TW: Mentions of Abuse
Chapter 61: Arthur Dovmain
I returned to The Hazbin Hotel. Angel Dust was on the phone with someone.
"Don't worry, I gotcha, you're hired, buddy." He happily said, "See ya tomorrow."
He ended the call and turned to me.
"Oh hey there, Ren!" Angel Dust said to me, "How are ya?"
"Doing good." I replied,
Alastor appeared.
"So, how was the phone call interview thingie?" He asked Angel Dust,
"I've finally hired my first pornstar!" He said, "After months of fixing up the conditions and qualities of Porn Studios, I've hired my first worker and it went well!"
"Congrats." I said,
"Appreciate it, Ren!"
"I'm gonna go rest."
I walked away. Angel Dust turned to Alastor.
"So, how's Pentious?" Angel asked him,
"Pentious?" Alastor wondered,
"He almost tried to blow this place up!"
"...Doesn't ring a bell."
Angel Dust sighed.
"Whatever…" He said, "Forget anything I said."
"Said what?" Alastor wondered,
Angel Dust walked away. Alastor chuckled a bit.
"I still know who Pentious is, I just wanted to joke around with Angel." He said, "Ha ha!"
Fast forwarding to a few months later. Bernie was still interrogating me.
"Every time you're gonna change the heart of a demon, you're always expected to add another member." He said to me,
I was silent.
"Your team is growing, I can tell." Bernie continued, "You even have support from the outsiders of the Hazbin Hotel and I.M.P."
Bernie then opens up another folder.
"This next victim of the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns is a big heart for you all to change." He said, "Almost all of those who have hearts changed were from Pride, but this one is from Greed."
Bernie then showed me a picture of an Imp wearing a hat and suit.
"This is Crimson Knowlastname." He explained, "He's a notorious Mafia boss from Greed."
I looked at the picture of Crimson.
"The reason why you went to Greed to change his heart was for two reasons." Bernie continued, "First, was that someone from I.M.P wanted you guys to change his heart. Second, someone else must have known about The Phantom Thieves and wanted to talk to that specific someone from I.M.P to get you to change Crimson's heart."
Bernie crossed his arms.
"Not to mention that Crimson had Imps working for him, but he treated them more cruel than the usual Sharks down in Greed." He continued, "Crimson viewed the Sharks as his family while the Imps that he "enslaved" according to one of your allies, were nothing but pawns that he likes to abuse. Physically, Mentally and Emotionally."
I was still silent.
"Tell me everything about what went down when you went to change Crimson's heart." Bernie said, "And did you do it when you're a Sinner from Pride? You do know that Sinners from Pride can't leave that ring, right? How did you manage to go to Greed without getting caught?"
Back to the present moment. It was August 29th.
Me and my friends were on The Phantom Phan-site.
"Let's see… Lucifer is still Number 1 on who's heart we should change according to the people." Boris said,
"And look what they added, a question." Lars said as he read the question, "Are the Phantom Thieves real?"
"Only 52% said yes." Willow said, "48% said no."
"Once that number goes up, from all the hearts we're changing, now people will know." Cattleya said,
Then, Selene felt her phone vibrating. She got it out and noticed that an anonymous number was calling her.
"Huh?" Selene said, confused, "Guys, someone is calling me, but I don't know the number…"
"Don't worry, if anyone tries to interfere with you, I'm gonna be right behind ya." Boris said,
"Thanks."
Selene then answered the call.
"Hello?" They said, confused,
"Hello, Selene." A deep voice said, "Would you like to meet up somewhere?"
"Uhhh, when and where?"
"Tomorrow, August 30th at Café du Pécheur. 10 o'clock."
"Uhhh, sure?"
"If you have any friends, bring them there too."
"Ok."
The caller ended. Selene was confused.
"We have to meet someone at Café du Pécheur tomorrow." Selene said to us, "At 10AM."
"Who could that be?" Boris said,
"And what do they want from us?" Astrid wondered,
"Don't know…" Selene said, "But let's hope that we can all watch each other's backs."
"Agreed." Cattleya said, "As long as we're together, anything is possible."
Our bond together has grown.
August 30th. Me and my friends were then walking to Café du Pécheur. We saw that no one was outside of the outdoor table.
"Huh, it's 10AM." Astrid said as she looked at the time on her phone, "Where is that guy at?"
Someone walked up behind us and cleared their throat.
"Ahem, can I get your attention?" He said with some sort of British accent,
We turned to see a blue and cyan Goetia demon with brown eyes and beak. He was also wearing glasses and a two-button shirt.
"Arthur?!" Selene said, shocked, "Arthur Dovmain?! That's you behind that deep voice calling me, wasn't it?!"
"Looks like you're correct." Arthur replied,
"The hell do you want?!" Boris said, "...By the way, you're pretty."
Arthur blushed. We all looked at Boris.
"...I'll keep my mouth shut." Boris said,
"Anyways, what do you want?" Cattleya asked Arthur,
"You're all Phantom Thieves, yes?" Arthur asked us,
We were all surprised.
"H-How did you know that?" Cattleya asked him, "How did you know if it was us?"
"Excuse me, I need to bring someone out from the cafe real quick." Arthur replied,
Arthur went inside Café du Pécheur. We waited a few seconds until he went back out with someone else. It was Moxxie.
"Moxxie?!" Cattleya said, "What are you doing here?!"
"Hey! It's his idea!" Moxxie said as he pointed to Arthur,
"Correct, it was my idea anyway." Arthur said, "Now, sit down."
Moxxie sat on a chair at the outside table.
"Alright, Moxxie, you know these 7 are Phantom Thieves, right?" Arthur asked him,
"...Yes." Moxxie replied,
"Would you mind telling them why I brought them here?"
"...It's my dad."
"Your dad?" Willow said,
"What about him?" Boris wondered,
"Well… He's been… haunting me recently… he had some goons from Greed that tried to attack me, but my wife Millie made sure that didn't happen." Moxxie replied,
"Did you had a fucked up childhood?" Selene wondered,
"I guess… He never showed me love because I was like my mom… he pressured me into the mafia life, so I kinda let that sink into me since I was only a child…"
"What happened to your mom?" Cattleya wondered,
"She died from a fatal illness... According to my father, there was nothing he could do about it from the medicines he got…"
"Damn…"
"But I left after I met my boss, Blitz… …In jail."
"Why were you in jail?" Astrid wondered,
"Robbery. An ex-boyfriend of mine who was also part of my dad's mafia turned on me for money."
"Huh…"
"Don't worry, we're free imps and we sorta lived better lives. …Not sure about Blitz's life though. He had a roller coaster of a life and I don't blame him. …Even though he can be annoying."
"Don't you worry, we'll change your father's heart so that he'll–"
"--Ahem, excuse me, but did I forgot to mention that Crimson Knowlastname's goons from his Mafia are our Shark hellborns from Greed?" Arthur asked,
"...What about it?"
"They are everywhere. I've heard from some rumors that Crimson used to team up with Overlord Valentino to try and take over Pride until you guys showed up and changed Valentino's heart."
"Really, that pimpy asshat had a team-up with Moxxie's deadbeat dad?" Lars said,
"And Valentino was a Sinner from Pride and Crimson was a Greed hellborn." Willow said, "How was that possible?"
"Helicopters." Arthur replied, "They got helicopters to travel to."
"Oh, makes sense."
Moxxie sighed.
"Are we done?" He asked,
"I suppose so." Arthur replied, "You may leave, I'll talk to them more, on my own."
"...Right…"
Moxxie looked at us.
"Apologies." He said as he got up, "He's all over my business for a kid."
"It's fine." Astrid said, "He does sound like a pain in the ass to begin with."
Moxxie walked away. Arthur looked at us.
"Now, I suppose I should tell you more about Crimson's Mafia in general, yes?" He asked us,
"What else is there?" I wondered,
"You're all gonna hate him more when I say this."
"Well spill the beans, damn it." Boris said,
"Wait here, again."
"Again?" Astrid said,
"Who else is in that cafe?" Cattleya said,
"Just wait!" Arthur replied,
Arthur then went inside the cafe and went out with another imp.
"Alright, tell them your story to your friend." Arthur said to the imp,
The imp gulped as she was nervous.
"My friend is a Greed hellborn…" She said, "We don't see each other a lot, that's because he works for Crimson…"
"What was the condition like there for him?" Willow wondered,
"...It was terrible of him. He was abused, hurt and tortured by Crimson. He tried to escape once, but was stopped by his goons and had to be locked away in some sort of basement for a few days."
"Unholy shit, that motherfucker!" Lars said,
"He was then at a hospital in Sloth after I found him here in Pride when he tried to escape for a second time. I'd make sure that Crimson's goons wouldn't get to him there."
"Damn, we're sorry about your friends…" Boris said,
"Don't worry, he's healing, but he had a lot of traumatic thoughts on it which almost broke his mind."
"And Crimson got away with it, yeah?" Selene wondered,
"He sure does… He always hides and has a lot of money through illegal schemes. He always controls any imps that work with him like puppets."
"What a horrible man…" Astrid said,
"...So is that all?" The imp asked Arthur,
"Yes, that is all." Arthur replied, "You may leave."
The imp walked away.
"Great, so now we gotta change his heart, huh?" Lars wondered, "Sounds challenging since he's not from Pride."
"Arthur, do you have your book?" Selene asked Arthur,.
"No, it's at home." Arthur replied, "I'll use it for tomorrow so that you all can go to Greed and change Crimson's heart."
"Great, we gotta wait another day." Boris said,
"Well, we'll see you then." Cattleya said,
"Take care." Arthur said, "I expect results."
Arthur walked away. Cattleya sighed.
"Gosh, Selene, your friend is crazy." She said to her,
"He is from Envy." Selene said, "He's some sort of rookie spy or something working here in Pride. His older brother is a lawyer."
"Huh, so he has a brother as well…" Boris said as he was a little nervous, "I see…"
We all looked at Boris again.
"Look, I find Arthur cute, ok?!" He shouted while blushing,
"How refreshingly honest of you, Boris." Selene said,
"Yeah… I guess…"
"So, now we gotta wait until tomorrow for us to go to Greed." Cattleya said as she sighed, "Ahh, Greed, takes me back…"
"You used to live there, didn't you?" Lars said,
"Of course I did. Same for that Darnell guy."
"Don't bring him up…"
"I won't."