Author's Note: This is book two of the Hazbin Hotel: The Second Fall Series. If you missed the first book, please go to "Hazbin Hotel: The Second Fall" for the first part of Aria's adventure. Thank you.
"I can see that Rosie lost the duel of wills this time around!" Alastor mused as his amused smile graced his handsome features as he offered his hand to Aria, who gratefully took it as he helped her to her feet. "I did warn you, Miss Rosie, not to try and take more than what you needed! You know what they say! 'Don't bite the neck that feeds you!' Ah ha ha ha!"
"I should've known your honeyed words and tempting offer would end in an unpleasant loss!" Rosie complained, her voice emanating from somewhere in the small shop, but Aria couldn't tell where she was as she only heard the tell-tale sound of someone being sick as a groan of pain floated over the shop. "I haven't suffered such a brilliant defeat like this since the day Lucifer and all who joined in his rebellion in Heaven were thrust down here, myself included. What a debacle! Ugh...I can still taste the righteous backlash! I can't get the horrid taste out of my mouth!"
"I guess you could say that your feeling a bit down in the mouth!" Alastor quipped readily with a cheeky grin as the disembodied audience laughed uproariously at his witty comment as he waved a hand dexterously in midair to reveal a bundle of papers, a note, and a small bundle of money in his hand that he graciously set aside on the thorny-looking desk of drawers that sat next to the loveseat. "We'll just take our leave, then, and I've taken the liberty of leaving my payment of the much-needed supplies you so excellently organized and delivered right on time to the Hazbin Hotel! Thank you very much for all the services rendered, my dear!"
"Don't forget our arrangement, Alastor!" Rosie retorted with some annoyance as the air suddenly shifted as a bundle of papers appeared right next to the paperwork, note, and money Alastor had set down as he picked up the bundle and made it disappear with a flick of the wrist. "There's the report you asked for."
"Wait, what report?" Aria asked in dismay as Alastor looked down at her with a mysterious smile, but he just patted her head, summoned his staff, and then promptly walked down to the first floor of the shop as he made his way towards the exit, making Aria rush to keep up. "Alastor! Wait a minute! What did she mean by a report!?"
"I'll see you later, Rosie!" Alastor called out in farewell as Aria looked back at the shop and, for a moment, she thought she saw someone bent over something in the shadows of one corner of the shop. "You'll receive my payment in full in the usual place!"
"Um...for what's it's worth...thank you, I guess, for helping me," Aria said rather lamely, unsure of how to thank someone who both helped her and tried to kill her all at the same time.
"May we perhaps meet again on more...amiable grounds, my lambkin," Rosie's voice answered with a distant, polite air that felt like a mix of frustration and nausea as Aria found herself being gently forced out of the front door of Rosie's shop by some unseen force as the door shut and locked itself behind her.
"Well! It looks like things turned out rather nicely!" Alastor commented happily as his radio music flared up to a jazzy, relaxed sound as Aria noticed that Hell's sun had set, leaving the city lights to glow in a rainbow of colors, along with some of the people skittering by to get away from Alastor. "All in all, you're not dead, you managed to oust Rosie out of your mind yourself, and it appears that you didn't get away from the experience unscathed. From what I can tell, your experience with Rosie was a complete success!"
"What do you mean by 'unscathed'?" Aria asked as she placed a stray strand of auburn hair back behind a long, furry, black ear as she found Alastor's smile growing a little at the question as he suddenly stopped and took her hand in his.
"You haven't noticed?" Alastor asked as he held her hand up a little, the moment too close for Aria as she blushed badly while she tried desperately to focus as she took a closer look at her hand.
A very familiar, black tattooed triangle that started in the middle of the top of her hand disappeared under her long-sleeved, purple tunic, making her suddenly pull her hand away from Alastor as she forced the sleeve up. Her entire arm was nothing but a tattooed sleeve of jet black nothingness. With a thought, she changed her tunic to have short, petal sleeves as she got a good look at both of her arms and let out a sad groan. The tattooed sleeves made it look like she was wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt that ended in triangles at the top of her hands.
"Sigh...its back," Aria sighed sadly, but she didn't banish the endless night that was now her arms as she also refused to bring back her long sleeves as she rubbed one, black arm gently.
"I take it that this unusual skin condition seems familiar to you?" Alastor asked curiously as he sidled up next to her conversationally, but with his face so close to hers that she got very, very self-conscious about it as her stomach flipped nervously.
"It's...a very old scar," Aria answered hesitantly, her mind grabbing onto the fact that he had notes from Rosie, which meant he very well would soon learn about her past, which was very upsetting for her to think about, but she highly doubted she could force Alastor to relinquish the bundle of notes. "You'll probably read all about it, so I'll tell you myself. I unwillingly received a great deal of tattoos that needed to be covered up. After my ordeal, a high-end tattoo artist found out about my horrific experience and offered to cover up my unwanted tattoos at no charge. This is the result."
"My, my, my!" Alastor exclaimed as he adjusted his monocle, a gasp coming from the invisible audience as he took one of her arms and perused it like it was an interesting feature at a museum, making her uncertain about how to feel about that as she felt the warmth of his hands leave a tingling sensation where his hands and fingers touched her skin. "Was it really so awful that you needed to cover the entirety of your arms? I find it very hard to believe that nothing could be done to salvage your lovely skin! Such a waste!"
"It gets worse, but I don't think you need to know how extensive the correction had to be," Aria answered politely with a blush as she took her arm back and rubbed the tingles out of her skin thoughtfully. "In any case, I think it's my subconscious telling me not to erase my past. It's bad enough that I ran away from my feelings about a LOT of things, so as much as I want to erase this off my arms...I need it to stay to remind me of what I learned, lost, and regained after all I went through."
"How very endearing!" Alastor said with a happy smile on his face as he suddenly pinched her cheek and shook it a little like she was some kid, making her swat his hand off her as he chuckled, while she rubbed at her cheek and pouted slightly. "You've up and grown quite a bit already, haven't you? I told you Rosie could help you see more clearly what you refused to admit to yourself! You know how the saying goes! 'Every angel has a past!'"
"Does that mean "Every sinner has a future', then?" Aria retorted with a surprised smile on her face as a dismissive chuckle escaped him as derisive laughter burst from the invisible audience.
"Hahaha! No! Of course not!" Alastor laughed as he waved a hand at the thought like he was banishing it, making Aria almost frown, but something caught her attention as her smile broadened despite his easy dismissal of her remark. "No one here can be saved, despite your insistence to the contrary! No, no, my dear! Despite your lofty ambitions, I'm afraid that when all is said and done, you'll have given yourself to a cause that will ultimately end you without anything to show for it!"
"I have to wonder, given your choice of words, Alastor," Aria pointed out as she retained her smile, the hope in her heart growing as her smile grew thoughtful, then faded as she thought about the report he'd been given. "Um, Alastor...what's the report for?"
"You know, the lights of Pentagram City sure paint a pretty picture despite the debauchery and senseless violence," Alastor said wistfully as though thinking of another time as his radio music turned wistful, which perturbed Aria as she realized he was refusing to answer her question.
"Alastor...please," Aria asked as she stopped walking at the corner of a busy street as demons scrambled to clear out at the mere sight of Alastor as Aria noticed a mass of televisions glowed loud and bright behind a store front as she saw an advertisement for a cereal with sugar skull marshmallows and crossbone-shaped cereal bits that had the most ridiculous price tag on it. "I need to know how much of myself will be blatantly revealed to you without any say so on my part."
"My dear, what do you see before you?" Alastor suddenly asked as his radio music stopped along with him as he twirled in place, making his coattails flare as he turned to face her while he gestured to the loud televisions with his staff.
"They're just a bunch of televisions," Aria said with a shrug, her disinterest clearly defined as she barely glanced at a screen where a strange man with a TV for a face insisted on how the cereal was so delicious that it was worth extending a loan just to get a taste of it. "I'd rather talk about the subject of that report, Alastor! Do you have any idea how...how underhanded it is to have a copy of my life just sitting there in black and white for you to peruse!? It was bad enough having to pay for Rosie's silence after being forced through memory lane with a demon watching everything from the sidelines. How much more do you need to know about me before you'll stop delving into my personal life!? I don't even know you and I certainly don't feel comfortable about you knowing everything about me! I'm stuck knowing hardly anything about you with the exception that you don't like tea, you enjoy meddling in other people's business without exposing anything about yourself, and you like coffee and alcohol. A lot."
"As fascinating as it is that I'll eventually know more about you, I'm currently more interested in what you don't know, my dear," Alastor said thoughtfully as he tapped at his chin as the radio tuned in the background around him, making Aria look at him in confusion at his statement. "You don't recognize this obnoxious, smarmy picture show host that flickers on this mind-numbing screen before you?"
Aria turned her gaze back on the man with a TV for a head and really took a good look at him this time. His head was a massive, flat screen tv with his right eye a massive sea of red with only a black pupil in the middle, while his equally huge, left eye made Aria feel like there may be a screw loose as his pupil was nothing but a white, electrical current with two, thin, black rings circling it in a sea of red. He had no nose to speak of as his huge, white, and sharp smile took up most of the bottom half of his screen face. Aria did like the thin, red rectangle that lined the black edge of his TV screen face as she admired three lines running down the left side of his smile, since the rest of his face was nothing but a dark grey color. As she looked closer, however, she then realized that it looked like he'd just bitten into something bloody, which ruined the novelty of it for her. A tiny, top hat sporting a white, electrical current near the brim and center of the hat with a red Wifi symbol with five, red bars just above it sat on his head, complete with two, tiny antennas that popped out of his top hat, one of which on his left looked crooked, like the electrical pupil of his left eye.
He wore a black pinstripe suit with thin, white pinstripes running down his over coat and sleeves. A large, red bow tie decorated his throat, contrasting nicely with the white undershirt he wore and the white cravat that sported a dot in the middle of it with four curved marks underneath it like an inverted Wifi symbol. His inner vest was red with four, black bands running across the front of it as Aria noticed its red color matched the odd, red bands of color that went across his white pinstripes near the upper arms of his overcoat, his chest, and near the wrists of his overcoat like bloodstains, making her shudder involuntarily. The rest of his outfit was mundane as simple, black slacks, black shoes with white shoe laces and white heels, and black gloves with white, clawed ends wrapped up his outfit.
Aria was about to write the guy off as some sort of TV nut when she paused mid-breath as something suddenly occurred to her. A memory bubbled up to the surface as she thought about who was in charge here in Pentagram City as Jesus Christ's words came to her then. There was only one person who this TV man could be.
"...That's Vox, isn't it?" Aria suddenly muttered out quietly, afraid that the TV man would hear her through the televisions that blazed and flickered for attention as a gaudy and incredibly inappropriate advertisement for the Hellraiser that would be held at the Porn Studios building tomorrow evening was almost shouted across the abandoned city plaza.
"Thank goodness! For a minute there, I thought you were about to say you had no idea who he was!" Alastor commented with a smile as a sigh of relief escaped the invisible audience, although Aria couldn't help but grimace apologetically as she recognized how incredibly close she'd been to doing just that. "To be fair, on any normal occasion, I would gladly rub it into that pompous, overrated, dumb, and incredibly annoying bastard's face with the knowledge that he is so forgettable that you wouldn't give him the time of day, let alone know who he is! As it stands, however, I'd begin to worry that your education of Hell from your higher ups was incredibly lacking if you couldn't even recognize one of the three V's on sight!"
"Well...I haven't really delved into the archives of my information database yet, so...my knowledge is limited, at best," Aria pointed out with an apologetic, sheepish grin, making Alastor turn and look at her with one eyebrow raised as he smirked so condescendingly at her that Aria felt incredibly guilty as she realized how her comment made her look as she quickly crossed the intersection as a car almost ran her down, the horn blaring incessantly as it raced away without even slowing down. "HEY! WATCH IT! Sigh...I know what it looks like, but I really had no time to research anything before you swept me up into this tour of Hell you insisted we should do, today. I'd rather not admit it in public how sorry our information is concerning current affairs. That's why I made you my advisor on Hell and everything about it. Without you...let's just say not only would I be up a creek with no paddles, it would be a leaky boat with no bucket to even help bail out the boat. That's the reason why I was sent here, Alastor. To find out what happened to everyone and fix what's been broken. I'm sorry if my ignorance is so disappointing to you to the point that you have to look at me that way!"
"Are you actually being serious, my dear, or is this your idea of a joke?" Alastor asked with a look of utter disbelief on his smiling face as he then leaned on his staff with sudden interest once they got to the other side of the street, his radio oddly silent, which made the awkwardness of the situation unbearable for Aria, since there wasn't any music to ease the tension out of the conversation. "Don't tell me you came here to delve into the depths of Hell with only your limited knowledge, a chip on your shoulder, and that stubborn disposition of yours to see it through, despite an obvious lack of planning on your part, not to mention a harmless streak so embedded into you that I know it's a lost cause to try and dig out some sort of self-preservation that requires the use of violence!"
"Do you want me to lie to you or do you want the truth, Alastor?" Aria said with a sigh, looking at Alastor tiredly as she let him lead her down the next few streets as Aria realized that the sound of screaming hadn't broken over the neighborhood, making Aria thank the Lord suddenly for the gentle mercy as she spied a bone white sign with black letters that read, "Now Leaving Cannibal County!" just to her left as they continued down the street.
"Well, will wonders never cease!" Alastor stated with a chuckle as he suddenly stopped, made his staff disappear, and then grabbed her by the waist to pull her in close before he grabbed her face and brought it nose to nose with his, making Aria go ridged, while her face blazed scarlet at the alarming closeness of him as his glowing, red eyes stared into her own! "You're probably the most adorable, daring, courageous, and most backwards-thinking woman I've ever met, apart from Miss Charlie, of course! I must say that I'm truly grateful to have you as my partner in crime, unlike that slime-ball of an angel I had to deal with last time! So congratulations, my dear! Despite your obvious weaknesses and lack of preparation, you passed my test with flying colors! You're far more entertaining than I could ever have thought possible!"
"What are you doing!?" Aria demanded, her hands grabbing onto his wrists to make him let go of her, but he didn't budge until she tried to tickle his ribs with one hand, the action surprising him as an involuntary chuckle escaped him before he let go of her with an amused grin on his face. "Stop it! Thank you for your kind words and all, but could you please not grab onto me like that!? If there's one good thing that will come out of you reading my report, it's going to be the knowledge of why I can't stand it when you keep touching me like this!"
"So, it doesn't bother you that I'll know every intimate detail that Rosie got her hands on as she delved within your mind?" Alastor asked as he closed in, again, as he grabbed her shoulders from behind and whispered in her ear, making her body grow far too hot and bothered as a thrill ran through her, making her wish it didn't feel so exciting as she grabbed his hands to push him away, again, but then paused as something inside her spoke softly, but very clearly.
Don't forget what we talked about, a small voice in her head insisted as the smell of the Heart's Desire Diner wafted over her nose for a moment before it was suddenly gone. Something shifted inside Aria as the moment passed over her, a deep sense of conflict pushing for her to continue her usual routine, but she now knew it wasn't right. With a sudden sigh, she just held his hands instead of just pushing him away, again, as a cold feeling of anxiety went through her as she dared to turn her head a little to look at Alastor the best she could.
"Just...be careful what you wish for, Alastor," Aria said softly as the fear inside her mounted, but she ignored it as she smiled sadly at him as she swallowed hard. "You may not like what you find out."
Alastor stared at her, his red on red gaze considering her words with slitted eyes as though he wasn't sure what to make of her comment before he let a chuckle escape his lips before he let her go. They continued on their walk back to the hotel as Alastor's radio background tuned and played random bits of music, while Aria thought about her day as she ran through it in her mind. She thought about that morning at the cafe, about Arackniss, about what would happen tomorrow evening, and then the memory of her fight with Alastor reminded her of something.
Taking out the rose she'd picked earlier from her guardian angel supplies, she analyzed it carefully as she mentally tapped into her choker to see if the basic functions of information retrieval were set up. Sure enough, as she looked at the rose, she found out that it was wilting at an alarming rate, far faster than any rose did on Earth. Hesitating only a moment before the bloom lost its life completely, Aria was relieved to find that her life force was recovering very quickly as she accessed a tiny, invisible thread of it she could only see and made a knot of life as she fed it into the bloom. Hoping against hope that it would take root, Aria watched the wilting rose in her hand earnestly, while Alastor walked on ahead of her.
Sure enough, with an ample supply of life now available to it, the rose bloomed in perfect splendor once more as its red petals slowly changed from being a dark, crimson hue to a passion pink, then a soft, blushing thing until its petals shone pale in white serenity that almost glowed in the darkness around them. Having forged a link of life between herself and the rose, she'd succeeded in creating her first angelic artifact! It wouldn't do much, given that she'd been concentrating on just making sure it didn't die so it could maintain its beauty, but still! It was something to celebrate as she made sure the link between herself and the artifact wouldn't hurt her if it somehow got destroyed as she wove her thread of life like she'd been taught in her Guardian Angel class until she beamed brightly with her success as she felt the link stabilize to a safe consistency. It was beautiful, to say the least, as her smile dimmed suddenly into a nervous look as she looked away from the white rose in her hand as her red and yellow gaze fell on Alastor walking just ahead of her, humming to himself.
"Alastor?" Aria asked suddenly, her breath catching with sudden nerves as a reassuring feeling came over her despite her sudden fear as she could almost feel Major's arms around her once more like she was back in her mind's history museum archives. "Here. This is for you."
"A gift? For me? Why, you shouldn't have, my dear!" Alastor asked, his eyebrows shooting up in genuine surprise as his smile was caught off guard like he was genuinely happy as he took the rose from her and handled it carefully as he stood there as though he waited for something to happen.
Aria watched, a happy smile coming over her as she realized he was waiting for it to wilt as the moments ticked by and the bloom stayed intact. Her smile turned into a warm chuckle as he turned it this way and that way, looking at her with a raised eyebrow of surprise and amusement as he tilted his head down and sniffed the rose gently. A sigh escaped him, the moment filling Aria with the warmth of having done something selfless as she beamed from ear to ear as he looked at her and then crushed the rose as hard as he could!
Aria stared at Alastor in shock, unable to understand why he would just crush her delicate gift! She was even more surprised, however, to find that, as he opened his fist, the rose remained unharmed, making Aria suddenly wonder at her creation! By all accounts, the crushing force of Alastor's hand should've ended it, but then Aria wondered if the nature of the rose had been altered because of the shared link she had with it.
Taking a moment to consider the possibility that its resilience may be linked with her own, she suddenly remembered the ability the rose clip on her head did as she concentrated on it to activate its powers. Aria suddenly grimaced, wishing she could kick herself as she finally realized what she had made by accident as she saw the artifact she made through the power of her own enchanted rose! She had made an unintentional health notifier artifact linked to her life force, which meant she could be traced back to the artifact easily. In short, Alastor would know exactly where she was and how her health was doing just by looking at the rose and holding it. It wasn't what she had meant to do, but it was too late to take it back now.
"A fine gift indeed! You have my undying gratitude, although I can't say the same for you, given your eventual demise, but that's neither here nor there!" Alastor quipped as his smile grew cheeky as he waved the hand that held the bloom, making it disappear before her very eyes, making her wonder where he stored all that he banished from view as she suspected he might have a similar storage system not unlike her own. "Thank you, my dear!"
"You're welcome," Aria said politely, but it came out sad and a little bitter as the knowledge of what she'd unintentionally made really upset her as she looked away from Alastor while he carelessly walked on briskly through the dark streets of Pentagram City.
They soon reached the Hazbin Hotel with no trouble as Aria found herself wishing she'd never given Alastor that rose as he opened the door for her, while his shadow made a reappearance to remind her that she was still being watched on top of everything else. She felt trapped as the door swung closed behind her, the feeling growing as she watched Alastor whisper conspiratorially with his shadow as he walked in front of her. What is he up to this time, Aria thought suspiciously?
"Well, my dear! I'm very happy to have had this tour with you, but it wouldn't be right to end it here, not with your belly so empty and your spirits so low!" Alastor piped up as they entered the foyer where the grand staircase rose up before them elegantly. "Let's take a much needed break from the day and just enjoy a meal together, shall we? There should still be plenty left over from the scrumptious dinner I cooked up about an hour or so ago, while you were still in Rosie's grasp! What do you say?"
"Wait! You cook?" Aria asked, surprised and momentarily distracted as she watched Alastor practically dance up the grand staircase with an energetic, old-timey tune playing in his radio background, while Aria struggled up the stairs as she suddenly realized how incredibly famished she was. "I'm a little surprised, to be honest! I would've thought you'd let someone else cook, given how busy today was. Not to mention I'm incredibly suspicious of demon-made anything after the tea I got from Rosie. Still...I'd like to see what you cooked up, if it was you who cooked that jambalaya last night. It smelled really good!"
"Why, my dear! If the very smell of a bowl of my cooking is enough to lower your guard, just imagine what a taste of my home cooking will do!" Alastor stated happily as he grabbed her by her shoulders, twirled her around, and, with a sea of voodoo runes, shifting textures, and a myriad of colors, Aria gasped as she felt herself being transported to who knows where!