First Demonic Dragon - Chapter 1097: We Build Again III
Chapter 1097: We Build Again III
Aj and Courtney sat in silence at the edge of her grandparents’ bed.
The three of them had left, but Odessa had stayed behind because she seemed to be unwilling to leave her sister after seeing her ’sleep’ for so long.
The child rambunctiously crawled all over her sister, seemingly impervious to the tense atmosphere in the room.
“I… I really don’t think I’ve ever been as scared in my life as I was when I saw your brother bring you in.” Aj finally broke the silence. His hands were clammy, and a thin layer of sweat was plastered across his brow.
“You weren’t moving. You barely seemed like you were breathing, and you were so pale that I thought…” He could barely finish. Courtney and Odessa stared at him with patient gazes.
“…I’ve been thinking… what if we just kind of got away from all of this? We could… maybe start our own lives where we didn’t have to fight, or worry about lines of succession, or… savin’ the world. Just each other.”
Aj suddenly took Courtney’s hand and stared into her eyes desperately.
“I want you to be my wife, Courtney… I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Courtney was stupefied. Odessa covered her mouth in surprise.
The young woman felt her stomach churn.
She and Aj had already been dating for around two years now.
The last thing she ever expected was for her first relationship to be her easiest. She couldn’t even remember a time when they had argued seriously over anything.
He was usually the most supportive person she knew. The fact that he was standing in her way about something meant that he really was that worried.
Courtney slowly returned her gaze to the floor, and her eyes became distant.
When she spoke, her voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper.
“I think… if you had asked me yesterday, I would have felt differently about everything. But I watched my mother die today, Aj. And I was the only one in my family who couldn’t do a thing about it.
After everything happened, I froze. One of my moms held me and covered my eyes so that I wouldn’t see what was happening. And I just cried and cried until I felt like I was about to pass out…”
“I know that must have been scary, but Mrs. Eris is alive now, and your parents handled everything. It all worked out!”
“And I was useless…. At that moment, all I wanted to do was help, but I could barely do anything to that asshole or any of his fucking minions… I just froze.”
“You saved a countless number of lives…” Aj reminded.
“On accident.” Courtney deflected. “I just remember screaming out for everything to stop, and suddenly I had the whole realm in bubbles. I could barely hold onto them when my mom needed me to. I thought for sure I was going to drop them.”
“But you didn’t.”
“But I could have. Because I genuinely just don’t know enough. I haven’t experienced enough.” Courtney sighed.
She looked towards Aj with eyes full of heartbreak.
“If you had asked me yesterday, I probably would have told you yes. But right now, I just… I want more for myself than to be someone’s wife right now. I’m not saying that because I don’t love you, but because I’m just not satisfied with who I am right now.
I need to keep growing. It’s what I want.
I’ll never feel like a fully functional, independent adult if I just hide away, knowing that, if something big enough were ever to come for me or my family, I would be the one who needed to be protected. Not the one who protects others.”
“Why can’t you let me be the one to protect you for once?” Aj squeezed her hand.
At this, Courtney showed him a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. Aj wished he could have saved the image in his mind for the rest of his life.
“I’m a Tathamet. We’re just not wired that way, I guess.”
In his heart of hearts, Aj couldn’t remember why he was ever expecting anything different. That was undoubtedly the most ’her’ answer she could have given.
A crushing feeling settled in his chest.
It only solidified when Courtney leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“I’m sorry…” She whispered.
Aj was too. He just didn’t know how to get the words out to say it.
–
“It’s alright, sisters, don’t cry any more. Nothing is going to hurt you ever again, I promise…”
Igrat tended to a quartet of beds housing resting demon queens.
Her sisters were resting less than comfortably. Their wounds were healed, but the scars underneath had yet to fade.
The women had sweated through four pairs of clothes each. Igrat had decided to remove them out of frustration.
She was wiping down Lillith’s body when her sister suddenly grabbed her by the wrist in her sleep.
The former queen held her wrist so tightly she thought it might break.
Igrat shushed her gently and whispered gentle words in her ear.
“It’s alright, I have you now. You’re safe…”
“I think you may need a little more than that.”
Igrat looked toward the door and found Gaia stepping in with a wooden bowl and a pestle.
Igrat’s gaze naturally drifted below her neck.
“…I thought we all had to wear clothes in this house. If you’re getting favoritism, I’m going to knock heads with that grandson of mine.”
Gaia rolled her eyes as she walked over to a nightstand.
“I’m nude for practicality, not pleasure. Though you’re free to fall to your knees and start worshipping me as a bringer of either.”
“I think I would sooner shrivel up and die.”
“Also a preferable scenario.”
Gaia placed her bowl down and laid the pestle alongside it.
Igrat watched as various distinct plants sprouted from Gaia’s very skin. They were a luscious, rich green color that was immensely appealing to look at.
Gaia plucked the plants off her body one after the other and stuffed them into the bowl. She then began grinding them together into a green, fresh-smelling paste.
“I’m going to give you a weak psychedelic to feed them. It should help them break their fevers and get some restful sleep for a few days. When they wake up, everything that happened should feel a bit like a bad dream.”
Igrat couldn’t hide her surprise. “How… kind of you.”
“You’re shocked about this, why?”
“You don’t exactly have a very caring reputation. Not unless it deals with Bashenga.”
“If I mess up the ratios, these women will experience seizures instead of lucid dreams.”
“I apologize for my outburst.”
Gaia summoned a short glass of clear liquid. At first, Igrat thought it was water, but then the strong smell of spirits punched her in the nose.
Dragon alcohol really was nothing to play with…
“…Family is family. I may not have cared for demons in the past, but I’m learning to let bygones be bygones. Besides… I don’t know if anyone deserves what these women have been through. Even if they are demon bitches.”
Eisheth tossed in her sleep and let out a pained whimper.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. You’re a wonderful little daffodil, and you deserve all of the good things in life.”
Remarkably, that seemed to make the demon goddess settle back down, if only slightly.
Gaia finally finished all of her preparations and stuffed the bowl into Igrat’s lap.
“Here, don’t thank me, don’t bring this up again, and if you tell anyone I did something nice for you, I’ll make you bite a sidewalk.”
Gaia started to pull the door open when she suddenly heard a very small voice come from behind her.
“This… means more than you could know.”
Gaia didn’t say anything, and she didn’t turn around either. But there was a faint, barely noticeable smile on her lips that Igrat would never see.
“So you owe me for the rest of your miserable life, then? Wonderful.”
Gaia opened the door and shut it behind her quickly. Leaving Igrat to scoff as she went to tend to her sisters.
In the hallway, Gaia was fully dressed again, much to her chagrin.
She came face-to-face with two very tall demons that she had already expected to see.
“Your mothers are going to be fine. They just need time and rest. They’re strong. Even someone as awful as Percival couldn’t break them.”
Satan and Belphegor had long, solemn looks o. their faces but Gaia’s words did make them feel a bit better.
Or at least they did for Belphegor.
“As if I care what happens to that old bitch… I just didn’t want to listen to the sound of her groaning in the house. Brings back too many shit memories.”
Satan stomped off down the hallway without even a word of thanks. But then again, Gaia wasn’t expecting anything like that to begin with.
“…He’s grateful.” Belphegor placed his hand on her shoulder. “But you know what demon relationships are like.”
“Complicated.”
“What a polite way to put it.” Belphegor laughed halfheartedly.
Suddenly, the duo heard footsteps approaching down the hall. Gaia’s eyes lit up at the sight of Bashenga.
“Do you maybe have some time for me?”
