Charlie marched down the hall of the old palace. She was on a mission. All signs pointed to the Sin of Pride. Her dad knew everything, he just didn't want to help. At this point, Charlie was thinking that she had to make him help.
She still had no idea how she would do that. Maybe a guilt trip? After all, if Alastor died from the deal, she'd die too. They thought. Alastor still wasn't sure one way or the other.
"Miss Charlotte, the King of Hell requested that he be left alone!" The Head of the Household, an Imp named Alfred, said as he followed close behind her.
"I don't care! This is important ." She stomped her way up the last of the stairs up to her dad's workshop. Alfred was right on the back of her hooves. Once she reached the ornate doors, she grabbed the handle and tried to storm in.
As she expected, the door was locked. Further examination also let her know that there were various spells on the door that would've kept her out for decades.
Charlie banged on the door. "Dad, are you in there?"
She heard a faint, 'no!' from inside.
"How can you answer me if you aren't there?!" Her fist slammed harder into it. "LET ME IN!"
"I can't! I'm naked! And I have the measles!" He always gave that excuse when he was trying to dodge something.
"Dad." The anger was ebbing. It was being replaced by disappointment. She repeated, "Dad, please, I need your help. Everything is pointing to the Sin of Pride. Why won't you help me save Alastor?"
It was quiet for several seconds. Then he mumbled from the other side of the door, "I can't help you. I'm sorry, hon, but I can't . I know you three have gotten really close. I know you're in love. Alastor…I can never trust him. And…" He was again silent.
"DAD! Please!" she begged.
"No." He said it with more conviction. "I know you're going down the wrong road. It will only lead to horrible things! If I were you, I'd drop it and get back to living a moderately humdrum life."
"You know I can't do that."
"And you know I can't help," he replied. The door suddenly flashed with a spell that Charlie knew all too well from when she was a tantrum-throwing child: a silencing spell.
She slammed hard against the door. It was silent, making no noise even as she beat at it. She shouted, "Dad! Dad! DAD!"
"Miss Charlotte, perhaps it would be best if we went to the kitchen and got you something nice to drink? I understand that your favourite drink is hot cocoa?" Alfred suggested.
"...no. I need to get back to my loves. We need to figure out our next step." Charlie spared him a smile. "Thank you for the offer."
"Anything for the Royal Family," Alfred said with a bow before walking off to other duties.
Charlie sighed and made her way out. Until she came to the crossroads to the bedrooms. She considered for a second before changing course and heading for the bedrooms. First, she visited her own bedroom.
She looked around with a flat expression. It was designed as it had been when she was a child. Her dad must have done that after she moved out. So many old dusty toys, children's books, her twin bed decorated with princess-themed streamers and such… Some things she didn't realise her dad had kept, like her jar of baby teeth.
Charlie cringed; that was REALLY creepy.
For some reason, she couldn't think of many good memories in her bedroom. It was a blur of her mom planning and watching her. Her mom wasn't as hands-on as Charlie wished. But it was okay! Her mom definitely loved her. Otherwise why would she spend so much time with her?
Deciding not to stir up any dust, she closed the door and moved on to her parents' bedroom. Her dad had moved into a guest room after her mom had left. Nothing in the room had been touched in hundreds of years. At least, that's what she thought until she opened the door.
The room was obviously lived in. The dust still sat on one side of the bed, but the other side had clearly been slept in. There were clothes ruffled from the closets with her mom's bathrobe sitting out on the cleared side. Her crown was still sitting in its stand though it, too, was dust-free.
She stared as she realised that her dad was being really weird. It looked like he'd moderately moved back into the main suite, keeping his side dusted and setting out her mother's things after cleaning them too. Maybe he was finally going mad.
She backed out slowly as if she may be attacked if she didn't. She flipped her back to the closed doors and took a big breath. Her dad was clearly having some sort of breakdown. He needed help! …but he was completely blocking her out. He wouldn't allow her to help.
Two of her loved ones needed help. She was helpless to help either.
…no. That wasn't how she should approach it. There had to be a way around her dad! She couldn't help him. She could still help her groom. They'd gotten several clues as to what was going on. There was nothing else she was willing to get from Alastor. He'd almost died giving what he had already. She wasn't about to risk losing him again.
What clues did they have to work with? There was only one way to organise everything: charts.
That was how they ended up in the boardroom of the Hazbin Hotel. Alastor wasn't willing to enter the Heaven Embassy so they had to brainstorm together as a trio. Or, at least, Charlie and Vaggie would with Alastor guiding the best he could.
Charlie snapped her pointer out and began circling things on her board. "Let's go over the clues that we have. First," THWAP!, "is the clue Sera gave us. She said to talk with the Sin of Pride. However," THWAP!, "as we all know, my dad is being mean and not helping us out. Now, whoever this 'she' is," THWAP!, "is responsible for the Exterminations. 'She' made a deal to have free access to Heaven. Which is entirely awful . Selfish, horrible, monstrous…"
"I see that your father decided to not help. Why were you gone so long?" Alastor asked, a curved claw scratching at his chin.
"He was worried," Vaggie explained with a grin.
"Whenever Lucifer is involved I tend to get defensive," he explained. "For all I knew, he was trying to get information from you."
" What information? He knows everything!" Charlie burst out. She shook her head. "I went down to look at my bedroom. My dad changed it back to when I was a kid." That reminded her of the really creepy stuff her dad was doing. "He's also been messing around in him and Mom's old room."
"What, like sniffing her old clothes?" Vaggie said with a chuckle.
For some reason, Alastor was tense. He had one of his fake smiles on as he asked, "Oh? Praytell, what exactly did he do in there?"
"One side of the bed was cleaned off. Her crown was clean, her clothes were ruffled up. It was obviously someone's been in there recently."
"Uh, Charlie?" Vaggie stared. "Is it possible that your mom is the one going in there?"
"Whaaaat? Psssssssh! No way!" Charlie assured her, "If it were my mom, why wouldn't she say hello? It's just my dad being weird." She turned to get Alastor's opinion to lose her words before they left her throat.
His eyes were glazed, fear clear in his expression. His hands were gripping his head as he shivered. Charlie's heart froze as she realised something was very wrong . She reached out, hesitantly saying, "Alastor? What's wrong?"
Alastor jumped up, knocking his chair over. "Oh, nothing! My apologies, my brides, but there is business I must attend to. Please, feel free to continue without me!" Before either of the women could do anything, he vanished into his shadows.
"Did I push too hard?" Charlie asked, trying to figure out what she did wrong.
Vaggie shook her head. "Char, I love you but you're being REALLY dense." She stood and took Charlie by the shoulders. "It. Is. Your. Mom. Your mom was in the bedroom and Alastor is scared stiff by it."
Charlie growled, "Why are you guys accusing my mom so much?!"
"Because all signs point to her!" Vaggie barked. "You're hurting Alastor by pretending that she's some sort of Angel. Take it from an Angel - your mom is not a good person . You need to get over it!"
Charlie was surprised. Vaggie was angry with her. It had been years since the last time that happened. She rubbed her arm as she mumbled, "Can we agree to disagree? Like…" she bit her lip "...maybe we can operate like someone similar to my mom was behind things. Where would that put us?"
Vaggie closed her eye, breathing out her nose as she said, "Fine. We can agree to disagree." She lifted her head and looked to the door. "We need to track down Alastor before we do anything else. I'm worried; just hearing what you said gave him a panic attack."
"Yeah…" Charlie shook all the thoughts from her head. "Alastor is first. Where do you suppose he went?"
"He wasn't thinking. He went somewhere he felt safe."
They both said it at the same time. "His radio tower."
The two of them made it to the main living area when they came upon a strange scene. Alastor was not in his radio tower. It looked like he hadn't even made it there. Instead, he was curled up in the bed he provided for Vaggie and Charlie. To Charlie's sadness, it looked like his claws had dug into the mattress and torn holes in it.
They went to opposite sides of the bed. Vaggie was the daring one by reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ala-"
They both jumped back as shadow tentacles suddenly flailed about. The tentacles were mindlessly wiggling, meaning that Alastor was working on instinct. He was clearly very upset.
How to get to him to calm him down…?
"Alastor." The calm word was followed by a soft white glow. Unlike most of the time when Vaggie unleashed her power, uncontrolled and painfully bright, this one was orderly. She had clearly been practising using it in her new form. Vaggie floated through the shadow tentacles. They all dissipated in the strong light. She made it to the bed where Alastor still had his head grasped in panic. Her hand reached out, tapping him on the head. A light flowed through him. Suddenly he was unclenching, the panic gone from his face.
He sat up and turned to Vaggie. Then he closed his eyes painfully. It was clear his Demonic eyes couldn't handle even the controlled holy energy.
Alastor gasped, "My moth…you're beautiful ." It was then that Charlie realised that his second set of eyes at his hairline were open. They were red things with bright white pupils, clearly from Paimon's line. His eyes were drinking in the brilliant energy of their beloved, examining every inch of her.
"Uh, thanks?" Vaggie quickly changed back and dismissed her aura. She said, "I haven't really shown anyone that except for you and Charlie now. So, surprise?"
"That's splendid !" Alastor was too preoccupied to remember what he was upset about. Or maybe Vaggie cleared it from his head? He continued, "I care for you greatly, my dear. It would be a lie to say I wasn't starting to worry about you. Charlie is coming into her power, I've gained the knowledge of the Ars Goetia, but you…" Shaking his head, he said, "I was worried about your pride at 'keeping up' with us."
"Hey, I'm pretty good with a spear," she grumbled, her spear pointing at him.
"And you can fly. The lack of magic and power had you far behind us. And if we confront her-" The chain cut him off, pulling so hard that his head was snapped clean back. A few seconds later the collar vanished.
"If we confront whoever trapped you in that contract, we'll need some firepower," Charlie filled in.
"Yes," he choked out.
Charlie thought for a second. She didn't want to continue brainstorming that day. Alastor had had enough. So she asked, "What should we do now?" Her eyes sparkled as she whispered, "Cuddle party?"
"I'm not quite ready for that," Alastor admitted. "I am becoming more comfortable. I'm simply not there yet."
"That's fine, Al. Besides," a cat-like smile curled Vaggie's lips as she said, "I do think we need to go to a party."
Charlie asked, confused, "What party?"
Vaggie kept smiling even as she explained.
