Act 1, Chapter 1: What a Show!
It worked.
It actually worked. Charlie had, of course, believed in her plan from the beginning. It was Angel, Husker, Alastor, Vaggie… okay, basically everyone else, and especially her father, who didn't have a shred of faith in it. But the first time a demon had started glowing blue and took off skyward, passing right through the Barrier and heading for Heaven, she had still been astounded; this was history, right here. If a soul is actually redeemed, the Angels seem to have no power to stop it from entering Heaven, and it meant that her plan was actually going to work. She was actually making a difference, and redeeming lost souls! "Take that, dad," she muttered smugly to herself as she typed the latest report on all the goings-on at the Hotel. It seemed that the piles of paperwork never became any smaller, only growing and returning to normal once she was done for the day.
The Happy Hotel- or to go by Alastor's ridiculous little play on words, the Hazbin Hotel- was really growing in leaps and bounds now. After the second and third demons to be redeemed, everyone who was even remotely interested in redemption began showing up at her door. Currently, she was at 43 guests- almost fully booked! These were souls that genuinely wanted to do good, and better themselves, of course. The ones who weren't interested in being better people were at least pretty easily spotted, and Alastor would take care of those ones.
Sighing, Charlie stood from her desk and looked around her office. The desk was situated right in front of a gorgeous stained-glass window, with vines and flowers running all throughout it in silver and gold. Her desk was old, like most everything else in the Hotel, but it had character; how many souls would rise to heaven on the backbone of her and this desk? She began to move toward the door, turning back to look at the windows for just a moment and smiling slightly before she closed her door. At least she had something beautiful to look at when everything piled up; it always helped her get through the day. Lately, however, it had been a source of comfort from more than just the stress of her self-imposed duties.
The month before, she and Vaggie had split. Charlie had seen it coming a mile off, but she didn't want to think that her relationship, like all those before it, was doomed to failure… after all, Vaggie might have been her lover, but she was also her best friend! But in the times leading up to the "Great Spatula Incident", as the breakup had become known, Vaggie had started to become just a little too overbearing. Any time Charlie wasn't at the Hotel, Vaggie demanded to know where she was- not just questions, like a polite friend or slightly annoyed lover might ask, but demands. "Don't go near Alastor, don't take chances, don't put so much of your time into the Hotel." It was impossible to bear, and when Charlie realized that her girlfriend was becoming possessive of her, she had to end it. She already had her father to deal with, constantly expressing his "disappointment" in her work and her life choices, even now with it having been revealed that her plan actually had merit.
The breakup hadn't been anything even close to pleasant. They both screamed, they cried, they called each other things they would regret, and Charlie… attacked Vaggie with a spatula, after she had said Charlie was "a fool for thinking Demons could be saved, especially without her help". The entire Hotel staff heard the resulting fight, and Alastor had shown up just in time to turn the spatula she'd been about to behead Vaggie with into a fish, before letting out one of his usual jokes; "Well, I must have one killer party, yes indeed!" Charlie huffed and snickered a bit thinking about it. All else aside, his jokes were always funny. And at least he'd stopped popping up in random places and giving people heart attacks, anyhow. "ah crap, it's time for the staff meeting… I really need to set alarms on my phone for this kinda shit…" Charlie thought, running off towards the boardroom with one last affirming glance at the stained-glass window.
As the meeting drew to a close and the general staff had all filtered out, Charlie leaned back in her seat and sighed. Alastor hadn't made it to the meeting today, which never came as a surprise, yet was always disappointing. It wasn't like she wanted to see him, she reminded herself; she just wanted to talk to him. After all, they were business partners! And he'd been rather gloomy lately… So maybe she was a little concerned about him, but this was all because of him- the Hotel, the sinners she'd saved, and the once she'd have the chance to save in the future. So of course, she owed him at least that, but Vaggie didn't seem to like that so much. She continually reminded him that Alastor was a Dealmaker- pure evil, blah blah blah. She knew that, of course- She was an Original Demon herself. She could simply feel the power rolling off of him whenever he was angry, and the way he warped reality was something that only Dealmakers could pull off anyways.
No, what got to Charlie today was something else about Alastor. The way he'd always seemed so… upbeat, and happy, was gone lately. Poof! Just like that. He still smiled, but he couldn't seem to laugh quite the same, and he had worry lines on his face and circles under his eyes. "I didn't even know Demons could get worry lines, or circles for that matter considering sleep isn't necessary for us," Charlie said to nobody in particular. However, unbeknownst to her, Husker had stayed behind a bit and heard her. "Worry lines?" he asked, turning towards her across the ten-seat meeting table. "You ain't talkin bout Alastor, are ya? Cause I noticed that too." Charlie's face shot up and her eyes locked with Husker's, full of questions. She took a deep breath and held them down for now- some of them, anyways. She'd get her answers. "Husk, I want to help him, and you've known him longer than any of us. What should I do? Is there anything I can do? What's wrong with him?" Husker just sighed, and sat back down across from the girl.
"Look, I can't act like I know what's goin' on in that thick skull of his. But if you want to help him… then I suppose I should help you. He needs someone to talk to, whether the stuck-up prick realizes it or not, and I only talk to people when they're so drunk they won't remember me the next day." The old cat demon grumbled out, and Charlie squealed a high-pitched, happy squeal. "Thank you thank you thank you!" Charlie yelled, launching herself over the table to give him a hug. "Ah, whatever… just never let anyone see you doing that." The old demon said, patting Charlie on the shoulder. "He can stand you, for some reason, so I think you'd be the best person to try and talk to him. On the off chance he's unhappy, though… well, just run. You wouldn't like him when he's unhappy. Remember Pentius?" Charlie went pale at that and gulped. This should be… fun…
Meanwhile, Alastor was locked in his room, contemplating the meaning of life (or afterlife, to be precise). He simply couldn't find a reason to leave this hotel room right now, and encounter all those foolish mortals who desired redemption, of all things. He remembered quite vividly what he had said on the topic that first day here, but my, things were certainly different in the eyes of others! Most of the guests here had come to honestly try and redeem themselves through good and pure actions, so clearly it wasn't just 'whacky nonsense', as he had called it. The deer-like demon scratched his chin for a moment, considering something. "Well… stranger and more miraculous things have happened through the ages, yes? So it isn't entirely out of the question that she might redeem one or two of them. And of course, I did offer to help her… a gentleman always keeps his word, yes?" He made to get up, thinking he'd go see Charlie and inquire as to how he could be of assistance.
Of course, that very moment, all Hell broke loose in the hotel. It would seem as if Angel Dust and Vaggie had started a bit of a kerfuffle on the second story landing. Angel was currently trying to fight Vaggie off from six different angles (advantages of having six arms, Alastor supposed), while the moth girl simply kept vanishing and reappearing where his arms weren't. The Radio Demon stood and watched for a moment, greatly amused, before snapping his fingers and writing out a rune in the air;
"Isvildr", he whispered out, and the two froze on the spot. As in, literally froze; the rune he had just produced was used to stop time on a target for a period of time. He wandered over to Angel, levitated him with another snap, and walked over to the balcony opposite his room. It just so happened to have a great view of the swimming pool; as Alastor let his levitation go and the Timestop Rune continued to work, Angel simply hung there. It would be at least an hour before he resumed, and realized that he was about to take a sudden and unplanned swim.
"Ah, now that was entertaining! Now, off to find our darling Princess and find out just what I'll be doing here…"
Author's Notes
It's been a very long while since I've written anything, but now I see it's just been lack of inspiration holding me back. Hazbin Hotel made me laugh so hard the first time I saw it, I discovered that apparently the human body cannot laugh and drink Dr. Pepper at the same time without serious consequences. The characters are just so alive, and yet we don't know all that much about them; so I've decided that interspersed throughout this story, I'm going to place little flashbacks of the past from the point of view of Charlie and Angel, as well as one or two from everyone's favorite Strawberry Pimp. As always, reviews are appreciated! Let me know what I did wrong, right, and what places could use some work; the rune Alastor used here is but the first of many, so I'm going to be keeping a running list of all the runes and their purpose at the end of each chapter. See you guys later!
P.S.: I've decided that this will simply be a single part of one long adventure, called "The Secrets of Magick and Redemption". Alastor and Charlie are going to turn the whole world on its head, and they're going to have fun doing it!
Runic Dictionary
Isvildr (Eesh-Veal-Dur): Completely separates the target from the flow of time and motion for approximately one hour. The rune itself requires a great deal of energy to cast, and can be dangerous if used together with other runes.
Incannes (In-Cans): Levitates a person/object from the ground, providing they are not attached to it, to around head height. The energy required is a constant stream, and is directly proportional to the weight of the person/object being lifted.