As Alastor continued to read her report out loud to her, Aria began having second thoughts about whether erasure was really such a bad thing after all.
"Well, well, well! It says here that your subconscious clearly stated that you like, and I quote, "roguish, dapper men'," Alastor declared, the look and smile he gave her as he did so, along with small snippet of someone banging on a piano clumsily to mock her, made her hide her crow face in shame as she wondered if crows could die of embarrassment. "I don't know if I should feel flattered or insulted! Here I am, thinking you're a half-way decent angel, albeit one who really needs to let her hair down, and the next thing I know, I find out about this! Were you going to tell me about your blossoming, romantic feelings for me, which I would gladly reject and then grind into the floor with the heel of my shoe, or were you going to lie in wait, deceiving me into thinking you might actually be a modest, practical woman, until you waited for the perfect moment to strike?"
"Really, Alastor? Is my lack of desire to be manhandled by you and my constant feedback about not liking being touched by you ever going to get past that goofy smile of yours?" Aria asked sarcastically, feeling very put out and angry that he not only found her subconscious offensive, but that he had the nerve to think she'd ever act on any of it! "Did you even read the part where I rejected the very idea, or does my reluctance about this particular subject not pop up on your radio waves? You know what! Here's an idea! Why don't we just stay six feet away from each other like they did back in the year twenty-twenty when that stupid virus broke out? You'll be just as safe from me as I'll be from you. Heaven knows we both need it right now!"
"An excellent idea, my dear!" Alastor agreed wholeheartedly, the flamboyance in his voice at her notion annoying her as she grumbled and fluffed up her feathers in agitation as her heart suddenly grew surprisingly depressed at his easy acceptance of her terms! "I can breathe easy, then, knowing you'll keep your hands where I can see them! Now, where were we? Oh yes! This part here about how you handled your bully, by the way, was incredibly disappointing. I would've beaten him to within an inch of his life and hung him up by his toes until he learned some manners!"
"You are just awful! He was just a kid! To be fair, he was a big jerk to me when I was young, but come on! Give the kid a break!" Aria insisted angrily, disgusted by Alastor's words as he just laughed at her, while the invisible audience laughed along with him.
"Well, the rest of your time in the Heart's Desire Diner either revolves around your deplorable behavior unbefitting of any woman, or your suicidal tendencies!" Alastor pointed out quickly and dismissively, his smile unreadable as Aria found his need to move on to the next available section of her report surprising her. "The suicidal tendencies are understandable, given your filthy habits and lack of any regard for yourself. Really, I'm surprised you lasted long enough to be murdered! I would've chosen death in a heartbeat rather than live with the reality you chose to live with during your college years! It's positively disgusting!"
"Okay, what is your problem?" Aria asked defensively as her crow form glared daggers at Alastor as he sneered far above her, his opinion of her and her value as a person obviously dropping the more he saw the sexual drive she'd struggled with in life. "You might not struggle with a sex drive, Alastor, but I did, and I was maliciously taken advantage of by Satan, who you call Lucifer, in my weakest moments! By the grace of God Himself, I saw through his malignant lies and lived to see joy and peace in my life! I didn't hurt anyone during that time except myself. I had no rendezvous, no sexual partners, and stayed home! What you imply is not only grossly inappropriate, it is outright slander! You don't believe me? Keep reading! You'll see soon enough!"
"Very well! Let's see if your insistence on being innocent of any lascivious wrongdoing is even valid, shall we? Let's see...ah, here it is!" Alastor announced confidently as his smile grew into a dark smirk, while his eyes settled on the page, a flourish of music accompanying him as he started to read aloud. "'Miss Aria was then taken to a stage, where she and her depiction of her teenage self were kidnapped and forced to serve a most vile man named Uncle Joe. This event pulls Aria and her teenage subconscious into the actual, historical part of her mind I hoped to find earlier.' Oh, what fun! Let's see what we get to enjoy, shall we?"
"I'm pretty sure you're not going to be happy about what you're about to read next, Alastor," Aria answered with a sad smirk on her crow face, her beady eyes gaining a small twinkle of amusement in them, making Alastor cock his head to one side with a curious smile on his face before shrugging her off and easing into the couch further before he continued.
"'At the tender age of eighteen, Miss Aria was fooled into thinking her audition for a play at The Stage was a legitimate one," Alastor continued, his smile easy and relaxed until he got to the next section of the paragraph as his smile stiffened and his easy, old-fashioned background music stumbled into a jumbled mess before going silent. "It was actually a secret, underground brothel designed to keep slaves of every sex and gender orientation for the enjoyment of the upper and middle-class that could afford its luxurious, and grossly lascivious activities. There was even a medical bay and an efficient system to get rid of any dead bodies. This man, Uncle Joe, and this place he built, reminds me too much of what I've heard about Valentino and how he runs things. Miss Aria was enslaved and was forced to be raped, beaten, and drugged. She didn't know, or didn't want to remember, about the drugs, since they were so traumatic to her mental state, but I found the jumbled mess of drugged up excursions attached to this main train of thought with little difficulty. She was also subject to three unusual punishments due to her incessant need to preach and lecture about the evil things these people were doing to her, which made her an irresistible target. She had an upside-down cross burned into her back for her beliefs, she was almost whipped to death by some sort of religious fanatic, and she was forced to have foul language, lascivious acts, and derogatory phrases tattooed all over her body by a former member of her faith. To her credit, I daresay, she is made of tougher stuff than I first gave her credit for!'"
"Aw! Really?" Aria asked lovingly in surprise, not realizing that Rosie actually respected her for her strength, making Aria feel unexpectedly cheerful, while Alastor cleared his throat awkwardly in a grudgingly respectful way before continuing.
"'Aria then did something completely unexpected! She went against Uncle Joe's criteria for strip dancing and went so far as to refuse to take any clothing off and mocked Uncle Joe outright in doing so!'" Alastor read in a tone of pleasant surprise, the stiffness in his smile easing a little as he looked down at her with some measure of respect. "Why, my dear, it seems you were quite the rebel! I'm legitimately and pleasantly surprised!"
"Really?" Aria asked, clearly not that excited about Alastor's lack of faith in her virtuous nature as she rolled her eyes and cawed at him. "Is it so unbelievable that I fought to keep my virtue despite being forced to partake in sexual acts I never wanted? I stopped caring about whether I lived or died by the time I moved on from normal dance routines to strip dancing. I wasn't about to willingly take off clothing for anyone, much less for that fat toad!"
"Indeed!" Alastor said with a chuckle and a grin, the nervous tension in his voice easing up even further as he put down the report for a moment to rub her head with one, gloved finger like she was a good, little birdie, making Aria huff as she shook her head afterwards, knowing she'd never get the chance to fix her now ruffled feathers as Alastor picked up the report and continued to read aloud. "'It seems that a woman named Gloria, who was close to Uncle Joe, saved Aria from being executed for her lack of respect. Apparently, Aria had made more money for The Stage doing her mocking dance by making Gloria look like a goddess of a pole-dancer afterwards. Uncle Joe let Aria keep her dance as long as The Stage kept making money off of it, with the intent that The Stage would lose money in a day or two and he'd be able to kill Aria to save face. By some miracle, The Stage not only kept making money, it actually made more as some of Aria's patrons became big fans of her work, destroying Uncle Joe's plans!'"
"It was really nice for a while to be up on the stage dancing, once people stopped booing at me," Aria reminisced, sighing a little dejectedly as Alastor continued.
"'The trouble started when most of Aria's patrons started to stop going back to The Stage," Alastor read as Aria's heart grew sad at what would happen next as Alastor summoned an alcoholic drink Aria didn't recognize in his hand as he downed the beverage quickly with a sigh of satisfaction before he dismissed the empty glass and continued. "This enraged Uncle Joe, and in retaliation, Aria's only possession, a huge book of scripture, was burned right in front of her. Apparently, she'd been diligent enough with her preaching to get several of her patrons to leave their life of debauchery and seek out more of what her faith had to offer. The loss of her book almost broke her, but she didn't break until she was mocked by Gloria because of Aria's attachment to her scriptures and her lack of backbone to keep going despite their loss. I watched as Aria lost the will to live after that and she almost lost her life to The Stage, but an unexpected turn saved her from her own ruin.' Hmm...what ruin would that be, my dear? The rest of this particular section ends here with Rosie saying you'd probably be more than happy to wrap up the rest of the events!"
"Happy?" Aria asked sadly, shaking her head as the memory of Gloria's death gently passed through her mind, the lack of a stronger emotion that was supposed to connect with the memory disturbing her as she wondered what Rosie had done with the memory she'd given her. "It's not a pleasant memory. Uncle Joe got the whole crowd of slaves in one place, told us he wouldn't stand any sort of rebellion, shot Gloria in cold blood, and then a mass beating and orgy ensued. Yeah...I'll spare you the details. Her death was a huge shock, though. Apparently, she'd been undermining Uncle Joe the entire time, working to try and free us all, that clever bitch. Her murder woke me up. A fire started in my soul and I planned out a song and dance number that would bring Gloria's murder to light, since they told everyone outside the stage that she'd been sold off to a rich client. I succeeded, by the grace of God, but it almost killed me. Thankfully, the Lord had a lot of things lined up by the time Uncle Joe took a shot at me after my dance number. Apparently, the local police department had undercover agents and, with the help of a former client of mine testifying against that vile toad and succeeding in putting enough on him to get him in trouble, they had cops in the crowd ordered to step up if he tried anything. Long story short, the police took down Uncle Joe, we all were set free, and I struggled through college with massive depression and self-esteem issues surrounding my still-intact sex drive. Yeah...not really an easy thing to deal with until I met my husband, since there was no chance in Hell that I'd ever hurt anyone just to meet my sexual needs. Things got way better after I got married and had my son. It was a beautiful life...full of happiness and joy, even if it wasn't perfect...until I was murdered."
"Ah, yes! Let's see what that glorious day looks like, shall we?" Alastor said gaily as his flamboyant smile and old-timey music came back with a vengeance as he quickly picked up the report and flipped through it until it landed on the page he was looking for. "I'm sure it must be far better reading than that horrendous account about The Stage! Really, it's almost bad enough to ruin musical theater for me entirely! Hahaha, Almost."
"I certainly hope so! I'd find it really weird, and honestly very sad, if you stopped randomly breaking out into song and dance numbers," Aria answered frankly, her crow smile sincere as Alastor looked at her with a pleasant smile of surprise as he chuckled softly at her comment and shook his head in amusement before his background music eased into a soft, classy jazz number as he started to read.
"'Aria's murder was slow, painful, and incredibly humiliating," Alastor read, his smile growing dark and devilish with glee at the words, leaving Aria feeling very uneasy as his grip tightened a little too much on her crow body as he read on. "She was captured and dragged through her neighborhood by her hair after successfully getting her young son to safety. She was then interrogated and pressured to renounce her faith and join the renegade group that had ransacked her neighborhood and murdered countless, unarmed civilians. Of course, she refused, and the torture began. She was beaten to within an inch of her life, prodded by a needle countless times, burned by a lighter, lost a finger, had an arm broken, and had her eye gouged out!' Why, my dear, you must have been a sight to see! Of course, it would've been hard for you, at the time, with the loss of your eye, but I'm sure they 'held' your gaze, am I right? Hahaha!"
"Really? That's...how could you...sigh, why am I even surprised?" Aria asked herself in bewilderment, the moment surreal for her as the demon holding her captive laughed so proudly at his own joke, while the invisible audience laughed along with him, making her roll her beady, crow eyes at him in anger and annoyance.
"'She was again told to give up her faith and she rejected the offer, inviting a second round of torture, but this time it was sexual assault," Alastor read on, but this time, his tone was tense once more as his smile grew thin and steely as his grip on her and the packet of notes tightened, making her squawk out in protest! "Refusing to hear her pleas for mercy, her insistence that they stop, and her utter refusal to give into them despite them all forcing themselves upon her, the Lady Aria spat at them in righteous fury, condemning them all as she told them all to go to Hell. This brings up one of the worst deaths I've ever witnessed, and yet, it is one of the most fascinating I've ever seen. British, a code name for the man running the show, obviously has a flare for the dramatic as he gets all the lights up as he reveals the surgical table and tools of the trade for Aria to see before he cuts her open. This is done while Aria is still being cut up, burned, and stuck into by a pin by three other thugs. Aria's rib cage is opened up and she's drugged to keep her from passing out as British pulls out her heart and proceeds to try and offer her his scalpel to kill herself to stop the torture. I, for one, have no idea how she manages to refuse his offer, but she did as she was then forced to watch as the three thugs bite into her heart, being goaded on by British to do so, killing Aria in the process.'"
"And now you know the worst moments of my life, more or less," Aria said in a drawn out tone like it was one, giant sigh, looking away from Alastor as she gently tapped his hand with her black beak in hopes that he'd finally let her go. "Can you please let me go, now? No offense, but your grip is really tight! You're about to crush me to death if you're not careful!"
"How did you stand it!?" Alastor asked in bewilderment, his smile tense and uncomfortable like he really needed to punch something as he squeezed her hard enough to make her squawk out in protest!
"Ow! Easy! Do you want to squeeze me to death!?" Aria asked loudly as she glared at Alastor before realizing as his grip tightened that maybe a softer tone would serve her better, now that she could only barely wheeze out a response. "Ack! What do you want me to say? I had no choice but to endure it! What did you want me to do!?"
"Oh, I don't know!" Alastor remarked with mocking sarcasm as his violent smile creeped up further on his face as his body rose from the couch as he banished the report out of his left hand, replacing it with his staff, while his radio background tuned and shifted while he paced in front of the fireplace restlessly! "Plot revenge! Kill their loved ones! Make them watch as you killed their loved ones and then killed them! It really isn't that hard of a concept to grasp, my dear!"
"Sigh, I'm not a spirit of vengeance, Alastor," Aria answered in exasperation as she sighed, praying earnestly for the Lord to help her know what to say to The Radio Demon before his grip got any worse. "I find no joy in causing pain to others and I never will. You want me to dish out what was served to me under The Stage and what my murderers did to me? Sorry, but that's not gonna happen. I'd rather die than become just like everyone who tried to destroy me in life, thank you very much!"
"Well, congratulations, my dear, because you did die instead of ending those who ruined you, which proves how incredibly naive and weak you are!" Alastor announced loudly with contempt as his sneering smile grew so close that Aria could feel his breath ruffle her feathers as he slowly shook his head while he narrowed his gaze at her. "With all the power you wield around that neck of yours, along with the power of an angel besides, you choose to go about your miserable life without even considering the opportunity that has been laid before you! You spared that miscreant of a tiger demon instead of slaughtering him! You wept over his dead body instead of dancing with glee that he was no more! You squandered the chance to seek out your murderers before coming to the hotel, and now, as I stand here with your life literally at my fingertips, you refuse to attack or resist!? Why!?"
"Because I don't hate you, Alastor!" Aria yelled out in frustration as she glared at him, blushing with embarrassment, but she pressed on as she looked up at him defiantly despite her compromised position! "There! There it is! You wanted me to admit it, well, there you go! I care about you despite the abuse you've put me through! I care about my murderers despite the fact that they raped and tortured me, and I even learned to pity Uncle Joe for what he did! Now, to be fair, I wanted him dead, but not by my hand! I can't do it! The very idea of killing someone goes against everything I know and care about! Call me weak if you have to, but I refuse to be belittled for caring about people who needed to be helped the most, but were left to believe that there was no other way to live!"
"Oh, don't you dare, my dear!" Alastor insisted snidely as a mocking laugh escaped him as red voodoo runes suddenly glowed and danced around them as Alastor's background turned into a distorted, minor key version of the prelude music to The Sound of Music, making Aria experience terrible deja vu as her delving session with Rosie flashed into her mind before she shook her crow head quickly to dispel it. "Do you really think Uncle Joe didn't understand what he was doing? Did you really think he didn't know how to play his part under and above The Stage? Don't make me laugh! He knew what he was doing and he didn't give a hoot about the consequences of what he did! He played you just like your murderers did! Don't you dare try and defend the vile actions of such loathsome, worthless sinners!"
"Then I'll say this, then," Aria said tiredly as she accepted that she was done with this conversation as she suddenly summoned a flash of angelic light, catching Alastor off guard as he hissed out in pain as his grip loosened, letting Aria go as she quickly returned to her demonic disguise before she folded her arms in front of her and scowled in disappointment at Alastor. "I hated what they did to me, but I refuse to be consumed by hate for them or you. I lived my life and I'm going to make the most of my afterlife. To go and seek the permanent destruction of others just because of something they did to me in life is selfish, petty, and cruel. I am not going to turn into the very people who hurt me, Alastor. That's why I'm an angel and not a demon like you!"
Alastor laughed, then, like she'd said something ironic as he looked at her, smiling that damn, unreadable smile, and then he just simply walked away. Aria watched him, his radio music a poetic, gloomy number despite his incessant smile and twirling staff as he pulled a book on the shelf before him that suddenly revealed a hidden door behind it. Looking back at her with narrowed eyes and a thin, toothy grin before opening the wine-colored door, he finally spoke up as the sound of swords clashing together rang out between them like they'd been dueling each other.
"Touche, my dear! Touche!" Alastor declared with an impressed smirk on his face as the invisible audience applauded as though their little argument had been some sort of entertaining performance. "Well, my dear, I bid you goodnight and pleasant nightmares! I hope tomorrow fairs better for the both of us. We step into a den of beasts far worse than what Daniel had to go through! At least one of us has experience in dealing with such beasts, now, don't we, my dear? I dare say, I truly hope it ends just as well as it did for Daniel, instead of both of us ending up 'lion' dead instead! Ahahaha!"
Aria groaned at the bad dad joke as she watched Alastor walk through the door as it closed behind him, making a hidden mechanism move the bookshelf back into place with a click that echoed through the library, hiding the secret door once more. Aria was left alone as a sigh of relief escaped her. She'd managed to out-maneuver Alastor this time as she mentally reminded herself once more to never take such a small form like that again unless she could guarantee an easy escape route. She could still feel the grip of his hand around her chest as she took a deep, cleansing breath before she moved on to other things as she walked over to the couch and kneeled down in front of it as she began to pray.
Aria took her time as she said her prayers, thanking the Lord for keeping her safe and praying for help in preparing for the next day. After asking for advice about Alastor and help in researching Valentino, Aria ended her prayer in the name of Jesus Christ as she read her scriptures and brought up the few records listed under her angelic rank as an Elohim. She made sure to type it in on her invisible keyboard, since she didn't want a certain shadow to hear her passwords, codes, or any other information that Alastor might use against her, just in case. She looked for anything of note, but apart from Valentino's rank and assumed, lascivious nature, there was little else to go by.
Staring into the fire in thought, Aria suddenly wondered what she'd get if she tried accessing the information with her new rank as a Savior. Typing in the Alpha and Omega code to gain more information on Valentino, there was only one more additional page of information that came up. The report stated very plainly that all sorts of drugs, slave-trafficking, and dead bodies surrounded the afterlife and work of Valentino, apart from the obvious pornographic media he gave to the masses. His Porn Studios building and the surrounding area used to be called The Strip, making Aria gasp as she recognized the phrase from the theft report she'd read to Alastor earlier! It was considered his territory and he kept it by either using bloodshed, blackmail, booze, or bodies. Gangs that run in his territory work for him in keeping his interests and business running smoothly, which meant that if anyone owed him money, their body, their soul, or anything else, his gangs or Valentino himself would make sure he'd get his due.
Apart from the obvious warnings against getting into an altercation with Valentino, and a weird note scribbled at the bottom of the file she was reading that said, "Beware of Love's End!", written in bright, red letters, nothing else stood out to her. She wondered what the warning meant, but apart from some highlights on some of the drugs that got shipped around, a chemical formula she couldn't even begin to wrap her head around, and a high body count in the area, the term "Love's End" was never mentioned again. Aria was baffled by it as she put that warning in the back of her mind for later.
Thinking over her other problem as she focused her gaze on the simple, black ribbon around her wrist bearing the small, red locket, she wondered if there was more she could get out of it. Getting more information on Valentino was one thing, since it was well within her jurisdiction to do so, but as far as angelic artifacts went, they had a lot more legal boundaries attached, especially those sanctioned by Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Aria suspected she had no right to try to interfere with it and the Holy Ghost confirmed her suspicions.
As far as Aria could tell, legally, despite her station as a Savior, she didn't have the keys to unlock this angelic artifact and, even if she did, the legal consequences were far harsher than the consequences found on Earth. Aria wanted so badly to try and use the Alpha and Omega code and enter her rank as a Savior, but with what she knew about what it meant to be a Savior, she would be jeopardizing her mission if she tried to access it without express permission. With how the Holy Ghost kept giving her a warm, but firm confirmation that she just needed to leave it alone, it left her feeling frustrated and concerned as she reluctantly accepted the council.
Hoping against hope she might find some sort of access code or a separate set of keys as she searched around The Strip, Aria knew it was a long shot as she tugged at the ribbon with the locket on it restlessly. It would be a legal work-around, but angelic keys for angelic artifacts were incredibly rare, given that erasure wasn't even a thing until a hundred years ago. The need for such things was practically non-existent. Thinking about it wasn't getting her anywhere, though, so for now, she let go of the black ribbon that held the cursed locket to her wrist, and concentrated on the angelic artifact around her neck as something from earlier made her curious to look into it further.
It was very weird that her order to bypass the silencing protocols earlier on her choker had been denied. Using her Alpha and Omega code and her rank as a Savior, Aria was able to access all the functions of it and her eyes widened as the screen before her brought up the data files of the creator and previous owner. Reading the data twice before it really sank in at what she was looking at, she felt goosebumps break out across her skin!
The choker hadn't been made just recently for her for this mission. The choker was old. Very old.
As Aria thought at the choker, willing it to change into its original form, it turned into a massive, collared necklace with rows upon rows of beads of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. It swamped her throat, but she didn't care as she brought out a mirror from her guardian angel supplies and stared at it in awe and wonder. What she wore should've been back in Heaven at The Museum of Angelic Antiquities and Artifacts.
It was an ancient necklace that had been worn by none other than Eve during the war in Heaven when Lucifer gathered his armies and waged an all out war for the throne of Heaven itself!