Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They say asking “What If?” is the worst thing to do and that it never gives you any answers…

Well clearly whoever said that wasn’t a fanfiction writer!

You gotta admit, it can lead to some interesting reflections and fascinating alternatives to consider…

~Sooooooo…~

What if Ayden had run away but Angel Dust didn’t stop looking for her or followed her instead?

What if she had stayed with him and told him everything?

What if she ended up going with him to the Happy Hazbin Hotel?

Where would they be then…?

Chapter Text

​​“Uh I’m Ayden.” Ayden introduces herself to Charlie, leaning back as she leaned forward too much.

“And technically Ayden’s a staff member too.” Charlie explained to Alastor, motioning over to her as her intro card is pulled up,

https://www.deviantart.com/geekygirl183/art/Ayden-s-Hazbin-Hotel-Redesign-1024938432

AYDEN

The Performer

“Call me stray again, I da’e you...” Ayden hissed in Vaggie’s face with her eyes and freckles glowing and tone darkening with the threat.

“You two are really somethin’...” Husk remarked dully to Angel and Ayden as they sat at his bar.

“~Awww thanks!~” They responded in unison while each flapping a hand dramatically, also in unison.

“Constantly make us look bad-” Vaggie started listing off, the scenes flipping between the scenes and back to her counting off,

“Heads up fucke’s!” Ayden shouts excitedly as she drops out of the sky onto a battlefield and lands on all fours on top of an Egg Boi as a hellcat before shifting to demon cat form to crush it under her as she whooped, “WOOO!”

“-sexually harass the staff-”

“Awww and he’e I thought ya stuck ‘round cause ya ~loved us.~” Ayden playfully pouted before it cut to another scene as she taunted with an amused expression, “C’mon ya know ya walked right inta that one.” 

“-lounge around all day-”

*Zzzzzz....* Ayden was practically falling asleep in her seat at Husk’s bar with her head starting to tilt down when Angel decided to sneak Husk’s wet bar rag under her causing her to plant her face against it with a wet squelch-

*PLSH!*

“MROW!”

“-freeload off our stuff-” 

“Quit stealin’ my clothes!” Angel called out incredulously while looking at Ayden with annoyance as she wore one of his sweaters.

“-and have literally never once tried to improve?”

The scene cuts to Ayden laying on her stomach on a tree branch with her head resting on her crossed arms as she admits in a vulnerable tone,

“I don’t know what I wanna do... and it sca’es me...”

The scene cut again to all the fire mishaps that happen throughout the season as Ayden’s voiceover sounded,

“I kinda... can’t fully control this powe’...”

“Yet!” Charlie cheered as she was seen helping Ayden off the ground in front of the Hotel.

It cuts to scenes of Ayden and Via meeting in Stylish Occult, Ayden using her powers to fight in a turf war, doing several front flips on a balance beam, and screaming from the roof to unleash a powerful blast of fire with Charlie’s voiceover in the background,

“I know Ayden’s supposed to be helping us but why not help her build up her confidence?”

Before the scene cuts to Ayden jumping off a roof with her claws readied exclaiming before whooping excitedly,

“I’ve been waitin’ fo’ this! WOO!”

Right before the show logo is pulled up with one minor modification done in red marker,

Hazbin Hotel Logo (Modified)

“Oh stuff it up yer arse... ” Ayden deadpanned with a tired look as she walked past Alastor with an armful of clothes in her room as he smiled tightly with narrowed eyes at her.

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, mentions of sexual language and activities, attempted rape, domestic violence and abuse, alcohol and drug use, etc.

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

…

…

…

3rd Person POV

*Purrrrr….* 

Ayden, in hellcat form, was curled up on her makeshift bed on the floor next to Angel’s in his apartment with his pet pig, Fat Nuggets, sleeping slightly next to her before her ears perked up when the front door opened,

*Click.*

*Rre?* Fat Nuggets perked up from his little bed as well and walked over to Angel, who scooped him up and questioned softly with a bit of disbelief in his voice,

“Redemption… Silly huh Nuggs…?”

*Reee!* Fat Nuggets oinked happily and Angel chuckled softly as he cuddled with him on his bed before Ayden got up and stretched while yawning before shifting to demon cat form.

She was wearing one of the few oversized pink t-shirts Angel owned with some black short shorts underneath as pjs, her knee-length red-tipped hair was in a messy ponytail that swished around in its poofy, unkempt state as she sat on the end of his bed to ask sleepily while rubbing a paw to her eye,

“Where’ve ya been…?”

“Hey Ruby… Jus’ workin’...”

Ayden frowned a bit at the faint scent of gunpowder and blood around his form while glimpsing the faint reddish pink marks along his jaw that looked like a residual imprint of a rough face grip before bringing her legs up to sit criss-cross while holding her ankles as she questioned with her tail swishing around behind her and head tilted slightly,

“What’s this ‘bout redemption?”

“Eh nothin’ for ya ta worry about…”

“Ya su’e… ?” Ayden asked as her face shifted to one of concern and her pierced ears and tail drooped down a bit.

“Other than we might be movin’ soon? Yeah I’m sure…”

“Movin’ whe’e?” She perked back up at that.

“Eh just some new crapola hotel where they won’t charge us rent as long as we play nice.”

“Sounds easy ‘nuff.” Ayden shrugged flippantly making Angel scoff and retort,

“Pft maybe for you.”

“Hey!” Ayden jokingly scolded, “You fo’gettin’ how many times I’ve bailed yer arse out when ya get in ove’ yer head?”

“You savin’ me? HA! You really are ~cuuute.~” Angel started using his four arms to tussle her hair, jokingly pinch her nose, and smoosh her face around as she complained,

“Noooo!” Batting at his hands with her paws in a weak attempt to push him away but he just kept going.

“Heh haah…” Angel chuckled one last time before releasing her face as he sighed, “Let’s get some sleep, we can talk more about it in the morning…”

“Ok…” Ayden relented as she yawned again and somersaulted off the bed, onto the floor, and landed right on her bed again back in hellcat form just before Fat Nuggets was placed down onto his bed and the three of them settled down to sleep.

The Next Morning

*Zzzzz….* Angel was snoring a bit with Fat Nuggets curled up in his bed when-

*DONG!*

Causing Angel to bolt upright and his four fists raised shouting,

“Who’s there?!”

“Jus’ me.” Ayden’s voice sounded through the haze of Angel’s waking mind as he questioned,

“Ruby…?” Blinking his eyes to clear his vision before asking her, “Uh what the fuck are ya doin’?”

“Packing.” 

Sure enough, Ayden was already dressed in her red tank top and buckled shorts while, behind her, all of Angel’s… playthings were stuffed into a giant box labeled “Work Shit”, Fat Nugget’s bed, blankets, and food and water bowls had been packed into a bag along with Ayden’s blankets, while she was packing up her and Angel’s clothes and his makeup into her hand-me-down red backpack leaving the apartment minus the bed and some of the posters ready to move.

“Woah woah I said we were gonna talk about it first.” Angel reminded her as he sat up on his bed.

“Right.” Ayden nodded before adding, “Which usually means ‘I’ve already made up my mind and we’e doin’ this shite.’”

Just as he was about to protest, Ayden cut him off with,

“C’mooon you’re already three months behind on rent and I’m gettin’ ti’ed of the landlord threatenin’ ta sell me ta the deli ‘cross the street ta ‘cove’ costs’ and ‘helpin’ ya with one problem’...”

After making an ‘alright that’s a good point’ expression, Angel sighed exhaustively with a hand to his forehead as he begrudgingly agreed,

“Alright ya got me there.” Before switching to a mildly annoyed tone as he saw the mannequin head for his wig on the floor, the source of the loud bang and snarked with a smirk, “Next time, keep it down otherwise that second thing isn’t too far off.”

“Uhh you’e welcome and hey.” Ayden retorted back before she tossed the mannequin head at Angel but he caught it with two hands as he gloated,

“Ha! Ya missed!”

“Pft! Whateve’.” Ayden scoffed as she hoisted her backpack onto her back before asking, “So whe’e ‘xactly is this hotel?”

“Hmmm… no idea.” Angel thought for a second before shrugging nonchalantly.

“What?!” Ayden yelled in disbelief before Angel explained.

“That Charlie chick didn’t exactly give me an address.”

Making Ayden slap a paw to her face and go over to the window to knock her head against it as Angel snarked,

“Sheesh, dramatic much?” 

Making Ayden glare at him while flipping him off before her vision turned back to the window as something in the distance caught her eye and she questioned in an unsure tone,

“Uhhh was the place called the ‘Happy Hotel?’”

“Yeah how’d ya know?”

Motioning with her head out the window, Angel looked out to see on the faaar outskirts of the Ring was a large building that looked like a mish-mash of a couple of structures and “Happy Hotel” in brand new neon lights.

“Hmm figures…” Angel noted in a snarky tone before Ayden announced excitedly,

“What’re we waitin’ for then? Let’s go!”

Smiling a bit ruefully at her eagerness to get out of the shithole of an apartment, Angel grabbed his box of things with his lower arms and Fat Nuggets with his upper ones before quickly grabbing his show posters off the walls to place in the box and following Ayden out.

On their way down to the street, they ran into the landlord, who had the keys to the apartment thrown in his face before he was flipped off by both demons and Ayden added,

“See ya neve’ Fuckwad!”

A quick Tommy gun to the face kept him from yelling back as Angel and Ayden walked out of the apartment, called a taxi, and made their way up to the Happy Hotel.

Short Time Skip

“Well this place is…” Ayden started to say as they stood in front of the hotel when Angel interjected,

“Trashy?”

“I was gonna say a bu’ner-downe’ but that wo’ks too.” She shrugged before they approached the front door and she knocked,

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

A muffled excited voice from inside sounded from even where they stood and they exchanged a slightly disturbed look before the door was thrown open and they were greeted by a beaming Charlie as she exclaimed,

“Ohmygoshyouactuallycame!”

Bringing both of them into a tight hug before a moth-like Sinner, Vaggie, came out and she pulled her girlfriend back off the two of them as she reminded her,

“Babe, you know some people like their space.”

“I’m ~sorryyyyyyy!~ I’m just so excited to have our first residents here.” Turning back to the two of them as she greeted, “Angel I know we’ve already met but who’s your adorable kitten friend here?”

A little taken aback by her overly enthusiastic greeting and question, Ayden’s ears dropped back a bit in discomfort as she answered,

“Uh I’m Ayden.”

“Are you a Sinner looking for redemption?” Charlie asked excitedly, only for her hope to die down with Ayden’s blunt response,

“Nope, I’m a Hellbo’n jus’ lookin’ fer a place ta crash.”

“Uh sorry we don’t take freeloaders.” Vaggie was quick to turn her down making Charlie exclaim,

“Vaggie!”

“Charlie, we’re supposed to be working with Sinners to see if they can be redeemed. If we take in every stray we’re not gonna be able to do that.”

At that, Ayden bristled up, dropping her bag to hiss,

“Call me stray again, I da’e you…”

Her eyes glowed along with the freckles under them as her tone darkened with the threat making Vaggie react by pulling out an Angelic spear to ready when Charlie rushed to pull her back with a yelp,

“O-rrrrr she could help us out in exchange for a place to stay?”

The two stayed in a death glare match before Vaggie reluctantly put her spear at ease as she relented,

“I guess that could work…”

“Great!” Charlie gave her girlfriend a quick hug before going over to Ayden to ask, “So do you have any special skills that could help us out around here?”

“Uh fighting?”

“That’s uhh.. anything else?” Charlie was at a loss for words so Ayden kept listing things off,

“Shooting?”

“Next.”

“Pickpocketin’?”

“Ummmm no…”

“Eating, sleeping, fire tricks, spittin’ up hai’balls-”

“Woahwoah wait! Say that last one again!” Charlie waved her hands to stop her and Ayden raised an eyebrow as she repeated,

“Uh spittin’ up hai’balls?”

“No the-”

“I’m tellin’ ya those things get gnarly as fuck! Haha!” Angel laughed interrupting Charlie before Ayden added jovially,

“Yeh! Remembe’ the one whe’e the whole rat skeleton was still whole?!”

“No!” Charlie brought their attention back as she spoke, “The fire tricks thing.”

“Oh..” Ayden’s excitement faded a bit before it switched to a flippant attitude as she told them, “Yeh I mean I can do this.”

Bringing a paw up she summoned a small fireball that she made bounce up and down like a ball before tossing it high up and catching it with her opposite paw before throwing it to the ground to make a smokescreen billow out.

Everyone minus Ayden coughed and tried to wave the smoke away before it dissipated but she was nowhere to be seen until they heard a whistle and looked up to see she had somehow managed to reappear on top of the awning under the sign for the hotel.

“That… was… INCREDIBLE!”

“R-Really?” Ayden asked, thrown off by the genuine praise before she cleared her throat and switched attitudes to say boastfully, “I mean pfsh ‘course it was.”

“You could help with giving this place some pizzazz! OOOH! Like weekly fireworks shows, performances,-”

As Charlie started going on, Ayden’s ears tilted back in unease as she called down,

“Ok but uhh I should tell ya somethin’, I-”

*RRRIP!* 

“YAAH!”

The awning under her ripped, dropping her back down to the ground where she landed on all fours but her front paws ignited the dead grass in between the walkway stones causing two small fires to ignite.

“Woahwoahwoah!” Charlie yelped as she, Vaggie, and Angel jumped back to avoid the flames before Vaggie rushed inside while Ayden tried to stomp them out with her hind paws but she just stumbled back and more fires were lit underneath with every step she took until she fell back onto her backside.

Vaggie came back out with a bucket of water and splashed the whole thing over the fires, and Ayden unfortunately. 

With the fires out, Ayden was left sopping wet before she went forward on all fours and shook herself off slightly spraying the others with protests and exclaims of disgust before finishing her thought from before,

“I kinda… can’t fully control this powe’…”

“Yet!” Charlie practically bounced over to Ayden helping her off the ground as she devised, “We can help you learn to control this power, you use them to draw in crowds and help with publicity, and you get a place to stay. Win-win for all!”

“Whaddya think?” Ayden turned back to Angel and he shrugged minutely before responding,

“Better than sleepin’ outside I guess.”

“I’m in then, as long as my othe’ job can be securi’y gua’d so I can get some action in once in a while too.” Ayden tried to bargain but Vaggie argued,

“That’s already one of my jobs.”

“Theeen backup securi’y gua’d?”

“Fine…”

“‘Ight then, deal.” Ayden declared finally as she placed her paws on her hips and Charlie squealed with joy before twirling to stand back in front of the doors to announce,

“Great! ~ Noooooow,~ I welcome you both to the Happy Hotel!”

“My arms are getting tired carryin’ these so can we skip the tour til after?” Angel asked motioning to how he was still carrying the full box and Fat Nuggets, who managed to fall asleep on the ride over but the fires woke him back up and he started squirming around.

“Oh of course of course come on in!” Charlie waved for them to follow her with Vaggie close behind muttering something about “needing to recheck their fire suppression systems” before they walked over to the desk with “Concierge” on a light-up sign above as well as a Welcome banner and star-spotted balloons.

“OK let’s see here…” Vaggie went behind the front desk and rummaged around a bit before pulling out two keys with vintage metal tags attached to them as she told Angel and Ayden, “You’re in Room 113 Angel and Ayden will be a few doors down in 117.”

“Sweet, let’s go get settled in then.” Angel took his key and headed for the stairs with Ayden right behind him as they headed for their rooms.

On their way there, once they made sure they were out of earshot of Charlie and Vaggie, Angel asked,

“Didja really hafta tell’em about your fire powers?”

“Should I have told them ‘bout the other ‘special skills’ I got ‘nstead?” Ayden snarked back before sighing through her nose to add, “Look, we keep the whole me bein’ a hybrid and havin’ this crazy crystal thing under wraps til I think we c’n trust’em.”

“Fine jus’ don’t be expectin’ me ta cover your ass too often.”

“~Aww and risk me cutting off your secret supply of real Beelzejuice and not the wate’ed down shite they got up here?~” Ayden teased making Angel stop abruptly as he realized she had a point before recognizing with a proud smirk,

“I’ve taught you well..” Before it switched to a disappointed tone as he added, “and I hate myself for it…”

“Heh…” Ayden chuckled at her mini victory.

Once they arrived at their respective rooms, they each started putting their things away, occasionally having to give each other their things from the way Ayden had packed mostly unorganized and haphazardly.

With Ayden, she’d gotten a room with a twin-sized bed with some dusty blankets and pillows, a wardrobe for the scant few outfits she had, and a vanity desk for whatever knickknacks she wanted to put on there in the future.

Seeing how little of the already small room she took up, Ayden frowned when she realized this was the first space since leaving home she really had all to herself and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.

Reaching back into her backpack, she unzipped the secret inner pocket to pull out a Polaroid photo and put it in place on the vanity mirror, smiling at the happy memory before frowning when she remembered the painful aftermath.

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Turning her head back to the door, Ayden wondered who it could be and, after hiding the photo face down on the desk, just in case, went to open it to find Vaggie standing there who started to say,

“Charlie pointed out I might’ve been a little… confrontational to you before and I just wanted ta say-”

“‘T’s good, I fo’give you.” Ayden cut her off, thinking she knew what she was going to say but Vaggie huffed a bit before correcting her,

“Uhh I was actually gonna say we might have a little ways to go to trust each other but you seem.. alright…”

“Yeh yer cool too.” Ayden agreed before adding with some excitement in her voice, “‘Specially with the spea’, where’d ya even get that thing?”

“It’s uh.. a long story.” Vaggie tried to change the subject, “Anyway if there’s anything you need, like toiletries or whatever, we’ve got some extra stuff lying around you could use.”

“Ok.. thanks.” Ayden told her, still a little off-put by thinking about what she needed or wanted before remembering, “Actually, d’ya have a hai’brush I could have?”

“Oh sure, follow me.” Vaggie gestured for her to follow and Ayden closed her room door behind her as she followed Vaggie back downstairs to a closet where boxes and crates of stuff were stashed and Vaggie rummaged through a box while muttering,

“I could’ve sworn we had an extra one in her- aha!”

Vaggie pulled out an antique wooden brush with vines and flowers on the back and handle to give to Ayden who brushed a digit along the bristles to dislodge some of the dust before saying and asking,

“Cool thanks, got any sciss’rs?”

“Why?”

“Cause I wanna chop some’a my hai’ off, this is gettin’ too much…” Ayden pinched some of her scruffy hair to show how tangled it was and Vaggie cringed when she saw some wrappers and what looked like rodent bones in her hair as well.

“Well umm if you want I could.. I dunno.. help, I mean I style my own hair and sometimes help with Charlie’s so I’ve got some experience.”

Ayden looked over Vaggie’s hair and shrugged while answering,

“Sure that’d be good, I like the swoop thing ya got goin’ on.” 

Motioning to her bang that covered her left eye and Vaggie gave an unsure smile as she spoke,

“Ok then uh c’mon.” Vaggie motioned for Ayden to follow as they went back upstairs to the bathroom.

Short Time Skip

“Well what uh what do you think?” Vaggie asked, still in an unsure tone as she stepped back to let Ayden go in front of the mirror to observe her work.

“I. Look. Fie’ce! I love it!” Ayden drew out before enthusing as she checked herself out; her knee-length hair had been decluttered, brushed out, and trimmed to be just a little past shoulder-length when down but was currently pulled into a spiky mini ponytail with two long strands acting as bangs on the sides of her face and a scruffy look to it that suited Ayden.

“Oh good.. glad I could help..”

Ayden looked back at her with a warming smile before Charlie poked her head in to ask,

“There you both are an- woah Ayden you look amazing!”

“Thanks I-” Ayden was cut off when Angel appeared behind Charlie and commented,

“Ruby there ya are an- Woah you look diff-”

“I know I look different! And would you all just come in at the same time next time!” Ayden snapped impatiently, making everyone lean back a bit.

“Ok ok yeesh!” Angel Dust stepped back with his arms up defensively before saying, “I was just coming to ask if there’s anythin’ ta eat in this place?”

“Oh yes! I’ll go see what we’ve got.” Charlie rushed off and Vaggie gave a ruefully loving smile at her girlfriend’s enthusiasm before telling Angel and Ayden, deadpanning toward the end,

“I better go make sure she doesn’t accidentally cook the expired stuff.. again…”

Vaggie walked off before Ayden turned back to her reflection in the mirror as her red highlight tips reappeared back into her hair and Angel commented teasingly,

“I always knew you were a hothead but that was a little excessive even for you.”

“You know I don’t like a lotta attention…” Ayden crossed her arms while looking away with her ears folding down a bit making Angel’s smirk fall a bit before softening as he told her,

“Well ya can’t be hidin’ all the time y’know? It’s no way ta live…”

“Yeh… I know…”

“Well anyway,” Angel reached into his pocket as he told her, “I wanted ta give ya this for the old apartment but I think it could work here too.”

Ayden’s eyes widened in wonder at the rose-goldish keychain with a lozenge-shaped ruby-red crystal that led down to a chain with a ring on the end for a key.

“It’s so pretty!” Ayden spoke in awe as she took the keychain and hurried to get her hotel key out to put it on there before clipping it to the waistband of her shorts and saying in a genuine tone, “Thanks….”

“No prob Fuzzball.” Angel gently ruffled her hair and ear before she batted it off joking as he hooked a thumb down the hall to add, “Now let’s go see if the grub’s any good here.”

“Yes pleeeeaaase!” Ayden enthused before they started walking down the hall to get back to the lobby as the start of their new journey at the Happy Hotel was underway…

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

…

…

…

3rd Person POV

*Zzzzzz!*

Completely oblivious to the fighting and explosions going on in Pentagram City far outside the Hotel, Ayden was fast asleep on her bed in her demon cat form with her mouth open to let her loud snores echo in her small room.

She was also completely unaware of the piece of paper taped to her forehead which is why she nearly choked when she took a deep breath through her nose and the paper stuck on over it,

“Ffffff-grck!”

*CHOO!*

Bolting upright, Ayden went cross-eyed to see the note on bright pink paper with dark pink hearts on the corners, telltale it was from Angel Dust, and frowned as she muttered tiredly,

“Very funny Ang... ”

She unstuck it from her forehead to read it,

*Took a last-minute job in town last night. Cover for me. Thanks -xxx Angie*

“He be’er give me a cut fer this... ” Ayden let the note float to the floor as she flopped back onto her bed just before-

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

“MMMHMMMM!”

Loud, harsh knocks on her door made her impatiently moan loudly with her mouth closed before she kicked off her neon pink paint-splatter patterned black blanket to trudge over to the door and open it to reveal a furious Vaggie as she questioned without hesitation,

“Where is he?”

“Who?” Ayden played dumb as she yawned and Vaggie spoke through gritted teeth,

“Angel... ”

“He’s not in ‘is room... ?”

“No, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking you.”

“Ya check the roof?” Ayden questioned, leaning tiredly against her doorway with her arms crossed.

“Why would he be on the roof?!”

“Mhm?” Ayden shrugged tiredly before lying, “Said somethin’ once about ‘the hotness in the dange’ o’ fallin’ while wristin and hangin’ by a thread.’’”

“Why am I not surprised...?” Vaggie deadpanned, believing the lie and already knowing what Ayden meant by that with a hand to her forehead before Charlie was heard yelling up to them,

“Vaggie! It’s almost time to go!”

Vaggie sighed harshly while pinching the bridge of her nose before telling Ayden,

“Just tell him to stop doing that.”

“Ya really think he’ll listen ta me?” Ayden questioned somewhat defensively to keep the charade up.

“Just try? Please?”

“‘Ight... ” She shrugged nonchalantly before asking, “What’s the’e ta eat?”

“Had you woken up for breakfast, we had oatmeal.” Vaggie spoke pointedly, pointing out how long she’d slept in, made more evident by how Ayden snarked before questioning,

“Bleh... wait what time is’it?”

“Vaggie! Time to go!” Charlie called up so Vaggie yelled back,

“Be right down!”

Turning back to Ayden one last time to tell her,

“We’re heading to the interview now, stay out of trouble, and don’t forget to practice.”

The last part referring to how Ayden had been working on training with her fire powers so she could eventually use them to perform.

“Cool bye.” Ayden walked away from her to use her bathroom and Vaggie was seen making a “seriously?!” expression before going back downstairs to leave with Charlie for the interview.

A little while later, Ayden emerged from the bathroom, out of her pjs and into her regular clothes, with her hair brushed and pulled into a loose ponytail as she headed downstairs to see if there was anything to eat, finding some of the last of the bread that she spread some hellberry jam over before making her way to the living room to lay on the couch with her legs dangling over the armrest after switching the antique TV on to reveal the logo for the 666 News Channel.

*Good afternoon, I'm Katie Killjoy.* The blonde lady Sinner in a pinkish red suit introduced herself while her cohort, a fellow Sinner with a gas mask for a face and wearing a gray suit, reported,

*And I'm Tom Trench! Chaos out at Pentagram City today as a turf war is raging on the west side!*

An image of Sir Pentious trying to be hip was shown on the screen, followed by a drawing of Cherri flipping the bird is shown as Tom continued to report,

*Between notable kingpin, Sir Pentious, and self-proclaimed spunky powerhouse, Cherri Bomb!*

“And she di’n’t invite me?! BOO!” Ayden flipped off Cherri’s image before Katie started reporting,

*That's right, Tom! After the recent Extermination, many areas are now up for grabs! Demons all over Hell are already duking it out to gain new territory!*

A live clip of Cherri and Sir Pentious's clash was shown with Cherri taking one of Pentious’s Egg Boiz and breaking him apart to catch a bomb and throw it back to Pentious while Tom noted,

*Those two seem to be really going at it, huh?*

*Looks like they're fighting tooth and nail for that hot spot!* Katie pulled a tooth and nail from her mug before swallowing them as Tom commented suggestively wiggling his eyebrows as he watched the clip of Cherri fighting,

*And I'd sure like to nail her hot spot! Hoohoo!*

“Neve’ gonna happen... ” Ayden deadpanned as she ate the last of her sandwich before Katie spoke,

*Haha, you are a limp-dick jackass, Tom! Or should I say no dick?*

Purposefully dropping her scalding hot coffee onto his crotch making him curl over in pain as he started whimpering,

*Ugh... not again!*

Just as a picture of Charlie beaming at the camera was seen as Katie announced,

*Coming up next, we have an exclusive interview with the daughter of Hell's own head honcho who's here to discuss her brand new passion project! All that and more, after the break!*

Katie crushed her mug in her grip before turning to yell at Tom,

*Suck it up, you little bi-!*

Before the newscast cut off and went on a commercial break.

“How much do I wanna bet she’s gonna sing...?” Ayden asked herself as she got up while brushing the crumbs off her paws before she caught sight of two sticks that each had two tipped ends for fire maintenance by the concierge desk outside the living room.

“Guess I’ll practice…” Ayden went to grab the sticks and stayed out in the foyer, since the water bucket was closer there than the living room, but still kept an ear and partial eye on the TV as the program came back on with Katie greeting while snapping her broken neck back into place,

*Welcome back! So, Charlotte!*

*It's... Charlie.* Charlie corrected but Katie didn’t give a shit as she mildly threatened through a clenched smile,

*Whatever. Tell us about this new passion project you've been insistently pestering our news station about!*

“Oh cut the fake ass smiley shite Demon Karen…” Ayden snarked as she took one stick in her paws, lighting the ends on fire, before she started practicing twirling it between her digits as she kept an ear fixed on the TV for Charlie,

*Well, as most of you know, I was born here in Hell and growing up, I always tried to see the good in everyone around me. Hell is my home and-.. you are my people. We... we just went through another Extermination.*

“Oh yeah that was todaaay? O’ was it yeste’day…?” Ayden put a digit to her chin in faux thinking while twirling the stick in her other paw around in the air before Charlie continued speaking,

*We lost so many souls, and it breaks my heart to see my people being slaughtered every year. No one is even given a chance!* 

*TCH!*

Charlie banging a fist on the desk nearly snapped Ayden out of her concentrated state as she fumbled with the fire stick, barely managing to catch it with her tail before she sent a mild glare to the TV as Charlie kept going while walking around the studio,

*I can't stand idly by while the place I live is subjected to such violence! So, I've been thinking; Isn't there a more humane way to hinder overpopulation here in Hell? Perhaps we can create an alternative way to change souls through... redemption? Well, I think yes! So, that's what this project aims to achieve!* 

Charlie walked back to the main desk to announce,

*Ladies and gentlemen, I'm opening the first of its kind! A hotel that rehabilitates sinners!*

The silence from the audience made Ayden raise a brow before she smelled something burning and jolted when she realized she let one of the burning stick ends hover too close to the carpet and quickly stomped out the starting fire as Charlie was heard stuttering in the background, slowly losing confidence with each sentence,

*Y'know? 'Cause hotels are for people passin' through... temporarily... I think it'll serve a purpose... a place to work toward redemption... yaaaay... !*

“Doin’ great Cha’lie…” Ayden noted as she grimaced at the large scorch mark on the carpet before spotting a potted plant nearby and deciding to drag it over to hide the scorch mark.

*Look, every single one of you has something good, deep down inside. I know you do…! Maybe I'm not getting through to you.*

Ayden’s ears perked up in surprise at the sneakiness in Charlie’s voice before she facepalmed,

“Oh, crikey…” 

Just as Charlie snapped her fingers to make the studio go dark before a spotlight shone on her and Razzle and Dazzle, her flying goat bodyguards, as she posed on a piano that had magically appeared.

“Well.. ya gotta admi’e he’ readiness for pizzazz… I guess?” Ayden mildly shrugged as she went to sit back on the armrest of the couch as Charlie started to sing,

♫ I have a dream, I'm here to tell! 

About a wonderful fantastic new hotel! ♫

She took out a drawing of The Happy Hotel,

♫ Yes, it's one-of-a-kind! Right here in Hell, catering to a specific clientele ♫

She booped Dazzle’s nose before he and Razzle harmonized in the background,

♫ ~Oooh, ooh, ooooooh~ ♫

♫ Inside of every demon is a rainbow! 

Inside every sinner is a shiny smile! 

Inside of every creepy hatchet-wielding maniac is a jolly, happy cupcake-loving child! ♫

After avoiding the swings of two Sinners with weapons, she hands the second masked demon a sparkling cupcake while patting his head.

♫ We can turn them 'round!

They'll be Heaven-bound! 

With just a little time, down at The Happy Hotel! ♫

♫ So, all you junkies *takes out syringe from a doll demon's head*, freaks *takes a pic with a Siamese twin demon in its cage*, and weirdos *fends off a several-eyed blob demon*. Creepers *stares at a snail demon out the window*, fuck-ups *boops a couch demon on the nose*, crooks, and zeroes *returns the stolen money to charity*, and down-fallen superheroes *throws her hands behind the necks of two supervillain demons*, help is here! ♫

♫ All of you cretins *dips her hair into the water by the pier*, sluts *holds out a pair of panties in disgust*, and losers *calls her rival a loser*, sexual deviants *backs away from the sex offenders*, and boozers *turns to face a depressed demon*, and prescription drug abusers *throws away the drugs a blue demon is taking into a burning trash can*, need not fear! ♫ 

♫ Forever again *A demon lands on a wheelchair and is pushed by Razzle towards Charlie and Dazzle*, we'll cure your sin *shows the demon her clipboard*! We'll make you well *Dazzle injects a happiness serum into the patient*, you'll feel so swell! Right here in Hell *briefly turns to her full demonic form*, at the Happy Hotel! ♫

Razzle aggressively plays the piano before Charlie continues singing,

♫ *slides over to Killjoy's right* There'll be no more fire, *slides over to Trench's left* and no more screams. Just puppy dog kisses *holds a dog close to her face*, and cotton candy dreams *holds out a stick of cotton candy*, and puffy-wuffy clouds *cuddles both the dog and cotton candy*, you're gonna be like 'Wow!' *camera pans out showing the clouds forming the word 'Wow!'* Once you check in with meee *shows a check-in chart*! ♫

♫ So, all your cartoon porn addictions *confiscates a neckbeard demon's cartoon porn magazine*, vegan rants *confiscates a vegan demon's Hellphone and takes a selfie with it*, psychic predictions *confiscates the spell books and crystal ball of a psychic demon*, ancient Roman crucifixions *avoids running into a crucified demon and knocks over two other crucified demons*, end right here *throws away all the confiscated items off a cliff*! ♫

♫ All you monsters *clenches the hands of two monstrous demons*, thieves, and crazies *points finger guns over a dog demon trying to steal baguettes from an insect demon whose hood flares open*, cannibals *tempts the cannibals with a severed arm on a plate*, and crying babies *looks at a possum mother and her rabid babies, annoyed*, frothing mouths that's full of rabies filled with cheer *pulls a hellhound with rabies close to her*! ♫

♫ You'll be complete *completes a puzzle demon as the camera pans out*! It'll be so neat *a wrecking ball demon destroys the puzzle demon as Charlie gives two thumbs up*! Our service can't be beat *in her doorman uniform*! You'll be on Easy Street, yes *hugs three demons, which include Mimzy*! Life will be sweet *turns to her demonic form* at The Happy Hoteeel *twirls happily in flames as she jumps up, revealing a land made of candies and sweets behind her*! Yeah! ♫

Charlie finishes her song in a pose while panting subtly leaving it dead silent around before Ayden hears a demon off-screen say,

*Wow…! That was shit!*

Making everyone in the audience including Katie and Tom start to laugh at Charlie, who curls up on the desk looking crushed and devastated.

“Oh like any o’ those dickwads coulda done bette’...” Ayden scrunches her face up in disgust at everyone booing Charlie before Katie shouted at her,

*What in the Nine Circles makes you think a single denizen of Hell would give two shits about becoming a better person?! You have no proof that this little experiment even works! You want people to be good?! Just... because?!*

*Well, we have a patron already, who believes in our cause and he's shown incredible progress!*

*Oh? And who might that be?* Katie asked while feigning shock but Charlie returned it with a smug look as she retorted,

*Oh, just someone named... Angel Dust!*

*The porn star?* Tom questioned making Katie look at him menacingly with her nails dragging lines across the desk as she hissed,

*You fucking would, Tom!*

“Cou’se he would…” Ayden noted with an eye roll, not at all surprised, as Katie turned back to Charlie to mock,

*In any case, that's not even an accomplishment. I'm sure you could get that hooker to do anything with enough booger sugar and lube.*

“Ugh!” Ayden grimaced when Katie made the motion of doing a handjob before adding, “I mean true enough but ugh!”

*Oh, I beg to differ! He's been behaved, clean, and out of trouble for two weeks now.* Charlie argued while counting each thing off with her fingers before someone off-screen announced, 

*Breaking News!*

Making Ayden perk her ears up in interest while Katie shoved Charlie off the desk to declare,

*We are receiving word that a new player has entered the ongoing turf war! Let's go to the live feed.*

The live feed showed Angel stepping on an Egg Boi and throwing a grenade over at Sir Pentious with audible laughter in the background.

“WHA-!” Ayden’s face dropped into an “are you fucking kidding me?!” expression.

*Oh... shit.* Charlie spoke in a defeated tone while Angel was heard in the background yelling,

*I'm a bad person!*

*'Oh, shit' indeed! It looks like the one who just joined the battle is none other than *HAH!* porn actor, Angel Dust!*

Faking a shocked gasp as the thumbnail image of one of his videos was pulled up, Katie turned to Charlie to taunt,

*What a juicy coincidence! You must feel really stupid, right now.*

The two news anchors laughed before announcing in unison as they did Jazz hands,

*~Ratiiiiiings!~*

Charlie panicked as the footage of Angel fighting was still going and attempted to block it with her body but it was still visible to the viewers even as she urged,

*Don't look at this!*

*Well, it sure looks like your little project is dead on arrival. Tell us, how does it feel to be such a total failure?*

Katie and everyone else in the studio burst into taunting laughter while Charlie struggled to think of a comeback so she just stuttered out,

*Yeah, well... How does it feel that I got your pen, huh?!* She grabbed Katie’s red pen before boldly stating, *…Bitch!*

Almost instantly everyone stopped laughing while Katie gave her a death glare making Charlie laugh nervously while dropping the pen back on the desk,

*Ehehe... Oops.*

Even Tom knew to get the fuck out while he still could as Katie’s demonic form started to show when she loomed over Charlie, poised to attack.

“What the fuck?!” Ayden bolted upright as the fight with Katie and Charlie started but that wasn’t what she was focusing on as she exclaimed in disbelief, “They’e both fightin’ without me?! Fuck that racket!”

Running upstairs she burst into her room to throw one of her vanity drawers open to retrieve her choker necklace, put it on while picturing the battlefield she saw on the TV, before kneeling down to draw a pentagram on the floor of her room, leaving a fiery line of light in her digit’s path, as she circled the pentagram and made an opening motion with her paw to open a portal right above the battle before jumping down through it.

Meanwhile, just before, with Cherri Bomb and Angel Dust, they were seen fighting more of Pentious’s Egg Boiz as she was telling Angel,

“Heyyy, thanks for the backup, Angie!”

“Hahaha! You kiddin'? This is the best action I've seen in ages!” Angel told her as he threw another bomb onto the field before putting his hands behind his head nonchalantly.

“Heads up fucke’s!” They both looked up in the direction of the source of the voice before they saw Ayden dropping out of the sky onto the battlefield and landing on all fours on top of an Egg Boi as a hellcat before shifting to demon cat form to crush it under her as she whooped, “WOOO!”

“Ruby?!”

“Ayden!”

Angel and Cherri both yelled in unison, more surprise on Angel’s part and excitement on Cherri’s.

“Didja really think I was gonna miss out on a smackdown like this? HA!” Ayden spun-kicked an Egg Boi away before finishing as she ducked down behind the ridge next to Angel and Cherri, “Not in yer eve’lastin’ afte’life!”

“Good ta see ya ya ~lil’ shithead!~” Cherri wrapped an arm around Ayden’s neck to baby talk while harshly noogie her before she let her go to grab a cherry bomb and ask the both of them,

“Speakin’ of, where've you both been, anyway? I thought you up and died or some shit.”

“Oh, I wish! We've been staying at this crappy hotel on the other side of town.” Angel griped as he grabbed a bomb, holding it out to Ayden to light with her powers, before handing it to Cherri, “Some broads are lettin' us stay rent-free if Fuzzball uses her ‘flare’ ta draw people in and if I play nice.”

The three of them covered their ears for the explosion going off behind them before grinning madly at each other as they jumped back onto the field so Cherri could throw more explosives at the incoming Egg Boiz, Angel could mow them down with his Tommy gun, and Ayden could scratch and slash at them with her claws, shifting between forms to dodge and make attacks.

“Y'know, no fights, no pranks, no 'problematic language'... Her words, not mine.” Angel continued to whine as he stepped on a broken stone to launch an Egg Boi into the air to shoot at him from below.

“Basic’lly nothin’ fuuun!” Ayden groaned as she bashed two Egg Boiz together right above her, raining their “blood” over her as she grinned insanely at it.

“What’re you complainin’ about?! I'm the one who’s been clean for two weeks!” Angel retorted to Ayden making her stick her tongue out at him while Cherri noted in disbelief,

“Ho-ly shit!”

“Well, sorta clean. Just clean as you can get from a shitload of Bolivian marching powder!” Angel smirked at Cherri as he bashed another Egg Boi before he was abruptly grabbed by a chain and thrown through the air down the ground by Sir Pentious.

“~Ohhhhh~ ~Harder, Daddy!~” Angel moaned suggestively while raising a brow at Sir Pentious but he took it literally as he gasped while looking down at him with watery eyes,

“Son?!”

Angel’s face quickly switched from flirty to incredulous disbelief before Cherri kicked Sir Pentious aside while Ayden freed Angel with a quick slash to the chains as easily as cutting paper apart.

“Hrrrr! You whores have no classss! In war, the side remembered is the side with the most ssstyle!” Sir Pentious argued as he fixed his tie.

“Or the side that ain't dead!” Cherri countered as she broke an Egg Boi apart.

“Speakin' a style, is your hat like, alive or somethin’?” Angel questioned motioning to his head after he stood up from freeing himself from the ruined chains.

“Oh! Well-that's none of your GODDAMN BUSSSSINESS! Now, is it?” Sir Pentious was about to answer when he caught on and hissed back defensively.

“Heh, would that make your hat the top and you the bottom?” Angel taunted and even Ayden had to snort at that roast,

“PFT!”

“Oooooh!” An Egg Boi heckled his own boss and had a rock thrown at him by Sir Pentious.

“HA! Ev’n he gets it!” Ayden added insult to injury before Sir Pentious yelled at them in an enraged tone,

“I'm going to blow you to bitssss!”

“Hm, kinky!” Angel commented after eyeing him up and down making Sir Pentious respond,

“Oh, not like that! Pervert!” 

Ayden’s ear twitched when an Egg Boi with a tentacle launcher showed up right behind them before she and Cherri were shoved aside by Angel as it caught all his hands to trap him.

“Not so cocky now, are we?!” Sir Pentious taunted as he got up in Angel’s face but he just asked in an unamused tone,

“Y'know, you really gotta watch what comes outta ya mouth. I've been making these sex jokes the whole-TIME!” He yelped a bit when his limbs got pulled taut as an Egg Boi showed up with a giant drill aimed for him before he continued, his third pair of arms showing up with a gun in their grip, “And it's obvious ya ain't catchin' on. I mean, it's just sad!”

He shot at Sir Pentious before flipping him off when his arms were released from the tentacle device just before Cherri showed up behind him to ask,

“So, think you're gonna get in a lotta trouble for this?”

“Eh, what's one little brawl gonna cause?” Angel asked as they looked down on Sir Pentious while his third pair of arms retracted back into his body

“I’m pre’y su’e the bosses have thei’ own problems right ‘bout now…” Ayden commented while rolling her eyes but it went unheard by Angel and Cherri as she told them while punching Angel and Ayden on their arms,

“Glad you haven't changed! You know you're my favorite guy and little slugger to party with!”

“You know it, sugar tits!”

“Anytime homegi’l!” Ayden winked while giving her a thumbs up.

“You both ready to finish this?” Cherri rolls another bomb across her shoulders while skillfully lighting it as Angel readies his Tommy gun and Ayden unsheaths her claws as they each rally,

“Born ready, baby!”

“Let’s fuckin’ go ‘lready!”

The three of them launched with a warcry yell toward Sir Pentious and his remaining Egg Boiz not realizing they were in a similar position to Charlie in her fight against Katie while Tom had somehow been lit on fire and was screaming in agony.

Cut to a little while later, Charlie’s family limo was seen driving back to the hotel while, inside, Charlie’s hugging her knees as she sighed dejectedly while Vaggie was crossing her arms and glaring daggers at Angel and Ayden, the former playing with the automatic car window roller while the latter was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest on the car seat, licking her paws to clean the Egg Boi “blood” out of her hair.

Once they caught sight of Vaggie’s scrunched-up furious face, Ayden paused mid-lick with a cat-like “blep” facial expression while Angel stopped messing with the window so he could question,

“...What?”

“'What?' 'WHAT?!' What were you DOING?!” Vaggie shouted incredulously as she ripped out bits of her hair.

“I owed my girl buddy a solid!” Angel tried to justify his action with a sigh and Ayden added,

“And I was helpin’im helpin’er out.”

“Yeah isn't that a 'redeeming quality?’ Helping friends with stuff?” Angel made air quotes as he argued while rolling his eyes.

“Not with turf wars that result in territorial genocide!” Vaggie yelled at them but Angel brushed it off with an unconcerned,

“Eh, you win some, you lose a few hundred. Ehahahahahah!” Inhaling deeply before resuming playing with the car window roller again, “It wasn't that bad, anyway.”

*FW-TCH!*

Until a knife courtesy of Vaggie was thrown at the window roller switch to stop him from messing with it as her glare deepened.

“Aw, come on! I had to!” Angel argued as he brushed his hair back, “My credibility was on the line! I mean, what kind of reputation would I have if people found out I was tryna go clean? It just throws out my entire persona!” 

At the last part, he suggestively pushed his chest floof up only enraging Vaggie more as she yelled,

“Your credibility? What about the hotel's?! Your little stunt made us look like a fucking joke!”

Vaggie’s eye was practically ablaze but it didn’t faze Angel or Ayden in the slightest as he scoffed while moving around in his seat in different poses,

“No, no, no, babe. Jokes are funny! I made you look... uh, sad! And pathetic! Like an orphan... with no arms... or legs... Oh! With progeria! Great! Now I'm bummed thinkin' about it!” 

Charlie winced deeper with each emphasis Angel made and the final nail in the metaphorical embarrassment coffin was when Ayden added,

“‘Sides I’m pre’y su’e people ‘lready thought we we’e a joke when Cha’lie decided ta sing…”

“You aren’t off the hook either!” Vaggie’s attention turned to Ayden as she picked at some rubble that got stuck between her digits and some broken edges of her claws while she got chewed out, “You can’t keep covering for Angel’s ass every time he decides to act out! Don’t forget we’re only letting you stay at the hotel because you said you’d help us out and that wasn’t helping!”

“Fo’ you’e info’mation Ms. Twisted Pan’ies, I did practice ea’lie’ like ya told me to.” Ayden retorted back with a smug look while Angel was twisting around looking for something in the limo from the way he asked,

“This thing have any liquor?”

Making Ayden “accidentally” kick his head when he searched under her seat only to find a large dust bunny as he snapped while rubbing his head,

“Aye!”

“Oops?” Ayden held her arms up in a half-shrug still with a smug look on her face before Vaggie yelled at both of them,

“Can you please just try to take this seriously?!”

“Fine, I'll try. Just don't get your taco in a twist, baby!” Angel agreed, flicking the dust bunny away before he snapped in Vaggie’s direction, only for her to question offended,

“Was that you trying to be sexist or racist?!”

“Whatever pisses you off more.” Angel groaned, completely unbothered by the death glare in Vaggie’s eye as he whined, “Is there seriously no liquor in here?!”

“Jus’ pull from yer stash when we get back.” Ayden commented nonchalantly as she resumed cleaning herself.

“I'm gonna kill'em.” Vaggie huffed as she sat back down next to Charlie with her arms crossed.

“Too late, toots.”

“I’d like ta see ya try!” Ayden scoffed as she mimicked Angel and propped her paws up on the other seats while putting her arms behind her head.

“Wait! Would that make me double-dead?” Angel questioned out of nowhere, “Hah, and where exactly do I go? To Double Hell? Hahahahahahahaha! Sorry, you're stuck with me, bitch. Get used to it.”

“¡Come mierda, malparido hijos de-!” (Eat shit, you bastard children of-!) Vaggie snarled through her clenched teeth.

“Hey!” Ayden spoke offended, even if she had no idea what Vaggie just said.

“Listen, who cares if some jack-offs got hurt? Most of 'em are ugly freaks. Look around!” Angel looked out the limousine window as he smirked, “You got a bunch a fuckin' Harlequin babies down here!”

“You're one to talk.” Vaggie snarked with a smug grin making Angel retort,

“Hey!” Before he started motioning to his body, “This body is flawless! Everyone wants summa me and I got the creepy fan letters to prove it!”

He reached into his chest floof after pushing it up flirtatiously to pull out a letter with a Polaroid photo attached to it.

“Don’t even wanna see it… ulgh-eh!” Ayden pushed the photo away with a paw as she shivered and gagged.

“Grrr…” Vaggie looked like she was about to go off on another rant when Charlie cut in to mildly scold them both,

“That was really uncool, y'know, Angel, Ayden.”

“'Uncool'?!” Vaggie started to yell again, “After that train wreck, there is no way anyone is gonna wanna stay at the hotel! All thanks to you both and your selfish bullshit!”

Pointing to Angel and Ayden toward the end, he asked,

“Does that mean we don't have our free rooms anymore?”

Vaggie made a “what do you think?!” motion and Angel complained while snapping a finger,

“Ah... well, shucks.”

“Dannazione…” (Damn it…) Ayden pouted as she slouched in her seat with a moody frown and Angel gave her a proud smirk.

“Hey, come on. We don't know if things are over yet!” Charlie tried to remain hopeful as she took off her ruined jacket before turning to Vaggie to calm her down with a gentle touch to her shoulder, “Try to relax, Vaggie. I-it'll be okay!”

Making Vaggie smile softly at her girlfriend’s optimism right as the limo stopped right outside of the Happy Hotel.

Once they all got inside, Vaggie went straight for the couch with a frustrated sigh, Charlie went to sit on top of some crates, and Ayden and Angel went to the fridge that was leaning on the wall in the foyer to find something to eat.

“Anythin’?” Ayden asked before Angel managed to find a box of melting Popsies inside and pulled the last one out, about to offer it to Ayden when she gently rejected it with a raised paw saying,

“I had a sandwich ea’lie’.” Walking away to sit at the mini table near Vaggie so Angel could shrug and start eating it before he commented to Charlie,

“Eh, it's probably a good idea to get some actual food in this place. Y'know, to feed all the wayward souls you got in here! Ahahaha! Ahaha...! eh... ah…”

But his joking laughter trailed off when he noticed Charlie’s dejected expression deepen even more and he started to reach out to her, about to try and comfort her when he decided to back off.

“Too soon...” Ayden muttered as she slumped over the table with her tail flicking mindlessly behind her while Charlie went outside.

Angel was about to make a snarky comment when he heard her stomach make a little rumbling noise that made her grimace a bit so he held the popsicle over to her.

She perked up and smiled at him a bit before she took a bite from the tip, making him snort to hold back his laughter so Ayden lightly hit his arm with her tail as she chuckled too before it fell as she went back to frowning.

There was a moment of quiet as Angel continued sucking the popsicle and Ayden and Vaggie just moped in place right before-

*TCH!*

Ayden’s ears perked up when she heard the faint sound of someone knocking at the door before they continued knocking in some kind of pattern,

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Ayden shifted to hellcat form to scamper over to Charlie as her fur prickled up from the weird feeling she was getting from whoever was on the other side of the door.

“Ayden?”

“Be ca’eful…”

Charlie looked at her oddly before opening the door to reveal a tall red schemed demon with a deer-like appearance down to the small antlers on his head, wearing a striped suit, black pants, dress shoes, a monocle, and carrying around a staff with a microphone on one end.

Ayden had no idea who this demon was but Charlie seemed to from the way her face dropped in disbelief just as the demon greeted,

“Hel-”

Before the door got slammed in his face, Charlie looking to the side in disbelief for a second before reopening the door so the demon could finish what he had been saying before-

“-lo!”

Only for the door to be closed on him again so Charlie could call out to Vaggie,

“Hey, Vaggie?”

“Whaaaat?” Vaggie called back in an annoyed tone before Charlie told her nervously,

“The Radio Demon is at the door!”

“What?!” Vaggie instantly sat up at that news but Angel and Ayden were clueless as they both asked,

“Uh... who?”

“Yeh who?” Ayden repeated as she stayed by the door but shifted back to demon cat form to cross her arms, waiting for an answer.

“What should I do?!” Charlie asked, panicking while pulling at her face.

“Uh, well- Don't let him in!” Vaggie told her as Angel went back to sucking his popsicle.

After a moment, Charlie looked back to the door and walked past Ayden as she commented,

“She’s gon’ let’im in…”

To open the door again as the red demon asked in, what Ayden was now hearing to be a radio broadcasting tone,

“May I speak now?”

“You may…”

“Alastor!” The demon held out a hand to Charlie as he introduced himself before pulling her to literally be face to face with him as he entered the hotel, “Pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart! Quite a pleasure!” 

Charlie looked bewildered for a second at Alastor as he walked right past Ayden while he continued to speak rapid fire,

“Excuse my sudden visit, but I saw your fiasco on the picture show, and I just couldn't resist! What a performance! Why, I haven't been that entertained since the stock market crash of 1929! Hahahahaha, sooo many orphans…”

Right before he was stopped with a spear pointed at his chest as Vaggie appeared in front of him to threaten,

“Stop right there, cabrón hijo de perra! (bastard son of a bitch) I know your game and I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone here, you pompous cheesy talk show shitlord!”

“Yeh what she said.” Ayden added trying to match Vaggie’s threatening tone as she slid in next to her with her claws unsheathed but Alastor was unbothered as he used a finger to move Vaggie’s spear away while using his staff to lightly whap Ayden’s paws down while telling them,

“Dearies, if I wanted to hurt anyone here…” Alastor’s eyes turned into radio dials as he threatened creepily, “I would've done so already…”

Their whole surroundings fritzing and fizzling out with static and strange symbols that left Charlie, Vaggie, and Ayden staring at him disconcerted before he snapped back to normal as he told them,

“No! I'm here because I want to help!”

“Say what, now?”

“Help! Hahaha, hellooo? Is this thing on? Testing, testing!” Alastor held his staff up to his mouth to speak into it before tapping it to make sure it was working.

*Well, I heard you loud and clear!* An eyeball opened up on the microphone as it yelled back at him.

“Woah.. freaky…” Ayden made a move to poke the staff from the side but her paw was whapped away again as Charlie questioned,

“Um, you want to help? Wiiiith...?”

“This ridiculous thing you're trying to do! This hotel! I want to help you run it.” Alastor reappeared from behind them before making a motion to the hotel, only making Charlie question,

“Buuut... why?”

“Hahaha, why does anyone do anything? Sheer, absolute boredom!” Alastor explained while leaning an elbow on top of Vaggie’s head, “I've lacked inspiration for decades. My work became mundane, lacking focus,” Before shoving Vaggie away as he finished, “aimless! I've come to crave a new form of entertainment! Hahaha!”

“Does getting into a fistfight with a reporter count as entertainment...?” Charlie asked nervously as Vaggie picked herself back up to stand next to her.

“I’d think so..” Ayden commented while shrugging before Alastor seemed to echo her sentiment as he told Charlie,

“Hahaha! It's the purest kind, my dear: Reality! True passion! After all, the world is a stage and the stage is a world of entertainment.”

“So, does this mean you think it's possible to rehabilitate a demon?” Charlie asked hopefully only to have her hopes dashed when Alastor disagreed,

“Hahahahaha! Of course not! That's wacky nonsense!” Shaking a hand in front of her face as her hopeful expression turned to one of dismay as Alastor continued saying,

“Redemption, oh the non-existent humanity! No, no, no, no. I don't think there's anything left that could save such loathsome Sinners!” He looked over to Vaggie, who looked offended, and Angel, who just shrugged, before gesturing to their surroundings as he finished, “The chance given was the life they lived before, the punishment is this! There is no undoing what is done!”

“So, then. Why do you wanna help me if you don't believe in my cause?” Charlie asked and Alastor discreetly gave a sneaky smile before answering while twirling Charlie around even as she gave him a disappointed look,

“Consider it an investment in ongoing entertainment for myself! I want to watch the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment only to repeatedly trip and tumble down to the fiery pit of failure!”

“Riiiight.” Charlie drew out skeptically as she removed Alastor’s hand from her shoulder before continuing pitching,

“Yes, indeedy! I see big things coming your way and who better to help you than I…?”

Vaggie, Angel, and Ayden all watched Charlie and Alastor leave before Angel asked while hooking a thumb in Alastor’s direction,

“Uh, so... uh, what's the deal with Smiles over there?”

“Wait, you've never heard of him before? You've been here longer than me!” 

Angel shrugged cluelessly so Vaggie turned to Ayden hoping she’d know as she asked,

“You?”

But Ayden just raised her arms in a half-shrug while responding,

“Nerp.”

“Weren’t you born here?”

“Yeehh…?” Ayden drew out lying but covered it up with nonchalance as she added, “So…?”

Vaggie rolled her eyes before trying to explain,

“The Radio Demon. One of the most powerful beings Hell has ever seen?”

“Eh, not big on politics.” Angel spoke while shrugging a second time and Ayden echoed,

“Me eithe’.”

“Ugh!” Vaggie grunted before she started to recount ominously, leaning in toward Angel and Ayden, “Decades ago, Alastor manifested in Hell, seemingly overnight. He began to topple Overlords who have been dominant for centuries. That kind of raw power had never been harnessed by a mortal soul before. Then, he broadcast his carnage all throughout Hell just so everyone could witness his ability. Sinners started calling him 'The Radio Demon' (as lazy as that is). Many have speculated what unimaginable force enabled him to rival our world's most ancient and destructive evils. But one thing's for sure; He's an unpredictable source of danger, a wicked spirit of mystery, and a violent monster of chaos, the likes of which we can't risk getting involved with unless we want to end up erased!”

“Ya done?” Angel questioned, breaking the tense atmosphere Vaggie had created before he laughed dryly as he commented while looking at Alastor, “He looks like a strawberry pimp.”

“I was thinkin’ walkin’ licorice stick.” Ayden added with a cheeky smile before Vaggie huffed,

“Well, I don't trust him!”

“To be fair, do you trust any man?” Angel asked her before piling it on even as she gave him a deadpan look, “Any men? Men?”

As Vaggie went to talk to Charlie, Ayden side-bumped Angel as she muttered,

“Ya think she’s right?”

“Eh ya know she can get worked up over nothin’.”

“Right, right…”

Noticing her slight nervousness, Angel poked her nose to tease,

“Don’t tell me you’re fallin’ for all that ‘danger and mystery’ biz.”

“Neve’!”

“Ya totally are! Pappamolle! (Wuss!)”

“Idiota! (Jerk!)”

The two of them engaged in a playful slapping fight that only ended when they saw Charlie step back over to Alastor to tell him,

“Okay, so, Al. You're sketchy as fuck and you clearly see what I'm trying to do here as a joke.”

The second Charlie turned away from him, some eerie glowing red symbols started to appear around Alastor, only to disappear right when Charlie turned back to him to express,

“But, I don't. I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better. So, I'm taking your offer to help. On the condition that there be no… trickster, voodoo strings attached.”

“So, it's a deal, then?” Alastor twirled his staff around before offering a hand in Charlie’s direction as green energy and sparks started to swirl around it, sending a gust of wind that even Ayden and Angel felt as they bolted off the couch, the former prepared to attack when Charlie refused the handshake as she hurried to “order” hesitantly,

“Nope! No shaking! No deals! I... hmm... As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I, uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel... For as long as you desire.”

She looked over to Vaggie for approval, who gave an “oh boy…” expression while Ayden gave her an unsure shrug, before asking him,

“Sound fair?”

“Hmm…” Alastor stroked his chin in thought for a second before retracting his staff as he agreed, “Fair enough!”

“Phew… Cool beans.” Charlie sighed in relief while giving a double thumbs up.

“♫ Hmm hm hmm hmm… ♫”

Humming a random tune, Alastor strolled around taking in the building as Angel went to sit by the Concierge desk with Ayden close by before he zeroed in on Vaggie who was standing with her arms crossed and looking down in irritation and told her while tickling her chin,

“Smile, my dear!” 

Making Vaggie fume in aggravation even as Alastor advised her,

“You know you're never fully dressed without one! ♫ Hmm hmhmhmhm hmmmmm… ♫”

He walked off humming again as Vaggie glared after him before he asked Charlie,

“So where is your hotel staff?”

“Uh, well…” Charlie motioned back over to Vaggie as she screwed her eye even further shut in a death glare before Alastor recommended while adjusting his monocle,

“Ohohoho, you're going to need more than that.” 

Before walking over to Angel to ask,

“And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?”

“I can suck your dick!” Angel answered candidly, a mic feedback noise sounding off from Alastor before he laughed and answered bluntly,

“HAH! No.”

“Tch… Your loss.” Angel scoffed making Ayden grimace with her ears folding down,

“Eww…”

“And technically Ayden’s a staff member too.” Charlie spoke up motioning over to her and Alastor turned to her to ask,

“Oh? And what can you do?”

“I can do this.” Ayden raised both paws to summon a fireball in each before “crushing” them and flipping double birds as the flames reappeared on the tips of her digits like little candles.

“Weeeell a feline firestarter, I’m sure there’s a use for that somewhere here.”

Ayden let the flames extinguish as she rolled her eyes at Alastor’s condescending tone and muttered,

“Arsehole… YAH!”

Before yelping as her head was whacked when he summoned his mic staff again, ignoring her indignant expression and hiss, as he noted,

“Well, this just won't do! I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up.”

*TCH!*

*FWOOSH!*

Snapping his finger, a wave of flames and sparks flushed out from the fireplace before fading away to reveal it had been completely remodeled to look brand new as a small figure covered in soot dropped down and remained in the hearth.

Alastor went to pick up the figure before a giant orange and red bloodshot eye opened up and some odd little chittering noises came from it before the soot was poofed off their body to reveal a little cyclops Sinner with pink bob-cut hair with a yellow streak in it, pink dots at the corners of her mouth, and wearing a 1950s-style maid dress outfit and a neckerchief.

“This little darling is Niffty!” Alastor introduced her before dropping her to the floor so she could wave to and inspect them all with her large eye,

“Hi, I'm Niffty! It's nice to meet you! It's been a while since I've made new friends! Why're you all women?”

“Are there any men here?!” She exclaimed, startling everyone as she lifted Charlie above her head before putting her down to speak rapidly while zipping around cleaning, organizing, and killing bugs with her needle,

“I'm sorry, that's rude. Oooh, man! This place is filthy! It really needs a lady's touch! Which is weird because you're all ladies, no offense. Ohmygosh! Thisisawful! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!”

All of them stared at her as she kept cleaning around before they turned around when they heard someone, an avian cat Sinner wearing a top hat, a red bow tie, and black pants with suspenders and whose wings were patterned with playing card symbols, speaking from a bar that had mysteriously appeared in the foyer behind them,

“Hah! Read 'em and weep, boys! Full Hoooooo-” More of Alastor’s demonic symbols and illusions appeared around the demon before fading and the Sinner questioned, “-tel? What the fuck is this?” Right before realizing he and the bar had been teleported because of Alastor, snarling while pointing at him, “You!”

“Ah, Husker, my good friend! Glad you could make it!” Alastor tried to greet him with a hand to his shoulder but Husk pushed it off to point at him and gripe,

“Don't you 'Husker' me, you son of a bitch! I was about to win the whole damn pot!”

Pointing back to the gambling table where stacks of money and poker chips fizzled out of existence but Alastor didn’t seem to care as he spoke again,

“Good to see you too!”

Making Husk facepalm angrily and drag his lower eyelids down in impatience as he questioned,

“What the hell do you want with me this time...?”

“My friend, I am doing some charity work so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services! I hope that's okay!” Alastor wrapped an arm around Husk’s shoulders, making some cards fall out of his “sleeve,” to tell him before he shouted back,

“Are you shittin' me?!”

“Hmm…” Alastor hugged him closer as he answered, “No, I don't think so!”

Causing Husk shoved him off to yell,

“You thought it'd be some kind of big fucking riot just to pull me out of nowhere?! You think I'm some kind of fucking clown?!”

“May-be!”

“I ain't doing no fucking charity job.”

“Well, I figured you would be the perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment!” He gestured to the bar before motioning back to Husk as he pulled his mouth into a smile, uncaring of how it fell back into a frown as he continued to speak, “With your charming smile and welcoming energy, this job was made for you!”

Seeing Husk still moodily scowling at him, Alastor walked over to the bar counter before bargaining,

“Don't worry my friend, I can make this more welcoming…! If you wish...”

He waves an arm to make a bottle of “Cheap Booze” magically appear out of nowhere and Husk stares at it for a second before ranting,

“What? You think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?!” Husk grabbed the bottle as he got in Alastor’s face before turning the metaphorical corner, “…Well, you can!”

Just as Husk started downing the alcohol while going back behind the counter of the bar just before Vaggie started protesting,

“Hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey! No! No bar, no alcohol! This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin! Not some kind of mouth... brothel... man cave!”

Right before Angel tackled her as he argued while pointing at the bar with all his hands,

“SHUT UP! SHUT! UP! We are keeping this!”

“~Heeey.~”

“Go fuck yourself.” Husk brushed off Angel’s advance but he kept persisting while holding Husk’s face, 

“~Only if you watch me!~”

Right before Ayden slid up the bar and tried talking in a slightly deeper voice,

“I’ll have a bou’bon on the rocks. Shaken not sti’ed.”

“Nice try kid…” Husk deadpanned with a raised brow, making her snark,

“Dammit…”

Charlie rushed up with happy squeaks and stars shining in her eyes to exclaim at Husk,

“Oh, my gosh! Welcome to The Happy Hotel! You are going to love it here!”

But Husk wasn’t having it as he told her bluntly before continuing to drink his booze,

“I lost the ability to love years ago.”

“So, whaddaya think?” Alastor asked her before she answered happily while rubbing her cheeks,

“This is amazing!”

“It's... okay.” Vaggie spoke with her arms crossed, still distrusting of Alastor before he dragged the two of them into a hug,

“Hahaha! This is going to be very entertaining!”

He lets go of Vaggie and summons a fireball, launching it to the hotel ceiling just so he could distract Charlie fast enough for him to shove Vaggie away before his clothes changed to a tux and top hat while singing,

♫ You have a dream! You wish to tell! ♫

Alastor changes Charlie’s outfit before jabbing toward Vaggie and tossing Charlie into the air,

♫ And it's just laughable. But, hey, kid, what the hell? ♫

The background behind Charlie changes to neon-colored lights featuring two apples and a skull before he catches Charlie by the hand as they both tap dance together before sliding down the railing of the stairs,

♫ 'Cause you're one-of-a-kind! A charming demon belle!

Now, let's give these burning fools a place to dwell! ♫

With another snap of his fingers, everyone else’s outfits were changed to styles from the 1920s and Ayden let go from helping Angel hold Vaggie back from fighting Alastor when her outfit changed to a maroon tank-top style flapper dress with a red headband that had orange feathers sprouting out from a small jeweled bow as her hair curled into a bob, her choker changing to a string of pearls making her panic a bit before-

♫ Take it, boys! ♫

Shadow demons appeared from the floorboards and began playing their instruments as Vaggie tried to talk to Charlie who was having too much fun before Alastor pulled her in with him and the others as his shadow demons surround them with a,

“Boo!”

♫ Haha! Inside of every demon is a lost cause! ♫

Alastor put a fedora on Angel’s head who snapped at him and plucked a bit of Husk’s eyebrow out making him flip him off before moving on to Ayden and Vaggie as he harshly flicked the former’s nose making her hiss at him before giving the latter a large hat and fur scarf and slapping her butt while singing,

♫ But we'll dress 'em up for now, with just a smile! ♫

♫ (With a smile!) ♫

♫ And we'll chlorinate this cesspool with some old redemption flair! And show these simpletons some proper class and style! ♫

He summoned more shadows one of which looked to be his shadow clone but was snapped away as they kept singing and dancing with Charlie,

♫ (Class and style!) ♫

♫ Oh! Here below the ground, I'm sure your plan is sound! They'll spend a little time, down at this Hazbin Ho-♫

*BOOM!*

The hotel door explodes, knocking Niffty off into the distance as Charlie, Alastor, Angel, Vaggie, and Ayden look outside to see Sir Pentious’s warship outside the hotel as he announces,

“Hah! Well, well, well. Look who it is harboring the striped freak and the feline fledgling! We meet yet again, Alastor!”

“Do I know you?” Alastor questions leaving Sir Pentious with a deflated ego before he argued,

“Oh, yes you do! And this time, I have the element of SURPRISE!”

He pulls a lever from within his war machine before a cannon disengages from the bottom of the ship, powering up to fire while Sir Pentious gloated,

“Ahaha! I'm so evil!”

Until Alastor snapped a finger and a large portal opened up underneath the ship and tentacles came through to surround the ship, breaking the cannon off to be thrown into a separate portal.

Sir Pentious and his Egg Boiz’s yells and cries were heard from even down below as the tentacles thrashed them around before moving to cover the whole ship as Alastor commanded them to crush it in an explosive mass of smoke, shrapnel, and sliced tentacles,

*PSSSHHHH…!*

There was a tense moment as Alastor was seen grinning maniacally and the others looked at him with a mix of fear, disbelief, and slight awe before it was broken by him asking as if nothing had happened,

“...Well, I'm starved! Who wants some Jambalaya?” 

Alastor started walking back to the hotel while speaking with Niffty hopping after him excitedly, Charlie and Vaggie walked together with the former smiling giddily and the latter trying to give her a supportive smile, Angel sending Husk a flirty wink and blown kiss as he looked thrown off by it, and Ayden shifted to hellcat form to climb and settle onto Angel’s shoulder as he fixed his hair,

“My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for Jambalaya. In fact, it nearly killed her! Hahaha! You could say the kick was right out of Hell! Ohoho, I'm on a roll! Yes, sir! This is the start of some real changes down here! The game is set! Now…”

Some more magic from Alastor changed the “Happy” on the hotel’s sign to “Hazbin” as he finished and chuckled sinisterly,

“...Stay tuned. Hahaha... !”

…

…

…

Later that night after everyone had finished the Jambalaya dinner Alastor prepared, with some slight suspicion from a couple of them, Ayden was exiting her bathroom dressed in her pjs when she saw Angel waiting for her right outside the door to her room so she questioned,

“Uhh wha’s goin’ on?”

“We need to talk.”

“Oh great…” Ayden’s ears and tail drooped down in dismay before she tossed her clothes on the floor and walked out into the hallway behind Angel before turning back to him to comment while crossing her arms, “Nothin’ good eve’ came from ‘we need ta talk…’”

Ayden used her paw to mimic a mouth moving while deepening her voice toward the end of her sentence but Angel just firmly slapped her paw down to scold, hiss whispering since he didn’t want to draw attention from the others, 

“What the fuck were you thinkin’ jumpin’ into the fight like that earlier…?!” 

“C’mooon! You of all demons should know I neve’ miss a good fight if I can.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about…! I’m talking about using your portal-crystal-thingy.” Angel pointed to her choker that was still around her neck and she rolled her eyes before taking it off with a snarky,

“Oh doomed am I if they see I gotta cool lookin’ piece of jewel’ry…”

“We had a deal…!”

“Yeh I know; I don’t use it ‘nless it’s fo’ eme’gencies ta stay outta trouble wi’h Ove’lo’ds who might wanna use me for it…”

“Exactly and now we got an Overlord livin’ with us…!”

Little did either of them know, as if summoned by name alluding, a shadow with an eerie grin materialized down the hall right as Ayden argued,

“I thought ya said not ta worry ‘bout’im…”

“That was before I saw Smiles in action.” Angel sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose as he told her, “Look, just don’t let him or any of the others find out about your secret…!”

“Fiiiine….! A’e we done ‘ere?” Ayden asked, getting impatient with Angel’s nagging and he sighed with a resigned look as he answered,

“Yeah…”

“Right then g’night.” Ayden muttered tiredly before retreating to her room and closing the door behind her as Angel sighed again before returning to his room.

The hallway lights flickered a bit before Alastor manifested from the shadow that’d been on the hallway floor as he commented ominously while looking at Ayden’s door in front of him,

“~Weeeell~ things just became much more entertaining…”

…

…

…

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, and mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

…

…

…

3rd Person POV

*Zzzzzzz....*

Ayden was seen sleeping on her bed when a familiar red microphone staff tapped on her forehead twice before Alastor’s voice greeted in a loud and overly jovial tone,

“Rise and shine!”

Making Ayden bolt up with a yowl,

“MROW-!”

*TCH!*

And hitting her forehead right on the end of his staff.

“OWWWWW!” She rubbed the throbbing bump forming on her forehead before yelling at him, “What the fuck are ya doin’-?!”

Right before his staff was placed over her mouth to stop her from yelling anymore as he scolded her with a waving finger,

“Uhp uhp! Don’t you know it’s rude for a young lady to spew such profanities?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude ta ba’ge inta someone’s room without bein’ invited in?!” Ayden argued after slapping the staff away from her mouth.

“I attempted to knock but you were not responding.”

“Yeh that means that it’s too fuckin’ ea’ly for this Satan damned shite.” Ayden muttered, making sure to throw in as many curses as she could to continue to annoy him, which worked if the way his smile tightened and his eyes narrowed a tiny bit was any indication.

But the small tone of annoyance faded when he manifested a small analog clock that looked to be made of bones that hovered in the air with more voodoo symbols surrounding it as he retorted, still tightly smiling,

“That would be the case if it was still morning. I’m here to ensure you’ll make it down promptly for the mandatory staff and resident meeting.”

“Hrrrmmm...!” Ayden narrowed her eyes as he added,

“And do put on something less... distasteful... ”

Giving a critical once-over to Ayden’s pjs; the oversized t-shirt from Angel that was white to dark pink gradient with two x-ed out dripping hearts on the chest with “These tits are off limits” in white on the front that mostly covered the black short shorts she wore underneath that had a hole cut in the back to let her tail poke through as it flicked around agitatedly.

“Oh stuff it up yer arse... ” Ayden muttered as she grabbed her regular clothes from the floor, quickly changed in her bathroom, came back out to dump her pjs on the floor, and waited by the door for Alastor to finally leave her room so she could slam the door shut behind them to follow him downstairs.

She slid down the stair banister in hellcat form before leaping up to flip and transform back to demon cat form, landing on all fours behind the couch where Angel was already lying with his legs kicked up over one armrest and settled to just sit on the other armrest.

When Charlie and Vaggie came down from upstairs, Alastor flicked the TV on to reveal the commercial he had made for the hotel,

*Well, hello there, you wayward Sinner! Do you like blood, violence, and depravity of a sexual nature? Of course you do, that's why you're in Hell! But what would you say if I told you there was a place to stay that had none of that?*

Alastor’s voice spoke over footage of a Sinner stabbing another demon to death with a knife before he caught their attention as he announced,

*Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel, a misguided path to redemption! Founded five days ago by Lucifer's delusional daughter, Charlotte Morningstar!*

Right before the screen changed to show the hotel from the outside before changing to show Charlie, unprepared for the camera from the way she smiled nervously as the camera zoomed in on her face before Angel video bombed her by making two-fingers all around her with all his hands while Ayden stuck her tongue out at the camera as she’s winking and pulling her eyelid down mockingly,

*Come place your fate in her inexperienced hands, as she tries to work through her daddy issues by fixing you!*

The footage then changes to Charlie’s disaster of an interview with Katie Killjoy, photos of her with incomplete plans on a whiteboard, tearing up while facing away from her dad, and her smiling tightly as she was attempting to teach some Sinners about what it took to be a good person,

*Here we offer fun things, such as somewhat functional staff, 24-hour pest control, and a less-than-novice child playing with fire.*

Some more footage showed the foyer of the hotel where Razzle and Dazzle were seen flying around dusting and cleaning before zooming in on Husk at the bar where he collapsed, more than likely drunk off his ass before Niffty appeared with her giant needle in hand to try and stab at a bug that was crawling over Husk before switching to filming Ayden in the foyer as she’s trying to practice twirling her fire sticks in both paws but dropping one when Niffty zipped underneath her and having to panicky stomp out the fire that resulted from it,

*Custom rooms, and just look at this tacky parlor! Enjoy riveting conversation with our singular resident. Wow!*

A photo of one of the pink bathrooms was shown before a pan over shot of the living room was shown with KeeKee sitting on the table before a plank of wood fell near her, scaring her off, before zooming in on Angel Dust as he sat at the couch and flipped off the camera,

*All this, and more at the Hazbin Hotel!*

A crude collage of the hotel with all its “features” labeled was shown before a last shot of the hotel’s sign was shown with the words “CALL NOW!!! OR DON’T! I DON’T CARE! WE STILL DON’T HAVE A WORKING PHONE!” along the bottom of the screen as Alastor’s voice finished off the commercial,

*Your last desperate attempt at salvation starts here!*

Right before the TV turned off so Alastor could ask Charlie and Vaggie,

“So, what do you think?”

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Vaggie broke it with a blunt,

“I'm sorry. What the fuck was that?”

“Uh, Yeah. One note-” Charlie started to say before Ayden butted in with an incredulous,

“Jus’ one?”

Before Charlie continued speaking while trying not to offend Alastor or sound too harsh,

“Alastor, I mean, first off, thank you so much for making this seriously amazing, but um, maybe the tone is a bit... off.. We want people to want to come here. This makes it look, um... ”

“Bad.” Vaggie cut it for her girlfriend when she had trailed off before adding, “The word you're looking for is bad.”

“Funny. I was going for hilarious.”

“It didn't explain anything about how we're trying to save demons from extermination, which is the whole fucking point.” Vaggie pointed out before Charlie agreed,

“Vaggie is right Alastor, the commercial was to let Sinners know we are trying to help them.”

“Well, my dear, I haven't been active in hell for some time and everyone remembers me from my radio show, the proper medium to express oneself. But, you insisted on this noisy picture box advertisement.”

He taps the television twice with his microphone staff while he spoke with bitterness in his voice before playing with his staff,

“So, I had a little fun with it.”

“Oh, ‘fun?’ You had a little ‘fun’ with it?” Vaggie questioned sarcastically before standing up on the couch to berate Alastor, “Well, this is not what we want to represent us. When you showed up here a week ago, you told us you would help run this hotel. Instead, you're mocking us. Nobody's gonna wanna come to a place that a powerful Overlord like you thinks is a waste of time.”

Angel raised his hand from the couch, catching everyone's attention before Vaggie snapped,

“What?”

“If'n you're filming a commercial, can I suggest you take better advantage of the talented celebrity you have right here?” Angel suggested in a flirty tone with a wink before pointing at himself with three free hands while his fourth one grabbed a bottle of beer from the floor.

“Angel, you're a porn star.” Vaggie pointed out in a deadpan tone.

“A famous porn star,” Angel emphasized before going on dramatically motioning, “I'll have the horniest Sinners knocking these walls down to get in.”

“We are not filming a porn as a commercial.” Vaggie argued and Ayden piped up,

“Neve’ thought I’d say this but I agree wi’h Vaggie.”

Vaggie made a little noise of insult at that before Angel tried to reason,

“Why not? Sex sells, don't it?” Before motioning to Alastor as he reappeared beside the couch close to Ayden from his shadow, “I swear if you film me going at it with Mr. Fancy Talk Creepy Voice here, you'd be rolling in participants willing to stay at this tacky hotel.”

“Ha ha. Never going to happen.” Alastor asserted, still with a smile but his eyes read a different tone.

“‘T’s the one thing he an’ I agree on…” Ayden muttered, referring to their Asexuality, even if Alastor didn't fully realize it as such, just before Charlie started trying to sugarcoat again,

“Angel, I.. appreciate you wanting to use your.. special skills to, um, attract folks to the hotel, but I really don't want to exploit you in that way.”

“Oh, please, baby. This body was made to be exploited.” Angel boasted as he started motioning to all his body parts, “I got the arms, I got the stamina, I got the legs. I got the lung capacity. Hoohooho! Oh, I got the legs. The gag reflex, the holes, the chest fluff everyone thinks are tits.”

Charlie chuckled nervously before her phone started to ring and she told him,

“Hold that thought! I'll be right back.”

“I could keep going all night, baby.” Angel called to her as she left to take the call in the hallway

“He really can,” Ayden noted before she slouched with her ears drooping down in mild annoyance as she added, “trust me... ”

“Hey, I have a question.” Angel started to question, motioning back over to Alastor, “If Freaky Face over there is so powerful, then why can't he just make people stay here?”

“Oh, trust me,” Alastor started to say before transforming slightly with his antlers growing and a shadow casting over his face as he spoke creepily, “I can.”

“Why do you think I'm here?”

Everyone looked over to Husk who was at his bar cleaning a bottle with a rag as he griped,

“You actually think I'd be cleaning bottles and listening to you fucks bitch and moan all the time if he wasn't forcing me?”

Right before Niffty popped up from behind the counter with her hand raised as she announced,

“I like being forced.”

“Keep that to yourself, Nif.” Husk told her before Ayden playfully pouted,

“Awww and he’e I thought ya stuck ‘round cause ya ~loved us.~”

“~Yeeeaah... ~ What? You don't love being here with me, ~Whiskers~?” Angel joined in on teasing Husk as he flirted with him but he responded with a slight cat-like snarl,

“Call me Whiskers again and I'll jam that bottle down your throat.”

“~Kinkyyyyy.~” Angel teased before making a beckoning motion with his finger, “Come on, keep talking dirty.”

“C’mon ya know ya walked right inta that one.” Ayden taunted with an amused expression before Vaggie sighed and told them both,

“Angel, Ayden, let Husk do his job. And, no, we can't force Sinners to stay here. They need to choose to.”

“I'm choosing to be here and I think it's all stupid. We're in hell, toots. That's kind of the end of the road, ain't it?” Angel expressed before Ayden added grimly with with a half-lidded look and her arms crossed,

“Least til we’e all double dead anyway... ”

“Well, maybe it doesn't have to be.” Vaggie argued, trying to remain hopeful, “Just because nobody has made it out before doesn't mean it's not possible.”

But Angel didn’t seem to agree as he put a hand on Vaggie’s shoulder while deadpanning,

“Hey, whatever means I can keep crashing here rent-free... Crack is expensive.”

“I thought you were supposed to be telling us whenever he tries to sneak that stuff in here.” Vaggie turned to look at Ayden with an accusing glare but she just shrugged while saying,

“When he doesn’t sha’e wi’h me, then I snitch.”

“Angel!” Vaggie snapped at the implication that he shared his drugs with a minor and he held up his upper arms in surrender as he argued, raising an eyebrow at the last part,

“Hey I only give her the weakest shit I got for the nights she’s restless. Unless you want her zoomin’ around like.. last time... ”

Vaggie had to suppress a shudder as she remembered the night Angel was talking about; when Ayden had gone on some kinda hyped-up Zoomies rush, literally bouncing off the walls and furniture while nearly running along the ceiling with sparks popping off her body until she crashed from exhaustion nearly half an hour later and had to be carried back to her room with the door locked to keep it from happening again... only for it to happen again... and again... 

She was jolted out of the memory when Charlie exclaimed,

“Vaggie! Holy, shit!”

“Ah! What?!” Vaggie started to panic before seeing that Charlie was super excited by something from the way she waved her over enthusiastically and sighed amusedly.

After Vaggie went over to Charlie, Angel pulled Ayden down with one of his hands and hiss whispered to her incredulously,

“You snitch on me for’em... ?!”

“Re-lax I only show’em whe’e yer smalle’ stashes a’e... ”

“You have any idea how expensive even the small ones are... ?!”

“Uh no cause you won’t let me have any... ”

“Cause you don’t need it... ”

“And you do... ?”

Their bickering was soon interrupted when Charlie started singing out of nowhere,

♫ I can do this! Somehow, I know it! ♫

♫ I'll get Heaven behind my plans! ♫

And, despite Vaggie trying to stop her,

“Charlie, hold on... ”

She kept going, dancing around the hotel as she sang,

♫ There's just no way I could blow it. ♫

♫ Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance! ♫

“It's just a meeting.”

♫To change their minds ♫

♫ And touch their hearts ♫

♫ Or... whatever angels have! ♫

“This could be bad... ” Vaggie expressed worriedly before Charlie gently held her hands,

♫ Cheer up Vaggie! ♫

♫ This could be swell! ♫

Before spinning the two of them around before Charlie ran out of the hotel,

♫ Something tells me that today will be a happy day in Heeeell! ♫

“Okay, but just don't... sing to them.”

But Vaggie’s warning went unheard as Angel reported from where he, Alastor, Niffty, and Ayden were standing by the front door watching in interest as Charlie had danced outside,

“That bitch is halfway down the street!” 

“Is she-?”

“Oh, she's dancin'!” Angel told her before taking a drink from his bottle.

“Ugh, no... ” Vaggie dragged her hand down her face as the others left the doorway before Ayden sidled up next to her.

“Sooooo... a’e we gonna go afte’ he’ orrrrrr... .” She drew out in uncertainty and Vaggie answered,

“It’s a her thing, she’ll tell everyone about it later... hopefully... ”

“Should we be wo’ried?”

“Hopefully not?”

“That’s not reassurin’... ” Ayden deadpanned with a paw on her hip before Vaggie snapped at her,

“Look! Let’s just focus on one thing at a time, OK?”

Before walking away to call the others back to the living room, leaving Ayden to narrow her eyes at her back as she walked away.

Once everyone had been regathered in the living room, Husk, Niffty, Angel, and Ayden sat on one couch as Alastor sat on a separate chair and Vaggie devised while standing in front of them all,

“Okay, so Charlie is dealing with something very important, so while she’s gone, we are making a new commercial. One that represents her vision and what we’re doing here. So, we need a camera. Alastor?”

Alastor snaps a finger to manifest a fancy folding picture camera from the 30s into her hand but Vaggie is unamused as she specifies,

“A video camera?”

“Hmmm.” 

With another snap, the picture camera disappeared in exchange for an old video camera that was barely being held together with pieces of tape as Vaggie announced with determination,

“Alright! Let’s do this!”

Gathering Husk and Angel over by the bar to do a skit segment for the commercial as Husk is holding the script in front of his face and Angel is leaning against the bar with his leg tapping in anticipation.

“I can’t possibly see how this is gonna crash an’ bu’n…” Ayden muttered from behind Vaggie, who gave her a “don’t push it” look before readying the camera and calling out,

“And... Action!”

“‘Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help you with anything?’” Husk read from the script in a droning tone before Angel decided to try to spice it up by teasing while stroking Husk’s chin and posing suggestively,

“‘I’ve been a ~bad boy,~ and I need a ~big, strong daddy~ to put me in my place... on the path to redemption!’”

Making Husk groan, annoyed, before continuing,

“‘Well, you come-’”

Only to be interrupted by Angel moaning while rubbing his hands over his body,

“~Ohhhhh, yes!~”

“‘-to the right place.’” Husk finished in a bored tone before Vaggie stopped recording to deadpan,

“Cut! Okay, Angel, I need you to be less horny if possible, and Husk, can you maybe not have a script in front of your face.”

“I ain’t no actor! I can’t memorize this shit!” Husk says angrily as he slaps the script in his grip before Angel suggests,

“Well, we could improv this shit, baby cakes.” Stroking Husk’s face again as he purred, “~Rrawwr…~”

Right before Husk had enough and put his paw on Angel’s face to shove him off the counter

“Whoops.” He shrugs as he apologizes before reaching underneath the counter for his bottle and chugging from it as Vaggie exclaimed in disbelief,

“Husk, come on!”

“Pft!” Ayden chokes out a scoff at Angel’s butthurt expression before trying to hide it with a cough as she smirks amused before Vaggie turns to her to say,

“Alright then, since you find this sooo amusing, why don’t we skip to your segment now?”

Ayden’s eyes went wide in shock before she suddenly found herself in front of the hotel with her two fire sticks in her paws as Vaggie planned,

“OK your line is ‘Here at the Hazbin Hotel we flame to please with our customer service.’”

“Ya don’t think that’s gonna be taken outta context wi’h Angel’s bit?” Ayden questioned critically with her head tilted and a paw on her hip.

“Just. say. the line!” Vaggie told her impatiently through gritted teeth and Ayden sighed before relenting,

“‘Ight fine…”

“Aaaand… Action!” Vaggie started recording, cueing Ayden to light the sticks on fire before twirling them around with flourishes and sweeping arm movements as she smirked and announced,

“We flame ta please he’e at the Hazbin Hote-agh!”

Before one of her sticks flew out of her paw and arced through the air, lighting the awning at the entrance on fire before landing on the ground and setting the dry grass ablaze as well.

“Ahh! Woah woah!” Ayden started trying to stamp out the fire with little success.

“iPor el amor de Dios!” (For crying out loud!) Vaggie yelled exasperated before dropping the camera while it was still recording and, from its video display, it was seen when Vaggie grabbed one of the emergency water buckets from by the front door and splashed it over the awning and the sidewalk to put the fires out.

“Hrrrmmm…” Ayden grunted resentfully as she sat on the ground with water dripping off of her and her ears and tail twitching at the mild stinging pains from it before she deadpanned after getting up and shaking herself dry, “This be’er not become a regula’ thin’…”

“Well maybe if you’d stop goofing around and actually take this seriously-!” Vaggie started to criticize her as she walked back over to the camera, making sure it was still working before turning back to see Ayden walking away flipping her off from behind and making Vaggie seeth in barely restrained anger before she decided to just move on to the next scene.

Back inside the hotel, Vaggie tries to get Niffty’s attention as she tries to stab a bug with her needle while chanting,

“Stab! Stab! Stab!”

“Alright Niffty, Niffty. Niffty!” Vaggie had to gently grab Niffty’s shoulder to get her attention before telling her, “Your line is ‘We have the cleanest rooms,’ okay?”

“Got it. I'm ready.” Niffty exclaimed excitedly as she stood in position and Vaggie readied the camera before announcing,

“Action!”

But after the recording started, Niffty instantly froze up and stared blankly at the camera without even breathing as her pupil kept shrinking the longer the recording went on…

Vaggie looked at her puzzled as even Angel looked disturbed at the display before she spoke softly while stopping the camera,

“Uhh, cut…”

Causing Niffty to snap out of her trance-like state to smile and giggle,

“Hehe! How was that?”

“Well, Niffty you actually have to say the line, so let's roll again.” Vaggie tried to explain to her, making her look teary for a few seconds before smiling again and nodding eagerly,

“Ok!”

“Action!”

But Niffty froze again, leaving Vaggie’s chagrin to rise again and spike even more when Angel whispered smugly to her,

“You're doing great Vagina.”

“Cut!” Vaggie snapped irritated before trying to salvage the situation by saying, “Alright, uhh maybe we can try to.. fix it in post.

“Do you even know what that means?” Angel questioned before Vaggie snapped lividly,

“I'll figure it out!”

When Angel gave her a skeptical look she just told him while walking away,

“You just figure out where’s Ayden and what’s wrong this time.”

“What makes you think she’ll listen ta me?” Angel asked critically with a doubtful look.

“Are you kidding?!” Vaggie turned back to Angel as she questioned incredulously, “You’re the only one she listens to! She even says the same things as you and just-urgh go figure out what’s going on with her while I deal with this.”

Motioning to the camera in her hand, she walked away leaving Angel half shrug dubiously, still doubting what she told him, before he started looking throughout the hotel for her, eventually finding her outside in the neglected garden behind the hotel where she was lying on her back on a branch of one of the dying apple trees, moodily scratching at the branch above her with her chewed-on claws before Angel went to lean against the tree trunk as he commented,

“Whatever you did ta piss Vagina off that much…” Angel started to say seriously before switching to a joking tone as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his chest floof, “ya gotta show me some time so I can get her off my back next time I’m in trouble and need a quick dodge.”

“Heh…” Ayden scoffed as she rolled over to land in a crouch on the branch below her before jumping down to a branch closer to Angel’s head as he held a cigarette up to her and she took it as an unspoken request to light it for him with a digit so he could take a drag from it.

After letting the smoke drift through the air for a few seconds, Ayden asked semi-blankly,

“How d’ya do it?”

Making Angel hitch for a second before questioning,

“Do what?”

“Know exactly whatcha ya wanna do?”

“I don’t-” Angel started to say before Ayden cut him off with,

“Everyone’s always tellin’ ya who yer s’posed to be but ya don’t listen to’em and jus’ do yer own thing and I wish I could do that too as easy as ya but…”

Trailing off as she laid back down on the branch with her chin resting on top of her crossed arms and her tail swaying from where it drooped over the branch as she mumbled,

“I don’t know what I wanna do… and it sca’es me…”

Angel’s eyes widened a bit when he heard that last part before he frowned again as he took one last long drag from his cigarette before tossing the butt near his foot to stomp it out and exhaling another large plume of smoke to say,

“All I know is… it’s hard… but-” Angel pushed away from the tree with his hands on his hips and sides as he told Ayden confidently, “You just gotta find what works for ya and stick with it.”

“How do I know what wo’ks fer me…?” She asked before falling backward to catch a lower branch and swing in place like a kid on the monkey bars making Angel look at her with an amused smile as he told her before poking her stomach,

“You’ll figure it out.”

“Mree!”

Ayden let out a noise of surprise at the poke before using a hand to swat back at him with a laugh and grabbing back on to swing forward and launch into the air to land on the ground with her arms in the air like a gymnast.

“Or maybe it’ll find you, Fuzzball.” Angel noted with an impressed look and Ayden grinned just before the scenery around them changed to reveal they had been teleported back into the hotel on what looked like a movie set as they appeared along with Niffty, Husk, and a couple of Alastor’s inky shadow minions as a film crew with the equipment.

Shortly after, some spirals of green magic swirled around everyone to change their outfits into 1920s styles with Ayden back in her flapper dress from a week ago.

“Alright everyone, let's make a fucking commercial.” Vaggie announced as her outfit was changed.

“Somehow I feel like this i’n’t gonna wo’k out eithe’...” Ayden side whispered to Angel and he gave her an “I know right?” look before they all got to work.

Short Time Skip

“‘Nyone else want some?” Ayden asked as she brought a small bag of popcorn with her from the kitchen back to the living room where everyone had been gathered to wait for their commercial to come on only for a couple of declines to sound so she shrugged and threw some kernels into her mouth before going to sit down.

Just as she sat down cross-legged on the armrest right behind Niffty, her ears perked up when she heard the front door open and close to let Charlie walk in and Vaggie ran up to her to ask excitedly,

“Charlie! How did it go, did they listen?”

“Oh, they sure did.. hear it.. But-”

“Oh come here, we have something exciting to show you.” Vaggie cut her off to gently pull her back toward the living room as she explained, “Alastor pulled some strings and it's about to air.”

“I pulled a few limbs too, hahaha!” Alastor joked before laughing as Charlie caught onto what Vaggie was saying,

“Wait, the commercial? You all made a new one?”

“Yeah, one of my better performances if I do say so myself.” Angel bragged a bit before Ayden added,

“And I think I’m sta’tin’ ta think ‘bout what coul’ be my thing ‘round he’e.”

“That's…” Charlie expressed in a heartfelt tone as her eyes welled up happily, “that's amazing…”

Before Angel cut her off with,

“Sshh, it's starting.”

Revealing the beginning of their commercial with all of them in front of the hotel as Vaggie started to declare,

*Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel-*

Right before the commercial fizzled out to be replaced by the 666 Breaking News headline, making everyone, minus Alastor, Niffty, and Husk, groan and complain loudly with Ayden whining,

“Not this bitch ‘gain…!”

Just as Katie Killjoy started to report,

*Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word from the Heaven Embassy that the next Extermination is happening sooner than ever before. Do you know what that means, Tom?*

*No, what does that mean, Katie?* Tom questioned dumbly before Katie responded with an eye twitch,

*It means we're all royally fucked!*

Right before some footage is shown of Sinners screaming and panicking as the Clock Tower numbers changed from 358 to 176 days until the next Extermination.

“Wait, what? Why?!” Angel questioned in disbelief before Ayden exclaimed while motioning to the TV with a paw,

“What the shite happ’ned at that meetin’?!”

“Uhhhh hehehe... ” Charlie chuckled nervously as she grinned sheepishly at the unamused and panicked looks everyone gave her.

After explaining just what happened at the meeting with the leader of the Angel Army, who turned out to be Adam, the first human man and the ex of Charlie’s mom Lilith, everyone decided to turn in early to process all of that.

With Ayden, she was in her bathroom, back in her pjs, before she opened the door back to her room to see Alastor standing by her vanity.

Pushing down the cold spike of panic that surged up inside, she crossed her arms before questioning in a blunt tone,

“What a’e ya doin’ in my room…?”

“It occurred to me that I know very little about you of all the residents here.”

Another spike of panic rose up before she internally shook it off to answer in annoyed frankness,

“Let me save ya the trouble then; I’m a Hellbo’n hybrid, my dad’s a hellcat and my mum’s a succubus, dad bailed when I was a baby, ran away from home ‘bout 2 yea’s ago and have stayed with Angel this whole time. That set’led now?”

“Hmmmm…” Alastor pretended to think before stating, “No.”

Making Ayden give off a cat-like noise of annoyance before she snapped,

“Mrrr… Ok ya need to get out! Now!”

Moving to shove him out before her head was firmly whacked with his mic staff as he questioned tauntingly,

“What’s the matter? Afraid I might find out your secret?”

Ayden freezing in place gave him the confirmation he was looking for and his grin widened before, a split second later, she smirked back as she questioned challengingly,

“Ya wanna talk secrets? Whe’e ‘xactly didja disappear off to all those yea’s?”

Alastor’s eyes narrowed at the unexpected defiance before her smirk deepened as she told him,

“Ya think yer the only one who notices things? I may not know much ‘bout you eithe’ but you don’t seem like the type ta disappear and then come back jus’ cause yer bo’ed. If I di’n’t know any be’er I’d say you were hidin’ somethin’ too…”

The lights in her room started flickering with each accusation until nearly all of Alastor’s face was obscured by shadows and his pupils turned to glowing radio dials as he threatened,

“You are playing with fire, young lady…”

Ayden’s heart pounded in her chest and her tail poofed up slightly while flicking around but she kept up the brave face to snark back boldly,

“Yeh? Well, in your wo’ds, I am jus’ a ‘child playin’ wi’h fi’e’ remembe’?”

She raised a paw to light a blazing fireball in it as she added with her hair sparking and eyes and freckles glowing threateningly,

“I’ve been able ta hu’t an Ove’lo’d before… we can see if I can make it two… o’ we can make a bet.”

At the flip of a metaphorical switch, the lights came back on and Alastor was back to his overly cheery self as he questioned eagerly,

“A deal you say?”

“A bet, no souls up fer grabs but maybe a favo’...?” Ayden clarified, extinguishing the fireball in her paw, as Alastor started to incline toward her offer,

“I would be amenable to that, provided the challenge is satisfactory.”

“We try to figu’e out each other’s secret without ba’gin’ into each othe’s personal spaces both li’erally and figur’tively. Whoeve’ finds out fi’st gets one favo’ from the othe’. Sound fai’?” Ayden bargained and Alastor agreed after a few contemplative moments,

“Fair enough.”

Finally walking out of Ayden’s room, leaving his parting words to be,

“I look forward to invoking that favor…”

“If ya do… arsehole…”

As soon as she closed her door and waited about 10 seconds to make sure he was gone, Ayden bolted over to her vanity and fell to her knees when she threw the bottom drawer open to reveal that her choker and photo were in the exact same position she’d left them in under her “distasteful” tank top shirts.

Finally allowing her brave face mask to slip, she started panting as she closed the drawer back up and hunched over on her knees and clenched paws as she thought to herself,

‘I really hope this doe’n’t backfi’e…’

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, and mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

... 

... 

... 

3rd Person POV

The next day, Charlie was still freaking out over the news of the Extermination coming sooner than anticipated as she paced around the living room with KeeKee prancing alongside her as she panicked, nearly ending in hysterics,

“Okay. So the extermination is coming in six months instead of a year. No big deal. Just a little setback. Nothing we can't handle. Just angels cutting our timetable in half. But who needs a whole year to save souls? Am I right?! And next time when they cut the time in half again, and again, we'll just handle it, right?!”

Before Vaggie walked up to her to grab her shoulders and assure her,

“Yes. We will.”

“Oh, please,” Angel spoke up from where he was sitting on the couch on his phone before continuing his two cents, “ya had less than half a chance when YA started all this salvation bullshit. And now…” Pausing to look at the onslaught of threatening texts from his boss Valentino before finishing off, “Ain't no silver lining this time toots.”

“Sure there is!” Charlie tried to remain optimistic, “We just... have to look a little harder for it!”

“Well, while you’re lookin’, the rest'a hell is goin' nuts.” Angel turned his phone around to show the new articles of Sinners screaming and rioting, “People are already freakin' out about the news. Look at what's happenin' in the Doomsday District.”

Right before a message notification popped up that Charlie caught a glimpse of causing her to ask,

“Err, what is a Donkey Show?”

Making Angel panic and pull his phone back to cover up,

“Aah, heh, nothin'. My boss, Val, is just freaked out about the news too. Like I said, everyone's losin' their shit.”

“Yeah, that's true…” Vaggie started to say in a devising tone, “Sinners are desperate… Maybe desperate enough to try anything to escape the Extermination?”

Causing Charlie to gasp excitedly at what she was implying before announcing,

“This is the perfect time to recruit more sinners for the hotel!”

“Cute idea and all, but you really gonna go out in all of this?” Angel questioned as he waved his phone again to show the panicked public footage.

“Hey if you a’e goin’ out can I come with?” Ayden asked as she descended the stairs, already dressed with her backpack half slung over her shoulder but still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and cleaning her still slightly damp forehead as her tail dragged a bit behind her.

“OK seriously how do you sleep in every fucking day…?” Vaggie deadpanned before Charlie told her,

“Sure! Besides, it's not like people are just gonna show up on our doorstep-”

*PSSHH!*

Right before a massive explosion blew a hole in the wall by the bar as a familiar voice shouted from outside shouted,

“Show yourself Alasssstor! Come and face-”

Sir Pentious paused for a moment when he didn’t see Alastor by the hole in the wall he just blew and instead saw him casually sipping coffee on a balcony on the second floor before reiterating,

“Oh there you are… Face my wraaath!”

“Who are you?” Alastor asked flippantly causing Sir Pentious to go off braggingly,

“Who am I? Who am I?!”

“Oh great… if it i’n’t the Egg lo’d…” Ayden cut in sarcastically as she poked her head through the hole in the wall while the others walked out to the front.

“A-HEM!” A glare was sent her way before he continued, “I am the great Ssssssir Pentiousssss…!”

While Pentious continued crowing about his self-achievements, Alastor dissolved into a shadow to join the others on the ground as they were watching the scene in front of them,

“Inventor, architect of dessstruction, villain extraordinaire!”

“~Ooooooh, he's a bad boy~” Niffty suddenly appeared, climbing on top of Alastor’s shoulder before he deposited her back to the ground as he mocked,

“Ha, well if all that's true, you'd think I'd have heard of you.”

“I attacked you literally last week.” Pentious pointed out, while Alastor merely tilted his head in question, as he kept trying to refresh his memory, “We've done battle, like... 20 times..?”

“Well, you must have been really bad at this.”

“Silence! Now cower! For when I've ssslain you, the almighty Vees will finally acknowledge me as their equal.”

“Ooh!” Niffty reappeared back on Alastor’s shoulder before questioning curiously, “Wait, who are the Vees?

“Oh, nobody important.”

“‘Not impo’tant?’” Ayden asked in disbelief before noting, “Ar’n’t they some’a the biggest trendse’e’s in fashion, tech-”

“As I said, nobody important.”

Ayden huffed at being cut off before Alastor raised his staff summoning some more of his freaky tentacles to grab Pentious’s zeppelin and shake it around, laughing at Pentious’s and his Egg Boiz’s screams and yelps of pain,

“Arrgh! Oh! Please! Stop!”

After a little while, Charlie tried to get him to stop torturing them,

“Um... Alastor! I think he's had enough.”

But Alastor either didn’t hear her over the sound of his own sadistic laughter or didn’t care as Angel argued,

“Nah. He's got a few more hits in him.”

“Think I can get one in?” Ayden asked before Pentious fell and landed face-first on the ground in front of them all while Alastor twirled his staff after slapping the war machine onto the side of the Hotel and commenting,

“Thanks for another forgettable experience.”

Just after an Egg Boi fell and splattered in front of Charlie, Pentious spoke in a pain-filled quavering tone,

“Thank y-you…” Before bolting up, but still lying down, as he grabbed at Alastor’s suit, “for letting your guard down!”

“Haha! Yah!” He cheered when he managed to tear away a piece of the fabric with his tail before Alastor started to transform and he yelped, “Oh, shit…”

“WAHHHHHH!!” He was sent flying off into the distance in a puff of green smoke before Alastor turned to everyone to say,

“Well, it looks as though I need a visit to the tailor!” Turning to leave as he waved, “Best of luck, chums.”

“Wait, you're LEAVING?!” Vaggie exclaimed before telling him, “Alastor! We need your help! We need you to do your job.”

“We need a wall.” Angel motioned over to the hole in the wall and Alastor agreed,

“Of course! Can't let my new project fall into disrepair already. What would the papers say?!”

With a snap of his fingers, some more inky shadow demons appeared in construction uniforms with tools and Angel took an interest in one of the larger ones, shoving Vaggie away to walk up to him and flirt,

“Hey, sweet cheeks. Whatcha doin' later? I love me a man with a giant... tool.”

“Try an’ keep it professional Ang…” Ayden deadpanned before slinging her backpack back on and asking him, “Want me ta grab ya anythin’?”

Angel raised a finger about to say something before Ayden added bluntly,

“If it’s any o’ that kinda stuff, you can get it yerself…”

Angel frowned as he had to retract before revising,

“Then just some more food for Nuggs.”

“OOH! Hold on!” Charlie called out as she and Vaggie rushed up to her so they could all walk together to the limo.

On the way, Ayden’s ears twitched when she thought she heard a buzzing sound above them but looked and saw nothing so she shrugged and kept walking.

After driving a little while and parking in a relatively safe place, Charlie started to lay out the plan for them,

“OK so Vaggie and I will walk around and try to see if we can get any new recruits for the hotel while you go shopping for the stuff we need. Think you can grab some of this stuff while you’re at it too?”

Handing Ayden a list of things that were mostly grocery and cleaning supplies requested by the others and she looked it over before stuffing the list into her shorts pocket as she answered dully,

“Su’e thing Boss…”

“We’ll meet back up here in about 2 hours. What’s your phone number so we can send you a reminder?” Vaggie pulled out her phone before Ayden told her blankly,

“I don’ have one.”

“Well then go get yourself one!” Charlie suggested cheerfully before handing her a small wad of cash and telling her, “Just meet us back here when you’re done.”

“Ok.” Ayden agreed as she took the cash before they all got out of the limo and went their separate ways.

Once Ayden managed to get past several fighting and panicking groups of Sinners, she found herself outside a store called Wayward Fair, shrugging as she noted to herself,

“Ehh might as well get the othe’s stuff he’e.”

Going in to grab all the things on Charlie’s list as well as the food for Fat Nuggets and an hPhone, she only barely managed to shove all the stuff into her backpack once she left the store an hour and a half later while putting her new phone in her pocket and making a mental note to set up and customize it later.

Once she left, she remembered she still wanted to get some decorations for her room since it still looked a little plain in there despite living in it for almost a month now.

Looking around past the fighting and fleeing Sinners, Ayden’s gaze landed on a store called Stylish Occult and was instantly drawn in by the goth and punk products they were offering in the front windows.

Once she went inside the store, she was amazed by all the clothes, decor, and even taxidermy that were offered, all in dark colors which was right in her style palette.

“~Oooh!~” Ayden exclaimed as she browsed around the room decorations section, finding some yellow-orange firefly string lights, some black-to-red gradient curtains, and a red fuzzy star pillow.

She was grabbing what looked like the last box of glow-in-the-dark four-point star-shaped assorted-sized crystals when she was met with unexpected resistance from someone on the other side of the shelf so she argued,

“Hey I saw this fi’st!”

“Well I grabbed it first! Possession’s nine-tenths of the law.” The girl on the other side of the shelves argued back before Ayden retorted,

“What laws?!”

The two of them tugged the box back and forth between each other before Ayden gave a sharper tug and-

*KRSH!*

“YAH!”

Caused the shelf to come crashing down on top of her before the girl started to panic,

“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry!”

The shelf jostled a bit from her trying to lift it off of Ayden before she huffed,

“Jus’ move aside…”

Some heeled steps let her know she moved before Ayden brought her legs up as much as she could in the small space and took a deep breath before pushing as hard as she could and managing to get some more leeway so she could fully push it off.

Huffing a bit from exhaustion, Ayden got back on her feet but leaned over with her paws on her knees before throwing a glare at the girl she’d been fighting with before; an owl demon with shaggy feathery hair under a black

beanie with a tiara on it wearing a long-sleeved pink dress with yellow star

designs on it, a matching choker, black leggings that went into heeled

boots, and a black shawl over the whole thing.

“Are you… OK?” She asked hesitantly and Ayden huffed while stretching her arms,

“Juuuus’ peachy…” Before reaching out to demand, “Now hand’em ove’...”

“No way.” The girl clutched the box closer and Ayden started to threaten,

“Eithe’ you hand those over or I’ll hand you yer arse…”

The girl started to get annoyed as she demanded with the start of a haughty tone,

“Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“No.” Ayden answered bluntly, readying to create a fireball when the girl unexpectedly changed her attitude to ask in mild shock,

“Wait really?”

“What?” Ayden dropped her readying position to question dubiously with an eyebrow raised, “Should I?”

“N-no I just-”

“Then what was the whole ‘reh do you know how I am?’ schpiel?” Ayden made a bad impression of the girl from before with an exaggerated snooty tone that made the other girl chuckle both in amusement and embarrassment as she admitted,

“No I just… spend waaay too much time listening to my mum’s screeching...”

“Been the’e…” At this point, the two of them were completely casual and were just chatting as Ayden asked, “I take it yer mum is a bit of a.. a…?”

“Overbearing nightmare…” The girl muttered moodily and Ayden shrugged before casually stating,

“I was gonna say self-righteous bitch but that wo’ks too.”

The two of them chuckled for a few seconds before the lights in the store started flickering-

*TZZ!* *TZZ!* *PSH!*

“AHH!”

Before blowing out with some glass shards flying out, making the two of them duck for cover and mutter in almost unison,

“What the…?!”

“The fuck…?!”

Ayden used her night vision to see if she could find a light source before her eyes looked up and saw the multiple chandeliers hanging from the ceiling with candles already set up in them.

Lighting a fireball in her paw, Ayden concentrated really hard on only lighting the candles and not the rest of the store on fire, hesitating to fire when she saw the other girl’s pink eyes shining with wonder in the light and her resolve solidified a bit more to shoot the fireball up and light up most of the chandeliers, softly illuminating the rest of the store.

The other girl pulled out her phone to try and see what was going on before commenting,

“What the…?”

“What?” Ayden asked and the girl turned her phone around to show the spamming news articles about the intense Alastor and Vox radio and TV confrontation, “Well that makes sense…”

“I still can’t believe the Radio Demon’s back after 7 years.”

Ayden’s eyes bolted back up to the girl’s face as she realized maybe she knew something about Alastor so she asked,

“Do you know anythin’ ‘bout’im?”

“Who doesn’t? He used to take out some of the most powerful Overlords to publicize their screams on his radio show before he disappeared about 7 years ago.”

“Anythin’ else?”

“No, not really...”

“Damn…” Ayden was discouraged that she couldn’t find out more before snarking with an eyebrow raised and her paws on her hips, “And that’s the guy livin’ wi’h us?”

“Wait what?”

“Oh I live and wo’k up at the Hazbin Hotel.” Ayden explained, nonchalantly hooking a digit behind her to refer to the hotel.

“No kidding? I thought that place shut down after the uh.. news interview..”

“Yeh you’d think so but uh nooo… y’see…”

As Ayden started explaining some of the hotel’s recent… complications, just around the corner, Charlie and Vaggie were chasing after another “potential recruit” as Charlie was trying to hurriedly explain while holding several drawings of the hotel and the “plan,”

“And while you’re working to atone for all your past sins you’ll be allowed to stay within the sanctuary of the hotel so when the next Extermination’s here-”

“FUCK OFF BITCH!” The Sinner yelled before throwing himself through the window of the store next to Stylish Occult and running back out with an armful of loot.

“Ugh!” Vaggie made a noise of disgust at the display while Charlie pouted,

“What am I doing wrooooong?”

Leaning her forehead against the front window glass of Stylish Occult while Vaggie tried to comfort her,

“It’s not your fault, most of these Sinners are just- just…”

“Amazing!” Charlie piped up making Vaggie look at her incredulously as she questioned,

“What?! No they’re just-”

“Not them, them!” Charlie pushed Vaggie’s face against the window so she could see what she was talking about; Ayden talking with another teen, one that Vaggie recognized too from the way she questioned in shocked disbelief,

“Is that-?!”

“A new friend!”

“An Ars Goetia princess!”

The both of them chorused before Vaggie tried to protest,

“Charlie, we’re already having trouble with Angels and Sinners. Do you really want to add the Ars Goetia to the mix?!”

“Vaggie, this is the first time ever I’ve seen Ayden talking to someone aside from Angel outside of the hotel.”

“I thought our goal was to improve the lives of Sinners?”

“Well yeah but why can’t we improve the lives of others while we’re at it?” Charlie pointed out before she got serious as she added, “I know Ayden’s supposed to be helping us but why not help her build up her confidence and social circle outside of the hotel?” 

Vaggie’s disapproving expression faded a little bit before Charlie finished up enthusiastically,

“Who knows? ~Maaaaybeeee~ it’ll mean another ally for the hotel in the long run?”

“I don’t know about that but maybe having somewhat of a social life would help her get her act together.. both literally and personally…”

“Ohmygosh could you imagine that?!” Charlie started to gush over potential future hang outs with the two teens while back inside with said teens, after paying for their purchases, Via was showing Ayden the ropes with her new phone and creating a Sinstagram account,

“And then you just create a username to finish setting up.”

Handing her back her phone, Ayden hummed in thought,

“Hmmmm… how ‘bout…? Ooh!” Typing for a few seconds before showing Via so she could input it into her phone and she chuckled a bit when she read it off,

“‘Fi3ryous_F3lin3_235?’”

“What? Too m’ny 3s?” Ayden shrugged with a joking smile.

“No no it’s great, it really suits your whole vibe.”

Before tapping away at her phone and Ayden’s phone dinged with a new friend request as Via announced,

“And you’ve got your first, and probably forever only, follower.”

“Ouch!” Ayden playfully punched Via in the arm in mock offense before her ear twitched when she heard a high-pitched squeal of joy and turned to see Charlie in an overjoyed position before Vaggie pulled her aside trying to hide the two of them.

Ruefully rolling her eyes, Ayden hooked a digit in their direction while telling Via,

“Well my babysi’ers are right out front so I guess I’ll see ya la’er?”

“Yeah my dad’s probably wondering where I am right about now?”

“What? D’ya sneak out o’ somethin’?” Ayden leaned forward teasingly and Via’s guilty eye movements gave her an answer and she poked fun by continuing teasing, “Woah guess this birdy's got a ballsy side eh?”

“Ha ha…” Via “laughed” sarcastically before holding out the box of crystals and saying, “You can have these by the way.”

Ayden was slightly taken back before she smiled and told her with a dismissive wave,

“Eh, I'll pick some mo’e up next time.”

Walking back toward the entrance to leave before Via gently called out,

“Here.”

Making Ayden turn back around to see her toss something at her and she caught it to reveal one of the larger crystals and looked back up to see Via grinning,

“So you didn’t almost get crushed for nothing.”

Making her grin back before winking while giving her a two-digit salute as she walked back out onto the street where Charlie and Vaggie were pretending to see her there with the limo nearby,

“Oh there you are, we just got back from-”

“Save it, Boss.” Ayden told Charlie with her arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face before adding as she got into the limo, “Not a wo’d o’ I’ll dump the stuff.”

But that didn’t stop Charlie from excitedly bouncing in place while biting her lip to keep quiet as Vaggie sighed and smiled ruefully before following her into the limo.

Once the three of them got back to the hotel, they saw that Alastor’s shadow ink demons were nearly finished with fixing the hole in the wall and Ayden dropped her backpack off on the living room table so everyone could get their items from within.

Meanwhile, Charlie immediately went for the couch, back in a gloomy mood at the lack of success of her original mission, with Vaggie close by.

“~Soooo?~ How'd it go?” Angel spoke up in a semi-smug knowing tone from where he was still sitting on the other couch and Vaggie sighed,

“Not a single new recruit…”

“Yeah well, who would wanna use their last days not fucking and fighting?”

“~Buuuut!~” Charlie rose from the couch to smile excitedly as she spoke, “It wasn’t a total loss!”

“Chaaa’lie…” Ayden drew out in a warning tone before Charlie spilled the beans,

“Ayden made a new friend!”

“Ugh!” Ayden’s ears dropped down in annoyance before Angel started to rag on her playfully with a smug smile,

“Wow, someone actually tolerated you enough to become your friend? That’s impressive.”

“Shuddup!”

“~Soooo~ what’s their name?”

Ayden’s tail whipped around before she begrudgingly answered,

“He’ name’s Via.”

“~Playin’ for the same team are we?~” Angel suggested with a sly eyebrow raise and Ayden glowered a bit before retorting,

“I’m Aroace r’membe’?”

“Yeah but you’re just against sex and romance right?”

“Yeh so no relationships.”

“I’m pretty sure they can be more than that.” Charlie pointed out and Ayden’s ears dropped down even more in the growing annoyance for the conversation before-

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

Her ears perked back up at the knocking that came from the front door and pointed at Angel and Charlie to quickly note,

“We’e done he’e…”

Before she bounded after Vaggie as she went to open the front door, revealing Sir Pentious standing there holding his hat in his hands as he greeted them,

“Why, hello my dears-”

*PSH!*

*PFT!*

“Gah!”

Before he’s cut off by Vaggie punching him in the face and Ayden jumping up to kick him square in the chest forcing him to fall back on the ground so Vaggie could get her spear out to hold at his throat even as he panicked,

“Wait, wait, wait! I come in peaccce.” Holding up double peace signs before Vaggie demanded,

“What are you doing here?”

“Whateve’ it is, I’ve been itchin’ for a fight…” Ayden smiled manically as she held her unsheathed claws up in a scratch-attack-ready position until Charlie appeared behind them to ask,

“Vaggie, Ayden, what’s the problem?” Before she noticed Sir Pentious there and gasped before greeting, “Oh! Hello again!”

“I didn’t come looking for a fight.” Pentious picked himself off the ground to tell them, “I uhh.. I heard that you’re helping people, people who want.. to be better?”

Causing Charlie to gasp again in excitement as she rushed over to grab his hand and led him toward the door as she introduced,

“You heard right! Welcome to our home of healing, our resort of restoration, our-”

Before she was cut off by Angel questioning incredulously but also validly,

“Are you fucking nuts? This chump was trying to kill us like literally 6 hours ago! And now you wanna bring him in here to live with us?”

“Absolutely!” Charlie answered enthusiastically, “This place is about second chances, and who deserves one more than this slithery... slippery... special little man!”

“Aren’t you both supposed to protect this place?” Angel directed to Vaggie and Ayden but Charlie gave them both her puppy-dog eyes that made Vaggie give in with a sigh,

“I guess he’s not much of a threat without the war machine,” Sir Pentious’s cobra hood lifted up in anticipation before Vaggie caused his mood to crash with, “or even with the war machine.” Making his cobra hood flap down with depression as he sighed.

“Oh! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” Charlie lifted her girlfriend in a twirl hug excitedly before bringing Pentious back in, Ayden hissing and making the “I’m watching you” gesture when she pulled Pentious past her to exclaim,

“Sir Pentious! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!”

“Oh no darling! Thank you! You won’t regret this.” Pentious told her as the three of them went back inside with Angel and Ayden following behind as they chatted with each other,

“Eh, I give you a week, tops.”

“I’m bettin’ 50 by tomorrow.”

“I’ll take that action.”

They all walked over to the corner of the hotel where the bar and Husk, who was, of course, drinking, as Charlie presented,

“So, this is the bar and the bartender.” Before beginning to introduce every little thing, “This is the curtain, and this is the new wall after you broke the last one, heh, and oh! Oh! This is the-”

Until Vaggie grabbed Charlie to calm her down as she pointed out,

“Babe, you don’t have to show him every detail.”

“Sorry, I’m just so excited to have our first real guest!” Charlie apologized eagerly before Angel and Ayden butted in insulted, 

“Uh, what the hell am I then?”

“Ditto…”

“Well, you’re both an important part of our family here Angel, Ayden, but you uhm, uh…” Charlie trailed off trying to be nice but Vaggie interjected bluntly while counting off on her fingers,

“Constantly make us look bad, sexually harass the staff, lounge around all day, freeload off our stuff, and have literally never once tried to improve?”

“What she means is, it’s just nice to have someone interested for once.”

When Charlie walked away with Vaggie to continue giving Sir Pentious the tour, Ayden noticed Angel’s face fall upset and she elbowed him before assuring him,

“Don’t listen ta he’, I know ya really wanna be he’e…”

“Yeah sure…” Angel pushed himself off the bar counter to walk away leaving Ayden to frown worriedly after him before her attention turned to Alastor having seen that Pentious was here.

“Ah yes! You’re the one who ruined my coat!” He stated before his tone turned darker as his voice darkened sinisterly, “I definitely remember you now…”

Sir Pentious gulped nervously before Charlie tried to lighten the situation by suggesting,

“Well, I guess this is a great time for your first lesson! *Ahem* ‘How to apologize!’ The first step to becoming a better person is to admit when you are wrong, why don’t you give it a try?”

Giving him a light push in Alastor’s direction as he nervously started to apologize,

“Yes..uhm.. Mr. uhm.. Radio Demon sir, please forgive me for attacking you and ruining your very lovely coat.. uhm.. here…”

Handing him the piece of his coat that he had ripped off earlier, Alastor spoke in a near-impressed manner,

“Ah-Ho! Not many people have been able to take even this much off me, it must have meant quite a lot to you.”

Before he lit the piece of fabric with green flames, leaving Pentious and Charlie stunned at the action while Ayden smirked a bit in the background.

A little while later, everyone was gathered to sit in a circle as Charlie proposed,

“Now, with a new resident, I think it’s important we all get to know each other! So we are going to play a little game. Everyone, follow me. My name is Charlie *claps twice* I like to sing! *claps twice* and when we get to know each other it’s the greatest thing! *claps twice*”

Before gesturing to Sir Pentious as he played along hesitantly,

“My name's Sir Pentious *claps twice* I like to build *claps twice* and despite my stupid Egg Boiz, I think I’m very skilled! *claps twice*”

When Charlie gestured to Angel, he looked up from his phone disinterested before stating,

“This is stupid.”

“This is not stupid! *claps twice* It’s just a gaaame! *claps twice* Sir Pentious did it well so now please try to do the saaame! *claps twice*” Charlie argued rhythmically looking a little desperate for him to participate before he criticized, 

“I am too sober for this.”

“Well, get used to it and learn how to play, this is gonna be your whole day! *claps twice*” Vaggie told him before turning it into a slight taunt when she clapped.

“How about you Ayden?” Charlie urged, trying to keep the game going.

“Fine... ” Ayden rolled her eyes before thinking for a second and playing along, slow clapping sarcastically, “My name is Ayden *claps twice* I like to nap *claps twice* And even if Cha’lie trusts you I think yer fulla crap! *claps twice*”  

*SHING!*

At the last clap, she unsheathed her broken-edged claws while glaring at Sir Pentious, who gulped nervously before Charlie tried to divert the tension by announcing,

“Okaaaay next activity!”

The next exercise being a role-playing skit in front of everyone with Angel wearing a “mobster” trenchcoat and fedora and holding a script while Sir Pentious was wearing a childish sailor suit and licking an oversized lollipop.

“‘Oh, I’m a bad man on the streets who never got enough hugs, now, where’s an innocent kid I can sell crack to?’ Wow, who wrote this?” Angel started to recite from the script before criticizing.

“It’s great right? Keep going!” Charlie beamed before urging him to keep going, which he did with little to no enthusiasm,

“‘Hey you.’”

“‘Who, ~meeee?~’” Sir Pentious acted the part of innocent kid, sparkle eyes and all…

“‘Yeah, you look like a kid who could use some... devil’s dandruff?’ Oh, for fuck’s sake…!”

“‘Not me! I have to go home and study!’”

“‘Come on kid, it’ll make you cool like me... the crackhead.’”

At that, Ayden barely suppressed a groan and slapped her forehead in exasperation before Pentious continued the performance with,

“‘The only cool thing here is to say no to drugs! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to not have sexual intercourse before marriage!’” Pentious finished off with a bold pose and Charlie stood up to applaud and praise him,

“Yes! Oh bravo! Bravo! Wow, Pentious! At this rate, you’ll be redeemed in no time.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

“I…” Angel started to say before finishing bluntly, “I’m going to bed.”

Walking up the stairs back to his room as Charlie continued to congratulate Sir Pentious,

“I am so proud of you Sir Pentious! That was amazing!”

“Thank you! Thank you! You like me! You really like me!”

Ayden stayed behind a little while as everyone went to do their own thing before bed before heading up to Angel’s room.

Before she even reached the door, her fur spiked up and chills ran up her spine when she heard Valentino’s voice yelling one second before switching to a faux apologetic tone and bouncing back and forth between the two tones until the smell of smoke and a shaming-toned voice caught her attention,

“You actually think you can change? Addict trash like you doesn't change. ~I'll see you soon, baby...~”

Ayden growled defensively before hearing Angel sigh and tell Fat Nuggets as he oinked in concern,

“Sorry… not now, Fat Nuggets…”

Before he opened the door to his room to see Ayden standing right there with her arms crossed and face in a firm expression as she stated,

“Don’ ev’n think ‘bout it... ”

“Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about... ” Angel tried to walk past her before Ayden moved to block his way and shot him a glare to say,

“Oh please ya don’t need supe’hea’ing ta hea’ that whiny bludger’s bitchin’...”

“Ayden, I’m not in the mood for this right now…”

Ayden frowned at him using her actual name instead of his nickname for her and sighed before asking,

“Cause yer in the mood for a drink?”

And Angel looking away being the confirmation she needed before motioning with her head as she told him,

“C’mon, I know whe’e Husk keeps the strong stuff.”

The corner of Angel’s mouth twitched in a smile before the two of them headed downstairs to the bar where Ayden vaulted over the counter to drop to the other side before some rustling, glass clinking, and sniffing was heard by Angel as he waited.

“Boom…!” Ayden whisper-shouted as she held up a gray bottle with little demonic butterfly designs on it before popping up herself to introduce with a dramatic flourish like a salesperson, “Shadowfly Absinthe.”

She handed the bottle over to Angel, who uncorked it and was about to start drinking when Ayden asked,

“A’e ya mad…?”

Angel did a double-take before answering in an unconvincing tone,

“What? Pft! No…”

“Well I know I’m miffed at the bosses fer what they said ‘bout us…” Ayden hopped back over the counter to sit on top of it with her arms crossed and legs and tail kicking over the side before muttering, “They don’ know us…”

“It’s whatever…” Angel tried to deflect but Ayden protested,

“‘T’s not whateve’...!” Slumping down a bit before repeating mumbling, “They don’t know us… jus’ cause we don’t show it doe’n’t mean we don’t ca’e…”

“Maybe you…”

“Cut the bullcrap… I know you ca’e too even if ya say ya don’t… yer jus’ real bad at hidin’ it, like yer stashes…”

Ayden ruefully smirked toward the end of her sentence making Angel return the expression before it fell so he could start chugging from the bottle and she sighed.

*Tssss….*

“Hmm?”

She hummed in thought as her ears twitched at the slight rustling sound that came from down the hall and Angel turned to face the direction it had come from with a drunken expression on his face.

They both sneaked over to Charlie’s office, where the door was slightly ajar allowing them to peek inside and see that Sir Pentious was setting up a small Voxtech camera in between some books on the bookshelf.

“You slippery little shit!” Angel shouted as he threw the doors open causing Pentious to scream,

“Ah! Wh-wha-?!”

“Yer workin’ for the Vees?!” Ayden exclaimed in disbelief as she looked ready to attack but Angel went in to harshly poke Pentious in the chest accusingly,

“I fucking knew there was something shitty about you.”

But Pentious denied the accusation as he brushed Angel’s finger off of him before lying as he crossed his arms and raised his head haughtily,

“I don’t know what you’re talking about... whore bug…!”

Ticking Angel off enough for him to tackle Pentious to the ground and punch him in the face before they started wrestling with each other.

“Hold still so I don’t hit ya Ang!” Ayden got close to the brawl with a small fireball lit in her paw but hesitated to throw it without a clear shot.

“Just help me get’im down!”

Grunting impatiently, Ayden closed her fist to extinguish the fireball before jumping onto Pentious’s tail, trying to pin it to the ground as he writhed around trying to get out of the chokehold Angel put him in before he shouted,

“Get your aggressively average and furry bodies... OFF OF ME!”

All his eyes started spiraling to hypnotize them and it worked from the way Angel jolted backward in a daze and Ayden dropped to the ground clutching her own eyes from the intense dizziness the spirals brought,

“Fuck!”

“YAH!”

Luckily it wore off quickly for Angel when he quickly shook his head to snap out of it before moving to corner Pentious against the bookshelf again while Ayden was still rubbing her eyes.

“Yaaah… What’s going on?” Charlie yawned as she and Vaggie walked in on the three of them in their pjs as Angel told them while grabbing Pentious’s elbow,

“This lil’ bitch is a tra-aitor!”

“OK the slurrin’ ain’t helpin’ ou’ case he’e... ” Ayden pointed out as she was barely standing back up from shaking the dizziness away before Pentious argued,

“Preposterous! I would never betray you. You... are my best friends!” 

Hugging Charlie and Vaggie before Angel brought up,

“Uh huh, then explain this!”

Before he lifted the books away to reveal the camera, shocking Charlie, and causing Pentious to hurry toward the window shouting into his watch,

“Ah! Ah! Abort! Abort! S.O.S! Agent Pentious in need of immediate evacuation!”

Vox picking up to question in disbelief,

*Pentious? Wait... you were caught?!? It hasn’t even been a day!*

“Eh eh!” Ayden held a paw up in a “fork it over” motion to Angel behind her and he grunted before placing a 50 bill in it while Pentious begged,

“Please! You’ve got to get me out of here!”

*I can’t believe we thought you could handle even something this simple. Do us a favor, if they don’t kill you, go ahead and do it yourself! You miserable failure!

“I... I…” Pentious gave himself up, taking the watch off and laying on the ground to await the double death blow, “Just make it quick I guess... not that I deserve it…”

“Gladly.” Vaggie and Ayden both stated simultaneously as the former got her spear out and the latter unsheathed her sparking claws before Charlie stopped them and started singing while holding a hand out to Pentious,

“Wait! Pentious…?”

♫ It starts with sorry, that’s your foot in the door.

One simple sorry, spoken straight from your core. ♫

Charlie created a glittery smokey trail wherever she stepped with hearts popping up as she danced and sang,

♫ The path to forgiveness is a twisting trail of hearts!

But sorry is where it starts! ♫

Sir Pentious started singing hopelessly, sprawling to the floor dramatically,

♫ Who could forgive a dirtbag like me?

I don’t deserve your amnesty. ♫

Before Vaggie, Ayden, and Angel, who was wielding his twin Tommy guns, sang as they cornered Pentious with their eyes glowing menacingly pink,

♫ Can’t we just kill him?

Shoot him (burn’im) spill his blooood? ♫

Before Charlie sang, slightly unsettled at their resort to violence,

♫ That’s an.. option you could choose. ♫

♫ Works for us. ♫

The trio turned back to Pentious before Charlie urged them while making them lower their weapons as they considered her words,

♫ But who hasn’t been in his shoes? It starts with sorry. ♫

Before Pentious and Charlie started singing together again despite Angel, Vaggie, and Ayden looking at each other in doubt,

♫ Sorry. ♫

♫ Dig down deeper and say one sincere sorry! ♫

♫ I’m so sorry! ♫

♫ And your journey’s underway! ♫

♫ It’ll take time to cover your/my vast multitude of sins ♫

♫ But sorry is where it begins. It starts with sorry…. ♫

As their song ended, everyone’s attention was caught by Niffty as she shouted and stomped her feet in disappointment,

“I hated that song! Why are you so lame?!”

Before kicking him in one of his body eyes while sulking as she walked away with her arms crossed,

“Not a bad boy.”

“Good first day!” Charlie sighed happily before side-hugging Vaggie as she suggested, “Let’s get some rest!”

Everyone walked out of the office, the lights turning off after they all left before a glowing smile and red eyes peered out of the shadows and manifested into Alastor as he picked up the watch and turned it on to contact Vox as he yelled, expecting to see Sir Pentious,

*WHAT?!?*

Only to pause in fear when he realized it was Alastor, who laughed tauntingly,

*You’ll have to try harder than that next time ol’ pal!*

Vox screamed in frustration, his voice fritzing and distorting before Alastor laughed maniacally as he crushed the watch with his bare hand and dissipated back into the shadows… where he wasn’t alone as a pair of pinkish red eyes were also watching.

‘Woah…’ Ayden thought as she hid in her hellcat form, having stayed behind a bit when she’d felt the familiar shudder she gets every time Alastor’s around and stuck around to see what he was up to.

Scurrying back up to her room where she finally shifted back to demon cat form, she huffed before dropping onto her bed,

“Guessin’ those two have some kinda beef…?”

*BVV-VVV!*

Her ears twitched when she heard the vibrations coming from her new phone and got up to grab it from her vanity before hesitantly swiping to open it and managing to navigate over to her new Sinstagram account where 3 new messages from Via were waiting for her,

*Hey, did you see this?*

*Since you were asking about him earlier*

The third message being a link to some footage clips from the Vox and Alastor digital/radio faceoff that took out power throughout the whole Ring.

“Wow…” Ayden commented in an unimpressed tone before looking to the emojis options bar and looking through for a “meh” emoji and sent it along with,

*Already knew he

was annoying*

*What else 

is new?*

Waiting only a few seconds before she got a response,

*Who’s the ballsy one now?*

“Heh…” Ayden chuckled a bit before texting back, the two of them continuing the conversation well into the night…

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore, violence, and injury, and mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

... 

... 

... 

3rd Person POV

*Zzzzzz….* Ayden was practically falling asleep in her seat at Husk’s bar with her head starting to tilt down when Angel got the brilliant idea to sneak Husk’s wet bar rag under her causing her to plant her face against it with a wet squelch-

*PLSH!*

“MROW!”

Before jolting back awake with the smells of spilled alcohol and whatever else that rag had cleaned up recently and nearly falling backward off her stool if she hadn't dug her claws into the counter to act as an anchor.

“Do you get any sleep at night?” Husk questioned critically as he snatched his rag back before starting to drink from his bottle.

“I’m willing ta bet she was up late again texting her ~giiiirlfrieeeend~ again!” Angel teased without looking up from his phone making Ayden look at him unamused as corrected him while trying to pry her claws from the counter,

“She’s not hrrr my gi’lfriend, she’s a girl hrrr who I’ve only known gah fer a week…”

“And who you’ve been texting non-stop and hung out with twice in a week.” Angel added smugly before Niffty chimed in as she was dusting a table,

“Sure sounds like a girlfriend to me.” Before putting a finger to her chin in thought and adding, “Or a stalker.”

Chuckling crazily as she resumed dusting at a faster pace, thoroughly creeping the three of them out before they noticed Sir Pentious scowling at them from over the top of the couch and they each flipped him off, Ayden double flipping with her newly freed claws, and Niffty gave him her crazed smile look while giggling sinisterly.

“I’m s’prised he’s lasted this long he’e…” Ayden commented as they went back to their conversation, “This mo’ning he tried ta put a trap outside my doo’, almost got me too.”

Letting her tail flick up to show the faint lines of scraped-away fur and grazed skin underneath on the bifurcated end.

“I know I probably should be worried ‘bout that, but I can’t help but think the trap coulda been better.” Angel snarked and Ayden scrunched up her nose in mock offense as she flicked Angel’s phone out of his hands with her tail and he scrambled to catch it while Ayden watched smirking.

When he finally caught his phone, he sent her a half-joking glare that she returned with a cheeky tongue-sticking-out grin and Husk commented dully from where he finished up his drink,

“You two are really somethin’...”

“~Awww thanks!~” They responded in unison while waving a hand, creeping out Husk even more while Niffty just drew out while giggling,

“~Twiiiiiins….~”

Making Ayden’s grin widen while Angel’s face fell and blanched a bit before Charlie called out to them,

“Everyone! Group meeting in the foyer!”

The four of them looked at her oddly before Vaggie added with some more authority,

“She means today!”

And they all made their way to the foyer where Husk and Angel sat on opposite ends of the couch with Ayden sitting on the backing with her legs dangling onto the cushions, Niffty stood by Angel, and Pentious was close by, not accompanied by his Egg Boiz, and Alastor was nowhere to be seen as Charlie started to announce,

“Hi, guys. Thanks for coming!” 

“Not like we had much of’a choice Boss…” Ayden snarked with a raised brow before Vaggie gave her a warning glare as Charlie continued despite the interruption,

“It's been brought to our attention that there may be a liiiiiittle... tension in the hotel.”

While she was speaking, Pentious had grabbed Niffty with his tail and was about to shoot her with a ray gun before Vaggie snatched it out of his hand to bluntly state,

“Tension that can be counterproductive to what we're trying to do here.”

Pentious letting Niffty go before flicking his tongue out in Vaggie’s direction as Charlie suggested cheerfully,

“We think that this group could really benefit ~frooooom-~”

She and Vaggie jumped up to cheer, but Vaggie was slightly late on her cue,

“Trust exercises!”

“Trust exercises. Ah, shit!”

Vaggie landed on her backside before Charlie pulled her back onto her feet and told her quietly,

“Vaggie, we rehearsed this.” Before sighing and declaring, “We're doing trust exercises!”

“So, uh, what's with the whole, uhh... this?” Husk asked gesturing to the stage that was set up behind Charlie and Vaggie with a banner on it that read "Trusting 101" before muttering while crossing his arms, “I'm not about to put on some show for these fucking chumps.”

“Oh, I will.” Angel spoke suggestively as he put his legs on Husk’s lap despite the glare he sent his way before specifying, pointing to Pentious toward the end, “but it's cash up front, and I know that one can't afford me.”

“Grossss! I'd never think of it, sssspider!” Pentious recoiled away in disgust before Ayden snarked,

“Eh he’d probably jus’ miss his shot anyway.”

Sending a smirk his way while purposefully waving her tail around behind her and he hissed back at her which she returned with a snarl before Vaggie brought their attention back with,

“Anyway! Let's get started.” Motioning back over as she tried to pass the baton back, “Charlie?”

But she seemed to have a different idea as she suggested while side-hugging her before she walked over to join the group,

“Actually, I thought maybe you could take the lead on this one. I trust everyone, so maybe you know better on how to build it properly!”

“What? Uhh, I don't know if I'm qualified, uh…” Vaggie stumbled over her words since she was unsure about taking charge before Charlie encouraged her with,

“Oh, come on. It'll be easy! I'm sure you can handle this.”

“Yeah... um,” Looking over everyone as they all frowned or glared except for Charlie and Niffty as she told herself, “Sure, I can handle this. No problem.”

Before taking a deep breath and started announcing while sounding and acting like a drill sergeant, getting up in people’s faces as she emphasized,

“Alright, so we are starting with trust falls! Each of you are going to share something vulnerable with the group about yourself and then fall backward, while the rest of the group catches you. Got it? Who wants to go first?”

“Ooh, ooh, me me me! Me! Me! Me!” Charlie hopped up and down while raising her hand and cheered until Vaggie had no choice but to say,

“All right, get on up here.”

And she ran past her to go onto the stage and announced with a heartfelt tone and teary eyes,

“I... I love you guys. Like, really, really love you.”

She moved to fall backward but nobody made a move to catch her until Vaggie rushed over and caught her bridal style,

“Gotcha!”

“That... felt... good!” She cheered before urging, “Angel, why don't you go next?”

“Fiiiiine…” He drew out impatiently as he walked over to the stage while Vaggie mildly threatened everyone else,

“This time everyone needs to catch him, okay? Unless you want me to hurt you.”

Taking out her spear as a means of intimidation before Angel started to announce unabashedly,

“Somethin' about myself, huh? How about this? I LOVE to suck-”

“I swear to fuck if you say dicks!” Husk yelled as he threateningly pointed at him before Angel continued with a cheeky smile and a wink,

“-popsicles, ya sicko! Get your mind outta the gutter!”

Falling backward and Husk catching him before he added unashamedly,

“But, you know, dicks too!”

Causing Husk to drop him onto his ass with an annoyed grunt.

“Heheh…” Ayden snickered at Angel’s pain, failing to hide them so Vaggie told her,

“You just volunteered yourself, go.”

“‘Ight then.” Ayden shrugged as she walked up to the stage and thought for a second before drawing out as she thought about what to say, “Hmmm let’s see…” Before her ears and tail perked up to tell them all, “Ooh! I can track down anyone anywhe’e once I’ve smelled somethin’ o’ thei’s.”

“Wait was that you going through the dirty clothes the other day?!” Vaggie questioned in disbelief and Ayden shrugged while answering,

“Hey I thought as securi’y we were s’posed ta know whe’e everyone is at all times?”

"Mierda, tiene razón..." (Dammit, she’s right…) Vaggie begrudgingly admitted and Ayden grinned in triumph, recognizing the subtle admission of being right even in another language, before falling backward off the stage, almost going uncaught until Angel caught her at the last second.

But just after he caught her, he lifted her up and was preparing to drop her in an attempt to get back at her for laughing at him when he fell, when she managed to shift to hellcat form to land on all fours and gave him a smugly triumphant taunt before telling Pentious,

“Nice try Leggy. New guy, yer up…”

Sir Pentious went up to the stage before the lights went out abruptly so a spotlight could shine on him as he spoke dramatically with tears in all of his eyes,

“I... don't want to live without my minions. Nobody catch me!”

But to his disappointment, Vaggie and Charlie both caught him when he fell backward,

“Damn it.”

“That's great. Wow, you are slimy.” Vaggie criticized as she and Charlie put him down, “Okay, good job.”

“Whe’e a’e the li’le bugge’s anyway?” Ayden questioned, wondering where the Egg Boiz were before Pentious told her dismally while hooking a thumb in Vaggie’s direction,

“The purple one told me to get rid of them if I wanted to stay here…”

“Aww come on!” Ayden exclaimed in a complaining tone, “They we’e hilarious ta mess with!”

“Was that meant to be comforting?” Pentious asked in a confused and disturbed tone.

“Take it how ya want it.” Ayden shrugged before Vaggie once again had to steer the conversation back to before,

“Alright! Niffty?”

Before Niffty ran past them onto the stage giggling manically as she declared sadistically with a glint in her eyes, 

“Sometimes, I kill mother bugs in front of their children as a warning to others!”

And when she threw herself off the stage, everyone even Charlie, stepped back to let her fall on her face to the ground, but she seemed to enjoy it from the way she cheered in a masochistic way,

“Yay! Pain!”

The others watched with disturbed expressions as she ran back up to the stage and flung herself off again to sigh,

“Haaaah…! Pain!”

Before throwing herself off again and again and again and again and again…

Until finally,

“OK I’m stoppin’ this b’fore she actually hu’ts he’self…” Ayden sighed as she walked up and caught Niffty under her arms when she tried to throw herself off for the eighth time making her whine with her arms crossed,

“Awwwww no paaain!”

So Ayden flicked her face where her nose would be and Niffty sighed,

“Ahhhhhh! Thanks!”

Making the corner of Ayden’s mouth twitch in a smile before she readjusted her grip on her to carry her like a child on her hip when Vaggie announced,

“OK everybody, we're following Angel somewhere…?”

Charlie and Vaggie opened the doors to lead everyone out to the limo and Ayden was putting Niffty back onto the ground for her to scurry after everyone when Angel held Ayden back to tell her in an unsure tone,

“Uhh… ya might not wanna come with us for this part Fuzzball..”

“Eh…” Ayden shrugged flippantly, walking past him out the door as she asked, “How bad could it be?”

…

“I take it back, this is real bad…” Ayden deadpanned with her ears folded down in unsettlement at where they all were before Vaggie exclaimed in disgust,

“Angel! What the actual fuck?!”

It was revealed they were at a BDSM sex dungeon with Angel looking satisfied with himself in contrast to a shocked Charlie and irritated Vaggie before he reasoned while messing with a pair of furry handcuffs,

“No activity requires more trust than BDSM, baby. No bond stronger than those formed through bondage! That's their motto!”

Hooking a thumb in the direction of the poster that actually had that motto printed on it and Charlie tried to remain optimistic despite her growing discomfort as she told him,

“Angel, love the enthusiasm. But, umm, uh... hmmm…”

Eventually trailing off in uneasiness so Vaggie could cut in while pointing in Angel’s face,

“What makes you think anyone would be into this?”

*Prrrr….*

Before a purring noise caught their attention and the three of them looked over to Ayden who immediately held her paws up to exclaim,

“Not me!”

Before they looked to the only other cat demon around as Husk was being given a massage by one of the workers and he admitted,

“You know, I... I don't hate this…”

Before Niffty appeared wearing a dominance outfit and holding a heart-tipped spanking stick as she announced suggestively,

“I'm ready to punish some ~baaad boooys!~”

“Never mind, I-I'm out!” Husk stood up and ran away to get away before Niffty got any ideas.

A tracing touch across her shoulders made Ayden puff up in discomfort as a pair of hands were placed on both shoulders while someone crooned in her ear from behind her,

“~Hey there Pussycat…~”

At that nickname, her eyes flew open and she froze as she was suddenly back with them, Hannah and her crew… helpless… tired… hurt… scared…

“Hrrrr…”

Her discomfort immediately turned to anger as she pulled herself out of her head and out of their grasp and instantly sucker-punched whoever was behind her hard enough to make them pass out on the floor,

“Agh.. ulh…”

The other workers who were around looked at Ayden in shock before she sent them all a testy glare that screamed “what are you all looking at?!” and they went back to their clients and partners.

“Good ta know you can handle yourself against randos.” Angel commented mildly impressed from where he stood a little ways behind Ayden as she wiped her nose but didn’t grin at the compliment, causing Angel to worry slightly but before he could ask her anything, Vaggie yelled at him after she had to drag Charlie away from some creeps,

“Ugh! I can't fucking believe I let you drag us here, Angel. This is disgusting.”

Before Charlie tried to assure her,

“It's no big deal, Vaggie. You know, maybe I can just help, uh-”

“No. I told you you could trust me, and I'm not going to let you down.” She asserted before walking away from Charlie as she tried to think before devising with a smile, “I just need to teach them... the way I was taught…”

…

“THIS IS HOW YOU LEARNED TO TRUST PEOPLE?!” Charlie yelled over the screams of the demons down below where they were all standing on top of a ruined building surrounded by other demolished ones as demons and Sinners down below were fighting and yelling at each other,

“Yee-haw!”

“Let's go, Baby!”

“Bring it on, Bitch!”

Back on the rooftop, Vaggie started talking like a drill sergeant again as she announced,

“There is nothing stronger than the trust between comrades in arms. Buckle up, buttercups, because today you boys and girls become men and women!”

An explosion in the background made Vaggie’s devilish grin seem more threatening as her hair whipped in the shockwave before she advanced on Pentious to pick him up over her head yelling,

“You-”

Despite his protests,

“Wait, wait! I can't fight without my minioooons-”

“-are gonna survive together!”

Before he’s thrown off the building while in the background, Husk discreetly slips away back to the stairs while he still can before Vaggie turns to Angel,

“And you-!”

Picking up Angel against his objections,

“D-don't you even think about iiiiit-!”

“-are gonna make this hotel work!”

Before throwing him off too, turning to Ayden to throw her off too when she held up a paw to exclaim in wild excitement,

“I’ve been waitin’ fo’ this! WOO!”

Before she leaped right off the edge of the building with her claws unsheathed, landing on the street below on all fours as she started going crazy on every Sinner and demon that came in her line of sight, slashing and punching and kicking with brute force while laughing crazily,

“HAHA!”

*SHCLL!*

Ayden dug her claws into the chest of an imp who tried to leap at her with a knife in his hand before pulling out his heart and grinning madly as she shoved it in her mouth to swallow in one gulp.

“HAMO!” One of the imps buddies yelled out before shouting to his fellow fighters, “GET THAT FURRY LITTLE BITCH!”

“HA! You call me a bitch ♫ like it’s a bad thing…♫” Ayden laughed, her tone starting to go more musical toward the end as a Sinner yelled,

“Freak!”

But she dodged his punch as she started singing again,

♫ You call me a freak like that means somethin’ ♫ 

She started to full-on sing while avoiding all the attacks and strikes from all the demons around with dance-like motions that launched her powers out at approaching attackers,

♫ Can't get yer way, so yer sulkiiiin’

I think we know the rest, get it off yer chest ♫

Ayden grabbed another Sinner by the neck to claw out his heart but tossed it away as she strutted down the street with her paws on her hips while singing proudly,

♫ I don't give a shit

I love it when you call me a bitch

Like it's a baaaad thiiiing ♫

In the distance, she saw the BDSM club from before and thought back to before as she sang in a slightly melancholic but still forceful punk tone,

♫ Ya show up everywhe’e I go ♫

Before she shook and grabbed at her head to scold herself,

♫ Get a grip, yer actin’ so weird (so weird) ♫

Right before her ear twitched and she caught a Molotov cocktail another imp tried to throw at her with her tail before jumping up and twirling to toss it back with the fire amplified using her powers,

♫ I don't need yer Jägerbombs

I think I can take it from he’e (from he’e) ♫

*PSSHHHH!*

The explosion went off behind her as she leaped on top of an overturned car,

♫ Ya call me a bitch like it's a b-b-bad thing ♫

Before she rebounded off a car, building, and lamppost shaft to grab ahold of some entrails that were dangling from the lamp head to swing around while twirling and singing, creating streaking spark trails as she swung around,

♫ Ya call me a freak like that means somethin’

Can't get yer way, so yer so pissed off

I think we know the rest, get it off yer chest ♫

Before she launched off on a swing to somersault through the air and land on the street to sing loudly while raising her paws to the air,

♫ I don't give a shit

I love it when you call me a bitch

Like it's a baaaad thiiiin- ♫

*PEW!*

“AGH!” Ayden had to duck behind a car to avoid being shot at by a Sinner and glaring in annoyance at being cut off.

“AGH! AGH!”

Before Pentious’s screams in the distance caught her attention and she saw that he was being beaten up with a dismembered arm while Angel was wrestling a Hellhound off of him and Niffty was running after a short Sinner who looked like a walking garbage pile, no doubt to try and “clean him up.”

The reminder she was down here with her friends made her protective instincts kick in as she jumped out from behind the car she’d taken shelter behind to run on all fours toward the Sinner that had shot at her before ramming right into him and slashing at his neck,

“GAH! GLCK-ULGH!”

Making him choke on his own inky blood so Ayden could grab his gun out of his hand and shoot at the Sinner Niffty was chasing with the rest of the gun's ammo so she could catch him and go crazy on his injured body with her needle.

“I blame you for this, you crazy bitch!” Angel yelled up to the building where Charlie and Vaggie were vaguely seen at the edge and Ayden saw that he was trying to save Pentious from the Sinner beating the shit out of him.

“Hang on!” Ayden yelled as she dropped the gun, running in their direction and readying a fireball in her paw when-

*FTOO!*

*SCHLL*

“YAH! OOF!”

A stinging pain struck her leg making her buckle and crash to the rubble-covered ground, extinguishing the fireball, before she looked down at herself and saw a large neon green quill the size of a yardstick piercing through her calf, letting her glowing blood spray out onto the ground.

“A-Ah…” Ayden whimpered as lines of venom green started to appear on her skin, making it difficult to think from the pain and freezing up, unable to summon a fireball, as a result.

“Gotcha now…”

Ayden whipped her head in the direction of a porcupine-like Sinner, Barb, if the mentioning herself in the third person was any indicator, who had two quill-like daggers in her hands poised to stab down at her with a wicked grin,

“Barb’s gonna enjoy this…”

Just as Angel had managed to save Pentious and saw her position to yell panicked,

“Ayden!”

And Ayden put an arm up as she cowered down waiting for the blow-

*FWOO-FWSH!*

When something furry and feathery swooped in and snatched her right off the ground, leaving Barb to stab her weapons through empty space into the ground before she growled angrily,

“Barb’s kill!”

Angel gave a sigh of relief from where he was carrying Pentious over his shoulder while Ayden managed to see that Husk was the one to save her as he asked while carefully putting her back down,

“You alright kid?”

“I'm ‘lright… tsss…”

Hissing a bit at the pain in her leg but they had hardly another moment of peace when someone yelled from above,

“Incoming fuckers!”

The two of them barely moved to face the direction of the yell when they saw a flaming bottle being sent hurtling their way.

“HRR!” Ayden managed to force her arms to work so she could shove Husk away just as the bottle crashed and exploded in a mini inferno that surrounded her whole form along with Barb when she tried to go back in for a rematch.

*FWOOOSH!*

“NO!” Angel shouted as he ran toward them, still carrying a crying Pentious over his shoulder.

The fire started to spread from the point of impact toward Husk, who tried scuttling backward away from it, only for it to stop spreading abruptly making him and Angel question in near unison,

“The fuck…?”

Before the fire started to retreat back to its source to reveal Ayden sitting on the ground still but the quill was shot out of her leg as the fire “crawled” up her skin to heal the venom lines before sinking back into her skin with Barb nothing but a charred, twitching, barely-“alive” mess nearby.

“Woah…” Ayden marveled at herself as she stood up and stomped her leg down gently then harder to show that it had fully healed before summoning two fireballs in each paw that were larger and shone brighter than the ones she manifested on her own.

“The fuck was that?” Husk questioned, still unsettled by what was happening before the Sinner who threw the bomb from before yelled,

“DIE BITCH!”

Throwing a bundle of dynamite their way this time, making her react quickly, jumping off the hood of a car like a trampoline to grab the bundle in midair before twirling quickly to ricochet it back to the Sinner as he was blown up by his own device in a boosted fiery blaze,

*PPPSSSSHHH!*

As soon as she made it back to the ground, she called to the others,

“Let’s go ‘lready!”

Running back toward the building that Vaggie had thrown them off from and trudging up the stairs tiredly with Angel taking the lead once they made it back to the roof level so he could toss Pentious to the floor while panting tiredly with a tiny bit of enthusiasm in his voice,

“~Maaaade iiiiiit!~”

Only for Charlie to walk past them back to the door as she told them all dejectedly,

“Let's go home, guys.”

“Ugh!” Angel grunted before motioning back to the stairs they’d just climbed up as he complained, “I just walked up all those stairs!”

“Seriously I don't know how you do anythin’ in those heels... ” Ayden noted critically as she followed them down while checking her newly healed tail end.

“Hey, don’t be dissin’ my style.” Angel retorted as he started to drag Pentious back down from his tail, “I’m surprised you’re still walking on that leg.”

“Eh…” Ayden half shrugged with her arms up before they all made it back to the limo so they could return to the hotel.

Once they arrived, they all sat around in the living room, still recovering from the fight, when Ayden spoke up,

“Awww come on!” Jumping up excitedly to recount, “That fight was amazin'!”

Motioning over to Niffty as she recalled,

“You tu’ned that guy into a bloody pincushion by the time you we’e done wi’h’im!”

“~He is my new pincushion!~” Niffty giggled as she held up a little ball of ripped flesh and clothes still attached to it that had been fashioned into a little needle holder that already had some stuck into it.

“You managed to get in a couple good hits!” Ayden then turned to refer to Angel who chuckled a little before it elevated to a boisterous laugh that spread to everyone else listening in,

“You wanna talk good hits?! How ‘bout when that buff guy was beatin’ the shit outta you!”

Motioning to Pentious as he laughed as well while making a motion to refer to the limb in question,

“HAHAHA yes, with the dismembered arm, HA Yes, that..” His tone switched to be a bit more resentful as he admitted, “was particularly unpleasant…”

“Hehehe I liked that part hehe…” Niffty giggled as she peeked over the living room table with a sly grin.

“Well, hey, at least you can take a beating like a champ.” Husk spoke up from near his bar before he came over to pat Pentious on the shoulder as he complimented him, “You did okay, new kid.”

“Really?” Pentious was taken aback by the praise before becoming more confident as he laughed, “Oh well, I suppose I did get into a little of the old rough and tumble today.” 

“I’ll say.” Ayden commended him, “Ya got the makin’s of a decent figh’er ‘long wi’h those cool machines o’ yours.”

“High praise coming from the one who can throw fire and rip hearts from her enemies’ very chests.” Pentious returned the recognition making the heart ripping motion with a faux pained expression.

“That was fucking intense!” Angel expressed joyfully before it turned dour as he recalled, “Til that bozo got in that cheap shot…” Right before switching to a flirty tone, “And ~Huskyyyy~!”

“Aww fuck…” Husk frowned when he realized what he was about to do and was proven right when Angel teased,

“~Weren’t you just a knight in fuzzy armor savin’ Ruby like that!~”

Luckily for him, Ayden saved Husk from further flirting with,

“And what ‘bout you pullin’ Pen outta the brawl like ya did!”

Giving a subtle wink to Husk which he returned with a grateful look for the diversion as Pentious acknowledged,

“Yes... thank you for pulling me out of there..”

Angel gave him a good-natured slap on the back before they all started laughing, only stopping when Niffty’s laugh turned maniacal and the others looked at each other disconcerted before smiling again.

A few seconds later, the sound of the front door opening and closing made them look over and see Alastor returning with the Egg Boiz in tow as Vaggie noted from where she and Charlie were on the second-floor balcony,

“Alastor. Failed to get rid of the eggs, I see…”

“Yes, well, the little monsters prove to be rather useful…”

Ayden raised a brow in suspicious question at the last part of his sentence as she and the others walked closer to him while Vaggie told him,

“Why don't you give them back to Pentious.”

And he immediately got teary-eyed with joy,

“~Reeeeaaally?~”

“Yeah. After today, I guess I can trust you with them.” Before she emphasized with a narrow-eyed glare, “But seriously, no. more. weapons.”

Pentious immediately dove in to scoop them all up in an embrace as he cried,

“Ahhh! My eggs! Yay. Ah, it's so good to have you back.” Until the mood changed when he dropped them to command, “Now, go clean my quarters this instant!”

And the Egg Boiz all scurried away with Pentious shouting after them making Ayden chuckle,

“Heh it’s gonna be fun messin’ wi’h’em again…”

About to walk off back to her room when Angel held her up to ask,

“You uh.. sure you’re doin’ alright after…”

Trailing off before making a motion with his eyes to her calf where hardly a scratch was left let alone a scar so Ayden waved it off with a scoff,

“I’m good, really.” Before admitting as she stretched her arms around, “‘Onestly, it felt great ventin’ off some ene’gy like that. Wish I could do it mo’e of’en.”

“And don’t think I didn’t see those moves of yours back there you little Daredevil.” Angel grinned, referring to Ayden’s acrobatic dance-like fighting style along with her fire powers while she had been singing, “Maybe that could be part of your shtick.”

“Think so?” She asked as they started walking up the stairs to go to their rooms and get ready for bed.

“Heh Wildcat I know so.” Angel gave her an affectionate hair ruffle that she playfully batted away before she smiled at him and went into her room and shutting the door behind her, leaving Angel to frown a bit as he sighed and whispered,

“I wish you could meet’er Molls… I think you’d like her…”

Before he headed to his room for the night while, in her room, Ayden had just thrown on her oversized pj t-shirt and was getting into her bed when her phone vibrated,

*BVV-VVV!*

And she hurriedly picked it up to open her messages and see Via’s texts,

*Hey, might need a 

distraction this weekend*

*You down to hang out?*

Ayden was about to respond yes immediately when her conversation from earlier that day replayed and she settled for a simple,

*Hafta check

with the bosses*

*I’ll keep ya posted*

The thumbs up reaction on the second text made a slightly warm feeling spread in Ayden’s chest before she turned her phone off to place on the side and snuggled under her blankets to fall asleep… hoping the nightmares wouldn't persist again…

Chapter Text

X-TRA HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, depressing backstory, mentions of sexual language and activities, attempted rape, domestic violence and abuse, self-harming, suicidal thoughts, alcohol and drug use, Val being Val, and PTSD-induced emotional breakdown

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

... 

... 

... 

I’m not kiddin’ this is gonna get pretty dark…

... 

... 

…

Last chance…

... 

... 

... 

OK then… don’t say we didn’t warn you…

... 

... 

...

3rd Person POV

It was shaping up to be another day of “Redemption Lessons” with the Hazbin crew, the activity for the day being “Show and Tell” and unfortunately-

*~Oh, yeeeeaaaah, baaabyyyy~*

-it was Angel’s turn…

“You know, this performance won me a Sex-x-xi award.” Angel bragged proudly to the others as they were all watching one of his porno movies with mixed reactions from everyone; Pentious and Charlie were grossed out, Vaggie was annoyed, and Niffty was watching in glee.

“It's, uh... Very... Honest?... Ohhh…” Charlie tried to compliment but eventually had to turn away from the screen, too appalled to watch anymore as Vaggie commented plainly,

“Ew.”

*~Oh, haaaarder, Daddy!~* Angel’s voice in the movie moaned out, making Charlie cringe even more.

“Okay! Enough of that.” Vaggie asserted as she used her hand to shield Charlie’s eyes.

“‘Nuff o’ what?” Ayden questioned as she entered the living room, barely waking up, per the norm but also because she had hung out with Via the day before, wiping her sweaty forehead dry with the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing; one of Angel’s fuzzy bubblegum pink off-shoulder sweaters that had “I PUT THE HOT IN PSYCHOTIC” in hot pink letters on the front over her pjs while also wearing one of Angel’s choker collars that was black and spiked with a gradient pink heart charm dangling from it.

“Quit stealin’ my clothes!” Angel told her incredulously while looking at her with annoyance.

“You don’t even wear thes-yaaaahhhh-” She yawned before catching sight of what was on the TV and dry retching into a sleeve, “-Hlegh!”

“Seriously Angel, what the fuck?” Vaggie reiterated as she kept her girlfriend’s gaze hidden behind her hand and Ayden pulled the front of the sweater up and over her head to block her view while groaning in discomfort.

“What? You said it was show-and-tell day. I'm showin' you my best film, and I'm tellin' you that it scored me a win over that bitch, Tiffany Titfucker.” Angel reasoned before whining as he pushed his chest floof up mockingly.

Just before Husk criticized from where he was cleaning wine glasses at his bar,

“Ya know, not a very convincing interrogation scene.”

Making Angel laugh as he was starting to get pissed off,

“Alright, dickhead. What makes you think you have any right to insult my work to my fuckin' face?”

“You really gonna sit there and act like these scripts ain't hot garbage?” Husk argued before he tossed away his bar rag making Angel gasp in insult,

“Fuck you! This is classy art!”

Gesturing back to the TV as his onscreen voice wailed out,

*~OOOOH! FUU-UUUCK!~*

The scene being shown enough to make Pentious cover his eyes with his hood while Niffty continued to watch from where she was lying on the table with legs kicking back and forth childishly.

Ayden had settled to sit on the back of the couch where Angel was sitting, facing away from the TV so she could uncover her face, revealing her displeased expression at him, before Husk walked over with a bottle in hand to point in Angel’s face as he asserted,

“That's bullshit. You get drunk and bitch about them all the time. Everyone likes to bitch to the bartender. I know everything about you and these motherfuckers at this point.”

Gesturing to Pentious as he revealed,

“That one. That one is an insecure buffoon whose lonely ass watches you idiots sleep.”

Causing him to grin sheepishly at Vaggie and Charlie, the former subtly threatening him by punching her fist to her hand, before Husk turned to Charlie,

“Princess, is a bleeding heart who wants to solve everybody else's problems 'cept her own.”

“Whaaaaat?!” Charlie tried to cover up with a sheepish grin of her own before trying to disagree, “Noooo, I-What? Pfffft, no, no.”

“This one.” Husk referred to Vaggie, “Judges everyone and everything because she hates herself.”

“Argh!” Vaggie groaned annoyed before Husk moved on to Ayden,

“Little Miss Snarky there is quick to criticize and mock others to keep from doing it to herself because of her abandonment issues.”

“Hey!”

“And don’t think I don’t know about you raiding my bar cabinets for this one…”

“Mrrr…” Ayden made a cat-like noise of irritation as her ears folded down while she pouted moodily before Husk motioned to where Niffty was still happily kicking her legs in the air and twirling her hair,

“And Niffty? Hehhh…” Niffty gave a sly smile while kissing her fingertip in a teasing manner as Husk made a dismissive gesture to say, “You don't even wanna know what her deal is.”

“I think some’a us do…” Ayden looked over at her in slight interest, her annoyance shaken away for the moment before it came right back as Husk gave her a “you’re only proving me right” look before he took a deep gulp of his booze and Angel laughed raucously while kicking his legs around,

“HAHA! You weren't kidding. Oh ho, wow!”

Angel laughed right in Vaggie’s face and booped Ayden’s nose before tussling her hair into her face despite her scowling frown at the action before he got right up to Husk so he could tease with a matching hand motion,

“Kitten’s got claws.”

Placing his hand underneath Husk’s chin to turn his face close to his so he could croon teasingly,

“~Meeeoooow~”

But Husk wasn’t having it as he scowled and broke away to point right in Angel’s face, much to his surprise, and scoffed,

“And you! TCH! Don't get me started. I see right through you and all this bullshit and how fake you are.”

Ayden winced when he said that word and looked to see Angel’s face flash with irritation for a split second before laughing sarcastically and dramatically,

“Oh ho ho, me? Fake? Wow, I had no idea. Guess that's why I'm an actor, dumbass. And-”

Right before his phone rang Angel held up a finger in a “wait” motion, 

“Hold that thought.”

Before pulling his phone out to answer and stutter,

“Hello? Uh, yeah I'm-I'm... No, No, I just, I…” 

Ayden’s ears twitched and folded down when her super hearing allowed her to vaguely hear Valentino’s voice yelling at Angel and she tucked her paws into the sleeves of Angel’s sweater before hugging herself with her arms and tail as he continued to stammer,

“No, I-I'm not... But, uh…”

Looking back at the others before answering somewhat firmer, but still hesitant, than before,

“Yeah. I'll be right there.”

Hanging up before announcing to the others,

“Well, uh... Looks like Val needs me for an... Uh-emergency shoot.”

Angel tried to walk away while playing it off cool and casual but Husk snarked cynically,

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“You know what? Fuck you.” Angel got right in Husk’s face again to tell him off, “I don't give a shit what some drunk-ass bartender thinks a' me.” He pulled some pink cat-eye sunglasses from his chest floof before declaring, “So why don't you just crawl back to whatever cave you came from, porn critic?”

Angel flipped Husk off after putting his shades on and Husk growled while glaring at him before he shouted to Ayden,

“And I want my shit back before I get back Ruby!”

“Fine…! But I’m keepin’ the necklace!” Ayden rolled her eyes as she got up from the couch and headed upstairs to go change and grab all the pink shirts and sweaters she borrowed from Angel over the past few weeks to dump them all in his room, feeding and playing with Fat Nuggets real quick while she was at it, before coming back downstairs.

Everyone had already gone back to doing their own things but Ayden wanted to talk to Charlie about something so when she couldn't find her she asked Vaggie,

“Uh d’ya know whe’e Cha’lie is?”

“Yeah she just left to go talk to Angel’s boss to convince him to let him spend more time at the hotel.”

“KLCK! WHAT?!” Ayden choked on her own spit to shout and Vaggie gave her a disturbed look before confirming hesitantly,

“Yeah she just left a little while ago…?”

But that just made Ayden panic even more as she yelped,

“GAH!”

Bolting toward the front door before stopping to run back to the staircase-

“HRRR!”

Only to stop and growl in frustration and looking like she was about to run back to the front door before tugging her hair and panicking in place and running up the staircase, leaving Vaggie to question while going back to whatever she was doing before,

“The fuck was that about…?”

Meanwhile, back in her room, Ayden slammed her door behind her before practically yanking her bottom drawer open and tossing out all the tank tops inside to grab and hastily throw on her choker under Angel’s, since it was thin enough to do so, struggling to do so with her paws shaking slightly before she scolded herself,

“Urgh! Get. A. Grip!”

Clenching a fist before using a digit to draw a portal to an alley next to V Tower and taking a deep, slightly quavering, breath to steel herself before jumping through.

Once she landed outside, she surveyed around, found Charlie’s limo parked out front, meaning she had to be inside already, snuck into the lobby and shifted to hellcat form to sneak around the edges of the room, skillfully avoiding other demons and navigating through the halls and stairs up to where the Porn Studios floor was.

‘He’e was hopin’ I’d neve’ be back in this place again…’ Ayden thought to herself as she made it to the movie sets floor and sniffed the air, her eyes lighting up pinkish yellow, as she searched for Charlie before she saw her walking toward one of the doors leading to a set.

“Cha’lie! Wait nonono!” Ayden hiss-shouted as she rapidly scampered to catch up to her but was too late when Charlie opened the door and walked in leaving her to skid and crash face-first into the closing door,

*TCH!*

“Owww…”

Shifting to demon cat form, she sat on the floor and rubbed her stinging forehead and nose before bolting up and opening the door to find Charlie staring uncomfortably at an actor who was being slathered with mud by two set assistants,

“Oh, wow, that is…-That is a lot.”

On the set, Ayden saw Angel shoving off his co-star and pulling on a fluffy robe in alarm, no doubt because of Charlie being there, so Ayden hiss-whisper called from the door,

“Cha’lie…!”

Charlie turned to face her and waved joyfully making Angel see she was there too as he made it to Charlie to question panicked as he gently grabbed her hand to pull her away from the other actors,

“What in the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?!”

“I am the Princess of Hell, Angel! And I go where I please!” Charlie announced in a dramatic accented tone before she whispered, “I'm here to get you some time off for the hotel.” 

“Like that’s gonna happen…!” Ayden snarked with slight worry as she made it to the two of them but Charlie was adamant as she tried to argue,

“It will! Just as soon as I-”

Before she was cut off by Angel asking her,

“And what are you doin’ here…?!”

“I was tryin’ ta get’er outta he’e same as you…!” Ayden argued back.

“Guys we can sort this out after I talk to-” Charlie tried to assure them walking away toward the set but was held back by both Angel and Ayden as they pulled her away with Angel panicking,

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are going nowhere near Val-”

“Angel!” He and Ayden froze and flinched when they heard Valentino yelling, “What is the fucking hold up?

“I'm.. coming!” Angel called back while stepping in front of Charlie to block her from his line of view while Ayden tried pulling her back to the door as he shouted back,

“Not off-camera, you're not!”

Before Angel started helping Ayden with guiding Charlie back toward the door, opening it for them as she stood there with a worried look on her face and Ayden urged with another frantic tug on her arm,

“We need ta leave now…!” 

“She’s right.” Angel spoke quickly to Charlie, desperate to get her out of there too as he begged, “Please, please, just wait, wait until I'm done working and we will talk about this, I promise. But first you've gotta go!-”

“Aaaah, ~Your Majesty…~”

Angel and Ayden both froze when Valentino noticed them all there and Angel cursed under his breath while Ayden made a noise of discomfort,

“Oh, shit…!”

“Nnnnn….!”

As his boss walked over to them to greet Charlie, pushing Angel behind him,

“Welcome to my humble sex dungeon.” He leaned down toward her and was reaching for her hand, “What can I do for such a-”

“HAAAH!”

*TSS!*

“Oi!”

“Hands off!” 

When Ayden shoved herself between him and Charlie, snapping at his hand while hissing protectively as her fur bristled in agitation with her pupils becoming narrow slits.

“-lovely specimen…” Valentino finished with a barely hidden sneer at being denied contact before it, for a split second, turned to a look of recognition before finally turning to a hidden smirk as Charlie got between him and Ayden to whisper scold her,

“Ayden…! No need to be rude…!”

“I’m jus’ tryin’ ta-” She started trying to argue but Charlie cut her off with a patient,

“Just… stand down, please? Let me handle this…”

Exhaling sharply through her nose, Ayden narrowed her eyes to subtly glare at Valentino from behind Charlie before begrudgingly muttering,

“Fine…”

Standing to the side close to Angel as Charlie turned back around to try and apologize,

“I’m so sorry about her, she just gets a little.. overprotective.”

“Of course.” Valentino bit out with a forced smile sending Ayden a not-so-subtle death glare before asking Charlie as he got in her personal space again, making both Ayden and Angel cringe, “So what brings you here? You don't want a role, do you? Because I can make you a star, make us both richer than, well, your ~papito~-”

Making Charlie recoil away shocked as she blurted out,

“Fuck noooo!-Uh, I-I'm sorry.” Before rapidly pulling herself back together to declare with some authority, “I have come to aggressively, kindly speak with you about Angel.”

Valentino stiffened with eyes narrowed and an eyebrow raised in suspicion while Angel waved from behind him to signal for her to stop while Ayden made the “cut it out” motion before Charlie seemed to take the hint as she added hurriedly,

“Later, of course. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of your work.”

Valentino snapped his head back to Angel to scowl at him, making him grow more worried for Charlie and Ayden, before he faced Charlie again and spoke “kindly” through gritted teeth,

“Well then, make yourself comfortable, Your Majesty, you and your.. guard cat…” Ayden’s eyes narrowed even more while a snarl was barely restrained in her throat before he gestured for them to stand together closer to the set behind the cameras as he told them, “and enjoy the show.”

Before he walked back over to the chair next to the Director’s chair as he announced to his workers,

“Well, let's take this shit from the top!”

“Hahahaha! Action!” The Sinner director, Travis, shouted through the bullhorn as the scene resumed with Angel out of his robe and back on the bed as the four “robbers” trapped him and he “pleaded,”

“~Oh, wow, mister robbers! I sure hope you don't.. hurt me with those... big guns of yours..~”

Ayden’s ears folded down in her discomfort and she put a paw to her face to keep from watching the scene in front of her as one of the co-stars started to perform as well, but not well at all,

“Don't move, you spicy little, uuh, cock sleeve or else I'll…uhh…”

Ayden’s ears twitched back up when she heard Charlie whispering a little ways away and she looked beside her to see was gone and, after quickly wondering how she managed to sneak away from her without her noticing, tried to frantically signal for her to stop since she was distracting the cameraman with talk about the hotel and it was causing him to mess up the shot by moving the boom mic into the co-star’s face,

“We do trust exercises every day in the morning from 8 to 9…”

“CUT!” Valentino ordered before he started shouting, “What the fuck is going on with this?”

“Ooh, I'm sorry, Were we too loud? I was just telling him about the Hazbin Hotel.” Charlie spoke cheerfully as the cameraman gulped and subtly scooted away from her before Valentino spoke in a restrained high-pitched tone while he forced a smile,

“Not at aaaall, Princess!” Valentino sent a glare to Angel, who wilted a bit under his look, when he emphasized, “It doesn't bother me one bit.”

“You know, this scene feels awfully violent. If you want help with the script,” Charlie tried to offer as she walked on the set to stand in front of Valentino, “maybe I can pitch some scenarios that are more wh-Woah!”

But was cut off when she tripped over a power cord that was connected with a bunch of other cords to a powerstrip that crackled with electricity as it was violently ripped from the outlet.

“Okay. Okay. Ah, ah okay-AH!” Charlie reached out to try and replug it back in but the sparks started setting fire to the plush carpeting and she began to panic as it spread further out,

“That's on fire. That-that, that's on fire!”

Everyone started to panic, screaming and running around away from the fire as it continued to spread and, in the middle of the chaos, Ayden was shoved into a camera tripod, tripping over it and dragging a line across the side of her leg, making her glowing blood sharply contrast against the scarred white, and landing closer to the set, where she instinctively recoiled away from the fires even though a small part of her reasoned she’d be fine.

“Ayden! Can’t you do something about this?!” Charlie panicked as she tried to put out a fire by covering it with a rug.

“What could I do?!” She shouted back as she scooted backward away from the fires closer to the bed on set where Angel was still sitting frozen in place against the pillows.

“I-I don’t know! Just-AH! Put them out with your fire powers or something!”

Ayden’s eyes snapped open when Charlie shouted that and looked at Valentino with a fearful look as he’d been watching the whole scene with annoyance but shifted to an expression of furious disbelief as he stood up from his chair even as Charlie continued to try and put out the fire, taking off her jacket to try and wave at it while panicking,

“Can I get a fire extinguisher? I am so sorry. I ruined your movie. I ruined your movie. Oh, my God. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm s-s-s-s-s-sorry! Noooooo!”

Seeing Charlie’s desperation and how all the fires were only getting worse, Ayden pushed herself to semi-stand and was about to jump in and at least try to get the fire put out when she felt a hand grab her upper arm.

When she turned, she saw that it was Angel holding her back while minutely shaking his head as his eyes were still widened in fear with his pupils mere pinpricks as he looked back past her and she followed his gaze to see Valentino’s dark silhouette standing dauntingly past the fires with his glaring eyes glowing menacingly.

Seeing him in that position again, Ayden reflexively backed closer to Angel’s hold as Valentino's “coat” moved and revealed itself to be his wings that he flapped to extinguish the fires instantly with a thick plume of reddish smoke leaving him standing there with a glowering scowl on his face.

“Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck…” Angel muttered as he pulled away from Ayden to get his robe back on before quickly, and quietly, checking on her, “Are you OK…?”

Ayden nodded her head discreetly, still shaken up by everything that just happened, as they both looked to where Charlie had been before as she started rapidly apologizing to Valentino,

“Oh, my gosh, I am so, so, so, so sorry, I-I can clean this up. I-I can-”

Before he cut her off when he walked over to her and bent down to be at eye level with her as he spoke in a condescending tone,

“Don't you worry your pretty blonde head about it. We have people for that.”

Addressing Angel afterward,

“Angel... Can I see you in your dressing room for a moment?”

Ayden’s breathing turned shaky as she recognized the true tone under the pretense one in Valentino’s voice before Angel quickly followed behind his boss with a dreaded anticipation expression on his face as they headed for his dressing room.

Charlie had reached out to Angel as he left but Ayden gently grabbed her wrist while grimly shaking her head to signal her not to follow.

“Ohmygosh! Ayden you’re bleeding!” Charlie exclaimed in concern and Aydne looked down at her leg still sluggishly oozing her glowing blood as Charlie tried to reach for it while panicking some more, “W-We need to get that wrapped up and-”

But Ayden pulled her back since she was still holding her wrist as she warned hurriedly,

“Don’t touch it!” Charlie looked up in confusion at her as she looked away to explain, “You’ll get bu’ned…”

Before she let go of her so she could unravel her black cloth arm wrap and half kneeled to get it wrapped around her leg when a harsh slapping sound was heard, solely by her on the outside, coming from Angel’s dressing room and it made her flinch down instinctively and squeeze her eyes shut and clench her teeth.

Her ears ducked down in an attempt to stop hearing Angel’s desperate pleas and pained cries mixed in with Valentino’s furious and threatening yells but it did nothing as their voices started slowly morphing into voices from her past,

‘Worthless!’

‘You’re nothing on your own!’

‘~You’re not being ungrateful are you…?~’

‘Monster!’

‘Why don’t you take it like the cheap little bitch you are?!’

‘You need us!’

With each hidden slam and hit she heard, she would flinch and tighten the strap around her leg tighter and tighter before finally tying it off just as the door opened back up and the sound of a mirror shattering broke her out of the trance,

*KRSH!*

“Alright!” Valentino yelled as he dragged and practically threw Angel out back onto the set while shouting at the rest of his workers, the whole time Charlie was looking at him in angry disbelief while Ayden kept her head down from where she was still kneeling, “Get your asses back on set, and we are taking this from the top!”

Seeing him treat Angel like that, as well as the effect it seemed to have on Ayden as she folded in on herself even more while shaking in place, Charlie grew furious as her demon form started to come out in her voice darkening, her horns growing out, and her blonde hair releasing from its ponytail to float around her head in a semi-fiery blaze as she exclaimed,

“WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN TREAT HIM LIKE THAT?!”

Stomping toward Val, who just stood there with his top arms crossed and a bottom arm on the hip he jutted out while he smirked smugly at her but she was stopped from reaching him when Angel stood in her way to shout,

“Charlie! Just stop!”

Making her stop and revert back to normal as she questioned in confusion and worry,

“Angel, what are you talking ab-?”

“Charlie, leave!” Angel told her as he pointed back to the door, guiding her there even as she tried to protest,

“But-”

“I didn't want you ta come here. I already asked you to leave and you didn't listen. You made things worse.”

“I just wanted to help you…” Charlie spoke helplessly before Angel continued to yell at her,

“Well, you ain't! You actually want to help me? Get the fuck out of here! Right now, and let me finish my work.”

“B-But I-”

“Let’s go!”

Charlie was cut off by Ayden, who had grabbed her wrist to pull her toward the door while angry tears ran down her face making her start to cry too as she sobbed out,

“I... I didn't... mean to! I... I'm... I'm so sorry.”

Before she pulled her wrist free from Ayden’s grip to run out of the studio crying, Ayden following behind begrudgingly, stopping at the door to look back at Angel’s furious face and then at Valentino, still with that smug look on his face that made her growl,

“Hrrrr….!”

Clenching a fist before opening it slightly to let some sparks pop out with her eyes and freckles glowing slightly before it all faded so she could leave, slamming the door behind her as she ran after Charlie back to the limo to go back to the hotel, unaware that the cameras in the Tower were following her every move until she left the building.

On the drive over, Charlie was still crying into her knees as she curled up on her seat while Ayden sat with one leg pulled to her chest as she glared out the window before her attention was grabbed when Charlie asked,

“Why? Why would Angel let that happen to him?”

“I don’t know…” Ayden answered, somewhat lying since she had a slight idea why, but it only made Charlie more upset as she retorted,

“How could you not know?!”

“I’ve only known’im fer ba’ely a yea’…”

“Then how do you two get along so well?”

Ayden looked at the floor of the limo as she put a paw to her arm over her scratch scars and answered quietly,

“Cause we have some.. sha’ed experiences…”

Charlie’s eyes widened a bit when she saw the movement before Ayden started to recount,

“I left home sho’tly afte’ I tu’ned 13… coul’n’t stand bein’ somewhe’e whe’e my mum let he’ endless parade of boy toys tu’n ta me when she w’s tapped out… ‘fter that I.. went from place ta place… whe’e each of’em jus’ wanted ta use an’ hu’t me…”

The corner of her mouth twitched in a smile when she recalled,

“‘Til the day Angel found me.. o’ I guess Fat Nuggets technically found me… but Angel let me stay, taught me how to shoot, speak Italian, cook, and all kinds of fun stuff…”

Before her tiny smile fell again as she remembered,

“But most ‘mpo’tantly.. he kept me safe from the Vees, Val in pa’ticula’… ‘specially afte’ the day he almost got me…”

That made Charlie’s expression turn to a horrified one as she questioned,

“What happened?”

Ayden turned to face her and closed her eyes to remember…

…

…

…

“Prrrrrr….”

“Merda!” (Shit!)

Past Ayden’s eyes snapped open from her afternoon nap before rapidly shifting from hellcat form to demon cat form in an instant as she bolted to a sit and yelled,

“MWRE! Wha’s happenin’?!”

A quick look over to the vanity revealed that Angel was sitting there with a makeup palette in one hand, a brush in another, a sponge in another, and a broken black eyeliner pencil in the fourth one that was pulled from one of the vanity drawers before he looked back to tell her with an annoyed tone,

“You been messin’ with my stuff again?”

“Nooooo….” Ayden answered sleepily as she rubbed an eye with one paw while the other, unchained paw, was stretching above her head.

“Uh huh suuuure…” Angel drew out in joking dubiousness when he noticed a streak of black on Ayden’s eyebrow that she discreetly rubbed away before petting Fat Nuggets so he could fall asleep again after waking up from her outburst.

“Hmmm…” Angel hummed in thought before putting his makeup tools down and pretending to struggle to reach the zipper on the back of his outfit before asking her, “Hey Ace, think ya can help me with this?”

“Again…? Can’t ya reach it on yer own, Twiggy…?” Ayden asked raising an eyebrow in questioning as she rewrapped the chain back around her wrist from where it got unwound in her jolting before Angel lied without missing a beat,

“Hey I gotta save the arm strength for the pole later.”

“Ugh.. fine…” Ayden got up from her bed and went over to Angel to get in position to pull the zipper of his top up before reciting as if she’d said it a thousand times before, “Suck in on 3… 1. 2. 3!”

Angel sucking in right on time for Ayden to quickly zip up the zipper just before he dropped his other makeup tools and quickly trapped Ayden with three of his arms before tickling her with the fourth as she started laughing uncontrollably,

“Hahaha! W-What’s the big ideeeeea! Hahahaha!”

“Admit it!” Angel declared in a faux dramatic voice, “You used my stuff behind my back instead’a just lettin’ me do your makeup!”

“Neve’HAHAHAHA!” Her laughs got louder as Angel probed his fingers deeper into her ribs before she relented, “OK! OK! I gi-i-i-ive! I diiiiid!”

Angel stopped tickling her before light-heartedly pretending to be betrayed with a hand to his forehead and others on his chest and bracing himself as he leaned backwards dramatically,

“How could you lie to me like that?”

“Cause.. ya do.. too much!” Ayden huffed as she caught her breath from the tickle attack while Angel jokingly scoffed in mock offense as he picked his tools back up, putting the broken pencil back and getting out another one in dark pink instead to complete his stage look.

“Wo’k again…?” Ayden asked incredulously while scratching at her tangled hair to try and detangle it while referring to the fact that he’d barely had any days off in the last couple of weeks.

“Tell me about it Fuzzball…” Angel muttered halfheartedly before it lightened for the slightly good news, “Lucky it’s an easy gig tonight, jus’ some dancin’ at the club here at V Tower.”

Wrinkling her nose a bit at what the job referred to, she perked back up to ask,

“‘S it any fun?”

“When I’m not havin’ ta ham it up for the crowd, yeah it’s fun.” Angel admitted as he finished putting on his makeup and stood up from the seat to pat it to signal Ayden to come over so she rolled her eyes and sat down as he got to work on some makeup for her.

He was doing her eyeliner when he suggested,

“If you want, you can come with and watch for a little bit?”

Ayden frowned in unsure hesitation with her ears folding down too as she questioned,

“Ya su’e that’s a good idea…?”

“Eh all eyes are gonna be on me anyway, but if ya don’t wanna come with that’s alright.” Angel noted with a nonchalant half-shrug as he picked up two tubes of lipstick comparing the reds before settling on one and applying just a tiny bit to Ayden’s mouth before she snapped to bite and snark,

“No mo’e! I don’t wanna look trashy like you.”

“Ya think I look trashy?” Angel questioned in faux offense, teary eyes and all.

“Yep.”

“Then I nailed it!” He smirked proudly, making her roll her eyes as she got up from the vanity seat to tell him as she started fixing her hair into a messy ponytail,

“An’ I’ll come wi’h fer a lil’ bit, been a minute since I’ve been outside anyway…”

That last comment made Angel pause for a second in gathering his stuff since he knew about Hannah and her crew basically holding Ayden hostage inside every day for a whole year, never letting her out, among other unspeakable things even he had a hard time believing could ever be done to a young teen like her…

Even after she had told him all that and he had promised not to do the same to her, it was still hard for her to let go of certain habits, like keeping that chain around her wrist still even though he’d offered several times to get it off, so he tried to remain as patient as possible as they moved at a pace comfortable with her as far as moving on and past certain issues by making compromises whenever possible, such as now-

“Want me ta bring the big bag?”

Angel asked her as he held up a large fancy tote bag that he normally used for costume changes and makeup sets but was also used sometimes to hide Ayden in hellcat form when she wanted a quick dodge when they were out and about and she answered with a small smile and a shrug,

“Su’e.”

Angel quickly compiled the last of his things before making space in the bag and holding it out while daringly raising an eyebrow so Ayden could smirk and stand at a distance before running toward him, jumping up into a front flip, and transforming to hellcat form in midair to land squarely in the bag space as Angel hoisted it onto his shoulder while saying as they left his apartment,

“10 outta 10 landing Fuzzball! Now let’s get this shitshow on the road.”

“Yeh!”

A few hours later, Angel was finishing up his routine on the pole on stage in the club while Ayden was sneaking some jerkwad’s food off his plate while he was drooling at the performance.

‘Ha!’ Ayden mentally cheered when she managed to sneak a whole slab of meat off the plate before retreating backstage to enjoy it in Angel’s private dressing room in her demon cat form just as the uproar of whistles and catcalls from the audience signaled that Angel’s performance was over as he made his way backstage.

“Phew!” Angel practically threw himself onto the seat at his work vanity after closing and locking the door behind him as he commented to himself, “I need a boost…”

Opening a drawer to fish out a clear plastic baggie of white powder before getting to work lining it up to snort with a straw, leaning with his head hanging back with a sigh to let it work its magic.

“‘S it any good?” Ayden asked, mouth half full from eating the meat she’d stolen with her bare paws and Angel answered in a breathy voice with his head still hanging back,

“~Oooh yeah…~”

“Can I try some?”

At that, Angel’s head bolted back up before answering in a hesitant tone,

“Nah.. this.. ain’t for you…”

“What? Wor’ried I can’t handle it?” Ayden teased with a playful head tilt before Angel started to tell her more firmly,

“No, it’s just..-”

*TCK* *KRCHT*

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

Before he was cut off by the locked doorknob jiggling and heavy knocking on the door followed by Valentino’s voice that made them both flinch and look to the door in fear,

“~Angeeeeel Caaakes…~”

“~Coming Daddy!~” Angel called back in a suggestive tone that hid an underlayer of fear for Ayden as he jumped up from his seat and made a shooing “hide!” signal to her so she dropped the meat and dove for the bag, shifting to hellcat form as she did so, to hide while Angel went to open the door as Valentino teased condescendingly while waving his cigarette around dramatically,

“~Not without me I hope…~”

“Hehe ‘f course not!” Angel laughed semi-nervously as his boss entered and closed and locked the door behind him causing Angel to ask while trying to hide the nervousness in his voice as he took a couple of steps backward, “Wh-what are ya doin’?”

“~Whaaaat?~ Do I need an excuse to give my favorite whore a ~reward~ for a job well done?” Valentino kept taking slow steps forward toward Angel, who tried to hide his fear under his performative mask, to corner him against the vanity when a wet squish sounded from under Val’s shoe,

*PLSH!*

And he looked underfoot to see the piece of meat there before wrinkling his nose as he picked it up between two fingers to question in disgust,

“Angel… what the fuck is this?”

“Uh…” Angel hesitated to answer before fibbing as he walked toward him to take it from his hand, “Maybe some drunk chump got ballsy and tried to sneak back here for an ‘accidental’ peep show? Why don’t I just-?”

*PSH!*

“AH!”

Angel was backhanded sending him stumbling backward and landing right on his tote bag, nearly crushing Ayden as she yowled and scrambled out from the safety of her hiding space involuntarily,

“MREEOW!”

About to try and run out when Val stomped a foot in her path and made her stop in her tracks as she cowered in place.

“You taking in strays now?” Val punctuated his question by kicking Ayden back in Angel’s direction as he was still reeling from the hit and she skidded to a stop in front of him as he picked her up and held her with three hands while the fourth patted her head comfortingly as he tried to explain/lie,

“I just- y’know found her.. on my way in and I thought.. maybe Nuggs would want a little friend to-AH!”

Angel was cut off when Val snatched Ayden from him by the scruff of her neck as he criticized while harshly poking her head with the end of his cigarette holder, making her too scared at that moment to move or fight back,

“I’m sure you can pick a better companion than this little.. flea-ridden pest. After all, cats are too.. defiant.. and good pets should be dumb and loyal to their owners, right Angel?”

“I-uhh…” Angel struggled to answer when he saw how badly Ayden was shaking in his grip.

“Right Angel?!” Val reiterated with a harsh tug on Ayden’s fur that made her eyes snap open with her pupils narrowing to slits before she shifted to demon cat form, surprising Val enough to drop right out of his grip but she lost her balance when she landed on the ground and fell back onto her backside, crawling backward to put as much distance as she could from the both of them.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Val drew out coquettishly,

“~Well weeeeeeell…~” Before directing to Angel who was still wide-eyed with worry disguised under surprise, “~Angel Baby~ you weren’t trying to hide this from me were you…?”

“I-I swear I didn’t know, I just thought-”

“HRR!” Ayden tried to save him from having to lie anymore when she made a bolt for the door and grabbed the knob with a paw-

“Yah!” 

Before she yelped as her chain-wrapped paw was wrenched off when Val grabbed it to lift her clear off the ground and she started squirming around like a worm on a hook while hissing,

“HAAAAH!”

But Val was unfazed as he took a drag from his cigarette and purposefully blew the scarlet plume right into her face making her cough,

*Fwoooosh…*

“KLCK! Kof! Kof! Kof… Mnnnn…”

Before her expression changed to one of disorientation as the smoke began to take effect and she went limp in his grasp as her eyes went half-lidded in a haze that was too hauntingly familiar for her.

“~Such a pretty little gatita...~” Val crooned in a faux comforting tone as he hugged Ayden close with his two lower arms while the upper third and fourth ones stroked up her spine, making her shudder involuntarily, and gripped her chin to make her zoned-out gaze focus on him as he chuckled at the lost look and the chain wrapped around her wrist, “Seems like you’ve already been conditioned to things like this… that’ll make things easier…”

Meanwhile, Angel’s panic had only heightened under his calm facade seeing Val using his smoke on Ayden and was trying to find a way out for her when an opportunity presented itself in the form of a knock from one of the stagehands as he reported through the locked door,

“Sir, the audience is getting rowdy for an encore out here.”

“~Ooooh well~ now’s a good a time as any for a debut don’t you think?” Val asked while twirling her around only to have her stumble back to his side and Angel’s eyes lit up for a second before noting in an exaggerated fake sultry tone,

“~Oh yeeaaah~ I know the kinds of freaks who drool aaaall over and go ~haaaard~ for shapeshifters…”

All while silently cursing himself for this as they walked out of his dressing room before suggesting,

“I bet summa them’ll ~loooove~ the tail play…”

Reaching for her tail when Val grabbed his wrist to keep him from touching it as he “scolded,”

“You’ll have to wait your turn…”

Tracing a finger along the tail spine before twirling the bifurcated end and harshly grabbing it to wrap around his fist making the rest of it taut.

All at once, Ayden’s eyes snapped back to focus with her eyes narrowly slitting, her muscles tensed before spasming out as she yowled,

“MROW!”

*SHNK!*

A glowing arc slicing through the air separating Ayden from Val as he stumbled back while holding a hand to his ribs that now bore three long, fairly deep, dark red dripping gashes with Ayden on her feet with a paw positioned across the front of her chest in a post-scratch attack pose as she silently gasped for clear breaths.

All around them, a few workers were frozen in shock at the attack before Val yelled furiously with his eyes blazing in fury,

“SOMEBODY GET THAT LITTLE BITCH!”

Prompting Ayden to fully shake herself out of the daze she’d been in to start running and dodging all the attempts to grab her, running out of the club back onto the streets as she kept running…

…

…

…

Back in the present, Ayden had finished telling her story back in the hotel while sitting next to Charlie on the couch in the living room with KeeKee by their side,

“Afte’ that, I ran back ta the apa’tment whe’e Angel.. found me and.. promised ta keep me safe from his boss no matte’ what…”

Charlie was still in a sitting fetal position listening to the whole thing, noting the slight hesitation towards the end there, signaling she might be leaving something out, but made a mental note to ask about it later to question with sad wonder in her voice,

“So.. he did all that.. to protect you? And us today…?”

Ayden just quietly nodded before muttering as she got up,

“Ya can’t reason with Val.. what he can’t do to you he’ll do to him… trust me.. I know…”

Before heading over to the bar and taking a seat so she could asked Husk as he was cleaning a glass with his rag,

“Think I can get that bou’bon on the rocks now?”

“Still no.” Husk answered frankly, making Ayden slump in her seat with her chin resting on her crossed arms and Husk softened a tiny bit to offer, “Strawberry mocktail?”

“Fine…” She grumbled and Husk got to work gathering the ingredients: strawberries, simple syrup, lemon juice, and tonic water before blending the fruit with the syrup and juice and straining the mixture to set the pulp aside in a separate bowl for eating with a spoon and finishing up by adding ice, a lemon wedge, and some mint to the filtered juice and sliding the cup and bowl toward Ayden with a mild,

“Here ya go.”

Ayden took the drink in one paw while mindlessly stirring the fruit paste with her other hand whose wrist was propping up her head before she took a sip and raised her eyebrows to comment before sipping some more,

“Pre’y good…”

Husk gave a small appreciative smile at that before it slipped back to a frown as the front doors opened and slammed shut to let Angel in, who was groaning and holding his face and head in a few of his hands in exhaustion.

Ayden’s ears and tail drooped when she saw that Charlie had tried to give him a wave but he ignored it, making her wilt down some more, before dropping himself into the seat with a groan a little ways away from Ayden as he told Husk in a worn-out tone,

“Eugh! I need a drink. The hardest you can make.”

Husk set a glass down in front of where Angel was slumped over the counter before critiquing bluntly as he grabbed two bottles of booze to open,

“Hmm, you look like shit.”

Angel straightened up while brushing his hair back and inhaling deeply through his nose before scoffing with his cocky smile back on his face as he posed “casually” in his seat,

“Pfft, not possible. Just a long shoot, nothin' new...”

Taking his drink right as Husk finished pouring it as Ayden muttered while he gulped it down,

“We both know that’s a loada crap…”

Thinking about how she hated that mask he wore during times like this before Angel finished drinking and told Husk in an impatient and judgy tone,

“Eugh, I said a strong one.”

“Excuse me…” Husk spoke a bit thrown off by the attitude before it changed to a suspecting tone as he spoke while refilling his glass and raising an eyebrow in matching skepticism, “Didn't realize this was a ‘drinking to forget’ kind of night.”

“Oh, I forgot. You're the wise old bartender who's seeeeen it aaaalll.” Angel drew out mockingly while making motions with his arms and hands before he told him haughtily, “Get the fuck over yourself and pour me a real drink.” 

Using the tip of his finger to tilt the cup over, spilling the drink before Husk told him as he cleaned up the spill,

“Look, if you've got a problem, you're not going to find the solution at the bottom of a bottle…” Before commenting dully, “I should know, I've been looking there a long time…”

But Angel wasn’t getting it as he suggested flirtatiously,

“Oh sure, and where should I Iook? Hmm?” Leaning closer to Husk despite the uncomfortable look on his and Ayden’s faces, “In your bedroom, maybe..? ~Under the covers…?~” Angel shook his shoulders suggestively even as Husk visibly cringed back as he continued to flirt while walking his fingers across the counter, “~Maybe we can go look together…~”

“Don't.” Husk held up a hand in annoyance as he told him, “Even start.”

“Pleeaase…!” Ayden added, having finished her drink and was starting in on the fruit paste when the whole interaction made her lose her appetite.

“Go mind your own business, Fleabag…” Angel tried to push Ayden away with a finger to her nose before she slapped it away to start walking away as Angel continued to flirt with Husk, getting right in his space to grab his wing and wrap it around himself,

“~Oh, c'moooon, I bet I can make those wings flap…!~”

But that seemed to be Husk’s breaking point as he shoved Angel back in his seat making him drop the bottle he snagged and it shattered on the floor making Ayden stop in her tracks as he started yelling at a scowling Angel,

“STOP! Fucking Christ!” Planting his hands against the counter to tell him off while rolling his eyes, “You can cut the act already. It's never going to work on me. So all you're doing is makin' an ass out of yourself with this fake bullshit.”

Right at that word again, Angel’s demon form started to emerge as he shouted in a rage-filled tone with all eight of his eyes glowing a dark neon magenta and his fur bristling from where he got right in Husk’s face to threaten,

“CALL ME FAKE ONE MORE TIME, MUTHAFUCKA!! I DARE YOU!”

Ayden stood there in fear at seeing Angel like this again but Husk wasn’t fazed at all as he leaned in close to his face before using a finger to poke his chest floof as he smiled smugly and emphasized,

“Fake.”

About to send Angel off the edge, as he looked like he was preparing to fight,

“FUCKIN' ASSHOLE-”

*PSH!*

“ARRGH! GOD! OOF!”

Before he bumped his head against the bar ceiling and fell backward off his seat clutching his head in pain as Husk leaned over the bar counter to stare down at him and question expectedly,

“Ya done?”

Ayden bristled at the uncaring manner Husk was showing but Angel beat her to the punch as he shouted infuriated,

“Ya know what?!? You would be fucking lucky to get a chance to fuck me!” Grabbing the broken neck of the bottle that had shattered before to throw at Husk but he just dodged it by leaning aside with an unimpressed look as Angel continued yelling hysterically, “Ya know how much I'm worth?!? You know how many people would kill to have Angel Dust come onto them?! FUCK YOU! Have fun being a lonely piece of shit!”

Angel made a move to run out of the hotel but was stopped when Ayden stepped in front of him with a firm look on her face that he had no patience for as he growled through gritted teeth,

“Get outta my way…”

“No…” She growled back in a matching manner as she tried to argue, “‘M not lettin’ ya-”

“You don’t ‘let’ me do anything! I do what I want! Remember?” Angel cut her off to poke her chest, making her slap his hand away to make the same motion to him instead.

“Cazzate! Lo ti conosco! Questo non sei tu!” (Bullshit! I know you! This isn’t you!) Ayden yelled back gesturing to their settings to refer to the argument from a few minutes ago as well as at the studio before Angel snapped back,

“Non sai niente! Voi non siete la mia famiglia! Allora perché non vai a essere inutile da qualche altra parte?!” (You don’t know nothing! You’re not my family! So why don’t you go be useless somewhere else?!)

Ayden’s eyes widened in hurt before Angel shoved her onto her backside as he stormed out of the hotel, pushing past Vaggie who exclaimed,

“Woah-The hell? Angel, where are you going?”

“Out!” 

He yelled before slamming the door behind him so Vaggie could ask Husk in a judgemental tone,

“Husk, what did you do?”

“Made him a drink.” He deadpanned with a shrug.

“Ayden?” Vaggie turned to her to get a second opinion but she was just sitting there with her eyes still wide in broken shock while silently panting so she hesitantly reached down to tap her shoulder with a questioning, “You.. all good there…?”

But the second Vaggie’s hand touched her, Ayden rapidly pulled away before running up the stairs back to her room, leaving Vaggie, Charlie, and, even, Husk to watch her leave with worry.

As soon as she got to her room, she slammed the door behind her and locked it before leaning with her back against it as she hugged herself with burning tears streaming down her face.

With a choking sob, her paws switched to grab at her hair from the roots to tug on it painfully as more voices started flooding her head,

‘Never gonna amount to anything useful…’

‘Monster!’

‘You’ll die out there without us…’

‘Maybe I should just let’im take ya!’

The last one being Angel’s voice, made her snap her head up to look at the mirror on her vanity where the reflection abruptly turned everything rough and jaggedy like a psychotic child drawing with chalk as she swiped a hand in a slicing motion before she started forcefully singing,

♫ Please stop talkin’, you've been misleadin'

I've been through enough

Two-faced promises, sca’s and traumas

I’ve been through enough ♫

She trudged over to plant her paws against the vanity desk to let her head hang tiredly as she continued singing in a lamenting tone,

♫ Yeah I’m so tiiii’ed (tiiii’ed)

Of all these liiieees (liiieees) ♫

♫ Please stop talkin’, you’ve been misleadin'

Stop you’ve done enough ♫

Before her twisted reflection started taunting her while singing in a warped version of her voice, minus her accent as it reached through to wave the Polaroid photo that was normally hidden near the mirror around,

♫ It’s time to walk away from all the lies 

Yeah it’s time to run away again ♫

♫ Can’t believe you made us waste a lot of time

Just for us to be proven right again ♫

But Ayden was trying not to have it anymore as she snatched the picture back and pushed herself away from the mirror to sing while looking out of her room’s window from on top of her bed with the photo in her grip,

♫ I really thought I coul’ be happy he’e

Without anything really to fear ♫

Her paws clenched to her chest, right above where more of her scars were underneath with the photo crumpling a bit from the force,

♫ Far away from all those “games”

That just left me in a whole lotta pain ♫

♫ Please stop talkin’, you've been misleadin'

I've been through enough

Two-faced promises, sca’s and traumas

I’ve been through enough ♫

Leaning against her bed after putting the photo down, Ayden clenched a paw around the heart charm on Angel’s choker around her neck while the other pushed against her forehead as she continued singing,

♫ Yeah I’m so tiiii’ed (tiiii’ed)

Of all these liiieees (liiieees) ♫

♫ History’s shown that we can never stay

Forever alone yeah all on our own ♫

♫ Time to go back

To the way it once was

The way it should be ♫

In that moment of vulnerability and self-hatred, Ayden didn’t even realize she had shifted to her human form for the first time in months before she lost all self-control to yell,

♫ Stop, you've done enough ♫

Shattering her mirror with one punch that made her trip backward on her, already in deep stabbing pain, injured leg and she stumbled to the wall on the opposite side of the room from the vanity closer to the door, leaning against it before sliding down to a sit as she silently cried,

♫ …When.. will it be.. enough…? ♫

Before letting her head hang as she gave up trying to fight off the voices swarming in her mind.

Meanwhile with Angel and Husk

Husk had just finished saving Angel’s ass from a bunch of shark-like goons and was dragging him out of the bar even as he shouted at him while trying to pull away,

“Husk! What the actual fuck are you doing here? Let go of me.”

“No.” Husk firmly held Angel in front of him as he stated while pushing him forward, “I'm takin' you back to the hotel.”

“Get off!” Angel used his height advantage to keep from moving forward before pulling away from Husk even as he argued,

“That fucker put somethin' in your drink!”

Referring to how he’d seen one of the goons pour a love potion into the drink he was going to give to Angel, but he didn’t seem to care as he declared,

“You don't think I can tell if someone spikes my drink? I do this all the fuckin' time!”

“You just let people drug you all the time?!” Husk questioned incredulously before Angel yelled back while getting in Husk’s face to poke his chest accusingly,

“You think I ask for it?!? I don't ask for any of this shit! I didn't ask to be this way. I didn't ask for Charlie to save me, I didn’t ask for Ayden ta try and stop me, I didn't ask for you to save me. I can handle myself.”

“Really? Because I just saw someone self-destructing.” Husk jabbed a claw in his direction before protesting earnestly, “It seems like... I don't know... you might need a bartender to talk to.”

Making Angel chuckle in disbelief as he questioned doubtfully, 

“Oh, so now you're going to act like you give a shit about me? You think after how you treated me, I'm gonna open up to you? Please.” 

He was starting to walk away when Husk called him out,

“Maybe I'd treat you better if you were real, and not some bullshit version of yourself, always pushin' my boundaries!”

Angel had closed his eyes and grit his teeth upset even as Husk continued protesting,

“Lemme tell ya, nobody in that hotel cares who you are. How famous, how hot, so you might as well just.. cut the act.”

Making Angel stop walking and whip back around to shout with tears forming in the corners of his eyes,

“It's not an act!!”

Husk flinched back as Angel sobbed while ranting,

“It's who I need to be. And this... “ He gestured to the streets, “This is my escape! Where I can forget about it all!” He braced a hand against the wall of a building while looking down at his other ones while seething, “How much I hate... everything. A place where I can get high, and not have to think about how much it hurts.” Pushing himself away from the wall he held his hands against his head as he reasoned for his self-sabotage, “And maybe... if I can ruin myself enough in the process... if I end up broken, I won't be his favorite toy anymore…”

Angel sat down on the curb holding his knees to his chest and putting his head to his knee to curl in on himself as he wished hopelessly,

“And maybe he'll let me go…”

The whole time he had ranted, Husk had started to look at him in sympathy before he sat down on the curb a little ways from where Angel sat before sighing to tell him, 

“I was an Overlord once, you know...” 

Angel perked up a bit in interest as Husk admitted with a semi-fond smile before recalling grimly,

“Yeah, and uh... It was nice to have that power... but when you're dealing in souls while also being a gambler, the stakes are pretty high... and losing a few hands can be more than a little dangerous... so when you're down on your luck, you turn to anything to... keep you afloat, even making deals with yourself…”

“So I know what it's like to... regret the choices made... and knowin' ya can't take it back...” Husk finished off in a forlorn tone before it switched to a slightly more hopeful one as he added, “But at least you have something to improve for…”

“Tch.. as if…” Angel scoffed dubiously before bitterly muttering, “I’ll be lucky if they eva let me cross the pearly gates…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about…” Husk spoke softly making Angel look at him in his peripheral vision before asking,

“Then what…?”

“Ayden…”

Angel scoffed before Husk protested gently,

“I’m serious… that kid looks up to you.. looks to you as her big brother…”

“She shouldn’t… I’m only gonna get’er in more trouble…”

“Heh.. You really think she cares about that?” Husk chuckled, “We’ve both seen how willing she is to jump into the fire for her friends, and you’re much more than that to her… It’s not always enough for someone to sympathize with you but to empathize with you, you offer that and that’s what really counts to her…”

“Doesn’t matta anyway.. she’ll never forgive me for what I said…” Angel curled in further on himself as Husk noted plainly as he remembered their argument from earlier,

“Maybe… maybe not…”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Husk began to sing, getting up from the curb to walk in front of Angel, stepping in a puddle to distort the reflection with a splash,

♫ So things look bad, and your back's against the wall

Your whole existence seems fuckin' hopeless ♫

Husk grabbed an umbrella from some trash cans to block the vomit from a bar patron who had stepped outside not feeling well and fell back into the alley as he shook off the umbrella to continue singing,

♫ You're feelin' filthy as a dive bar bathroom stall

Can't face the world sober and dopeless

You've lost your way, you think your life is wrecked

Well, let me just say you're correct ♫

The last line confusing Angel to where he questioned,

“Wait, what?”

Before Husk poked his nose to sing while dancing with the umbrella in his hands,

♫ You're a loser, baby

A loser, goddamn baby

You're a fucked up little whiny bitch ♫

“Hey!”

♫ You're a loser, just like me ♫

“Thanks, asshole.” Angel flipped him off but Husk kept “berating” him before sliding to a lay behind him,

♫ You're a screw's-loose-boozer

An only one-star reviews-er

You're a power-bottom at rock bottom

But you got company ♫

“This supposed to make me feel better?” Angel questioned offended as Husk got up and sang in a remorseful tone as he leaned against the window of a building nearby,

♫ There was a time I thought no one could relate

To the gruesome ways in which I'm damaged ♫

He broke a window to let a Sinner run out in a plume of green smoke before a bigger explosion highlighted Husk’s long note,

♫ But lettin' walls down, it can sometimes set you straaaaiiiight!

We're all livin' in the same shit-sandwich ♫

Husk had gone to sit next to Angel before he started singing unenthusiastically,

♫ I sold my soul to a psychopathic freak ♫

Making Husk laugh good-naturedly before offering a hand to Angel to pull them both to a stand as he sang,

“Haha! ♫ And you think that makes you unique?

Get outta here, man! ♫”

They both started dancing together, Angel shocked that Husk was giving him some space as they did so and there was nothing sexual about it as he continued singing upbeat,

♫ We're both losers, baby

We're losers, it's okay to be a- ♫

Angel sang in uncertainty before Husk approved and he started singing with more confidence, 

♫ Coked up, dick-suckin' hoe? ♫

♫ Baby, that's fine by me ♫

♫ I'm a loser, honey

A schmoozer and a dummy!

But at least I know I'm not alone ♫

♫ You're a loser ♫ Husk sang before the two of them sang together as they leaned against each other back to back.

♫ Just like me! ♫

Husk and Angel took turns singing their vices as a spotlight shone on them,

♫ I got an appetite for gamblin' ♫

♫ I got an appetite for samplin' every drug and sex toy I can find! ♫

♫ Go ahead baby, sing that song, come on! ♫

Before they both sang as multiple neon signs pointing out their “flaws” piled up around them,

♫ I got no holes left to deflower ♫

♫ I sold my soul to save my power 

Now I'm on that demon's leash ♫

The two of them were wrapped up in glowing lines, Husk’s more organized to symbolize Alastor’s control while Angel’s was more haphazard to symbolize Val’s control before they sang together,

♫ I'm trapped and it gets worse with every hour ♫

Angel sang as they were sitting under neon lights “rain” before Husk shielded them with the umbrella he found and sang after him before chorusing,

♫ You're a loser, baby ♫

♫ A loser, but just maybe if we ♫

♫ Eat shit together, things will end up differently! ♫

♫ Ooooooooo! Ooooooo! Oooooooo! ♫

To finish off, Angel started harmonizing in the background as Husk sang while they danced together,

♫ It's time to lose your self-loathin'

Excuse yourself, let hope in, baby

Play your card, be who you are ♫

The two of them crooned out together while leaning against each other,

♫ A loseeeer, juuuuust liiiiike- ♫

“There he is!” 

Both their eyes widened in shock as the shark goons from earlier came back with the shortest one shouting incredulously,

“They're fucking singing?! GET’EM!

Before they all pulled out their guns and started shooting at the two of them as they hurried to duck behind a car.

“Oh shit!” Husk growled before telling Angel with a raised arm in a protective position while the other pulled out some more cards, “Stay down. I'll deal with this…”

He leaped on top of the car to launch all his cards towards the front line of goons, impaling them right in the center of their foreheads, gathering a trio of golden glowing dice in his hand to throw right into the open mouth of a goon that tried to chomp down on his head but wound up with his blown right off, and had used a card to slice open the neck of another goon before the shortest goon from before leaped onto Husk’s back out of his reach as he held him in a chokehold while laughing,

“Hehe, you're fucking dead-!”

“You little-!” Husk growled before the goon was shot clean off him and he looked and saw Angel holding a Tommy gun in his hands as he cheered,

“Eat lead, sucka! Hahaha!” Laughing at his repeatedly shot at the short goon reducing him to a bloody mess of shot-up flesh and lending a hand to help Husk up from the ground as he told him while smirking at each other, “I told ya. I can handle myself, Baby.”

He used his five other hands to pull out more guns as he resumed shooting up the goons while Husk threw some more explosive dice until the shark demons were reduced to blood puddles and gut piles with one of them groaning out before he died,

“This did not go as planned… ulgh…”

Husk huffed in slight exhaustion with a fresh bruise on his cheek and blood smeared on his head before smirking at Angel as he told him in an impressed tone,

“Well.. that was something I didn't expect to see.”

“Like I said, you don't know me.” Angel told him while brushing his blood-streaked hair back and giving him a wink with his uninjured eye, “Sex ain't the only thing I'm good at.”

“Good to know, cause this guy ain't that bad.” Husk looked over Angel with an admiring smile that he returned before the two of them started their way back to the hotel, talking along the way and they were laughing while entering the hotel with Angel recounting,

“He-he had like 3 bills, and it took him like 30 minutes to count’em. His eyes are so shit!”

“Hehe, and this is the guy you gotta take orders from?” Husk chuckled making Charlie, who had been busy in the living room writing the apology letters and lesson plans, look their way as Angel laughed,

“I know! What a fucking joke, right?”

Before she rushed at him in relief and squeezed him in a hug as she wailed slightly,

“I'm SOOOO sorry Angel, I promise I won't ever, ever, ever, ever-”

Before Angel gently cut her off to smile at her appreciatively,

“Charlie, it's fine... I get it…” Before putting a hand on her head to thank her softly, “Thanks... for caring about me…”

Making her full-on start weeping and bawling until Angel held her limp body up in the air and handing her over to Vaggie, who had walked over with a rueful smile on her face, as he told her,

“Ehh, I think this is yours.”

And Vaggie carried her princess-style as she told her softly,

“Ok missy, let's get you to bed.”

But Charlie kept blubbering through her happy tears,

“He-he-he said he for-forgaaave meehehee! Awa-It's so beautiful, Vaggie…”

Husk and Angel watched the two of them leave before Husk gently bumped Angel’s side to offer,

“Hey, how about that drink?

“You read my mind.” Angel responded with a fond smile and the two of them started heading over before he hesitated and remembered,

“I better go check on Ruby real quick though…”

Turning to leave when he halted and asked,

“Ya got any fruit or chocolate back there?”

“I got some with the strawberries from earlier, why?” Husk answered hooking a thumb behind him before questioning with a raised brow and Angel answered sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck,

“A little food goes a long way when it comes ta sayin’ sorry with her…”

Husk grinned at his consideration before telling him,

“I’ll bring some up right now.”

“Thanks…” Angel gave him a grateful smile before heading upstairs and finding himself in front of Ayden’s door before he knew it.

He raised his two right fists to knock on the door, hesitating to do so for a quick second, before gently knocking,

*Tch…* *Tch…* *Tch…*

“Ruby? You in there…?”

Some faint shuffling from within alerted him that she was in there so he started speaking through the door,

“Look kid… I know I really screwed up today at the studio and then before when ya tried to stop me…” He paused to take a breath while leaning his forehead against the door, “I know I can’t take back what I said and you can be mad at me for as long as you need to but…” He shifted to sit down with his back against the door as he told her, “I just need you to know that you’re not useless… and you’re not failing… us or yourself…”

Some approaching footsteps alerted him that Husk was approaching with the small plate of pureed strawberries in the center surrounded by some more strawberry slices and small rectangles of chocolate that he handed to him so Angel could slide it under the space in the door as he tempted lightly,

“~I got your favorites heeeere…~”

The plate made it all the way under the door to the other side and Husk and Angel waited a few seconds to see what she’d do and got their answer when the plate slowly came back under the door, untouched.

Angel’s hopeful expression fell as he sighed and took the plate to hand back to Husk while telling him,

“Maybe she jus’ needs more time…”

Husk looked like he was about to agree when he sniffed the air and the plate before his eyes snapped open and he grabbed onto the doorknob with his free hand to try and open it, only to find it locked and curse loudly,

“Dammit! Open up Kid!”

“What the fuck are ya doin’...?!” Angel bolted to his feet to shush him when Husk shoved the plate in his face to show him something dark red that wafted with the smell of something metallic on the rim that made Angel’s eyes widen in panic; Ayden’s blood.

“Ayden this is serious open up…!” Angel banged on the door, hardly caring now if anyone else heard them.

“Oh fuck it…!” Husk shoved the plate into Angel’s hands, pushing him away from the door before pulling a card from his sleeve and wedging it between the door and doorframe before swiftly bringing it down, cutting right through the lock.

Angel was close to shoving past Husk to throw the door open when he held up a paw in a “hold on” motion and he stopped so Husk could slowly open the door, moving Ayden since she had been sitting on the ground close to the door and if the door had been thrown open it would’ve hit her already injuring leg.

“Ayden…?” Angel’s voice quavered when he saw the state she was in; her eyes barely cracked open to look at them with an empty glare, her left fist was covered in scratches with pieces of glass seen embedded in her skin, and the makeshift bandage he had glimpsed at earlier in the Studio was cutting into her skin, leaving red marks that threatened to cut deeper.

But what had completely surprised them was that she was in her human form; her hair had changed to be shoulder-length loose with neon orange tips instead of crimson red ones and her clothes had changed to a red muscle tank top with a black planet design on the back, her shorts lost their buckles, a leathery scarf wrapping around her waist with the ends flowing out in place of her tail, and was wearing punky black ballet flats with leather straps that wrapped upwards on her legs, over the makeshift bandage, and had buckles on them,

“The hell…”

Angel’s blood froze when he realized Husk was still in front of him and was seeing her “true” form but when he made a move to turn him around in a futile effort to divert his attention, Husk shook him off and told him seriously before leaving back downstairs,

“Those cuts are gonna get infected and that tourniquet is cutting off her blood flow. Get her to the bathroom and get the blood cleaned off while I get the kit so we can get those cuts taken care of and wrapped up.”

After taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, Angel carefully stepped over Ayden’s legs to fully leave the doorway and close it before bending down and carefully picking her up while minding her injuries, pushing down the panic at how limp she was and how she wasn’t fighting back despite the weak defiance in her eyes.

“C’mon.. let’s getcha cleaned up…” He walked her into her bathroom and carefully set her down to sit on the closed toilet before grabbing the hand towel from the sink to dampen it.

Kneeling back down in front of her, Angel took her injured hand in his but froze when she sluggishly pulled it away to cross her arms and turn away slightly from him, still staring blankly and unfocused while frowning dismally.

“Ruby…?”

“...jus’ leave me like this…”

Angel shrank back when she mumbled that despondently but it hardened to a resolve as he muttered,

“No…” Angel regained a firm, but still careful of the injuries, grip on her wrist with one hand while two more went to her shoulders to sit her upright and the fourth carefully cupped her chin to lift her gaze to him as he asserted, “I’m not lettin’ ya give up on yourself just cause I almost did.”

Before expressing in a somber tone,

“I meant what I said before, you can hate me for as long as ya need to but I need you to know that you didn’t do anything wrong..”

“I don’t hate you…” Ayden mumbled as she looked away before scrunching her teary eyes shut as she whispered, “I hate myself for not bein’ able ta help you…”

“Fuzzball…” Angel used a thumb to gently wipe away the tears falling down her face but Ayden tilted her face away to drone in a helpless tone,

“I know why ya don’t want me ta kill’im.. cause it’ll put a ta’get on my back wi’h the othe’ Vees and othe’s who wanna use me as a weapon and blah blah blah…”

She trailed off before sniffing and continuing,

“But I can’t help but feel like a failu’e every time I have a chance ta free ya and I don’t… jus’ ta save my own stupid furry skin…”

She looked at Angel with her eyes watering again as she started to rant tearfully,

“I mean you we’e the first one since Taylo’ to actually treat me like a pe’son.. and I ba’ely show ‘ny thanks fer that..”

She hugged herself again even with her injured hand making her wince in pain but she kept doing it despite that.

Angel put a hand on her arm and she looked up at him through her teary eyes when he started to sing,

♫ Ohhh, why you look so saaad…?

Tears are in your eyes

Come on and come to me now ♫

Ayden tried to pull away from Angel’s offer of a hug but he put a hand on her cheek to turn her face back to him as he kept singing softly with an empathetic smile,

♫ Don't… be ashamed to cry

Let me see you through 

'Cause I've seen the dark side too ♫

♫ When the night falls on you

You don't know what to do

Nothing you confess

Could make me love you less ♫

Ayden’s eyes widened a bit when he sang that before he stood up to make a reaching-out motion to her,

♫ I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you ♫

They both started remembering the last time they had fought that badly; right after coming back to his apartment from dealing with Val, with some bruises to show for it, he had found Ayden curled up in a corner of the room hitting her head and pulling on her hair but when he tried to reach out to her to make her stop, she somehow summoned something like a hardened shield of fire that made him angrily yell at her, his demon form coming through like it had earlier, to where she ran out of the apartment before he had instantly regretted what he’d said in that moment of blind outrage to run after her,

♫ So… if you're mad, get mad

Don't hold it all inside

Come on and talk to me now

Hey, what you got to hide?

I get angry too

Well I'm a lot like you ♫

After he had searched for her for hours, Angel found Ayden again in the same alley he and Fat Nuggets had first found her in, looking like she was about to head back to Hannah’s place but something was stopping her…

♫ When you're standing at the crossroads

And don't know which path to choose

Let me come along

'Cause even if you're wrong ♫

When she saw Angel standing there with an apologetic expression on his face, she had teared up before running back to him and jumping into his arms as he grabbed her in a hug that left them both kneeling on the ground as they held onto each other tightly as if they were each other’s lifelines.

♫ I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you

Take me in, into your darkest hour

And I'll never desert you

I'll stand by you ♫

In the background of their embrace, more memories of the two of them were remembered from both before arriving at the hotel and after; Angel helping get the shackle and chains off her arm and ankle, being introduced to Cherri for the first time and the two of them getting along really well, getting more piercings in her ears, being taught how to make cannolis and Ayden sucking the whipping cream out of one and throwing it in Angel’s face when he made a dirty joke about it making the two of them laugh together, decorating her new room at the hotel, and every time they hugged, fought, and smiled together like brother and sister…

♫ And when..

When the night falls on you, Baby

You're feeling all alone

You won't be on your own ♫

Back in the present, the two of them were hugging again before Angel rested his forehead against Ayden’s as he finished singing,

♫ I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you… ♫

Angel trailed off before they heard a soft chuckle and looked over to the door where Husk was leaning against the doorway with a first aid kit in his hands before he commented sincerely,

“You two really are something… connected not by blood but by love… and a whooole lotta sass and attitude…”

The last bit made the two of them smirk in mock offense before he moved to set the kit on the sink to get out what was needed: some gauze, rubbing alcohol, and two rolls of bandages.

“You get that hand cleaned up?” Husk asked Angel as he prepped a rag by soaking it in the alcohol.

“Just about to Baby.” Angel responded with a faintly flirty tone as he got back to wiping the blood off her hand while avoiding the glass pieces still in the skin making Ayden question with just a hint of a sly tone,

“Didja two hook up o’ somethin’?”

“No.” The two of them answered in unison and she smirked a bit to draw out teasingly,

“Mmmhmmm…!”

“You want me to fix your hand or what?” Husk asked critically as he used his claws to carefully pick out the glass pieces after Angel finished wiping the blood away and Ayden “pouted,”

“Yeees…”

“Then shush.” Husk punctuated his statement by pressing the alcohol-soaked rag over the cuts and Ayden had to grit her teeth to keep the barely suppressed whine from getting any louder,

“Hrrrrrr….!”

Before she felt Angel slip one of his hands in her free one to hold… and nearly crush…

“Geez Fuzzball!” Angel whined as he took his hand back once Husk finished disinfecting and was working on wrapping her hand up while Angel looked over the clench marks left by her hand to whine, “I knew ya had a grip but has it gotten stronger?”

“Been practicin’ my hrrr shtick...” Ayden winced a bit as Husk got to work undoing the strap from her leg so he could disinfect the ligature marks and cut before wrapping them up as well.

“The one they keep buggin’ ya to do?”

“Yep. Wanted ta ask Cha’lie ea’lie’ if I could set somethin’ up outside ta practice wi’h but uh…” She trailed off since the rest could go unsaid before she turned gears and asked Husk since he finished wrapping up her leg and was packing the kit back up, “Where’dja lea’n all this stuff?”

“When you’ve been a bartender who’s seen as many fights as I have, you pick up a thing or two.” Husk answered before adding with a lighter tone, “You’re the first one I’ve had to patch up outside of a fight though.”

“~Awww so I’m special?~” Ayden teased with a playful head tilt.

“Oh you’re special alright Kid…” Husk gently ruffled her hair while smiling at her before gesturing with his head out the door, “You both up for some drinks?”

Angel and Ayden nodded before she asked while standing up,

“C’n I have-?”

“Still a no on the Bourbon Kid.” Husk cut her off thinking he knew what she was going to ask when she clarified,

“I was actually gonna ask fer anothe’ mocktail. Ya make’em really good.”

“Oh,” Husk looked taken back for a second before he smiled again and told her, “Sure.”

The three of them made it downstairs, Ayden managing to shift back to demon cat form in case someone walked in on them and Angel letting her use the sweater she’d been wearing that morning, seeing how it brought her some comfort, where they shared some drinks and stories, Husk being let in on some of Ayden’s history and promising not to tell anyone else.

“Mmmmm…” Ayden eventually started to doze off with a tired hum, even after eating the chocolate squares, with one still partially in her mouth, so Angel thumbed the chocolate from her mouth before easily picking her up to carry back upstairs to her room.

“IIIIIn we go…” Angel lifted the paint-splattered blanket to deposit Ayden underneath and was folding it back over her when he noticed the Polaroid photo fall to the ground out of the corner of his eye.

Just as he was about to pick it up, Ayden managed to sleepily grab his wrist to whisper,

“...Love ya Anthony… fratellone…” (big brother…)

This time, Angel was only slightly taken aback before his eyes misted a bit and he smiled before leaning down to kiss her forehead and whisper back as he tucked her paw back under the blanket and brushed some wisps of hair out of her face,

“Anch'io, sorellina…” (I love you too, little sister…)

Before picking the photo up, smiling at the happy memory, placing it face down back on her vanity while frowning worriedly at the punch impact in the glass, and walking back out, quietly closing the door behind him, completely unaware that she hadn’t taken her other choker off from under his, which was now glowing hauntingly making her grimace in her sleep.

…

…

…

Meanwhile, in an eerily familiar surveillance room, a certain tv-headed Overlord was looking over various footage videos: Ayden’s team up with Angel and Cherri the day after Extermination Day, watching from the side as Alastor tossed around Sir Pentious’s zeppelin, using her powers during the team building battle, and the most recent appearance in the Porn Studio trying to avoid the fires.

Taking the most recent footage to pause at the moment of her glaring at Val and nearly showing her powers, he pulled it to go side by side along a photo he had of Ayden right after her first confrontation with Val as he compared the two and deduced they were the same being.

“You saw too, Voxy?” Valentino spoke up from where he’d entered the room but stayed by the door as Vox asked without taking his eyes off the screens,

“She a Sinner?”

“Angel says she’s a Hellborn but…” Val trailed off so Vox could finish the thought,

“Hellcats supposedly haven’t been seen in any of the Rings for years and there’s not a lot of information about them to begin with…”

“What does it maaaatteeeer?” Val walked in and draped himself dramatically over the edge of Vox’s chair as he whined immaturely, “Can’t we just kill that little cunt? I mean, look what it did to me…!”

Moving his coat aside and wiping away concealer makeup to reveal the three clawed scars that were still on his side before Vox tried to reason,

“Exactly, this kid is powerful enough to hurt Overlords yet dumb enough to follow around your favorite whore and Little Miss Rainbows and Sunshine.”

Vox stood up to get closer to a monitor that had a freeze frame of the moment after Ayden had survived the Molotov cocktail explosion with her powers around her paws and her eyes shining bright reddish pink as he noted,

“Her powers could be a valuable asset if turned to.. our agenda...”

“Fat chance, you have a better shot trying to tame fire.” Val tried to argue but Vox just grinned deviously as red drip lines appeared at the corner of his mouth when he spoke hauntingly,

“Sometimes it’s not about taming fire, but trapping it long enough for it to burn itself out…”

He chuckled as he pulled up another image of Ayden from a few years ago with her super long hair and wearing a length of chain from a shackle on her left wrist as she cowered in front of a group of shadowed beings.

Chapter Text

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, parental issues, mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

... 

... 

... 

3rd Person POV

“Haaaah…. Pheeew…” Ayden took a deep breath with her eyes closed before they snapped back open for her to break out into a run through the newly installed obstacle course set in the hotel’s backyard; one made from construction equipment and extra furniture to imitate various components: hurdles, tunnels, balancing beams, a climbing wall, monkey bars, and trampolines.

After the events of the studio visit, Ayden had talked with Charlie about adding the obstacle course to 1) work on Ayden’s fire abilities in an athletic and acrobatic setting to work on her eventual routine for the hotel and 2) to work off any pent up aggression and energy she found herself wanting to use for fighting. The only condition Charlie, and really it was more Vaggie’s idea, put in place was that every time Ayden destroyed more of the course than necessary out of pent-up anger and aggression, she had to write in a new journal that was given to her to work through her issues in a more “healthily manageable outlet” in Charlie’s words.

Since it’d been installed, Ayden had been on it multiple times a week, improving her control over her powers, accuracy with them, and learning some new things about them; she could create fires from her bare paws, but it severely drained her after continuous use, so manipulating from existing sources buffered that, her healing ability’s rate was affected by how strong the fire she was using to heal herself was and the longer she waited to heal something, the higher a chance it would scar, using her powers around other pyrokinetic users (so far the only ones being Charlie and Alastor) boosted their abilities as well (something that was discovered on accident when experimenting with fireworks with Charlie), and sometimes scratches she made could be combusted a few seconds later at the snap of her digits, all things she was still working on improving with some success…

“Hah!” Ayden jumped on the trampoline to grab onto one of the tall monkey bars and swung herself back and forth to get up and around to launch herself onto the raised balance beam, landing in a crouch before continuing running along the beam,

*FTHOOMP!*

Narrowly dodging the ball that the ball launcher spit her way before she used a fireball to strike down some of the others that were projected her way,

*FTHOOMP!* *FTHOOMP!*

*PSH!* *PSH!* 

“Hup!” Jumping off the end of the beam, Ayden grabbed onto one of the ropes attached to the top of a wooden pole like a maypole and swung around, shifting around to wrap and secure the rope around one leg and extra secure with her tail to spin around upside down freeing up her hands to create sparks that trailed behind her before spreading out and zipping around like fireflies before dimming out as the swing came to a slow and she detached herself to somersault across the ground, landing in a crouching kneel with her head bowed as she caught her breath,

“Phew Phew.. Pheeew…”

“Damn Fuzzball!”

Ayden looked up to see Angel standing there with an impressed smirk and smiled back at him as he added,

“You’ve been gettin’ better at that, ya didn’t even trip this time.”

“Ya saw that?!” Ayden’s smile turned to a whine as she remembered how last week she’d tripped on one of the hurdles and wound up tumbling into the maypole and basically stringing herself up in the ropes that left her hanging there trapped for a couple of hours.

“Ohhhh yeeeah…” Angel drew out with a smug expression making Ayden retort back,

“And ya di’n’t help me down?!”

“And lose the entertainment during ‘Gratitude Exercises?’ I didn’t think so.”

“Mrrr…” Ayden made an annoyed cat sound before Angel went over with her phone in hand from where he’d found it at the beginning of the course to note, 

“BTDubs your girlfriend’s been texting.”

“Still not my gi’lfriend…” Ayden deadpanned before opening her messages and seeing the messages Via sent her,

*Hey you doing alright?*

*Haven’t heard back from you in a minute*

*Check out this bad boy I found*

An image of a taxidermied animal that looked like a mix of beaver, skunk, and deer with four glowing red eyes and fangs was on display under a glass dome on a platter with Via holding it up with a smile

Ayden smiled before typing back,

*That thing looks gnarly as fuck!*

Via’s response came a few seconds later,

*Right?!*

*But my dad just ‘had’ to post it ‘eye-roll emoji’ ◔_◔ *

Ayden frowned for a second before texting back,

*Been alright, just dealing with sum shite*

*Sounds like the usual*

*You down to hang tomorrow?*

“~Yeeaah are you down to hang tomorrow?~”

Ayden jumped a bit when she realized Angel was peeping over her shoulder to look at her phone and she swatted him away while hissing non-threateningly,

“Bugger off!”

And Angel held all his hands up in mock surrender even as he continued to tease,

“Ok ok yeesh! ~So touchy for someone who you say isn’t your girlfriend.~”

But Ayden’s deadpan glare made him stop joking as he spoke a bit more seriously,

“Ok I’m done for real this time” Moving to pat her shoulder as he suggested,

“C’mon. Let’s go grab some grub.”

*Grrrrr…*

Right on cue at the mention of food, Ayden’s stomach gave a small growl and her ears drooped a bit and she grinned sheepishly in embarrassment as she agreed while putting her phone in her pocket,

“Yeh…”

“Last one in has ta finish the leftovers!” Angel abruptly challenged before starting to run back into the hotel making Ayden yell as she jumped up and shifted to hellcat form to scurry after him,

“No way! I’m not finishin’ that gruel Pen made!”

The two of them made it inside and were about to bolt for the kitchen when they skidded to a stop at seeing what was going on in the living room; papers were scattered everywhere aside from the ones pinned to multiple boards with red string connecting some of them and sticky notes over other with the whole things being darted around on by Charlie as she was muttering in a panicked tone while banging on her head and tugging on her hair,

“I'm just not quite understanding why it's not working. Okay, okay, think Charlie. Think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think. Okay if I do this, it's going to be- Hah! I have trust falls every single morning. We can do- Hah!”

“Yyyyikes….” Angel drew out as he and Ayden went to join Husk, who was pouring a bottle of alcohol into his morning coffee with an unnerved look, Niffty, who was excitedly watching the frantic chaos with glee, and Sir Pentious, who was watching Charlie berate herself with worry,

“Come on, come on, come on, come on. Come on Charliiiieeee…!”

“No’mally I’d say she’ll be apples, but this…? This is a new kinda troublin’.” Ayden noted in dubious mixed concern as she shifted back to demon cat form to sit on the couch arm opposite from where Vaggie showed up to question,

“Charlie? Sweetie? You, uh, you good?”

Making her look back at them with a sleep-deprived, and frankly mildly insane, look in her eyes with red veins branching through her sclera as she ranted crazily,

“Nope! No, not really. Ha ha. I've been up all night trying to figure out why the hotel isn't working.” She crushed a paper in her grip as she continued ranting, “We've done trust falls, we've tried sharing our feelings, we only have a couple months left before the angels come.” Her demon form flashed out with fire edging around her loose hair and horns, the same happening to Ayden as she unknowingly supplied it, as she laughed maniacally before turning back to normal, “HAHAHAHAHAHA! And at this rate-”

“Maybe it's time-” Vaggie started to say but Charlie started trying to stop her,

“NO.”

“-to ask-”

Even going up to her face to try and stop her, 

“DON'T SAY IT.”

“-your dad.”

“Haaaaaah!” Charlie groaned while flopping over the back of the couch as Vaggie tried to reason,

“Charlie, I know you don't want to, but we need every advantage we can get.”

“He let the extermination happen to begin with. They just had a meeting and said, ‘Go ahead and kill everyone’-Hah! Wait, that's it!” Charlie rose up from the couch with a hopeful tone before Vaggie questioned in uncertainty,

“Kill everyone?”

“No! He could get me a meeting with Heaven!” 

“Didn't we already try that?” Vaggie questioned before Charlie clarified,

“Well. yeah with Adam, he was an asshooole. But he isn't in charge of all of Heaven. We could go to the top. There's sure to be some angels who will listen.”

After pulling out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts before finding her dad’s but hesitated to press the Call button so Husk asked,

“What's the holdup? You got daddy issues?”

“Uhh is the’e anyone he’e who doesn’t?” Ayden questioned a bit critically before Charlie answered Husk’s question,

“No, we just have never been close... After he and Mom split, he never really wanted to see me. He calls, sometimes, but only if he's bored or like needs me to do something.”

But that only seemed to confirm Husk’s suspicion as he commented to the others, 

“Daddy issues.”

“Been the’e…” Ayden agreed nonchalantly as she checked her claws before Angel spoke up from where he leaned over the back of the couch between Ayden and Niffty,

“Well I'd like to meet the big dick in charge.”

“~The ultimate bad boy.~” Niffty teased while playing with a kitchen knife before giggling maniacally causing Ayden to shift away from her with a disturbed expression that Angel matched as he took the knife out of her grip to hide before she continued with a semi-flirty tone, “I bet he's scary.”

“If he’s Cha’lie’s dad then prob’bly not…” Ayden noted as Charlie hit the Call button and waited a little bit before it answered and a voice came through,

*~Heeeey~ bitch!*

“Pft!” Ayden threw her paws over her mouth to stop the laughs from coming out at that response before Charlie started talking with her dad with everyone listening in,

“Hi, Dad.”

*Hey! How are you? Oh ho ho. Where-where are you these days?*

“You know where I am Dad. I've told you before.”

*You have? Oh, yeah uh, well, you know, I uh-*

“I told you when you called me five months ago, or did you not listen?”

*No, no, no, no. Just, you know, just forgot. You know, I've just been really busy, you know, with, um, important things.*

“Well, I'm actually running a hotel to rehabilitate Sinners.” Charlie looked toward Angel, Ayden, and Pentious as she said that and he tried to give her an encouraging nod that Ayden backed up with a double thumbs up before asking her dad, “Maybe you saw our commercial?”

*Oh, sadly, I missed it. heh heh. You know, I haven't been watching much TV lately. Scrambles the brain. Blehelhe! But hey! A hotel, fun.*

“Listen Dad, I've got kind of a big ask.”

*Yeah, of course. Anything in my power is yours for the asking. You just ~name it…~*

“I need to speak to Heaven. Well, whoever's in charge up there, above Adam, above anybody. I need to go to the top.”

*Oh, no. ~Nooo–oooo~ No, no, no, no, Charlie, no, no, no. That's, uh hah, no...*

“Look Daaad…!” Charlie bit out in angry impatience that made everyone wince before continuing in her normal tone, “I don't ask you for much, I never have, but this, this is really important to me. It's the most important thing I've ever done. And I... need you. I need your help.”

*I don't know, Charlie…*

“Please!” Charlie was begging at this point, “Just come see what I'm trying to do. You'll see why it's a really good idea. And Heaven is bound to agree if I get the chance to talk to them. Please, Dad…”

*Wait, you're... inviting me over?! Absolutely! Oh, I'll be there in an hour!*

“Least he wants ta actually come…” Ayden side whispered to Angel who nodded in consideration before his facial expression shifted to a sly one and Ayden held a digit in his face to say in a defeated tone, “Don’t! I hea’d it too…”

“Hey you said it, not me.” Angel noted before Charlie caught their attention with,

“Welp, we have an hour until he gets here.”

“Okay people!” Vaggie got into drill sergeant mode again making everyone stand up straight at attention, except for Husk and Niffty who spilled coffee on himself and she fell to the floor on her face, before Vaggie devised, “Lucifer is on his way. So we are going to get this place presentable and we are going to make an amazing impression. ¡Vamonos!”

And everyone scattered to do their things to help prepare for Lucifer’s arrival; Sir Pentious and Niffty made cookies, with his coming out neat and hers coming out looking like they’d seen a bloodbath in the oven she crawled out of with them, Husk cleaned glasses at the bar, and Razzle and Dazzle put up a banner that read “Wellcum Daddy” that Ayden noticed and asked Angel as he was putting on his makeup in front of a compact after he had done hers and was fixing her arm wrap after having helped put the streamers around the foyer,

“Didja make that banne’?”

“~I’ll never say…~” He teased before she felt a familiar shudder and looked up to see Alastor walking in to watch them all from the mezzanine and she frowned before asking,

“Know whe’e he’s been the last couple’a days?”

“No idea.” Angel responded as he put on blush and closed his compact to see Niffty staring at him creepily while Ayden narrowed her eyes at Alastor as he descended the stairs to go by the front door with Charlie and Vaggie before Charlie announced once everyone gathered in the foyer,

“Okay everyone, it's ~showtiiiime!~”

Before opening the door to reveal Lucifer standing there with an excited look on his face and his arms thrown out,

“Charlie!”

“Hey, Da-” She gets cut off when her dad hugs her tightly making them both squeak as he cheered,

“Oh it's so good to see you! Haha!”

“It's uh, good to see you too, Dad.”

Neither of them noticed that Alastor behind them was smiling in a strained way while his left eye twitched in anger at Lucifer but Ayden noticed as she mentally questioned,

‘The fuck is up wi’h him…?’

Before Charlie was released so she could catch her breath, clear her throat, and introduce everyone formally,

“Ahem. Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!”

Two Egg Boiz popped some confetti poppers before Ayden sent two mini streaks into the air to create a sparks shower that rained down like glitter over them all before fizzling out as everyone smiled.

KeeKee showed up and twined around Lucifer’s leg before he saw her and cooed while patting her head,

“~Oh hewwo KeeKee!~”

Before Razzle and Dazzle flew over to him as he greeted them while spinning around playfully,

“Razzle, Dazzle. ~Ohroodoodoo!~ ~Ohh look how much you haven't grown. Still fun-sized. You taking care of my wittle girl?~” His baby tone changed to a deeper demonic one, “You better be.” Before going back to normal as he snickered a bit before walking around taking in everything and everyone,

“Wow! This place sure looks, uh... uh huh yah uh huh…” 

“It's got a lot of cha-a-aracter!” He recoiled to a stop in front of Ayden as he choked on his words making her lift a paw in a tentative greeting,

“Sup?”

“What’s a h-OH, what in the unholy hell is that?!” Lucifer yelled in revulsion as he looked past Ayden and saw the bar area causing his second freak-out.

“Just some of the renovations we had done. Adds a bit of color, don't you think?” Alastor answered as he reformed from his shadow to be closer before Lucifer looked at him suspiciously while pointing his cane at him,

“And you are?”

Alastor reappeared behind Lucifer to greet him by shaking his cane and shaking him in turn before discreetly wiping his hand on his coat as he spoke,

“Alastor. Pleasure to be meeting you, sir. Quite a pleasure. It's nice to finally put a face to the name. You are much shorter in real life.”