Shade: Here again, writing fanfics ans getting drunk hearing chessy sad songs instead of work :D

Disclaimer: Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are creations of Vivziepop

On the Threshold of Wakefulness

Created by Shade Shaw Reilly

The screams, curses and wailing all around did nothing but increase as the hours passed, in that interminable moment, until the midnight when all would end. The smell of blood, angelic gunpowder (which for them was comparable to the smell of ammonia mixed with bleach), smoke and rot filled their nostrils even when they were in the deepest part of the makeshift shelter, as still and silent as possible, because they knew that the adversaries were drawn to light and noise. They anxiously awaited, like everyone else, the moment of the explosion of colored sparks in the sky, at that moment full of acrid smoke and flashing lights from the surrounding towers, looking for possible survivors of the annual genocide.

And whom were in that makeshift shelter? Cuddled up, injured, lost, two little imps clinging to each other.

They had already been warned when they arrived in Pentagram City about the Exterminations, but they had believed that, being there only passing through for a few months, that they wouldn't have to live the horror described by several there for years... Heh, and that error had just exploded in their faces, just a couple of hours ago...

...They had just left the small bar that had given them work by playing the guitar for the entertainment the usual drunks and cleaning the tables full of vomit and grease, tired and feeling their hooves sored, but still walking at a good pace, with their hands clasped and each one holding a weapon in their pocket in case someone happened to assault them (Although that would be pathetic considering that robbing an imp was considered almost wasting time looking for something valuable). They were chatting, discussing their plans to put a blanket in the roof of the building where they were temporarily staying to gaze at the infernal red moon, repeating nostalgic memories of doing the same thing but in the warm plains of Wrath... When suddenly, an alarm went off ringing long, terrible, like a ghostly echo that vibrated in their ears and under their hooves, leaving them paralyzed.

The people around them (Sinners, succubi and incubi, hellhounds, other imps like them and even people that was pretty obvious that are superior in the infernal food chain) ran in terror in all directions, doors and windows were constantly opening and closing, they even felt as if sudden gusts of wind began to hit them in the faces... All that in a matter of seconds. He didn't know what to do, his mind was blank and at the same time in complete chaos: No, this wasn't supposed to happen now, there were a little less than two weeks to that day, according to what they had heard from the natives, they even had it marked in the kitchen's almanac, damn it! It was impossible that this was anticipated, it was...

"Moxxie!"

The aforementioned only managed to turn a thousandth of a second because he was being dragged forward by the female imp that had said his name in a scream full of terror: A stampede of Sinners, all of different sizes, but definitely bigger than them, ran in their direction down the main street, precisely the one that they had taken for being relatively safer than the alleys to return to their temporal home... Now, they were nowhere near being swallowed up by the terrified mass that sought to escape from them. There was no way around it, the various vice stores along both streets were closing, to his growing despair and anxiety. If only there was a hole to sneak in...! The noise of the screams was getting louder... And in the distance, between the sounds of trumpets even more deafening than the siren that continued to sound, there were dark, elongated and winged figures, their smiling and at the same time empty expressions shining in a blinding white, descending from the heavens.

They were here.

"Millie, hold on tight, don't let g...!" He only managed to say that when the mass swallowed them alive, drowning his words, as well as the cries of his beloved, in a veritable legion of screams and laments, in different tones, but as if it were a single voice.

Soon both imps were shaken, beaten, pushed, colliding between high legs that kicked them away. She screamed at him to try to duck so that it would be easier for them to get out of the suffocating mass when a hooved leg kicked him hard in the temple, just as an explosion of white arcane fire engulfed them very close to there, throwing him towards an unknown point, leaving everything in a whirlwind of darkness, pain and death, always hearing between the screams, Millie's voice screaming his name.

...He didn't know how long he was passed out, but he assumed it was brief because when he opened his eyes, feeling them heavy as lead and thinking that he better stayed in that pleasant and warm darkness where nothing happened, where he felt nothing, where he didn't see nothing of what was in front of him, just a jumble of colored spots, as well as a penetrating pain on a side of his face that when touched he saw spots of black blood between his fingers. His first thought was: "Shit, I split my head, or it's one of my horns?" …And thousandths of a second later accompanied by the familiar panic button inside him, realizing that he wasn't feeling his free hand being squeezed by a smaller hand... And she wasn't at his side.

His voice came out broken, still between distant sounds of screams, as if the vocal cords had been cur: "MILLIE, MILLIE...!" Shouts that were confused among many others who were looking for their loved ones among the trail of corpses on the ground, one of them right where he was, partially covering him... Could that have saved him from being seen by them while he was unconscious? With his vision still blurry, he could see some Exterminators hovering away in the sky, wielding rifles and swords glowing in terrifying white.

At last he could see her: Curled up against what used to be a simple stone bench, breathing very slowly, as if she was also trying to be inconspicuous. As his vision cleared, he saw her arm and her leg bleed profusely. His heart sank and his throat closed, feeling relief and grief… They were alive, and they were still together. Would this be a miracle? He tried to call her, but his voice broke, making an effort to get out from under the destroyed corpse of the Sinner, noting that several had died of terrible burns, without a doubt the product of that white fire, whatever it was; His extensive knowledge of warfare and weapons was completely useless when it came to Heaven and it didn't matter right now.

The young female imp kept gasping in pain and trying to pry the shards of glass and stone from the wounds on her thigh. Her hair was stuck to her face with sweat and tears of pain and, above all, of fear; Until then she had never seen an angel in real life beyond the lessons in school and the illustrations in the books, and they had never detailed the extent of the horrors that they revealed with their masks and armor... She felt the urge to call between sobbings to her mother, even knowing perfectly that her Mama wasn't there... Remembering when she was very little and was not yet able to wield a knife, scared by the firestorms in her native farm, running to hide in Mama Lin's legs until the danger has passed... But her mother wasn't gone, she was just with...

"Mox..." Millie said in a weak whimper when she saw her boyfriend crawl over to where she was, noticing a wound at the birth of his right horn that was bleeding profusely. She reached out to grab his hand and drag him into the precarious shelter of rocks. Moxxie rested his cheek against Millie's neck, who was shaking; he smelled the sweat and blood on her, but he felt calm… Just hearing her breathe was more than enough. He felt that his eyes were beginning to close again… But he couldn't, they couldn't… They had to get out of that space where they could snuggle, but not take shelter.

Because this wasn't over yet, and it wasn't just referring to the Extermination itself.

There were many stories they had heard in different bars about other infernal residents who came out every time an Extermination ended to 'collect' the corpses (or execute the unfortunate wounded ones that they would find) to sell their meat at a good price in Cannibal Colony, or thugs who took advantage of the chaos and hysteria to attack the wounded and lost, deprive them of their belongings and do other evil things to them... Therefore, they couldn't stay there, it was only a matter of time before 'cleaners' arrived, would see them still breathing and ending up cutting off what little luck they had left.

He made an effort to get up, feeling his muscles howl in unison, extending a shaking hand to the afflicted female imp beside him. "Millie, come, come…" He urged her out and helped her up, something that was titanic to do due to her damaged leg. "Lean on… lean on me…" Even speaking was costing him a lot. He put an arm around her and they awkwardly advanced forward, toward no fixed point, trying to avoid being seen by any angel, walking almost close to the walls of the shops, all of them closed and silent as a tomb.

Their temporary home was still far away, located in the most dangerous suburbs of Pentagram City. They had gotten it after much searching because no one wanted to receive them due to being imps, until a Sinner addicted to crack and other drugs accepted them, mostly because he was too drugged to make any objection. Their apartment was just a small room with a tiny bathroom and a gas stove and a tap where they had been surviving on instant noodles and packets of rice... Whenever they came back there to sleep after spending the day working or looking for one it was extremely depressing, especially for Moxxie... Not because he was living in those kinds of places before when he was on his own, disowned by his parents and wandering around town waiting to be discovered as an artist while playing his guitar for coins in the parks and in the streets… It was because he had dragged Millie with him to those places.

It hadn't even been six months since they had eloped from the Ring of Wrath as Millie's parents had never approved of their relationship and the idea of being apart from the other had been unbearable, ending up defying them and fleeing to the Ring of Pride taking the midnight train, only taking with them a bag, Moxxie's rifle and guitar and Millie's knives, emboldened by the thrill of rebellion and the thirst of adventures beyond the plains, as well as the intense love they dedicated to each other every moment of every day... And it was only three months ago that her parents had finally reluctantly agreed and made Moxxie swear under pain of death that he would see to it that their Little Deadly Pumpkin Spice was well cared, but also making clear to Moxxie that they continued to hate him and his presence on the ranch was, for now, non grata.

...That's why they can't return there: Because Millie refused to return, no matter how bad their current living conditions were, fiercely declaring to her parents and Moxxie himself that she would not return without him and if they didn't accept him, well fuck them, she had already chosen him... And seeing him now make an immense effort to help her walk through the smoking rubble and corpses, refusing to let go of her and looking intently everywhere in search of shelter, finding one in a little grocery store destroyed where they could hide, a faint smile crept across her lips: She hadn't been wrong, she had chosen well.

Unfortunately, what was left of that grocery store was nothing than of dust and shattered furniture, which meant that the looting had begun even in the midst of the Extermination, so they were both able to enter through the broken windows and notice to their dismay that there was nothing left on the shelves to treat their wounds properly or even eat something… They could only curl up and wait.

That was all that lower demons like them and anyone not rich or powerful enough to pay for a fortress, private army, or bunkers had: Wait and pray.

…Would this be like that scene that humans refer to in their holy book called 'Bible', in which in a land called Egypt, one night, God himself came down to exterminate human children as punishment for the sins of their king…? Would this be the same?

Moxxie let out a sigh, feeling his entire body shudder. They had torn pieces of his shabby coat and with water from a broken pipe they had cleaned their wounds the best they could... Hell, there wasn't even a bottle of cheap alcohol to throw on the wounds to avoid a possible infection, less to remove the pieces of glass and sand from Millie's cuts, so the female imp had to contain the screams of pain by covering her mouth tightly, with new tears leaking on her stained cheeks; Moxxie was mortified, they were already having a hard time in this sector of Hell on their way to reach the largest community of imps in existence, Imp City, and now they were caught in the middle of an unforeseen Extermination, not being able to provide a proper care for his partner, not knowing what would happen to them during the next hours... He bit his lower lip, holding back tears: He couldn't cry in front of her, even though he had already done it dozens of times.

That he suffered at this time was a trifle compared to the fact that Millie was present in this martyrdom... No matter how much it was repeated that this wasn't his fault, because who would have known that the Day of the Extermination happened without prior warning… He couldn't help it, he couldn't help feeling useless, small, smaller than ever, under the fierce gaze of the heavens.

When he finished bandaging her thigh as best he could, he felt the warm weight of Millie against him as she hugged him, still shaking or crying silently, looking for support and comfort, even if it was weak, to cope with these dark hours. That was all that Moxxie could also do and he was also wishing, feeling her against him, when was a moment when the hysterical mass of Sinners had separated them, when was the moment he regained consciousness and he had believed that she was lost or he had just lost her... It was something wonderful, something to thank both Satan and God on his knees, something that he believed was not worthy, because Moxxie for a long time believed that he only had bad luck and his parents had told him that he was lucky to be born...

"Moxxie… Ah'm so afraid…"

He pulled away a bit to look at her, partly dumbfounded (The one who should be scared as fuck should be only him, not her...! Not Millie, always so reckless and with a smile as big as her faith in him and that while they were together everything would be fine) …And at the same time nodding with a sad smile, understanding her perfectly. He brushed away a tangled lock of her ruined (and at the same time beautiful, for him it would always be beautiful) face and gave him a little kiss on her nose, making her give a tiny giggle: That gesture always made her laugh.

"I know." Moxxie said in a whisper. "Me too. Squeeze me hard if you're scared, like you do with your stuffed Medusa."

Millie smiled crookedly. "Ah've already got the stuffing out by squeezing it so much." She laughed weakly and squeezed her lover with the meager strength she had left… If they were going to die tonight, from exhaustion, from exsanguination, from being assaulted, from an angel's weapon… at least they would do it together. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, a mixture of cologne and gunpowder, calming her as always, with a soft smile.

They stayed like this, clinging to each other like castaways to a lonely buoy in the middle of a storm, awaiting the end of the Extermination or their own end, she holding her dagger and he holding his pistol, attentive to any strange sounds, but also focused on the breath of the other, in the touch of the claws of the other, in the quiet words of love that were whispered in the dark.

...

…The sighting of the colored sparks in the sky wasn't only the signal that they had survived the terrible night, but also gave them the certainty that they had a chance to continue living and they should make the most of it. They continued embracing and this time they cried loudly, happy to be in each other's arms and, imagining that the gloomy tolling of the bells of the great tower that announced 365 days before the next Extermination Day, like the happy tolling of wedding bells.