Loonie had lost track of how much time had passed what felt like months ago. Snow had come and gone and the days were slowly growing warmer... Winter had been genuinely miserable, this shitty little flophouse that she called home had absolutely fuckall for insulation and she'd been cold and unhappy the entire winter. They'd brought her in for questioning several more times but she was starting to feel like they were pumping a dry well... She had nothing left to tell them.
They'd asked about everything, from imps to demons to Sinners to Hellborn, who was royalty and who wasn't, and Loonie had told them everything she'd known. Now they were either going over old questions for new information or asking her things she didn't know the answer to, questions about Lucifer, about the various Rings, things about Heaven... But she was just a Hellhound, a lowly Hellborn about on par with Imps. She just didn't know anything about what they were asking her now.
When she woke up this morning - it was at least a quiet, warm morning - she was surprised to hear knocking on her door. She probably looked a mess, her mental state had deteriorated to the point that she'd stopped taking as much care of herself as she used to, sometimes she didn't even bother changing into clean clothes... She'd tried being nice, looking prim and proper, looking her best for their meetings, but it hadn't seemed to matter and now she had just been questioning why she bothered at all.
Loonie at least made the attempt to make herself vaguely presentable, running her claws through her hair to remove the worst of the tangles, before she stood up and faced the door. When she tugged it open she was monumentally relieved to finally see a friendly face. "Reed! It's been... it's been months." The hound's voice sounded tired and dead even to herself, she couldn't imagine what it sounded like to him - they hadn't hurt her at all, but they'd been killing her by inches.
He lifted his hand to his lips and tapped a finger to his ears. It wasn't hard for her to figure out what he meant - don't talk, people were listening. Loonie frowned, but she nodded her head once in response... she had no idea why he'd come here and was asking about this, but then he reached into his pocket. From within, he produced something she genuinely didn't believe she'd ever see again... her phone and her charger.
Loonie's heart swelled in her chest to see it, and she actually hesitated, pointing at it and then herself, barely able to keep herself quiet as he'd instructed. When he finally nodded, she snatched it out of her hands and held it to her chest - she couldn't help the wheeze of breath and glee that rose out of her despite trying to stay quiet. She had no idea why he was being so quiet about it, but she was just thrilled to finally be given her phone back. Finally, at least she would have something to amuse herself with, something to look up new songs for her bass, things to read... She could entertain herself again.
She loosed a gasp of breath, she felt like she could cry, scream, squeal... But he lifted his hands to his lips again to quiet her and she quickly nodded her head in response. He pointed to the phone, then to her, emphatically, then lifted his hand to his throat and drew it across. Her eyes widened and she looked at her phone, then just to be sure, she pointed at it and then herself, then mimicked the motion, to which he nodded. If they caught her with her phone, they'd kill her. She lowered her gaze down to peer at his feet for a moment, then lifted her gaze to him again and mouthed 'why'?
He only shook his head in response, then motioned to her phone and indicated for her to put it into her pocket. Once she did, he nodded to her and gave her a thumbs-up, then simply turned and left, leaving her with far more questions than she'd had answered in their little exchange... Most of the time they showed up unannounced... How was she supposed to use her phone like this...? She supposed she'd figure it out, but at least she had it again, even if that seemed like it was going to come with costs... She wondered just what he was up to.
Loonie's answer came several days later - she'd taken to laying in bed much like she used to do but this time she had her phone plugged into her charger and hidden under her blankets... She'd at least managed to get them to bring her a warmer, thicker blanket when the colder temperatures had threatened her with frostbite or worse if she couldn't keep herself warm. They hadn't really seen fit to provide her with many amenities, and most of the guards had taken to actively laughing at her whenever they saw her and mocking her for her repeated pleas for stimulus or better conditions, so she'd stopped asking - which, she was sure, was the intended effect.
A text came in from someone named 'Bulrush', and she frowned at the screen. It read, simply: 'Hello.' Loonie replied quickly with a 'who is this?' which was answered a moment later. 'Don't ask stupid questions.' The Hellhound frowned at the screen, but she imagined she knew who it was. 'What do you want?' she shot back quickly - maybe now she'd finally figure out what the fuck was going on. 'Planning on sending you back soon. Need to find a way to get you out.'
That made her ears fall... After all of this, they were just going to send her back anyway? That was the one thing that they'd told her they wouldn't do - if she'd behave, if she'd answer questions, she'd get to stay. She didn't want to go back, obviously, or she'd have just ended it herself just to get all of this over with... 'Why? Did everything they asked.' The reply took a little longer to return than she'd expected, and contained more information than she'd been expecting.
'Change of leadership. Two 'groups', loosely. Some want study and understanding, especially of Hellborn. Not Sinners, did no wrong. Others want all killed and returned ASAP, considered too large of a threat. Not unreasonable, but you are considered loose end, know too much.' Loonie's face fell at this news. She knew giving them everything was probably not in her favor - she was no longer useful - but she'd been so desperate for even the tiniest improvement in conditions that she'd been willing to try... It seemed like her bet hadn't paid off.
'Why do you want to help? Just a demon to you.' She figured it was a reasonable question, and one he'd never really answered before. It didn't take him long to reply. 'Not just demon, Hellborn. Have been reasonable and helpful more than expected. More 'human' than most want to admit. Scares them, makes them feel guilt.' Loonie decided now was probably a bad time to bring up what she'd helped facilitate while down in Hell, what she'd done while working with IMP... They knew all of it anyway, and Reed himself probably knew too. She'd rarely gone to the surface anyway, so she was 'less guilty', she supposed. 'What now then?'
Another longer message seemed to be on the way, and while she was waiting she heard footsteps outside of her door. Just in case, she shoved her phone under her pillow and pretended to be asleep, but no one opened the door and she eventually pulled it free again to check - the message had finally arrived. 'Pretend all is normal. Plans not final, safe for the moment. Coming up with plan to get you free - you won't like it but only way. Keep phone hidden. Trying to keep you isolated so you send yourself back and become someone else's problem. Why they don't want it returned. Why treatment is so bad. Intentional. Deplorable.'
Loonie couldn't help a quiet growl rising up through her throat at the thought. This had all been on purpose? They'd been treating her like this intentionally? It made sense but it still rattled her mind to think about. They'd been trying to make her so miserable that she'd commit suicide and effectively send herself back to Hell... But he said they thought she knew too much. That didn't make sense to her, if they thought she knew too much, wouldn't they want to keep her up here?
That thought nagged at her endlessly, a little worm in her head that wouldn't let her thoughts free of itself. If they thought she knew too much, they wouldn't send her back - she could tell someone, tell anyone, or even go back and try to convince someone to take a portal up here and wipe them out. They knew too much in turn... Something about this situation didn't sit right with her, and it was only adding to her worries.
She supposed there wasn't anything to do for it but wait and see... She had been told to pretend that nothing had changed, and that's what she'd do. Reed apparently had a plan, and that was the best news she'd heard in months... With her phone back, she at least knew how long she'd been here... Almost eight months since she'd arrived.
It'd been one hell of a year so far.