First Demonic Dragon

Aj and Kayla were almost paralyzed with fear.

Their actual field experience was very limited. Whatever kind of being this thing was, it was far and above their minuscule wheel house.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry.. Who is your sister supposed to be..?" Kayla asked with a nervous smile.

Bashenga narrowed his eyes a bit as he stared at the two of them from head to toe.

They were starting to sweat. Their pulses were quick and their heartbeats erratic.

All fairly large indicators of one familiar emotion…

"You're afraid of me… I wonder why."

Aj and Kayla smiled nervously. "A-Afraid of you? We don't even know you…"

"Your choice of wardrobe is real concerning though..."

Bashenga looked down at himself. Today, he had possibly been done the worst out of everyone.

A white 'Hello Kitty' t-shirt with dark cargo pants and high top converse sneakers.

His generally unapproachable demeanor was fighting to remain present in light of his funny outfit.

"…My sister picked these clothes out. I am unsure if this is her attempt at humor or if this outfit serves some larger purpose."

Again with this sister of his… Kayla thought.

Aj was a little less lost for ideas.

He had never seen pictures, but he knew full well that Courtney was adopted. And that she supposedly had a lot of brothers and sisters.

But if this guy was her brother then.. what did that mean for Courtney..?

Their watches had never gone off around her before, and they spent a lot of time together.

So was Courtney just the only human in a house full of monsters? Did she even know??

Bashenga finally noticed the duo's wrist watches were still going off after quite sometime.

He didn't fiddle much with mortal technology. As such, he had little idea of why they were behaving in the way they were.

"Your communication device seems to be malfunctioning. Perhaps you've neglected to charge them?"

"A-Ah, well, it seems that it must've slipped our minds last night. Cramming for exams is busy work, you know..?" Kayla said nervously.

She nonchalantly pressed a button on the side of her watch twice and it went dark. Aj did the same.

Bashenga seemed none too interested in their act and went back to the reason why he had initially come over here.

"Back to the point. What are your intentions with my sister? I am told that huma-I mean college relations are often frivolous and lacking depth; and if you think I will allow you to play with her at your leisure then-"

"Bash!"

Coming up the bleacher steps in a hurry was a real sight.

One was a beautiful Asian woman in a lilac colored sunglasses. She wore her raven hair in a neat bun above her head with two intercrossed pins inside.

The other man was unorthodox to say the least.

Also an older Asian man, and as big as a tree trunk. He must have been at least six foot five with muscles that could have put anyone on their school's football team to shame.

He had rusty, orange colored hair with a beard to match it.

"Grandmother. Grandfather." Bashenga greeted. "I was just-"

"Yes, yes, it's good to see you making friends, sweetheart." Kirina smiled. "But you must come along now, your parents have already found some good seats."

Bashenga seemed to pause for a moment as if he were confused why they were not sitting here.

But soon, he stood up along with them. "I see. Let us go to them then."

They said polite goodbyes to the brother and sister pairing before they scurried away to another set of bleachers.

The siblings watched them go until they could no longer see their backs.

Once they were out of range; they looked down at their watches once again.

Sending reinforcements.

- Explore new worlds at empire

Courtney always liked the feeling of running.

The feeling of her feet hitting the ground.

Of the wind crashing over her body.

Propelling herself to go faster and faster despite her body's current physical limitations.

But what's more? She liked running because it was something that her family didn't hand to her.

They hadn't fostered her love for it. Hadn't made her magical sneakers that made her as fast as a jet plane. Or taught her how to use magic to slow down her opponents.

Because they believed in her. They believed in her ability.

And it made moments like this all the sweeter.

Courtney's entire team surrounded her; jostling the young woman as they cheered for her historic performance.

In the 100 meter dash, she had put out her best time yet of 9.35 seconds.

The shiny gold metal hanging around her neck was a paltry thing in comparison to the accomplishment she had just made.

Her coach was in shambles- literally crying on the turf as if he had been the one to break the school record.

Well… he was the one to recruit her, so in some way this was his accomplishment too, no?

With great difficulty, Courtney eventually broke free of the encirclement of her teammates.

Only to run right smack into a familiar- albeit far less fluffy- figure.

"CONGRATULATIONS, MY PRICKLY LITTLE PUMPKIN CAKE!!"

Courtney choked. Bekka had only lost her ears and tail, not her strength.

"T-Thanks, Ma… on another unrelated note, can you ease up a bit so that you don't snap my now prize-winning spine?"

"O-Oh, of course!" Bekka lessened her grip.

Courtney got about half a second of free air before another muscular figure grabbed her up.

"Congratulations, princess!!!" Sif planted several kisses on Courtney's cheeks in the span of just a few short seconds.

Courtney's face couldn't have turned more red if she slathered it in food coloring.

"I-I appreciate it, but can it wait until we get home, Ma..? You're embarrassing me just a little bit.."

Sif smiled knowingly. Ordinarily she would not have cared, but since Courtney was the hero of the day, she made it a point not to overly trouble her.

…At least not in public.

Courtney was suddenly under siege from her family.

Her brothers cheered and tossed her into the air like a little bean bag.

Her sisters embraced her and took an ungodly amount of pictures together.

Her aunts and uncles sang her praises. (Even Satan did in his own way.)

Her mothers hugged her and cried.

Her grandparents hugged her and cried.

Darius offered her a drink to celebrate and Nyx shared some crude innuendo about her being fast enough to 'run into her room and run back out without anyone noticing'.

Karliah chopped both of them on the neck and carried them away.

And finally, there was her father.

Courtney found him standing at the very back of the group- wearing a handsome smirk that almost screamed 'You know I had to save the best for last'.

Courtney didn't make him come to her. She threw herself at him.

As always, he caught her in his arms and hugged her for dear life.

"I am so proud of you." He whispered.

"…I know." She whispered back. "I know it might not be all that much compared to your other kids, but-"

"No, don't say that." He squeezed. "You are all equal to me no matter what. All I want is to see each one of you consistently giving life your best. I will rarely ask you for anything more."

Courtney had done wonders to withstand getting misty eyed so far, but leave it to her father to wear down those defenses.

"…Thank you." Courtney said hollowly.

Abaddon could sense that those words might've had an underlying meaning that he may not have been aware of. "For..?"

Courtney heard her voice crack as she spoke. "For taking me in… F-For raising me, and giving me -"

"What are you talking about, silly girl?"

Abaddon held Courtney's head so that the two of them were meeting eye to eye.

"You're talking like you're someone else's child who I just found randomly… but you are my daughter. Don't you know that already?"

Courtney bit her lip hard as she nodded. Her tears already getting the best of her.

Abaddon pulled her into his chest and let her cry into the oversized shirt she demanded he wear.

He just rubbed her back as she cried and stared up into the sky.

The sun warmed his handsome face and he felt a familiar reassuring feeling.

'I'm glad you were watching at least… I hope you can see just how incomplete we all are without you at home.'

The sun didn't give him an answer back, but in truth, he didn't really need one.

He just needed his daughter to have this moment to feel her feelings and bask in the weight of her achievement.

But life so rarely gives people exactly what they want.

"Excuse me…"

Abaddon looked over his shoulder and sighed internally.

There, he found an older, but well kept man in a sleek gray suit.

Accompanying him a short distance away were the two siblings Yemaja had pointed out earlier.

"It seems our children are highly acquainted… I am Doctor Shin Nagumo, but I believe… maybe we've met before."

Abaddon showed a small smile for reasons unknown.

He helped Courtney wipe her face as he addressed the group of newcomers.

"We were planning on doing a little something for our little girl back at the house… You're all welcome to join us."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"I believe we'll take you up on that."