TW: Mentions of Abuse, Sexual Assault, Rape and Suicide

Chapter 16: A Journalist

I walked back to The Hazbin Hotel. I saw Angel Dust smoking a cigarette.

"Are you ok?" I asked him,

"Leave me be, Ren." He replied, "Shit's gotten down hill for me."

"Uhhh, ok."

I went inside. There, I went to my room and counted the money I earned from Charlie and Rosie.

"Something seems off about Angel Dust." I texted to Lars and Cattleya,

"Who's Angel Dust?" Cattleya texted, wondering,

"He's that Gay Porn Star down here." Lars replied, "Not really a fan of his, but he's helping out at that hotel, right?"

"That's right. Something has been triggering him lately." I texted,

"Well maybe we should leave him be." Cattleya texted, "Tomorrow, we should see who's our next target on that Phantom Phan-site."

"Got it."

Fast forwarding to many months later. Bernie was still interrogating me.

"Mementos?" He asked me, "Everyone's palace? What the hell are you trying to tell me?!"

I was silent.

"As if changing the heart of one Overlord wasn't enough. Now there's sinners all over Hell that want The Phantom Thieves to change the hearts of their peers…" Bernie continued, "It's almost as if The Hazbin Hotel wasn't in their presence anymore! …Or even that business place…"

Bernie took a deep breath.

"Never mind that!" He said, "You've changed Velvette's heart, good for you. Now, moving on to this next target of your's. A lot of you claim that he's the worst person to change the heart of in your journey of justice."

Bernie then showed me a photo of a demon in sunglasses and was wearing a hat. He looked like a pimp.

"Overlord Valentino of The VVVOverlords and owner of Porn Studios." He said, "The reason you've changed his heart was due to his "twisted desires" that he had in the worst way possible. Abusing, sexually harassing, …and worst of all, raping most if not, all of his employees at his studio. Ugh, saying that is making me disgusted."

I was still silent.

"Tell me everything about how you managed to change Valentino's heart." Bernie continued, "And how did it all go down! From what I know, a journalist was recruited on your team. She wasn't that popular, was she not?"

Back to the present moment. May 12th. I was in Cattleya's apartment. Me, Lars and Cattleya were on the Phantom Phan-site on Cattleya's laptop.

"Huh. This site looked better on my laptop." Cattleya said, "Let's see… Oh! There's a poll on which sinner should The Phantom Thieves steal the heart from."

"Who are they?" Lars wonder,

"Let's see, in 5th place is Fizzarolli?"

"Oh he's that comedian. He also owned that shitty attraction park in Greed called Loo Loo Land."

Cattleya tried to hold her laugh.

"Loo Loo Land." She said, "Wow, are you trying to compete against Lu Lu World?!"

"Seems likely." Lars said,

"Speaking of Lucifer, he's in 4th."

Lucifer.

"And that shitty pop star is in 3rd place?!" Lars shouted, "Damn! Her music's ass! What makes her that bad anyways?!"

"I don't know, but look at this! Overlord Vox is at 2nd!" Cattleya said, "And that leaves the 1st place role…"

"...Overlord Valentino." I said as I looked at someone who was in 1st place of the poll,

"So he's the one that we should steal the heart of next?" Lars wondered, "Yeah, this guy's atrocious."

"What makes you say that?" I wonder,

"Here, Cattleya, let me look at something."

"Ok." Cattleya said as she stood up. "Seat's your's."

Lars then sat down and looked at some news articles on Valentino.

"Look at this." Lars said, "I saw some of these after we changed Velvette's heart."

"Huh?" Cattleya wonder as she took a look at the news articles and was shocked, "No fucking way! Former Porn Studios employee call out Founder for Sexual Abuse?!"

"There's another one! One killed herself after giving birth! Her sister claimed that Valentino raped her!"

"Oh my Satan! There's one on someone suing Valentino for domestic abuse, but automatically lost due to Valentino paying the court in silence?!"

"There's another one where a victim claimed that he got away with the drama to some private vacation of his with Vox!"

I was disgusted.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." I said,

"Yup, told you both this guy is atrocious." Lars said,

"Damn. Ok, who's the author of one of them?" Cattleya wondered, "I don't think these news articles are getting any recognition."

"Let me see… Oh, here's the author! Willow Sturlu. That's her name."

"Never met her." I said,

"Me neither."

"Never met her either." Cattleya said, "Maybe we should ask some people around town about her."

"Let's do that." I said, "Let's split up and ask for information."

We have reached an agreement as a team.

Meanwhile, I was asking a demon on Willow Sturlu.

"Oh, she's that journalist from Wrath." The demon replied while she was twirling some of her hair, "She's also Transgender. She used to be a man born in Wrath, but moved to Pride as a woman. She's not really popular since she's one of those journalists that are from Wrath or Envy."

Lars meanwhile was asking another demon on Willow.

"All she does is make these news articles calling out Overlords." The demon said to Lars,

"Are most of them on Valentino?" Lars asked him,

"Yeah. A lot of her following believe that Valentino's an evil man. I don't really pay attention to the Overlords on social media, so how should I know?"

Cattleya meanwhile was asking another demon on Willow.

"She's actually friends with one of the victims, Valentino." He replied to Cattleya, "Angel Dust was his name."

"Oh shit! Uhhh… Ok, thanks!" Cattleya said,

"Hey, why do you need this info?"

"Heard some rumors."

"Ok then…"

We all met up again at a park.

"So, what do we get?" Lars asked,

"Willow was originally a man from Wrath." I replied, "And journalists from Wrath and Envy don't get popular all that much."

"Oh, Willow's Transgender?" Cattleya said, "That's cool."

"What did you get, Lars?" I asked Lars,

"Willow makes these articles targeting the Overlords." Lars replied, "And with that, she and her followers believe that Valentino is an evil man."

"But we all know he is."

"Cattleya?"

"She's friends with one of Valentino's victims, Angel Dust." Cattleya replied,

Me and Lars got shocked.

"Angel Dust?!" We both shouted,

Later, we talked to Angel Dust. He was smoking a cigarette outside of the Hazbin Hotel.

"Yes… Val did some… Horrible things to me…" He softly replied as he tried not to cry, "...Happy?"

"Well we just need one more thing." Cattleya said, "Where's Willow's place?"

"You want to talk to her? Why?"

"For personal reasons." I replied,

Angel Dust then gave us Willow's address.

"She has an apartment on the Southwest side of Pride." He replied,

"Thanks." Cattleya said, "Come on."

Cattleya and Lars walked away while Angel Dust stopped me.

"Huh?" I wonder,

"I don't know if you believe in them, but please." He told me, "Get those Phantom Thieves to give him Hell."

"We'll do our best."

"Oh, and… Uhh, you're a good guy, Ren. Thanks for understanding my pain."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, we should talk again sometime. What would you say?"

"Sounds good."

Fast forwarding to many months later. Bernie was still interrogating me.

"So, in your possession, did you get these weapons from someone you know?" He asked me, "Because they do feel real and authentic to carry. But they were used in this so-called Cognitive World you kept telling me about."

I was silent.

"Did you or did you not carry these weapons?" He asked me,

Back to the present moment. A voice spoke to me.

"I am thou... Thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow…

It shall become the wings of rebellion

That breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Hanged Man Persona

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…"

I have forged a bond with Angel Dust. It's probably gonna be a unique one, but I can tell that he's gonna help me.

"By the way, if you need something, you know where I'm at." He said as he showed the Hazbin Hotel.

"Alright." I said as I walked away to meet up with Lars and Cattleya as we got started to go to Willow's apartment.