60 days left until Extermination...
Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, and Anna were walking down the hallway then down a staircase leading to the basement of the hotel. Charlie walked up to the door and knocked on it. "Baxter? Are you okay?" the princess asked. Everyone heard a loud crash, something breaking, on the other side of the door. Charlie turned the handle of the door, opening it, walking inside, with the rest following behind her. The entire room was engulfed in smoke, black as coal, making it hard to see anything.
"How did the experiment go?" Charlie asked, squinting her eyes looking around, calling out for the scientist.
Soon, the smoke began to fade. Anna leaned to the side over Charlie as she saw something faintly glowing in the dimly lit room to see someone on the floor, it was a young man, Baxter. However, he wasn't human. His appearance was fish-like. His skin tone was a grayish-blue color and luminescent in the dark, ears that looked like fins, under his eyes light blue freckles were speckled on his cheeks, and his black hair was swept back and short with some pieces sticking out in some places, singed from the explosion. He was wearing an dark laboratory coat with yellow buttons and a small grey hat with an lure, dangling at the top of it, like an anglerfish.
Reddish-pink irises glared as the princess as she walked in along with everyone else. Baxter coughed as he brushed the soot and dirt off of him.
"What do you think?" He answered, irritated. Charlie walked over to him, helping him up.
"What happened?" Vaggie questioned. The fish scientist headed over to the lab table picking up some of his flasks and beakers, that weren't broken, lying on the floor along the way, putting them back on the table.
"I thought I grabbed the right ingredients. But, apparently my stuff's been moved around. I know I specifically left it exactly where I placed them so I know where they're at."
"Oh, you mean those jars, I cleaned it up." A voice called out. Anna jumped, completely startled, and looked down to see Niffty in front of her. Baxter froze, his shoulders tending up. He slowly turned to the cyclops demon, looking at her, as did everybody else.
"You did what?" Baxter asked. Niffty smiled as she began to clean up the broken glass, sweeping it up.
"I cleaned your room up. Nobody could find anything in a mess like it was and I reorganized your containers, bottles, and ingredients. So, you're welcome!" Niffty smiled as she finished explaining. Baxter stared at the cyclops demon in disbelief with a strained smile on his face.
"Thank you? Because of your obsessive cleaning the experiment was a completely bust! I was SO close to finding an answer to redemption for demons!" Baxter yelled, furiously. Nifty stared up at the scientist, eye wide in surprise.
"I just wanted to help." She stammered.
"Well, you didn't!" Baxter hissed. Alastor stepped up, standing in front of Niffty blocking her from Baxter. The scientist looked like he wanted to strangle her.
"Well, you can just start from scratch. I'm sure you can do the same steps again, EXACTLY like you did last time." Alastor smiled, darkly. He walked over to the table and picked up the concoction that Baxter was working on. The liquid was a darkish green in color, which looked gross. "It shouldn't too hard for a royal scientist like you."
"Easy for you to say." Baxter growled, taking the flask from Alastor. "Don't touch that!"
"It's such a shame that it didn't work." Charlie murmured, disappointed. Baxter and Alastor were fighting, as Alastor began to pick up the scientist's jars, and flasks looking at them.
"Put that down!"
Anna walked over to the table, looking at the results of the scientist had. "So, this is what you've got so far? Well, no wonder it didn't work." She murmured, scanning over the notes, flipping the pages from Baxter's book. "You can't force change."
Baxter snatched the book from her hands, slamming it hard. "What part of "Do not touch that", do you not understand?" He growled. Anna stepped away from him. Baxter looked at the human woman up and down with a questionable look on his face.
"And who the hell are you?!"
Charlie placed her hands on Anna's shoulders. "Baxter, this is Anna. She's going to help us with the redemption plan!" She explained, smiling.
"Well, if you have any ideas, I would love to hear it." Baxter said.
"Well, I don't know if this is going to actually work. But, there's a theory that I want to try." Anna said.
Charlie had everyone meet Anna in a room, they were sitting in chairs, waiting. Angel walked in, carrying Fat Nuggets in his arms.
"So why did you call me here?" the spider demon asked. Charlie smiled, gesturing for him to sit.
"I didn't, Anna did."
"Why are we all here?" Angel asked.
"I've called you all here for sort of like an intervention." Anna answered. "If I'm going to help, I need to know why and how sinners are here in the first place. What's better than to find out of the root of the problem?"
Angel stood up immediately and walked away heading towards the door. "This is complete bullshit nonsense. I'm leaving!" He tried to open it, but couldn't. "Hey, why's the door locked?!"
"I told Charlie to because I know that some would disagree with this method. Have a seat, Angel." Anna said. Angel frowned, and walked over back to his seat, sitting down with crossed arms, pouting.
"You are a crazy bitch!"
"I know I am, thank you." Anna replied. She turned to everyone else, pressing her hands together. "Now, for this to work, I'm going to speak with each one of you privately, taking notes, so no personal information will be violated. Only Charlie, Vaggie and I will have access to them." She explained as she finished. Anna looked around, smiling.
"So, who's up first?"
Nifty immediately shot up her hand, nearly jumping out of her seat. "Me! Me, me, me!"
Anna smiled. "I guess I have my volunteer." She turned to everyone else. "So, if you guys will wait outside. Niffty and I will get started."
As everyone got up and began to walk out, Charlie walked over Anna. "I really think I should stay," the princess said, concerned. "I mean, what if something goes wrong? If you upset her-"
"Blondie's right, doll face. Red's not just a happy face and sweet." Angel replied. "She can a 180 real quick if you do something wrong. It's scary."
"I'll be fine." Anna answered. Charlie smiled and nodded and Angel and her left the room, leaving the two alone.
"I'm ready!" Niffty shouted, gripping the edge of her seat with her hands in anticipation.
"You're really eager, aren't you?" Anna asked as she sat down, with a pen and notebook in her hands.
"I want to see if you can really find out my problems!"
"I'll try," Anna said. "So what was your occupation before? What did you do?"
"I was a house cleaning maid."
"That would explain your obsession with cleaning. But, it can also mean that your OCD." Anna replied.
"What's that?!"
Anna looked stopped, writing, and looked at the cyclops demon. "Everything has to be perfect for you, if one thing's misplaced, it'll drive you crazy. It can also mean something that happened in your past, something that you're trying to hide." Maybe it was her imagination, but Anna could've swore she she saw Niffty's smile slightly drop before it disappeared.
"Next question, were you happy before?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" the cyclops demon questioned, confused.
"Did you have a boyfriend or married?" the human woman asked.
"Do you?" Nifty asked, ignoring the question. Anna looked up, with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, I do." She answered. Nifty leaned forward in her seat.
"What's he like?" She asked.
"He's sweet, very protective, sometimes it can be overbearing and annoying. He makes me feel safe and makes me feel like I'm the only girl for him. Especially, when he calls me by my nickname, which I absolutely hate." Anna told her.
"What's the nickname?" Nifty smiled as she asked, wondering.
"I can't, it's too embarrassing." Anna stammered as her cheeks blushed.
"Now I have to know! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Nifty pressed.
"Alright," Anna said. "It's Anna banana." She cringed as she told the cyclops.
"That's adorable!" Nifty beamed.
"Maybe for you," Anna said. "But, we're getting of track. This questioning is supposed to be for you, not me. Besides, you never answered my question before."
Niffty's eyes shifted away looking elsewhere to the side of the room, before looking down. "I-I don't want talk about that. Can we go to another question?"
"I need to know, if I'm going to be able to help." Anna pressed.
Nifty shook her head. "I said I don't want to talk about it!" Anna frowned, this wasn't going anywhere. The little cyclops demon was completely distraught.
"Niffty, I know that you can do this. Just let it out and you'll feel better." Anna said, calmly.
"Let it out?" Nifty looked up. Anna nodded her head.
"Yes, any anger, sadness, that you're feeling, pretend I'm that person who hurt you."
"Okay, I'll try," Niffty said, nodding softly. She sighed and looked at Anna. "Why didn't you love me? Why did you beat me?"
"Everything that I've did, I did for you! But, it was never enough. When I changed my looks, cut my hair, you never noticed. When I worked hard, you never noticed. You just hit me and beat me. I had to protect myself. I grabbed a knife and stabbed. Next thing I knew, the coppers were at the door and came busting in after receiving a call disturbance. They told me to drop the weapon but I didn't hear them. I was too shocked and distraught. The sight of your dead body at my feet. Then the next thing I felt, a sharp pain in my chest a several gunshots fired. One of the bullets had hit an gas valve, which caused an explosion. Our house was immediately engulfed in flames, me included. I'm sorry that I hurt y-" Niffty cried. "I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"
Outside, Charlie, Baxter, and Vaggie were standing in front of the door, while the princess paced across the room, back and forth, anxiously. Angel was sitting on the couch with Fat Nuggets on his lap, petting him. Crymini was sitting with him, flipping through her phone. Husk was at the bar, leaning back with his legs resting on the counter, chugging down a bottle of booze. Alastor was with him, sitting on a stool, drinking as well, with his back facing the two girls.
"Do you think they're okay?" Charlie asked.
"Maybe, we should check on them?" Veggie asked.
"Ladies, give the two their privacy." Alastor smiled, taking a sip from his drink, laughing like it was a joke. "Ha! It's not like talking about your sins is going to change everything." Before everyone had left the room, without them noticing, Alastor had ordered his shadow to stay behind, to eavesdrop on Niffty's and Anna's conversation.
Suddenly, the door creaked open. Anna walked out, stepping to the side. As Charlie, Vaggie, Angel stared in shock, while Fat Nuggets squealed, at Niffty. Husk's eyes widen, his mouth dropped slightly as he dropped his drink, shattering on the floor. Alastor turned to the cat demon, wondering what was going on, then turned around and spit out his drink, spraying Husk, seeing Niffty as well.
Her appearance looked almost the same, she still had one eye, fangs and claws. However, the cyclops hair and skin color had changed. Her flaming red hair was now blonde with a few curls hanging on the side of her face and her skin was a pinkish-pale color with some freckles on the bridge of her nose.
"I-I can't believe it." Charlie murmured in shock. "I was right! Redemption is possible!"