First Demonic Dragon-Chapter 1010: One Moves Forward, Another Back...

Eventually, Izanami’s eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she felt, other than a headache, was confusion.

For some reason, she was staring at her loved ones from behind a glass bubble. And her body felt unusually heavy.

She looked up at Lailah’s featureless face. Even without reading her mind, she could picture the warm smile she was trying to give her.

"Look, everyone. Our little Sandy Cheeks is awake." Lailah gave Izanami’s butt a light squeeze along with her colorful new nickname.

At first, Izanami didn’t understand what her love was referring to, and then she looked down at her body.

"...Why exactly am I dressed like an undersea squirrel?"

Valerie chuckled as she placed her hand on top of her wife’s helmet.

"The thing is... this was kinda the only way we knew how to help you. Your body couldn’t take being in this realm. We had to think of a way to protect you and this is just kind of what we came up with."

Izanami didn’t remember much of anything. Just... pain.

In that regard, she was grateful that her love had saved her from that cruel fate, but she wished that it didn’t result in her looking quite so silly.

"Well, thank you... But do I have to wear this the whole time we’re here...?" Izanami tilted her head.

Abaddon and the others nodded with wry, solemn smiles.

"It’s for the best, dear."

"The realm is too hostile for even your body."

"Without a divine state... we don’t know what might happen to you, love."

Izanami nodded slowly while looking down at her hand.

"Don’t try to do anything too drastic while we’re in here." Tatiana warned gently. "Just bear with it for now, and we’ll think about other things when we’re back at home."

After a moment, Izanami nodded thoughtfully. Making everyone here let out a sigh of relief.

Trying to destroy your body to switch to an ethereal existence was dangerous even when you weren’t currently standing around in the most hellish prison ever designed.

They couldn’t imagine what would happen if she tried such a thing without changing location.

"Well, now that we’re all awake and moving around, we need to decide what we’re going to do." Sif folded her arms.

Once again, the group began glancing at each other.

In a rare twist, they were split completely down the middle.

One side wanted to hunker down and break past the inner barrier separating them from their powers. The other thought it was best if they kept moving.

In this situation, neither side was necessarily right or wrong. They just had different ideas for how best to protect each other.

Which meant that they were going to be as stubborn as inhumanely possible.

Tatiana saw that all coming a mile away.

Which is why, instead of sitting for a thirty-minute argument that couldn’t even lead to make-up sex, she decided to do something on her own and apologize later.

"I have an idea." She suddenly said.

Several pairs of curious eyes landed on her at once.

With a flick of her mermaid-like tail, she rose into the air as if she were back in the ocean at home.

No one could tell what she was doing, but they were willing to watch and see what would happen.

That is, except for Eris and Lailah, who were starting to get a worse feeling the higher she went.

Finally, Tatiana reached what seemed to be a satisfying height of 100 meters in the sky.

What she did next shocked her family to her core.

Tatiana’s mouth opened so wide that her lower jaw went past her belly button.

She turned her head towards the sky and let out an unholy screech like nothing they’d ever heard before.

Bekka’s jaw dropped from the shock.

"Babe... What did you do!?"

Her answer would come a few seconds later when they felt the ground rumble underneath them, and a flurry of dust clouds rushed towards them from all sides...

-

Thrudd stared at herself in her mirror, and a look of exasperation formed on her face.

Somehow, she was so out of it that she had put her pants and shirt on backwards. She was only glad that she noticed it before she started donning her armor.

She looked towards her feet with a disapproving gaze.

"Either of you could have said something to me, you know."

Bagheera and Bayle looked up at her with sad, empty gazes that melted her heart.

"Okay, okay, you’re off the hook... Dad’ll be back soon, okay? You don’t need to look so depressed."

The pets’ moods did not see much of an improvement.

Thrudd could hardly say she blamed them. On the inside, she felt just the same.

As old as she was, Thrudd’s was a daddy’s girl first and foremost. It was everything that she could do to keep herself distracted so that she didn’t fall apart.

Evidently, she was doing too good of a job at it. She couldn’t even remember how to put her clothes on properly.

"Thruddie."

Thrudd looked over her shoulder at the woman who had been her sole source of light during this time.

Bethemoth appeared to be flashing her, with her shirt pulled under her chin and her pants around her thighs.

Thrudd smiled wryly. "As enticing as it is... I don’t think we have the time for that, my darling."

Behemoth shook her head. "Not intercourse. Look closer."

Thrudd did as instructed and swept her gaze over Behemoth’s chiseled form.

While she did initially take her time staring, her eyes soon settled on something new that wasn’t there before.

A brand new wedding crest, while not as large and boldly shaded as the others, was forming nonetheless. That part was undeniable.

"Oh my god..." Thrudd dropped her shoes on top of her pets’ heads. They barely even noticed.

"Is that a happy reaction...?" Behemoth smiled nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "I fear I’m still learning certain things."

It was only thanks to the charm anklets she was wearing that Behemoth was learning anything at all. They were like emotional training wheels for the ancient dinosaur matriarch.

Things had progressed quite far since Valerie and Eris had made the jewelry for them, but apparently they were going faster than Thrudd had realized. freeweɓnovel-cøm

"O-Of course I’m happy, I just..." Thrudd was having trouble getting the words out. "Does this mean we’re married now? Like forever??"

Behemoth looked down at her pubic region curiously.

"I am not sure... I asked young Serana for the specifics on how these markings work and I do not believe mine to be fully formed yet. I also have not begun to experience the sensation of knowing your thoughts or wanting to live within your skin at all hours of the day."

"I think that second part is just a Serana and my brother thing, hun."

Behemoth shrugged. "Just as well. I am not averse to the idea of clinging to you all day. If I should develop the urge in the future, I hope you will be accommodating as my bride."

Bride. The word reverberated around in Thrudd’s skull like the Energizer Bunny.

A myriad of fantasies and daydreams ran through her mind all at once. So much so that she didn’t notice when Behemoth readjusted her clothes and walked towards her.

Behemoth placed both hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. Not an ill-rehearsed caricature. But a true showing of warmth.

"You will make quite an agreeable lifemate, Thrudd Tathamet. I look forward to having my feelings deepen even further when I fight alongside you on this day."

As easy as that, the bubble Thrudd had been dreaming in suddenly popped.

She placed her hands over Behemoth’s. Gently, she ran her thumbs over her lover’s knuckles.

"You say that, but... is there any chance I can convince you to stay home...?"

Behemoth didn’t seem to understand. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

Thrudd bit her lip anxiously.

"I’m just... paranoid. And I’m tired of losing people I love... I don’t know what’s going to happen to me if we leave this house and you don’t come back with me." Thrudd’s voice cracked.

The downside of only understanding emotion when you’re already thousands of years old is that your experience in certain things is painfully low.

And sometimes, you can misunderstand what your partner wants to say even if it seems relatively clear-cut to outsiders.

"...I can assure you that if this is about my prior defeat, then you need not harbor any thoughts of it. I feel stronger than I have in a millennium. I will make all my enemies pay the price for imprisoning me."

Thrudd was silent for a long time. So long that Behemoth thought she might’ve done something wrong.

She was relieved when Thrudd broke her silence by smiling.

"You’re right. And I can’t wait to see you get stronger, my love."

Thrudd wrapped her arms around Behemoth’s neck- eliciting a warm feeling from the charming dinosaur.

She closed her eyes to bask in that feeling- and commit all of it’s warm wonder to memory.

But after closing her eyes, she didn’t open them again. And her body slumped over in Thrudd’s grasp.

The princess removed her thumb from Behemoth’s pressure points and picked her up in a princess carry.

Before she carried her to bed; she turned around to address the two pairs of eyes staring at her.

"...I know, I know, don’t say it. But I didn’t have a choice, okay? I just... I couldn’t take the chance that something would happen to her. We’re gonna get married...!"

Neither pet said anything.

"I’m already missing my dad, all of my moms, and even my sister for god’s sake... I-I can’t worry about anyone else. Everyone is counting on me."

"..."

"...Are you mad at me?"

The pets put their heads back down.

Thrudd wouldn’t pretend their refusal didn’t sting a bit.

She moved towards her bed and placed Behemoth there while taking great care to tuck her in.

"She’ll understand... I love her."

Thrudd leaned down and placed a kiss on Behemoth’s slumbering lips.

After turning off the lights in her room and stepping out, she ran right into her aunt who seemed slightly confused.

"Behemoth not coming with us?"

Thrudd felt a twinge of pain in her chest.

She smiled despite her inner turmoil and wrapped her arm around her aunt’s shoulders.

"Nope. She’s asleep right now... come on, I’m sure the others are waiting on us."