Out of the frying pan, into the fucking flames of Hell!
"Next!" Huh? How did I get here? I look around me and notice that I'm in a line full of little kids. There are two men with black suits and sunglasses, checking everyone in line. At the end of the line, there's an iron door. "Are you deaf as well as retarded? Next!" He shouts at me with a husky voice. I jump and move closer.
"W-Where am I?" I said nervously. He ignores me, as he looks at the list. He raises an eyebrow.
"Are ya Daniel Gomez Fernandez Lopez?"
"Y-Yea?" I hesitantly answer. I have no clue what the fuck was going on.
"It says here, you are twenty-four years late!" He screams. There's an alarm going off. "A shame. You seemed very promising, but he only accept ages between one to five." He said as a lever appears.
"W-W-Wait a minu-" Before I could finish, he pulls the lever and a trap door opens below me and I fall into the depths to the unknown. I hear laughter and flames engulfing around me. My vision is consumed in red and a pentagram. I can hear the sounds of cars and people getting louder. Uh oh. I'm going to die. And sure enough, I face planted on the concrete, shattering the bone in my upper body and losing conscious.
Persona Q2-Road Less Taken
Your movie, your storyline
All decided before the curtain rises
How does it feel to be inclined
T'ward fate so certain?
How can you change a thing if your life (your life)
Has been written into stone?
Your life's been written into plot lines
By another, can you make it your own?
(What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do?
Is your life plot written by someone but you
What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do?
Would you stand up and fight through?)
You are looking without seeing
It's not like you were blind
But something had you fleeing
From what you could find
Just hiding in plain sight
You're already always free
Now you're looking and you're seeing
Your every choice is fine
No plot limits your freedom
And the story line is yours for the making
The road less taken
Could be where you're meant to be!
Upon waking up, I feel like someone grabbed my shirt and is suspending me like a rag doll. Then they snort.
"You sure this guy is dead?" Said a deep voice.
"Of course! Did you know that humans never change into demons because they're dead on arrival? I mean just look at his curly brown hair. This piece of waste must've been a nobody and killed himself out of shame!" This guy sounds like a salesman trying so hard to sell a beat up car. And I take full offense on that statement. My hair is beautiful and soft like a sheep! I try to say something, but the immense pain in my chest prevents it and I could only moan.
"What the fuck!?" The deep voiced guy drops me, making the pain worse and I groan. "You trying to cheat me!?"
"I-I mean you said you wanted something dead and sure he may be a little alive, but he's mostly dead."
"That don't mean it's dead! I have standards. Now give me my money back!"
"Fuck you! No refunds." Their bickering is causing me to have a migraine.
"You motherfucker!" I hear a brawl happening, but I'm focusing on recovering and getting away from this mess. I use every energy in my body to stand up, and even then, I lean against a wall for support. It hurts. Can't imagine how one can survive a fall like that. But here I am, still somewhat in one piece. Opening my eyes, I see the two guys still fighting, however there's something weird about them. My vision is blurry, but I believe I can make out horns like a bull on one of them. Then it becomes clear and I gasp in horror.
The guy pummeling the imp looking salesmen is a minotaur like brute with long black hair and purple highlights. I scan my surroundings and then that feeling of your blood running cold kicks in. The streets and walls are full of graffiti that puts his neighborhood to shame. The residents are as horrifying. Some spider creatures, Cyclops and many more monsters walking and causing debauchery everywhere. Explosions can be heard from close by as if there's a war. It's all too overwhelming!
"I have to get out of here!" I scream loudly. Needed to say something to force my body to move. I don't know where I'm running, but anywhere is better than here. I pass many of those monsters, some pushing out of the way. Maybe it's the adrenaline but there's a news network of some sort, showing what looks like a blonde with blushes on her face.
"A..tel..rehabilitates sinners!" That's all I could gather. Rehab for sinners?
"Hey fucker! I ain't letting you be a waste of my money!" That was the minotaur! I need to get the fuck out of here! There is a tight alleyway that is too big for him, so I take a sharp right turn towards it. As I thought, he couldn't fit and curses at me. A breath of relief in this constant adrenaline rush. Then a bunch of hands tangle around my body! I look up to see this weird monster with tentacles leering at me with her three eyes.
"Ooooh~ Never thought I'd ever see a soul that's pure here. Ara ara~ I can't wait to defile your prostate in ways you can't imagine." I screech in terror as she lifts me to her level and starts shredding my clothes. Then something grabs me by the head and tugs hard. "The fuck do you think you're doing!?"
"Ima have a piece of his boy pussy!" Says a raspy feminine voice.
"Fuck off, fur fag! I saw him first!" Now more demons are wrestling for me. My arms are dislocated from the constant force their exerting. Won't this nightmare please end!? One of them breaks me free from their grasp and slammed me to the ground. I can barely breathe.
"Can't a pedo jack off to CP in peace!?" Yells the lizard person. He tightens the grip. "I'm sick of everyone's shit! And if I can't get laid, no one will!" At his last words, I get flung across the city. The lights of the place fades and trees become a more common sight. Just my luck, I hit every single branch and land head first to the dirt road like the first time.
"Ughnds…" I can't even cry in pain. Something warm and wet is getting bigger under me. Is it piss or blood? At this point, I don't care. I just want all this to be over. My vision is being consumed by darkness. At last. The sweet embrace of death.
Some time later...
Should I even be alive after that? No human would ever survive what I've been through. And yet death hasn't claimed me yet. Laying on my blood and I'm still breathing. In fact, the pain is very slowly but surely fading away. Once again, I force myself to stand. Seems my arms fixed themselves while I was unconscious. Don't know how that works, but I ain't complaining. Looking down, I see my entire body covered in blood and scratches. Even if it's my own blood, it still makes me sick to my stomach. My "white" shirt is completely shredded, only a small fabric remain around my neck. At least my black pants have survived the ordeal. Was I wearing sandals or shoes? Either or, I must've lost them when being chased by those monsters.
"Huh?" Upon closer inspections, my arms are covered with grey colored scales. I start thinking that I might've been infected and now I'm turning into a monster! The scales turn red and I start freaking out. "AAAAAAAAAAH! This can't be happening! This has to be a fucking nightmare!" Breathe Danny! Just take a chill pill. When you realize you're dreaming, it's only a matter of time before I wake up. That thought calms me a bit and the scales turn blue. "No use standing here until it's over." Even if my entire body is dying, I need to keep moving.
I finally see the exit and there seems to be a light coming from outside. Cautiously taking cover behind the shrubs, I peek to only discover one tall building with the sign at the top saying "Hazbin Hotel." It's close to the city, but it has fences separating itself from it.
"Hazbin Hotel? Hotel. Ho...tel...Oh! This could the hotel that rehabilitates sinners. Maybe." There could be other hotels she could've been talking about, but the thought of me going back to the city sends shivers down my spine. Ah well, it's a dream anyways. A very realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless. That's right. This is all fake and nothing damaging will happen. With newfound courage, I limply make my way to the hotel. Woah mama. The place sure looks bigger up close. The design of the place sure looks bomb as fuck.
"Not even awake would I come up with something as creative." Maybe it's a collective mind thing. Sooooooo. Do I knock? I mean it's a hotel, right? I should be able to just go in. I place my hand on the door handle. My body starts shaking and the scales turn yellow.
"On second thought, maybe I should knock. Just in case if it's open." So I knocked on the door. I feel like I just made the worst mistake of my life. Seconds pass and I can hear someone walking up to the door. My mind starts to think of the worst possible scenarios. What if it's an Eldritch Abomination that lures people and mind fucks them? Or a cockroach hybrid with pigs that experiments human by centipeding people!? Or worse, it's the landlord increasing the rent again, preventing us from ever escaping poverty! Okay that last part doesn't make sense in this situation, but it's scary nonetheless.
The door opens and it's the same blonde that I saw in the news. She looks kinda cute...Why is she just staring at me like I'm a psycho? Oh, right.
"H-Hey th-" She slams the door shut. "...Um. Now what?" Kinda anticlimactic. I was expecting at least a musical or something. The door opens again.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel, my dear sinner! My name is Charlie!" She says to me with such enthusiasm that's a little too much for me. "Please, come inside." Not giving me much choice, cause she grabs my arm and pulls me in. The inside looks very nice and clean. We stop at the lobby.
"This is where you'll be spending the rest of your days until you have been redeemed. It's going to be so much fun! We're going to teach you proper manners, how to be a good Devil loving soul and best of all, singing and dancing!
"I definitely like the last part." Her enthusiasm sure is contagious. I almost forgot about all the terrible things that happened to me. Almost.
"Really? That's great! Why don't you sing right now?"
"Eh?"
"Come on! Show me what you got." She beams a smile that's honestly blinding.
"Sheesh. You're putting me on the spot. Give me a sec to think of something." Now what song is good that doesn't require...too much music? If that makes any sense. I think long and hard. "Okay. I think I got it." I clear my throat. "I ca-" I starts coughing. "Sorry. My chest hurts a bit." That's an understatement. "I should be good now."
Hercules-Go the distance
I sing the song to the best of my abilities. Which is not the best, but I can say I'm decent. It is my childhood song. The scales changed to the mood of the song. Once I'm done, there's a pause and I can see from the look on her forced smile that it was bad.
"It was shit, wasn't it?"
"What? Nooooo. It's just um...unique?" I give her a look that I didn't believe her bullshit. She sighs. "It was kind of shit."
"I thought so."
"But hey, you don't have to be so blue!" Fucking dammit. Why do these scales make me so transparent. I know I'm sad, you don't gotta show the world I'm blue! "You'll get better if you keep practicing and that's what we're here for. For you to be redeemed and ascend to Heaven!" She keeps saying that. Redemption.
"What do I need to be redeemed from?" She's taken aback by my question.
"Well from the sins you've committed. It's why you're in Hell, right?" She's not even sure.
"Ohoho~ What do we have here?" I hear a voice that sounds like it's coming from an old radio. We both look at the stairs to find a freaky red looking motherfucker! His big grin showing those sharp teeth is forever imprinted in my mind. This guy is literally a walking red flag. Well my scales seems to be liking him, cause they've turned red.
"Radio Demon." Charlie says with venom. "I thought you were out with Angel Dust and Vaggie grocery shopping?"
"Hahaha! I don't waste my time on such meaningless tasks." It's freaky how his voice sounds like that. "Especially with our newest guest arriving." His smile becomes wider as he looks at me.
"Okay. This is becoming too scary right now. I can wake up now. Wake up!" I slap my cheeks. Why am I not waking up? I notice that the Radio Demon is now next to me.
"Oh? You believe to be in a dream? Was your death that traumatizing, that you forgot how you died?" He takes a step forward and I step back. "I bet as you were running away from the demons, you wanted to wake up from this nightmare. How many times did you lie to yourself?" He takes another step.
"I-I-" I can't even finish. Dead? That's impossible! Just yesterday, I remember arriving home and…the smell of blood hitting my nose. "No.." Seeing the body of my mom, sister and brother lying lifelessly on the floor. "No!" I saw it. A group of people in the kitchen gathering our belongings. I tried running away, but I wasn't expecting another person behind me. He bats my head, immobilizing me on the floor. The last thing I heard was a gunshot. "Nonononono!"
"Hahahaha! Oh, these are the moments I truly enjoy the most." His face becomes more twisted. "And you want to know what the best part is?" He gets up to my face. His face becoming more demonic. "You are never going to ascend to Heaven."