First Demonic Dragon

Abaddon slowly turned around to find Zheng standing a few short feet away.

Not just him, but the entire squad of Wraith Moons who had gone on the mission to Asgard were standing in front of him.

Admittedly, he was quite surprised.

They should have been among the ones who didn't remember the previous timeline, but for some reason they were all standing right here in front of him.

Zheng fell to both knees and lowered his head until it was touching the ground.

The soldiers at his back mirrored his every movement down to the most minute detail.

"We are ashamed with ourselves for our failure.... We ask that your punishment fit our ineptitude."

It wasn't until that moment that Abaddon remembered the new, revised timeline of how he destroyed Asgard.

Apparently, the Wraith Moons were sent on a mission with Camazotz to retrieve the goddess Freya after she secretly contacted the bat god via sacrificial ceremony; claiming that she had a desire to be brought to Tehom like the other gods.

Since becoming Mira's pet, Camazotz is often accompanied by his own little private security team every time that he ventures from the abyss.

Zheng and his squad were supposed to quietly get Camazotz in and out of Asgard without notice, but there was a problem.

Due to the nature of their relationship, Odin kept quite close watch on the norse goddess of beauty.

He saw them coming quickly, and after killing Freya on the spot for her trechary, he attacked the group.

Luckily, Zheng kept Camazotz locked within his shadows during the fight so he suffered no harm, but Odin made a mess out of the Wraiths.

There was one among them who was able to get to a door, activate her home rune and open it; subsequently summoning Abaddon and ensuring that the norse lands would have a hole in them forever.

Abaddon sighed as he moved around the kneeling mass of bodies.

He arrived at the young woman responsible for calling him in the first place, and he dropped to one knee in front of her.

"Raise your heads, all of you. I do not intend to blame you for the failings of the mission if you do not blame me."

He reached out for the young woman in front of him and pulled away her oni-shaped mask.

She winced in shame and turned her head away from him unconsciously.

"It's alright, Carly. I am not repulsed by you."

The young woman finally turned back towards him, and he could see the large chunk of flesh missing from the left side of her jaw; exposing her teeth.

True to his word, Abaddon did not seem the least bit repulsed or disturbed by what he saw and instead only felt sorrow.

Odin's new spear was crafted by the sons of Ivaldi, just like his old one was.

The only difference was that it was a bit of a collaborative effort between factions, because it was also made with venom stolen from Jormungandr, the Lernaean Hydra, and a minuscule amount recovered from Apep.

A Nevi'im could have shrugged it off in just a few hours, but these were all true dragons, and their regeneration could still be inhibited by things like poison.

He was just glad that they'd all survived.

"You should have prayed for one of my wives to heal you right away... Why did you not?" he asked.

The woman lowered her head in shame once again. "I did not wish to bother my goddesses with what I deemed to be a trivial request. I have my life, and this is all that matters."

"...Stupid girl."

"E-Eh?"

"Sorry, that slipped out." Abaddon shook his head hard.

Dragons were pretty independent, so instead of praying to him or his wives to make magical things happen, they usually went out and tried to pave their own way by solving their own issues.

They were totally different from spirits, who prayed to Abaddon and his wives for everything from the death of an ex-lover, to an erection powerful enough to stave off a divorce.

They were kind of like humans in that manner.

"Your wedding is in a week, is it not? Should you not want to look your best for those husbands of yours? A wedding should be as perfect as possible after all."

Abaddon placed his hand over the wound on Carly's cheek and a soft glow appeared within his palm.

Her eyes became noticeably wider as she felt the hole in her face close up within seconds like it was never even there.

"I might've forgotten to RSVP. Think you can make an exception for me?" he smiled.

Carly couldn't answer at the moment because she had begun to get choked up.

Two steady rivers of tears began to run down her face and she unconsciously fell into Abaddon's arms as she sobbed.

Abaddon looked around at the remaining twenty four soldiers and looked each of them in the eye.

"If you all want to carry the blame for the mission going awry, I would prefer that you leave it at my feet, right here, right now. Sending you to Asgard was too risky from the start, but I allowed it because..."

Abaddon's words eventually began to trail off as if he were remembering something that gave him a headache.

"Anyway... It matters not. You all returned safely, and our enemies are lesser now than before. For today, that will have to suffice."

Abaddon finally helped Carly clean herself up and reattached her mask to her face before he wiped her eyes clear.

He finally stood up and waived the group goodbye as he walked back towards the greek temple; determined not to be put off any longer.

"All that we can do is strive for better in our next endeavors, and count ourselves lucky we were graced with an opportunity to do so. You are all dismissed."

"YES!"

The Wraith Moons sank into the shadows, leaving their leader behind in the grass.

While everyone else seemed to be comforted by Abaddon's words, Zheng alone was not.

He still felt that he deserved punishment; and saw his failures as inexcusable.

He of all people had to be absolutely perfect.

Because if he wasn't, then how was he ever supposed to...

-

Inside of the greek temple, the rooms within the halls lead to their own miniature worlds within.

Behind one door upstairs there was a grassland filled with the most beautiful of crops and vegetation; all lined in a perfect orderly fashion like they were laid there by the hand of an expert farmer.

There was a bright blue sky hanging overhead; complete with it's own shining sun and even a few clouds to provide just the right amount of shade.

A single, medium sized home rested in the midst of this beautiful landscape.

Seated out in front of it was a woman at a small table; absentmindedly playing a game of chess.

As there was no one else to play along with her, she would pick up the pieces and move them before spinning the board around and making a move as her own opponent.

Though it appeared sad and slightly depressing, in truth she was content to sit and play like this for a while with no issue.

She wasn't crying for the first time in several weeks, so this was actually quite the highlight.

"This is a bit of a sad scene, my friend..."

Demeter couldn't say what she was more surprised by, the fact that Abaddon had gotten so close to her without her knowledge or the fact that he had come here at all.

In the present timeline, she ran off after her confession went awry on the night of his birthday, and the two of them hadn't spoken since.

Demeter didn't know if it was the hurt, the embarrassment, or the shame of the words she said before she left that kept her away for so long.

But she absolutely never expected her to come and talk to him either.

"What... Are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet someone who you haven't seen in almost two months? I was expecting a bit of a warmer reception."

Demeter looked away from him like she was determined not to get caught up in his friendly banter."What are you doing here, Abaddon...?"

"I brought a gift."

"If you're here to make me eat something spicy again and then laugh when I can't handle it, I promise that none of the other gods will get the chance to kill you before I do."

"Ha-Ha! Not today, I'm afraid!"

Demeter turned back towards Abaddon and found him holding a long golden spear with three prongs instead of one.

Just by looking at it, she could tell that it contained a rather large amount of godly power, almost the same as Zeus' lightning bolt.

But she didn't recognize it.

"That looks like Tatiana's weapon...?"

"Not quite, hers is made from her own power and is a little different from this one."

"So why would you not give it to her?"

"Because it's for you."

"But I do not fight?"

"It isn't necessarily for that. It's more of a symbol."

"A symbol of the fact that you are bad at gift giving?"

"Demeter... take this damn trident before I stick it up your nose."

The goddess wasn't satisfied until she saw that very familiar vein of irritation bulge in Abaddon's head and his eyes looked like they were shut from irritation.

A half smile appeared on her face for the first time in weeks as she accepted the weapon who's meaning she did not know.

"So... Are you going to tell me the significance behind this shiny trinket?"

Abaddon sat crosslegged on the ground in front of Demeter, but due to his height they were still nearly eye level.

"It's significance is what it represents. And that is that no matter what, you will always be one of the most cherished people in my life and I will never let anyone harm you.

I may not be able to reciprocate your feelings exactly as you wish me to, but I do have love for you all the same. Can that be enough for you?"

Demeter tightened her grip on the trident in her arms, and it seemed like she was trying not to cry.

She had only ever loved two men in her entire life.

One was killed just for daring to reciprocate her feelings.

The other was practically unkillable, but equally unreachable.

It was painfully obvious which one hurt her more.

Abaddon knew just by the look on Demeter's face what her answer would be.

But it still hurt all the more just to hear.

"No..."

Disappointed but not unsurprised, Abaddon ignored the odd sting in his heart and started to get up.

But before he could rise to his feet, he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and Demeter suddenly threw her arms around him.

Instead of doing anything inappropriate, she simply hugged him tightly as if this were the first and last one she would ever receive.

"It will never be enough for me, because I am afraid that I will always want more... But I also cannot deny that I miss your simple companionship so immensely that it hurts."

"I'm simple?"

Abaddon felt Demeter bite his ear like prime Mike Tyson.

"Alright, alright, it was just a joke!"

When Demeter released him, she sat on her knees with eyes filled with tears and a heartfelt smile on her lips.

In her mind, there was so much that she wanted to say.

But she held back out of fear that it would crack their relationship again.

'I am afraid that I am a selfish goddess. I will always want more from you. If an underhanded method should exist, if you should ever have a moment of vulnerability, I fear that I will exploit it, all for the purpose of being embraced by you... but for now... I just want to talk to you like normal.'

Unbeknownst to her, Abaddon could hear her every thought since they were in such close physical contact.

His sad smile mirrored her own, and he developed his own thoughts that he kept to himself.

'It will be a pity, but I will have to reject you at every time. I already have everything that I need.'

Inwardly hating herself for her impure intentions, Demeter simply smiled at Abaddon and acted as if nothing was wrong at all.

"I suppose that you missed me, huh? And here I thought you were too busy destroying Asgard to even think about me."

Abaddon started to retort when suddenly the phone in his pocket began buzzing like mad.

Fishing it out of his pocket, he was given a quick reminder that he still had even more problems that had yet to be sorted out.

Mini Me (Thrudd) - Hey dad are you busy rn?? We're going to go to the store for a bit and I want you to come with us!