"NO! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA! I DON'T WANNA!"

Mad Dawg yawned as he looked out over the city he could see from the small balcony his hotel room had. There was something… mesmerizing about it, and that was an interesting thought. Was that what hell truly was? A tempting idea to draw in th desperate and depraved? More importantly, did Dawg care?

"Not really." He conceded, turning back to his room and sitting on hso bed. It wasn't in the best shape, but he didn't really want to talk about that with Charlie… there were some things he wasn't ready to open up about. Much like the offer Delilah had givn him.

"Mad Dawg, I understand everything now." She had said with hat warm, but oddly frightening smile. "Please, I only wish to help you."

"Then let me go." Mad Dawg had replied. "If you believe in this, if you want to help, you should be helping Charlie! Not trying to convince me of what you want me to believe."

"It… it isn't that simple, dearie." Delilah had frowned, seeming almost annoyed. "Charlie… is a demon. Even with her plans, she can't help you the way she's convinced you she can. Only God can help you."

"Okay, can I talk to him?"

"…"

"Can I talk to him?"

"…"

"And here's the issue…" Dawg had sighed. "You stand here and go on and on about how God can help me, but you won't let me talk to him, and you refuse to answer any of my questions about-"

"It is not your place to question the All Father." Delilah had growled, irritated and angered.

"Oh, yeah? Well it ain't YOUR place to tell me what to do. Now get out of my way." Mad Dawg retorted, pushing her away. "If you want to help like you claim, either let me talk to God, or go help Princess Charlotte, don't waste my time with your lies and false promises."

"You can leave. Right now." Delilah had said, stopping Dawg's walk. "All you need to do, is look up to the Father and say her plan is wrong."

Presently, Mad Dawg was getting changed, into his torn jean shorts and jacket. He had plans for today, and was hoping today would be easier than dealing with therapy again…


"Really? An escape room?" Angel asked, a mixture of amused and false disappointment. "That's what you dragged me over here for?"

"Yeah! C'mon, it'll be fun!" Molly insisted. "Besides, we're already signed up, so… get in there."

Dust looked at his twin sister, and couldn't help but laugh. She had a lot of him in her… oh, wait. That sounded wrong… Regardless, he now found himself locked in what looked like a grimy bathroom with his sister. He looked to Molly with an amused smirk before asking:

"Isn't there a third person or somethin'? Might make this more interesting…"

"Yup! He should be here any second…" Molly said with a mischievous grin. This was one that Dust knew meant something bad was about to happen to him. Before he could ask, the door on the other side opened, and someone else walked in.

"Dawg!?"

"Dust?!"

The mutant and spider looked to one another, then simultaneously decided: 'NO'. As Dawg turned to leave, the sound of the door closing and locking signaled that he couldn't just leave.

"Molly. I hate you. So much."

"Really?" Mad Dawg muttered.

"Yup! C'mon, there's gotta be a clue somewhere…" She said, walking off to look for the first hint at what to do. Mad Dawg and Dust looked awkwardly to one another; yes, they wanted to meet and talk, but not like this. "Ooh! Found something!" Molly picked up an old tape recorder and hit play, the tape crackling for a few seconds, then a voice spoke.

"Hello. I want to play a game… right now, you are trapped, helpless, and there is only one way out. If you don't look deep inside and figure this out, then you will never leave this room alive, again."

"…okay, someone's a bit of an edgelord…" Angel Dust muttered in annoyance.

"Hey, this is like that horror movie with the killer puzzles!" Mad Dawg exclaimed, realizing something. "Cube!"

"Cube?"

"Yeah, there were three of them. Cube, Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube: Zero." Mad Dawg remarked, talking aloud as he walked around the bathroom. "These people were trapped in a giant cube which was constantly shifting, and rooms had traps and puzzles to solve, or else they'd be killed."

"Huh. What was the reason behind that?" Angel Dust asked, not paying too much attention to the room they were in, and nearly stepping on a bear trap.

"Uh… it was weird." Mad Dawg frowned. "The first one I don't remember the reason. Hypercube said it was a government experiment of some sort, and Zero said it was this organization that accepted volunteers to enter the Cube. Why? I don't know…"

"Okay, anything in those movies look familiar to this?" Angel Dust asked, looking around.

"No, sorry." Mad Dawg shook his head. "Hang on, let's punch a wall really hard, and maybe we can get out that way!" Before anyone could protest, Dawg punched a wall… and was electrocuted in response. "Okay, not that."

"If you had thought for a minute, you probably would've known that." Dust snarked, nodding to the 'Walls-are-electrified-dumbass' signs.

"Damn, I just got thrown to the wolves." Mad Dawg remarked casually, looking at the clues. He heard the faint growl of Dust, and didn't see him bristle as he tried to keep himself calm.

"Yeah, seems like they should've paid more attention." Dust nodded. "Hang on, I think this cord needs to go here."

Mad Dawg and Dust now found themselves in an awkward game of twister, with two of Dust's arms going under one of Dawg's, and Dawg's torso being almost bent around to Dust's back.

A series of spike shot up from the floor, but none of them found their mark. Angel and Dawg didn't even seem to notice as they continued trying to untangle the wires.

"Oh, by the way, Husk has more of that Sin Cider stuff you like."

"I don't want that stuff, ever again."

"Aw, c'mon kid! You've gotta lighten up!" Dust groaned, then immediately regretted his words. He knew what they meant, and so did Dawg, but the context and way he said them… whoops.

"Okay." Dawg shrugged, dropping Dust to the ground, the door which was nearly opened slamming shut.

"Damn it!" Molly cursed. "You two need to work together!"

"Fine, fine." Dawg muttered. "This wouldn't be the first time I was locked in a room with two people whose motivations I don't fully understand…"

"Same." Dust shrugged, the pair returning to working on the door.

"Gotta wonder what someone's true colours are…" Mad Dawg muttered. "You think you know someone, and then… boom, you don't."

"Yup, I know that feeling all too well."

"And… man, it's so much harder in hell." Mad Dawg added, still talking as if he was only talking to himself. "Who someone presents themselves as when you first meet and who they are a week later can be so drastically different, it can leave you feeling… lost."

"Yeah… and sometimes a mistake can be so much worse." Angel Dust mused, flipping a switch. "You try to make up for it, but they don't want to hear it, so all you can do is struggle and fight to make things right, and even then… it doesn't work."

"Yeah…"

It was clear to Molly this wasn't going as planned. She hadn't done this to force D&D to be BFF's again, or even to snap and yell at one another, but the opposite had happened. They were being too civil. They needed… a push.

"This is a really bad idea." She told herself sternly, her mind screaming not to do this. But she was going to… "Hey, so… I heard you two had a fight. Wanna talk about it?"

"No." Was collectively answered.


For the next two hours, the trio stumbled around the room missing the obvious clues and nearly getting impaled, stabbed and tetanus from the rusty traps they somehow kept avoiding. Molly kept prodding, trying to get the two to talk, and it seemed to be having an odd effect. Dust seemed to be growing quieter, while Dawg seemed to want to talk about it. Finally, the door opened and they could leave.

"C'mon, let's go back to the hotel." Angel muttered, leaving Dust and Molly standing in the lobby, both feeling a bit uncertain and saddened, but Mad Dawg felt more resolved. When they returned, the trio went to the bar, and Husk passed Dawg the cider, which Dawg looked at… oddly in fear.

"You good, kid?" Husk asked.

"Y..y..yeah?" Mad Dawg managed to get out. "Just… flashback, y'know?" HE didn't want to say to what, so he lied. "Just, something that happened with my Mom and all-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake! How many of your issues tie into your mom!?" Angel Dust groaned, irritated. He had been in a good mood this morning, but had progressively gotten worse and worse, and seemed to be reaching his limit. "You said you put her in the ground! Move on!"

"I dunno! My Mom may have tried to kill me, but she didn't send me into a porno studio!" Dawg retorted, anger rising. It felt like finally the walls had broken, and everything was going to spill out…

"You think I don't feel like shit because of that!?" Dust finally snapped, genuine anger in his eyes. "You think I didn't feel like even more of a failure for borderline knowingly sending a minor into a sex shoot?! Let alone one of that nature!? In the unholy name of Cthulhu kid! Listen to yourself! You're always going on about your damn mommy issues, well did it ever occur to you that some others have daddy issues? And that even when you literally end up in hell they not only multiply, but get so much worse?!" There was no response as Dawg thought it over, and then:

"I'm sorry." They said in unison, then blinked at the same time. "Hold up, what?"

"Dawg. I didn't know what was happening-"

"Neither did I, I don't know what happened when I went there and-"

"Hold on! How do you not know?! Dust demanded.

"I DON'T KNOW BECAUSE I WAS DRUGGED, OKAY!?" Mad Dawg suddenly snapped, hurling the bottle of cider at the wall. It exploded into glass and booze. The horns which would occasionally grow suddenly punched their way from his head.

"So that's what happened." Angel Dust said quietly, having heard what he hadn't wanted to hear, but had assumed nonetheless. It hurt, it hurt like hell, as if someone reached in and ripped his heart out, and all he could do was stand there.

"So… yeah." Mad Dawg said, all life and passion gone from his voice. "They uh… they tried to do stuff to me. Then they tried to make me do that to someone who they had kidnapped. Maybe… maybe I did… maybe they did do stuff… Miss Annie said I didn't, but I was drugged, I was so out of it… I… I couldn't tell what was happening… and I don't know what they did to me…"

For once, Angel Dust didn't feel someone try to pull free from his hug. This wasn't his usual style of hug either, he was just trying to comfort someone who was hurt, badly. Charlie and Vaggie watched, left mortified beyond words as Dawg continued. But the spider's hug… it felt nice. He felt safe, he felt like his pain was put on hold for just a second… and that was like heaven to him. What scared, or maybe upset Charlie more wasn't Dawg's anger, or the confirmation of her fears, but that he was so… broken. In one way or another, that he still wouldn't cry, despite everything clearly pointing to him wanting to, he still couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Anthony." Mad Dawg said quietly, looking at Angel Dust who seemed shocked Dawg knew his real name. "I… I shouldn't've gotten angry like I did. I should've talked to you, I-"

"Kace. Stop." Angel Dust ordered, setting Mad Dawg down on a couch and sitting next to him. "I'm going to say this ONCE. Okay? I don't wanna hear this apology shit after tonight, you got me?!"

"Y..yeah…"

"You had every right to be angry. To be hurt. To be afraid. I'm not saying you had the right to beat the crap outta me, but your terror made sense. You're in hell, you got drugged. In a PORNO STUDIO. That anger, that fear, if you were okay with that, then there'd be an issue! What we're concerned about, was what happened after."

"I was angry, that's why I ran away." Mad Dawg admitted, laughing somewhat. "It's all I know how to do… I didn't want to stay and talk because I knew I'd blame you for what happened, then I'd blame Charlie and hurt her even more. Or… or this was all your plan from the start, and you'd throw me back to him! So, I ran away! After a few hours, I wanted to go back, I wanted to talk… but then I was scared…"

"Of what? Me?" Angel Dust asked, thinking to the phone call he had gotten from Dawg.

"Yes…" Mad Dawg admitted embarrassed, and Dust looked to Molly, who seemed as shocked as he was. "Dust… whether you see me as one or not, you're my friend. The last time I blew up at my friends I ran away for months and hurt them all more and more. The time before that, I was shot point-blank in the head by my friends before I fell out of a building… but those were people I had known for ages, I didn't know you that well. I was afraid you'd throw me to Val, or let Vaggie kill me…"

"Kid, Vag wanted to kill me!" Dust laughed, but got hit by Molly for his trouble.

"I mean, I know you wouldn't! Or at least you'd be willing to listen, at least I hoped you would. But as time passed, I felt… no reason to return, I guess I just wanted to be done more than I wanted to apologize." Mad Dawg confessed, a weight lifting from his shoulders as he just… spoke. As he got everything out.

The two remained in silence. Anger, pain and fear melting away to something else, something better. Understanding. A rekindling of a bond which was oddly pure for one in hell, and one which both ends wanted, but didn't know how to go about repairing. Charlie was about to speak up, when a slow clap got their attention…

"Bravo! Bravo!" Alastor remarked. "What a magnificent scene! You two truly work well off one another, now don't you?" His tone was so… twisted. So, condescending, that it genuinely angered Mad Dawg, but he knew there wasn't much he could do… surprisingly, he didn't need to.

"You think this is some kinda fuckin' game show. You, sick fuck?!" Husk suddenly snapped, rounding on Alastor. "I get you don't give two Cajun-fired shits about anything other than your damn radio and cock-sucking grin, but do us all a favor and FUCK OFF!"

Alastor… seemed surprised. His grin didn't falter, but he was taken (mildly) aback by Husk's anger.

"Husker, my boy… do you think I didn't know about this?" He suddenly asked, his eyes darkening.

"You… you knew?!" Angel quietly asked. Sure, Alastor had all but revealed it to them, but he knew where Dawg had gone!? What he was doing!? And he didn't say anything!?

"But of course! You think I didn't know he was thrashing skulls as th youngling's say these days over in IMP City? You think I didn't know that he was meeting with your parents and promising them falsely not to return? Do you really think I didn't know about what happened with Valentino? Angel, my queer compatriot, I knew-"

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU INCEST-BRED TWAT!" Molly screamed, going from zero-to-one-thousand and throwing Alastor into a wall. "YOU STOOD BY AS MAD DAWG WENT THROUGH ALL THIS, AND YOU SAID NOTHING!? WHY?!"

Alastor wanted to answer, but a chair was smashed into his face before he could. "B..be…bec*cough*cause it's what he wanted." Alastor coughed, rising to his full height once mroe. "He was broken, looking to heal and move on-"

"YOU COULD'VE SAID SOMETHING!" Charlie demanded, angrily.

"But HE did!" Alastor retorted, pointing to Dawg, who was deep in thought. "He called us, remember? And told us to move on. After that, I saw no reason to bring it up with any of you, aside from clarifying what had happened, because there was no reason too. But when he began to change… I saw him turning back to here, wanting to return! Well, that's when I did something."

"What!?" Vaggie shouted in anger. Charlie seemed almost betrayed, and Mad Dawg simply took a long drink from his slushy before finally saying:

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. Knowing you, this is exactly the kinda crap you'd pull, I can't even get mad." He said with a shrug and a small smile. "Honestly I'd probably piss myself if you had been helpful." Alastor noticed Charlie's pain, and added:

"Princess, do you think Valentino and the other Overlords never found him because they didn't bother looking?" Alastor spoke, his tone that creepy, happy, icy one of an apex predator. "…yes, that's partially the case. But I saw what they did to him. It… it was revolting. Not even the fun kind! Like that explosion at the dairy factory which left da brie everywhere-" Alastor was cut off when Dawg burst out laughing at the stupid joke. "I kept quiet, because he wanted to be alone. I didn't want to take that from him… yet."

"Did you make him come back?" Charlie finally found her voice, and forced herself to ask. She didn't want to ask, and she didn't want to hear the answer… it could go one of many ways, and she didn't like any of them.

"No, no, of course not." Alastor shook his head, dismissively. "Where would the fun in that be? I… may have considered some plans, but watching Mad Dawg was much more fun. If I intervened, it may have thrown off the show."

"Man… screw it, whatever." Mad Dawg sighed, realizing something. "Charlie, don't get angry with him, you'll only give him what he wants. Just ignore him." Alastor turned to Dawg, surprised with the Mutant's brashness. However, he didn't say anything.

"So, why'd you come back?" Angel Dust asked. "Like, you don't have to answer, but I wanna know."

"Maybe it's because I trust your sister. Maybe because I knew deep down you wouldn't do what I was afraid of you doing… but I kept seeing 'This is hell' and 'You deserve this!' in my mind and everywhere around me, and that kept me from coming back sooner… as well as my job… or at least, that's what I tell myself to help make me feel like less of a prick." Mad Dawg semi-answered

"Kid, that's totally fair." Angel Dust nodded. "Sure, you're kind of a huge dick for doing all that crap, but I get it. And that's all I have to say about it."

"I wanted to call, honestly! And I tried! Like, six times, but the phone was always disconnected." Mad Dawg frowned. Husk blinked, looking to his chellphone, then looking away as if he knew nothing. "And before then I got captured by Sir Pentious."

"Oh yeah! What happened there!? Did you rip him a bunch'a new ones?!" Angel Dust asked excitedly. The smile on Dawg's face was weird, as if he knew the funniest joke in the world, but knew it wouldn't be funny to the one person he was about to tell it to.

"Nah, he's not that bad." Mad Dawg shook his head. "We had tea and talked, and I worked for him for about a week while we were traveling across the 'Gram."

"You what."

"Yeah, I was an honorary Egg Boi. That mainly meant I stared at a wall, walked down a halfway or hung around the water cooler for eight hours. No, really. That was my job."

"You're dead to me." Angel Dust said with narrowed eyes and venom in his voice.

"Technically, we're already dead."

"Go to hell."

"Already there!"

"You are such and asshole…" Angel Dust muttered, then he and Dawg began laughing, and it felt good!


Molly stayed the rest of the day as Dawg… didn't really do a whole lot, but time certainly seemed to pass faster than normal. Deciding to head to bed early, Molly followed Dawg up to his room to say good-night.

"Well… I uh, I guess I'll see you sometime soon." Mad dawg sighed, clearly ready to go to bed, but stopped when Molly grabbed his hand.

"No, I'm staying here tonight." Molly shook her head. Dawg began to protest, but she held her arms up. "I'm hearing none of it. You and Dust can come crash with me in a spare room, or we can go to yours, or Dust's."

"Do we have to?" Mad Dawg groaned, sounding like an unhappy child. But he actually had reason to be unhappy.

"Yes." Molly said folding her arms. "Now choose."

"…I…"

Molly felt a twang of guilt when she saw Dawg's face, but knew that like it or not, he needed this. All of them did. Eventually, Dawg couldn't come to a decision, so, she decided they'd stay in Dust's room. Angel Dust was quick to agree to this (somewhat surprising to Dawg, but hey, sleepover!) and a little bit later, the trio had settled down for the night, Molly had gotten a sleeping bag, Dawg brought a blanket, and Dust had his bed.

"…so, I come running down the hall, chainsaw in hand, not having slept for a week, screaming about how the Spanish inquisition has arrived." Mad Dawg finished recounting a tale from above, making both Dust and Molly laugh hysterically.

"Man, your friends sound awesome!" Dust laughed. "You gotta introduce me to them sometime!"

"Hey, if we ever get out of here, then totally!" Dawg nodded in confirmation. "Yeah… yeah, they were a great crew." Mad Dawg said, growing somewhat somber. "They helped me through a lot of dumb stuff, and I pulled them into a lot of dumb stuff… honestly, there was one dude Cherri would LOVE. We called him Junkrat, and he could make bombs out of literally, ANYTHING he got his hands on, it was awesome!" He tensed up slightly when he felt a hand rubbing his back.

"Sorry, tell me and I'll stop, but your fur is so FLOOFY!" Dust whisper-screamed, his eyes widening as he felt the Lycan's fur between his fingers. "I want to wear this… and I don't care how that sounds."

"Oh, that reminds me." Mad Dawg remarked, looking up at Dust. "Are you any good at styling hair?"

"Look at him." Moly said and Dust puffed up his chest in pride. "Of course, he isn't!"

"Screw off!"

"Look, I'm asking because… I can't take this anymore!" Mad Dawg exclaimed, groaning in an over-exaggerated way. "I need someone, ANYONE to cut my fur down!"

"Done!"

"That was easy…" Mad Dawg muttered, then blinked when he felt something pushing against him. Dawg blinked, then lifted his arm as Fat Nuggets pushed his way under Dawg's arm, snuggling down beside the mutant, and being covered in his arm. Mad Dawg looked at the pig, then shrugged indifferently.

"Awesome, got my midnight snack." Mad Dawg commented, then felt a gun pressed against the back of his head.

"You even think about hurting my Nuggs, and I'll blow your damn brains out. You understand?" Angel growled defensively. He knew Dawg was joking, but that pig meant a lot to him, so… yeah…

"Relax Dust, I ain't gonna hurt Chris." Mad Dawg sighed.

"Chris?"

"Chris P. Bacon." Mad Dawg explained. Angel Dust snorted, feeling a mixture of anger for the cruel nickname, and anger because he hadn't thought of it first. He wasn't sure if he should be angry, or laugh, but eventually laughter won out. It felt good, it felt… right. Like when he and Dawg first met, that kind of 'We're-gonna-be-best-friends-who-treat-each-other-like-garbage' vibe.

"I'm mad at you. Don't speak to me." Angel Dust grumbled.

"Hey, Molly. Have you met my pet pig? I named him Juicy Bacon." Mad Dawg said, looking over to Molly, who laughed at her brother's horror.

"Aww, he's cute." Molly smiled.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Dust shouted, but was ignored.

"Yeah, gonna feed him a bit and take him down to that diner off Bosco Boulevards, see if I can't get some cash for him."

"DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"Hey…you hear something?" Mad Dawg asked, looking around in confusion. "It's just you and me in the room, right?" Dust grabbed a magazine and hit Dawg over the head with it, the Mutant tensing up in shock. "M.m..m…Molly… I think we need to go! I think this room is haunted!" Molly couldn't answer, she was just laughing at the scene before her.

"STOP IGNORING ME!"

"He's not, Dust!" Molly laughed. "You told him not to talk to you!" The look of dumbfounded realization on Dawg's face hit like a pile of bricks, and he groaned in defeat, laying back down on his bed with his head in his hands, staring up at the ceiling.


"Okay… so, what we goin' for?" Angel Dust asked the next morning, picking up a comb, pair of scissors and a spray bottle. Mad Dawg was lying down in front of him, and the spider-demon got a good look at how much he had to work with.

"I have no idea." Mad Dawg confessed, shrugging on the table he was lying face-down on. "You've got more style experience than I do, I'mma trust you on this."

"All right then… I think you'd look good with something on the shorter side." Dust remarked, not making the obvious joke. "Longer fur looks good on most hellhounds, but I think you look better when it's shorter, short enough it can breathe, but not so short you can see skin. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Mad Dawg nodded. "What about colours or highlights?"

"Whoa, one thing at a time, kiddo." Dust remarked. "This ain't just a normal haircut, there's a lot I gotta work through, we'll talk about that later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Right, Nifty, pas me the weed whacker over there…"

Charlie and Vaggie watched from the door as Dust picked up a weed whacker and set to trimming Dawg's fur. There was something right about this scene, and it gave Charlie a much-needed sense of hope.

"Well… there's more than one way to get to the bottom of this…" A voice thought to itself as he considered his options. "And I do believe Baxter's contraption will be just the thing we need… the warm—up is over, let the REAL show begin!"


Might seem a bit rushed, but things aren't perfect yet. Dawg and Dust is one of my favourite friendships to write, and I wanted their separation to not be due to miscommunication, but due to genuine factors. It feels like when it's all cleared up, they'd be quick to go back to being pals. Besides, like Dawg said, they're in hell, so you'll take what you can get when it's real.

Also… Alastor is starting to show his hand, it seems… does he have an end goal? Or is he simply in this for the entertainment? You'll find out… soon.