After Belladonna and Crystal made it back to their new home, Belladonna lied down on the sofa from exhaustion. Crystal hopped on the couch just a few feet away from her and puffed up a pillow.
"Nice place you got here," Said Crystal.
"Thanks.." Belladonna murmured. "I mean, it's still better than Hell I suppose."
Crystal frowned a little. He looked over at the yellow whippet. She couldn't quite tell, but it seemed like she was shaking a little.
"Are.. you okay?" Crystal asked curiously.
Belladonna went silent for a moment, but then spoke. "I'm scared Crystal. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm doomed either way you look at it."
"Don't say that! I'm sure there is a way. There has to be!"
"I already told you, I'm blacklisted. There is nothing you can do."
Crystal huffed. "I don't care. We are friends, and I'm going to do everything I can to help you."
Belladonna froze. A look of surprise and confusion made its way onto her face. "F-Friends?"
"Yes, friends. And friends look out for one another. You saved my life, twice, and you helped me find a place to live."
"But even still, I used you. I treated you like crap, but despite all of that.. you.. You can't be my friend. I'm a terrible person. I don't even deserve any friends."
Crystal smiled, placing her paw on your shoulder. "You are not a terrible person. You may have done a lot of bad things in the past, but whether you realize it or not, you've shown a great deal of remorse and a willingness to change. We all deserve a second chance Bella. I've seen the good in you, and I feel you are worthy of my friendship."
Belladonna couldn't help but shed a tear from Crystals seemingly endless kindness. She was resisting the urge to flat out burst into tears, but managed to keep it bottled up.
"I-I don't even know what to say." Belladonna's voice shook.
"You don't have to say anything." Crystal reassured.
Crystal then proceeded to wrap her arms around the whipped in an embrace. Belladonna, shocked by the sudden gesture, began to shed even more tears. She couldn't take this anymore. She hugged Crystal tightly, crying into her shoulder. Crystal brushed her head with her other paw as she sobbed, trying to comfort her as much as she could. Belladonna couldn't tell if she was happy, relieved, upset, or all of the above.
"I-I *sniffle* don't deserve this.. how can you care about someone like me? How can you show me so much kindness? I don't deserve any of this."
"You said you were going to make the world a better place than you left it right?"
"Y-Yeah.."
"Well, consider this an upfront reciprocation," Crystal winked.
Belladonna giggled a little from this. She seemed to cheer up a little thanks to Crystal's company. Having a friend for the first time in her entire life was something she thought she could never have. All these emotions however were starting to drain her. She became drowsy, and slowly let go of her embrace with the ruby collie. Belladonna lied down on her end of the couch, curling up into a ball.
"Thank you.." Belladonna whispered.
"Don't mention it." Crystal smiled.
Belladonna's eyes slowly shut as she began what would be her first sleep in a long time. The feeling of peaceful slumber was something she couldn't even remember. For a moment, everything she worried about, started to drift away as she finally got her first moment of peace in decades. Her eyes shut, she began to fall asleep.
"You did what?!" Annabelle screamed.
Sakura sat with her head high. "I saw it as necessary. She really seemed interested in.."
"Nononononono, No! She can't be back on Earth! She'll cause nothing but chaos and destruction! How can you be so stupid?!"
"Hey, look! I promised that she'd be tormented even worse if she didn't make up for her past. Either way, she's still going back to Hell, so you don't have to worry about her."
Annabelle's face contorted from Sakura's negligence. This was beneath her on so many levels. She had to get her to understand the big mistake she had just made.
"What about her powers?" Annabelle retorted. "She could set the whole city ablaze if she wanted to."
"She no longer has any demonic powers. Red had stripped them away from her."
"..Okay. Is she causing any trouble right now?"
"You would know if you hadn't shut out all communication with her," Sakura smirked smugly.
"Answer the question!"
"No. In fact, she seems to be helping another fugitive. I believe her name is Crystal."
Annabelle made a look of shock. This was the collie that she just recently rescued from Hell. But then her look of shock turned into a look of triumph. "Ha, I knew it! She's using her again, just like last time!"
"Actually, she has done nothing but help the collie. She saved her from being tortured by a bunch of angry bulldogs, and provided her with a place to stay."
Annabelle's eye twitched a little. "Oh yeah? Well she's only doing that to get that collie to do her bidding. It's all part of her plan! She's going to get her to do something horrible! My cousin has always been manipulative!"
"Then we'll just have to wait and see then, won't we?"
Annabelle barred her teeth in frustration. "Oh sure, we can let out all the bad people in Hell into Earth and 'wait and see'. I'm sure that would turn out nicely. My cousin is pure evil. She is guaranteed to do something horrible. You have made a terrible mistake Sakura. You have a lot to think about."
Annabelle then walked away, leaving Sakura to ponder what she had just done. But Sakura had little to ponder. She just had to wait and see. Maybe Belladonna isn't as 'evil' as Annabelle thinks. Even if she is forever Hell bound, perhaps her good actions can be put to good use, and she can still be made an example of.
After having stocked up on food for the week, Belladonna and Crystal both wandered the streets in search of those in need. It was a busy Monday, and a lot of dogs often went out hunting and dumpster diving on this day. This was a good opportunity to find dogs in need of food.
Crystal looked over in an alleyway to find a few dogs looking for scraps. She ushered Belladonna over and got her to give some of her food supply to them. They did these kinds of fetch quests for almost the entire day. They both felt very good afterwards. Belladonna was overwhelmed by all of the thanks and praises she received. She actually didn't feel so rotten anymore. Unfortunately, this was only a small drop in the puddle of good she had to cook up before it was too late.
All of the sudden, Crystal came across a box full of puppies for adoption. The puppies inside were barking playfully, waiting for somebody to adopt them.
"Aww, look Bella, aren't they cute?" Crystal pointed to the box of puppies.
Belladonna froze in place. A frown was slapped onto her face as she eyed the box. For a moment, she began to feel angry, almost livid. She bolted and ran for the nearest alleyway, leaving Crystal behind.
"Hey wait! Where are you going? Slow down!" Crystal stammered as she chased after Belladonna.
Crystal had to jump over crates and dodge other dogs in her path as she tried to keep up with the yellow whippet. Her slim body and agile nature made it difficult to keep up.
"Leave me alone!" Belladonna yelled back.
Crystal didn't listen. She had to find out what was wrong with her friend. Eventually, Belladonna managed to lose her, and Crystal was left wandering the alleyways. Crystal called out for her, trying to find out where she went. This went on for a while, until she finally decided that the best course of action would be to wait back at the pad for her to return.
On her way back though, she found Belladonna slashing a mattress with her claws in a corner alley. Crystal called out to her, running towards her at top speed. Belladonna didn't turn around. She just sat there, looking down at the shredded mattress.
"..Are you okay?" Crystal asked.
She was met with silence.
"Please, talk to me Bella. I'm your friend. You can tell me anything."
A few more moments of silence later, and Belladonna finally spoke. "When I was a puppy, I was also held up for adoption, along with my cousin Annabelle."
Crystal stood silently, her ears perked up.
Belladonna continued. "We waited there for weeks. If we didn't get an owner soon, we would be sent to the pound once we grew to old to have any appeal. Eventually, Annabelle got adopted by some rich yuppie. I felt sad seeing her go, as she was the only family I had. Sadly, I was never adopted. I didn't want to be sent to the pound, so I escaped."
Belladonna let out a sigh, the anger returning to her face. "And so I was left all alone to fend for myself, while my cousin was spoiled rotten by that fat, snobby rich lady. I never had anyone to care for me, or love me.. the idea of love almost sounded alien to me. That's when I realized, that the world itself never cared about me. Nobody cared about me. They only wanted to take advantage of me."
Crystal made a look of surprise, then frowned. All the pieces were coming together. Perhaps this was the reason Belladonna had become evil in the first place.
"Anyone who ever wanted to help me, only did so if I did something in return. Some people did seem to genuinely care about me, but I could see through their facade. They always wanted something from me. Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe some people did want to care for me, but I was too blind and hopeless to see it."
Belladonna shed a tear, clenching her teeth in disgust at her past. Crystal walked over, wiping the tear from her cheek with the side of her paw. The kind gesture helped relieve her tension, but she continued.
"I always hated my cousin for that. She got everything, and I was left with nothing but scraps and hopeless dreams. The worst thing of all is that I never got to know where she lived. If I did, I would have done something really stupid. At least I can rest easy knowing I never killed my own cousin." Belladonna dipped her head.
"You would never do something like that." Crystal consoled.
"You don't know what I was like." Belladonna frowned. "I just wish I had still loved my cousin as much as I do now. I was too weak. I should have looked for her, and I should have forgiven her."
Belladonna began to sob, letting streams of tears drip from her face. Crystal hugged the sobbing whippet, trying to comfort her as much as she could. Although it was dangerous to be out at dusk in an alleyway, Crystal still felt a part of her telling her that this was more important. What they didn't realize, was that someone else was watching them from above the clouds. The pink whippet couldn't believe what she was hearing.
