up to him as an option.

As if she was too afraid that whatever would occur as a result would change their relationship dynamic forever.

He thought that they were closer than this. No, he knew that they were.

But he couldn't get through to her because she wouldn't let him.

"…I don't want you to go, Seras."

She dug her claws into her palms until blood was drawn in order to stop herself from crying again.

"I-I have to, or else I…"

Abaddon cupped Seras' cheek in his hand and drew closer to her.

She timidly shook her head 'no' as if she knew what was coming, but when the moment came she did not run.

Their lips finally connected and Seras felt her body melt so dramatically that Abaddon had to support her with his arms.

It was a simple kiss, and yet it was the sweetest thing Seras had ever tasted in her life.

More gentle than the wing of a dove, and more intimate than any of the sex they'd had before.

It was euphoric.

Seras' worst fear came true, because she didn't want to leave this man anymore.

Imagining an hour or a day without feeling these lips pressed against her skin was like a nightmarish hellscape that she shuddered to even fathom.

She fell in love with him all over again, and she remembered every reason why she decided to marry him in the first place.

He was everything that she had ever wanted in a husband.

And that gave her the strength to finally pull away.

It reminded her that the reason she had to leave in the first place was because he was so perfect.

She couldn't stay beside him while she was this… mess.

He deserved better than this from her, and she would fix herself even if it killed her.

Abaddon felt Seras literally tear herself from his arms.

She quickly righted herself and grabbed her bag and the prized spear that decorated the wall.

Just before she left, her eyes caught sight of the girls standing just outside the doorframe.

They were already crying.

Seras covered her mouth before her own sob could escape into the air.

She vanished right before their eyes; leaving behind a few drops of tears and an apology carried by the wind.

Abaddon didn't see Seras leave.

He physically couldn't watch her go.

His gaze was only on the photo frame that had already been repaired.

In it, one could very clearly see Seras holding out both of her hands to make a cheesy heart. And smiling more brightly than the sun.

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Important Authors note below!