Jump 10. Generic Childhood

I thought I was dead at first. Being in that dark place for so long was maddening. When I realized I didn't feel dead, I considered other options. Maybe I was in my own Hell for some reason. Maybe my benefactor was punishing me for some reason or another. Maybe I was so badly damaged by something that I couldn't understand and my brain was protecting me.

And then I saw light again and I understood.

"Demons, the damned, and other denizens of our realm, introducing her Imperial Highness The Princess Seva, Duchess of Abbadon, heiress to the throne of Hell!"

Don't lift newborn babies up like you're friggin Rafiki. They don't like it, and this isn't the Lion King. I looked down on the crowd and did the only thing I could, which was scream at the top of my lungs.

There were two weird things about the world. The first was that hell was real, as were a lot of other supernatural things. There were angels and trolls, djinn and faeries, all sorts of dangerous and powerful beings.

The second that my dads were here. Actually here. They were my real dads. Except for reasons that were not explained to me, they weren't Dr. Xander Ashbur-Nesline and Dr. Illiam Ashbur-Nesline, they were His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Xander, the ruler of hell, and Imperial Consort Illiam.

My dad Xander was the third ruler of Hell. Number one had been the original Devil, my Great-Granddad. Number two was my grandpa (same one as the real world!) and he retired so that my dad could be in charge. My father, Illiam, was once a very successful young psychiatrist before he'd been killed in a car accident. The car accident was actually one of the major reasons why he ended up in Hell. It was night and he was driving around a roundabout. At the exact same time a driver who had never been in one before entered the roundabout in the wrong direction. The driver died before my father and ended up in Heaven, but the paramedics decided to check on them first and my father didn't make it. Since he'd technically killed someone (even though they'd also killed him), he ended up in Hell.

But my dad was less strict as a ruler of Hell than his grandfather, and my father wasn't really punished but was instead hired as a intake therapist. My dad is also absolutely useless when confronted with handsome men and insisted that my father report to him in person. They started dating only a year after my father's arrival in Hell and were married two years after that. I was born later that year through a magical surrogate.

Oh, yeah, and if you haven't noticed, I got a second chance to be raised by my dads so I gave them different titles this time. My dad was more dad-like, less… well, formal at least in terms of how his parenting was. He was the parent who was more likely to go back on a punishment or pointlessly indulge his children's whims. My father was always more of the disciplinarian, though he too wasn't super strict. He'd been raised by really harsh religious parents, and while he realized that children needed structure and discipline in order to excel, the same was true of freedom and the right to make their own decisions.

I was only vaguely aware as a baby, enough to know what was happening and that the whole experience was pretty gross. I knew about my past lives, but I couldn't remember it in great detail. And when I met Cadis, I knew that we'd known each other in previous lives.

Cadis was half troll, half human. Demons were not the only beings to live in the underworld, after all. Trolls in this world were mostly humanoid beings with tails and furry tails, and Cadis could pass for human if he really tried. His dad couldn't pass, though he'd tried. His father was a damned soul like my father, and they worked at one of Hell's finest universities.

Though my dads were both very busy men, having to deal with the affairs of state, I did see them often. They made sure to take time out of their day to spend time with me, and included me in as many events as they thought I'd enjoy. A year after I was born, Jiro followed, and Sasha the year after that. We were a happy family.

It was the happiest I'd been in a jump. My family was here. My whole family. Not just Jiro and Sasha, as much as I loved them, but my dads, and aunts, and uncles, and my grandparents. And my dads were both my biological dads. Nobody could ever claim that they weren't my parents ever again.

The only relative I never saw was my uncle Elian, my father's twin brother, because he was still alive up on earth. But when I was six years old, my dad made an announcement.

"Seva, you are now old enough to visit the mortal realm and see what awaits you there," he explained. "Your younger brothers shall stay behind, and we shall go to one of the cities of the surface world- "Seattle"."

That was where my uncle had owned his bakery with his husband in life number one, so I was excited to possibly see him. My child mind was also very excited at the prospect of CAKE!!! My uncle was the best cake decorator I knew of. He should seriously have had his own show or something.

I'd been told we were going to be accompanied by an angel, which was standard protocol when a damned soul was walking the earth once more, but I wasn't expecting it to be Ulmer, who had been my uncle Elian's husband during life number one. In this timeline they'd never met. He looked pretty much identical to how he'd looked before too, only he had three sets of dark black wings that nobody on earth noticed.

We were at peace with The Goddess, who was the creator of the universe and the one currently running the show in Heaven. She hadn't made the rules over who went to Heaven and Hell, they'd been made by the False Goddess. The False Goddess was one of her archangels who had betrayed her, imprisoned her, and ruled in her place for thousands and thousands of years. It was a long story and as a kid I didn't care much about it. The part of my mind that was like a normal kid was just like… "History? Boooooring!"

Even though I had of course seen earth before, I pretended to be really shocked by it so my dads would be happy. And I'll admit I had missed blue skies and green plants. The skies of the Underworld were a constant dim red and it was sort of a permanent evening.

The four of us arrived at my uncle's apartment and my father knocked on the door. "Hello?" said my uncle, opening the door. He stared at my father for several moments before reaching out and trying to shake him.

"I can't believe you, Illiam! You know, I actually did think you'd faked your own death for the first year! It seemed like something you would do. But just as I finally came to accept it, you show up at my front door! What was it, tax fraud? Did you-"

"I actually am dead," replied my father. "I'm a ghost and I've come back to haunt you. No, that's not actually accurate. Let my husband and I into your house."

"You're married!?" shrieked Elian. "And you didn't even invite me to the wedding?"

"It took place in Hell so you couldn't come," replied my father. "I can explain further once you let us in."

Elian rolled his eyes and opened the door fully, allowing the four of us into his apartment. He closed the door behind us.

"Who's this cute little gremlin?" he then asked, kneeling down and papping me on the head.

"This is your niece, Sevvie," replied my father. "Sevvie, say hi to your uncle."

"HI, I'm Sevvie!" I told him. "Are you my Uncle Elian? Are you going to bake a big cake for me?"

Elian blinked and looked to Illiam. "Who's her mother?"

"Seva has no mother," replied my dad. "Illiam and I are both her fathers, though she refers to me as dad and your brother as father. Such things are possible through magic."

"Okay, tell me what's really going on," sighed Elian.

"That's what we've been trying to do," sighed my father. "Ulmer, demonstrate.. show him something."

Ulmer responded by unfolding his wings dramatically. Elian jumped nearly a foot back and tripped on his coffee table. Coasters went flying.

"I died and went to Hell, Elian," explained my father. "I met Xander there. He's the Emperor of Hell- I guess you could call him "The" Devil. Sevvie is our daughter. Technically she's Her Imperial Highness Princess Seva, Duchess of Abbadon. Ulmer's an angel who's here to supervise us because I'm not supposed to be up here without permission."

Elian blinked several times before eventually standing up. "I… um. I mean. Okay? Um. Okay, immediate question, how do you go from Seva to Sevvie? It seems like a longer nickname?"

"My father's given name is Sebastian, but most of his friends call him 'Sebbie'," said my dad. "My sire was the first one to start calling my daughter Sevvie, and it stuck."

"Do you really call one of our parents your sire?" asked Elian.

My dad snorted. "Yes, I do. I have my father and my sire. They are my two parents."

"Is gay marriage, um, common in hell?" asked Elian.

"As common as it is in Heaven," answered my dad. "If you are stealthily asking whether your brother's orientation had anything to do with his final destiny- fear not. He arrived in Hell for the crime of manslaughter."

"But the other driver was the one going the wrong way!" said Elian. "And he didn't obey the yield sign, either!"

"Yes, but the laws of Heaven were written not by the Goddess herself, but by an imposter," said my dad. "And technically, should your brother had died first, he might not have ended up in Hell but the other driver may have in his place."

"I wasn't a very nice person during my life, and didn't have really anything to merit me getting off on the manslaughter thing," explained my father. "If I had lived a good life, I probably would have ended up going to Heaven anyways."

"I thought you were an okay brother," said Elian. "I mean, you were a good brother, except for a few times."

"Fair enough," replied my father. "I know I wasn't always the best sibling."

Elian leaned back and looked at my dad. "Still, I never thought that you'd be marrying the Devil."

It was clear that he was joking and my father smiled. My dad didn't seem amused by the joke. "And what is wrong with that? I can provide your brother and your niblings whatever they desire."

"Oh my gosh, are there more kids?" asked Elian.

"Yes, Sevvie is just the oldest. Jiro and Sasha are too young to leave the Underworld," replied my father. "Jiro looks a lot like you, I think." I rolled my eyes. My father said this many times in this life and our first one and yet never once did he seem to be aware of the fact that he and my uncle were identical twins. "And Sasha looks just like his papa."

"Now will you make a cake?" I asked my uncle, actually trying to figure out if he was a baker in this lifetime.

Elian laughed. "I guess! Wow, I haven't made one in a while."

"Sevvie, don't force your uncle to bake for you," said my father. "At least say please."

"Please make me a cake," I told him. "I thought you made cakes each and every day."

Elian shook his head. "No, definitely not."

"Then what do you do?"

"I'm a computer programmer. Do you know what a computer is? Do they have them in Hell?"

"Of course we do!" briskly replied my dad. "We are no backwards country."

"I'm only allowed to use it to go on the internets when my dads or my babysitter is watching me," I told my uncle.

Elian nodded. "That seems wise. There's a lot of scary stuff out there."

He stood up and looked towards his kitchen. "Well, I do think it could be fun to do some baking for once. Do you want to help me?"

"Yeah!" I yelled, and I followed my uncle into his kitchen.

My dad had retired to Elian's bedroom so he could make some phone calls, and it was just me, my uncle and my father in the main room. Both my father and my uncle thought I was asleep.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get in contact with you sooner," said Illiam. "I wished I could have told you that I was okay."

"Well, you were dead. I understand," replied Elian. "I'm just happy that everything seems to be going good for you. It seems like your life is pretty normal, except for the fact that your husband is the ruler of Hell."

"Well, it is pretty normal in a lot of ways, but I'll admit that sometimes that does worry me. We do have to spend a lot of time dealing with political things than I'd like. And I am worried for Sevvie in the future."

"Why?"

He reached out and placed a hand on my head. "She's Xander's oldest child. Like her father and her grandfather, she has some sort of bullshit destiny set out for her. We just don't know what it is yet."

"What's Xander's destiny?"

"He was destined to rule Hell. And I know that sounds really expected for the heir to the current ruler, but if Sebastian hadn't abdicated his throne then Xander would have probably risen up and usurped his father. Even if he didn't really want to. And Sebastian, he's managed to stave off his destiny for rather long, but he was destined to destroy the world."

"Wait, what? Sevvie's grandfather was-?"

"Well, actually, we're not really sure about that one. The prophecy turned out to be invalid, but.. he thinks he was supposed to be a destroyer of some sort, and maybe he fulfilled that by killing his father."

"Do you let Sevvie visit her grandpa? Even though he's killed people before?"

"Elian, Sevvie's great-grandfather was a terrible man. He's the reason why Hell has such a terrible reputation. I would be worried if he was still around. But now he's gone, and the world is at peace."

They were silent for a while, and my father sat in thought. Finally, he said, "I think Sevvie's destiny is to be an agent of change. It seems to fit what we know about her."

"That doesn't sound like the worst destiny."

We spent almost a week in Seattle before we had to return to the Underworld. When we came back, my dad had news for me.

"Your father and I have decided that starting next week you'll be attending a new school," he said. I had just had a tutor before this, a strict demon woman who I had released goats in the home of more than once. "We think it shall be good for you to meet other young people your age and experience a traditional classroom environment."

"Can Cadis also go to school with me?" I asked.

"Your little troll friend? Er, we can speak to his parents about it."

"Okay," I said, shocking my parents. "I think it would be fun."

"I'm glad you're taking this so well," said my dad. I didn't realize why he said that until I finally arrived at my first day of school.

Not just in my grade, but in my class, and in the seat right NEXT TO MINE was Kseniya. She and her siblings lived a block or two from the Imperial palace and we had to interact with one another constantly. The word goody-two-shoes didn't even begin to describe her. If any other kid put a foot out of line she'd let their parents know. Fun evaporated any time she entered a room.

"Why do we gotta sit next to each other?" I asked Kseniya.

"Shush!" she said. "The teacher is about to speak!"

Cadis's parents were sending him to this school, but he wasn't in my class so I couldn't sit next to him at lunch. I could play with him on the schoolyard but half the time he just wanted to read like he was my dork brother.

The other girls thought that if they got on Kseniya's good side she would be less likely to tattle on them. And since playing with Kseniya during recess was the last thing I would ever willingly do, I spent most of my time on the schoolyard that year using the swings the wrong way or trying to use my telekinesis to activate the see-saw.

I had found academics easy in life number one, and I found them equally easy now. At least my teacher couldn't complain about my grades.

The year after that, Jiro joined me at school. Cadis was also put into the same class as me, and even if Kseniya was still there that was a victory! It seemed like all the teachers were big into us getting along, even if I didn't see the point.

My methods of getting at Kseniya were more direct than hers. She would get her clique to give me the silent treatment for a week, I would ruin the painting of an owl that she was working on for the art contest. She would pick me last in gym for a month straight, I would lock her in the balls closet. But the last straw was my 8th birthday party.

I had been looking forward to it for months, and my dads had promised that it would be a special event. I had sent out invitations to everyone in my grade, even Kseniya. And I had decided that if she came here I would do my best to be nice to her. I felt like I was more my in-world persona in this jump than any other, but I still had the logic of a centuries-old universe traveller backing me up. The voice of my old self was small, but it was able to calm me enough that I began to consider burying the hatchet with the girl.

I got a new dress for the party, and my dads let me use the biggest ballroom for the event. Cadis showed up an hour early to help me set up. I had insisted on doing the decorations myself (with parental help for when things were too tall) instead of having the actual palace decorators do it for me. All of my favorite foods were there, and even some of the goats had been allowed in the palace for the event.

The time arrived for the guests to show up. But as the minutes passed, it became clear that Kseniya had resorted to the basest degree of childhood cruelty. She must have gotten all the other kids not to come to my birthday party.

I probably cried for half an hour. The part of my brain that was reassuring me that this was just a single event in my very, very long life was nearly silenced by the part of my child brain that was terribly upset. When I finally calmed down, my dad came over. He'd spoken to Kseniya's father on the phone.

"Seva, I have some information for you. Kseniya's father informed me that she was having a party of her very own this day, which is why she and your other classmates did not attend. He also told me that you have been bullying his daughter. Is that true?"

"No way!" I told him. "I may have done mean things to her but she did mean things to me first."

"Sevvie, you have to be the bigger person," said my father. "You're a princess, and one day, when your dad and I retire, you'll be the empress. Don't you agree, Xander?"

My dad looked nervous. "Y-yes! Yes, that was very much and truly the advice I was about to give. No words other than those would have left my lips!"

My father sighed. "Okay, fine, Xander, what were you going to tell our daughter?"

"That she should always hurt her enemies more than they hurt her?" said my dad. "So they will fear her wrath and never wish to harm her again?"

My father put his head in his hands. "Most of the time I can forget that I married a literal demon, but then I remember and… okay, Sevvie. Listen to me. Take my advice."

"So I can't have an even bigger party on her birthday and pay all the kids a hundred dollars to come?"

"No," said my father. "But I am going to call her father back and explain the situation to him."

The Monday after that, we met on the courtyard before school officially started. It was where everyone ate breakfast or at least a banana, but I was interested in neither. I marched over to Kseniya and opened my mouth. "On Saturday you were really mean to me but I'm not going to be mean to you back. Instead, I-"

"Me? Mean to you?" asked Kseniya. "I didn't do anything mean at all. Everyone just wanted to come to my party because my house is way better than the boring old palace. There's nothing you can't touch at my house and no corridors that they'll arrest you for going down. And it doesn't smell like goats OR sheep OR brimstone!"

"This is Hell, everything smells like brimstone!"

"Not my house!" she retorted.

"Then your house smells boring and gross because I like the smell of brimstone!"

"Yeah, Kseniya has a pool and her dad made us all pizza," said Madison, one of the girls in our class. "We also got to watch an Earth movie and it was rated PG-13."

"We had a buffet at my party and the palace has an even bigger pool!"

"Anyway!" said Kseniya, stopping this. "My house is very cool and nice and nobody will be mean to anyone there. That's the rules. Why am I the bad person for having a party at my house?"

"Because you knew it was my birthday!"

"I didn't know that it was."

"You can always remember my birthday because it's the same day as my father's birthday, and also they're both national holidays," I explained to Kseniya. "And you went to my party last year, so you should have known when it was."

"Your party last year was at the petting zoo and it was super boring," said Madison. "What do you think we are, babies?"

"I like the petting zoo," I replied. "They have all sorts of animals there, and you don't have to wash any of them. And you left halfway through, before they brought out the vultures."

I looked to Kseniya and sighed. "If you just admit that you were mean to me, I'll say that I forgive you! And then we can bury the hatchet, which is an expression my dad gave me, and maybe we can even be friends."

"I've never done anything mean to you!" said Kseniya, seemingly shocked. "You're the mean one! You're the daughter of the devil!"

"We live in hell!" I told her. "Almost everyone has a demon for one parent or the other! Anyway, just say you were mean and then I'll forgive you and we can be friends! Or at least just ignore each other and not torment each other any more!"

"I'M NOT MEAN!" shouted Kseniya. "You're the mean one! The only day when you would be the mean one and I would be the nice one would be opposite day!"

"Fine then, it's opposite day!" I shouted at her. "Only you're still the mean one!"

"No, it's opposite day and you're the nice one because you're nasty and mean every other day!"

Two giant streams of black and white light shooted up from us and crashed into the red sky. The sheer force of both us declaring such at the same time knocked me unconscious.

I ran home to the palace. Since it was opposite day, school was no longer in session. It was a weekday, after all. I went into the throne room, only to find The Garp wearing my dad's crown and sitting on the throne. The Garp was the only one of my dad's sheep who had a name. I had named him in my first life when I was five, and gave him the same name in this life mostly because I could. I didn't actually think it was the same sheep, but the biggest, meanest ram in the flock was automatically The Garp in a way. The royal condutor was attempting to paint a portrait of the ram.

"Where's my dad!" I shouted. "Why's the sheep on the throne?"

"Why would we care about the location of your father?" screamed one of the demons at top volume. "All respect and adoration is owned to The Garp!"

I found my dad standing in the sheep pen. All the sheep had left it and were now grazing on the pristine gardens of the palace. My father was sitting on a chair, texting. "DADS! DADS! Something bad is happening!"

"It is Opposite Day, Seva," explained my dad. "You have declared it is opposite day, and therefore it is so!"

"Oh no, is everything the opposite? Do you two love me instead of hate me? Do people die in hell and go to earth?"

My father shook his head. "No. Your powers aren't that strong."

"Still, until the sun sets everything shall be the opposite!" proclaimed my dad. "Within reasonable parameters!"

"Where's your brother?" asked my father.

Oh, shit. I'd left Jiro at school. "Um, I gotta go get him. But since it's opposite day, that should mean that instead of getting in trouble I instead get an ice cream sundae for leaving him behind."

I returned, Jiro and Cadis in tow, and my dads already had ice cream sundaes ready for both of us. This was honestly ideal. While my dad went to go get Cadis ice cream I told my father about what I'd done.

"Well, Sevvie, I'm glad you tried to follow my advice, but…. well, you can't force people to be better people. I hope that if after this you just de-escalate then she'll get tired after a while. But often that's not what happens. I know this from experience. You see, when your uncle and I were your age, we also had problems with people in school."

I nodded. "Were people mean to you all the time?"

"Yes," replied my father. "And my parents didn't do anything about it. I'll let you know- if this keeps up, I will go right to Helorie's house and punch him in the face until he make his daughter be nicer to you."

I nodded, eating the ice cream. "And what will you do if it's not opposite day when that happens?"

My father hummed. "Probably sit down with him and have a reasonable conversation."

"Will it always hurt when I use my powers?"

He blinked. "It hurt?"

"Yeah, I fell unconscious for a bit."

"Tell me everything that happened."

My father listened to the entire story patiently. Finally, he made a judgement. "I think we need to never talk to Heaven about this ever."

"You mean call them immediately?" I said nervously.

"Ask me again after sunset," replied my father.

We spent the rest of the day rounding up the other sheep and trying to lure them back in their fence. Normally I would have revealed at the freedom of the sheep, so I guess even I was a little affected. When sunset arrived, the Underworld calmed down significantly. Everything was at peace for a while.

"Father, remember what I said about Kseniya?"

My father blinked. "Oh. Yes, we should have definitely called them about this!"

Just as I had powers and a special destiny from being the heiress to hell, Kseniya had her powers for kind of the same reason. Her mom, who I had never met, was The Goddess herself. I had no idea why the daughter of The Goddess was living in Hell, but as much as I was bound to inspire chaos, she was to inspire order. After all, her mother was the Cosmos Herself, and one of the meanings of cosmos was order.

We would never get along. But as I got older, I learned to not bother and let her go onto other things. It was very hard at first. But as I got older, more of my old self started to shine through. My other powers were slowly regained, as well as my wisdom (as lacking as it was) and knowledge.

But as I got more in tune with my powers as a harbinger of change, I decided to use them in constructive ways. On one of my visits to earth I got my uncle and Ulmer (who usually got along really well when they visited) to go on a date. I managed to get one of my new friends in this life, Agni, to get out of his shell.

And more and more I thought that I didn't really know if this was a jump or if I had ceased my travels and just didn't remember it. So I decided to make plans for the future. I was here when the decade ended, after all, and I didn't know if I would ever leave.

"I'm going to become the president," I informed my dads one day at dinner. My dad almost choked on a crouton at this announcement.

"Seva, why would you want to do that?" he asked once he regained his breath. "Why, with no effort down here you shall one day take over my throne!"

"Because I want to make a change in the surface world and get ready to rule down here. I already want to have experience. And I do want to live in the surface world for a while. Is that okay?"

"Yes, of course it's fine, Sevvie," said my father. "If that's what you really want to persue, a career of politics up there. But why don't you go to college up there first and see how much you like it."

"That's what I was planning to do," I told them. "I want to apply for those colleges, but I don't know how I would do it."

"Do not worry, Seva," said my dad. "I can get you into any school you desire."

"No, I just want to apply like a normal student."

"Then we'll get your school to forge equivalent transcripts."

"I think it'll be nice," I said. "I can get away from Kseniya for a while, too."

"Ah, yes, that is also true!" said my dad. "Soon The Goddess's scion will bother you no more!"

"Um," said Jiro. "Speaking of Kseniya."

I turned around and stared at him. "Please don't tell me you're dating her brother."

"Okay, Fedor and I are going on a date!" replied Jiro. Why. Why was this. Why did my brother attract boyfriends like rotting fruit attracted flies? Why the brother of a girl who I not only couldn't stand but who was cosmically destined to be my rival until the end of time?

But then I had an idea of how I could finally become Kseniya's friend. We would engage in wacky sitcom-esque shenanigans where we would bond together to stop our brothers from dating, only to discover we actually got along in the end and become friends! Then we'd be forced to get our brothers back together so we could all be one big happy family. Yes, this was perfect. It would work exactly as planned!

"Sevvie, I have something to confess," said Kseniya after our third attempt to ruin one of Fedor and Jiro's dates ended in failure. "I only agreed to help you with this in the hope we would bond, become friends, and-"

"OH MY GOSH!" I said. "ME TOO!"

We stared at each other for a few moments. Finally, Kseniya sighed. "I don't actually think we've become friends, though. But I would call you….. okay."

"I would also call you okay," I said, offering a hand to Kseniya. She shook it. It was one of the happiest moments of that life.

I spent the summer after I graduated from high school working for my uncle in his bakery. Elian and Ulmer were both busy with their newly adopted daughter Desta, and their usual employees were not enough to pick up the slack. Then it was off to school!

I was only there for about three months before I woke up one morning in my warehouse.

"I haven't seen you in eighteen years," I told them. "Wow! Here we are, back in my warehouse again. I didn't even think I was jumping anymore."

"I…. I'm sorry," they replied, leaning against a wall. "This is non-standard protocol I put you through. But I felt like you needed to see them again."

"Yeah," I replied. "I did need to see them again. It helped me make up my mind on something. I want to quit."

They blinked. "What?"

"I don't want to be away from my family ever again. And we're all happy here. It was why I almost didn't join you. It was why I insisted that Jiro and Sasha come along. We've had fun, I think, but-"

"....I sent you here so I could legally let your family come along with you."

I blinked. "Oh. I didn't know that was an option?"

"Only in this jump," replied my benefactor.

"I want to ask them in person," I said. "My dads, at least."

My benefactor snapped their fingers and my dads appeared in my warehouse.

"Where are we?" shouted my dad. "Who has abducted us! Seva, come here, I shall-"

"Dad, calm down," I sighed. "This is, um, a friend of mine. They brought you guys here because I need to confess something to you."

I took a deep breath. "I'm not from this universe. Before this, I lived another life in another world. And in that life, you were also my dads, but you were just two normal guys. There wasn't anything supernatural in that world. But I got the opportunity to travel to other worlds, and I took it. I-"

"Seva, pause," said my dad. "Your father and I… we have similar memories."

I blinked. "You do?"

"Yes. Ever since I was your age, I have had vivid memories of another life which resembles what you describe," said my dad.

"The same is true of me," said my father. "It was why the two of us really started dating- because we remembered each other from that life."

"I've lived a few lives without you," I told them. "But I don't want to do that anymore. I want you to come along with me. To see other worlds and stuff. Time will be paused here. You won't be abandoning anything."

"Will Sasha and Jiro also come along?" asked my dad.

I nodded. "And Cadis, and Eurynomos, too."

"Actually, just most of your family," said my benefactor. "But unless you specifically tell me to make them into full companions, they'll just sort of be in the background."

"So we don't have to abandon anyone we know?" asked my father.

"There is one thing I do need to tell you, and it is that after this world you will lose your powers," said my benefactor. "But you'll be able to live on earth freely, and Sevvie will be able to give you new powers."

"I'd like that," said my father, taking my dad's hand. "I liked hell, but I do miss earth a lot."

"And there are lots of other realms and planets we can go to!" I told my dads. "There's so much we can see."

"Then we'll go," said my father. "Of course we'll come with you."

-------

2018 Author’s Note:

No, Sevvie's entire family won't become full companions, but I knew if I wanted to keep writing Sevvie this would need to happen at some point. Also, fun fact, Sevvie's origin in this world is very similar to hers in her original world. She originally appeared in my Pathfinder campaign when my players were curious about what a child of the two main villains would be like.

I will nominate Exalted: The Infernals, my favorite Exalted jump.

2026 Retrospective:
Yet another longer jump. This is one of SJ-Chan’s finest jumps, imho; though Cities of the World will always have a special place in my heart, and Generic Romantic Story is probably my most-used of her jumps.
Sevvie is suddenly in hell, inexplicably a baby. She didn’t remember starting this new jump. She is the princess of hell, much as she is in her original canon (but not this Sevvie’s original life, where she was a normal college student). Her dad Xander is the Emperor of Hell, and her father Illiam is a mortal soul who died in a traffic accident. Sevvie also starts giving different names to her two male parents. Thank you, Sevvie.
Jiro and Sasha are born years afterwards as Sevvie’s younger brothers, and Cadis is a half-troll, half-human, his human father in a similar situation to Illiam.
Sevvie’s family is all here, similar to how they were in her original world. Even her uncle Elian (Illiam’s brother) and Ulmer (Elian’s husband) are here, though Elian and Ulmer aren’t married yet. Also, Ulmer is an angel.
Elian and Illiam discuss Sevvie’s destiny, which Illiam thinks is to be an agent of change. Apparently Xander’s destiny was to become the ruler of hell, and Sebastian (Xander’s father) had the destiny to destroy the world, which never came true.
We’re introduced to the rival character Kseniya, a goody-two-shoes and angelic counterpart to Sevvie’s “spawn of the devil” nature. Sevvie has no friends as a child except for Cadis, who isn’t in the same school yet.
Sevvie’s eighth birthday party is ruined by Kseniya having her own non-birthday party on the same day. Xander and Illiam try to console her - Illiam is better at this than Xander. The next day at school, Sevvie agrees to forgive Kseniya is she admits what she did was mean, but as Kseniya says: “"I've never done anything mean to you!" said Kseniya, seemingly shocked. "You're the mean one! You're the daughter of the devil!"”
Sevvie and Kseniya both declare today to be opposite day, which somehow works. This power of Sevvie’s will never be used again from what I can recall. The entirety of hell is now subject to opposite day.
There’s some more reasonable parenting from Xander and Illiam here (once again, especially Illiam) and it’s revealed that Kseniya is literally the daughter of The Goddess, The Cosmos Herself. Sevvie decides she wants to become the President of … unspecified.

Quill: Gotta love the writing. It’s time for Sevvie to become president of somewhere.

Jiro is now also dating Kseniya’s brother, Fedor. Sevvie and Kseniya have to team up, and I think that part’s really funny. But…

Xyrus: Past us is a coward here. Kseniya is typically depicted not just as Fedor’s sister, but as a member of the same plural system. They’re alters. As funny as this bit is, imagine how much funnier it would have been if that had been kept.

Quill: It would have been hard to write.

Xyrus: Still.

It’s then revealed at the end of the jump that Sevvie’s benefactor, Zaeitheon, set up this whole thing so Sevvie’s whole family could go along on the chain with her, and she wouldn’t quit. Thanks, Big Z.

Xyrus: “Big Z” could refer to so much of Zaeitheon’s family.

It’s a chapter with challenge for Sevvie in the form of drama, but still no stakes. Sevvie knows she’s not really a child, and uses this wisdom to get through her second set of childhood years. It’s a fun chapter, with funny moments, but will Sevvie ever be truly challenged again?
Unclear.

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