Hello All!

It's been a while since I have updated, but I struggled to find a path that I truly liked. I have the overarching process in the works for two divergent possible ways to go about this, but I digress. I am happy with how this chapter turned out. Fair warning, there is a bit of Gore/Trauma in this chapter, so heads up. I know the story is labeled M/Mature, but it helps so people know which chapters are about what.

I have a poll open. No it is not for relationships. Rather, it is on whether I should expand the story into the avenue of Hazbin Hotel now. I like the idea of taking characters into crossover aesthetics, but would also have no trouble keeping it in its own Helluva Boss world. So, I leave it up to the viewers. Poll is linked on my about page, so go ahead and check it out.

Keep It In House? or Expand to Crossover?

And no, I probably won't have this story posted in the crossover page of Hazbin/Helluva. It's staying here in the Helluva Boss fanfiction.

With that out of the way, onto the chapter!

Chapter 10: Broken Breaths, Silent Screams

Imp City, Nighttime

Leon turned away from the taxi, bags in his hands as it revved its engine and sped down the road. Burning rubber and screeching tires fells to the distance, accompanied by yells and sounds of violence. He shook his head, hoisting his bags close as he walked forward. His eyes cast side to side, noting the vagrants in the alleys and the partially destroyed paths that were littered with people passing by him. Even in his frustration, he watched his flanks, not wanting for anyone with sticky fingers to get ideas.

He tucked the bags close to his body as he moved past the main doors to his apartment, ignoring the groaning drunk who reached out to him, slurring a set of vulgarities.

Fired.

The words still hung heavy in his mind. Leon didn't know what to make of it fully.

Was it because tax day is over? Maybe Blitzø decided he didn't need his help anymore? Did Loona get involved and tell dear old dad about his disdain for him? He wasn't 100% sure, but he wanted to figure it out.

Leon also knew that Blitzø couldn't just get rid of him outright. His work contract had been a handshake and a written agreement, which he still had tucked away. Blitzø wasn't allowed to fire him over tax day being over, and if he wanted to go down the route of assault charged, Loona attacked him first, and all he did was piss her off and ring her ears.

Despite his frustration with the whole thing, he still loved his job. Leon liked working with Blitzø. He loved talking with, and spending time with Millie and Moxxie, enjoying their company and listening to the craziness that their jobs entailed. The missions they go on and the clients they work for. Sometimes even the more gruesome aspects get him excited, but that's the sinner in him.

The idea of losing that so quickly burns deeply.

Leon slipped down the stairs to the bottom tier, the dim lights giving him very vision, though he had gotten used to the situation over the past several months. He winded around the corner, seeing the door to his living space.

What he didn't see was the claw that reached out and snatched at his throat.

Next thing Leon knew, a snag ripped at his aux cord connecting to his speaker. A second claw grabbed around his head, the sharpened nails sinking into the side of his head as they gripped tightly before slinging him towards the wall. He bit out in silent pain as his head collided first into cement. He lost grip of the bags, purchased goods slung about the walkway. His body cracked against the stony lower decks of the apartment complex. Despite injury, silence now echoed from his throat, the dim hum from the speaker in his breast pocket no longer connected to him.

Leon sucked in a breath, only to be met with a second show of force slamming him into the same wall for a second time. He felt serrated edges of wall pierce into his face, his arms and legs having little strength to fight back against the overwhelming force.

"Remember what I said I'd do to you." Leon's eyes widened at the sound of his coworker's voice. His crimson eyes looked past the claws and fur, seeing a familiar look of hatred wrapped up in red and white lenses. Accompanying them was a grin that felt all too familiar.

Both in Hell and on Earth.

"I'm gonna enjoy every moment of this, Neck Orgy." Loona's voice echoed out from the hall, the sounds of anguished turned muted, only signaled by the sounds of rips, tears, and impacts occurring from the basement floor of the dingy living complex.

The Next Morning

Message (Just Now) Horny Bird Fucker

"I'm looking forward to tonight, my darling little imp ❤️"

Blitzø looked down at his phone, rolling his eyes at the suggestive words from the Goetian Prince. He ignored the scream of outrage as he sideswiped a little sedan. The I.M.P. van sped down the road, ignoring any and all safety regulations that might exist (emphasis on might). Shaking his head, he tucked his phone away, letting his gaze fall back onto the streets. He peeled in front of three smaller cars, the sounds of screeching tires and horns honking falling on deaf ears as he all but jumped off the main road and into a residential district.

In the passenger's seat sat Loona. One hand on her phone, the other on the support grip hanging above the door. As if timed, the car swerved the corner, the van almost tipping over if not for the speed of its wheels driving it forward before it could fully tilt and flip.

Cruising down the road at a slower (barely) pace, Blitzø saw the familiar stop and pressed (slammed) onto the brakes. The van came to a grinding halt, landing in the middle of the street with a final screech.

Blitzø looked out his opened window, seeing the familiar pair of employees waiting outside like usual. "M&M, get on in, bitches! We've got whores to kill and blood to spill! Hey, I'm keeping that! Write that down for me, Loony." The imp boss looked to his daughter with stars in his eyes.

"No."

"Love you too, sweetie!" Blitzø grinned, turning his attention back to the smaller imps, who both walked towards the opened backseat.

To Blitzø's confusion, there was a surprising lack of enthusiasm on either of their faces. Well, Moxxie was one thing, he was always kind of a downer on stuff. But Millie Billie?! Usually she was pumped in the mornings to get some work done with her axe. What gives?!

The two gave each other a look before stepping into the back of the van. What were they being so weird about was all Blitzø could think about as they finally got inside, closing the door behind themselves.

As soon as it shut, Blitzø could feel something was off. He cast a look back to them from his rear view, then over to Loona. There was tension. Shrugging his shoulders, he revved up the I.M.P.-Mobile, launching down the road as Moxxie went to clasp his seatbelt. To his satisfaction, the little shithead was sent flying into the side of the door, head crashing into the uncovered upholstery.

Even as Blitzø swerved around corners, chuckling at the screams and hecklers who got in his way, there was a thickness in the air. He attempted to ignore it, but then he heard them whispering. To his frustration, his own loud music was being used against him. He turned it down, and the hushed conversation stopped.

He frown, looking over shoulder. "Okay, what the fuck are you two lovebirds doing back there? Unless it's discussing how you would want to do a three-way and surprise me, which I'm all for by the way, zip it or talk louder!" What's the point of eavesdropping if they're being prudes about it?

Millie looked up from her husband, leveling a straight stare into her boss. "Why did you fire Leon?"

"Who?"

Moxxie groaned. "Our accountant? They guy who saved us a bunch of money?"

"Last time I checked, I saved us a bunch of money with my genius ideas!" Blitzø smirked.

"Blitzø, enough of that." Blitzø looked at Millie in shock. She hardly ever called him anything other than 'B~'. "He was our coworker. We should get to know why he was fired, after all."

Blitzø turned back towards the road, narrowly avoiding a run it with a stop sign. The van bounced, the sound of jostling folding under the wheels (it was just a garbage bag, honest). Blitzø gave a look over to Loona, who rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, I already did everything I wanted to that piece of shit." Blitzø nodded his head, attention to the road. He didn't notice Millie's eyes widen at his daughter's words.

"Okay, you wanna know about that little shit-fucker? Fine!" He said loudly, letting the imps in the back hear load and clear. "He hurt my daughter! And if you think I'm gonna let anyone get away with that, then you are fuckin' mistaken, bitch! Besides, we got everything we needed out of him, so he's fucking useless now!"

Blitzø rolled around a corner, slowing the van enough to avoid a front end collision before surging back to his desired speeds. "There, happy, Mox? You baby dicked little troll!?"

Moxxie blinked. "Leon... hurt Loona?" Moxxie looked around the corner of the front seat, seeing the imposing form of the violent hellhound. Then thought about Leon, who, despite his love of his baseball bat, didn't get into to much action.

"How did he manage that, sir?" Loona turned around, bringing her face aggressively close to the male imp in the back seat.

"It's none of your fucking business, fatty. What's done is done now, so get your fat ass over it and move on with your sad pathetic life!" She yelled the last part, forcing the imp to cower deeply into his seat.

"Bullshit." Loona's eyes widened. She cast her glare over to Millie, who glared right back. "It is our business. Lee is our friend." Millie leaned forward, ignoring the growl that reverberated in the hellhound's throat. "And I'd like to know just what happened, and what you did to him."

Blitzø grinned, trying to make light of the growing hostilities in his back seat. "Don't worry about it, Mills. Loona just fucked the little bastard up. It's not like he can die or anything. Though you left him in fuckin rough shape, right Loony Toony?"

"Damn right I did." Loona grinned viciously.

Millie's eyes narrowed.

"Stop the van."

Blitzø paused, glancing back. "Millie Billi-"

"I said stop the fuckin' van, now Blitzø!"

The van came to a crashing halt in the middle of the ramp leading onto the freeway, several cars behind them slamming to dead halts behind them. Horns honked maliciously, slurs and rude hand gestures flew out from the deluge of cars from behind the I.M.P. van. A door slammed open.

"Millie, where are you-"

"I'm going to see how he's doin, that's where." Before Mox or anyone else could respond, she vaulted out of the vehicle.

Millie jumped out from the door, hoisting herself over the edge of the ramp and down onto the roof of a taller building. She could hear her husband call out to her, but shot out nonetheless. Gripping at her back, she pulled her freshly sharpened ax and used the dull internal arc to snatch onto a power cord. Using her momentum, she launched up and out, dipping further into the residential streets of Imp City.

'Luckily I still have his address from yesterday's taxi service on my phone.' Millie landed on the roof of another building, rolling with her movement before peddling forward and hoisting herself over the edge and onto another building top. 'I knew something was up when he didn't respond to my messages this morning. Don't worry, hun. I'm coming to help.'

Moxxie watched as he wonderful spouse grew ever distant, using all of her amazing skills to dive deeper into the city. He bit at his lip, knowing he couldn't possibly catch up with her. He wanted to help her, genuinely, but he knew he would just get lost on the lesser roads. He closed the door, not even having a split second to recover before the van accelerated back up the ramp, swerving onto the freeway with ill intent.

Blitzø cursing. Loona's comments. Traffic and poor driving. The sounds around him drowned out. All he could do was pull out his phone.

Message Sent: Millie (❤️ Wife ❤️)

"Stay safe. I love you, honey."

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(read)

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Millie (❤️ Wife ❤️) loved your message.

Millie made judgements pretty quickly in life.

When she was at work, she often had to make quick and drastic decisions to stay on top of situations. She knew that she had to be quick on her feat to get in close. She wasn't all that amazing at guns and stuff, unlike her Moxxie, so being fast was a part of her gig as I.M.P.'s weapon expert.

In Wrath, she was ruthless, not wasting a second to get things going and do what she felt was needed to win. Sometimes, it was to her negatives though. Being barred from the Harvest Festival Pain Games still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

When finding people she liked and disliked, she often made quick judgement calls on people. It had only taken her a few months to fall completely for her goofy, nerdy, romantic of a husband, after all. She had taken to Blitzø because of his dominating and no nonsense (when it mattered) personality, along with his praise and love for violence that rivaled hers. She never got on with Loona, though she still maintained that, due to the hellhounds poor attitude towards those she did care about. Especially towards her husband.

Which was why when she met Leon, she could tell he would be someone to add to her roster of people to watch out for. He wasn't like Blitzø, who could handle himself, nor like her Moxxie, who could be the best of a bad situation when he knew what to do. Leon was a dork in a lot of ways, and had his quirks. He didn't know when to shut his mouth sometimes, and sometimes his comments were not the greatest.

But he never meant any harm... unless someone did something to him first.

Blitzø told all of them about his quick action to dome Verosika with a baseball bat, and how aggressive/pushy he could be about paperwork. But it always came from lashing out, rather than just bein' angry for no good reason.

Millie didn't know all that much about Leon, but from what she could tell, he wanted to be a friend back to her. A good friend. And that was more than enough in her books, especially with all the help he had been in her and Moxxie's life.

Destination Reached: Route End glistened off of her phone, the red pathway having come to its final spot. Millie landed in front of the apartment complex, looking over its dingy exterior. She frowned, pushing past her thoughts on the run down place as she walked in. A demon slept in front of the door, completely knocked down with a series of bottles in front of him.

She moved past them, looking down the poorly lit hallway in search of her friend. Save for the stains on the old tile and the cigar burns on the walls, all she saw were doors. She moved forward, looking at each one for any sign of a certain sinner.

"Lee, are you here?!" She called down the hall.

"Lady, shut the fuck up! I'm tryna get my dick jazzed up right now!" Echoed back. Millie growled. She looked to the axe in her hand, a sinister idea popping into her head. 'Later on. First, we find wherever the fuck Lee is.'

She traveled a little more down the hall, where she came across an interesting sight near the bend:

A set of stairs, leading down.

And the wafting smell of iron. One that was all too familiar to her.

Millie walked down the hall, the low lit set making it hard to even see her own feet on the steps. It curled around from a corner, surrounding her with dull and grey cement. The smell grew stronger. "Lee?" She called once more as she rounded the corner and reached the bottom.

She was met with a grizzly sight.

WARNING: GORE

Blood streaked across cracked and busted walls. The faded and torn cement was buckled and bowed under intense impacts, as though they had been smashed by a sledgehammer. Claw marks skated against the ground, littered with patches of white hair and rend flesh.

Bags of loose articles and items were strewn about in the chaos. Bags with items she recognized. Broken cords. Shattered knick-knacks. A rabbit statue split into pieces, its ears severed from its head. The same one she had seen him buy from the cranky old demon.

A simple little audio box lay broken on the ground, its cords stripped and snapped. Millie sucked in a breath, adrenaline filling her veins. She looked past the sight of massacre, to the end of the hall. A single door lay at the end, cracked ajar. She rushed towards it. "Lee!" She called out.

Millie foot trampled over it, the sound chiming in her ear.

She looked down, a gasp tearing through her throat.

A metal socket lay on the floor, caked with blood and strings of gore. She gingerly picked it up, teeth gritting. 'It's... one of his sockets.' She gripped it tightly, the cold and bent metal feeling horrendous in her hand. A trail of dripping, black blood led away from her, deeper down the cement hellscape. 'I'm gonna ruin that furry assed bitch.' Millie dashed down the hall, pushing open the battered door.

It was a simple, square room. The ground was damaged carpet, half with what looked like a laminate plastic that went over top of it in the kitchen. A small table sat near the middle of the room, covered with an assortment of kitchen-stuffs, papers, and a computer. Even with all in her sight, she didn't see him. The darkness did not help, even as her eyes adjusted to the lower lighting.

"Lee... Leon, it's me. Millie. Are you in here?" Millie moved inside the small room, walking around the table. A flat mattress lay on the ground, a lamp beside it along with a couple chargers.

*Creak*

Millie jolted to the side. She looked over at a box frame in the corner of the room. Just like the other, the door was left slightly open. From where she was, she made out a toilet inside. The bathroom, or what the excuse for one was.

"Lee?... I'm coming in, okay." She pushed open the door. "Leon? Are yo-, Lee!" Millie rushed inside, accidentally knocking over the cheap foam walls as she got to the side of the bath.

A white haired sinner pressed himself against the walls of the plastic porcelain. He was curled in a ball, his small horns poking out from the top of his head, one askew on the top of his head, black having run and dried from where it cracked. His arms and legs were covered in already healing cuts, bruises having transformed from splotches of black into pale shades of blueish white from under his skin. His head casted down, his frame wrapped around a rabbit-like plush, pressing into it tightly.

"Leon."

..

..

..

"Lee?" He didn't seem to register her words. Millie became bold, placing a hand on his shoulder.

That garnered a reaction.

Hands grasped at her throat before she could stop them. She felt the grip tighten all the way around, fingers all but lacing together as they clasped.

Crimson eyes flared with manic fury, a mane of white hair thrashing around as the sinner launched themselves out from the bath and onto the imp.

Millie gripped at his arms, trying to force him off. Even with her strength, in his unstable anguish, he refused to budge, pressing down upon her. Millie felt tightness in her lungs build, the lack of breath causing her to grow weaker. The exhaustion of traveling all the distance to the apartment did not help her. Tattered arms hung over her, the sinner's form draped over her as he attempted to squeeze the life out of her.

A single glint of metal echoed from his throat, the other sullied with a mess of black and red slowly healing over itself haphazardly. No words to be spoken as he continued to choke out his victim.

"Lee." Millie bit out, feeling her vision waver. She gripped at his hair and arms, trying to break away from him. She felt around her, her hand gripping at a familiar blade. Axe in hand, she brought her fingers around the shaft and hoisted it over the sinner, who didn't even acknowledge such an action.

With all the strength she could muster in her arm, she swung.

*Slam*

The dull side of the blade collided with the side of the sinner's head, knocking him to the side. His hands faltered away from her throat, giving her the sweet relief of air once more.

Millie took in several breaths, feeling at the fresh bruise that was sure to form under her choker. She turned her attention to the sinner, who was slumped over themselves.

A pair of maroon eyes looked into her yellow, and recognition glistened from within. Even in the darkness, she could see his lips, mouthing out a word she knew clearly. Tears sprung from his shocked and guilt stricken eyes.

'Millie?'

End Chapter

A very dark ending, to be for sure, but one that offers different avenues. I have yet to watch Hazbin Hotel, and I finished the chapter's draft when the first episodes came out. That may be important to lasting injuries and body damage, considering what occured.

I hope you all enjoyed, I have the poll open, so tell me what your thoughts are and where you want this to go.

Until next time, see ya!