AN: And we have a new chapter. I can safely say we are around or close to the halfway point of this fic. We're starting the romance angle right now but we'll not quite there yet. However, things are going to get more intense. Enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel. Spiroz, Milton, and Mitzy belongs to Artist DaniDraws whose permission I have to use for this fic. Hedwig is my OC however.
It took about three months for everything to die down, but eventually, the attempts to get Spiroz punished for what happened to Fizzarolli had begun to settle down. One thing about Hell that everyone was grateful for was that demons had short attention spans, especially when others tried to use the distraction to make power plays. Eventually, Hell returned to being what it was, and Spiroz could go outside without worrying about a sniper trying to take his head off. Octavia was able to continue working at court, and I.M.P. was able to continue business as usual. However, Spiroz school had refused to take him back because too many families were complaining about having him as a student again and threatening to revoke their kids in mass if something wasn't done. So Spiroz no longer went to school and was homeschooled again.
If anything, that was a plus in his book. Not only did he avoid bullying, but he also had an easier time hanging out with Hedwig by saying he was going into his room to study. With the truth of their origins out in the air, they had grown closer. Practically every day was either a meeting in the human world or texting each other late at night. Something both their respective stalking groups had noticed. Octavia, Loona, Milton, and Mitzy took turns watching them and making sure the two were okay, while Hedwig's brothers did the same. Yet, it was becoming evident from how they looked at each other, touched each other's hands, and looked lost when gazing into each other's expressions that they were falling for each other.
Angel and demon romances were not unheard of but were considered very rare and often hated for the concept of it, especially in Hell. While Hedwig's parents might be okay with it if it ever came out, considering her mother was a former demon before redeeming herself, there was a different story with Blitzo and Stolas. Both Octavia and Loona knew their fathers hated angels, and they feared what would happen if Blitzo and Stolas knew that not only was their son friends with one, but he was romantically getting involved with her. Even if he still didn't know it.
Loona, sitting on the couch watching T.V. with Spiroz, could only sigh to herself and wonder why her little brother couldn't just befriend and love a human instead. It would have been so much less dramatic. Spiroz, bored, turned to his sister and asked, "Is there anything else on?"
"Eh, let's try the movie channel," Loona said as she turned the channel. Two humans appeared, the male being blond and the female being a brunette were about to kiss while in a romantic embrace when the male human stopped and stared at the woman in eye-wide horror.
"You! You're not Sylvia!" He then tore off her head, which was revealed to be a mask, showing some alien creature with a giant elephant-like head, big teeth, and multiple eyes on thin tentacles coming out was the female's real identity. "You're one of the Kung-Fu Creatures On The Rampage...Two!"
"On second thought, never mind," Loona siad as she turned the T.V. off and tossed the remote away. "Ugh, every channel across different realms of existence and still nothing good. Why is T.V. popular again?"
"We could always go out," Spiroz suggested with a shrug. "Wanna go to the human world? I know a good mall that the twins and I go to once in a while."
"Sure, you can bring them along if you want," Loona sat up on the couch and made her way to the stairs. "I'll go get ready. You give them a buzz."
Spiroz was about to do so when he got a call from Hedwig and quickly checked to make sure nobody was around to hear him. Accepting the ring, he answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Spiro. Doing okay?"
"Yeah," Spiroz whispered with a smile. "I'm fine. What's up?"
"I finally got out of cram school and want to do something fun. Are you free to hang out?" Hedwig asked.
Sighing, Spiroz answered, "Can't. I'm about to hang out with my sister and friends in the human world. Besides, it's been a while since the four of us have done anything. How about tomorrow, Hedwig?"
"Sure! I'll find something else to do instead for today. Have fun!" Hedwig said before ending the call.
Spiroz sighed as he got up and made his way to the main hall before accidentally bumping into one of the imp servants. "Oh, sorry about that."
"No worries, Prince Spiroz," The imp said with a kind tone before going on his way. He checked that the prince wasn't watching him, and his smile turned to a frown upon seeing him heading up the stairs.
Hurrying over to a nearby closet, he opened the door and closed it behind him before getting his cell phone. Dialing a number, he waited for the ringing to end until there was a voice at the end.
"Yes"
"Lord Asmodeus," The imp spoke with a smirk. "He's finally leaving the house."
"Where and when."
"A mall in the human world. I know where it is since his father likes to go there for his horse collection hobby. I'll text you the coordinates."
"Good. You'll be handsomely rewarded as promised."
"One other thing you should know about," The imp said with a curious look. "He was talking to some friend of his previously that I didn't even know existed. As far as I know, the half-breed only hung out with his family and those twin children of his father's coworkers."
"Does this friend have a name?"
"Hedwig. Didn't get a surname."
"I'll look into it. For now, keep playing the spy."
The call ended as the imp put his phone away, zipped out of the closet, and continued his duties as if nothing had happened.
"Ugh, what am I going to do..." Hedwig groaned as she flopped onto her bed. Hanging out with Spiroz was her only hope of doing something to sustain her boredom. She was done with cram school, and a holiday was coming up, so it was going to be too busy for anyone to hang out with. Eyeing her computer, she pondered about writing more of her demonology papers but several of them had hit brick walls in the writing department and she needed Spiroz to help her with the rest.
"Besides, the only one I've so far completed is his own," Hedwig whispered to herself as she walked over to her desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a framed photo. It showed her and the imp-owl hybrid she can come to see as her best friend making funny faces in one of the photo booths back on Earth. They turned into their standard forms for it, showing her wings ticking Spiroz in the front while he lit her halo on fire with a fire spell (they were more durable than most realized) as the two giggled at their fun.
Hedwig took a moment to focus on Spiroz's face and smiled warmly upon seeing how cute he was with such joy in his eyes and his feathery face's beak wide with a toothy grin. This only made her miss him more and cursed fate for not giving them the time to hang out. Tomorrow feels so long.
A knock on the door made Hedwig quickly put the photo away before turning to her door with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Come in!"
Opening the door, she saw her father, Zenikel, walk inside with a curious look on his face. One thing that Hedwig had shared with her brothers was that none of them carried the looks of their father, who was an angelic Tyto Owl yet one would mistake him for a hawk based on his build. He was brown feathered save for his inner stomach feathers and face, which was white, while black spots decorated his enormous wings. His head was very similar to that of Tyto owls, yet behind that stern look of pure narrow-minded glaring were the eyes of a gentle soul who cared for his flock greatly. That didn't mean he wouldn't protect them with the wrath of a dragon, as he was pretty big with muscles that would make any bodybuilder jealous. Wearing his white and golden button shirt and pants, Zenikel walked over to his daughter and smiled at her. "Hello, my Sweetwing. How are you?"
"I'm fine, Dad," Hedwig answered while blushing at the nickname he had given her since she was born. It was another thing she and Spiroz had in common. "Hey, do you want to do something today? My friends are too busy, and I've got nothing to do now that cram school is done."
"Sorry, dear. I'm afraid there is an important meeting I need to attend in half an hour," Zenikel sighed with an apologetic glance.
"Military matters?"
"General Alina's birthday."
"Ah. Wait, isn't she the one who got so drunk that she tried proclaiming her love to Lord Gabriel while wearing a toga in the middle of the night?" Hedwig asked, tilting her head.
"Yes, and we're making sure that we only use soda for this party this time," Zenikel sighed as she shook his head. "But anyway, ask your brothers if they are free. Last I checked, they were watching TV with bored expressions on their faces."
"I guess, but if they want to play Catan again, I'm just going to knock myself out for eight hours," Hedwig grumbled. She saw her father about to leave when a thought came to her. "Hey, Dad? When did you know that...you liked Mom?"
"... Who's the boy I have to threaten to castrate?" Zenikel growled with his eyes glaring pure white as Hedwig blushed.
"W-Wait! It's not like that...um..." Hedwig waved her hands a bit out of nervousness before remembering something. "I was just reading about Nephalem. Children between angels and demons? I was looking into the chemical reaction process of love stimulus between the two, and I wanted to know if such a thing was similar between you and Mom due to her being a former demon and all?"
Zeniken just raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Okay, maybe you do need a boyfriend and start dating if you're going to go that intense with your demonology hobby. Seriously, you're starting to become a shut-in that will marry your books before you turn six hundred."
"Just answer the question!" Hedwig shouted while huffing with her cheeks pouting.
Sighing, Zeniken had a wonderous smile as he looked at his daughter with soft eyes. "Honestly, I remember feeling how much I connected with her rather so easily when we first met. It's hard to explain, but I felt like...no, I needed to spend every waking moment with her to get to know her. Her ins, outs, and all of who she was and what she wanted to be. A fire inside of me wasn't going out, and I wanted it to spread. We became friends very quickly, but that wasn't enough. I wanted to be more with her. Something special. Something Heaven couldn't even give me but her alone. I didn't care that she was a former demon. Her personality, her feelings, her empathy, and kindness? It was all I needed to know about her to see that she was a good person. I honestly think I would have loved her even if she wasn't an angel. And when I finally took that step into confessing my love, she returned it, and I felt...I guess more complete than I ever did. It's like feeling God's eternal love for a second time. And since then, all I've ever wanted in life has come from the bond we share." He then walked over and kissed his daughter on the cheek. "And from the wonderful family that we've had from that love."
"Aww, that's sweet, Dad," Hedwig said as she frowned. And...also sounds...or should I say...feels what I've been feeling for a while...
"Anyway, you sure this isn't about some boy? Or a girl? I won't be picky so long as they're not trying to become one of the Angels of Death after school. Seriously, most of them are just depressing to meet outside of their jobs, and all they do is tell morbid jokes," Zeniken grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "Like I like a little grimdark humor here and there but not like Rick and Morty levels. That show is so overrated."
"I...I... I'm going to go see what Elrohir and Elladan are up to and ask if they want to go to the mall!" Hedwig shouted before flying as fast as possible out of her room.
Her father watched her before chuckling to himself. "They grow up so fast."
Hedwig skitted into the room where she saw her twin brothers watching TV with bored expressions on their couch before she rushed towards them. Placing her hands on their shoulders to get their attention, she quickly said, "Hey, guys! Been a while since we hung out! Let's go to the mall and be best siblings, 'kay?!"
"Um, okay, but we want to see what's coming up next on the movie channel," Elladan said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, if it's boring, then I have no problems with that," Elrohir said as the movie started on the TV screen.
"You! You're not Sylvia! You're one of the Kung-Fu Creatures on the Rampage...Two!"
The twins looked at each other and their sister before saying, "Let's go."
It didn't take long for Milton and Mitzy to arrive, and in less than a heartbeat, they were at a mall near the border of the town Spiroz and Hedwig liked to visit together. They were all in their human disguises when they walked into the entrance. However, like every group of friends at the mall, there was disagreement on what to do first.
"Come on, the music store is right around the corner, and I want to get several new albums," Loona complained. Despite being the oldest and the legal adult among them, she still acted like a teenager from time to time.
"Well, I didn't have breakfast because somebody thought it would be nice to test her new grenade launcher on the fridge," Milton said while glaring at a whistling Mitzy. "So I'd like to go to the food court first.
"Personally, I want to go to Barnes and Noble's," Spiroz said as he raised his hand. "There are several new books I want to check out."
"And I just want to head to the arcade and try to beat my Silent Scope 2 score," Mitzy answered with a grin. "Daddy said if I'm good enough as a shot, he can take me hunting next week."
"Ducks or deers?" Spiroz asked, tilting his head.
"Hippies!" Mitzy answered cheerfully.
"Hippies aren't animals," Loona pointed out.
"Well, they're not exactly human either," Mitzy replied.
Spiroz was about to say something when his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Oh, shit! Is that?!
On the other side of the mall, crossing over from the other entrance, was Hedwig in her human form while two twin-looking humans were beside her. Both wore black jeans with a red and blue shirt while having the same long garage band style light brown hair covering half of their face in opposite directions. It didn't take Spiroz even a minute to realize that they must have been Hedwig's twin brothers with her.
"Spiroz?" The hybrid demon snapped out of his horrified state as Loona snapped her fingers in his face. "You okay?"
"Uhhh, you know what! I changed my mind! Let's get some music! I could use a few new K-Pop Albums!" Spiroz shouted while blushing.
"Phht!" The three other demons snorted and started laughing as they pointed at him in disbelief.
Milton nearly fell to his knees before gasping for air. "You listen to K-Pop?! What the fuck?! Bwahahahaha!"
"S-Shut up," Spiroz muttered. The truth was he wasn't the biggest fan of K-Pop, but Hedwig loved the genre and always played it wherever she could and tried to get Spiroz to listen to it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't his thing. He was more into classical music. "I don't make fun of your music. Let's just go already."
The buzzing in Hedwig's pocket alerted her that she had a text coming in, and she welcomed the distraction. She looked at her brothers, who were arguing about what to do first at the mall: Check out the F.Y.E. or head over to Dave and Buster's, and rolled her eyes. Just as her brothers started having a slap fight, she took out her phone and saw the text was from Spiroz. Blushing, she read it and tilted her head at the message:
-Look Up.
She did so and gasped upon seeing Spiroz, in his human disguise, waving his hand frantically in the air while walking behind a group of three others while heading to the nearby music store. He pointed at them and then at the phone, making her look down quickly.
-With my sister and friends! They cannot find out about us!
Hedwig quickly texted back.
-I'm with my brothers! We just got here! I can't leave now; it would look suspicious!
-Damnit! Okay, we'll keep in contact to ensure they don't meet!
-But we're both in disguise. That should help.
-We shouldn't take any chances.
-Okay, I'll suggest we head over to get some coffee at the Starbucks. It's far away from where you are.
-Okay, thanks. Talk later.
Hedwig sighed and facepalmed at how bad her luck was. She turned around and cleared her throat. "Hey, numbskulls?" The twins quickly stopped their slap fight, but Elrohir got one more for good measure. "Let's go get an iced latte and decide what to do without you two making yourself look stupider than you already do."
The twins looked at each other, shrugged, and followed their sister.
Unbeknownst to either group, near the mall's center square, pretending to be reading a magazine, there was a blond male human with red eyes hidden behind his shades. He wore a black turtleneck shirt, a trenchcoat, and black pants with combat boots. Some wondered if he was hot under that thing, but he showed no signs of it as he was from a place far hotter. The shaded human lowered his magazines and stared at Spiroz as he and his friends were checking out CDs from outside the store's glass walls and narrowed his eyes. Lifting his watch close to his mouth, he whispered, "This is Lendric. I believe I've spotted the target."
"We need a hundred percent confirmation, Lendric," A voice from the microphone in his ear stated. "Use your shades to verify."
Pressing a small button on the side of his shade's lens holders, the shades flashed a green color before the view before they began to change. These shades were designed to see through the illusions of those who were not human. Sure enough, what he saw through his shades was a hellhound, two imps, and an imp-owl Goetia hybrid that was his primary target. "Visual identity confirmed. He's with three others."
"Roger. Elimination of the others is not required but not restricted. Squads A, B, and C are joining you right now."
The shaded human stood up and waited for his comrades to get inside the mall. All of them were identical to him in looks and clothing that caught more than a few eyes as they watched as sixteen stood in a circle. One of them nodded to one carrying a briefcase and slowly opened it, revealing a large cylinder pulsing with red and purple energy with wires powering it through the suitcase.
The one who had been waiting spoke to his watch again. "Standing by for Isolation Spell to be activated."
"Seals have been activated. Spell is up and running. Proceeded with an objective. Mission is green."
"Activate the D.E.P.H.F. (Dematerialization Energy Pulse for Human Flesh)."
The one near the briefcase nodded and turned the knob nearest to the cylinder. It began to increase in power while the cylinder started shaking rapidly. It started to glow until it unleashed a red wave of energy that spread across the entire mall.
"Would you like to sign up for our membership-"
"No," Loona grumbled.
"Would you like to pay an extra $3 for insurance on-"
"No," Loona growled.
"Would you like to round your charge to donate to-"
"Are you fucking deaf?! I said no!" Loona screamed as she slammed her hands on the cashier table, pointing at the bored-looking front runner who was used to this. "I do not want any fucking thing but to buy these fucking CDs! Now fucking charge me already so I can pay and go! Because if I hear one more thing about memberships, cards, donations, or any other crap that I do not fucking care to want, I will tear out your tongue and shove it up your asshole!"
"Tch, fine," The cashier grumbled as he started packing everything into a plastic bag. "Fucking hate this job..."
Loona began to calm down as the other three just raised an eyebrow at her from behind. "What?"
"You have anger issues," Mitzy pointed out.
"You're just fucking figuring that ou-" Loona was interrupted when a large red wave of demonic energy washed over them.
The four of them were all feeling fuzzy when suddenly it was gone in a flash, but they noticed that they were no longer in their human forms and gasped. Whatever that red flash was, it had removed the illusions, and they were back in their traditional demonic forms. Spiroz panicked with his hands to the side of his face. "Oh shit! We look like demons again! We gotta get out of here!"
"Wait!" Milton said as he held his hand up. "Where are the humans?"
The other three paused and noticed something that hadn't happened yet. There was no screaming, cries of surprise, or even pictures being taken of them. They looked around and noticed that Milton was right. There were no humans anywhere. Even their cashier was gone.
"Uhh, are we still on Earth, or did we get teleported into the Twilight Zone or something?" Mitzy asked, looking around in confusion.
Spiroz then noticed something on the ground not too far from him. It was a pile of ash. He knelt and took a sample before sniffing it. "That's funny. This smells like burned flesh." Spiroz's eyes widened as he noticed more piles of these ashes all over the store. Rushing over and looking over the counter, Spiroz gasped upon seeing another pile of ash right where the human cashier was.
"Oh...fuck...these ash piles...they are the humans!" Spiroz shouted, which made the others step back in surprise. "Something must have killed them all! We have to get out of here!"
Nobody made any objections as it was clear that whatever it was that had managed to wipe out these humans was powerful. However, as they were about to make it to the exit, they stopped upon seeing something that utterly confused them. There were sixteen humans, all identical, standing in a line near the center of the mall's main square, with all of them facing them. What was even more horrifying was that there were ash piles everywhere. Practically all over the mall, which meant it wasn't just the store that got hit.
Suddenly, the humans began to change shape as waves of fire washed over them to reveal their proper demonic forms. They were all about seven feet tall, muscled, and clad in a combination of cybernetic armor fused with unholy black hellsteel. Red veins powering their demonic cyber armor pulsed through their body while lights turned on one by one. Their entire form was covered in armor that looked near impossible to penetrate via normal means. The most intimidating thing about their looks was the helmets. Their outer helmets were covered in the same steel as their bodies, but a red visor covered their heads' fronts and upper crowns. In the middle of the visor was a single blood-colored glowing eye surrounded by a black upside-down pentagram circle with demonic ruins. Inside these cybernetic demons' hands was a large hell-manufactured pulse rifle, which was only ever seen in the hands of the Legions of Hell's special forces divisions.
Or high-ranking assassin hit squads.
"Get down" Loona screamed as the four of them dived for cover while the assassins raised their guns and fired.
Hedwig had never felt more confused or afraid in her life than now. A few minutes just after leaving Starbucks, the entire mall was suddenly enveloped in red energy that had made her whole body feel like it had been sucked into a vacuum and thrown into a lake of burning hot water. She nearly puked upon feeling the horrible aftermath of the red wave's effect on her, but her nausea was soon replaced with horror as she noticed that she was in her angelic form. Also, her brothers, equally stunned and hurt, had their illusions removed as well.
This almost made her have a heart attack since angels were not supposed to show themselves to mortals unless it was for specific circumstances or had their jobs centered around appearing before humans. However, the next shocking thing was that all the humans had disappeared completely. There were so many humans in the mall, yet there were none after the red light disappeared. They were all gone. Vanished. Replaced with...
"Are these piles of ash?" Elladan asked as he picked some up and smelled them.
"What the heck happened?" Hedwig asked out loud as she looked around. "What was that red light? Why are we in our angel forms and what-"
Then, a loud series of bangs sounded like a combination of gunfire with a burst of physical energy echoed in the empty mall. Having grown up with a military father who took them to shooting ranges, with access to various weapons, the angels quickly recognized the gunfire as that of a pulse rifle—a lot of pulse rifles.
Wait, if that red wave affected our disguises, it could also affect... Hedwig felt her heart sink into her chest from the grim realization as she flew as fast as she could back the way they came. Her brothers were screaming her name, but she ignored them while praying to the almighty that her worse fears were not coming true.
Coming to the center square, she gasped upon seeing cybernetic demons firing their pulse rifles at the nearby music store.
The same one that her best friend was in.
"SPIROZ!"
AN: Did I ever mention that I grew up watching Garfield and Friend's in my childhood? Seriously, if you don't get the reference look up the episode "Video Airlines" on youtube. It's free.