Alastor sat on his bed, rubbing his temples at the loud drown in his head. His cane was tossed down on the floor, the red eye glaring up at him. It seemed the longer Alastor ignored the stare,the worse his headache became.

"Stop it…" Alastor groaned. In response, a raspy voice echoed all around Alastor.

"Just give in…"

"Go away."

"You can't fight me forever, Alastor~"

"Be quite."

"Why do you still even try?"

"J-Just shut up!" The voice let out a cold, ear piercing laugh at this.

"Hell's infamous Radio Demon, stumbling over his words in fear of his fate!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!!!"

At this scream, the whole hotel trembled slightly, and the lights flickered. It wasn't unusual for the rings of hell to have quakes, so no one really noticed. Alastor on the other hand, was experiencing much more than a quake.

"Looks like you need to be reminded who's in charge here~"

"No…" Alastor collapsed to his hands and knees, his fearful eyes trained on his cane, "NO, PLEASE!!!"

"TO LATE!!!"

The room changed around Alastor in a twist of shadow and darkness. Soon, all Alastor could see was a long, dark hallway that went on forever into darkness behind him, and had an old wooden door in front of him. Alastor tried to run away from the door, but an invisible force shoved him toward it. As the door started to creak open, Alastor screamed at what was on the other side.

——

"Alastor!" Husk shook the crumpled, sobbing form of the deer as he called out in his trancelike state. His cane was leaning against the wall, it's eye closed.

"Alastor, come back!" Husk pleaded, shaking him harder.

The deer snapped out of it, his tearful, anguished eyes looking in to those of his old friend, "Henry…"

Husk had never looked more sober than he did at that moment. No one had ever called him that name in ages, not since he was alive. Alastor had never shown any indication of knowing Husk in life, until now…

"Al, I'm here."

"Sh-She's dead, Henry." More tears cascaded down the face of the Radio Demon, bringing out the human he tried so hard to suppress.

"What?" Husk got an eerie sense of dejavu as Alastor let out a shaky, gut wrenching sob.

"She's dead! She's dead, and it's all my fault! I should've been there! I should have protected her!" As those words hit his ears, Husk felt a lead ball of dread hit his stomach. Now he knew why this scenario felt so familiar, he and Alastor had gone through it before, years ago.

"Al, you couldn't have known."

"It wasn't safe! I knew it wasn't, but I left her all alone anyway" Alastor sobbed as he hid his face in his hands. The shadows of the room were starting to condense around him as he held his knees to his chest. Even though Husk was kneeling right in front of him, the cat could hardly see Alastor's face.

"Alastor, stop this! This isn't you!"

"I deserve every bit of torture and pain! Why am I still fighting!? I don't deserve this power and status! I…I SHOULD HAVE MY SOUL TORN TO PIECES!!!"

"ALASTOR, LOOK AT ME!!!" Husk wrenched the deer's hands from his face, forcing him to look him in the eye. It broke the cat's well hidden heart to see his old friend like his, a broken shell.

"Henry…" Alastor's tears flowed harder, "I'm sorry…"

"What?" Husk's eyes widened in surprise. Alastor never apologized about anything.

"You were my friend…my best friend…now you're stuck in a contract with me…" Alastor let his eyes rest on his feet, "I hurt those I care for the most…"

"Alastor, where's all this coming from?" Husk didn't like seeing Alastor so broken down. It made him very uneasy.

Then Alastor did something that made the winged cat freeze, he hugged him. The Radio Demon lost all of his remaining self control and sobbed into Husk's shoulder, holding on to him tightly. Not knowing what else to do, Husk hugged him back, feeling his heart break at how sad Alastor seemed. If all Husk could do to help Alastor was hold him while he cried, then despite everything that had happened between them, Husk would be the good friend he used to be for he man he was hugging, even if only for a moment.

However long he held Alastor, Husk didn't know, but he kept on holding him. When Alastor's sobs started to subside, he started to fall asleep from being so emotionally exhausted. Once he'd fallen asleep completely, Husk lifted Alastor up in his arms and laid him on his bed, letting out a long sigh of annoyance at how soft he was allowing himself to be.

"Husk?" Came a familiar voice from behind him. Husk turned around to see Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, and Nifty standing in the open doorway of Alastor's bedroom.

"What are you doing in here!?" Instinctively, Husk unfurled his wings to shield Alastor from view. Claws protruded from his hands as a low growl came out of his throat. Not meaning to, Husk had fallen back into his old role of protecting Alastor.

"Hey, what the fuck!?" Angel exclaimed.

"Wake him up, and I'll rip your duck off!" Husk snarled.