"Well...I'm impressed!" Alastor said with a grin as he twirled his staff before he leaned on it as he looked at Aria with raised eyebrows as applause and whistles broke out on Alastor's radio feed. "Color me surprised, but I actually didn't believe you when you said she could break him out of here as easy as pie!"
"There's a reason the counsel hoped to get her permanently banned from all known universes, but you can't stop the inevitable and especially not one born of total goodness and innocence," Aria mused with a chuckle as she hugged the letter to her before folding it up nicely and putting it away in her personal storage. "Besides, she has friends in every heart from here to the very Heavens! The council knew it was impossible, but they still tried and they almost succeeded."
"Who helped her again?" Angel Dust asked, scratching his head as he riffled through some of the papers on the small, wooden desk. "I always forget his name."
"That's the point, Angel Dust!" Alastor said with a laugh as the strangest sound of whirring lifted and fell before being silenced on the spot as Alastor twirled his staff and rested it on the ground. "No one knows his name. Just his title, but again, we're getting off topic here!"
"Alastor's right!" Aria muttered with the first hint of worry in her tone as she started to pace the uneven floor as she realized that cobbled stone met her bare, bird feet, making her stare at it thoughtfully as she slowly moved around the round room. "We have a room meant for a final battle with no bad guy to defeat. We have no cookie minions, which means it's been done elsewhere. We also don't have the legal documents I wanted to ensure Alastor and I wouldn't be forced to separate at the end of this adventure, like the counsel has done to us over and over and over again! I can't go around another God cycle again! I've waited God literally knows how long!"
"You and me both, my dear, and frankly, it's bringing me close to that part of myself I swore I wouldn't delve into again!" Alastor said darkly as his horns grew long and dark, his eyes beaded into pinpricks of red as his jaws grew wide, dark, and disturbingly black as he looked like he'd devour Aria whole. "I crave the comeuppance I am due and you have been denied me too long!"
"Oh, wherever is your fainting couch, Alastor?" Aria commented with amusement as Alastor laughed darkly before coming back to himself, chuckling good-naturedly as he sighed and shrugged.
"Sigh...to be with you lightens my darkened heart, my dear, that vengeance seems...meh, petty, now, I do admit," Alastor said with a small smile of bemusement. "Still...scaring the counsel could be fun!"
"Like how you created the toxic jungle to cover the whole of the planet from that one movie, huh, smiles?" Angel Dust smiled darkly as he pulled out a cigarette, lit it up, and blew out a breath of it with an easy chuckle. "Ah, that was funny as Hell! Scared the shit out of those pricks!"
"Sure, until you have to be the one to clean it up," Aria complained dryly, sighing as she rubbed her head like she suddenly had a headache. "I was sick for millennia for that! Both of you admitted you felt guilty for poisoning me, or did you forget I was the designated Princess Almathia that cycle?"
"Oh...oh dear," Alastor muttered, his smile growing stiff and uncomfortable at the memory as he suddenly broke into a sweat.
"Ah, shit! I forgot about that!" Angel Dust griped, looking guilty as he held his head and shook it.
"Don't worry, I forgave you both long ago for it, so can we move on to the next part of our journey?" Aria said conversationally as she put a hand on both Alastor and Angel's shoulders in a show of comraderie. "Is there anything in that pile of paperwork marked as useful?"
"There's this!" Angel pointed out as he picked up what looked like a bright blue flyer with the image of an old time hot air balloon before turning it over to reveal a note written in a very neat, curly cue handwriting.
"Sir Pentious has what you're looking for," Alastor read out loud, making him smile in confusion at the note. "Who is that, now?"
"Ugh, really, Alastor?" Aria groaned as she picked up an old pencil, scribbled a doodle next to the note and pointed to her drawing. "He really doesn't look familiar to you?"
"Nope!" Alastor admitted with a careless air. "Should I know him?"
"...Tell me he's joking, Angel Dust," Aria begged the pink spider as the arachnid sighed and doused his cigarette in the unused ashtray sitting on the desk.
"Ya know, for an ancient, god-awful demon who's supposed to be the scariest thing out there, I still think you're nothing but a strawberry pimp!" Angel Dust confessed as he rolled his eyes at Aria before he simpered over to the center of the room and stomped twice onto the cobblestones, lighting them up in a hot pink aura as he waved Alastor and Aria to join him.
As Alastor and Aria looked at one another, they stepped up to the spider as he spat out one, long, thin, pink thread onto the ceiling high above them before bending down and connecting the string to the ground, connecting it to the pink aura. Slowly, a part of the circular floor beneath their feet began to rise up along the single thread, leading them upwards. As they neared the ceiling of the jail cell, part of it melted away to reveal a tunnel leading ever upwards. Angel spat up into the darkness until his pink string stuck and then they kept moving up as the one, long, thin thread ever rose up into the darkness as it glowed that blushing pink.
"Only a spider's thread can getcha out of Hell, or don't ya peasants remember that story from Japanese folklore?" Angel Dust said with a cocky grin as they slowly rose out of the old, abandoned prison back up towards the main building.
"We remember," Alastor and Aria said together, making them look at eachother before they chuckled in amusement as Angel Dust guided them back up to Valentino's ground floor as a posh, heart-shaped, golden door appeared before them after what felt like an hour going up.
"We're here," Aria muttered quietly, wondering how to proceed as she suddenly put a fist inside her other hand aggressively. "Ya know what? I know we were supposed to do this all quiet, and I'd sneak around, and you and Angel were going to distract everyone with talk and all that, but that sounds boring! You guys wanna go in, guns and tentacles blazing, while I ransack Valentino's office and "whip" him back to shape?"
"Oh, Hell, yes, where have you been all my life?" Angel Dust moaned as he looked at her like he was really seeing her for the first time.
"Ah, I live to smell the sweet fragrance of innocence change into the heady aroma of unbridled violence in the wee, early hours of the morning!" Alastor cried out with glee as he snapped his fingers in a cloud of red as tentacles swarmed around him. "Lead the way, my lady fair!"
"Remember, everyone!" Aria shouted with glee as she put out a hand and blasted the door to smithereens with her angelic fire as party guests turned to look at them in shock as the door clanged like a broken bell a few feet in front of them. "Killing people is boring! There are worse things than death, so no body counts!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Both Alastor and Angel Dust answered with glee as they blasted and cursed their way through the masses, while Aria hurled angelic fire on anything that moved, sending demons into fits of itching, giggles, or hysteria as they saw visions of sweet, innocent things they couldn't destroy floating in front of them like ghosts.
"What the bloody hell is going on!?" A very familiar, British tone demanded, sending Aria into her first, wicked grin, making Alastor stop stark still as he blushed scarlet at seeing it bloom over her sweet face.
"Oh Briiitiiish?" Aria sang as her eyes glowed with angelic light as her entire body blazed with light as it licked the walls and floor, not burning it, but sticking to it relentlessly as she passed.
"...Oh shit!" Mr. Kingsley swore, his entire black cat body going ashen grey at the mere sight of her as he fled down the hall. "Flee! Flee, you fools! Our doom is upon us! Help!"
"No rest for the wicked!" Aria shouted with a terrible finality as she rushed at him and swung her wings forward, sending a wave of angelic fire that caught British and his men, sending his men into fits of itching and giggles as they fled, but British, to his dismay, found himself turned to stone before her.
"...I'll come back and unstone you later," Aria insisted coldly as she passed Mr. Kingsley, but not before snapping off his beloved tail and reforming the stone of his hair all over his stone body to look unkempt and disheveled. "I chose the body you ended up in here in Hell, and you complain about cat hair? Now you lost what you had. Be grateful the counsel let me stone you. They wanted you to suffer in a pit of lava, burning your fur and skin off over and over for all eternity for killing me the way you did. I found the punishment a little too...unforgiving."
Aria moved on as Alastor and Angel Dust took care of most of the guests. By the time Aria blasted her way to Valentino's private office, she, Alastor, and Angel Dust had cleared out most of the demons in the building. All that were left was Valentino, Vox, Velvet, and Angel Dust's little sister, Molly as the ventured out of Valentino's office.
"Aw, the party's over already? That's so not fair! It's barely two in the morning!" Velvet whined as she leaned into Vox, who couldn't lean away from Velvet fast enough. "I heard you were going to sneak around and catch old Valentino with his pants down, but it looks like you got impatient and made everyone flee before your wicked, white fire, you little white witch!"
"It's none of your concern!" Aria huffed aggressively, but she maintained her cool as she let her fire lick over her like she was a phoenix. "My quarrel isn't with you...yet."
"Oh, how bold!" Velvet commented eagerly as she giggled and stepped up to Aria, who stared her down as Velvet looked at her coyly. "So you promise I'll see you later?"
"You can count on it," Aria insisted, making Velvet giggle with delight as she clapped her hands and gave Aria a hug, making her stiffen as she realized her fire had no effect on Velvet!
"Then I'll prepare a place for you and your friends! Hehehe, oh, what fun!" Velvet cooed as she skipped away, but not before kissing Vox on the side of his TV screen. "See ya later, handsome!"
"I told you to stop doing that!" Vox insisted irritably as he looked like he'd be sick from Velvet's lovey dovey show of affection, but she just laughed at him as she simpered and skipped away, but not before waving good bye!
"Bye, now! I'll send you invitations to my party when the time is riiight!" Velvet insisted as she took a selfie, making sure everyone was in it before skipping merrily away.
"Do you want me to intercede for you, Valentino?" Vox asked in a low, menacing voice as electricity zapped across his face, fingers and around his screen, while Alastor looked on as though Vox didn't exist.
"That won't be necessary, Vox, so go ahead and go," Valentino mused as he stepped forward between Aria and Alastor as he led her deeper into his private office, while Angel followed close with an angry expression on his face. "Lady Ariathe June, Angel Dust, and I have...business to attend to."
"You know where to find me!" Alastor mused as he walked by Vox as he went straight to the hotel bar and ordered himself some sake from a lovely mink demon in a dark purple, skimpy kimono. "Do scream if you need me, Aria!"
"That won't be necessary," Aria stated with a half-smile, but she looked at Valentino and then at Alastor before she and Angel continued to delve deeper into Valentino's office as they watched Valentino smile wickedly at Alastor before he softly closed his massive, gaudy office door.
"Molly, why don't you sit over there by the bar and help yourself, my little minx? Why don't you make that toddy you designed for your brother, while I offer Aria a drink?" Valentino mused gayly as he offered his luxurious pink, gold, and black striped couch for Ariathe to sit on as the rugs beneath their feet where surprisingly lush with dark colors as a sea of black and gold mingled with gaudy pink numbers with stripes intermingled on the floor. "You are thirsty, Miss June, after delving into my private affairs only to find yourself quite empty handed? No hard feelings, I can assure you...although, really, F.O.P.P. was very persuasive. She's a very powerful friend to have."
"Do you have any chamomile tea?" Aria asked politely, unsure of the conversation or the atmosphere, which was surprisingly less oppressive than she expected as she sat on the striped couch nervously. "Two tablespoons of honey with it would be lovely, if you can spare it."
"Of course! I'll prepare it," Valentino said with a knowing grin as he walked over to the bar where Aria spied an electric water kettle steaming as Valentino opened a tall cabinet over Molly, looking down on her affectionately as he pulled down a box of chamomile tea. "Excuse me, my love."
"Don't worry! I don't mind the extra coziness!" Molly cooed as she closed the distance and kissed his torso, making Valentino laugh a light-hearted laugh Aria had never heard before, shocking her as Angel Dust just stared, flabbergasted. "Here ya go, bro! Bottoms up! I picked the toddy mother used to make with orange citrus with a hint of nutmeg!"
"Um...okay," Angel Dust commented in a far away voice like he couldn't fathom what he was witnessing as he drank the steaming mug, the warmth of it making him visibly relax as Aria could see his fur grow more soft as a sigh escaped him. "Mmm...brandy...mom's favorite. Well, old favorite, I guess."
Aria didn't understand what she was witnessing as she watched Valentino and Molly as they shared the space in the bar as they whispered and chatted as Valentino steeped her tea, while Molly made another drink for herself and Valentino. As she watched them flirt with eachother, Aria began to understand all too well what was happening and she didn't like it one bit. The aura around them was genuinely happy...joyful, even!
"Argh!," Aria groaned angrily to herself as she suddenly felt absolutely awful as the realization of what she'd almost done sank her heart like a stone. "I am such an idiot! This...this was a setup by the counsel! I was about to fall for their tricks again! They were going to get me to break you two up! How...how long have you been seeing eachother like this?"
"Well, ya know that story of Persephone falling in love with Hades?" Molly chimed in affectionately as Valentino held her from behind, making her giggle as Aria could sense the absolute trust between them. "Well, I had to take it on this time and Valentino was assigned the role of Hades. So...you know what's going to happen next."
"No...no, no, no, no, no!" Aria said with rising dread as she took the cup of chamomile offered to her by Valentino, took a sip, and then drank some more as she sighed in absolute bliss. "Ah...such a wonderful flavor! Wow, you made this yourself?"
"I just steeped it, but I was told you might stop by for tea," Valentino said with a laugh as he patted Aria on the head before sitting next to her conversationally on the couch. "The mad hatter sends his regards!"
"Wow...how many strings did F.O.P.P. pull this time?" Aria wondered thoughtfully as she sipped her tea with an added amount of gratitude.
"I don't know, but this is serious," Valentino said with a sigh as he held his hands in front of him and then let them go helplessly. "I never thought I'd find love, especially when the counsel assigned me this thankless job as the eternal pimp of Hell, selling all who would sell their bodies to the highest bidder. I will admit, it has its perks, but there are nights I rage in the peak of lust and I found Angel Dust feeds that darkness I cannot be rid of."
Angel Dust said nothing, but Aria could tell what Valentino had said bothered him as he gripped his mug tighter. Then, to prove her point, he downed the whole toddy in one gulp, making steam rise out of his ears as he coughed violently. Aria shook her head as she watched Molly try to help cool Angel off, but he just pushed her away as he headed straight for Valentino.
"You don't get to keep her...ever," Angel Dust commented coldly as he pulled all of his guns on his employer, making Valentino only smile smugly as the pink spider spat on the ground in front of Valentino. "I don't believe this lovesick nonsense anymore than I believe you somehow grew a fucking conscience!"
"Oh, I love it when you're angry," Valentino said with a heady amount of want in his voice, making Angel hesitate as Valentino grabbed one of his guns and forced it under his chin. "Well, then, big boy. Finish me off! Kill me and obtain my power! Know a circle of Hell like no other! I embrace your hate! Feed upon me and despair!"
The darkness in the office grew palpable, making Aria grow sad and helpless as she felt the turning of the story around them like clockwork. The neverending rounds within the story and the souls locked inside them like puppets never ceased to horrify her. Angel Dust could kill Valentino, but then he would lose his rank as himself, and then who would be Angel Dust?
Angel knew it, too, as he shook with terror at Valentino as the pimp demon lit a cigarette and spewed forth the smoke into Angel Dust's lungs, making Angel almost pass out as Valentino caught him. Aria watched sadly as Valentino groped Angel, bringing him to the couch as he had his way with Angel Dust, making him cum all over his hand before sucking his dick and riding him as Aria watched placidly like she wasn't really there. She felt numb...powerless.
"You are mine to fuck with as I please, Angel Dust, unless you actually believe that joke of a hotel can save you," Valentino said with an evil chuckle as he put his clothes back on, while Angel Dust meekly put his pants back on, looking tired and numb, himself. "As for what I hoped to gain from you, Lady Aria, let me have my Persephone. Angel Dust will be released on exchange except when the powers that be call him to repeat his story, as we are all forced to do every few decades."
"...I hate the fucking counsel," Angel Dust muttered as he put his suit coat back on, lighting up a cigarette as Molly rubbed Angel Dust's back sadly, but he shrugged her off, but not completely as he held one of her hands helplessly.
"I...I don't know if I can, anymore, Valentino," Aria muttered sadly as she drank the last of her tea and set it aside on a small table shaped like a spider next to her. "The counsel set me up to destroy this story and I almost fell for it. If not for F.O.P.P., I would've destroyed any chance Molly and you have. I would've ended up destroying Andrew...Alastor...even Lucifer. It would've been praised by the counsel, but...I'd want to be dead. I'd want oblivion and it would've been denied me. I have no idea what to do."
"Well, here's a thought, my lady Aria," Valentino offered cordially as he made smoke rings, smiling with a smirk on his face. "Why not just...do nothing?"
"Nothing?" Aria commented incredulously, but Angel Dust looked like he'd just had an epiphany.
"No shit! That makes perfect sense!" Angel insisted as he ran a hand through his hair, dishevling it to make him look crazy as he jumped from the bar and grabbed both of her hands. "We do absolutely fucking nothing except, ya know, what we want! Live! We actually do what we want and fucking live for once!"
"Me? Live here? With all of you?" Aria asked, incredulous at first, but as she thought of the pros and cons of going against the counsel, a smirk rose upon her angelic face. "I'll be in Hell either way, so really, what have I got to lose? I fucking hate what the counsel almost got me to do and I'd be banished here, anyway, afterwards because no way do I want to see my family after all this shit plays out, so yeah...okay, I'll do it! I'll fix up the place and stay!"
"Then it's decided?" Valentino mused, but the smile faded from Aria as a great sigh escaped her. "What? You know there's no other way!"
"I know, but...I will say this," Aria said as she looked at Valentino with a look as hard as flint. "I am still and always will be a disciple of Jesus Christ. He may be on the counsel, but his influence isn't great enough to turn it in our favor without doing some of what the counsel wanted."
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Angel shouted irritably as he paced in front of her, then pointed at her like he couldn't believe he was hearing this from her. "We can finally be free of the counsel, and you want to help them!?"
"Only those who made it clear how I can tip the scales in our favor," Aria said carefully as the wheels in her mind started to turn. "It's been a while since I've tried to outwit the counsel, but I have some powerful friends. I even know where to start!"
"Where, pray tell, do you intend to start?" Valentino asked with interest as Aria got a wicked grin on her face.
"Bring in Alastor," Aria said with a smirk as she reclined on the couch like the queen she felt like right then. "We're going to do some serious hell-raising!"