Dinner with a bunch of demons has to be the oddest thing ever.

"You're not gonna eat… me… are you..?" Coco asked, feeling very pressured and uncomfortable.

"Ugh, classic human paranoia." Blitzo said, turning away like he couldn't even be bothered to deal with such nonsense. "No! Please. As if I'd ruin this figure by eating something as fattening as a human."

"That's actually a common misunderstanding," Moxxy pointed out, standing out from behind Blitzo. "Not all demons actually eat humans. That's a really over simplified classification for demon strata you've got there."

"Imps eat regular food," Milly said, smiling and gesturing to the mostly empty fridge. "Oh wait, what do you humans eat then?"

All three of them argued for a total of 20 minutes before they all left and came back with an assortment of different thing, half non-edible. They were thrown down on a makeshift table and presented as the only things they could collectively find in the fridge.

"We sort of forgot what humans could eat," Moxxy explained, a pile of inedible things at his feet that Blitzo had put down. "And we weren't sure if McDonalds is still poisonous or not."

"It's poisoned?" Coco asked before realizing something else. "You're not going to poison me, are you?"
"No," Blitzo complained, looking like he was in no mood for fun, games or sarcasm. "There's no point to do that now. Let's just find something to eat already. I'm starving now…"
"Let's order a pizza!" Milly suggested, holding out her phone. "I know a place with great delivery!"

"We can't order anything, Milly," Moxxy reminded her, gesturing to Coco. "We don't know if their food will kill her system or not."

"Isn't anything a human can eat the same as a demon?" Milly asked, getting a shoulder shrug response from both Luna and Coco.

"We could always just make a pizza?" Coco suggested, holding her hands up as an idea. "I mean, all we need is crust, tomatoes, cheese and spices."

"FUCK IT!" Blitzo said, throwing money at Coco and laying his head on his desk. "Just fucking buy anything you need and put food in my mouth when you're done."

After getting hit in the head by a wad of cash, Coco left with both Milly and Moxxy to search the nearest store to but things. Luna stayed behind and looked at Blitzo with dishonest belief.

"You can't seriously be thinking about keeping her here in Hell, right?" Luna asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"What choice do I have, Luna!" Blitzo said, barely picking up his head but showing the honest amount of frustration he had now. "The book won't send her back without it following and we can't lose the book again! Not to mention how much that'll fuck up the living world. No, we'll have keep her here until we can get rid of that stupid curse…"

"Great," Luna rolled her eyes. "Now we're stuck with that human stink in here all the time!"

"Hey, I don't like it anymore than you do!" Blitzo pointed out before plopping back further in his chair. "If only there was some way to separate the book's seal from her permanently. But that'll only happen if she dies and the book's protecting her…"

"Hey, if she died here it might actually save her the hassle of going from the Living world to Hell." Luna half heartedly commented before going back to playing on her phone.

That comment got Blitzo thinking.

'Yeah, that's right,' Blitzo thought, recovering some of his senses. 'If she was already a sinner then the book would have no problem letting her stay here since she'd belong here. So why the hell go to all that trouble to seal her here when it'd make more sense to seal her in the living world… Wait a minute.'

"Hey Luna!" Blitzo called after her, getting up from his desk and shuffling through the drawers. "You remember that mortality balance thing we picked up from that pawn shop awhile ago?"

"Yeah?" Luna said, popping her head through the doorway. "What about it?"

"Get it out again," Blitzo said, shuffling through a bunch of files now as he was trying to connect some dots. "I wanna test something out."

-Meanwhile-

'Well this is awkward.'

The elevator ride down was a tense, ever wondering question on who would break the silence first. Moxxy was refusing to make eye contact with anyone, Milly looked at Coco like she was trying to prompt a question using telepathy, and Coco was trying not to swallow her own tongue. The only thing that broke the silence was an order right before they walked out the door.

"Stop," Moxxy said, holding out his arm and catching Coco in the chest before they all walked out. "We can let her go out here again. She looks like a human!"

"I got here fine before," Coco pointed out uncomfortably. Although she didn't know if she actually wanted to leave this place.

"Because you smelt like trash," Moxxy explained looking at Coco with an unnerving glare. "We can't just let a human go around Hell on her own again. Plus, what if you try to run away again?"

"Where would I go exactly?" Coco deadpanned, now just irritated.

"Oh!" Milly popped an idea out and began scratching somewhere in her pockets. "Here!"

Milly pulled out a pair of sweat bands with large white X on each. She pulled Cocos' wrists over and put one on each, the X on the inside.

"There!" Milly said proudly, hands on her hips and smiling proudly. "Now you just look like a suicide!"

"… Huh?" Coco looked completely confused. "That's a…. Good thing?"

"Oh yeah!" Moxxy snapped and smiled at Milly. "Perfect! It'll explain why she looks so human-y still!"

Coco looked at her wrists then back up at the too of them confused, prompting an explanation as they began walking out.

"So you know how humans die for lots of reasons?" Milly started to explain. "Well, usually, when they first come here, the reason is pretty obvious. You get stabbed, stab mark wounds. You get shot, bullet hole wounds."

"Yeah, but what's with the 'X'?" Coco asked, flashing the 'X' marks.

"It's usually just a hint about how that person died," Moxxy explained. "Lot's of people get new bodies, but they sometimes will carry the reason they died. Or they manifest a persona similar to their sin."

"A… what?"

"Like this!" Milly started to explain by picking up some kind of homeless drug addict whose head was torn open with teeth filling in the spaces and five sharp red eyes. "See, this usually means this guy committed a sin like-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Milly stopped as she saw Coco had jumped back and started running and hiding behind the nearest dumpster she could find. She then remembered humans are jumpy and don't like seeing things that scary or look like it would possibly eat them.

Grumbling about "she ran away again" under his breath, Moxxy went and pulled Coco away from her safe trash and back over to Milly; who was still holding the guy up.

"Would you please not pick up stray demons of the street again, Milly?" Moxxy said, gesturing to the obvious shaken Coco who was trembling slightly.

"Oops," Milly laughed a little. "Sorry, sweetie. Just thought I'd introduce her to the local color! But this guy's not so bad! He's just a little-"

At that, his head almost fell off his neck and revealed another set of shard teeth. Which, prompting countless mental horror images and explanations, set Coco into yet another screaming fit. Now, Moxxy was holding onto her to keep her from running away.

"Sorry!" Moxxy said to the almost beheaded homeless demon, awkwardly smiling while turning away from Cocos' screams next to his ear. "She's new."

"S'okay!" The man's neck said, his face smiling as Milly dropped him. "I'd be freaked out too if I was a new blood…"

The next five minutes of prompted calming down ended with Milly agreeing to hold Coco's hand and walk with her so she could watch the ground and not run the risk of seeing anything else that would emotionally scar her.

"What is wrong with this place…" Coco muttered under her breath, feeling like she's aged a good twenty years in the last five minutes.

"It's called Hell not Paris for a reason," Moxxy said bluntly before walking into a grocery store and then up to Coco with a scolding look. "Can you please try not to make spectacle of yourself by screaming bloody murder every time you see a demon?"

"…" Coco just gave a sharp glare at him and attempted to make a smart comment, but decided being rude to a demon was going to get her nowhere. "Fine. But what if I actually see a bloody murder?"

"Oh, go ahead then!" Milly said cheerfully, picking up a basket. "We all love seeing some interactive art display!"

Coco just stared at Milly, then turned to Moxxy and decided it might be best to hang out with this guy. He seemed the most reasonable and sane of the bunch.

-Back at IMP-

The three of them came back with about three bags of groceries to find Blitzo in the center of the room setting something up with care.

"Uh, sir?" Moxxy asked, looking throughly perplexed. "What are you doing?"

"Shh! Shh! Sh!" Blitzo said, eyes focusing carefully on what looked like an only set of scales set to a weird looking clock. "I have to have absolute concentration for this!"

"Oooookay?" Moxxy said, then turning to Coco and Milly. "Can you guys go into the kitchen and not make a mess."

"No promises," both Milly and Coco said, both walking into the kitchen with bags and catching idly about food.

"Yeah," Moxxy said, turning towards Blitzo and Luna with an uncomfortable look on his face. "Milly's kind of taken a liking to the human. We might need to figure out what to do soon."

"Already on it!" Blitzo said confidently as he turned to Moxxy. "Remember that scale of sin I bought a couple of months ago?"

"The one I told you not to buy because it wasn't in our budget and it's useless unless we already have something of the person's to weigh." Moxxy said, crossing his arms to say he remembered exactly what Blitzo was talking about.

"Yeah!" He said happily. "So I bought it anyway and now we're gonna use it!"

Moxxy muttered several incoherent curses under his breath before breathing deeply and looking back up at Blitzo with an irate expression.

"Sir," he firmly began. "I don't see how a sin scale can help us now that we've actually got the human in hell. The thing is supposed to tell us if the human will go to hell, not if they already are there!"

"You see, that's where you're missing the big picture," Blitzo scolded as he gestured to the contraption. "This thing measures the likely hood of human either going to heaven or hell."

"And?" Both Luna and Moxxy asked, not seeing where this idea was going.

"If we test it out on her," Blitzo pointed his thumb towards the kitchen. "We'll see if she's already scheduled to come down here or not. If she is, then boom! We can kill her, and keep the book because her body is already here! The curse seal will stay in hell, the book will be up for grabs and the girl won't remember a thing!"

"And if she's not going to hell?" Luna offered.

"Then we'll have to think of something more creative," Blitzo said, waving off the possible "if". "But hey, what're the chances of us summoning the first human not going to hell? It's almost impossible that she isn't also scheduled to be here!"

"Sir, you're still missing the point," Moxxy said, holding his hand out to show Blitzo's been deliberately ignoring something. "Even if we could kill her and get the book back that way, we still can't kill her! The book is protecting her! Even if she's going to come down here, who says the book won't follow her demon form too!"

"Uh, the curse is "until we share our last breath together"." Blitzo said, making quotation marks in the air and then crossing his arms. "Jeez, you sound like you're not a professional. Have you forgotten? We're the "Immediate Murder Professionals" not the "Oh Well We're Pretty Sure It Can't Happen Because We're Afraid Of Some Curse" professionals. Look. We got the girl. We kill the girl, we get the book. Simple!"

"I can't even begin to explain how not simple that is…" Moxxy grumbled, his head in his hand as he suffered from the never ending illogic of the man who signs his paychecks.

While this was going on, the kitchen Milly and Coco work working on a pizza sauce. Prompting numerous conversation topics on taste, topping, health and now, Hell.

"So you don't remember getting here?" Coco asked Milly. The way she had been talking about demons before made her wonder if all demons were once humans. And if so, how did they all become so… demon-y?

"I'm pretty sure I was born here," Milly said, tapping her cheek and looking away before smiling at her again. She had been chopping garlic and was moving on to onions. "Or maybe not? I can't remember now! It's been awhile."

"You've got a nice southern accent," Coco commented with a smile. "Georgia?"

"Aw! Thanks sweetie!" Milly laughed a bit and thought on it. "You've got a similar accent too."

"South Carolina," Coco nodded. "My dad made me work on gettin' rid of most of my accent though. He said it sounded weird when I spoke Spanish."

"Spanish?" Milly stopped and looked over curiously. "But didn't we get you from England?"

"I'm just studying there. I'm full Americana, and my dad's from Guatemala." Coco stared at the small stove and prayed that I was a regular gas stove and not haunted. It did flare up uncontrollably for a second but then went back to normal. "Uh, sooooooo~ Why are you workin' here?"

"Cause I just love killin' people~!" Milly sang, not noticing at all how disturbing that sounded.

"… Oka~y." Coco panicked and carefully stepped away from Milly who was holding a chopping knife. "So, you've been here at this business for awhile?"

"Oh yeah," Milly thought about that for a minute. "I guess it's just been a few years since me and Moxxy signed on with Blitzo."

"Did you guys always have the book?" Coco had been wondering this for awhile now. "Do demons even need a book for summoning things and portals? It looks like a couple of you guys already have magic."

"Blitzo did!" Milly nodded, trying to remember the exact details. "Well, a lot of imps are really weak, like me and Mox can't do much magic other than maybe lighting a fire. Blitzo can do a little here and there, but just about nobody is strong enough to summon a portal to the living world on their own!"

"So you need the book to make you stronger?"

"That's pretty much it!" Milly walked over to where Coco was standing. "It takes a lot of energy and power to get to the living world without messing up the interdimentional space. So, having the book makes it easier to go across."

"And I guess you'll keep opening portal even without the book?" Coco gave a grin.

"Yup!" Milly cheered, patting Coco on the back. "But now it's completely safe for all humans and demons! So thanks for bringing it back!"

"I guess it makes more sense if it stayed here in Hell then," she said, looking out the door into the office where she left the book. Getting really concerned about the moral ambiguity of all of this. "But I don't like that you guys use it to kill people…"

"Oh~ Don't think of it like that." Milly rubbed her shoulder consolingly. "Just think of it like this: If you don't let us use the book, then we'll just end up killing more random humans until we find the one we're looking for. Plus! If you don't, we'll kill you!"

"…" She was way too freaked out about how Milly could easily give a death threat without even trying. Better to stay on her good side and let these guys do what they're doing and save the rest of humanity some peace. "Okay…"

They put everything for the pizza together and into the oven, which Milly was in charge of because Coco wasn't sure if she could keep from burning the building down while using it. Then they walked back out into the office where Blitzo had stopped messing with the thing from before. When they looked at it, it really did look like some kind of balancing scale, except now Coco saw that the clock on top was more like a mirror with some sort of old-time weight scale needle.

"There you are!" Blitzo cheered, walking over to Coco with a smile. "Perfect timing! Alright, I need to ask you something. Do you think you're a good person?"

"Um," Coco looked confused at Blitzo. She momentarily gave the same expression to Milly before looking back up at him. "I like to think I am?"

"Do you know how to measure how much of a good person you are?"

"I mean," Coco scratched her head and thought about it. "I don't think you can actually mathematically measure a moral quantity like-"

"The answer is "yes" but only if you have a demonic instrument made to do it," Blitzo said, wrapping her arm and dragging her over to the scale. "Now, step right over here and we'll be getting your answer real soon!"

"Again with the taking me to places I don't want to go…" Coco muttered a little, letting herself be dragged where ever because there's no point in fighting this now.

Blitzo stopped and stood her in front of the weights. When she looked in the mirror, she noticed that there seemed to be a line separating one half from the other and a needle sitting directly in the middle of it. The whole thing was coated in what she believed looked like fools gold, an awful gaudy looking thing that looked more expensive than it could be worth.

"Now," Blitzo clapped as he began to explain. "See these weights here? They measure how close you are to going to either hell or heaven. And the mirror looks at you and decides if you're good enough to go to heaven or not!"

"Wait," Coco looked confused at the mirror then turned to Blitzo. "How is that possible?"
"It's pretty hefty magical stuff," Blitzo brushed off with an inconclusive answer. "We were gonna use this to see how much extra we should charge our clients for their targets. You know! If the person was going to go to heaven then we could charge a little more if they want the murder to look embarrassing. And if they're going to hell, great news! We'll charge them even more!"

"That… sounds like you're just trying to charge more money no matter what."
"Exactly!"

No one knew if they should explain how Blitzo didn't seem to understand either pricing or economics. Coco was wondering how this business was running well enough to rent out an office space this big.

"But, the thing is useless," Moxxy explained, stepping up to the weights and pointing at it. "It needs to have at least something of the targets' most used items to judge or for the target to look in the mirror to decide which will happen. But, just like the book, it belongs to hell so it can't actually leave hell."

"Can't you just bring the mirror with you?" Coco offered, pointing at the mirror. "Or use some kind of spell to like, make a mirror pathway between the portal and here to…"

Coco trailed off once she realized she was suggesting a better way to judge killing people.

'What am I doing?' Coco wondered, now holding her tongue and shutting up. 'Shut up now! You don't help murder people even if it's indirectly!'

"Well now that that's covered," Blitzo walked behind Coco and turned her face to the mirror. Blitzo's looked at their reflections in the mirror and smiled at them. "Haven't you always wondered how likely it is you'll go to heaven after you die?"
"No," Coco said uncomfortably. This whole thing really starting to creep her out and wondering what mental loops he had to jump to get to here. "I actually try not to think about that stuff…"

"What?" Milly chipped in, looking at the reflections in the mirror too. "Aren't you religious?"

"Not really?" Coco said, looking at Milly through the mirror. "I mean, I think I might be more now after coming to Hell… But I really never wanted to be judged like this while I'm alive."
"Ah~ Don't worry about it!" Blitzo said, patting her on the back. "You see, you're always being judged. And, eventually, you'll die and probably go to one place of the other. But! Good news is, you didn't actually have to be sitting and wondering about "what religion is right" this whole time!"
"Oh thank… whoever," Coco sighed in relief. That had been worrying her a little bit over the last few hours.

"But! Why don't we just take a look and see where you would be going." Blitzo offered, trying to play it as a fun game. "Won't it be fun!"

"I don't really see how…" Coco responded, then looked up at Blitzo carefully. "Do I have a choice?"

"No." He said smiling.

"Okay then," Coco turned back to the mirror and looked at herself. "So, uh, how do I do… it?"

First, Blitzo backed everyone away from the mirror so Coco could have full view of herself alone. Along the side, Moxxy, Milly, Luna and Blitzo were all looking on carefully.

"Now just touch one of the scales," Blitzo instructed, holding up a finger. "When they're done weighing, that needle in the mirror will tip over to what side you belong to! If it goes to the left, you're in Heaven. If it goes to the right, well, you get the picture."

"Right…" Coco said uncomfortably, taking in a deep breath. "Okay. Here goes… my soul, I guess?"

She tapped one of the weights lightly and watched carefully as they both began to swing up and down. Coco could actually see how the weights were carefully weighing the good and the bad parts of her, the invisible parts that even she couldn't tell were there. They kept falling and rising, and Coco couldn't tell if this was making her feel good or not.

When she looked back up at the mirror, she could see the needle swinging side to side over the middle line like the weights were. It was having a time adding up the weights and coming to terms. Sometimes it fell all the way over to the left only to rise and go straight to the middle on the right side. The whole thing was giving Coco a heart attack.

'Could I actually go to hell because of this?' She wondered, watching it go. 'Is it a bad thing to even want to judge how good I am? Shouldn't I just, well, try to be a good person? Oh man, this is killing me…'

Finally, the whole thing began slowing down. The weights began to carefully settle, with the left side tipping down more than the right. And the needle in the mirror slowed carefully, moving achingly slow towards the middle from the right side.

'Oh god,' Coco's eyes went wide and her heart began to beat erratically as the needle tipped slower and slower. 'Please please tell me I'm not a bad person! Tell me it's still going!'

Her relief came when the needle tipped back into the middle line and then, ever so slowly, moved a few inches over to the left. Coco had made it. She was judged as a good person.

Barely.

'… That's it,' Coco stared hollowly at the mirror, her eyes not taking off of the needle. It was so close to the middle to her. 'That's… as good as I've ever been?'

The relief began to slowly mix with shame. The shame that after all this time, all 27 years of her life, Coco realized she wasn't as good a person as she believed she was.

But the others had an opposite reaction.

"Damnit!" Blitzo complained, stepping over and checking out both the weights momentarily as if he couldn't believe this was fair. "I can't believe it! The only actually innocent person in the world just happens to land in Hell!"

"Hey! Congratulations!" Milly cheered, walking over to the mirror. "Looks like you're doing good with whatever you're doing!"
"I told you this would be a waste of time, sir," Moxxy stated. As if adding 'sir' made it any less insulting. "It doesn't matter what kind of person she is, we still can't do anything!"

"Looks like it to me you barely got into Heaven now," Luna said, looking at Coco's scale. "I guess minimum standards apply to you."

"…" Coco stared at her reflection before her expression started to fall into a sad child's reaction. "I thought that… I was better than this."

"We all think that," Moxxy said off handidly, not really caring about it or giving much condolence. "Everyone thinks their "special" or "a better person" than anyone else. When we're all just the same and it's only a thin line between being good and going to hell."

"But, does this really mean I'm a good person?" Coco wondered out loud, looking at herself. "If all this time, I've been thinking I'm a good person and the is all I've got… Does that mean I'm doing something bad and I don't even know it?"

The others all stopped talking and looked at each other… well, concerned. This was the first time they've ever heard Coco sound so… depressed. And the way she looked at herself in the mirror, it looked like she was beating herself up in her head.

'Great,' Blitzo complained, looking at their reflection with contempt. 'Now I feel bad!'

"Aw, sweetie, it's okay." Milly said gently, tapping her on both shoulders and looking up at the scale with a slightly gapped tooth smile "Just look! This thing proves it! You don't belong here. You're good to go!"

"But it's not about going to heaven," Coco explained, looking down at her hands for a moment and then turning to look at Milly. "I always thought, as long as you're a good person then you're doing a good thing in life and everything will be fine. But! This just shows I'm not a good person! I'm just… a passing person? A barely decent person? Uh, a minimum requirements for a decent human being?"

"Who cares?" Luna barked a little while rolling her eyes and walking a few steps away, the mirror now creeping her out a bit. "You're not killing anybody. I'm pretty sure you're not cheating or anything. So why care?"

"Because I want to be good!" Coco said, turning to look at Luna and then at the mirror. It was like the only source of pride that could ever matter to her had been pulled out and shown that it actually wasn't impressive at all to look at. "I mean, if nothing else. Even if I can't get my fucking life together, or settle on anything or keep completely fucking things up. Then as long as I'm a good person then I did something good in my life!"

That outburst was way too personal and left Coco a giant flustering mess. She looked down from the reflection and at her feet, wishing to whatever God that what had come out of her mouth could be silenced or that nobody understood what she meant. It was only too unfortunate that they all did, and they understood it well.

A moment later, a small bell chimed from the kitchen.

"Uh, dinner's done," Milly said, quickly making another topic.

"Let's…." Moxxy said, starting to feel uncomfortable. "Drop this whole thing and just go ahead and start eating?"

"… Yeah," Coco agreed. Sighing and finally turning away from the mirror. "I-I need to not think about this anymore before I do something crazy. Sorry about that…"

"It's okay, sweetie," Milly said consolingly, taking her arm and walking her away from the scale. "We all have an extensential crisis every now and then."

Blitzo opened up an office room for everyone to eat at together and then pulled Moxxy aside for a "business discussion" while Milly and Coco got the dinner ready and Luna did nothing.

"Okay, that plan didn't work." Blitzo admitted as he and Moxxy quietly talked inside closet of the office for privacy.

"I could have told you that before this whole thing started, sir," Moxxy said, crossing his arms and glaring. He was not happy about getting thrown into a closet randomly again. "In fact, I did tell you that."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Blitzo brushed off to say he didn't care. "Look, now we have to go back to Plan B."

"Which is?"

"Kill her."

"Isn't that just Plan A?" Moxxy asked, incredibly confused and a little exasperated. He sighed and leaned back, ready to accept defeat. "You know, sir? I don't see the problem with this. She keeps quiet, she cleans up after herself, she doesn't do anything impossibly annoying. I think we can manage with one human in our office."

"Uh, hello? Do you not see how annoying it'll be having a human all up in our literal business!" Blitzo explained, finding Moxxy lack of murderous enthusiasm irritating. He should have pulled in Luna or Milly. "She'll be all hung up on the "morality" of all this and we'll keep having to ask her to use the book now! Plus! Do you realize how much shit we'll get in if somebody finds out we're harboring a human in our office!"
"Yes sir, I understand." Moxxy deadpanned before gesturing to the entire outside world. "But if you haven't noticed, sir, not a lot of demons are smart enough to figure out she's a human. Apparently she checks off the minimum requirements as long as Milly or I are around her to cover up most of her human sent."

"That's the thing," Blitzo complained, crossing his arms. "I don't want to spend my time babysitting some annoying human! Let's just get rid of her and we can all go on with our lives again!"

"You do realize SHE won't be able to go on with her life like that sir?" Moxxy asked, now kind of worried about his boss's sanity.

Their man talk was interrupted by Luna forcing open the closet door.

"Are you idiots going to come out of the closet or are you just gonna fuck around in here?" Luna snidely said before reaching up and grabbing a set of plates from the top shelf. "Just live with it. The only way she's dying and you're getting the book back is if she offs herself or something stupid happens and kills her."

And as Luna walked away, Blitzo got two new bright ideas. And he smiled brightly.

"Okay!" Blitzo said, turning to Moxxy as he shut the door again. "Now we move on to Plans C and D!"

"Did you really have to close the door?" Moxxy asked, looking throughly confused and wanting to be anywhere but here right now.

Blitzo and Moxxy came into the office room a few minutes after the girls had started eating. Both Milly and Coco had over-estimated how much they would need so there was a lot of pizza to go around. Which was good because it was all pretty delicious.

"You done making out yet?" Luna half-commented while eating.

"Thank you for your concern, Luna~" Blitzo said pleasantly, taking a seat across from Coco who was sitting next to Milly. "So! Miss Coco, was it?"
"Uh," she swallowed a bit before looking up at Blitzo carefully. What did he want now? "Coco's just fine."

"Well! It looks like we're all going to be spending a lot of time together from now on~!" Blitzo sang, putting his most pleasant and entertaining voice on. "And I thought it would be swell to get to know one another. And what better way to do it than over a meal!"
"Um, okay." Coco smiled a little and sat up more. While getting to know a demon didn't sound like the best thing in the world, it was true she'd have to try to… hopefully live with them in the coming future. Plus, he seemed pretty entertaining now. "Well, what do you guys usually do here? Your office is pretty quiet."

"Ah~ No worries! Business has been pretty slow these last few days," Blitzo said, picking up a slice of pizza and then looking at her excitedly. "But I wanna know more about you! What makes you tick? What is Coco afraid of? Amused by? Distracted by? Possibly allergic to?"
"…" Coco just stared blankly at Blitzo for a second. Did that question sound invasive or dangerous? She didn't know. So she decided to answer broadly. "I like reading a lot. Uh, I draw and play piano? If that's anything?"
"Oh! What do you study?" Milly asked, looking interested. "You said you go to school in the UK."
"I'm studying International Development," Coco smiled, blushing a little and laughing. It felt weird to admit, especially since that was a particularly useless degree in Hell. "I thought I wanted to work for a charity or something that would let me travel. But, I just spend all my time in the art and music department or writing for the publishers' group."

Blitzo could tell this would go off the topic he was looking for. Namely: Things he could use to potentially kill her later with. So he nudged Moxxy, sitting next to him, with his shoulder. The imp almost dropped his food and looked up to give Blitzo a glare before he saw his boss trying to get him to interact with her more. Sighing, Moxxy automatically agreed to ask the questions Blitzo had previously instructed him to.

"Are you seeing anyone up in the living world," Moxxy asked in a disinterested tone. He thought this was the most embarrassing question even and wished he didn't have to be saying it but here he was, doing it anyway. "You know, romantically?"

"Hm?" The surprised Coco a bit but she laughed it off. "No, I'm not dating anyone. I don't even have enough friends for that."

Blitzo again nudged Moxxy to continue on the same question. Moxxy gave a face to show how much he didn't want to but Blitzo kept nudging and he gave up.

"What about…" Moxxy blushed and covered his face with his hand, feeling absolutely ridiculous about this question and wishing the chair would swallow him up whole as he said it. "Sexually?"

"…" Coco just out right blushed and glared over at Moxxy a little at that. "That's none of your business…. No, I'm too busy for that."
"What's your sex life like then?" Milly asked, non-maliciously at all. This became girl talk for her now. "I mean, what are you into? Who are you into? How many are you into?"
"I…. Don't know if I can really answer that?" Coco said, looking even more unnerved now.

"Why?" Luna commented, starting to enjoy seeing everyone squirm at the table. "You a virgin?"
"No!" Coco was completely red now and looked completely undone. This level of embarrassment was almost as bad as how freaking being in Hell is. "I just don't get around a lot! Sorry! My dating life is as boring as I am!"

"So you have no one who'll notice if you're say, perhaps, gone for a long time?" Blitzo continued, digging in deep on this subject. "No lover who'll come and search for you."

"No," Coco responded, now just glaring at Blitzo. "I've got roommates and family though. If that's what you mean."

"Hmm," Blitzo thought on this for a moment before proposing something. "Are you gay?"

"What?"

"Trans?"

"Why the- What even is this?" Coco was baffled.

"He's lookin' for your sex preferences," Milly explained.

"… Why?" Coco asked, very concerned and very creeped out.

"I just want to get to know you is all," Blitzo said, smiling innocently. "Hey! If it helps you feel better, I'm a male leaning bi-sexual man myself!"
"Really?" Coco was surprised by his honesty. It actually helped settle her a bit hearing him be open about that.

"Oh yeah! Hell's a great place to be sexually curious and open in!" Blitzo said, waving off some of her concerns. "We don't really care all that much. And most of the homophobes kind of get where being a homophobe lands them. I mean, well, only most of them who aren't really strong or whatever. So what about you?"

"Um, well, I guess I'd say I'm queer," Coco said, leaning back and thinking about it. She didn't often talk about it so this had been a secret for a while now. Most people honestly just thought she was gay anyway, so she never really corrected them. "I haven't had THAT much experience, but being queer always suited me and made sense to me."

"I see," Blitzo stored that bit of info away. "And anyway, you said you've got no friends, right?"

"That's a pretty broad way to put it," Coco said, now glaring a little as she took another piece of pizza. "I have friends, but they're just people I go to school and work with."

"So professional acquaintances?" Moxxy defined.

"Yeah," Coco nodded, taking a bite. "It's not really easy making friends when you're always so busy. And I've kind of moved around a lot over the years with work and stuff. So it's hard to keep 'em too."

While this invasive questions seemed innocent enough, Blitzo was working on trying to make a general profile on how likely it would be for others to believe she committed suicide. Or, in any case, if she would admit to having an uncontrollable health issue like diabetes or heart trouble he could manipulate. What can we say, he's a demon!

But, it was sort of getting boring to him because he was used to already having the target ready to kill by this point. So he wanted to speed this process up as quickly as possible.

"So, Coco!" Blitzo started enthusiastically as she began eating again. He needed to approach this subtly but also show he was interested and willing to listen. "How do you feel about getting taken out?"

The fact that Blitzo was un-subtle with this made Moxxy want to choke him.

Coco nearly spit out all her food after he said that. She choked for a second, which made Blitzo hopeful, but calmed down and looked up at him with a baffled expression. What was he talking about? Was he suggesting that… he or her…. Should… could…?

"Uuuuuuh, no?" Coco said, trying to sound polite but mostly covering up an incredibly awkward and disturbed expression. "I don't think… this is the place… for that."

"What are you talking about? Hell's a great place to get taken out in!" Blitzo explained, now looking even more enthused and animated, happy to talk about one of his favorite subjects. "There's so many ways, places, people to help you out with the body, just everything!"

"…" Staring in absolute horror, Coco inched her way away and looked for a closet to hide in.

"Sir, I think she's confused about what we mean." Moxxy said, giving Blitzo a side long look before looking back at Coco. "He doesn't mean it like that. It's worse."

"Wha?" Coco mouthed.

"UGH!" Luna growled, slamming her fist on the table and then looking over at the others. "GOD! This is annoying! Do you want us to kill you!?"

"Very subtle Lunie," Blitzo said, nodding approvingly. "Way to be diplomatic."

It took two seconds for the unbelievability of that question to register and for Coco to look out raged.

"Are you all freaking insane!?" Coco shouted, standing up and showing her impulsive outrage. "No! I don't need help with- I mean I don't want to die!"

"Why not?" Blitzo complained, sitting still carefully and pointing out his only weapon of retort "We've already proved you've got nothing to lose!"

"I thought suicide was sin." Coco crossed her arms and glared across at Blitzo.

"Well, it doesn't have to be suicide." He offered, beginning to pull out an actual list of murder offerings from painless-painfull-agonizing-woah. "We could just make it look like-"

"That's murder and I said no!" Coco shouted again, now slamming her hands on the table for emphasis.

"Could you all stop talking about killing each other at the dinner table," Milly glared at both Blitzo and Coco. "It's been a long day and we all need some peace and quiet for a minute!"
"Milly's right," Moxxy said, nodding along with her as he sat back. "Let's all agree that nobody's dying, nobody's running away and nobody's going to talk about killing one another."

"I wasn't talking about murdering anyone." Coco grumbled as she slummed back into her chair, now glaring back over at Blitzo and grinding her teeth. "Yet…."

The table for discussion had closed and everyone decided to stop talking all together. Something about offering to murder someone just puts everyone off of small talk. No one talked again until after the dinner while cleaning up, and even then it was only Coco, Milly and Moxxy.

"Why does he want to kill me now?" Coco asked, looking concerned to Milly. "I mean, I know why he wanted to earlier today. But I thought he was happy with getting the book back."

"It's not your… Well, it is your fault." Milly laughed.

"It's complicated," Moxxy said, already ending this topic because of annoyance and walking past with an arm load of dishes, looking at Milly. "Honey, can you get the dishwasher set up for me? I need to rinse these."
"Sure sweety!" Milly said, walking past.

"I'll uh, help you with that, Moxxy." Coco walked up to the sink with him and started to help scrub. "You guys seem close."

"We're married," Milly and Moxxy said together, then turned and smiled at one another.

"What! No way!" Coco looked shocked but smiled at them. "How cute! I didn't know demons could get married."

"There's lots of things demons do together!" Milly sang happily. "It's nice to be married to my business partner too!"

"I guess I don't know… No, I don't know anything about demons." Coco said, going back to scrubbing dishes.

"Eh, you'll learn more the more you're here," Moxxy said off-handidly and then giving her a smug grin. "You could start by not assuming all demons don't have lives."

"… But I don't want to be here for long." Coco pointed out, turning to look at Moxxy. "Look, I get where you guys are coming from, but Blitzo's right. I can't stay in Hell. I've got a life!"

"So you want to die?" Moxxy asked confused.

"No! I said I have a life!" Coco said, ashamed to say even if it's a pretty sad and pathetic one, it's all she's got. "I'm saying we can think of other ways to get me back home. Like, getting rid of this curse?"
"That's a pretty tough one to get rid of, sweetie," Milly said, pointing at your arm again. "That's a strong seal, and the deal's directly tied to your life. You mess with it, and you might just mess with how long you get to live!"

"Not to mention we don't have than much time," Moxxy gestured to the dishes and gave a cross look. "Listen, I get this is annoying. Trust me, we're all upset by it! But we can't just stop all our lives because you don't want to be here. We're all lost on how to solve this."

Coco pulled up her sleeve and looked at the tattoo again. It was really big and complicated looking, the most demonic thing she had going for her right now. But! With every deal, there's lee-way and loopholes. There's gotta be something, she'll just have to find it.

"I'm sure I can think of something," Coco said, turning back to smile at the others. "I'm smart enough to look into it. Maybe the book even has something in there!"

"Good luck," Moxxy said, starting to load up the dishwasher. It's not that he thought this was stupid, it's just he didn't really believe a human could figure out how to turn around a demonic summoning and deal on her own. "Just don't go crazy from it."

When done, the others came out and saw Blitzo writing pages of pages of ideas, crumpling them up and throwing them in the trash one by one. When Moxxy decided to pick one up and open it, he saw it was a poorly drawn, literally drawn, idea of how to cause an accident in Hell to kill a human.

"You're still stuck on this?" Moxxy asked, looking tired and trying to keep Coco from seeing it.

"Yes!" Blitzo said, erasing something then getting so mad at it he tore it to pieces. "Until I figure something out we're stuck with a human! So excuse me for being the only person here trying to take care of our problem."

"Trying to kill me isn't taking care of your problem," Coco pointed out and the sighed. "Are you just gonna keep thinking of ways to kill me after all…?"

"You got any better ideas?" Blitzo asked sarcastically.

"Getting rid of the curse!?" Coco shouted out before slumping down and rubbing her face. It had been a long day, and the exhaustion was piling up so much that being angry was taking up too much energy. "You know what? I'm done. Is there somewhere in here I can lay down… and nobody will kill me?"

"There's a room in the back we use for inventory," Luna said. She pulled out an old ratty blanket from her desk and threw it at Coco. "Try not to make a mess of it."

"Thanks," Coco said half heartedly. The blanket looked like it hadn't been washed in years and something had eaten holes into it. But it was the best she's got.

Milly and Moxxy stayed to try and talk some sense into Blitzo while Coco walked away. It wasn't that she didn't care they were talking about her life anymore, but she couldn't deal with her life hanging in the balance by demons who don't think she even matters. She walked back to the storage room pointed to and found it was basically an armory filled with different kinds of weapons and portable torture devices that she's never imagined before.

"…" Coco panicked for a minute before sighing and deciding she could live with it. The irony not escaping her that a bunch of serial killers were outside and she would be sleeping with all of their weapons. "I guess this technically is the safest place in here…"

She found a pull bulb light that light up the room fairly well but saw that the door wouldn't shut all the way. That was fine because she didn't really know if she wanted to be accidentally locked in here. That could drive her more crazy than she already is right now.

The room was fairly spacious with hard wood floors and walls with no windows. The whole place was organized well with standing cupboards, lockers and cases. The guns were organized by size and calibre, the knifes by size and style, looked like there were different drawers and set up materials for poisons and chemical things. And… a… piano?

'What's a piano doing in here?'

Coco walked up over the the free standing, stand up piano that was pushed near a corner of the room. She opened the top and saw that the keys and everything looked right in place. Seeing as there were no cots or anything to lay on, Coco decided to sit on the bench and examine the piano.

'Strangest thing I've seen in here all day,' she thought to herself, touching at a key lightly. 'I wonder if it plays correctly…'

Touching the middle C, she heard that the piano was working and even in tune! Sitting there, she couldn't help but continue touching keys and working through scales in her head, calming down with each chord that came from them at the end.

'I wonder what my family will do if I don't contact them?' The thought came as she kept playing Her grandmother had gotten her piano lessons and pushed her to always keep practicing. Her mother got her into choir and band, her dad into writing and illustrations. It felt like, without their influences, Coco wouldn't have everything she had now. 'What if I… never get to go back?'

Coco stopped playing as guilt welled up in her eyes. She left home over five years ago to work abroad. Nobody wanted her to leave. No one would help her buy a plane ticket, plan a travel log, or give her advice about overseas careers. Many of the kept writing her to ask her when she would come back, to tell her they miss her. To ask if she missed them? If she was lonely?

"I am…" Coco said, sucking in the tears and biting her bottom lip. But her hands flew up over her face and covered her eyes, like she was shielding the piano from and accidental tears that would fall out. "I so lonely… I don't know what to do… I don't know what I'm doing so wrong…".

A moment of sitting like that, and it felt like all of those feeling rushed away. And all she was left with was a powerful feeling of wanting to play a song. The song that she had learned specially in case one day she had the chance to play it for her whole family.

She sat straight up, held her hands gently, carefully. And started humming her melody before she set into the first straza.

(Youtube: Ben Platt "In case you don't live forever)

watch?v=dNTLk_6ngow

Outside the room, Blitzo walked up to the inventory. He had to figure out something, so he brought the book with him and was determined to start questioning her for real to figure out how to send her back. He was about to kick down the door when he stopped and heard Coco singing. She sang strong and unconsciously, like no one would ever hear her unless she sang like she was in a temple.

"In case you don't live forever let me tell you now~

I love you more than you'll ever wrap your head around~

In case you don't live forever, let me tell you the truth.

I'm everything that I am~, because of you."

He stood and listened, her voice coming through and the piano breaking through softly. It's echoing along with her clear voice captivating him. He listened to every stanza, every single beat.

"I have a Hero whenever I need one!

I just look up to you and I see one!

I'm a man because you taught me to be one~~~~!"

At the last part of the melody, Blitzo found himself also humming along and swaying a bit. He heard something so distinctly… human. A need to express a clear emotion, a clear desire:

Let me tell you how much I love you and how much you made me who I am.

As she sang, Blitzo felt the book under his arm give off a strange vibration. Like it was listening and humming along too.

When the song was over, he heard her let out a long strained sigh and shut the piano leave down. He peaked in through the crack of the door and saw that she had laid her head a top of the leave, resting like it was her desk instead of laying down.

Blitzo looked away and turned to look at the wall. Suddenly, he didn't feel like he had any reason to be there.

'What's wrong with this?' Blitzo wondered. He felt… sad. Or ashamed. Or maybe like he kind of related? He didn't know. He shook his head and turned proudly to walk to his desk. 'I'm sure we can fix this!'

"Alright, everyone!" Blitzo shouted out at the others as they were getting things together and preparing to leave. "Change of plans again! Now, we are searching this book and every other book in here until we can figure out some way to break that curse!"

"What!?" Moxxy shouted, looking outraged as his office hours were extended indefinitely now. "What do you mean!? You just said there's no way to break the curse and now you're-"

"less chatty more read-y," Blitzo said, sitting the book down and pulling out a case of more on the floor. "There! Now, if all four of us worked together and get sorted through all of this, we'll be ready to make a plan by-"

"I'm out," Luna said, walking away and into the night with no plans to return until an hour after office opening hours tomorrow.

"Now if the three of us work together!" Blitzo corrected himself. "We'll come up with a plan by tomorrow afternoon!"

"I'll…. Get some popcorn ready," Milly said defeatedly. She knew there was no use arguing about it.

"Our overtime is going to look like a mess.." Moxxy complained, picking up a book.

-Early in the morning.-

Nobody slept that night. The imps all worked through the night and morning, reading, yelling, threatening one another and occasionally crying in a corner. It ended with more less results, more confusion, and maybe one of them forgetting how to read permantently.

"Milly…" Moxxy groaned as he walked into the kitchen. He was nursing a headache and couldn't quiet focus. "Coffee…"

Suddenly a hot mug of drip coffee appeared in Moxxy's hand, the scent fragrant and making him feel more alive.

"Ah~" Moxxy said, taking a sip and then pulling the hand towards him with smile. "Thanks, honey~"

Moxxy went in for a kiss but-

"Uh, Moxxy?" Coco said out of nowhere. "I'm not Milly…"

Moxxy stopped midway through and opened his eyes to see he… accidentally pulled in the human girl. His expression dropped like the mug of coffee and splattered all over the floor.

"Aw," Coco complained, looking at the shattered mug. "I just made that…"

"Why're you in the kitchen!?" Moxxy shouted, now standing on top of the counter like she was the one who did something wrong.

"Relax," Coco said, walking over to take out the mop and broom and clean up the mess. "I just made some coffee. Couldn't sleep. What are you guys still doing here?"

"Working." Moxxy announced, walking up to the drip coffee and pouring himself another mug. He then stopped and saw that Coco had changed outfits again. This time a shit and pants that actually fit her, but. "Is that my shirt?"

"Oh!" Coco blushed awkwardly after sweeping everything up and looking down at her shirt. "Uh, Milly let me borrow it. I can give it back if you-"

"No no no!" Moxxy said, making sure she wasn't offended or pressured. It's been a weird morning. "It's. It's fine. Just… uh. You look… Good in it?"

At that, Blitzo and Milly both walked into the kitchen as Coco finished mopping up the mess on the floor.

"Thank GOD. There's coffee." Blitzo said, also walking over to the pot and pouring himself a cup. He drank it all down in one gulp and then smiled. "Ah~ Good cup of coffee!"

"Thanks," Coco said under her breath before looking at Milly. "What were you guys working on last night?"

"Trying to figure out that curse," Milly gave a big yawn and pawed at for the coffee. She had a brush tangled into her hair like she had been trying to brush it threw a little while ago.

"Find anything?" Coco asked.

"Not unless you count "accidental death" a legit curse lifting," Moxxy deadpanned.

"Nope," Coco said, registering everyone's upset and picking up her own mug of coffee. She also picked up the cursed and book and walked into the main lobby. "Let me try to find something. Maybe I could-"

"Hey, Blitzo~!" Luna came into the office and walked over. She looked just as tired and worn out as everyone else, only more angry. "Some assholes downstairs are coming up. Says its life or death."

"OH goody!" Blitzo clapped, now perking. "We might have a client!"
"Now!?" Moxxy looked terrified that he's have to work after pulling a useless all nighter. "But it's not even 7am! Who would want someone dead before 9!?"

"Doesn't matter!" Blitzo sung out. He then turned to Coco and began pushing her out a back door to the back exit of the building. "You! Out! We can't have anyone suspicious of a human in the office! Wear the horns and wait outside until this is all over!"
"Can I at least keep the book then!?" Coco begged holding on to it tighter, it making her feel safer.

Before she knew it, Blitzo had pushed her out onto a back balcony over looking the early empty alleyway-street of Imp city. From here, Coco realized that there was apparently no distinction between night or day since the the red sky seemed the same now as it was yesterday afternoon.

"Fine," Blitzo said, putting her firmly out and then putting the devil horns more evenly on her head. "Just be quiet and. Stay. Here."

"Okay," Coco said, taking the warning seriously.

Blitzo shut the door on her and left her out there. It was still hot and humid, but there was a slight breeze to make you think it was morning. With no sun or moon, Coco couldn't tell how anyone kept track of time. There was no "early morning" light. Just less darkness from total night. Apparently the sky here had only two parts: red and night.

"Hmm?" Coco felt something down at her wrist and pulled it up to check out the compass. "What's going on?"

The needle was pointing downwards and vibrating quickly again, just like it had done before when a group of demons had been behind that door. Coco looked down over the railing but didn't see anyone else in the alleyway.

'That's strange,' Coco thought. She checked out her wrist and saw it was still going on, now it was bugging her. 'Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt just to check it out to be sure.'

Coco carefully crawled over the ledge and let herself down off of the balcony. It was three stories up, so she jumped down to the next balcony and then jumped down on top of the closed dumpster before landing back on the alleyway street. She brushed off her shirt and kept the book carefully close to her.

"This thing is heavy," she complained, taking off the belt to Moxxy's pants and making a make-shit book strap to her leg with it. "There. At least it fits well."

When she looked around, the only other living thing she saw was what she guessed was a homeless demon sleeping on his cardboard sign.

'Nothing,' Coco thought as she held up her wrist again. The needle was now pointing down the road and moving even more erratically in place. She gave it a confused look. 'But nobody's here. What's this thing even try to-'

Before she finished that thought, she heard two gun shots come from up stairs in the office!

Coco looked up, but as she did, a car came barreling down the alley towards her. She flattened herself against the wall to let it pass but the car stopped right beside her. Before she knew it, the door had opened and two pairs of arms pulled her into the car without her knowing.

"Get the IMP!" She heard someone shout as she was pulled in. She couldn't even scream before the doors were shut.

The homeless demon had woken up with the gun shots and saw the girl pulled inside. When he looked back up, the car had back up towards him slowly with a window rolling down. He heard the sounds of the same girl struggling and yelling a bit, but saw the long red face of another demon pop out.

"When those freaks upstairs come out again," he began, flipping a gold coin at the demon. "Tell 'em Miss Honey wants to talk to them in person. She'll be entertaining with their little friend while she waits."