First Demonic Dragon

Sei beckoned Bashenga into the room and smiled at the sight of him with his brother.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite little pairing.” She grinned, almost completely forgetting her nerves for just a moment. “I should take a picture for my dresser.”

Bashenga remained unamused. At least on the surface.

“Please, Grandma. Afford us some small semblance of dignity. We’re gods, not accessories.”

*Achoo!*

K’ael sneezed and magma-like snot shot out of his nose and dribbled over his lips.

“AWWW!!” Sei swooned. She pulled a handkerchief from her back pocket and wiped off her grandson’s dribbling nose.

“My poor, cute, snotty baby! Your parents don’t know how to take care of you, huh? I told them they can’t sleep with their room like a damned icebox because it’s not good for you…”

Bashenga remained relatively unamused as his grandmother freed K’ael from his harness.

“…I can assure you he was quite comfortable where he was.”

Sei just rolled her eyes.

“Is there a reason why you have summoned us?” Bashenga asked as he took his brother back.

Sei finally managed to bring her mind back to the present dilemma.

She walked over to the table where Ayaana was still asleep and picked up the metal tool she had used on Igrat.

“You’re familiar with Chaos, right? You would be able to recognize her aura if you felt it?”

“Obviously.”

“Don’t get snippy with me, boy.” Sei pinched his ear. “I need you to take a look at something for me.”

She walked over to Ayaana’s sleeping body and placed her arm underneath the sheet.

Sei administered a small tap on Ayaana’s pubic region. Just as before, a bright light burst out and filled the room. This one bright white in color instead of the former rosy pink.

A large sigil came floating out of Ayaana’s body. Sei dared not touch it for fear of triggering backlash, so she made sure to take several steps back once it was out in the open.

Sei looked at her grandson so that she could ask him what he felt, but she was surprised to find a single tear running down his cheek.

Bashenga didn’t take long to realize his little slip-up and hurriedly wiped away any trace of it.

“…You saw nothing.” He glared at her.

Sei only smiled at him as she took his hand. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, I understand it too. It’s very moving, yes?”

Bashenga refused to give an answer. But that didn’t really surprise his grandmother much at all.

“I still need to ask… do you sense anything off?” Sei leaned closer.

Bashenga narrowed his eyes and searched for traces of the ancient Egoless.

Gabbrielle, Daphne, and Sei all waited with bated breath.

Relief flooded them when Bashenga shook his head.

“There is no trace of that detestable being. I’m almost inclined to believe that she never even laid a hand on Mother in the first place.”

Sei nodded slowly; relieved but still partially concerned.

“You’re familiar with magical circuitry, yes?”

“Obviousl-“

Sei stared at her grandson hard.

“…I mean, yes ma’am.” He acquiesced.

Sei held her hand out over a certain section of the marital rune without actually touching it. “Can you tell me what this portion means..? Your sister and I couldn’t figure it out.”

Gabbrielle wouldn’t say anything, but it stung her pride a bit that there was something even she didn’t know about.

Bashenga stared at the section for a few moments, and his face became even more contorted with every second.

He wasn’t sure how he had missed that small little line before but now that he was looking at it again, it was all he could think about.

“No, I don’t… What is that…? I’ve never seen that kind of inscription before.”

Sei grabbed Bashenga’s shoulder and showed him a warm smile even though her anxiety was rising.

“No need to fret, we can figure this out. Why don’t you go get your father and your mother and we can see if…”

“Something’s happening!” Gabbrielle warned.

The glow produced by Ayaana’s sigil was bright before, but now it was growing too bright to even look at.

“This is wrong..!” Gabbrielle realized as she shielded her face.

A spark went up in the room and Sei’s face paled. “My notes!”

The result of her study went up in ash almost instantly, and before she could rush to save them a second wall of light rushed over the group.

–

“Mmm… How long have we been sleeping..?”

Ayaana stretched while lying down on the table. Her first instinct was to rub her back and hopefully ease the soreness that came from sleeping on cold, hard metal.

Ayaana stretched again and there was suddenly a weird popping sound in the air.

At that point, nine different women spilled onto the floor.

Eris was the only one still on the table. As she rubbed her eyes, her face lit up when she heard groaning.

“We did it! We separated!” She said gleefully.

“Yep… I noticed, babe.” Valerie replied as she fabricated a new pair of glasses.

Bekka, whose face she was sitting on, was wagging her tail happily.

“I never thought I would be so happy for a return to individuality.”

The girls suddenly heard a clicking noise as the door to the lab opened.

Sei walked in carrying a notepad and with a miniature Gabbrielle on her shoulders.

Bashenga was not far behind them, and holding up little K’ael in a harness.

When they saw the ten women sprawled across the floor of the lab, their faces showed genuine surprise.

“You’re unstuck now..? Were you just faking it the whole time so that your husband would worry about you?” Sei sighed.

Lailah sighed in exasperation. “Does that honestly strike you as something we would do, mother?”

“Honestly, it sounds exactly like something I would do.” Audrina lie on her stomach while tracing a heart on the ground. “I don’t care how old I get, I’ll let that man baby me any day.”

“Amen, sister.” Lisa gave her an immediate high-five.

Bashenga rolled his eyes in disinterest. “Well, since you’re all fine I’m going back to my room.”

“Were you worried about us, baby boy?” Erica smiled.

Bash snorted and rolled his eyes.

Sei smiled as she patted his shoulder. “Both of your children were very worried about you. They were about to start helping me diagnose you all.”

“What finally allowed you to separate yourselves?” Gabbrielle asked with clear interest.

The girls looked amongst themselves and shrugged.

“We… stretched?” Lillian scratched her cheek.

Sei blinked. “You… stretched.”

“It was a really good stretch.” Tatiana nodded.

Sei wasn’t sure if she should’ve had ‘really good stretch’ written down in her notes or not.

“Well, it sounds like the problem may be far more mental than technical.” Sei sighed and tried not to show her obvious disappointment. “You should go and see Imani or Yara instead. They’re much better at all that upstairs stuff than me.”

“So, no other working theories other than ‘not my area of expertise’?” Lailah began to get up and help the others to their feet as well.

Sei just shrugged. “I can run some tests if you all think you’ll be able to sit still for long enough.”

Bekka raised her hand.

“No, Bekka, you can’t snack on anything while I’m examining you.”

Bekka held up a peace sign and disappeared from the room.

The girls were just surprised that it had taken her this long to leave.

“What about Sif?” asked Seras. “Do you think we’ll be able to bring her back into us now?”

“And Izanami.” Eris added.

Finally, it seemed like Sei actually did have some thoughts about the matter. “Well I’m not sure why you can’t bring her back in, but have you considered that maybe you weren’t meant to?”

“What? But we-“

“Chaos only named the ten of you, remember? She created a vessel designed to be perfect- so while one addition may have been tolerated, a second might’ve strained dynamics too far and put your bodies on ‘lockdown’ in a sense.”

The girls wore conflicted expressions. Chaos still had far too much control over them and their lives for comfort.

It only further emphasized the urgency of putting her down quickly.

“Don’t think about it too negatively.” Sei emphasized. “As far as we know this doesn’t affect your relationships with them in any way. You haven’t ever been able to fuse with Abaddon, yet you still love him more than anything, correct?”

One by one, the girls nodded.

“Then you shouldn’t get into your heads about this. Love yourselves, love each other, and take care of your relationships in your own unique ways. Ayaana is like a shared space you can occupy. You’re all still individuals.”

A small smile crawled onto Lailah’s face as she stared at her mother.

“Not exactly your area of expertise, huh?”

“Shut up, I’m going back to my room.” Sei immediately turned tail and fled the lab.

Gabbrielle floated off of her grandmother’s shoulders and drifted towards her mothers.

She stared at the nine of them suspiciously before landing on the metal table.

“…Why is the entire divine world buzzing that I suddenly have a stepmother?”

“…” The girls said nothing as they slowly turned their heads toward Eris.

“Erm… well… y’see… the thing is that… you look very cute in your little dress?” Eris twirled her fingers awkwardly.

A microscopic smirk formed on Gabbrielle’s face.

“…I hope you all will be very happy together.”

“Aww, thank you, peach.” Eris scooped up the small girl into her arms.

Gabbrielle’s smile became just a little wider.

Her mothers were separated, they were happy, and everything was totally back to normal.

What more could she ask for?

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