Chapter Text
Demons did not require sleep. That, Abaddon knew for certain. Never in his many- now fuzzy and half forgotten- years in hell had he slept. He had seen other demons sleep, finding delight in nightmares that followed them and of the inherent laziness that they exuded when not doing their job. He had always turned his nose up at them in disgust.
Who would choose sleep over the delights in torturing the many, many souls that inhabited hell?
Then he had made the decision to possess a mortal vessel, which resulted in his binding to said vessel, and with it, the instinctual desire to sleep that he couldn’t escape. He still didn’t need it, he was immortal! The silly want to sleep was nothing more than an echo of the needs that the body he inhabited once required and he refused to give in to the whims of something he viewed as beneath him.
About fifty or so years of being trapped on earth, he found himself waking up face down on the ground of the forest he had made his territory, the smell of pine and dirt filling his senses with no memory of passing out. He had sniffed in annoyance, got up with as much grace as a newborn deer, and continued on without bothering to brush himself off.
It took him several more instances over the years of waking in random places to realize that, even with his immortality, his vessel had a limit. Despite his initial irritation, Abaddon continued on like he always did.
He would push and push until his body shut down without warning, sending him collapsing down into an unconscious tangle of limbs. Then, whenever he had awoken from the deep sleep he had been forced into, he often found himself being surrounded by hungry scavengers looking for an easy meal. Sometimes already in the process of taking him apart.
Abaddon took great delight in lunging at the unsuspecting creatures, taking down the ones nearest to him and feasting on their flesh like they had been planning to do to him. It went on and on until he was trapped in a pit, leading to being pulled out by a man with a kind, unsuspecting smile who offered his hand to a demon who never once received or showed anyone else the sort of kindness now being offered to him.
After that, things changed. He traded stalking the woods to clambering through vents, spooking the ghostly and mortal inhabitants that roamed the hotel halls, and forming bonds that he had never expected or cared to make. Because of that, he no longer bothered to test his vessel’s limits. Yet he continued on without sleeping, seeing no reason why he should bother to change that aspect of his life.
At least, he expected to continue on without sleep.
Yet as time went on with living in the hotel, and spending more and more time with the Freelings, Abaddon found himself feeling the unfamiliar ebb of sleepiness push against him more often than not. It was like an irritating itch that he couldn’t shake off no matter how much he tried to ignore it.
He very well couldn’t go back to merely passing out wherever he stood. Abaddon could already imagine the reaction of the matriarch if she found him lying unconscious somewhere the guests- that were never actually there- could see him. As delightful as her annoyance and shock would be, he had agreed to keep his chaos at a more tolerable level in exchange for allowance and blender privileges.
As much as he refused to admit it, being handed his allowance with the praise of doing a ‘good job’ made Abaddon feel more giddy than dragging a bloodied corpse of his newest kill through the halls. Just barely though. He kept his kills outside now, and only dragged them in for Esther’s rituals or on a special occasion.
A yawn left Abaddon, cracking his jaw pleasantly enough that it took away some of the annoyance of feeling suddenly tired. It was ridiculous, being this tired. He barely noticed the feeling before, almost always taken by surprise when he did fall unconscious, but now it felt horribly prevalent. It was constant, muddling his thoughts and making his reactions slower. It was almost as if-
Abaddon let out a noise of realization. Maybe he was this tired because someone had dared to curse him with the sleepiness of mortals! Whatever fool decided to cast such a spell on him, High Prince of the Dark Realm, would pay dearly. However, first came the problem of finding who did it, and what revenge he would enact once they were in his grasp. There were plenty of ideas of torture brewing in his mind, but locating them would require his most trusted of alliances.
With practiced ease, Abaddon skittered through the vents he had been currently holding residence in, making his way across the hotel until he came upon the room of the one he sought out. With a kick, the vent cover slammed open and he dropped down in front of the door. Right before he was about to barge in, he paused, head tilted.
Right. Another thing he had been attempting to ‘do better with’ was knocking. He learned throughout his time living in the hotel, both as it is and when it had been other such things, that mortals did not like when someone simply barged into their assigned territory. Once he thought about it, he understood. When that blasted demon that looked like him had entrenched on his territory, he had torn the place apart to assert dominance. It had worked too! He never saw that demon again.
Breaking into Esther’s territory without warning would lessen the chance of her helping him break the curse of sleepiness. So he knocked thrice, loud and clear before waiting for her to open the door. It took a long moment, enough that it had Abaddon tilting back and forth on his feet in impatience.
There was a shuffle, a mutter of words too low for his vessel’s ears to pick up, and a louder curse as the sound of something being hit was heard before the door was opened. Esther was in her sleep clothing, hair ruffled, and eyes squinted in bewilderment at the flickering lights of the hallway and the shadowed figure of the demon.
“Abaddon?” Esther questioned blearily, “Dude, it’s late late. I’ve got school in the morning.”
Abaddon merely tilted his head in confusion. “You have gone through several nights of no sleep without care for your schooling.”
At that, Esther took a moment to consider his words. “Eh, fair enough,” she replied with a shrug before waving him in, “Did you find something cool? Is it more bones? Ooo, or treasure?”
“Regrettably no, to both bones and treasures,” Abaddon replied seriously as he trailed behind her. Esther hopped up on the bed, legs dangling off as the demon crawled up onto the blanket, kneeling on the fabric so he could face the other properly. “While bones are preferable, I have another reason for seeking your counsel.”
“Oh?” Esther was looking more intrigued, but it was ruined by the yawn that left her. Abaddon bit down hard on his tongue to stop from mirroring the action, the iron taste of blood filling his mouth. He supposed it was pretty late when he had arrived at her dwellings, but his friend had almost as erratic of a schedule as he did, and there was no guessing for when she was asleep or awake.
Nodding firmly, Abaddon pressed a hand against his chest. “I have been cursed, and require your assistance in breaking it. For your reward in this quest, I shall relinquish claim of the next treasure that comes with the Froot Loops.”
At his words, Esther rolled her eyes slightly. “No one cares about the toy except for y- wait, you said you were cursed?” Her eyes gleamed with interest and she leaned forward, eyes doing a once over the demon to see if she could spot said curse. “What are we talking about here? Some sort of black magic deal? Did you run into some ancient evil while scavenging for bones? I’ve been wanting to get my hands on eldritch blood for some spells I recently saw-”
“Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out who has the capability to place a curse on a demon like me,” Abaddon replied seriously with a frown, “They must be very clever, and very powerful to do such a thing without me noticing, and you have shown much promise on tracking down those who don’t wish to be found.”
“You know it,” Esther hummed proudly, practically beaming at the compliment, “So what kind of curse are we dealing with here?”
“One which causes sleepiness.”
At his reply, Esther blinked at him, mouth opening slightly before slowly closing. Abaddon continued to stare at her expectantly, not really sure what she didn’t seem to understand. He was cursed, he was tired when he was not supposed to be, and outside of himself, she was the most experienced with dark magic.
Finally, Esther seemed to process his request, but instead of looking excited about the prospect of hunting down a curse wielder, she simply looked thoughtful. Not in a ‘how she planned to assist the demon’ but rather in a way that people looked at Abaddon when he said something that they were trying to pick apart. It made him want to dart back to the vents, but a demon did not retreat until absolutely necessary.
Also… the blanket on Esther’s bed was comfortable and he was feeling less and less inclined to actually move off the bed.
“...did you actually see someone curse you?” Esther eventually asked, templing her fingers together, looking amused.
“No!” Abaddon huffed out, offended at the disbelief that colored her tone, “Like I said, whoever cast this curse on me was clever, and must have known I would seek revenge once the tiredness hit! That is why they did not reveal their identity to me, or give me notice when casting said curse.”
“Right, right,” Esther bobbed her head in understanding, but still didn’t sound like she was on board with hunting down a mystery like she usually was. Maybe he should have waited until morning, if he had been aware that his friend was sleeping. But he wanted this stupid sleepiness gone now, and was not patient enough to wait.
It was taking long enough for Esther to decide on whether or not that she was going to help the demon that Abaddon decided to go ahead and leave. She could join him whenever, but he needed to begin his search. Starting with the hotel. Maybe the ghosts had seen someone, and he could threaten them enough to get the information he wanted.
Without a word, he slid off the bed, his shoes hitting the carpet with a muted thunk. He barely made it a foot towards the door before Esther was off the bed. “Hold on,” she demanded, grabbing Abaddon’s arm to stop him from leaving. He turned with squinted eyes, but didn’t pull his arm away from her grasp. He simply tilted his head at her, willing her to say what she needed.
“You know I would one hundred percent willing to hunt down some curse wielding weirdo any day of the week,” Esther started, receiving an accepting nod from the other, “But did you consider that… you might just need some sleep?”
A noise of offense left Abaddon, nose crinkling at the mere thought. “I do not need sleep,” he stressed, something that he had already told the Freelings many, many times, “I have not slept in a hundred years.”
“Mom found you passed out on top of the car just last week.”
“Her ire was bewildering,” Abaddon replied with a frown, “She was not using it, and had said nothing about it being off limits.” He then realized that he was focusing on the wrong thing. “Besides, I was not sleeping, I was allowing the sun’s rays to burn me like the fires of hell against this vessel’s fragile skin. There is a difference.”
“Sure buddy,” Esther hummed, the arm that was holding him in place moving to pat his shoulder, “Still, I think there’s another way to break this ‘sleepiness curse’ that doesn’t involve chasing down some unknown curse wielder who may or may not actually exist.”
Despite feeling a touch insulted by instigation that this curse of his might be fake, Abaddon considered himself intrigued. “Very well,” he accepted with a small gesture of his hands for her to continue with her plan, “What do you have in mind?”
“Just you wait,” Esther said with a scheming smile, rubbing her hands together like she did when she had a sinister plot in mind, “This sleepiness curse won’t know what hit it.”
**********
“I do not understand how… this is going to do anything to a curse,” came Abaddon’s mildly perturbed, muffled voice.
There was a giggle to his left, yet in the position he found himself in, Abaddon had no luck in turning to glare at his friend for the mocking sound. The quilt that had been retrieved from one of the vacant rooms down the hall- one that had been cleaned specifically for guests, so that there was no dust lining the fabric- was fully wrapped around the demon like a cocoon, leaving only his face partially visible. He might have been panicked with having no way of moving his limbs to defend himself, but he was… admittedly pretty comfortable here.
The pressure was nice. It reminded him of the vents.
“You’ll see. It’s pretty comfy, isn’t it?” Esther asked, plopping herself down next to her friend on the bed.
“Hm.”
Esther rolled her eyes at the reply, instead collapsing onto her back, making the mattress bounce the both of them. “When I was younger,” she explained, voice once again sounding drowsy, “I had trouble sleeping. It wasn’t anything bad, I think. Mom said I just had a lot of energy, and not enough ways to let it all out before bedtime. She and Da- hm.” Her voice faded for a moment, a tension having risen with the cut off of her words. From what he remembered, this 'dad' was a very sore subject for all the Freelings. He stayed quiet, allowing the other to gather her thoughts.
“Well… Mom would try all sorts of things to try and get me to sleep. Sleepy time teas, melatonin, a ton of different relaxing music, and basically any sort of thing she could find in parent forums. Wrapping me up in a blanket so that I was practically trapped turned out to be the only thing that did it.” A small laugh left Esther, “She actually had this thing where she told me that I was related to caterpillars, and that I needed to be wrapped up in a blanket burrito and sleep like I was in a cocoon so that one day I would be able to wake up as a butterfly.”
“You are human. That is physically impossible.”
“I know that,” Esther snorted, hand whacking the quilt Abaddon was wrapped up in at the comment, “But younger me ate that stuff up. Had me excited to go to bed, can you believe it? Really thought I was going to wake up as a butterfly one morning.”
“But you did not.”
“Nope!” came the cheerful reply, “Which is fine by me. I would have wanted to wake up as a spider or something creepy rather than a butterfly now. Yet it worked. I slept like a baby whenever she did that.”
“I see,” Abaddon said with a small hum, eyes feeling heavier as he fought to keep them open. It was very warm in this quilt. Much warmer and comfier then his usual place to spend the night under the sink. “This is not helping with the sleepiness curse however. I believe it is making it worse.”
Esther sat up at his reply, studying him carefully before grinning, “Nah, it’s working just fine dude. You’re about to fall asleep at any second now.”
That sent a burst of alarm through Abaddon, briefly pushing away the sleepiness that had threatened to take over him. “I specifically requested to get rid of the sleepiness!” he raged, attempting to squirm out of the blanketed trap he had unsuspectingly wandered into, “You have betrayed a High Prince of Hell! A curse upon you and all those you hold dear! This will not be forgiven!” Yet despite his rage, Esther had proven her skills once more, as the blanket trap did not release it’s hold on the demon.
“Yeah, yeah, you big baby,” Esther laughed, grabbing the burritoed demon before he could roll off the bed, “I am helping you. The best way to get rid of the ‘sleepiness curse’ is to sleep!”
“I! Do! Not! Need! Sleep!” Abaddon spat out, but the venom in his voice was already dying out as he was once again hit with a wave of tiredness. His fury and drive to not lose this battle was the only thing keeping him awake at this point.
“Well I do,” Esther argued back, laying back down without a care next to the furious demon, back pressed against the other to make sure he didn't roll off her side, “So be nice and let me sleep. You might realize it can be pretty nice if you try to sleep.”
“I do not do nice and I do not do sleep.”
“Well we know that’s a lie,” Esther hummed with a yawn, “Night Abaddon. Maybe we can convince Mom to make waffles tomorrow morning before school. If you let me sleep, and try to sleep yourself. I’ve got a test tomorrow, and if I don’t pass it, Mom’s not going to let me swamp hunt for that medallion that Gregory said he dropped when he lost a leg to that bear.”
The suggestion had Abaddon quieting. He did like the matriarch's cooking, and they had not had waffles in quite a while. It was quite delightful to have with raspberry sauce poured on top, the red liquid seeping through reminding him of blood. It might not be froot loops, but it was still a breakfast that was befitting of a being such as himself.
“Very well,” Abaddon relented, “I will try. But do not expect anything to-” He stopped, blinking up at the ceiling as he noticed the change in Esther’s breathing. It had slowed, soft and quiet. She had fallen asleep once again. His friend must have truly been tired to have gone back to sleep so quickly.
And he was stuck there, wrapped in comfort with his friend’s warmth pressed against his side, sleeping peacefully beside a being who could once eliminate anyone in his path with a single glare. Yet she continued to slumber, happy and safe because Abaddon cared deeply for her, and for the rest of the Freelings.
A small, tired sigh left him at that thought, gaze continuing to stare up at the ceiling. It soon grew fuzzy along with his mind, thoughts slipping through his fingers like the syrup that he hoped would be available for breakfast the next day. The curse of sleepiness was stronger than ever, and as his eyes slipped close, Abaddon found himself not minding as much.
***********
When Esther woke up to the sun stretching across her face with shining brightness rather than the sound of her alarm on her phone- which was currently the shriek of what she assumed was some never before seen cryptid she had ran across a couple weeks ago- she did what any self-respecting pre-teen would do. She rolled over to block the sun and covet the precious minutes left before her actual alarm went off.
Only she didn’t get far as she bumped her face against a mass of fabric. Blinking in surprise, she partially sat up in bewilderment with whatever was taking up half of her bed. The sight of Abaddon, still perfectly burritoed and snoring lightly, was undisturbed by the light shining against his face.
What… Esther began to wonder in bewilderment before she remembered the demon waking her up last night, determined to break a curse. A curse of imagination, she thought in amusement, reaching out and poking Abaddon’s cheek, squishing it slightly. An small grumble left the other, his nose crinkling in annoyance, but he didn’t wake up.
For someone who ‘didn’t need to sleep’ he sure looked pretty comfortable with being asleep. It was amusing to Esther, but she also felt an odd sort of pride. Out of everyone, Abaddon decided that she was the most capable to help. Sure, she was plenty confident in her skills and knowledge, but it was nice to be recognized for her abilities! Even if it ended up being for something as basic as realizing her friend really just needed a nap.
Giving a long stretch, now awake enough that she knew she wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep, Esther pushed the blankets back and grabbed her phone. It was late enough in the morning that her mom should be awake, but still early enough that breakfast probably hadn’t been started yet. She did promise Abaddon they would get waffles in the morning if tried to sleep.
The snoring demon behind her told Esther that he held up his end of the bargain. So she obviously had to fulfill her end, and make sure they had the best waffles for breakfast. Turning back to the other, a small, devious smirk crossed her face.
One kid might not be enough to convince her mom, but two certainly stood a chance. All she needed to do was wake up her partner in crime. Turning fully around, Esther placed her palms on the plush quilt and with one smooth push, rolled Abaddon right off of the bed.
The ensuing shriek caused every window in a fifty foot radius to crack, but it did nothing to drown out the laughter that left Esther as she cackled in delight before running out of her room, knowing she had only a couple seconds before a vengeful, yet oddly restful demon would be on her heels.