"Ugh, for the last time! My sister is more bubbly than a bottle of fucking champagne, but you're stiffer than my morning wood! What the fuck is wrong with ya!?" Angel Dust cried out in frustration as he tried schooling Aria on how to act like his sister for the millionth time as Aria was forced to watch a video of his sister, again, off of Angel Dust's phone, making Aria groan out loud in exasperation! "Again, from the top! 'Wow, Mista Valentino! I can't believe ya love little, 'ol me! Hehehe! Oh, you're such a dish and a dreamboat! Hot diggity dog! Of course I'll meet ya later at the Hellraiser! As soon as my Pops and I finish my charity work you asked me to do, I'll meet you at your office just like you asked! Oh, it's so exciting!'"
Aria looked like a very light pink, female spider with four legs to stand on and four arms that she was barely getting the hang of. She had cotton candy pink hair with darker pink highlights that puffed and cascaded down her back, the volume of it needing to be held back by a black headband. She had two, very large, light pink eyes with large, black pupils with three, tiny spots of dark pink under her eyes like freckles. She had no nose as far as she could tell, and she sported the cutest, most normal, white smile she'd seen since coming to Hell. The pink lipstick on her lips seemed a bit much, but it suited Molly, that's for sure.
The black, white pinstripe, womanly suit she was instructed to wear for her Molly disguise had a cute, ruffled, short pink skirt and light and dark pink accents on the lapels of her suit. The pink bow tie with the light pink center matched very well with the light pink and dark pink pinstripes at the waist portion of her suit, with pink and light pink bands on the edge of her coattails, giving a nice flare to the suit that matched the heart-shaped accents on her fluff on either side of her chest. One pair of arms wore long, black gloves that were fingerless, while her other pair of arms wore long, pink and light pink striped gloves that covered her hands entirely. They matched her pink and light pink striped boots on all four legs to the letter, pulling the ensemble together nicely.
To say that it had taken her hours just to master walking, running, and flirting in this form was an understatement. With how much Angel Dust cursed at her as he drove her on to memorize how his sister moved and acted in the side room they'd been left in shortly after the meeting with Mr. Ragno was over, it was a miracle she'd even gotten this far without starting to curse herself! From the lack of breaks, having to procure her own food and water from her emergency stores and eat it just like Molly would, and doing it all in boots with heels, it was a miracle that she'd been able to learn to walk at all! It had been a very, very long day and this was supposed to be the easy part!
"We've been at this for hours, Angel!" Aria complained as she sent a thought to her choker to check the time and groaned as she realized that they only had a half an hour left before they needed to start their way to the Hellraiser as she shifted out of looking like Molly and yawned as she stretched until she could hear a few bones pop and shift back into place as she put her normal, demon disguise on and thanked God that she no longer had four legs to stand on, anymore. "Look, it's almost time to go. Let's take a break and eat something and take a rest before we're past the point of no return. I'm exhausted! Anymore of this and I'm going to keel over! For what it's worth, I'm just glad I got the New York accent down on top of just learning how to move in this disguise! I have no idea how your sister can move so easily with four legs and not trip over something every five minutes!"
"That's not good enough!" Angel Dust cried out angrily as he sauntered over to her with far more grace than he had any right to be as he grabbed her by the front of her flapper dress and got right up in her face, lifting her up with surprising strength as Aria's eyebrows shot up in alarm! "If anything fucking happens to my little sister because we didn't rehearse long enough, it'll be both our fucking heads! I don't care what happens to ya as long as we save my little sister, but I'm not going to take anymore goddamn chances now that we're running outta time! Now fucking change back into Molly and fucking say the line again, damn it!"
"Whoa! Calm down, Angel! Freaking out about this right before the mission isn't going to help!" Aria insisted as calmly as she could muster, but it came out sounding far more alarmed and frantic than she would've liked as she put her hands over his to try and pry them off of her!
"Ya don't get it, do ya!" Angel spat as he shook her, the panic edging into his voice as Aria could almost see the mental strain this was having on Angel as he suddenly stopped and bared his teeth in frustration as he suddenly shoved her away, making her fall flat on her butt as she mumbled an "ow'' before she got herself back up, wincing a little as she rubbed her sore behind. "I'm the fucking screw up that got her into this mess! I just had to let slip that I had a sister a few months back because I overdosed on really good booze and drugs right after a long porn shoot! That smarmy, shithead, two-bit fucker I call my boss overheard me and, like a fucking idiot, I thought I was safe, since he didn't say anything for ages until he let slip a few days ago that he's inviting Molly to the after-party when the Hellraiser is over and insisted that I had to be there! He even went so far as to rub it in my face by telling me I could invite as many fuckers as I wanted to the party, since he likes a good game of hide and seek after the shit he has to deal with every Hellraiser! He's playing me and my family like a goddamn violin and enjoying every minute of it as I struggle to find a way to stop him from having his way with my little sis like he does every year to some poor shmuck stupid enough to talk about their personal life around him! So fuck you, ya bitch, if I'm a bit tense as I try my damndest to get ya ready for tonight so I can save my fucking sister before it's too late!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up! This kind of thing happens every year!?" Aria cried out in alarm, the panic in her voice spiking as she suddenly realized they were about to walk into a trap setup by Valentino, completely ignoring his jab at her as she felt herself break out into a cold sweat! "Does your dad know about this!?"
"Relax. We know about it," Arackniss said calmly as he walked into the room with two cups of coffee and a slice of pizza for each of them, which Angel barely looked at before huffing as he picked up a cup of joe from his brother and downed it way too fast as he paced the floor restlessly in his impossibly long, black boots, while Aria gratefully took the pizza, but politely declined the coffee as she ate with gusto. "Here. The Big Boss said you should eat something. As I said, The Big Boss and I are well aware of the risks and we've made our own counter-measures and then some. It ain't fool proof, but it'll have to do. Valentino knows we're coming, but we've got an ace up our sleeve. You. Ya play this right and we not only succeed in saving Molly, but Valentino will lose face and will have to honor our success and leave us alone. He'll look more like a fool if he tries to fuck with us if we succeed on this game of his, since it's public knowledge that he does this kind of shit every year, so whatever reprisal you're afraid will come for us if we succeed is unfounded. He wants this game. He gets so fucking bored every year trying to replace the souls he loses every year, so he started up this little game soon after he came into power. About a hundred years ago, I guess. Not that it matters."
Aria said nothing as she paused mid-bite, her mind taking in the information Arackniss had just willingly given to her before finishing her pizza. She was eyeing Angel Dust's slice, but before she could ask if she could have it, Angel took his plate from Arackniss and immediately threw the uneaten pizza in a nearby trash bin, making the bin snarl with glee as it gobbled up the slice before burping loudly with relish, making Aria stare at it in disbelief! Aria then slowly stared at Angel, aghast that he would waste food as he turned and suddenly grinned devilishly at her as he suddenly feigned surprise.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Did you want to eat that last slice of pizza? Ah well, too bad!" Angel Dust said in a mocking way, knowing exactly what he did as Aria frowned at Angel angrily as her stomach gurgled with hunger, making Angel suddenly burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Wow, Princess! Ya know, your body is just too honest for your own good! If this wasn't a one-time mission, I'd actually be pretty happy if you actually wanted to become a coworker of mine! You're just too much fun to tease! Too bad you're not a guy, or I'd really pull out all the stops to fuck with ya, and I really do mean 'fuck' with ya! Hey! Ya know, you can change into anyone, right? You wouldn't perhaps mind changing into a guy for me, now, would ya? I'd pay ya, of course!"
"You know, as fun as that sounds, there's thankfully a limit to what I can do," Aria said sarcastically as she physically shuddered at the idea as she felt suddenly nauseous at what Angel was boldly admitting to her as she sincerely hoped that he was just messing with her as she tried to think of anything else. "To quote an old friend of mine, 'Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.' In other words, as much as you'd like me to be a man, I physically can't be one because my spirit has always been female, no matter how powerful my transformation abilities are. I could act like a man, and even disguise myself with the clothing of a man, but as I've said, I've always been female and frankly, I'm incredibly comforted by that consistency. No offense."
"Tell that to my transgender friends, but I guess pickers can't be choosers when it comes to shapeshifters," Angel Dust said with a shrug as he smiled to himself as he took her cup of coffee and downed it with a sigh of satisfaction, making Aria raise an eyebrow at him as he bent over tantalizingly at her, making her flush scarlet with shock as she caught the sight of very pink underwear that barely managed to cover his unmentionables, making her look away quickly with embarrassment! "I can tell, however, that you aren't being completely honest with yourself. Sure, I think you really do believe all this shit about gender, and you actually believe all this bullshit about being some goody two-shoes princess, but the bottom line is, if you could actually change into a man, you'd definitely want a piece of this action right here! You know, you could just make this audition to work with Mr. Valentino a permanent thing, you know, and get a discount for one night only with me! It might actually be kinda fun if I get to see you squirm and blush even worse than this, but it'll cost you double after that."
"You think I'd want to work for Valentino just to get to you?" Aria asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the very idea of it as she thought of her time under the stage as she laughed joylessly at the idea as she folded her arms and shook her head at Angel as she refused to look at him. "I'd rather get murdered a second time, thanks."
"Your loss!" Angel commented with a smirk before Alastor suddenly popped in out of nowhere, nearly giving Aria a heart attack as she jumped badly at his sudden appearance!
"Alright, my dear! Are you ready to be off? Mr. Ragno would like to be at the Hellraiser on time, and I can tell you right now that he shares my need for punctuality!" Alastor insisted with a grin as his radio background played the trumpet call like she was in the Derby, making her feel like a piece of horse flesh as she rolled her eyes at him.
"This isn't a race, Alastor! It's more like the riskiest game of hide and go seek I'll ever get to play," Aria commented as she yawned, again, wishing that she could take a quick nap as she suddenly remembered something as she placed a hand on Alastor's shoulder to get his attention, but he quickly pulled away, making her look at him as a stab of hurt momentarily passed through her before she continued her train of thought. "I just wanted to let you know that I think it would be best for me to not walk in there as Molly or myself. If I put on my normal face and my cover is blown in some way, I honestly wouldn't want them to know my actual face. If I have a completely different face, however, then if I need to get away quickly, I can go back to my normal self without anyone being wiser about it. It'd also guarantee that it would be harder for them to track me down if I had to suddenly get away."
"That's a very wise decision, my dear, but make sure to let me know the short list of people you may turn into because we will also have a hard time keeping tabs on you, so you'd better let me know now before we join Mr. Ragno," Alastor answered jovially enough, making Aria wonder what had made him pull away from her so quickly as she remembered too late that Niffty had warned her that he didn't like to be touched.
"I'll need to know as well, my lady Aria!" Damian announced as he walked in with that sparkling grin of his as he tried to lock her into an embrace, but she managed to avoid it before he got a good grip on her. "It would be unwise to make your handsome bodyguard pine for your presence, leaving you utterly defenseless!"
"How many times do I need to remind you and Alastor that I'm not completely useless?" Aria asked in exasperation, the idea of having this overbearing, lovesick water demon with her as she poked around Valentino's place unnerving her as she waved a hand and made a notepad appear, along with a simple, white pen as she started to write down the few faces she felt comfortable enough to wear. "Here. I'll keep the list short. If you don't see me as myself or Molly, I'm either going to be the bird demon I was when Arackniss got photos of me, a large snake, or a very large greyhound. Just don't attack any snakes or dogs tonight, okay?"
"Surely you could come up with something far more agreeable to be than a dog, Miss Aria," Alastor said with a sneer as if something rank had just passed under his nose, making Aria cock her head to one side in confused curiosity at Alastor's comment, while Arackniss and Angel started a whispered conversation that involved looking over at Damian every so often. "Dogs are just so common and filthy that to be one sounds like a Hell in itself!"
"I just wanted something that could help me get away from a dangerous situation fast, but if you don't particularly like dogs, I guess I could be a unusually large cat, instead," Aria said distractedly, becoming more curious as Alastor looked far more thrilled at her suggestion as his body visibly relaxed, making her suddenly wonder at his reaction.
"Why, yes, my dear! I think that list will do quite nicely!" Alastor agreed with a wide smile as he whirled her on the spot and physically started to push her out the door, making Aria hesitate as she suddenly realized that this was really happening! "Off you go and change into your new face quickly, then, before we're seen by outsiders! It would also help if you would remember to put on that lovely smile of yours!"
"Wait a minute! I'm not ready!" Aria suddenly blurted out, the sweat beading on her brow as she was physically manhandled out of the empty room she was in as she found herself in the hallway that was very close to Mr. Ragno's private office. "I need to prepare!"
"Ha! Who's freaking out about needing more practice now, bitch?" Angel goaded, his snarky grin getting on her nerves as she angrily restrained herself from shoving Angel out of her face as Alastor still succeeded in overpowering her constant, reluctant pulling as they made their way through with Arackniss as their guide.
"Alastor, please! I need five more minutes! Just give me five more minutes!" Aria pleaded as Arackniss still led them through red doors and multiple stairwells until he opened a red door before them that led to a garage that sported three very clean black limos not unlike the one they'd taken earlier that day.
"You've had your preparations, my dear, but if you need a moment to yourself, I'll give you all the time you need on the way to the Hellraiser!" Alastor replied quickly without a trace of concern on his smiling face as he suddenly pushed her into the open door of the foremost limo and slammed the door behind her! "Alright! Take her away, my good man!"
"Got it, Mr. Alastor!" A fly guy at the wheel of Aria's limo called out as Aria found herself alone in the back of the limo as a garage door opened in front of her, making her look back to see what was going on as Alastor and Damian entered the furthermost limo with The Big Boss, while Arackniss, Angel Dust, and a bunch of fly guys piled into the middle limo.
"THIS ISN'T WHAT I HAD IN MIND!" Aria yelled loudly in near panic as her limo took off, throwing her off balance as it raced through Pentagram City, making Aria lose track of the other two limos very quickly as they drove away onto unknown roads. "ALASTOR!"
There was no answer. The only sound she could hear was her very loud breathing as she fought against the urge to hyperventilate and failed! The panic was severe as she realized too late that she'd been assuming that Alastor would've stayed with her during this very dangerous mission of hers, but of course, that was against the plan they'd been hatching all day. As far as Alastor was concerned, he was sitting this one out as Aria hit the floor of the limo hard as she cursed at herself and her own stupidity!
Aria fought to know what to do as she prayed for the Lord to help her calm down as she trembled and shook helplessly in the limo. The Stage and so many other, horrible memories were flooding her system, paralyzing her with fear as her prayers became frantic, fragmented, and full of terror! Her past was clouding her judgment as the limo kept racing on, completely heedless to her mental breakdown. If she didn't get a hold of herself before she got to her destination, she was going to fail the mission before it even started!
"GOD, HELP ME!" Aria screamed as she hit the floor of the limo again before she broke down crying, knowing that she wasn't anywhere safe, secure, or comforting as she hungered for someone to hold her and tell her she could do this as her fears strangled her to the point where she could hardly breath!
She wept and gasped for air for quite a while before the ocean of doubts and fears slowly began to be pierced with thoughts she hadn't considered during her most traumatic experiences. As each debilitating memory came over her, a tender, warm voice she knew reminded her of her strength and resilience during each event. She was reminded of her courage when hope was lost when she was forced to learn pole dancing, the hope she held onto when her life was about to end at the edge of a scalpel, and now the real possibility of facing so many threats that could do all those things, but end her permanently. It terrified her, but that warm voice inside her insisted she could do this.
"I can't!" Aria cried out to herself, struggling to feel anything other than fear as she summoned a tissue from her emergency supplies as she blew her nose pathetically!
The warm voice was insistent and she struggled inside her soul to understand how to believe that, when all she could see and feel was this dark place she was trapped in! She knew she'd faced worse, but the reality of getting erased, or worse, living the life of The Stage for all eternity, was tearing her apart! What if she failed to save Molly and got captured by Valentino in the process? What if everything she'd faced under The Stage happened to her again? To be this close to that horrible lifestyle she was forced to live during her mortal life sent shock waves through her soul! How could she move forward, when all she felt was terrible, paralyzing dread!?
The warm voice kept insisting that she'd be alright, that she could do this, that she could face this with courage, not fear. Aria mentally yelled at the voice, asking it how it could be so confident about that!? The voice was calm and steady as it told her that she already knew that answer.
The voice was right. She already knew the answer and she both loved and hated the voice for pointing that out to her. She was just so used to the reaction of fear, doubt, and dread that it felt insane to be calm about her situation despite knowing better. It was a very bad habit she'd thought she'd conquered on Earth, but it looked like she still had a lot of growing to do as she groaned mentally and physically to herself.
"How can it be okay for me to walk into this calmly!?" Aria asked tensely, her voice breaking in the middle of the sentence as she waited for the warm voice to answer. "It sounds insane! Am I supposed to just go into this skipping merrily like some happy-go-lucky idiot!? I'm not doing that! That kind of thing is only going to get me killed and I'm not going to listen until you give me a better reason on why it's such a good idea!"
The warm voice then answered her question with two questions and a statement, giving her pause. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how stupid her fear had been. Wiping her tears and breathing deeply, she suddenly realized that she didn't feel afraid anymore, but instead felt a ray of hope fill her soul as she felt herself begin to breathe easier. Wondering at her newfound ability to think calmly without a trace of panic, she thought of what her inner voice had asked and said.
Who said you needed permission to face this calmly and without fear? Aren't you allowed to face this with a sense of peace, knowing who stands by you even now? You can face this, Aria, as long as you remember that love is who you are and forgiveness will be the key to maintaining your sense of peace. You are guiltless and so is everyone else here. That doesn't mean that mercy can rob justice, so understand that everyone here is paying the price for what their actions have done to others and themselves on Earth. There must be consequences for the evils they've done, but that being said, it's time you forgave yourself and others and see them for who they really are despite all that they've done. They are far more than the evils that they've done and that they just need to be loved and forgiven, even though they don't deserve it. You already know that, though, so please quit listening to Minor and her negative influence, and just trust me on this, okay?