First Demonic Dragon

Ayaana was staring at the skeleton on it's knees before her.

Sunlight shone down atop it's bleached bones.

The grass and shrubbery it kneeled on seemed to have a mind of it's own as it wrapped along it's body.

The vines and branches penetrated the bone's integrity and fed on any left over nutrients left behind.

As more and more of the grassy vines covered the skeleton, it became irreparably brittle. So much so that a single gust of wind was enough to break down the bones into sand.

The winds carried them away deeper into the forest where they would all too soon be forgotten.

And as it was carried away, the empty white scene of nothingness returned around them. Asherah and the rest of their generals and family stood behind her quietly.

Ayaana's brow twitched as the gem on her forehead shone once again.

A wave overrode the blank white page.

Hajun shuddered once it passed over him. He blinked and suddenly he was right back in space. Floating above the sun.

"That felt… strange. What happened??"

"Ayaana devoured the prime universe." Asherah explained. "But she didn't 'swallow' it and add it's energy to her own. If anything, she held it in her soul until she was ready, and is now pasting it back onto the original canvas as good as new."

Kirina was aghast. "I… wasn't aware that she- that they could do something like this."

"It is Bekka's ability, and truthfully… she is not supposed to. For tens of different reasons."

No one noticed Apophis as he bit his lip in shame.

Asmodeus' jaw set in place. An unthinkable act happened as he lowered his head in front of her.

"…I ask that you do not punish her."

"As do I." Hajun said seriously. "Surely you can agree that there were extenuating circumstances that forced her to-"

"Extenuating circumstances are the very test of a vow. Breaking it should see one subjected to a form of fallout."

Everyone immediately started to protest. Asherah just held up her hand to stop them.

"Your love for them is very deep, I understand. But fret not- a penance will not come from me. It is her own cross to carry I'm afraid."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, the other sun gods who were pulled away when the universe was eaten away started to return.

Ra blinked a couple of times as he looked around.

He couldn't exactly explain what was wrong, but somehow he felt as if he had blinked and missed two hours out of a movie.

"Umm.. I-"

"Mom!"

Apophis broke free of his brides' grip and flew towards a rock that used to hold his palace.

There, the girls had separated and were crowding around Bekka.

Apophis flew towards her, but he was still a ways away from being at his best again. His flying was awkward and he landed on his feet gingerly.

"Easy, my son..!" Erica tried to help get Apophis to his feet.

Apophis was in little mood to be coddled right now. His only focus was on his mother.

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Erica helped him to her side and he sat down beside her.

Bekka was an ancient immortal monster of unimaginable power, but right now she was shaking like a leaf as she held her stomach.

The forced smile on her lips was no less troubling.

"You should be home resting already, baby boy. Feeling rebellious at you big age..?"

Apophis didn't need to ask his mother what was wrong with her. He could already feel it.

She was hungry.

What Bekka had just done was taking the equivalent of placing a juicy cut of meat in one's mouth and just holding it there without actually consuming it.

Bekka was cute, cuddly, and a champion competitive sleeper. But she was still the void. There is a part of her that longs to gorge herself on all of this rich delicious matter around her.

She'd had a taste of a prime universe. It was heavenly.

What she was experiencing was effectively like withdrawals from an addict in recovery. Just keeping herself composed was taking a lot of energy.

It was why she had conveniently forced Ayaana to separate. Instead of sharing the burden, she would rather carry it herself.

"I'm sorry… We should have come to get you sooner, but we wanted to respect your decision to be away." Bekka said weakly. "And we didn't actually expect.."

"I get it, mom. I'm not upset with you." Apophis took her hand and squeezed it. "All that matters is he's gone now. And you put on a hell of a show in the process."

Bekka's smile cracked for just a fraction of a second- but Apophis noticed it.

He looked up for just a moment and found that the rest of his mothers' faces were either the same or trying not to look at him. Lillian's face in particular was the darkest of all.

"I did not feel myself take hold of him, so.."

"Alright, let's get you both home." Seras wrapped her arms underneath Bekka and Apophis to help them get to their feet.

She glanced overhead at Claire and Rita- being her tail to gesture for them to come forward.

"Girls, we're leaving. Come here please."

"Seras.." Sif began.

Seras chose not to spare her lover a second glance for some reason.

She disappeared and took her small group with her, leaving everyone else behind.

"Give her time, my darlings."

Audrina's words didn't fall on deaf ears, but they did fall on wounded ones.

"We can worry about her temper later. For now we should focus on doing our jobs here." Valerie began tying her hair back.

Holding out her hands, she began pulling together the ruined castle around them and fixing it to be as good as new.

Lillian also turned around and grabbed 'something' out of the air.

As the ceiling around them was repaired, one by one the deceased sun gods started popping back up all over the place.

"This.."

"But I was sure that I…"

"Be quiet."

Audrina pressed her hand down and all of the gods in the room dropped to their knees- still weak from resurrection.

"There will be a high price to pay for this service. And you will do your part to hold up whatever end of the bargain we see fit to delegate to you."

-

"I'll call your grandmother in here to figure out what's wrong with you while you rest. Just go to sleep and recover your strength while I put your mother to bed."

"I'm not an infant.." Bekka complained from atop Seras' back.

"Hush, don't speak." Seras handed Bekka another popsicle over her shoulder.

'You're lucky I like these…' Bekka ate weakly.

Seras started to leave the room, but paused just shy of turning the doorknob.

She turned around and walked towards her son as he sat on the edge of his bed.

Ever so gently, she placed her forehead against her son's and tried to smile.

"You fought valiantly. My young warrior lives to fight another day."

Apophis would never in a million years describe himself as young anymore, but he didn't really want to tell his mother that.

But before he got to tell her anything, she had already left his room.

-

Seras walked up the stairs with Bekka still chewing on ice from atop her back.

"…It's sweet of you to carry me." She finally said.

Seras scoffed. "You can barely stand. What kind of woman would that make me if I didn't hold up someone I love in this situation?"

"Well, you're angry with me so I thought-"

"I am not angry with you."

"You seemed like you were angry at all of us because we disagreed with you."

Bekka could hear Seras grinding her teeth.

"… We could have done more. He could have broken his will, stripped him of his dignity and turned him into the pathetic and worthless existence that we knew him to be!"

"We defeated him."

"He stabbed our oldest son! We should have humiliated him! Turned him into an empty shell and-"

"Sweetie, we were on that path and it wasn't working. Lisa and I suggested a change of course because you don't feed men like that the hate that they are trying to wrest from you.

You ignore them. You excel in spite of them.

And look, we ended up being right. He was filled with agony by the end and died more miserable than he'd been even when his bones were stripped clean."

Seras fell silent again, and Bekka could hear her thinking something even if she wouldn't say it aloud.

"But that wasn't satisfying enough for you, was it..?" Bekka realized.

Seras didn't need to say 'no' aloud for her answer to be loud and clear.

"… I wanted to feel his life diminish within my hands. Watch the light leave his eyes as he was impaled on the edge of my spear. The only way I can feel a modicum of satisfaction is if I make him scream until his blood curdles."

"And you can do that, my love. But not the way you wanted to. This enemy is a different kind of man than we've faced before, and you can't-"

"I know that." Seras unintentionally snapped. "I know that I'm just a big, dumb, goddess of war who's only understanding lies in violence, but I fully understand the use of psychology in-"

"Put me down."

Seras suddenly seemed meek and almost apologetic. "L-Look, I didn't mean."

"Seras." Bekka repeated.

Feeling embarrassed, Seras slowly put Bekka down on the ground. Though she didn't look at her. She couldn't.

Bekka pushed her against the wall and tilted her face towards her.

"What is this even about..? I know you hurt for our son, but none of us have ever thought of you as stupid or made you feel lesser for what you are. Why would you say something like that?"

Seras' anger was being stomped out by the wave of tears she was currently fighting back.

She hated this. She wished she'd never even said it.

"I'm just… frustrated." She lied.

Bekka knew she wasn't telling her the truth. She just couldn't figure out why.

"Seras, I…" Bekka sighed again as her headache threatened to consume her.

Her posture became a bit wobbly and Seras immediately panicked. She grabbed her love by her shoulders to keep her steady.

But Bekka got control of herself in short order.

When she tried to remove Seras' hands from her, Seras stubbornly held her firmer.

"I… I felt inferior. Out of control. I wanted nothing but to quench the flames of my rage by using his tears as gasoline.

But he wasn't bothered by the pain, or even inconvenienced by it. I was hitting a wall and I didn't stop even when my knuckles were bloody.

He is a bad match for someone like me. But I was too stupid to realize it. Too angry. We would still be in there with him even now if you all hadn't wrested control from me.

I… am ashamed. And embarrassed."

Bekka's eyes showed the faintest bit of surprise.

Because for the first time in her entire life, she realized that the always confident, simplistic and beautiful Seras- was very possibly the tiniest bit insecure.