With Arackniss's arrival, the news of what Val had done spread like wild-fire. The sense of dread in the air was enough to suffocate a person to double-hell.
By now, it became clear that it was only a matter of time before Val struck again and despite Charlie's best efforts to ease the tension in the air, nobody seemed to take her word for it….
'I'm trying to lower everyone's fears but it's like nothing is working. Nobody listens to me. Even Vaggie seems skeptical. Do they think I can't do a good job? What am I doing wrong?'
These questions plagued her sleep and kept her awake for hours. As a result, she snuck out of bed to try and clear her head.
She decided to go get some fresh air and went to the balcony of the hotel, surveying her Kingdom from a distance.
From the view, she could see all of the buildings from Pride for miles. Normally, she'd find the view beautiful but she felt solemn at the sight. Around her was a world filled to the brim of vice and sin, about every fetish catered to in this hell-hole she called home.
The smell of blood was always present in the air and despite her being born there, she had never gotten used to it. It was foul and made her nose scrunch up just from inhaling it. Tonight, it was uncharacteristically quiet, almost peaceful.
But Charlie knew better, quiet in Hell was never usually the calm quiet but the 'quiet before the storm' king. When you knew something bad was going to happen but you weren't certain of when it would.
All you knew was that it was going to happen soon and when you least expected it and that was what always frightened her. You knew it was coming and that it was going to get bad, but you didn't know how it was going to happen and just what would unfold in that time period.
As Charlie gazed out at the skies, she felt tears well up in her eyes. In another six months, the extermination was going to take place and she didn't think they even progressed enough for anyone to be redeemed. Angel was still relying on drugs and while he had cut back, it wasn't enough for her to believe he'd be accepted and his attitude hadn't changed much. This hotel was starting to look like a failure and she feared that not only was Hell right about her, but her Father was as well…
'You're such a failure, Charlotte. Believing in rainbows and cupcakes, I thought I raised you better. Come back to me when you grow up and get out of this childish fantasy. Redemption is impossible and you're naive if you believe that any demon, let alone a sinner can accomplish such a feat," She could hear his words echo in her ears like drums beating at a symphony, her heart breaking with every word he had said.
Even though it had been months since he said that, it felt like he had said it yesterday. Whenever she felt insecure over her dream, her father's voice would echo in her ears to make it worse and spread doubt. Her optimism usually fought back against this, but today, it hit deeper than it had previously.
She quietly wept at the balcony, tears rolling down her face,"Dammit...Dad was right about me…I'm just a failure, an embarrassment to the throne..I don't even get why I'm trying anymore…."
As she was crying, someone's hand appeared on her shoulder. She sniffled, tensing up as she realized she had been caught crying out in the open. She assumed it was her girlfriend and asked,,"Huh Vaggie, is that you?"
"Not quite…" An auto-tuned voice answered, TV static becoming present.
Charlie slowly turned around and saw Vox standing behind her with an awkward expression on his face.
"O-Oh...hey Vox...didn't see you there...Sorry, for mistaking you for Vaggie…" She replied sheepishly, trying to ignore the fact tears were streaming down her face as she spoke.
"None taken," Vox said,"it's really not that big of a deal honestly…"
"G-Good," She replied before trying to regain her composure by wiping the tears from her face,clearing her throat,"Anyhow, mind explaining what you're doing out here? It's a bit late to still be up, don't you think?"
"Same reason you're still out. I couldn't fucking sleep and walked around the hotel to pass the time only to see you here crying your eyes out," Vox huffed, arms folded over his chest,"I mean, isn't that the reason you're awake?"
"Well actually...yeah…" She admitted, rubbing the back of her head,"I couldn't sleep…"
"Why?"
"Oh it's nothing really. I just...got caught up in memories and everything around me that's happening isn't helping…"
"What is happening again?" Vox asked, raising an eyebrow in the princess's direction.
"You know? Valentino is cracking down on everything and targeting people. My dream for self betterment feels like a hopeless pipe-dream that will never be achieved and everything is piling up. I just...needed somewhere to vent and I didn't want anyone seeing me like this. I'm sorry you had to see me like this, Vox…"
"It's fine," He said,"Believe me, I didn't expect anyone else to be awake at this time and I was going to walk away until I saw you crying. I was just hoping that maybe...I could help?"
The words were still rather foreign and Vox sounded rather awkward lacing his sentences together. Comforting people was clearly not Vox's expertise and he sounded pretty uncomfortable while trying to reach out to her.
"How exactly?"
"I don't know.." Vox mumbled, averting his gaze,"Maybe we could...try talking about it? Like more in depth if you get what I'm saying…"
"Oh..I see. I'm not really all that comfortable with talking about my feelings and-"
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Princess. I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want…"
"Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I may not wanna talk about it but I really do think I could use someone to vent my feelings out to. Vaggie's sweet and all but I don't think she really understands it…"
"And you think I will?"
"Well...I don't really know. But a different person means a different experience so I'm at least gonna give it a try…"
"Want to start from the top?"
"Yeah," Charlie sighed, looking out to her kingdom,"It's just that as you know, I was born here in Hell. Been around for a lot longer than people give me credit for and despite my age, everyone sees me as this naive little kid with a golden spoon in her mouth. To some extent, I Can't really blame them, I'm the princess of the entire realm and instead of acting like the spawn of pure evil I'm more like a girl with her head in the clouds. But being looked down upon does get old, I'm older than a good portion of demons and yet I'm still seen as a naive child. At best, I'm recognized as Lucifer's daughter and no matter what I do, I can never shrug off his shadow."
"Is that why you started this hotel? To get out of his shadow?"
"To an extent," She said,"I like not being in my father's shadow, but the idea of the Hotel mainly stemmed from seeing the yearly slaughter of demons. I've had to watch from the tower for decades from above while those unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire were impaled by Angels. Something snapped in me and thought, 'Hey why send people to heaven instead of erasing them' to solve the population problem? I thought that reactions would improve after I was met with rejection from other demons...as you could imagine, that didn't quite work out…"
She said this in reference to the infamous interview at Channel 666, to which her idea got laughed at by virtually every demon who had watched the program live.
Vox remembered watching the program and laughing at it along with Velvet and Val, back before any of this fusion and timeline hopping nonsense occurred.
Now that he looked back on it, he couldn't help but feel guilt well up inside for laughing. It wasn't like he believed in her cause or anything but he didn't feel right anymore chuckling along with every other demon at her failure.
"Is something wrong, Vox? You've been awfully quiet…" Charlie asked, noticing Vox's lack of reaction to her statement. She mistakenly believed he was mocking her with his silence and said,"You don't have to hide your laughter. I'm used to people making fun of my ideas by now. Pretty much every person I've told about my cause thought I was a delusional idiot. I won't judge you if you do laugh…"
"I wasn't going to laugh, Princess…"
"Then what were you going to do?"
"I...I was going to apologize…"
"For what? You didn't do anything wrong to me…"
"I know, but I still feel wrong for laughing at you all those months ago. I don't know what went wrong, but I can't find it in myself to find this place failing funny anymore. I don't know why I feel this way but it's starting to bug me the longer I focus on it…"
"It's because you've changed, Vox."
"I wouldn't go that far…"
"Vox, there's no need to deny it. You've come a long way from where you started. You're not the same person you were before any of this began, I can tell you that much."
"Charlie, you're exaggerating-"
"No I'm not," She cut him off, refusing to let Vox finish his sentence,"There's no shame in admitting you've changed, Vox. Even if you don't want to say it out loud, the difference is noticeable for all to see. It's really obvious that you've changed and you're not the same person that you fell down here being. Your actions that you took when you got back in this timeline are proof that you've changed more than you'd like to admit and I know that deep down, you're aware of this too, right in your...heart…"
Vox blanked when he felt Charlie's hand on his chest,"What are you-"
She smiled,"I'm touching your heart."
"I know that...I just don't get why you're doing that…"
"Because I know that deep inside that heart of yours is a rainbow just waiting for its chance to shine! It just needs to be encouraged from behind the grey skies that prevent it from coming out!"
The TV Demon stared at Charlie with a raised eyebrow,"Uh...Charlie, I don't know what you're going on about but all I know is that it sounds like crazy nonsense…"
"Don't you get it, Vox? I'm trying to tell you that I believe it's possible for you to be redeemed!"
"What? Me? Charlie, that's a bit out there. No offense, but I don't think I'm the type of person Heaven would want in the pearly gates. Even if Redemption was somehow possible, I doubt I'd be the person that those guys would want."
"You never know, Vox. With everything that has happened, you being chosen wouldn't be out of the question. Out of everyone here, you're the one changed the most and you weren't pressured into making those decisions. Nobody had to tell you wanted to do and you still did it. You freed Angel's Contract, destroyed Val's empire and separated yourself from the other V's despite the risk, knowing you'd be in danger. You can't seriously believe you didn't change, Vox. Not after everything you've done."
"It's not that, I just don't think they'd accept someone like me…"
"Hey, in a world where time travel is somehow possible and where people can fuse together with an ancient gemstone, I don't see how Redemption is impossible! If those things happened, then Redemption is clearly still on the table! Out of all of those things, Redemption sounds like one of the more reasonable occurrences in comparison and yet those things you mentioned in your story still happened, didn't they?"
"Yeah but no one ever thought they could work. Time travel and fusion was deemed impossible and you're about the only demon who genuinely believes this Redemption thing could work with such assurance."
"Am I listening to the guy who prayed to God to save him and got transported in this timeline in the first place? Come on, Vox, Redemption looks plausible when compared to everything that happened so far. Just because no one expects it doesn't mean it can't happen and I believe with enough time, maybe you could ascend too. If you keep going the way you're doing, you should be able to make it."
Vox frowned,"I'm not sure about that princess. Even if it was possible, I'd prefer getting back to the other timeline before I deal with Redemption…"
"Who says we can't deal with those things at once? There's a reason I'm going to head out tomorrow morning to visit my parents with Vaggie! I'm going to talk with them and see if I can get them to agree to help send you back in time! That way you can go to that Volastor person that you've wanted to visit so badly! Maybe once you reunite, you can continue your path towards improvement and ascend! How does that sound?"
"Err...It sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure about how it would work in practice," He scratched his head before giving her a weary smile,"Not too sure about your little Redemption shtick but if things work out, I wouldn't be above considering it. It's the craziest thing I've done…."
Stars glowed in her eyes,"Really?"
"S-Sure...why not? And when this situation with Val passes over, maybe I can try helping you advertise this little Hotel of yours so people pay attention to it. You do seem like you need that type of advertising given how…controversial your project is…"
"OMG! Thank you so much, Vox! I'm so happy! I really did need that type of help and you restored my optimism! My dream doesn't sound impossible with everything going on around me! I just gotta stay determined and everything will work out!" She suddenly hugged Vox tightly, taking the taller demon off-guard.
Vox's screen lit up with a faint red blush,"Don't mention it, Princess…It's not necessary."
"Of course it is! I'm just so happy! You've come so far and I'd really look forward to having you around, Vox! Trust me, everything is gonna be OK!"
Vox nervously smiled,"Yeah, I'm sure it will be...Though don't you think we should be heading to bed? It's awfully late and you probably need all the rest you can muster when you confront your father."
"Hmmm...fair enough! Besides, I don't want Vaggie to notice I'm not in bed so I should get going. Have a good night, Vox! I'll see you around! Once I get my Father to agree to help, we'll be able to make things right again!" Charlie then ran off with a giddy expression, her footsteps becoming quieter as she got further along.
Vox's smile faded away, looking out at the Val's Studio in the distance. The pit in his stomach became deeper the longer he stared at the building before sighing.'She's sweet and caring for this hell-hole. The fact she thinks I could seriously change shows how naive she is...but I guess that isn't a completely bad thing given her kindness saved my ass...'
Still, Vox knew he had do something before Charlie left.
He knew he couldn't stop Charlie from going,(hell she seemed dead-set on going anyway) but given what her leaving would represent, he decided to take a few precautions, holding the phone out and hitting record. He was hoping he wouldn't have to use it, but if worse came to worse...there'd at least be something left of him if it all went down. He then paid the lower level of the hotel a visit before heading to his room to rest, dreading the day ahead of him.
By the early morning, Vaggie and Charlie were getting ready to head out to Lucifer's Mansion to pay her parents a visit. Charlie was certain the trip would be short while Vaggie seemed uncertain. As they were about to head out, Vaggie noticed that her spear was missing. She had placed it behind the umbrella stand as Charlie insisted she didn't carry it to bed anymore since it kept poking her.
Vaggie snarled, "I swear I just put it there! Where could it go off to!?"
"Maybe you misplaced it…" Charlie suggested.
"I didn't! I know I didn't! I placed it right there! I don't know where it could've gone off too! It's like someone stole it in the middle of the night while no one was looking! I don't know who but someone in this hotel is a fucking thief! They couldn't even bother to find their own spear, they just had to go out of their way to steal mine!"
"Vaggie, I get you're upset about your spear, but really need to get going. If it bothers you so much, we'll just buy another one off the black market…"
The moth seemed rather upset,"But I actually liked that spear!"
"I know, but it's still replaceable at the end of the day. Come on, Vaggie, let's just get going…"
"Fine…"
Charlie and Vaggie went outside and indeed the car that Charlie had been given, Razzle and Dazzle driving in the front. Once they entered inside, Charlie told the duo to head to their destination, something they obliged.
The moment their car got out of view, a person that had been hidden inside of a bush pulled out his phone,"Alright Mister, Valentino, the coast is clear. The Princess and her girlfriend have left the area. The Hotel is open for an attack. You and Lady Velvet can bring the rest of the army and we'll surround the area.."
Valentino's voice was heard on the other end,"We'll be right there…"
Back at the Studio, Valentino had already got in the limo. He had long since prepared for this opportunity and was waiting on Velvet,"Hurry it up, babydoll! My spies said that the coast is clear! Get your ass in the car so we can go!"
"Coming Val…" Velvet rushed over and hopped inside the limo,"I'm here!"
"Perfect," Val snickered,"Now, do you remember the plan?"
"To destroy the hotel?"
"And?" Val asked, grabbing her chin tightly,"I know that's not all I told you, Velvet. There was another important detail that is essential for this mission. Do you remember what that is?"
Velvet bit her lip, swallowing her saliva,"That if I see Vox, I should view him as an enemy combatant and not as a friend and that I should kill him on sight if possible."
"Good girl, and do you know what else?"
"Show no mercy. Only let the spiders live so you can take them back to the Studio."
"Perfect," Val smirked,"Glad to see that memory of yours is working, Velvet. Remember those orders, they're going to be crucial in order for this to work. Now that Lucifer's spawn isn't there to guard her little hotel, we're free to attack the premises and kill those in our way. Once everything goes perfectly, I'll have two spiders and a dead traitor whose head I can hang up on for a while once this is down. Personally, I think having Vox's head hung up on a fireplace would be a good deterrent for people to not mess with me. That'll teach them that I don't mess around with people who fuck with my empire, right Vel?"
"Y-Yeah, Val…" She nodded, gaze now directed out the window.
Valentino chuckled and patted her on the head,"Glad to see you agree, baby. Now let's get going, we should confront those losers soon before they get any ideas."
Valentino then ordered the driver to haul ass to the Happy Hotel, several of his men's cars following after them. The moth's grin grew wider as he could tell they were getting closer to their destination, eyeing the holy gun in his coat pocket with malicious intent.
'Soon...Vox...soon…'
Thanks for 8,088 views! Tell me what you think and ask questions down below!
Mitsuru6: Yeah, I felt like Henroin played his part. He may have only had two chaps of screen time but he still played his part. Shitty parent but he did one thing right by saving his older kid's ass. He did the best thing he could've done in that situation and will be remembered in the story for it.
Enigmus-288: Remember the past chapters with the old Vox, where he was submissive with Val whenever Val threatened him? Vox was always too soft to harm Val until it was absolutely necessary and even our Vox only knocked him out to ensure he wouldn't cause problems. Even if Vox is stronger than Val, Val is still dangerous and Vox is aware of how Val is when it comes to threats. Val is a sneaky mother fucker and is always dangerous even when put in a corner. Vox being stronger than Val doesn't mean that Val is weak. If he was, he probably would've been taken out by now.