First Demonic Dragon

Sif knew instinctively that the man who she was looking at now was the only one to ever make her happy in her entire life.

Even if he didn't look like himself.

He was so much more unkempt than in her memories.

His hair was unbrushed and ratty, his stubble hadn't seen a proper trimming in decades, and his toned physique that she used to love about him was now gone up in smoke.

This was how her beloved must've looked at the moment where he died.

But still, she remained understandably skeptical of this whole ordeal.

"S…Sylvia..?"

Immediately, Sif's delusion was broken.

Only he would know the fake name she had used in their time spent together and the emotion in his voice when he called for her was all too convincing.

"J-Joel, what happened to you?? H-How did-"

"You're asking the wrong questions." Abaddon interrupted.

He sat back onto Bagheera and tried to ignore an ever mounting headache.

"You should ask him about the child that you left with him. Since you are so utterly uninterested in listening to my recollection of events…"

Sif hated Abaddon from the moment that she saw him.

She loathed his hostile attitude, and the way his appearance wormed its way into her mind.

She hated the way that he cruelly told her about killing her estranged lover like he was trying to rub salt in a wound.

She didn't understand why someone who was more or less upstanding like Demeter would confess her love for a creature like him.

However...

If there was even a tiny... infinitesimal chance that he was telling the truth... she had to know.

"Joel darling... What happened to our child...?" Sif asked warily.

"N-No, you are supposed to be..." Joel muttered incoherently..

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!?" Sif snapped as she cried.

"I THOUGHT SHE TOOK YOU FROM ME!" he yelled back.

Frantically, the remnant of the man named Joel spilled out his true feelings about their child.

According to him, he tried to love Thea at first, he truly did.

But she was not a replacement for the woman who he loved more than anything and gave his life to.

And as the years went on, he grew more and more aware of that fact, and he turned to drinking as a fix.

He struck Thea for the first time when she was only four years old.

That single, defining moment would end up setting the course of the rest of Joel's life.

After hitting Thea, Joel realized just how much he despised her.

This girl was supposed to be the union between himself and 'Sylvia'.

But she wasn't strong like her mother, she was weak and cried from even the simplest love tap!

She was a poor imitation of her mother, and he took every available chance and opportunity available to make sure she knew it.

It wasn't until years later where he finally got sick of her, and discovered her affinity for divine power entirely on accident.

Turning her over for a nice heap of change was the most useful thing he had ever gotten out of her.

"I only did it because I- W-Wait! No no no no!You can't do this!" Joel suddenly panicked.

Abaddon had heard more than enough.

No, in fact he had heard far too much.

He closed the doors to oblivion with Joel still trying to explain himself, and allowed the echoes of his screams to reverberate off the walls of the temple.

He heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, and found a collapsed Sif as the source.

Her palms were pressed against the marble to keep her body upright, and a steady stream of tear droplets were pelting the floor underneath her.

"I.. I didn't.. I didn't think that..."

Abaddon was so very conflicted.

As much as Sif hated him, he nearly hated her just as much.

She was the cause of all of this misfortune.

Had she not left Thea with that madman, his baby girl would have never had to endure such a hellish upbringing.

It was a sheer miracle that she lived all the way to eleven.

But Abaddon remembered exactly the kind of woman that his daughter had grown up to be.

She was honest, carefree, and vibrant.

She saw the best in people, whether they were man, demon, or dragon.

That was a quality that even he as her father did not share.

So he figured… perhaps this was another moment where she would have seen something he didn't, or reacted in a way that he wouldn't have.

And that single thought deprived him of his anger.

Or atleast most of it…

Truthfully, he had begun to regret the way he had approached this entire interaction.

And it couldn't all be blamed on the painful scene he had just gone through with Demeter.

He should have done better… but it was never too late to start trying.

Ever so quietly, he sat down on the ground beside her and tried to pat her on the back.

Repulsed by his very touch, she slapped his hand away with tears still streaming down her face.

"…I am not your enemy."

"You would have me to believe you a benevolent monster then?! After all that has transpired, you would now play the role of my support system and a shoulder to cry on?! You mock me!"

Abaddon lowered his head in apology and left Sif stunned.

"Perhaps… maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I will bear the responsibility for that, but I can assure you that I make no attempts to mock you."

Sif didn't know what made her madder, the fact that she believed in her hated adversary or the fact that he was seeing her in this pathetic state in the first place.

"What sort of game are you playing?! To what end would you torture me like this??"

Abaddon smiled sadly.

"Because, despite the way that she was raised, the child you gave birth to turned out to be an incredible person. And she would like to meet you if you're open to the possibility."

Disbelief filled Sif's face.

"You… Are you speaking honestly?"

"I am."

"Why would you do that…? Do you want me to see how you have worked tirelessly to turn her against me…?"

"I've done no such thing."

"Then why-"

"Because Thea has dreams and questions. You are a literal part of her and as you've done no intentional harm I won't just remove that like I did her father."

Sif started to look insulted but after everything she heard, realized that she had no real right to do such a thing.

"So... you turned my daughter into a dragon..? Like you..?"

"Hm? No. She's still mostly human. I suppressed most of my DNA so that she didn't end up growing horns on her cute little head."

For some reason, that made Sif smile if only just a bit.

"So... her name is Thea. A fine name for a norse woman."

"She is more Nevi'im than anything, but whatever..." Abaddon muttered as he tried to hide his building jealousy.

"...Will you tell me about her?" Sif finally asked.

Dragon or not, primordial god or not, every parent looks forward to the moment where they can gush about their children to complete strangers.

With his large tail wagging just a bit, Abaddon pulled out his phone and started flipping to his family photo album.

Sif simply pretended that she couldn't see the ungodly amount of dirty photos and videos.

The Dragon God's camera roll was basically couple photos, family portraits, porn, meals made by he or his wives, porn, and more porn.

Again, Sif was entirely unsure of why someone like Demeter would confess to this man.

Finally, Abaddon pulled up a photo of a young woman who looked to be around 18-20 years old.

Too old to be her daughter.

"What is..?"

"Oh right. Some time ago, Thea was chosen by the previous bearer of the witchblade. She spent five years inside of it growing and training, but for us it was only five days on the outside... I don't need to tell you how much we panicked when we found out."

Sif nodded absentmindedly as she stared at the photo of a young girl holding two twin children.

They shared the same blonde hair and an uncanny natural resemblance, but this girl possessed a natural radiance and light that even a harvest goddess like Sif did not possess.

She could also see Abaddon's influence within her quite a bit, as she was in excellent physical shape, and more beautiful than Freya and Aphrodite put together.

"She is... so incredible." Sif muttered.

Abaddon softened up to Sif a small bit in that moment.

Her mistakes aside, he could sense a real unwavering love for Thea that made it just a bit harder for him to actually hate her.

"I... wanted to offer you a proposal."

Sif's ears turned red and she threw Abaddon's phone back at him hard.

"I.. I will not marry you!"

"..."

Abaddon changed his mind, he couldn't stand this woman for the life of him.

"If I rejected Demeter, who is more charming than you in every way, why would I ask for your hand instead of hers?"

"EXCUSE ME!?!"

"Anyways." Abaddon waived his hand dismissively.

"I know you aren't exactly inclined to stay here, so if you want I will have my people return you to Asgard immediately without leaving you with so much as a scratch.

Or, you can stay for a while longer, and you can meet Thea yourself. She is already expecting to hear word that you're here, so I would advise against disappointing her."

Sif felt her heart speed up and began to twirl her thumbs out of nervousness.

"She.. truly wants to meet me..? After everything...?"

"She does, and my wives and I insisted on it... So in a way, I suppose the decision has already been made for you."

Abaddon pulled out his phone and scrolled to his daughter's contact and paused just shy of pressing the dial button.

He looked at Sif for final conformation, and when she gave him a small nod, he pressed her contact and held the phone up to his ear as it started to ring...