Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Liberate me.”
“Is that how we talk in this house?”
“Please, liberate me.”

Katherine smiles, momentarily pausing her vacuum and looking down at Abbadon. She can just barely look pat him being a demon, if only for a short moment. She proceeds to open the front door, to which Abaddon runs out of. She sighs, getting back to vacuuming only for the demon to crawl back in through one of the many windows not even a minute later.

He gets on his hands and knees, presumably searching for bugs. He still speaks of this one spider that Katherine can’t remember the name of, not like she cares too much about remembering. She wonders if back in Hell he had the power of understanding bugs. Do bugs even exist in Hell? She shakes away the thought, focusing back on her cleaning. Unfortunately for her, Abaddon crawls directly in front of her vacuum. She’s about to force him out of the way when he suddenly leans his head sideways to the floor as though listening under the floorboards.

His hair is swiftly caught in the vacuum. Abaddon doesn’t even seem like he’s in pain, rather commanding Katherine to “make the machine unhand him”. She calmly presses the reverse button, allowing Abaddon to become unstuck.

“What did I tell you about getting in front of me while I’m cleaning?” she tries rebuking. He looks up at her and states, “No. I don’t remember anything trivial.” She responds by picking him up and tossing him as gently as she can into the closet.

“I will always escape!” he shouts, hoping that if he’s dramatic enough then Katherine will realize his terror and release him. Of course, she doesn’t release him, rather promptly going back to vacuuming. Abaddon is forced to listen as the vacuum turns on, nearly completely drowning him out. He mutters to himself, still clearly upset, “If I was in my true form, you would no longer be matriarch. You once again have been saved by our alliance.”

Abaddon turns away, already searching for a way out of the enclosed space. He grabs onto the shelf, prepared to lift himself upward. Unexpectedly, an object falls onto Abaddon’s head. “Who’s messing with me?!” he demands. He proceeds to look down, his eyes now turned red. Though, the color calms when he realizes it was only a mere toy. He hops down, picking up the Barbie. He stares at her. She stares back. With an even tone he decides, “Yes. You will do.”

»»————.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.————««

Katherine has ached for some quiet, yet now that it’s here, she can’t stop her worry. It’s not common whatsoever for her to have even five minutes to herself in the quiet.

She finishes vacuuming, deciding that the only way to force herself to calm down is to ensure that everything really is fine. So, she opens the closet in hopes of seeing Abaddon there, though she knows that it’s a wishful thought.

The heads of her old Barbies from the 80s and even a couple from the 90s are scattered around the floor. Abaddon is in the middle, holding one Barbie with the left side of her hair tied back with a rubber band. He is raising her high as though she is the victor of all the others. “Hello, matriarch,” he greets.

Cautiously, Katherine asks, “You…like these?” She places her hands on her knees, instinctively leaning down to get closer to his height. Abaddon looks at the Barbie once more.

“Yes, I suppose that I do.”

“That’s perfect!”

Katherine stands, looking as though she has once more had another great idea. Abaddon asks her,  “It is?” Seemingly attempting to get him invested in the toy, Katherine begins asking questions about her, such as her name and age. Abaddon informs her, shielding the Barbie that he has now named, “Barbra will be putting up with no more of your questions.” Before Katherine can ask, he crawls with the doll through the vents.

Chapter Text

    Abaddon is aware when his vessel requires something. Sometimes, he lies and claims his vessel requires something that he doesn’t need, but wants. Truly an evil force.

    For some unknown reason, Nathan had somewhat a bragging tone when told Katherine about the time Abaddon laid on top of Nathan and was curled into a ball. He seemed proud it “only took Abaddon a day to warm up to [him]”. Abaddon keeps it a secret that he was attempting to drain the man’s lifeforce by taking his warmth a secret. Of course, he wouldn’t consider doing that now. Sometimes, Abaddon jumps into the fire pit to recreate Hell. He doesn’t like it like he used to. He doesn’t dwell on it.

    Abaddon is still holding Barbra. Ester assisted him in painting war paint onto her face. He chased her around, though found that he wasn’t serious about harming her. In fact, Ester was laughing and he realized he was smiling, yet he can’t figure out why. He’s currently staring down at Barbra, holding her tightly in his left hand. How does one react to a predicament such as this?

    Suddenly, Ester jumps onto his back. He should be upset, he knows, but Ester is well aware of his power and where he stands. She is like his right hand man, so he does not lash out.

    “Ride on!” she exclaims. Abaddon thinks she’s joking, but doesn’t see a reason as to not carry her about, so he does. “Are you injured?” he inquires, trying to look up at her. She answers him smugly, “Nah, it’s just fun.” He pauses, gaining a new idea. Abaddon proceeds to swiftly turn his body sideway, dumping her onto the floor.

    She doesn’t care. She’s still laughing. Abaddon figures that he has much to ponder about, because Ester is not insulted and is rather…embracing her new position on the floor. Abaddon quickly lays beside her so she is not ashamed because she too is a warrior.

    A familiar, slightly annoying voice comments from down the hallways, “I see you two are having fun. Abaddon greets the voice, “Katherine.” To Katherine, it feels slightly odd he’s referring to her by her first name, though she can’t tell why. She continues, “Ben says you two are playing tag.”

Abaddon has heard of that game, though he doesn’t know how it works. He’s never stopped to play games. He asks the matriarch, “What is ‘tag’?” Ester answers for her, now standing while ABaddon stays sitting, “One person chases another person, and if they catch up and touch you with their hand, then the other person becomes it!”

    Abaddon stares at the palm of his left hand. “What an odd game,” he remarks, his tone even. Without warning, Ester smacks the side of his head, shouts, “Tag!” and bolts. Abaddon understands now. It is like playing chess with the devil of devils. He will not be defeated.

    Katherine calls after them to be careful, but Abaddon is already spider-crawling through the  vents. He exits in the next room, jumping out in front of Ester. She looks confident, already turning to run the opposite direction. Abaddon knows he must be careful, for the girl has tricks.

    “You think I can be defeated?” he calls out after her. “I and Barbra will-! Barbra?” Abaddon spins in a circle, searching for the woman warrior, but she is nowhere to be seen. Now, he has two tasks: Tag Ester and find Barbra.

    Abaddon tags Ben and leaves him to deal with Ester’s challenge. He’s beyond excited and rushes out of his room to find her, leaving his girlfriend, who overdramatically groans and runs off to somewhere. Abaddon goes back to searching, looking back at where Ester’s challenge had first begun.

    “Hello, Abaddon,” Katherine greets, looking smug. Abaddon can’t tell why. He informs Katherine, “I am on a search and will not be interrupted.” He knows that she’s rolling her eyes. He does not allow it to disrupt his searching.

    He gets on his hands and knees, searching the floor. He finds Barbra, but she is done for. Her head…has popped off. Katherine has to cover her ears as Abaddon shrieks.

    “Woah, Buddy!” Nathan interrupts,  appearing through the wall. “What’s going on?” He leans down. Abaddon responds by angrily throwing Barbra’s body at him. “Okay, I can see you’re not one for talking,” Nathan says, seemingly attempting to lighten the mood. He seems to be cautious of Abaddon despite being unable to touch. Good.

    Katherine demands, “What is going on?” Her hands are on her hips and she’s looking down at Abaddon. The demon holds up barbra’s head, proclaiming, “I must avenge her! My own foolishness causes this. I was too weak to save her.”

    Katherine looks unimpressed, though her expression eases up when she notices just how distraught Abaddon is. Attempting to keep the demon from wreaking havoc, she tries to soothe him, “Maybe she’s immortal.”
“What made her a warrior is that she fought despite being bound to her mortal shell!”

“Which makes her like you. If you can survive your head being chopped off, I’m sure Barbra can, too.”

    Abaddon pauses, eyes fading back to their normal color. He picks up her body and reattaches the head. “See, Bud? Everything is fixable,” Nathan attempts to comfort. Abaddon turns her around in his hands, then states, “She feels different.”

“Looks the same to me.”
“No! She is different!”

    Katherine instinctively picks him up. He immediately begins trying to get out by thrashing, but then Katherine picks up Barbra and he stops. Katherine thinks it’s calmed him down when, truthfully, he’s trying to will Barbra come to life and force Katherine to release her.

    Barbra is a stand in for you,” Nathan attempts to teach him. “Maybe you feel she’s different or changed, but I promise she’s fine.” Abaddon looks up at him. He states, “. I didn’t hear anything you said. I was blocking out your voice”

    Still sounding upbeat, Nathan shrugs and says, “Well, small steps.” Katherine sighs, setting down the doll and releasing Abaddon from where he was resting on her hip. He turns to look up at her. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but I have a dust.” Abaddon responds, “Of course you do. You’re vacuuming.”

    Mildly exasperated, Katherine tells Abaddon, “I meant a different kind. One from a, uh…special creature.” Abaddon’s eyebrows raise as he becomes intrigued. With slight demandingness in his tone, he questions, “Where is it?”
“Abaddon…”
    Abaddon scoffs, looking away. “‘Please’, where is it,” he says. Although he said the words begrudgingly, Katherine smiles and hands him a mini bottle. Abaddon inspects it. Katherine tells him, “It can make inanimate objects return to a form as long as you keep it in your mind. But once the dust is exposed to air, it won’t work for long!”

    Abaddon hesitates, weighing the best way to goa bout this. Normally, he rushes to do what he wishes, but he needs Barbra back and to get it right. He tosses the lid off and pours it onto her. “It’s worked?” he inquires. Katherine nods.

“You got it on her within the time frame.”

    He shows Katherine a smile, though his face quickly returns to normal. Ben bolts around a corner. Katherine and Nathan watch as he smacks Abaddon on the back of the head. “Was that too hard? I just wanted to tag you,” he explains. Abaddon grins, proclaiming, “Tag!” as he punches Ben’s knee. Ben yelps, grabbing his knee in pain. “Good one!” he calls out, attempting to mask the pain, as Abaddon runs down the opposite direction.

   When Ben leaves, Nathan says, “That was amazing! Where’s the dust from?” The poor man sounds genuinely interested. Katherine breaks the news to him with a disappointed tone, “Nathan, it was glitter.”
“It was?! Well, that does make sense…”

    Katherine puts up the vacuum, heading to the livingroom to turn on TV and praying a ghost won’t hear. She knows that one of them likely will, but it’s much better than them going through her in an attempt to see what she’s watching on her phone. “Aw, you care for him!” Nathan calls out after her. When she’s gone, he talks to himself out loud, “Yeah, she cares for him.”