(Disclaimer: I do not own Hazbin Hotel or any of its characters, all credit goes to the original creator Vivienne Medrano, aka "VivziePop". Please support the official release).
~Maybe There's Some Heaven in Hell Part 3~
[Noah's POV]
I let out a yawn as I woke up the next morning, though being in Hell where the sky is constantly red, it was hard to tell. I still couldn't believe that I was in Hell, recovering from my injuries in a hotel made to rehabilitate sinners so they could go to Heaven; my afterlife was much stranger than my life back when I alive.
I sat up and stretched, being mindful of my injured wing; strangely, I didn't have any nightmares last night, not that I'm complaining I just found it weird. I crawled out of bed and headed into the bathroom, it seemed that Charlie had gotten me a toothbrush so I picked it and brushed my teeth. Then I took the hairbrush and combed my head fluff, after that I left the bathroom.
I walked out of my room, intent on going downstairs to get some breakfast, when I looked down the hall. On the way, I bumped into someone by accident, I looked up to see it was Angel Dust wearing a really long and baggy pink sweater. "Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking!", I said hastily.
That was when I heard a strange noise, I looked down to see that in his second pair of arms, he held a small pig; it was pink with dark pink spots, and it had two black horns on its head and black spikes along it's back. "Awww, what an adorable little critter! Is it your pet, Angel?", I said.
I couldn't help myself, I was an animal lover when I was alive and even now that I'm an angel. Angel Dust smiled as he held the pig up to his face, nuzzling it with his cheek. "That's right, this little cutie is Fat Nuggets. He's my adorable little sweetie pie!", he said. "Can I pet him?", I asked. Angel nodded as he held Fat Nuggets out for me to pet him, I gently placed my right hoof-hand on the little pig's head and softly stroked it.
Fat Nuggets made happy grunting noises as he nuzzled into my hand and even licked it, "Aww! My little Nuggies likes you, I know I do!", said Angel. I blushed at that but Angel walked away before I could ask him what he meant, I just sighed as I made my way downstairs to the kitchen.
My heart nearly stopped when I saw Alastor standing in the kitchen cooking, he turned to look at me and gave me an especially large smile. "Why good morning, Noah! Nice to see you, care for some pancakes?", he asked. I looked around to see the others, minus Husk, sitting at the table already eating a breakfast of pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon.
I wanted to say "no" because Alastor scared the honest to God crap out of me and I assumed he might poison my food, but I didn't want the others to think I was rude so I simply nodded and sat down. "You're looking much better this morning, Noah. How's your wing feeling?", said Charlie. I slightly calmed down and turned to her her, "Its still really sore but I can move it around with a little pain now. Don't think I can fly with it yet though", I said.
Charlie smiled at me, clearly happy that I was making a slow recovery; I smiled back, she was so nice to me that I still couldn't believe she was related to the Devil. Just then, Alastor placed a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of me. "Here you are, my good fellow! Please enjoy!", he said as he handed me a fork.
I looked at the plate of food nervously, on the one hand it looked really delicious and the sight alone was making my stomach growl and my mouth water, but on the other hand I was still terrified of Alastor and I was sure he put poison or something in my food. Finally making up my mind, I took a forkful of pancakes and eggs and shoved it into my mouth.
I chewed it slowly and swallowed, so far nothing had happened so I continued to eat; I had to admit, it tasted really good. I couldn't remember the last time I had a meal this delicious, I was still apprehensive of Alastor but I couldn't deny he was a pretty good cook. I soon finished my breakfast, pushing the plate away.
"I take it you enjoyed that?", asked Alastor. This time, I gave him a genuine smiled despite the fact that I was still scared of him. "Yes, it was very delicious! Thank you, Alastor", I replied nervously. He simply grinned at me as he took my empty plate away, I then excused myself from the table and went back upstairs to my room.
I laid down on my bed, taking a moment to relax and digest my meal. After lying there for thirty minutes, I realized that Alastor hadn't tried to poison me or anything because I was still perfectly fine. "I guess he's not going to try to kill me, but why? He couldn't possibly care about my wellbeing, maybe he doesn't want to upset Charlie", I said to myself.
After a while, I grew very bored so I looked around to find something to do. I tried turning on the tv to see if there was anything I could watch, but most of the programs were just about violence, sex or some bizarre combination of the two. I gave up and left the room, I thought I would explore the hotel to see what other rooms there were.
I soon found myself on the fifth floor, there was a set of double doors at the end of the hallway; I approached them and opened them to reveal a giant library, I smiled widely as I gazed upon on all the shelves. I walked inside and looked at all the shelves, wondering where I should start first.
I eventually settled on the shelves closer to the floor, the books seemed to be of classic literature so I browsed around looking for a book to read. "I wonder if...yes! Charlie does have it!", I said excitedly as I pulled out a book. It was "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, my favorite book; I only read it once, back in eight grade where we had to pick a famous author and do a report about them. I choose George Orwell and, as it turned out, I had to read one of his books to understand his writing style and themes.
After reading "Animal Farm", I pretty much fell in love with the story. I loved how the story was a political allegory about revolution and power, and how it explored themes of totalitarianism, the corruption of ideals, and the power of language. As someone who was often too timid or scared to speak up about how I felt, I could identify with the animals in the book.
I looked around and saw an armchair next to a lamp, I sat down and got comfortable before I started reading. I don't know how or when, but I think at some point I fell asleep while reading; I knew I was asleep because I had suddenly woke up when I felt something grabbing my chest fur. I looked down to see, to my horror, a pair of hands groping my chest fur.
Acting purely on instinct, I lifted my left leg and bucked whoever was touching me.
"AAHHH! F*CKING HELL!"
The voice that screamed sounded familiar, I turned around fast and I saw Angel Dust standing there, clutching his left shin...I guess that's where I had hit him. I didn't dwell on that for too long as I immediately covered my chest like a woman who was topless and looked at him with an incredulous expression.
"Angel Dust, what in God's name were you doing?!", I shouted. He stopped holding his knee as he looked up at me, "I was looking for ya, then I found ya snoozing in here so I decided to-"
"You decided to molest me while I was sleeping?!", I screamed cutting him off.
His face adopted a look of annoyance, "Buddy if I wanted to molest you, I'd stick my hand in ya pants and grab your dick! I wanted to feel how fluffy your chest fur was, if it was as fluffy as mine or more so. Turns out it is", he said.
That's when I soon became annoyed as my face flushed bright red, "That was a really messed up thing to do, Angel! What is your problem with me?!", I shouted. He lifted his hands in mock surrender, "Hey hey! No need to get testy, I just wanted to pet your floof is all! Sheesh, why are you so sensitive? What, do you have insecurities about your body?", he said.
I looked to the side, "No! I just don't like being touched without my permission, especially if it's in a sexual manner. It makes me very uncomfortable", I explained. Angel let out a small laugh, "C'mon as handsome as you are, you've bound to have tons of girls, and maybe even guys, chasing after you. Did you have a girlfriend when you were alive? Was she cute?", he asked.
I stared at the ground, "I never had a girlfriend, Angel", I said.
"Oh, so you played for the same team. I get it! So, what was your boyfriend like?"
"I didn't have a boyfriend either!"
"So...what, was the person you dated non-binary then?"
"Ugh! Angel, you're not understanding! I've never dated anyone because I'm a Demisexual!"
"What the f*ck does that mean?"
"It means that I'll only find someone sexually attractive after I've formed a strong emotional connection with them, after that, my sexuality could be anything: gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual...anything! But because I've had Anxiety Disorder since I was a kid, and seem to still have it now even though I'm dead, I was never able to connect with anyone enough to even have a friendship let alone romance".
Angel stood there quietly for a moment, not saying a word. I had wondered if he was able to comprehend everything I had told him, but before I could say anything, he started laughing hysterically. "What's so funny?", I asked. He stopped and looked up at me, "What you just told me...that can only mean one thing: you died a virgin!", he shouted.
I was so shocked by what he just said, but he laughed some more as he continued talking. "You were such an scared little p*ssy, that you never got with anyone and that means you never had sex in your life up until you died! And from what you explained about what a Demisexual is...you've also just told me you've never masturbated either!
"I mean, you can't jerk off if you've got nothing to jerk off to, and then you died as a lonely virgin! That would be so f*cking hilarious if it wasn't so goddamn pathetic, but I'm still laughing anyway!", he said as he kept laughing.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Angel Dust was...virgin shaming me! Acting as if it was so wrong or abnormal that I was never in a relationship or had sex before I had died, standing there laughing at me as if it was some kind of hilarious joke! I didn't think it was funny, I could feel my anger rising up as tears formed in my eyes.
Then, without warning, I walked over to Angel and...I punched him in the face. He fell to the floor, a look of shock on his face; I didn't care as I looked down at him with an angry expression as tears fell from my eyes, "You think that's funny? Me dying a virgin because I couldn't talk to people due to my mental illness? You think I'm pathetic?
"You know who's really pathetic? You are! I overheard the others talk about you, how you're a sex worker down here! How you get paid to have sex with total strangers, letting them do God knows what to your body! Have you no self respect? Your body is a gift and you just let filthy pigs defile you, and what's worse is that you enjoy it! That is disgusting! So yeah, I am a virgin but at least I'm not a gross whore!", I shouted.
That's when Angel Dust stood, an angry expression on his face. "Back the f*ck up, fluffy! You don't know nothing about me! You don't know anything about who I am or what I've been through, both when I was alive and now that I'm down here! You don't know about the Hell, both figuratively and literally, I have to go through every day of the week. So why don't you back off!", he shouted.
"I would back off if you would but you don't seem to want to leave me alone! Every few seconds, you're either staring at me seductively, getting uncomfortably close to me or in this case, tried to molest me! Can't you take the hint that I don't want anything to do with you, you disgusting slut!", I screamed.
I wasn't prepared for what came next...
Angel Dust punched me in the face, knocking me down; I then swung my leg out and tripped him, making him fall onto his back. I jumped on him and slap him with one hand while I pulled his hair with the other, he let out a scream before punching me in the stomach with one of his second hands.
Then he flipped me onto my back and started reaching down to my pants, I panicked and immediately kicked him in the balls. He screamed in pain as I threw him off of me, but then he grabbed the lamp and hit me in the back with it. The lightbulb shattered and I screamed as I could feel pieces of glass go into my back, cutting me.
He then grabbed me by the throat and started choking me, I tried to pry his hands from my neck but he slammed my body onto the floor and used his second pair of arms to pin mine to the ground; I gasped as I struggled to breathe, tears forming in my eyes. I thought I was actually going to die but then something happened.
As my vision grew blurry, I weakly mumbled out one line.
"P-p-please...s-s-stop...please..."
Angel's eyes suddenly lost their burning look of anger and it was immediately replaced by a mixture of fear, shock and sadness; he abruptly let go of my throat, allowing me to breathe. I coughed and gasp as air filled my lungs once more, I looked up at Angel Dust to see that he was looking down at both me and his hands with a horrified expression.
"What's going on in here?!"
We both turned to see Charlie and Vaggie standing by the doorway, they both had shocked expressions on their faces, probably at the sight of how disheveled we looked after our fight. Charlie immediately rushed towards me, concern showing in her eyes as she looked over my injuries. "Vaggie, stay with him! I'm gonna go get Niffty!", she shouted as she ran out of the room.
Vaggie turned to glare at Angel, but before she could say anything, he ran out of the room. She sighed before crouching down to my level, "We'll get you patched up and then you're gonna tell us what happened in here", she said gently but firmly.
[Time Skip]
Fifteen minutes later, I was lying on my bed back in my room; all the shards of glass had been removed from my back, the cuts disinfected, coated with ointment and then covered with bandages courtesy of Niffty. After I was patched up, I had explained to Charlie and Vaggie that I had gotten into a fight with Angel Dust because of how he was virgin shaming me.
I had to tell them I was a Demisexual, explain what that meant and then tell them all the horrible things Angel said to me because I had died without ever having sex in my life, and its not like I had a wide enough window for that anyway. You become an adult when you turn eighteen, I died at age twenty one; between both those numbers, my adulthood lasted for two years. I doubt that would've been enough time for me to meet someone, get to know them, develop a strong emotional connection with them and then find them sexually attractive and want to have sex with them.
I don't think a normal person could pull that off, let alone someone like me who had Anxiety Disorder and pretty much still did even in death. Charlie gave me some pain medication and told me to stay in bed for the rest of the day, she said she'd bring me something to eat later.
I laid in my bed, thinking about my fight with Angel Dust...or more specifically, I was thinking about the end of our fight. I had weakly mumbled for him to stop and he did, but it was his expression that got me thinking. There was a certain...familiarity behind the fear, as if he had been in that situation before; was I not the only person he fought with? Was he in the same position I had been.
I could hear Vaggie angrily shouting at Angel down the hall, no doubt giving him a lecture about touching me inappropriately and then beating me up. I didn't dwell on it for too long as I rolled over and tried to get some sleep.
[Time Skip: Three days later]
The cuts on my back had healed but I still had bruising on various parts of my body, Charlie had encouraged me to take it easy since I was now hurt even more than I was previously.
I hadn't seen or spoken to Angel Dust in the past three days, every time I see him in the kitchen around mealtimes, he would look the other way with this guilty expression on his face. He kept his distance from me and whenever I tried to be polite by saying "hi", he would ignore me and walk the other way.
I had eventually gave up trying to speak to him and just started keeping to myself too...wow, this was beginning to feel like my life back on Earth, when I tried making friends at school but couldn't speak properly because of my anxiety so I stayed away from the other kids. I couldn't imagine how Angel was feeling but I knew I wasn't going to get an answer out of him.
That is...until he gave one.
[Time Skip]
Another day had passed and I found myself sitting on the balcony of my room that evening, I stayed close to the window to avoid being seen by any demons passing by as I looked up at the sky. I had to say...Hell's sky was so boring to look at, there were no stars and that moon or sun or whatever it was with the pentagram on it was too plain.
In Heaven, the night sky looks exactly like it does on Earth, except you're able to see all of the stars! Every single constellation was visible and it was so breathtaking to see, I remembered spending so many sleepless nights lying on my roof just looking up at the sky; one time, I had even seen a shooting star and I made a wish on it, I won't say what it was for obvious reasons but just know that it hasn't come true yet.
My shoulders rattled as a chilly breeze blew passed the balcony, nighttime in Hell was much colder than nighttime in Heaven. In fact, in Heaven, the weather seems to be in the middle, it was never too hot or too cold, but somewhere in between.
"You stay out here any longer, you're gonna catch a cold".
I heard a familiar voice speak behind me before I felt something being draped across my shoulders and wings. I looked up to see Angel Dust sitting down next to me, his pet pig Fat Nuggets lying in his lap, and the thing on my shoulders was actually a soft pink blanket.
An awkward silence fell over the both of us, that was when I decided to speak.
"Angel, I-"
"If you're going to apologize, save it because I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one who insulted you for being a virgin".
"Yeah, but I'm the one who punched you in the face. So I'm just as responsible and I should also apologize".
"Eh, we'll split the apologies 50/50".
I chuckled at that last remark, it was a bit funny and I appreciated that Angel did seem to be genuinely sorry for what he did. That's when I became curious about something, "Angel, you said I knew nothing about you and...you're right. I mean, you all pretty much know everything about me: I was just a regular with Anxiety Disorder who didn't have many friends, I was killed by a drunk driver, I joined the Holy Army not knowing what I was in for, killing demons year after year until I became traumatized but too scared to quit because I might get cast out of Heaven for showing sympathy to demons.
"You know all about me but I know nothing about you. You can tell me if you want but if you don't, then that's okay. I often don't like talking about myself that much", I said. Angel sighed as he leaned against the balcony railing, absentmindedly petting Fat Nuggets on his back.
"No, it's okay. You told me about yourself, so it's only fair I tell you about me: a long time ago, I was born into a crime family in New York. I had a good run, but died when I overdosed on drugs; I followed my Dad down here, along with my brother Arackniss and my sister Molly. Arackniss was an emotionless spider who only thought about himself and my Dad, Henroin, always doubted me due to the way I act and he thinks I'll never be up for anything.
"But my sister Molly always believed in me, she always loved me but I ran away cause that wasn't the place for me. Soon, I got a job at Porn Studios and worked for my boss Valentino as a pornstar. But then, I kept disobeying him every so often and he would punish me...very harshly. Soon, I met my best and only friend Cherri Bomb, she's super fun to hang out with and was the only person who understood me.
"And then, I ended up here because Charlie needed someone to demonstrate what her hotel is all about. Not that I buy into it all that much, I mean I honestly don't think I'd ever make it into Heaven. I'm not like you after all...", he said. That last sentence took me by surprise, "What do you mean by that?", I asked.
Angel sighed, "Noah...you're so pure and innocent that you could probably puke unicorns and fart rainbows. I look in your eyes and I see someone who would never hurt anybody, someone who tries to be nice to everybody even if there are people who treat you like sh*t. You're not like me where I would be itching for a fight if someone tried to treat me like sh*t. That's kind of why I like you", he said.
I looked off to the side, "I thought you liked me just because I'm attractive", I said flatly. Angel looked at me, "What? No! I mean, you are sexy as Hell, don't get me wrong but that's not the only reason why I like you. You're a good guy, Noah; you keep to yourself and you try to make everyone happy even if it means that you won't be. Sometimes I wish I could be that selfless", he said before getting up and walking away.
I stopped him for a moment so I could give him back his blanket, but he waved me off. "Nah, keep it. I got a bunch more just like it, and besides, like I said you don't wanna catch a cold, do you?", he said as he left my room. I sat there several minutes, kneading the soft blanket in my hands; it was so plush and fuzzy like a teddy bear and it smelled like watermelons and cheap perfume.
It felt so nice against my face as I nuzzled it with my cheek, it was awfully sweet of Angel to give his blanket...
"Wait, where did that come from? I don't like Angel! I mean, I do like him but...as a friend. I can't possibly be developing a connection with him, am I? Maybe I'm just really tired today, I should go to bed", I said to myself.
I stood up and walked back inside my room, closing the window and shutting the curtains; I then turned the light off as I fell back onto my bed, which was probably a stupid idea because my back was still pretty bruised up and my wing was still sore.
After getting comfortable, I held the blanket close to my body like it was a pillow or stuffed animal. I strangely felt comforted by it, as if it was another person lying next to me; I don't know why I felt that way, maybe I had been in Hell for too long and it was messing with my brain...or maybe I really was starting to-
"Knock it off, Noah! You got into a fight with the guy four days ago! And yes, he did apologize and you forgave him, but that doesn't mean you're developing a connection with him! Just because he's knows about you and you now know about him doesn't mean you immediately become that close", I whispered to myself.
I said that but I couldn't stop myself from smelling and nuzzling the blanket, I laid there wondering whether or not the scent of the blanket was Angel Dust's actual scent. Part of me loved it and another part of me was wondering exactly what it was that I was doing.
"What is wrong with me? Or...what's right with me? That's the question with the shorter answer", I muttered as I slowly fell asleep.
[To be continued...]
