Chapter Text
Abaddon was frustrated. Now that he had travelled back in time 100 times he was certain that he had therefore eliminated his own being, his original being, from existence. Which meant that he had also erased Isaac from existence- his original self, for Isaac had travelled in time with him.
It also meant that nobody in hell would remember him, for he never existed in it. But that didn’t stop the cult from forming. He tried everything, not uploading the video, making limited public appearances, acting like a semi-normal child. Nothing worked. Except beating them up right as they met, apparently.
He was glad he had the voice of Isaac as company throughout all this. His aging was currently sealed, which meant his mind was stuck with the maturity of a 10.000 year old demon, or a 10 year old human. He was sure being stuck without maturing for that many years wasn’t healthy.
Hell, living that many years over and over again was probably unhealthy.
But Isaac was with him throughout it all, also unable to mature, for his aging was also sealed. Which wasn’t what he wished for Isaac, but probably the best outcome for himself. Isaac was always kind, even when he was still fully a demon. That 9 year old boy, his brother, was the only thing keeping him sane enough to stick to his mission.
He was the one who made him realize he loved the Freelings like family. Nathan was like a dad, Katherine like an aunt, and Benjamin and Esther like his cousins. And he never let family suffer, not if he could help it.
It still was hard to shake the habits he acquired in his (frankly problematic) upbringing. He was always taught that power was everything there was, the only important thing in life. And he spent his first 99 tries thinking that was true.
His talk with Esther helped, it truly did, but the thing that pushed him to give up his powers was Isaac.
Isaac, who had confessed why he killed his father in the original timeline, why he had taken control of his body and used his remaining strength to throw himself and his father over the edge of the cliff.
“He was about to destroy your essence- I might have survived that, I don’t know. But I didn’t care about living in a world in which the only person who was ever kind to me wasn’t alive. I honestly thought the fall would kill me, I knew you would survive- but I didn’t think I would”
Those words had shaken his very perception of reality- Isaac, his first friend- had killed his own father, whom he had still loved, despite his neglect and abuse, for him. He was willing to trade his own life for Abaddon’s.
But that was all in the past, and right now Abaddon was frustrated. He was trying to give Issac his own body, even if that meant he had to give up his existence- after all, he was so intertwined with Isaac's body at this point, that he was sure that removing him from it would kill him.
That didn’t matter to him, Isaac deserved to be seen as his own person, right now not even the Freelings knew about him, at Isaacs insistence that adding him to the mix would only ruin things. Issac also deserved to be heard, his witty come-backs, his puns, his laughter. Those were part of his brother that the world deserves to see. That his brother deserves to show the world.
Which didn’t mean he was any less stuck, nothing short of an artifact that could split a single soul into two bodies could break the binding that tied them together in one body. Abaddon sighed and went back to eating cheerios and focusing on the conversation that was happening at the breakfast table right now, which mostly consisted of Ben ranting to his sister.
“I can’t believe we never told you about that time I got split into different traits of my personality! There was this closet with a mirror on the door and-”
Abaddon was so stupid, he was so focused on searching for an outside solution he hadn't even thought about looking for one in the hotel.
He stood up abruptly and ran to the room Ben was describing. Everyone looked startled at his reaction, even Isaac, as used to his antics as he was, was concerned.
As the Freelings followed him Isaac asked “What’s the matter Abby, you seem agitated”. Abaddon gave a sharp grin and murmured “I think I found a way for us to play together again”
He finally reached the room he was looking for, and stood in front of the closet. Katherine and Ben were telling him that it was dangerous, Esther was worried about his freakout and Nathan was asking him to get away from the closet. But Abaddon wasn’t listening to them, he was too busy listening to Issac excitedly rant about how much fun it would be to play together again.
In that moment, all Abaddon wanted was to see his brother outside of his own reflection, to be able to hug him, for him not to be cursed to share the pain of any of his idiotic deaths. And the mirror glowed with bright golden light.
And then a squeak could be heard from inside the closet- and Abaddon could recognize that voice anywhere- that was his brother’s voice.
He hurriedly opened the door to come face to face with what could be mistaken as his reflection, except Abaddon's eyes were now red, unlike those of the boy who was staring back, who had blue eyes.
“Abby..?” came the voice of the child. And that was all it took for something to break inside Abaddon, who ran to hug his brother as tears fell down from his eyes. “Isaac” was the only thing the Freelings heard before their usually unfriendly and aloof demon pulled his clone(?) into a hug.