Abaddon sat on the ground beside Akeno's unconscious form and pulled her head into his lap, turning her body into a comfortable position.
Instead of waking her up, he closed his eyes and spent a few minutes getting his thoughts streamlined. He'd just experienced a lot of things and needed some time to set everything straight.
When he calmed himself down, his gaze went to Akeno's peacefully sleeping visage. She had made herself comfortable in his lap and had her face snuggled into his stomach.
He noticed that she was wearing a traditional miko attire that she occasionally changes into when she goes into fights. The combination of the white haori and red hakama made her look mesmerizing to Abaddon. He was especially enraptured by the red accents that were there on her haori, 'She really looks nice in this outfit…' He thought.
He combed his fingers through her hair for a few seconds before a magic circle appeared at the tips of his fingers that were right above Akeno's head.
She opened her eyes slowly before coming to her senses as she shot up but was unsuccessful as Abaddon kept down, "Easy, honey. You'll get disoriented."
"A-kun?" Akeno looked up at him with hopeful eyes, "You're okay…"
"Ugh… Don't mention it…" Abaddon groaned with annoyance.
"D-did Michael take it?" Akeno asked Abaddon while sitting up and looking at him with concern and guilt shining on her face.
"Do you think it's your fault that I got ambushed by Michael?" Abaddon didn't answer and decided to let her stay uninformed for a while.
"Isn't it…" Akeno gave him a self-deprecating laugh, "I wasn't even able to summon a magic circle before I was incapacitated by Michael…" She looked down at the top section of her sternum where a circular burn mark was visible. The haori left just enough of her cleavage bare that Abaddon could also see the mark.
"I went easy on him…" He said, feeling angry that Michael would hurt Akeno like that.
"I'm sorry…" Akeno's eyes teared up, "I'm completely useless. I caused so many problems…" She was fully in self-blame.
"Okay, darling. You can stop feeling guilty now," He said before summoning the gear, "I still have the gear. The whole situation was completely under Sirzechs' supervision, so there was no chance of anyone getting hurt."
Akeno's sniffles weakened when she saw Abaddon's arm and the familiar gauntlet.
"So. I didn't cause you problems?" She asked him with the kind of look that aroused many desires in him.
"I never said that." Abaddon said solemnly, "It was, after all, your message that caused me to get ambushed by Michael."
Akeno's eyes widened, "Are you okay?!" She asked before shuffling up to him. She started examining his body for any sort of injuries without a care for her haori which was slowly slipping off with each of her hasty movements.
"Calm down…" Abaddon grabbed both her arms and held them down. His action inadvertently made her haori completely slip off of her upper body as it hung from the sash and left her entire torso bare to Abaddon. His gaze momentarily went down, but he looked back up quickly and matched Akeno's eyes, "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."
She seemed to calm down a little, "It's still my fault… I could've at least tried to send you a message so that you would've been prepared..."
"Shh…" Abaddon just shushed her and put his finger on her lips, "You were in front of Michael, the strongest if not one of the strongest angels — beings who are our complete antithesis. I don't blame you for any of this…"
His words just made Akeno look down guiltily as she started trembling and her tears started falling onto her lap, "I don't deserve any of this…" She sobbed.
Abaddon was confused, 'This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder…' Akeno's reaction was a bit too exaggerated in his eyes. He quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She seemed to be resistant and tried to push him away, but he forcefully pushed her face into his shirt.
"Will you feel better if I decided to punish you on my own terms?" Abaddon asked. He was completely drawing blanks about what the deal with her was right now.
Akeno's trembling stopped momentarily as she looked up at him, "A-and what if I've been lying to you all this time?" She asked between sobs.
"I'll just make your punishment even more difficult," Abaddon finally felt something other than self-loathing from her. He grabbed her chin and squeezed her face, "A denied slut like you lying to your master is an inexcusable crime." He said with a tone that sent a shiver down Akeno's spine.
She gave him an aroused smile before looking down again, "A-kun, do you remember that time you got the Boosted Gear?" She asked out of the blue.
"Yeah, of course. The kid was a pervert, but he was kind at heart." Abaddon thought that she was talking about the original bearer of the Gear.
"Do you remember that Fallen Angel that you killed?" Akeno asked, "Raynare…"
"Hm?" He answered her, "Yeah. It's a pretty fresh event. I'd have to have problems with my memory to not remember the Fallen Angel that I fucked to death." He chuckled.
"I was terrified of you after that day…" She told him and Abaddon realized that Akeno was stiff in his arms, "I never even saw her body…"
He spoke gently, "Ah… Yeah, I was a bit unhinged back then. Just getting a longinus for myself and all…" His hand made its way to her hair and combed through it. "But I could never do something like that to you," He said, "You're my sweet lovely devil, aren't you?"
"But I'm not…" She said with a small voice.
When she didn't say anything more, Abaddon said, "Then what are you, my Akeno? What aren't you telling me?"
"What will you do if I betrayed you…" She asked back. She seemed to be stalling.
"It would depend on the severity of the betrayal," Abaddon said after some thought, "But I've grown attached to you after so long, so even in the worst-case scenario, I would just permanently keep you chained in my dungeon as my personal sex pet."
Akeno wasn't strong enough to be a threat if left alive, so he could take liberties with her sentence even in the case that she was a double agent for the Angels, Fallen, or even for a third faction like the Khaos Brigade.
"Is that so…" Abaddon felt Akeno's stiff body soften as she continued, "I've been scared of telling you about this for the longest time… But I don't want to hold back any longer… And if you decide to punish me for hiding it from you, I will gladly accept everything." She pulled back from his neck and looked up at him with a teary-eyed face. Her mascara had been ruined and she looked especially delectable to Abaddon.
"Is this why I've always felt that there was a wall between us?" Abaddon smiled, "Why I had to take such extreme measures to put you under my control in such a primal manner?"
Akeno's cheeks reddened as she looked down and clenched her fists, "I don't want to hide from you anymore, A-kun…" She said. Instead of hearing more words, Akeno extended her wings and let Abaddon judge for himself.
As her wings extended, Abaddon saw her bat-like devil wing on one side and a fluffy black fallen angel wing on the other, "I always made sure to keep it hidden because I'm ashamed of my fallen lineage…" Akeno mumbled.
Abaddon didn't respond to her words and his hand extended toward her fallen angel wing. Akeno flinched when she felt his touch, but Abaddon's gentle caress made her calm down.
She continued, "I've always hoped to be rid of my fallen angel side. I practically jumped at the prospect of becoming a devil when Rias offered."
"Why though…" Abaddon asked while caressing her fallen wing, "Such a soft and fluffy wing will make for the best comforter or even a pillow…"
"Pfft…" She laughed helplessly, "I was scared meaninglessly, wasn't I?" She asked him. A little smile was gracing her otherwise pitiful-looking face.
"Obviously," Abaddon said, "You aren't just some random woman. You're my Akeno. I would never hurt you…" He thought of something, "…other than sex stuff. That's a different kind of hurt that you're into."
She showed a beautiful smile on her teary face, "Will you hear my story?" She asked with a vulnerable edge to her tone.
Under normal circumstances, Abaddon would've quipped about how her story was pretty predictable. But Akeno was especially sensitive and vulnerable right now, so he just gave her a nod of approval, "Come here first." Abaddon wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap, "Now, you can start."
***
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