In the aftermath of the Hotel's first redemption. Charlie thinks and wonders why she doesn't feel as elated as she had expected. It's everything she ever wished for.
It wasn't anything like she'd thought it would be – the first redemption. Maybe she had expected more of a show, a spectacle – lights, clouds, fantastic colours. Like she'd often sung about.
But, really, it was noteworthy enough.
...
The particular patient had been a thief in life. In just the past few days he'd begun being charitable of his own earnest violation.
Today, in the middle of lunch, a shade clad in plain robes had appeared (at first Charlie mistook him for one of Al's shadows), proffered a lily to the fidgeting demon and declared I come to bring you to the second kingdom, where you may continue to cleanse your soul.
Something, unseen & unheard, reverberated through the hotel (out in a shockwave across Pentagram City) – and sinner and shade were gone.
...
Now, Charlie makes her way numbly to her and Vaggie's suite.
Alastor is probably crowing from his radio tower all about the upset to Hell's taken-for-granted status quo. Vaggie will be downstairs corralling the uproarious guests, invigorated with palpable victory and sheer relief. Katie Killjoy's shrill bluster is muffled but audible from within several rooms.
She ought to feel elated. Her project has succeeded. She's proven the naysayers wrong, and that the Exterminations need never happen again.
So why does Charlie feel empty? One redeemed sinner can be, will be, followed by more. The hotel has more residents.
Those residents include her friends. Her love.
One day, she is going to have to say goodbye to them.
...
Charlie crumples against the wall and starts to cry.
A/N: I'm sorry Charlie :-(
I drew inspiration and appropriated a line from Dante's Purgatorio, Canto I, lines 4–9. The shade is implied to be Nicholas of Tolentino, a 13th century Italian saint who is invoked as an advocate for souls in Purgatory. Lily flowers are often associated with him.
Since it seems like Heaven isn't portrayed as all-good in the Hazbin universe (that Heaven sends Exorcist angels down specifically to cull Hell's population on a regular basis is a dead ringer), I'm curious whether purgatory (if it exists) could, in its neutrality, be a more welcoming place for rehabilitating Hellward souls. That I think would be an interesting concept to see explored.