A/N: I was rather zooted finishing most of Chapter 2 and some of Chapter 3. I think Blitz would be proud. Have fun.

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Chapter 3: You Want To Share What You've Been Through.

Blitz slowly opened his eyes. It was still dark, and the guitar player next to him was harder asleep than a buffalo surrounded by internet influencers. The imp quietly stood to his feet, checking around for any indication of the time, and finally found his phone: Three in the morning, not even six hours later. He swore quietly, eyes squinting from the early interruption by his own mind. With the sensation of being tired now a memory and no energy to be considered well rested, Blitz made their way to the back to check the weather. He lightly pushed open the door with a crack, allowing the cold rush to shudder his skin. Blitz realized then that he had taken off his jacket at some point during his stage performance, some time around the joke regarding a lobster and bread.

The ground was coated white, with squares of snow settled on to the tops of surfaces and a grim shadow overseeing the dead atmosphere. Silence had been deafening all night, and the noises outside had been outright stolen. Blitz sighed. This was going to be a long walk, even longer if he went to recover his jacket and the presumed guitar playing twink were to wake up…

"Going somewhere?"

He turned. Of course. Styx was standing with their carrying case, holding out Blitz's jacket. The imp gently took it, comfortably sliding in and letting his hand take their residence in the pockets.

"Just figured I'd head out early." Blitz said. "Try and die early so I'm well preserved for the morning."

"Oh, that doesn't work." Styx said. "You gotta get up at six and let your body decompose with the snow melting. Gets much more attention."

Blitz almost looked in disgust, and felt a sense of admiration that he was hearing his own humor outside of his own voice. It felt interesting. It felt… correct. Judging from Styx's own smile, they were thinking the same thing.

"Right." Blitz he retorted. "Maybe you could show me a good place to crash so I can try again tomorrow?"

Styx almost took a step back, their mouth slightly agape. They then smiled as their posture instead moved forward almost on its own and the door to the bar shut. "I think I might know a place."

"Hope it's got a real bed since you forgot your cocoon shit." Blitz said while walking head first into a lack of directions before stopping.

"Oh yeah." Styx trailed, taking the lead. "Ah well. Gresha might wanna eat them."

The walk was quiet, with the glowing blue eyes of Styx and the yellow glowing eyes of Blitz with light never allowed outside their vision. The streetlights gave compliment to these glowing orbs, and conjoined then with the shadows. The sidewalk became colder as the trees became more frequent. Wind smashed against the bricks of buildings and made no sound.

"Why does everyone like you?" Blitz blurted out. He turned his head immediately after.

"You're talking to me?" Styx asked.

"Every asshole with an asshole that hated my ass… hole… either loved you or was one 'Will you marry me?' away from mating with your face."

"That's just Gresha, I already told you Leroy didn't like me at first and do you seriously think that I was dodging pussy left and right the first day he finally let me play?"

Blitz paused. "... Kinda."

"Well, it would've been dick if that was true." Styx said. "What about you? I'm sure you have stories of everyone loving you, too."

Blitz thought. He thought of his past, looked through family and enemies, and compared where he was then to now. The future was looking grim indeed, and the life of a circus act caused his spines to shudder.

"Just shit and things." Blitz trailed. "Not so much stories but moments, y'know. Family gatherings and whatnot."

"You… have a family?" Styx asked softly.

"I did." Blitz sighed roughly. "Went as far away as I could from them years ago. Never wanted to come up here but I had no choice."

"Never is much of a choice." Styx said.

"What about you?" Blitz asked.

"Eh, college dropout, played guitar for a band, didn't care about others until it was too late. You know, every sob story." Styx said.

"Yeah? What D'you play?"

"Eh, mix of everything. Grunge, metal, hair metal, anything we wanted. It was early new century shit brought over from the last decade."

"How fuckin old are you?"

Styx laughed. "I've only been here a few years, Blitz. What, late twenties now? I fuckin forget. Whatever you are, I guess."

"Don't think you'd want anything from being me." Blitz said, readjusting in his jacket.

"Do I have to want something from you?" Styx asked.

Blitz stopped, eyes squinting at the sinner's apparent stupidity. "You just said you've been here for a few fucking years and you're asking me if it's normal to not walk down the street with someone without stabbing them?"

"No, Blitz, but it isn't normal to shit yourself every time someone says, 'Hey, you look like you're dying, maybe I could at least prevent that for a day?' to you and act like it's not at least a LITTLE possible every now and then."

"That's the problem, Rich Dick. I just had my Nice Moment the other day and Satan knows that anything after one a month is less believable than an honest church down here."

"Did you just whisper the word 'Trademark?'"

"Whatever the fuck I did, I'm staying suspicious, and my ass is gonna stay right over here until I know you didn't look at it while I sleep."

The sinner blinked awkwardly before continuing down the sidewalk, the imp continuing to follow, looking left and right to the strangely quiet households. Some looked lived in and broken into. The dead branches mixed upwards into the sky of red and purples of the early morning. Subtle dew formed against the threads of his jacket. Blitz looked at his phone - Nothing.

"Not too much farther." Styx chimed up. "Is that a sentence? Yeah, I think so."

Blitz smiled briefly in secret as he pocketed his phone, taking in the minimal sights around him. "Thanks, uh… yeah. Thanks."

"For?" Styx turned.

"Actually giving a shit about an imp. I don't even give a hellhound's ass if you're gonna murder me, honestly."

"Blitz."

"Mm?"

"Shut the fuck up, please."

"Alright."

The duo continued in silence until the next block, where Styx suddenly stopped and guestered with their eyes to follow up the steps. A typical apartment for Hell's construction: Just enough stairs to get you used to going up stairs, only to immediately remind you that there weren't enough steps to prepare to exit that sensation. The door looked without time, and lead into a dark hallway before entering a large area which reaches into the rooms of the place. The imp pulled his hood down after a struggle with his horns.

"Sheesh. Who'd you have to kill to get this place?" Blitz asked.

"Dunno." Styx said, turning on a single oddly old lamp strangely placed on a counter. "Leroy just said that they just ran out into the street screaming one day, just never came back."

"Ah, my favorite past time."

"Yeah, crazy stuff. He just told me to make sure I turn on this lamp as soon as I get home."

"... And you're strangely okay with that?" Blitz asked.

Styx tilted their head. "What, scared of a lamp?"

"I don't fuck around with that sinner magic shit. Euch, always feels tainted."

Styx pulled out a glass of water for himself and the imp, taking a place on the couch. Blitz followed along and rested on the other side, tail resting between the duo as he accepted the drink.

"So, what." Blitz began. "You just show up once a year to a bar ran by a fuckin piece of baptised bacon with a combover and he just gives you a fucking roof?"

"Sorta." Styx said. "He's kinda the one who discovered me. Well, no. Okay, it'd take a while to explain and I know you're not here for that."

"I got time." Blitz's said almost calmly.

The sinner smiled. "I told you I was in a band, but that was obviously way before I got down here." The smile vanished before a frown. "Took me forever just to find a guitar and something to string it with. Did you know that dental floss is apparently a good replacement string?"

Blitz looked down at the table, taking another sip of water. "I know it's a good replacement for a blade on a handsaw."

"Oh, shit. I'll have to make a note of that. Anyhow, yeah, I just happened to be around here and ended up at Host House. Er, that's the name of the bar. I know, kinda hard to see in the snow."

"Thought he was too broke to replace the sign of the old store." Blitz said halfheartedly. "How'd he find out you could play?"

"I basically forced him to listen." Styx answered. "He taught me bartending, didn't want to hear about uh… another guitar player."

"Pfft. Maybe that hairy third leg prick isn't so bad."

The sinner nodded "Leroy was more stubborn back then. I finally got fed up and put myself on stage. He was gonna kick me off until he heard how good I could make a sappy song about emotions sound to a group of drunks looking for entertainment."

Blitz watched on, forgetting about the glass in his hands.

"He was pissed." Styx chuckled, setting down their own glass and leaning back. "I was scared. I tried to tell him what I felt, but he talked over me and basically said he'd see if I could occasionally fill in. Gresha liked me so much that she asked for a straight month, and the old Caterpillar Dick actually gave in. Gave me some actual strings and said to play something catchy."

"The fuck is catchy to him?" Blitz asked.

Styx shrugged. "I seemed to do good, though. Never played anything serious, just enough to get everyone's brain going around, y'know. This place opened up a year later. Now me and him have a deal."

"He fucking killed them."

"No, but I can see him purposefully buying a haunted lamp so he'd have a good way to get rid of people."

"He fucking killed them and he's gonna fucking kill you."

The sinner smirked as he inched closer to the imp. "Don't try to get out of your turn. Come-on, what kind of family you got?"

Blitz sighed, realizing how tense he had become. He shifted in his seat. "Eh, same shit, different family. Dad ran a circus, gave me away to every creepy business partner willing to keep him alone for a day. Saw a bunch of faces."

Another sigh escaped his lips. "Nothing seriously fucked happened, but it was less like a family and more… I dunno. Like I said, same shit."

"What about mom?" Styx asked.

Blitz quickly appeared irritated. "Not interested."

Styx looked the opposite direction in consideration of moving away from the conversational knife they had just created, but remained still in the following silence. Blitz's glass was now half empty, and Styx's was almost half full.

"Can't fuck a pumpkin without teasing a few oranges, I always say." The imp abruptly declared. "You know how it is."

"I'm really glad that I don't, actually." Styx said.

"Good." Blitz said, and stood to grab another glass of something stronger.