(Meanwhile, while the events of the last chapter occurred)
Vox groaned as he managed through another stack of paperwork. It was ridiculous how much had not gotten done over the past six months and he was starting to wish there was some type of escape from this never-ending cycle.
Everyday was either Vox sorting through emails, picking up phone calls from business partners, doing paperwork or a combination of all three at the same time depending on the day.
By now, Vox was wondering if there was an end to the work. No matter how much he did, it felt like he wasn't making any progress. To think he'd been doing this for months wasn't a soothing thought.
Suddenly, Vox felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He picked it up and noticed that Velvet was texting him.
'Hm? What does she want with me this time?' He tapped her number in order
Vel: Hey Vox, you remember what today is?
Vox paused for a moment. He tried to remember what today was but his mind was blank. He couldn't remember anything special.
Vox: No. Why?
Vel: Vox! Today is your welcome back party! How could you forget!?
Vox: Shit. That's today? I honestly couldn't remember...Since when was that a thing?
Vel: You said that you were available today not too long ago! Is your memory fuzzy or what? I thought you remembered stuff better!
Vox: Sorry, I honestly forgot. I was too busy with the paperwork to really remember any promises I made…
Vel:You're still coming right?
Vox: Vel, I'm really busy and-
Vel: You promised! You can't just wuss out on us! You know Val will be mad if you don't come! Believe me, you don't wanna see him when he's mad…
Vox:I know. Look, if I go, will you two leave me alone?
Vel:Yeah!
Vox: So where's the party again?
Vel: Downtown at Pride. It's one of Val's new clubs! He's really proud of this one! You gotta be there to see it! The party is gonna start in an hour so don't be late!
Vox: Fine…
Vox frowned as he ended communication with Velvet,'Dammit. More shit. How am I ever going to get the time to fix my problems if Val and Vel keep trying to drag me to events? It's like they're trying to pull me down with them. I can barely get my work done and these two keep barging into my life with no regard for anything. Something has to have to give, if I don't find a way out of this situation I'll be stuck in this timeline forever doing the same shit over and over again.'
At this rate, Vox would never be able to get back to the other timeline. Something had to change if he was ever going to make things right again.
Not only was he being swarmed with paperwork, but it seemed like Val and Velvet were intent on dragging him to their level. Meaning, the only way for anything to change in a meaningful way, was if he were to separate himself from them completely….
'Maybe if I break myself off from the other V's, I'll be able to progress…' The idea shocked him to his core, as the notion of straight up leaving the triumvirate had never occurred to him up until this point. Granted, he never felt the need to leave, as being part of the trio granted him additional protection and advantages just from being associated with them.
But now, it was becoming obvious that Val and Velvet were holding him back. They were hindering his progress and acting like shackles around his wrists, constantly weighing him down at every opportunity.
With that said, he knew just what he had to do. He had a plan in mind that would benefit him greatly if he did everything right...
But first, he'd have to take a few safety measures. He went into his contacts, calling an associate he was close to.
After a few rings, the person answered,"Hey Vox, what's up? I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Oh you know, I got lost a while back. Nothing major. Look, I get you want to catch up, but I really need you to do me a favor..."
"What type of favor, Vox?"
"I need you to take care of my sharks for me."
"Your sharks? I thought you only had one."
"I...found another one," Vox mumbled,"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I really need you to watch over my pets for me. It's super important."
"Is something wrong, Vox? You never usually let anyone watch over your pets. Are you sure you can't just let Velvet take care of them? I heard she's been doing that while you were away…"
"No. It's not like I doubt her capability or anything, but it's a safety issue. I can't risk them staying at the Studio anymore."
"Why? Are you in danger or something?"
Vox tensed,"Not now, but I may become in danger if anything gets out. I can't tell you what I'm doing, but I need you to watch over them until I can figure this situation out. It's really important. Can you do that for me?"
"I...I can. Do you want me to pick them up or something? I'm not too far from the Studio. Bring them outside and I'll pick them up…"
"Sounds fine to me…"
Once Vox hung up, he grabbed both Varks and motioned for them to follow him outside. Once they got out of the Studio, they waited outside the entrance as a car pulled up. A humanoid demon with medium hair came out of the car and waved,"Alright Vox, I got the car. I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but I have the feeling you're gonna regret it…"
"I know," Vox retorted,"What I do from now is isn't your business. I know how to take care of myself."
"Your choice. Just get your sharks inside."
Vox then said,"OK you two, get inside…"
The two sharks didn't move, frozen like statues.
"Varks...get in the car…"
Once again, no movement. Vox groaned before saying,"Listen you two, I'm on a time limit and I don't need you playing around. Now is not the time. I get you don't want me to leave, but I can't risk you two staying at the Studio. Not with what I'm about to do. Trust me, you'll be much safer with him than you will be with me. I can't promise to protect you so I need someone else to do the job for me. I swear, I'll come back for you two, I promise…" Vox wasn't too certain about the last part, but he was trying to remain optimistic.
The two sharks refused to budge.
The TV Demon sighed,'Looks like I have no other choice…' Vox pulled out a bag of shark treats and tossed it into the car,"Go fetch!"
The shark's eyes became fixated on the treats as they quickly rushed inside to go grab them. The moment they got in the car, Vox took this opportunity to slam the car door shut and shouted,"Floor it!"
His associate didn't need to be told twice and drove the car off in the opposite direction. The Varks watched in horror from the backseat as they saw Vox getting smaller and smaller in the distance with a sombre smile on his face.
The last thing he could hear from him was,"Take care of them for me…"
The Vark from the other timeline began to whine and whimper, tears welling up in his eyes. It was like history was repeating itself all over again. The promise, the way he'd smile before turning his back on him and never be seen again, was all the same…
He could still remember the day when his Vox told him he'd be leaving and that he may not come back. He held onto hope he'd return…
But when the other Vox came back, he knew that it wasn't him. He may have looked like him, but Vark knew better. He still held onto hope until the end, when the news of what happened to his Vox truly set it….
He was hoping that the other Vox would take care of him like he said he would, but now he had given them away out of the blue.
As he cried, the original Vark had a confused look on his face before comforting his counterpart…
Vox latched onto the coordinates to the party with the GPS installed inside his head, making his way there on foot. Normally he'd take a car, but he saw no reason to give what he was going to be doing tonight…
It wasn't too far away either and when he got to the front entrance, he saw a hellhound bouncer at the front who appeared to be telling a few other demons to fuck off when they attempted to enter what was clearly a private club.
When Vox made his presence known, the hellhound said,"About time you showed up, TV. You're friends have been waiting for you." He then undid the red rope at the entrance, allowing Vox to step inside.
Vox nodded before going in, seeing the party being vice paradise inside. People were drinking, doing drugs, dancing and doing a mix of all three at the same time in certain instances. The music was so loud that he could barely hear anything else. Bright lights the area and shone through about every crevice.
It was fairly crowded in the club despite it being VIP, forcing Vox to push people out of the way, several of whom were drunk in order to avoid being crushed, muttering 'excuse me' or 'watch it' and ignoring people insulting him as he did so.
"OVER HERE, VOXY!"
'Aw shit…' Vox tensed, now remembering why he had attended this damn party to begin with. He saw Val and Velvet were motioning him over at a table in the distance and headed over."Hey you two, guess who finally arrived?"
Velvet seemed overjoyed,"You finally made it to the party, Vox! Glad you could make it! I was worried you'd never show up!"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You were like twenty minutes late," Val replied flatly,"You were supposed to be here earlier. What the hell took you so long?"
Vox fumbled for an excuse, stammering momentarily,"I-I got lost."
"Again?" Val asked, the moth demon sending the TV a piercing glare,"Fucking hell, Vox. How incompetnet are you that you can't manage to find a club? Don't you have a GPS in your head? How can you get lost!?"
"My mind just dozed off," Vox retorted,"Look, it doesn't matter anyway. Aren't we supposed to be celebrating my return? Insulting me sure as doesn't sound like a way to start off a party…"
Val seemed ready to retort but Velvet said,"He's right, Val. We should be celebrating, not insulting each other! Come on you two, why don't we celebrate by having a toast!?"
Val seemed to calm down at this suggestion, helping himself to the drinks at the table. When they grabbed their drinks, they gave Vox a look when he didn't grab one and after some odd stares, Vox followed after, knocking their glasses together in celebration.
In order to remain inconspicuous, Vox pretended to drink the alcohol provided in order to keep his mental faculties.
As the party went on, Velvet had become drunk to the point she could barely function. Velvet clearly didn't have a high alcohol tolerance and began doing crazy shit, like dancing, saying gbiberish and even trying to do a strip tease in front of them
Thankfully, Vox managed to prevent this from happening and after plucking her off the table, Velvet literally slammed her head against the table and fell unconscious.
Vox tensed, poking her for extra measure."Yup. She's out like a light…"
When he looked at Val, he noticed he was still drinking, noticeably drunk but still seemed sober enough to function.
"You there, Val?"
He hiccuped,"Yeah Vox, still here...Just a little drunk…" He replied, his voice slurring heavily,"You know Vox, I noticed you've been rather quiet ever since this party started. You've been acting out of character for a while…"
Vox shook his head,"I'm fine, Val…" Vox scowled when he noticed Val's hand on his thigh,"Val,what the fuck are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing baby? I'm just touching your thigh. Nothing major…"
Vox's eye twitched when he noticed the way Val was looking at him. The lust clouding up in his eyes was enough to send a shiver down his spine. He needed to get out of there pronto…
But...there was still something he needed from Val before he left. And he needed to get close to him before he did so…
So he grabbed another drink, one he knew Val liked in particular and asked with a smile,"Want another one, Val? It's your favorite…"
"Don't see why not…"
Val drank another bottle, now becoming more intoxicated. He threw the glass out, not caring when the bottle hit a random imp demon in the head. He then motioned for Vox to come forward,"Come here, baby...You look so tired, why don't you come and sit on my lap? It's been a while since we got to spend time together…"
Val suddenly grabbed Vox and pulled him towards him. Vox did his best to remain calm, even ignoring Val's blatant intoxication.
The moth was prepared to lean in and kiss Vox, however before he could do so, Vox ended up using his powers to cause a blackout in the club. People began to panic as everything stopped working, screams of terror becoming audible.
Val narrowed his eyes,"H-Huh? What's going on, Vox? Why is everything so dark...Where are you? I-I can't see ya, baby…"
Vox remained silent before grabbing a bottle of beer,"You can't?"
"No."
"Good. That means that will hurt you more than it hurts me then…" He whispered, mainly to himself.
Just then, Vox then hit Val with the bottle before anything could come of it, knocking him out and leaving blood pouring out of his head. The moth's head slammed against the table, now bleeding out from the wound as glass punctured his skin.
Vox tossed the broken bottle aside,"That should take care of him. Now to get what I came for…"
Vox then rummaged through Val's coat. Outside of Val's personal belongings, there was something of Val's that Vox was looking for in particular. Something that he knew he would need before fleeing the scene.
The TV Demon finally latched onto what he came here for,'Gotcha!' Vox quickly got a hold of the piece of parchment. His screen lit up enough to reveal that it was Angel Dust's Soul Contract.
'Perfect..This should be useful. Now to flee the scene before anyone notices. The chaos should buy me time for a clean getaway and by the time Val and Vel come around, I'll be long gone…'
Vox took this opportunity to run out the back, running as fast as his legs could carry him into the night. He knew the Hazbin Hotel was a long way from where the club was, but he figured he'd get there when he got there.
"And that's why I went to this hotel in the first place," Vox replied.
Charlie and Vaggie stared at him in disbelief, Vaggie being the first to say,"You've got to be making this up. There's no way any of this shit happened."
Vox smirked,"If you want proof this happened, say it to this contract," Vox pulled out Angel's contract.
Charlie grabbed the paper and examined it,"It's real…"
"How can you tell?"
"I've seen Angel's handwriting enough to know when he signs something. This contract does belong to him..."
"Even if that's the case, what the hell are we supposed to go with this?"
"Break it of course," Vox replied,"Though we're going to need Angel's consent in order for that to happen…"
"I'll go get him," Vaggie said, still skeptical of Vox's intentions,"Remember to tell if he does anything, hon."
"I know, Vaggie."
Vox scoffed,"Paranoid much?"
"Shut up!" She hissed before running off to go fetch Angel. Moments later, Vaggie came back with a tired Angel Dust who was being dragged against his will towards the lounge.
"Hey hey! Cool your tits, Vag! My arms ain't elastic!" Angel huffed, sounding fairly annoyed he had been forced out of bed,"Seriously, what the fuck is the big idea getting me up in the middle of the night? I need my beauty sleep you know…" Angel then blanked when he saw Vox in the lobby, becoming tense,"V-Vox...What are you doing here?"
"Relax, Angel Dust," Vox said,"I'm not here to drag you back to Val if that's what you're thinking. Not only would that go against my interest but I am not his lackey. I am not his minion that he can command and I most certainly wouldn't be here calmly talking to you if I were here for that, now would I?"
"Then what are you here for? Cuz if its for sex, you better be paying me fucking extra for getting me up this early…" Angel mumbled, still giving Vox a stressful look from afar.
"Not interested," He replied,"You see, Angel. I came here for other reasons but since I had the feeling these two would be weary of me, I figured to grab your contract before I came here."
"Why? You want to buy it or something? You should've asked Val…"
"I don't want to buy your contract, Angel. I want to break it…"
"Wait what?"
"You heard me. I want to break the contract…"
The spider demon stared at him in disbelief before asking,"Alright, what's the catch? I want to know what the catch is before I accept this deal of your's. I'm already in a bad spot as it is, I don't need to go any deeper…"
"Nothing really."
"Do you seriously expect me to believe that, Vox? I ain't fucking stupid, just say the catch cuz I ain't here for your bullshit."
"I mean what I said," Vox clarified coldly,"Unlike Bambi, I don't do these stupid deals where everything is questionable and uneasy. When I make a deal, we both know what's going on and it's set in stone. No additional bullshit."
"Why are you even doing this? You've been gone for six months and when you come back you just magically decide to free my binding to Val? What the hell went on in those six months that made you think of doing this?"
"A lot," Vox said,"But before I get into any of that, I need to know if you're okay with me breaking this contract. I need your consent in order to nullify Val's bind to you."
Angel fell silent. He didn't trust Vox but honestly, what else did he have left to lose? All the shit Val had done to him over the years was miles worse than whatever Vox could do. He was already down on his luck and Vox was offering him a way out with no additional strings attached. He'd be a fool not to fucking take it.
"You got yourself a deal, buster."
"Perfect...Now let's get rid of this pesky piece of paper now, shall we?" With his powers to undo Val's contract, the magic binding Angel to Val was fairly strong and took a good portion of his energy. Eventually, the deed was done as the paper became turned into ash, leaving nothing behind.
Angel felt a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. He then looked down at his chest and noticed the heart shaped tattoo on his chest had vanished,"H-Holy shit! I'm free! I'm a free man,baby! YAHOO!"
Vaggie and Charlie stood back in awe. Angel never looked so happy before, it was like he was an entirely different person.
"Thank ya so much, Vox! I swear, I could just kiss you!"
"Please don't," Vox said.
"Aw...you sure?"
"Yes."
"So…" Charlie mumbled,"What do you want us to do for you, Vox?"
"Hm?"
"You freed Angel's contract and you did say you needed help. I figured that you freeing Angel was to show you weren't a threat. I don't fully trust you but I'm not gonna ignore what you did back there. What do you want us to help you with, Vox?"
"I need your help to travel through time…"
Everyone started at him like he had grown a second head. Maybe starting out with that sentence was a bad decision…
The Princess then asked,"You want us to help you do what now?"
"Travel through time…" Vox replied,"Yeah, I know its fucking crazy but-"
"You better fucking explain yourself," Vaggie growled,"This shit is just getting crazier and crazier by the second…"
"Believe me, the time travel part will end up being the least craziest part you hear when I'm through with you three…"
To say the least, they all know it was going to be a LONG NIGHT.
Thanks for 7,579 views! Tell me what you think and feel free to ask questions if you have any cuz we're back on our scheduled program.
Mitsuru6: Yeah, everyone thought Vol was gonna get laid and then Alastor went like,'SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD IS GONNA ROLL ME' and ruined it at the last second. Like legit, Vol was gonna get the p until Alastor came in and killed the mood. Yeah, everyone wants Vol and Al to hug lol. I can tell. We'll get to that part sooner or later. Also this chapter explains what happened, so this is technically what you 'missed'.
Enigmus-288: Ha lol. I found writing that chapter adorable and honest to god, I felt depressed reading over the other chapters so some light-heartedness was needed to get everyone up and running again.