Back in the other timeline, Velvet couldn't help but notice that Vox was gone.

She hadn't picked up on it immediately(she was too busy trying to get Vol to be stable to notice at first) but it had been three days and Vox hadn't left his room. He was oddly quiet and hadn't come out of his room to eat.

Normally, she'd chalk this up to Vox choosing not to eat(it wasn't a requirement in his demon form) but she did know that Vark was in his room and that the shark needed to eat. He'd have to at least go outside to get him food.

While it wasn't her Vox, she knew damn well that Vox never was this quiet regardless of the version. Vox always interacted with people and if he was quiet for a long period of time, then something was seriously wrong.

So she decided to go up to his door and knock,"Hey Vox, what the hell are you still doing in that room? You know you can't hide forever. You know you gotta leave eventually…"

There was no response from the other side of the door. The silence was eerie and Velvet was a bit uncomfortable. She knew Vox didn't need to sleep and given the time, he should be awake by now if he was.

She pounded on the door,"Vox! I know you're in that room! Get out now!"

Once again, no response. Velvet growled. She was ready to pull out her axe and bust her way inside, but she was cut off by Alastor showing up and asking,"What are you doing, Velvet?"

"Busting down Vox's door, duh!" Velvet replied, rolling her eyes.

He raised an eyebrow, giving the shorter demon a look,"And why is that?"

"Because he's been inside his room and he hasn't come out in days. I don't know what he thinks he's doing there, but he can't hide from us forever. He needs to address that attitude of his and if he just stays in there, nothing will ever change."

"Still, is it really necessary to use an axe to break down the door, Velvet?"

"Dramatic effect!" Velvet snickered,"Anyhow, it's axe time! HIYAH!" Velvet ended up chopping through the door with one single strike, knocking the door off its hinges much to Alastor's surprise, standing back after she destroyed it."Ha! Oneshot!"

"Indeed," Alastor mused before peering inside the room and pausing,"Erm, Velvet?"

"Yeah?"

"It appears that Vox and Vark aren't inside…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Alastor motioned forward and Velvet stood there in disbelief when she saw that the room before them was completely empty. Vox and Vark were nowhere to be found and it seemed like they had straight up vanished.

"W-What? Where'd they go? They're gone!"

"I'm not certain," Alastor replied,"But it doesn't appear they are here anymore. Perhaps we should take a better look inside and see what became of them…"

Velvet agreed, following Alastor when he took a step inside. After some close inspection, it became obvious that several things had been taken, the only things that remained were items that were too heavy/inconvenient to carry. The state of the room was somewhat disheveled, the bed was unmade and it appeared that Vox was in a hurry when he left as he didn't even bother to clean up the area.

By now, it was obvious that Vox and Vark were long gone. Velvet and Alastor searched every crevice and were left empty-handed, confirming that Vox was truly gone.

"Dammit. How could you just disappear like that!? He just straight up took Vark and left!" Velvet hissed,"What even happened!? He didn't even leave a note telling us where he went!? What gives!?"

Alastor rubbed his chin before saying,"If I had to guess, Vox saw that he wasn't welcome at the Hotel. He didn't seem a fan of coming here in the first place. His attitude wasn't exactly helping matters and when the pressure became too high, I suspect he believed fleeing the situation was his best option. And judging by the state of his room, I'd say he had no plans on ever returning. The fact he didn't leave a note behind leads me to believe he knew someone would come in and didn't want anyone on his trail to track him down. Given we haven't seen him in a while, he could be anywhere in the Pride Sector by now. With the amount of money he has, it wouldn't be hard to find a comfy place to remain on the down low until the tension clears."

Velvet clenched her fist,"Of course he did this! I fucking knew something was wrong when he was this quiet! If only I figured he was gone sooner, probably could've stopped him."

"Well, it doesn't seem like we can do anything, Velvet. Vox is long gone and he's likely been on the run for several days by now, who knows where he could be? This circle is huge, it'd be impossible to get a hold of him. Without a proper way to track him, searching for him would be pointless."

"Grr…" Velvet then looked at her phone,"Maybe I can try contacting him. Vox always picks up his phone…"

"Considering the events that happened, Vox will likely ignore you," Alastor informed,"Vox has made it clear he doesn't want anyone contacting him so even if he does see your number, he'll either block you or pretend you're not that all-together…"

She pouted,"You're right...But, I still know that even if Vox doesn't wanna be found, he will always rely on technology when he's in a bind. If Vox doesn't wanna be found, he's gonna take the fastest method of transportation and leave."

"And what would that be?"

"An airplane. Back when it was just the three of us, we all used to take planes to get to super far places. Knowing Vox, he'd go to the nearest airport and take a private flight to his destination. If I get on my phone, I should be able to see the nearest airport and call them…"

Velvet slid through her phone and called the line to the airport with her phone on speaker. It took a few rings, but a female demon picked up the other end and asked,"Hell's Airline, how may I help you?"

"You can help me by telling me where my friend is."

"Who exactly is your friend? We have so many demons passing through that it would be unreasonable to expect us to know who your friend is."

"His name is Vox," Velvet replied,"He ran off and I want to know where his plane went."

"Oh, I see. I remember seeing him with that shark of his. For a guy with a flat screen head, he isn't half-bad looking…"

Velvet tensed,"Uh hey, back to the topic please! I ain't here to listen to you gush about how attractive Vox is! Just answer the question before I call your boss and tell him how unhelpful you're being!"

"Woah there, no need to be so hasty," She replied,"I'll answer your questions as long as you don't call my boss. You see, about your friend...His plane never landed.."

"What?" Velvet asked, tone now becoming more urgent,"What do you mean his plane never landed? Did it crash!?"

"We don't know," The succubus replied.

"How do you not know!?" Velvet hissed,"You know his plane didn't land but you don't know if it crashed or not!? What type of fool do you take me for!? Tell the fucking turth!"

"I am telling the truth. Vox's plane never landed. At some point during the flight, the weather got bad and we lost communication with them, but we did call the other airline and they clarified that Vox's plane never came down. I don't know what to tell you, but Vox likely got in a plane crash and even if he did survive, I doubt anyone else did. The weather was very bad in that area and it's always a risk flying over there, but it must've gotten really bad if we lost contact with them permanently."

"Did you try searching for them!?"

"We sent out an airplane when the weather cleared to see if there was any sign of life. When we got there, we did find the body of a flight attendant that was heavily mangled but no sign of the plane of your friend. We tried to find them but nothing came of it. I don't know what to tell you, but as far as we're concerned, they're gone."

"Do you think they survived?"

"Maybe Vox did, I heard he's a sinner so he should've survived. Though I doubt anyone else did, they're not as durable as he is. Even if they did, given there's no sign of life, there isn't much that can be done with this situation. We can't exactly search for someone when they vanished without a trace."

Velvet sighed,"Well, thanks for telling me. See ya." Velvet hung up before throwing her phone at the ground in frustration,"UGH! I can't believe this! They're gone without a trace! Now what do we do!?"

Alastor narrowed his eyes,"I don't think we can do anything other than tell the others what became of them…"

"We can't do that!" Velvet hissed,"Vol's barely functioning! If we tell him something like this, he'll break down again! I just got him to eat on his own, I can't reset my progress by telling him this!"

"Don't you think lying to Volastor would be cruel?"

"I know but you gotta understand! He isn't ready for this! We can't tell him what really happened!"

"So what should we do from here?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can tell a half-truth. Say that Vox ran away with Vark and that he doesn't plan on coming back. Until Vol's stable enough to handle the truth, it's best we hide what happened until he's ready…"

Alastor made a face. He wasn't a fan of lying to Vol but considering Vol's current mental state, it probably wasn't a good idea to tell him the truth. Especially since Velvet actually made progress with him over the passing days while Vox was out.

Velvet would be resetting her progress if they told him the truth of what really happened. That, and Vol was still very dangerous when in a moment of high emotion, the last thing they needed was Vol lashing out at everyone in a fit of anger that his pet died.

"I can't say I fully agree with this, but it may just be our best option until Volastor is stable enough to handle it. I don't know him well, but my other self did seem aware of how...unstable he would become. If Vol becomes worse, he'll be a danger to everyone around him."

"Agreed. So are you coming with me?"

"I don't see why not…"

Alastor and Velvet left the room, Velvet sighing as they went inside the lobby. All the residents in the hotel(except Baxter and Husk) were present. Charlie and Vaggie were talking, Angel was drinking and NIffty was cleaning. Sir Pentious seemed to be looking at his hat, examining it for some unknown reason while Cheri was playing with a bomb(ones that were made out of confetti and totally harmless).

And Vol...was just sitting there, stirring a cup of tea boredly.

He still had a stone-cold expression on his face, but it seemed like Velvet had truly made progress with him as he was actually eating and not staring out into space like a total zombie. It wasn't exactly a large improvement, but it was the best Velvet could ask for given his current mind-set.

The doll demon cleared her throat,"Hey guys…"

Everyone slowly looked up, Charlie being the first to ask,"What is it, Velvet? Is something wrong? You seem tense…"

"It's about Vox…"

"What about him?" Vaggie asked, not bothering to look up at Velvet to make eye-contact.

"He's gone," Alastor said.

Everyone gave them looks, brows rising in confusion with the exception of Angel Dust, who merely sat back in his seat with a surprised expression.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Charlie inquired,"How can he just be gone? People don't vanish out of thin air…"

"Vox packed his bags, took Vark and left," Velvet clarified,"I suspect he's been gone for days. We don't know where he went but I assume he got on a plane, took a flight to the farthest place he could go in the sector and fucked off. I tried to get in contact with him but he won't respond. When me and Al went to see why he was so quiet, all we found was a messy room with missing items. He probably packed everything he could carry and left before anyone could notice…"

"That sounds about right," Angel admitted,"He even took a taxi on the way out as well."

"How do you know?" Vaggie asked,"Did you see him leave or something?"

"Well yeah-"

"Angel! You're not supposed to stay up past the curfew!" She hissed, her hair raising at the spider demon.

Angel rolled his eyes,"Yadda yadda, big deal. I'm a grown man, Vag. I don't need no babysitter and having a curfew is so stupid when we're all adults. But as I was saying, I saw Vox leave. He had everything packed up in a backpack and Vark. I asked why he was leaving and he said he got tired of people giving him death glares and shit."

"Maybe if he wasn't a dick he wouldn't have people giving him glares," Cherri muttered.

"Regardless, I tried to convince him not to leave but he didn't listen, claiming he already fucked up and that this hotel was better off without him. I wished him the best of luck cuz it wasn't like I could do anything else and let him go. Then that taxi pulled up to the side of the road and he hopped in before it sped off into the night. I don't know where Vox was planning on going, but we both knew he wasn't coming back…"

"So that's it? He just ran away? I thought he was made of tougher stuff than that," Niffty admitted,"Can't even handle harsh looks and yet he expected us to put up with his attitude…"

"Niffty!" Charlie shouted,"There's no need to be so rude! You shouldn't talk about someone when they aren't even here to defend themselves!"

"Charlie, no offense," Sir Pentious said,"But I'm being honest here, Vox was a massive jerk while he was here and made things very tense. In the very least now that he's not here, we can all take a mutual sigh of relief…"

"Thank god he's gone," Cherri mumbled,"I was getting tired of that TV fucker. He's so annoying and the 'know-it-all' attitude gets old real quick. Nobody wants to hear that shit…"

This feeling was mutual, as even Vaggie seemed relieved that Vox had left and seemed relatively happy that Vox was gone. Only Velvet, Charlie, Angel and Alastor seemed to not see this as a good thing while Vol..was apathetic?

His expression didn't move while this was happening so it was hard to tell what exactly he was thinking.

"Hey hey hey!" Charlie shouted, trying to calm everyone down,"I get Vox was kind of a dick-"

"Massive understatement, hun."

"I know! But, that doesn't mean we have to act like we just got out of a deadly plague! This isn't the time to celebrate! Especially since something bad could have happened to him."

"And why should we care?" Vol asked flatly, giving Charlie an incredulous look,"It's not our problem that Vox hurts himself. He made the choice to flee from the consequences of his actions, it's only fair he lives with them."

"Volastor! How can you be so-"

Volastor cut her off, not giving the princess a chance to speak,"Heartless? Cruel? Unfeeling?"

"I never said that!"

Volastor rolled his eyes, a cold smile appearing on his face as he sipped his tea,"You didn't need to. I already had a feeling about what you were going to say. Believe me, Charlie, I know what I am. I'm well aware of the fact I'm a cruel abomination that shouldn't exist. And I know I sound cruel, but I truly don't care. Vox has spent his time belittling me, calling me an abomination ever since he got here. While he wasn't wrong, I would have appreciated it if he stopped rubbing it in. I'm well aware of how much of a monster I am and having someone remind me of it didn't someone who looks like him…" He sounded so distant yet there was a trace of hurt in his tone, as if the last part had got to him badly.

"Vol, Vox was wrong. You aren't a monster, you're just... Velvet said, trying to find the right word and stumbled,"Yourself."

Vol gave her a look,"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean? That doesn't really say anything about me…"

"I know. But I know you're not a monster, you're just me...a super powered fusion deer person who's coping with a loss in a totally understandable yet very unhealthy manner! But don't worry, we're gonna get through this together and get rid of the self-loathing in your heart, you just gotta let us!" Velvet began hugging him, the fusion stiffening up at this contact,"Come on, Vol! You gotta let us help you if you wanna get better!"

Vol scoffed cynically before gently pushing her off of him,"Velvet, I understand you want to help, but please refrain from sounding so excited. The pain is still there and I'm not in the mood for people's forced enthusiasm.."

"Vol, come on. I know Vox fucked up, but Al is still trying to help! He's not the one you know but you gotta at least give him a chance! He's still your component at the end of the day and you've been missing out because you always ignore him!"

Vol rolled his eyes,"I'll...consider it…" Still, Vol avoided making eye-contact with Alastor and when the Radio Demon attempted to reach out, he was sent a pained scowl as he forced him away. "Gngh!"

"Alastor blanked,Are you alright?"

He almost appeared panicked when he got touched, his eyes glowing to ward off any attempts of comfort from the weaker demon,"Don't lay your hands on me, Alastor! Don't act as if you know me! You're FAR too close for my comfort! If you know your place, you better stay back. I won't tolerate any touching from the likes of you!"

Alastor retracted his arm,'Guess we're doing baby-steps…At least he's communicating with me. That's something…He always ignored me up until now...'

It sounded pathetic, but considering Vol had ignored everyone up until now, him tolerating Alastor was a sign of improvement, albeit, not much.

Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of Baxter opening the door and asking,"Hey guys, I have some news to share…"

Everyone became tense for a moment, holding their breaths as the silence pervaded.

Niffty slowly inquiring,"What happened? Did Husk make it?"

"I...I managed to save him, though it came at a cost. He's not exactly the way you remember him looking…"

"Baxter, it can't be that bad," Charlie said gently,"Come on, we promise we won't judge…"

The angler sighed,"Alright then, Husk. Come on out and show everyone what you look like…"

Moments later, the sound of metal hitting the floor became closer, Baxter stepping aside and allowing Husk to reveal himself.

Everyone stood back when they locked eyes with the sight before them. The limbs that Husk had to have amputated were replaced with futuristic appendages in order to replicate their original function. The eye that was gouged out was replaced with a robotic one that was bright red in color. His cybernetic wing was made out of silver and was razor sharp in comparison to his still remaining one. His other foot was in similar condition and in the center of his chest was a ruby gem-like crystal with a silver outline. His eyebrows had clearly been plucked to be rounder and softer while his fur gave off a smoother vibe, as if Baxter had cleaned him up before-hand.

Alastor slowly approached,"H-Husker? Is that you? You look so...different…."

Husk cocked his head to the side, examining him closely. His gaze didn't move but he suddenly held out his artificial arm and revealed his retractable metal claws that were clearly weapons judging by their large size,"Stay the fuck back, imposter…"

Everyone blanked, nobody had anticipated this reaction from Husk.

"W-Why?"

"You're not my Alastor…"

Everyone stared at Husk in disbelief. Nobody anticipated he could tel the difference(they looked the exact fucking same for god's sake) so everyone was bewildered when he said this line in a robotic tone, as if his voice-box had been altered modified to be more artificial.

"How can you tell?"

"I just can…" Husk mentioned,"I can see it in your eyes. And even if I couldn't tell by looking at you, my programming is able to differentiate who is who…" He motioned to his eye,"This baby can tell the difference. You may think you're slick, but I know better so don't even fucking think of hugging me…"

"So...do you know?"

"What happened? Of course I fucking do," Husk retorted flatly, claws still extended,"Baxter told me EVERYTHING after the surgeries were completed. And you know what? I'm a bit FUCKING pissed! That fucker killed himself and I don't even get the chance to see him go! He fucking died thinking I never got the chance to say goodbye! Why the fuck did you let just LET him do that!?"

"Husk, Alastor made his voice," Charlie said,"He and Vox knew what they were getting into when they sacrificed themselves for Vol. They loved him so much and were willing to sacrifice themselves for him. They died on their own terms and it was their choice…"

Husk scoffed,"Easy for you to say! At least you saw him go, I was dying in that damn forest! Alastor died believing I died as well and I didn't even get the chance to say anything to him! And now look at me! I'm a fucking cyborg! I'm going to be like THIS for the rest of my afterlife! I already had enough shit to deal with in my normal form, but this is just crossing the line! I'm starting to wish I fucking bled out in that forest, because at least then I wouldn't be dealing with this artificial shit…"

Husk then looked down at himself. He was going to be a cyborg cat for the rest of his life. He was already insecure but now, that multiplied by a thousand. He'd never look 'normal' again and it was all thanks to that spider fucker…

The next thing he knew, Alastor was hugging him out of nowhere. Normally he'd shove him off, especially since this wasn't the one he knew but...he was too emotionally drained to push him away.

"Husker...I know you don't really know me, but as...strange as your new form is, it's preferable to you being dead. This was the only way you could be saved and while it'll take some time to get used to, I'm certain you'll be able to do so…My other self would've been so happy to see you. It's unfortunate he can't, but I know if he was here, he'd be overjoyed to have you back, even if you were...more artificial than he last remembered."

Husk didn't respond, merely having wide eyes as he was being couldn't remember the last time anyone was this close to him and it felt oddly comforting. He clenched his jaw as a lone tear fell from his real eye….

Thanks for 7,205 views! Tell me what you think of this chapter below and be free to ask questions! Also yeah, we're back to our scheduled program with the others now!

Mitsuru6: That'll take a bit of time. Still gotta catch up on the stuff with Vol since he's been in the back seat up until this chapter. Thanks, I'm not usually this dedicated but I came too far to stop now.

Enigmus-288: Because I wanted to ensure we got everything with Vox(so far) out of the way so we cold focus on Vol without anyone asking, 'What about Vox? What's he doing'. It's way more consistent and I'd rather not have chapters bouncing all over the place all the time in terms of setting.

Guest: Lol. Velvet would never let Val kill Vark. As long as someone is watching Vark, Val wouldn't be able to get away with killing him. Not to mention, I feel like Vox would beat Val's ass if he did kill Vark. I'm sticking with just one fusion for this story(seriously one is enough lol).