Spoilers for those who have not read past chapter 769.
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Nyx emerged from her bedroom after a lengthy nap that persisted over the span of two days.
She yawned and tied her robe closed before deciding to head to the kitchen and steal some liquor out of Valerie's good stash.
As soon as she formed the thought, she heard a herd of footsteps coming from behind her.
She turned around just in time to see several distinctive blurs run past her.
"Hey, Nyx!"
"Hey, Nyx!"
"Hi, Auntie Nyx!"
"Looking good!"
Abaddon, Ayaana, Courtney, and Straga ran past the night goddess so fast that she didn't even have the time to offer a rebuttal.
She cocked a brow in surprise as she watched the family keep running down the hall and turn the corner to the family room.
"What's gotten into them..?"
"Oh, Nyx. Will you be joining us?"
Nubia, Zheng, and Adeline were walking hand in hand like the perfect little throuple.
Nyx smiled like a Cheshire Cat. "Well if that's an invitation to spend the night together, then-"
"""It's not."""
"Pooh." Nyx clicked her teeth. She was tired of being rejected in this house. She may as well make up with her cheating husband since he was the only one who seemed to want her.
"Fine.. Why is your father acting like that?"
"It's the family's 24 hour Christmas Eve marathon. They get pretty worked up about it every year." Nubia shrugged.
"This one does too." Zheng nudged his wife. "Don't let her cool demeanor fool you."
Nubia blushed deeply while trying to maintain her aloof persona.
"I-I've got no idea what you are talking about." She said as she turned back to Nyx. "So, are you coming? I promise it's not nearly as boring as it sounds."
Nyx looked perplexed at the notion.
She had never payed attention to mortal holidays. Not even the ones that were held in honor of the Greek gods.
But since deciding to live in the Tathamet home, she had done many things that she thought she would never do. And tried things she thought to be beneath her.
"… Perhaps a little bit of whimsical light hearted fun would be good for me… Will there be alcohol involved in this endeavor?"
Nubia materialized a carton of eggnog. Adeline pulled out a bottle of whiskey from her sweatpants.
"Worry not, Auntie. When it comes to those three this is… kind of essential." Adeline shuddered.
Nyx tilted her head. "Those three?"
-
"Do I look like I'm fucking playing with you, Kanami?? We're starting with movies, not the televised Christmas specials!" Abaddon roared.
"I'm sick of you pulling this shit every year, Abaddon! Christmas specials are the bread and butter of the holiday season and I will NOT allow you to jump over them like they're nothing!" Kanami roared right back.
"Both of you are behaving like complete and utter fools. Obviously we are going to listen to my Christmas music playlist first. To really get us in the Christmas spirit." Malenia said with an air of superiority.
Abaddon and Kanami stared at her for less than a minute before turning back to each other and continuing their argument.
"You just want to watch all of the 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' Christmas specials!"
"AND 'Chowder' AND 'SpongeBob' AND the 'Bernie Mac Show' too!" Kanami defended. "So what?!"
"So what? It'd be a disgrace to show those before 'Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer' or 'The Year Without a Santa Claus'. Classics should come first!"
A vein was on the verge of bursting in Malenia's forehead.
She threw her arms around both of her siblings' necks and trapped them in brutal headlocks.
"You bastards! How dare you sit here and ignore me! I want to sing 'Santa Claus Go Straight to The Ghetto'!"
""You suck at singing!!"" Kanami and Abaddon yelled back.
"You pieces of shit!"
Malenia wrestled her older brother and younger sister to the ground.
While the siblings devolved into a brawl, Nyx simply sat there with her jaw wide open.
"Do they… do this a lot?"
Ayaana, Mateo, Hera, and Hakon sighed in exhaustion.
"Every damn year…" They all said at once.
The family room was beginning to fill up with more and more housemates as time went by.
Those who couldn't get a seat on the sectional sofa either made a pallet on the ground, or pulled up chairs from the kitchen.
Even people who didn't live in the house came to congregate with the family of ancient dragons. Like Demeter, Shiva, Papa Legba, and Uriel.
Much to Nyx's surprise, no one even batted an eye at the trio of squabbling siblings.
They just kind of talked over their arguing as if it was completely normal.
"So… How do we get a tiebreaker here?" Nyx asked discreetly.
Ayaana glanced further down at the sofa.
There, Gabbrielle was sitting patiently between her eldest brother and her girlfriend. She was staring right back at Ayaana as if she had been waiting on her moment to act for a long time.
Ayaana gave her a discreet nod and she finally stepped into action.
"Father."
Abaddon took a break from grounding his sisters' faces into the rug and looked up.
There, he saw his daughter in a familiar adorable and toddler sized form.
Her eyes were as big as saucers as she stared at him with a picturesque innocence.
"Why don't we just watch the specials first? They will be over quicker and we can go ahead and get them out of the way."
Abaddon thought the world of Gabbrielle. To him, she was the smartest little thing in the entire multiverse.
But maybe that was just a little bit of his fatherly pride coming out.
Nevertheless, as soon as Gabbrielle gave her idea he was almost kicking himself for not thinking of it quicker himself.
"You're right, Peach. Leave it to my smart girl to help set my mind right."
Gabbrielle showed a small, proud smile.
"Really showing your favoritism here, old man!" Apophis blurted.
"Seriously. You've got more than one cute kid, you know?" Mira pointed to her face.
"I'm not offended by it at all. I prefer mothers to him anyway." Bashenga folded his arms.
Abaddon merely chuckled as he lifted his cute daughter onto his shoulder.
"You are all equally precious to me and you know that. I would think you would all know that by now… Maybe I should pull out your mothers' scrapbook and-"
"NO!" All the children yelled in unison.
Odessa was nestled cutely in her Grandmother Imani's lap; still too young to understand the nefarious and embarrassing implications of what had been said.
With the pecking order decided, the family soon began their twenty-four hour Christmas themed marathon.
Abaddon and company had seen these same programs and movies dozens of times by now.
And yet, their eyes were thoroughly glued to the screen as they laughed, smiled, and became immersed in the spirit of the holiday.
It was odd.
Nyx and Abaddon were egregiously close friends. And the more time she spent with him, the more she got to know him, she realized that she didn't know much about him at all.
He was so damned hard to read.
'Are we strange to you?'
Nyx looked beyond the rim of her glass and found Abaddon and Ayaana making direct eye contact with her.
She must have been making an odd facial expression and tipped off the dragon pair by accident.
'Just a little bit.' She smirked back. 'Aren't you all too old to enjoy things like this?'
'It is because we are old that we try to enjoy things like this.' Ayaana said firmly.
'You know how the eons numb gods of our age. We decided as a family that we refuse to let it take from us. We will be joyful. We will hold onto our silly traditions. And we will do it with our family at our side.'
'I don't expect you to get it.' Abaddon scratched the back of his head. 'I'm aware that my family is-'
'You need not explain anything to me, my darlings-'
'We're not your darlings.' Abaddon and Ayaana thought in unison.
Nyx rolled her eyes. 'Be that as it may, I am far from bothered by this little tradition of yours… I'm looking forward to participating with you all for the many eons to come.'
Abaddon and Ayaana looked at each other.
'She thinks we'll just invite her back?'
'How presumptuous of her.' Ayanna shook her head.
'HEY! I can still hear you both!!' Nyx interjected.
'We know.' The couple thought.
'…' Nyx was planning a myriad of colorful ways to smother the couple in their sleep so that they didn't make it to next Christmas.
As it had many times before, the family's 24 hour holiday marathon came to a bittersweet end.
As the credits rolled on the last good 'Home Alone' movie (3), the entire family stood up and hugged each other.
Abaddon embraced his wives first. Then his children. He, his parents, and his sisters also shared their own little family moment.
Nyx's daughter Aubrey was in the middle of embracing her mother when a sudden thought occurred to her.
"You know, it's kind of funny. I know all of these gods and stuff are real now, but it's kind of disappointing to know that Santa isn't."
The room laughed.
"Aww! Is the pitiable little human disappointed that there will be no miraculous gifts underneath her tree??" Satan mocked.
Nyx, Abaddon, and Thea glared at him.
"I mean… you humans have overactive imaginations. Some myths are completely of your own devising." He said.
"I'm kind of glad that Santa isn't real." Courtney suddenly said. "I don't think I ever would have been able to sleep as a kid if I knew some guy was going to break into our house every year."
"You've had horror movie paraphernalia in your room since you were six, but that is what would have creeped you out??" Belloc raised a brow.
"Keep your judgement to yourself, please."
The death dragon held up his hands in surrender.
"I must confess, I also feel disappointed that this Saint Nicholas of myth is not real." Shiva sighed. "Perhaps if he were actually around to spread cheer amongst the humans they would be far less inclined to harm one another."
"I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking, my friend." Papa Legba shook his head. "Humans will always be humans at the end of the day. It is only our job to…. What is he doing?"
Everyone in the room turned towards the red haired maniac who tied them all together.
A pool of his very own blood formed at his feet; and a figure was created from the five-colored liquid.
It was then that everyone here remembered one of Abaddon's lesser known aspects.
The Supernatural. The very source of all that goes bump in the night. Whether it is bloody… or jolly.
"HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-"
Darius: "Hey, Lusamine! He knows your name!"
"Eat a dick, Darius!!"