Ch. 48

After helping her clean up, Abaddon walked Cinder to the next airship to Beacon, then walked to the mansion alone. He entered through the secret entrance in the park. Once in the basement, he found Kathleen, having a conversation with another woman. It was an elderly lady with grey and brown hair tied into a bun. She wore a light blue shirt with tan capris and brown shoes. This was Janet Florence.

"Hey ladies. How's your day been?" he asked.

"Good evening, Abaddon. I was just sharing my life experiences with Kathleen here. You definitely have a keeper here, young man. She's such a good listener and a kind, beautiful girl. She helped me clean up down here without me having to ask," Janet told him.

"Well, I was done with my classes today anyway and I happened to run into Mrs. Florence on the way here," said Kathleen.

"You know what else this young lady did for me?" Janet added. "She healed my hip! I had a metal hip replacement before and now it's gone. I don't know what kind of powers she has, but I'm glad I met her."

Janet began skipping around the room in delight. Despite her age, she moved around as if she was in her prime. Abaddon raised an eyebrow at his mate, who just smiled at him.

"What about your husband?" Abaddon asked.

"Oh, she did the same for George as well! His arthritis is gone! He's upstairs in the training room working out. He was so excited to be able to move as he used to during his military days. Thank you once again, Kathleen!"

"No problem, Mrs. Florence."

"Honey, please just call me Janet."

Abaddon cleared his throat. "Sorry Janet, but can I please have some alone time with Kat? It's important."

"Oh of course dear. Kathleen, let's talk more later." Janet then rushed to the elevator and went upstairs, leaving the couple alone.

Abaddon sat on the couch next to Kathleen. They immediately got comfortable, with Kathleen straddling Abaddon on the couch.

"Sooooo, what did you wanna talk about?" she asked.

"I'll just cut to the chase. You've been here longer than I have, so I wanna know everything you know about this planet, and what Aidoneus has been up to."

"Well, it still belongs to your friendly neighborhood death god."

"But a long time ago he said he wasn't interested in stuff like this."

"He had changed his mind at some point and didn't bother to tell us. He said Mwynn gave him this world when it was barren, and she seeded it with life. We came in right after a mass extinction event happened. One of the humans was experimenting with magic to gain immortality like her lover. One day, a final test she was conducting went awry and resulted in a wave that killed all the fauna on the planet. By this time, Aidoneus knew how to recreate everything the way his mother did but with his own twists, and we had arrived at the time he was about to bring the humans back. I carried the Life Seed, the one we created with King Moogle, Zodiark, and Babil's help, and he permitted me to use it on the planet, so as soon as the humans were born the seed had changed half of them into faunus. While they still could use magic, Aidoneus chose to limit it to aura and semblances. Although, some exceptions have come up over the years, and we can teach them to use some magic or evolve their semblances and aura use."

"What about Dust?"

"They're just another version of aether crystals."

"Like on Hydaelyn's world."

"Correct. Aidoneus was fine with everything. He thought that the world was even better than before, not only because we added variety to it but also because he remade it in his own 'safe' vision. But there were two outliers: A wizard named Ozma and his lover Salem. He told me that Ozma had been granted immortality by an unknown ailment and his former lover, Salem, was the one who caused the mass extinction and she died but was revived by something else."

"Either another lesser god or Ragnarok. Mortals are too easy for them to influence."

"We could almost taste the abyssal power within her. Her soul had been exposed and it changed her. At the time she was no threat, so we left her alone. Then one day Aidoneus felt a presence on the moon. He went to investigate, and moments later the moon shattered. Tiamat and I managed to destroy what falling debris we could, but there was still a good amount of damage. Aidoneus was nowhere to be found, but shards of his power were spread across the planet. I tried to collect them but each one was protected by a field that repelled both the Newborn and Firstborn. And its power was harmful to mortals, not to mention their greed at how much power the fragments gave them. With Aidoneus gone, the Grimm started showing up on the northwest continent and began to spread from there. They were more of a nuisance than a threat since they lacked some of what made the voidsent so dangerous. Then, Salem started laying siege, controlling the Grimm. She had lost complete faith in humanity after an incident that resulted in Ozma dying, along with their children. We should have done something about her when we had the chance. Tiamat and I had established a place of our own on the Island that is now called Vytal. Salem tried to destroy us. She assaulted our home with new Grimm types that she had managed to create with her magic and the power Ragnarok had given her. We fought through them, but Salem, in her frustration, allowed someone else to join. A dark goddess."

"I'm not surprised. Ragnarok had many powerful individuals as allies. When I fought Brandelis in Grimoire, I could taste a scent of the Abyss on him that was unique to Ragnarok, which meant he had been in that beast's presence at one point before."

"She overpowered us. Tiamat and I were on the brink of death and the kids were down, so I ordered Vega to help everyone else escape. I planned to buy some time anyway I could, but Titania knocked me away and distracted her instead. The island was littered with aether crystals, and during the fight she detonated all of them, destroying seventy percent of the landmass. I was thrown by the explosion and landed somewhere in northern Mistral, where Calypso found me and brought me to her home on Sanus. Sometime after being healed, I went back to look for Titania. Vega, Oryon, Chilam, and Rakshasa were already there. She had been destroyed, and we each chose to live apart so that our collective presence won't make us an easy target. And after that, the rest is the usual history: the four kingdoms, the Great War, and the naming of Vytal."

Abaddon frowned. "Why didn't you tell me all that earlier?"

"I'm sorry my love," Kathleen replied. "I..really don't like to think about Titania's death. It reminds me of our late children."

"Come here, my Empress." Abaddon held her face in his hands and kissed her on her forehead.

"You always try to comfort me, just like when we first met."

"And I always will."

Kathleen kissed Abaddon, then held his face in her hands as well. "Thank you. Did you have anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Do you know anything about our other allies?"

"No. But I do know they're with King Moogle and Babil."

"That's a big relief. He's sure to keep them safe."

Kathleen buried her face in Abaddon's neck. "You don't know how much I missed you

Kathleen then began repeatedly kissing Abaddon. It slowly turned into a make-out session and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. Abaddon, enraptured by his mate, grabbed her waist, began to pull up her shirt and tried to uncouple her bra.

"Wait a minute," Kathleen said as she moved away. "You know when we start, we don't stop for a long time. Plus, Janet and George are still upstairs."

"Fine." Abaddon huffed and crossed his arms.

"How about this: Right now, we're partially through the semester. We get a month off during winter break. During that time, we can do whatever you wish."

"Deal. And I know just the spot too."

"Then it is settled." Kathleen then stood up and began fixing her shirt and bra.

Abaddon then added. "I was also wondering if you wouldn't mind some company-."

Suddenly, Kathleen's tail wrapped around Abaddon's torso and trapped his arms then raised him into the air.

"We are NOT bringing a party with us. I want it to just be you and I for that whole month, just like during summer break." Kathleen glared at Abaddon.

Abaddon chuckled. "I know babe. I wasn't talking about a party. Just one person."

"Okay." Kathleen replied. "Explain yourself."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Because, as I said, we are not bringing an entire party with us. And you've done this before. Remember when we wanted to take a vacation to Gaia to see the planet return to its natural beauty after the damage done by the Shinra company was undone? But I found out last minute that you invited not only our children, but also Bahamut, his mate Verani, and their child Fafnir as well."

"Yeah, that wasn't the best vacation."

"We had little privacy, and you know how much of a headache Bahamut was, always reminding Verrani and Fafnir that he was the king of all dragons, and they had no right to argue with him."

Abaddon sighed. "I get it. I get it. But I was thinking of bringing Cinder. I decided to give her another chance. Maybe it can be the three of us, and you and her could get to know each other more."

"To be honest… I was gonna propose the same thing to you at a much later time."

"Come again?"

"I do find Cinder attractive. She's beautiful, talented, athletic, fashionable, and great to talk to. So, I wouldn't mind bringing her into our relationship. I was just being cautious though."

"Did she tell you anything about me and her?"

"Yeah, she told me everything about your past relationship and the breakup. I was wondering what she did for you to push away all her previous advances when she came to Beacon. She even apologized for trying to make me jealous. But are you sure you want to do this?"

"We talked earlier….kind of. More like yelling at each other. But we needed to get those frustrations out there. Probably start slow at first, but I still have trust in her so I'm sure we'll be alright."

"Just know that whenever you need to talk, I'm here, just as like you were for me on Ebarona."

Kathleen put Abaddon down and he rejoined her on the couch.

"I love you Snowflake."

"Not as much as I adore you, Moon Dancer."