Chapter Text
Abaddon was stuck forever, so he thought.
Katherine was having more and more trouble hiding the fact she was harboring a demon in her family, when you have two growing children and a “nephew” that refuses to age, people begin to get suspicious, and you can’t use the late bloomer excuse for long.
Not to mention that having two teenagers, Katherine truly only had one worry. Abaddon. Her children were old enough- maybe not quite mature but if worst came to worst, they could fend for themselves. But despite Abaddon’s thousands of years living, he was just a child in the grand scheme of it all. Because she still bathed him- still fed him and groomed him.
While Abaddon was becoming more accustomed to the public and was more able to put on a sweet little boy act, it definitely was awkward when Katherine bumped into somebody she knew and they asked Abaddon’s age.
“Oh, ha.. My nephew? Oh he’s nine.”
“Wasn’t he nine last year?”
“Shit.”
Running away with a child in your arms after that? Not a good look.
The easy solution to this was to keep Abaddon at the hotel- but this wasn’t exactly the best idea. Katherine still wanted him to gain some sort of social skills. They would still have guests at the hotel and he would have to be compliant. Money was becoming more scarce and she did not need Abaddon weirding out anymore paying customers. This also meant getting him to blend in looks wise as well.
Abaddon showed much resistance to wearing Ben’s hand-me-downs, because he didn’t exactly love the concept of his demonic self being overshadowed by spider man T-shirts, and crusty old baseball caps. Everytime he would pass Ben in the hallway, he would laugh and say Abaddon was “looking sharp”, with no real malice in his voice and it took all of Abaddon’s resistance to not lunge at him.
Being partners in crime with Esther wasn’t all that fun either- she could do things he couldn’t now, and it made Abaddon feel almost inferior, and he hated feeling small. He hated the body he was trapped in, so naturally, he decided to do something about it.
He waited for Esther to sleep, and then began to look through her books- plenty of great spells for a practicing young witch. He began scouring each book- skimming each page for something that could solve his dilemma, and then he found it.
Katherine was still in her robe, walking to her desk to check her emails and hopefully not fall back to sleep as soon as she touched her chair- she looked down at something brushing against her leg and screamed.
“ABADDON!” She yelped and reflex kicked him. “What are you doing!?”
Abaddon hardly jumped at the kick, just swooped up and placed the book on Katherine’s lap, still sitting under the desk.
“I’ve found the solution to all our problems.” He spoke in his usual deadpanned voice.
“Really? All of them?” Her eyes squinted in disbelief.
“Well, to all of mine. And maybe two of yours. See!” He swung open the book to a bookmarked page, Katherine looked down in confusion.
“God Abaddon- it’s too early to hit me with this…”
“Then let me explain!” He hopped up onto the desk, shoving her laptop down to the floor with a loud bang, pulling the book up next to his face.
“I know you’ve been having trouble with my vessel. I don’t like it either, being this small, weak and pathetic. It’s horrible! So, I’ve borrowed a book from Esther and found a spell of sorts to age my vessel! You won’t have to lie for me, and I could be free! To an extent of course…” he speaks as he covers his tiny face with the book, his shifty eyes just above the top.
Katherine paused and seemed to think for a second. An older Abaddon she wouldn’t have to take care of, one she could take out to the town without being stared at too bad. It sounded almost too good to be true. But she was almost to a breaking point- a miracle was very much needed.
“Well… alright then.”
“Really?”
“Go ahead. Well.. do you need help? I don’t quite trust you to do this alone.” She slowly stood, picking her laptop up from the floor and cupping it under her arm.
Abaddon nods, “Yes. I need somebody to gather supplies and somebody to help me with the ritual itself…”
Katherine nods. “Well I’m on it, I’ll go get Esther, I’m sure she’ll be happy to join. Ah.. Ben can help with supplies and-“
Suddenly, Nathan booms through the wall, hands up in the air. “And I’ll act as emotional support!”
Katherine groans, rubbing her temples. “And Nathan will act as emotional support-“ she whips her head around, “How long have you been standing there?”
Nathan grins, “Long enough to be in on everything! I can’t wait to see little Abaddon here all grown up!” He shuffles over to Abaddon and tries to grab his face, his hands shifting right through Abaddon’s head.
“Stop! I am not little!” Abaddon groans and he swats Nathan’s hands away with no real purpose, no malice to it all.
Katherine began walking away, up the stairs she went into Esther’s room where she was still sound asleep. She shook her awake, when Esther began shaking her head Katherine leaned down and whispered, “Abaddon wants you to help perform a ritual.” And that was enough for Esther to jump straight out of her bed with no further explanation and run downstairs, as if she could almost sense where he was.
“Sooo.. what’s going on?”
Abaddon hid the stolen book behind his back, looking up at Esther with a gloomy little stare. “I’ve found a spell to age my vessel.. I need my witch in training to help me.”
Esther grinned and grabbed her face, squealing quietly. “Anything! What do you need?!”
Abaddon slowly pulls the book out from behind his back, pointing to a ritual circle with an odd symbol. “I need you to draw that. With dirt, I think. And I need seven candles, I think.” He shut the book “Could you do that?”
Esther nods before pausing, squinting her eyes at the book. “That’s mine.” Abaddon groans, “I know, I know. You can have it, Katherine must’ve gotten Ben to get the supplies already.”
Esther paused and shoved the book back toward Abaddon. “Keep it.”
Abaddon seemed surprised, he gripped the book with great force. His eyes shifted up toward her. “Thank you..”
Katherine walked into the room with a sleepy Ben, both holding a small sack of supplies. Inside the sack was caper berries, lavender, sage, and rosemary. All in small jars, Abaddon grabbed everything in one big swoop and juggled it all down to the basement where Esther was setting everything up. The ritual circle was made and her hands were slick with dirt.
Nathan was standing there, simply watching. “So how exactly does this work?”
Esther shrugged. “No idea, I just got the book from some lousy yard sale. Never read through it, don’t know if this actually works.. But- if it means Abaddon and I can go on like normal, I’ll do it.”
Nathan grins and leans down to Esther’s level,
“Isn’t that sweet?”
Esther groans and fails to shove his face away, simply flailing her hands through him. “Oh shut up!”
Abaddon dropped the needed items next to Esther and turned to Ben. “I require something else from you.”
“Yeah? What is it?” Ben seemed a bit nervous, almost jumpy.
“Clothes. Maybe something you don’t wear much but that isn’t current me sized.”
Ben scratches his head before gasping. “I got something perfect for you.” He runs upstairs, in which Katherine walks over to Abaddon and grabs his shoulder.
“You sure this will work? You won’t get hurt?” She slowly kneels in front of him, ruffling his hair gently. Abaddon just nods and peers back at Esther and Nathan, in which Esther was skimming the spell itself.
Ben managed his way back down to the basement, now with more pep in his step, throwing down a pile of clothes next to Abaddon. He picked it up in one hand and shook it off a bit. It was some cheap pilgrim costume, probably from some dingy Halloween store.
“What is this.”
Ben fiddles with his fingers, “it’s from some.. play I did in 7th grade.”
Esther peers at him “What kinda play requires you to be a pilgrim?”
“It was some weird Thanksgiving thing okay! I was background actor number three.” Ben blushes, “anyway, it’ll work for Abaddon. Won’t it?”
Abaddon sighed and began slipping on the outfit over what he was already wearing. “It works… fine.”
Katherine sighed with a smile, shaking her head as she turned to Ben. “It’s the thought that counts.”
Esther was mumbling the words in the book, while sprinkling the “ingredients” around the circle in which it let out a faint red glow. Abaddon’s eyes brightened at the sight and he quickly scurried over, throwing himself in the circle. The family began to gather as Esther made her way around the circle two more times, and then stopped in front of Abaddon. She pulled the book close to her face and spoke the last bit of the ritual out loud. The once faint glow lit up the entire room, a strong gust of wind blew from all angles of the circle. Esther covered her eyes with the book, and Katherine ran to cover Ben. Then, it all stopped.
Abaddon fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, he knew he was dreaming. He was in some sort of never ending room of white. He stood, dazed, but when he looked at his hands, they were not human.
He was a demon once more. He was ecstatic before he realized- this was not the plan. This was not how it was supposed to go. That’s when he saw him. The boy before he was possessed.
He seemed so meek, and walked almost with a limp in each step. But he didn’t run from Abaddon, he wasn’t scared. The boy just peered up at him before the book crashed between them, and it opened to the page of the ritual, in big red letters it read; “you must accept him as part of you.” Abaddon paused.
He hated the body he had to live in, he did everything to try to get away from it. But then he realized what the book meant- he couldn’t keep running from the boy that would forever be a part of him, and the boy had to live in Abaddon’s consciousness, but could not control his own body. It was a prison for them both.
The boy raised his hand to Abaddon and inched forward. Abaddon cautiously leaned his head down to the child’s hand, the boy jumped slightly before pressing his palm onto Abaddon’s temple, in which he felt both their skin begin to dissolve.
The basement was dark, Katherine began to squint, looking for a flashlight, she knocked one off the counter and quickly picked it up. When she turned it on she quickly turned it to the others, calling out.
“Is everyone alright?!”
But nobody responded.
They were too busy looking at the boy in front of them.
Abaddon was sitting in the circle, seemingly dazed. He looked almost reborn- but he definitely looked older. Likely Esther’s age, fourteen. When he finally came to his senses, he looked at his feet, then his hands, and then he felt his face. The biggest grin filled his face, Abaddon jumped up and let out a victory scream of sorts, cheering and almost dancing around in the circle.
Katherine mutters, “Holy shit. It worked.”
Esther, after the initial shock, was also grinning. “I did it right! I did it right! I’m a real witch!” She cheered and ran into the circle with Abaddon, hugging him roughly, Abaddon began to squirm, trying to kick her away, “Oh, oh! Give a minute before you strangle me!”
Ben nervously stared at the two before Katherine grabbed him, pulled him toward Esther and Abaddon before bringing them all in for a big group hug. Nathan joined right behind her, wishing he could feel all their warmth.
Katherine sighed, kissing Abaddon’s head gently. “Thank you.” Because she knew he did this for her. That Abaddon always wanted to prove himself and did time after time, but notably did so today. Abaddon’s eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into the hug, as well as the kiss. It lasted a bit before everyone pulled away. Katherine sighed and put her hands on her hips.
“I guess it’s time to start adjusting.