Imagine if you can your entire world falling apart right before your eyes, all happening so suddenly and so fast you can't do anything but watch. The pain you would feel, the trauma it would cause, and the overwhelming emotions that come with it all would be enough to break anyone. Truly the only way something of that nature could ever be worse is if it was your fault, if the blame for this devastation to all you cherished was due to your actions. This was something the king and queen of Hell were experiencing, as they had just watched what could have easily been their daughter's death.
Even though for the denizens of Hell death was only permanent should they die at the hands of the exterminators or the Slayer, they still did not want their daughter to ever go through that kind of agony. But the reasons why both felt responsible for what had happened were not the same, Lucifer felt guilty for it was his poor leadership that led to the Slayer even being sent here, where as Lilith felt her guilt due to having hired the people who nearly ended Charlie's life. Yet neither of them said anything about this to each other or even their daughter, for after the insanity had finally come to it's end with the death of Katie Killjoy, they rushed to the studio to make sure she was alright.
Which thankfully did not take very long, for while they could not be in the studio per the former news anchor's terms, this didn't mean they couldn't stay in the lobby and watch the interview from there.
Sadly their princess was currently in a state of shock, one so extreme that even with Vagatha by her side trying to snap her out of it, she remained wide eyed and silent. This only made the guilt each of her parents had in their souls worsen, resulting in a completely silent ride back to the hotel once they all managed to get her to the limo. As for the Slayer and where he was none of them knew, though as one could expect that really wasn't the biggest concern on their minds right now.
"There you go, just have a seat there and I'll get you something to drink." Vagatha said in a soft and gentle way, as she helped Charlie sit down.
Although not in a comatose like state nor being completely unresponsive, Charlie still did very little in the way of moving or reacting, which only made all three of them more concerned.
"Do you two want anything?" Vagatha asked her parents, looking to them as she did.
"No...but thank you for asking..." Lilith barely responded, as both she and her husband were too fixated on their daughter and their own thoughts.
Simply nodding for she wasn't really in the mood to talk herself, Vagatha left them alone to make some tea in the hopes it would soothe Charlie's nerves. Now alone with their daughter they both wanted to sit beside her, to do everything they could possibly think of to try and bring her out of this state, and tell her how sorry they were that things got to this point. Yet they didn't, whether it was due to their guilt or just the weight of facing their failure they stood right where they were, nearly as silent and motionless as she was. For the next several minutes with Vagatha out of the room there was just silence, the kind one would find in a graveyard in the dead of night.
And it was because of this silence that when a knock was heard from the door, it sounded as though someone were banging against it's surface, at least to Lucifer and Lilith's ears.
"I'll get it." Lucifer volunteered, for after staying still and quiet for so long he needed some distraction.
Walking over and opening the door the king of Hell wouldn't even get a chance to ask who it was, as the moment the door was open a microphone was shoved into his face.
"Hello there princess Charlie! my name is-" A voice sounding as though it were coming from a speaker began to say, only to stop once it's owner realized who opened the door "Oh, why hello there Lucifer."
Recognizing that voice as no other denizen of his Hell possessed it, Lucifer slowly looked beyond the microphone to see none other than the man known as "The Radio Demon" standing before him.
"Alastor." He greeted, as he pushed the microphone away from his face, "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Why, I've come to speak with your daughter Lucie!" Alastor answered, as he positioned his microphone cane in front of him, "I was minding my own business walking through the city, when I happened to walk by a store window and saw your daughter talking to that gas mask wearing masochist Tom Trench!" He exclaimed.
"Um...alright? I still don't see how that explains you coming here to see Charlie." He countered.
"Well, to tell you the truth I was going to keep walking, but then HE appeared!" Alastor exclaimed with a grin, causing the other's eyes to widen "His speed, his strength, his BRUTALITY, it was all so extraordinary! so I was hoping your daughter could introduce me to him and we could discuss some things!" He explained.
Upon hearing this Lucifer pushed Alastor back from the door and walked out as well, closing the door behind him as he did so.
"Alastor, listen to me." He began, adorning the most serious expression he could muster, "Ever since you first arrived and you made a name for yourself you have had my respect, as well as my wife's and every other high ranking demon in Hell who you did not kill, which is exactly why I am going to tell you out of respect to WALK. AWAY." He told him, trying to be as firm as possible.
"My my Lucifer, I've never seen you so worked up before." Alastor noted, as another grin spread across his face "This must mean whoever your daughter's business partner is, he's something special." He reasoned.
"Alastor I am telling you this for the sake of your health, if you do not want to die, and I mean ACTUALLY fucking die, then you will forget you ever saw what you did, you'll go find something else to entertain you, and you will never come back here EVER again." Lucifer warned.
Remaining silent for a moment as to think it over, Alastor was noticing how genuinely panicked he was getting as this conversation continued, which was something he'd never thought he'd see from the devil. Sadly this only intensified his interest, for Alastor was the very definition of chaotic evil and even if it went against the will of Hell's own ruler, he would still pursue it to satiate his need for fun.
"Tell me something Lucie, who is he?" He asked, as he leaned in so they could be closer, "You seem to know a lot about this individual, and whoever he is has managed to get under your skin, and despite what some people say you do have VERY thick skin, so what could he have possibly done to make you so upset hm?" He asked.
Starting to get annoyed even though he was well aware of his persistence, Lucifer feeling his hands ball into fists out of frustration was running out of patience swiftly. But before he could try to
reason with him again, or perhaps even let his irritation out and shout at the demon, both men would come to a pause as the sound of a speeding vehicle approaching them could be heard. Looking at the road they found a channel 666 news van coming towards the hotel, arriving within a matter of seconds due to the speed it was travelling. Continuing to keep their focus on the vehicle as the doors opened and several people poured out, they were both soon approached by none other than Tom Trench himself.
"Lord Lucifer!" He greeted, as he hurried over and grabbed onto his hands in order to shake them, "Allow me to be the first one to tell you how GRATEFUL I am to you and your family!" He exclaimed.
"...What?" Lucifer asked simply, allowing the news anchor to shake his arms as though they were limp noodles.
"Your daughter's business partner, the man with the guns and the green armor? he did us a HUGE favor!" He answered, as he finally ended the one sided handshake.
"By killing that horrid woman I presume?" Alastor questioned, putting himself into the conversation.
"Of course! that bitch made all of our lives a living Hell! no pun intended, and I wanted to express our gratitude to him, her, and you!" He explained.
"Oh...well, thank you I guess, but this really isn't the best time..." Lucifer tried to say, as the other members of the station were busy setting up equipment.
"I know I know your daughter's interview was ruined because of Katie, and also because of her she almost had a spotlight dropped on her head, which I cannot stress how sorry we are for that." He replied, before gesturing to the van "But that's why we're here! I and the rest of the crew out of appreciation want to finish the interview! and if possible take a tour of the hotel to help promote it!" He explained.
For a moment Lucifer was at a loss for words, as he never would have expected this kind of reaction to what the Slayer had done, in fact he expected the literal opposite in every way possible. But the surprises would not stop there, for before he or Alastor could say something else a new voice would speak up, one he immediately recognized as they had been in the studio during the interview.
"E-Excuse me, Lord Lucifer?" A female imp, the wife of the man who almost killed his daughter asked, as she poked her head out from within the van.
"What. is she. doing here?" Lucifer asked slowly, as his anger quickly began to return.
"Lord Lucifer, try to remain calm." Tom Trench spoke, as she got out of the van and cautiously walked over.
"Remain calm?! her husband nearly killed my fucking daughter!" He shouted in response, with such ferocity and fury it brought everyone else to a halt.
"That's why I came here." She replied, gaining his attention.
Looking down at her Lucifer walked passed the news anchor and stopped right in front of her, so that way they could be staring into each other's eyes.
"You have one chance to not die here and now, do not waste it." He told her, his glare nearly as
intense as the Slayer's in this moment.
"You have every right to be mad with me and my husband, I know that if someone tried to kill him I'd be furious too, but that's exactly why I am here, that man could have killed my Moxxie, and he would have had every right to do so for we nearly killed your daughter, but he didn't and for that me and my husband are grateful beyond words, which is why we want to be the first residents of her hotel." She explained, hoping that would be enough for him.
Waiting in suspense for what his next action would be, where as everyone else was hoping he wouldn't kill her, Alastor on the other hand was hoping for the opposite, as he'd never seen Lucifer use his powers and was quite excited at the idea. And while yes, Lucifer did want to kill her, he wanted to kill both her and her husband and make sure their souls would linger in endless torment for what had happened, but this was the fatherly side of him, and he could not give in to it. For he could see in her eyes that this wasn't some kind of trick, that she wasn't just lying out of her ass to try and save their lives, she was as genuine and sincere as anyone could possibly be and if he were to kill her it would insult the whole purpose of the hotel.
"I'm not going to forgive you, I can't, not yet." He told her firmly, as a sigh escaped him "But, if you are serious about coming to the hotel, to try and redeem both of your souls in order to ascend, then I can at the very least welcome you to do so." He said while closing his eyes.
After his sentence was through he would suddenly feel something press against his legs, and as he looked down to see what it was he found her hugging him, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes as she did.
"Thank you lord Lucifer! I promise we won't let you down!" She assured him, before letting go and running back to the van to call her husband.
Once again stunned enough to the point he was at a loss for words, in spite of his anger he couldn't keep a small smile from coming to his face due to her response.
"I'm surprised Lucifer." Alastor spoke, having walked over to stand beside him once that was over, "I know how much you care for your daughter, and how you would do anything to protect her, so why let them live?" He asked, as everyone else got back to work setting up the equipment.
"Because Alastor, if we are going to make this hotel work we have to be willing to give people a chance, no matter how much we may be against it or how likely we believe they are to succeed, we have to be willing to try." He answered.
"You don't honestly believe that is possible do you? for even I know that there has never once been a redeemed soul in the history of Hell." Alastor said.
"Before yesterday I would have agreed with you, I would have said this entire thing was a waste of time, and that my daughter needed to learn and accept that." He replied, before turning to face him, "But then her business partner arrived, and if you are going to be so determined to speak with him then you can learn for yourself why I have completely changed my stance on this matter, but right now I need to go back inside and check on my family." He told him, as he walked away.
Leaving the red clad radio demon by himself, Alastor put a hand to his chin in contemplation.
"Whoever this mystery man is he's getting all of Hell in a buzz, even that little imp thinks highly of him, truly something that is certainly worth my time~" He thought to himself, as yet another big fang filled grin appeared on his face.
When one thinks of space the first thing that comes to mind is the lack of gravity, and how everything despite it's weight on a planet can be light as a feather in it's endless domain. And while the idea of having no weight to one's self, being able to flip and spin so carefree in the air sounds appealing, the truth is it can be just as equally terrifying. For imagine if you were suddenly thrust into this situation, without any warning and without any indication of where you were, your mind would be overtaken by panic and fear instead of joy and amazement. To make matters ever worse however, is if you soon were to realize you were not alone in this void.
This was the fate for a demon once known as Katie Killjoy, the last thing she remembered was feeling a great deal of pain as something pierced her flesh, before everything then going numb as a loud booming sound suddenly rang out. A few moments after this she found herself waking up in a true nothingness, there were no lights, no sounds, no objects or environment of any kind. Even as she tried her best to scream nothing came out, when she tried to walk or move in some way she simply remained where she was, and so after spending who knows how long struggling to do anything, she was left to break down in an entirely silent sob of frustration and despair. That is when they appeared, at first they seemed like distant lights in the darkness, but soon they grew closer and she saw they were actually flames, burning inside flesh of horrors she had never seen before.
They varied in size and appearance with very few having any similarities to another, and as they drew closer to her she could feel their overwhelming power begin to come over her. And with it came the most horrid and agonizing sensation she had ever felt, a feeling of burning that was unlike anything a typical fire could cause, it made her entire body bend and contort as she cried out in suffering, though just like her tears they were all but silent. Then a new light appeared and it was different from theirs, for the moment it came forward these monsters returned to the darkness from whence they came, leaving her alone to be embraced by it entirely.
"Soul transference is complete." A voice, one she could vaguely recall spoke, as it was soon followed by several other noises all reaching her ears.
But it would not just be sound that would return to her senses, as soon she could feel something cold almost freezing pressing against her, which in light of the burning she felt just moments before was truly like heaven.
"It may be some time before she is stable enough to speak, even though her interactions with the others was brief, their power was still far too much for her to handle." The voice spoke again, seeming to be talking to someone.
Doing her best to try and open even just one eye to see what was going on and where she was, she was still far too weak from the torment she had endured and thus remained still.
"As for the other demon who arrived yesterday they have also been unresponsive, should I put them back with the others?" It asked.
Expecting to hear the voice of whoever they were talking to, Katie was met only with a chilling silence before they spoke again.
"Understood, would you also like me to add him to the Ripatorium's selection? or would you rather he stay in stasis?" It asked.
Once again being responded with a chilling silence, with the one sided conversation coming to a conclusion, the only thing that was left to be heard was the sound of footsteps walking away.
"W-Wait...is...that..." She tried to remember, only to fall into slumber due to her exhaustion.