Chapter 36: Wings of Hell (Angel's Grief)

Angel Dust had several ways of coping with anger.

Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. Talking trash about Valentino. Killing the occasional bitch who wanted free services.

However, anywhere affiliated with his family's turf was room for a better coping mechanism: using Henroin's vases as targets.

By now, six vases worth millions of souls each loitered the room with their debris. Indigo flinched, but whether it was the gunshots or Molly's stitching was up for debate.

The trio still couldn't leave. Henroin was adamant about having a family meeting. They had the obvious culprit… And the Prince of Greed had noticed nothing. His least favorite son shooting after the royal limousine did not lower the frowns.

Molly snipped the last string off. Her soft fingers petted Indigo's cheek. "I tried…"

"How bad is it?" Indigo.

Angel Dust and Alastor rushed to check on her.

Alastor covered his mouth even though Molly had her back turned to him when she showed Indigo her reflection in a mirror. Angel Dust wanted to break the entire domain.

Molly's silk had stitched the flesh back together. Indigo wouldn't have to worry about having half of a Glasgow Grin. Unfortunately, the Hellborn snake had permanently scarred her. Out of the three fingers that had struck her flesh, two had perfectly vanished thanks to Molly. One of them, the one caused by Gustav's middle finger, went diagonally from beneath her eye to above her lips. The scar even went above her butterfly tattoo, darkening the spot where ink met injury. Everywhere else, the scar's areas made her skin purplish blue. As if the oxygen had evaporated from the cheeks' veins.

Angel Dust went for another vase.

"We can cover it with makeup, Tony," Molly said. "It's not like we haven't done it before."

"We got fur for that!" Angel Dust threw a vase in the air, striking it with a bullet.

"And decades' worth of makeup experience. We show her how to apply blush and foundation, and they'll all be more oblivious than a john oblivious to a sniper."

Indigo blinked at her reflection.

"We gotta to get out… Fast!" Angel Dust filled his guns with more bullets. "Henroin's idea of 'family meeting' means discussing assets! She ain't an asset."

Lust. Wrath. Gluttony. Greed. These sins filled the room to Indigo. The trail of envy leading out the room captivated her.

"My vehicle's still where we left it. If we go back there, we can drive out of the borough. Long enough for me to exit its magic-cancellation protection." Alastor's words sounded distorted to Indigo.

Molly saw her get up.

"Yeah, but the mafia will keep us in!"

"Uh… fellas?" Molly asked.

Indigo got hold of the doorknob.

"Ya right. Molls can get ya vehicle while we distract Henroin. Once she pulls it in the driveway, we pull a 90 towards the window, jump out, and drive off!"

"FELLAS!" Molly shouted.

The men turned to her. The door opened.

"Indigo! No!" Angel panicked.

"Indigo!"

"Ya sure the booze and sedative wore off?" Molly ran after them.

"It did when that shitty prince's fling hit her!" Angel Dust ran ahead of them.

The trail of envy was the only clear thing she could see. The dark hallway was blurred.

I did hope you'd eat something during that show, the voice that taunted her at the hotel echoed.

"INDIGO!"

After pushing another door open, the envy trail ended towards a fire. A purple fire of envy surrounding one of the lower mobsters.

The crowds sounded muffled when her hands reached for the mobster's neck. The screams as she tried to suffocate the envy out of his heart sounded the best.

"INDIGO!"

Yes… YES! Feast on that envy! The direct ones are always the best! Why don't you pull out his heart? They always test the… ATCHOOM!

Indigo snapped out of her trance. Her head soaked from the broken flowerpot, black roses and speedwells fallen around her. Her biggest freakout, however, was the sight of her hands…

On Arackniss' neck.

"WHAT THE SHIT? WHAT THE SHIT?" She screeched. "WHAT DID I NEARLY DO?"

"What did you… You nearly strangled my brother!" Angel Dust screeched.

Static scratch. Cue commercial music and Scrunchy addressing the readers.

"Hello, readers. Scrunchy here." The scorpion demon adjusts his reading glasses and reads his paper. "So, just to keep it friendly, because the author is losing her shit backstage…"

"Just read the fucking script!" Emersonian shouted offstage.

"Sorry… The author… and I guess the non-existent, unpaid OCs and canon characters, would like to remind you that Emersonian has a massive berserk button for fanfic readers filling her review spaces with suggestions/requests for fanfic ideas or how to rewrite her story's unpredictable plot. It's irritated her since her fanfic AVENGERS: ANUBIS AMONG US was plagued with nothing but those sorts of reviews.

"Reviews should be for the sake of expressing thoughts on fanon storytelling, anticipation, and the occasional typo reminder. Do not plague your fellow fanfic writers by harassing them on updating chapters or telling how they should be fixing their fanfics. If you have ideas, you got platforms for your own storytelling. Or go find other fanfics to read if this one doesn't satisfy you.

"Well, that's it for the commercial break. Back to the original program…"

"COME BACK, NORMAN REEDUS!" Nifty suddenly starts crying on stage.

"Nifty! No!"

Back to the story

Indigo rubbed her head. One of those days, the metaphorical fourth wall was going to break her mental health. Alastor pulled her away from the black-furred spider.

"Niss!" Angel checked on his brother. The mobster's dark fur made it invisible at first, but a closer peak made the bruises lighter.

"What the fuck is wrong with your brat?" Arackniss coughed, standing upright.

"She got drunk," Angel Dust quickly said once his brother confirmed to be fine.

"WELL! Clearly, she's yours!"

Both brothers hissed.

A deep throat clearing got all their attentions.

Indigo noticed the meeting room they were in. Dark green wallpapers with pitch black web patterns, dark curtains that sealed all the windows, and the only lights came from the red brass lamps hanging from the ceiling like a spider waiting for its prey. So far, the only other presence in the room aside from the trio and Angel's siblings was the massive, Grinch-like black monster of a spider demon slouching on the master chair. Smoke still trailed out of his gun.

Indigo was pretty sure that the Don had shot the vase just above her… and that he might have watched CORALINE, given the room's design.

"Anthony…" The Don growled.

"Mateo." Angel Dust crossed his arms. "I thought we stopped dragging me to family meetings since my contract with Valentino."

Alastor kept Indigo behind him.

Being in the domains of the actual mafia should be the most terrifying right now, but Indigo was more afraid for Angel Dust and Alastor. Both went out of their way to get her out while Angel Dust was in unwelcomed family territories and Alastor's magic was neutralized.

Seriously, WHAT did I do?

"Ya got a lot of nerve, waltzing around the borough. Around my turfs. With another Overlord and this walking explosive tyke. Bad enough you go prancing like a fairy with whores, you drag along a half-breed and a crack cartel baby."

Red admirals stormed out of Indigo.

"OK! A, I'm only a quarter Colombian! B, I ain't in drugs like you! And C, did you seriously just call me a crack baby, you shitty ripoff of an antisemite's animated animal merged with a gender-reversed Jacqueline Mazarella?"

Arackniss and Molly gasped. Alastor quickly covered Indigo's mouth and held her back. Angel Dust smirked proudly.

"Yeah, Mateo, did you just call her a crack baby? Oh!" Angel Dust snapped his fingers. "I get it! Hey kiddo! When a mobster calls you a crack baby, he's basically saying your pops was high when he birthed you!"

Indigo managed to throw a chair at Henroin. Arackniss jumped in the air, grabbed the chair, and swung it at the window. Henroin didn't flinch in his seat.

"Ya managed to get your hands on that tyke and influence her." Henroin wiped his gun.

"I don't influence nobody," Angel Dust said. He turned. "Well, since we've wasted your time, we'll influence our asses into leaving."

Mobsters showed their guns from the doorway.

"Your asses can leave later. I hate my Zuppa Toscana cold." One glare from the Don made Arackniss sit on his right.

"We can skip on the Zuppa."

Henroin slid a spare revolver down the table surface. Past Angel Dust… Just by Alastor and Indigo…

"Did you teach the tyke how to survive Russian Roulette?"

The axe missed Henroin by a hair. Not close enough to scratch his skin, but close enough for the Don to feel the blade pressing against his cheek while said weapon impaled his chair's cushion.

The spider mobsters looked at the calm Alastor with freaked looks. His hand was still posed after throwing the axe.

"Suicidal threats don't make good spices in a host's dinner," Alastor coldly laughed. "Although… Spider boudin sounds like good protein right about now."

Many spider eyes twitched.

Chairs were pulled and the undesired guests sat down. Angel's siblings on one side, Angel Dust and Alastor on the other, and Indigo facing the Don.

Said Don had just yelled at his imp maid to bring in the Biroldo slices and wine.

Reddish green wine filled all six glasses. Nobody but the Don drank.

The Greed and Pride of the beverage made Indigo's nostrils inch from discomfort.

"So… Did Anthony name you, or do you have a proper name, tyke?"

Sometimes, Indigo REALLY questioned if demon adults were OUTRIGHT asking for her to kill them.

"Nobody names me in Hell," she said.

The Don frowned at her.

Arackniss quickly hand gestured to Molly.

"Oh, he meant your REAL name, sugah!" The female spider laughed. "Inside our turfs, we use real names. What you had before you died."

Indigo didn't want the mafia to have the privilege of knowing her name. It was restricted info at the hotel. Few knew her middle name. She was still terrified of the first murderer calling her by her first name.

Then again, it's not really lying if I use my abuela's maiden name.

"I used to be Ines Muñoz," she said, lacking visible expression on her face. "I go by Indigo Caligo in Hell."

The Don stared at her, then at Angel Dust. He then stared at his other offspring. "We don't know any Muñozes in the cartels. Do we?"

"At this rate, everyone is either a Gomez or an Alvarez in the cartels," Arackniss answered.

"I met a Madrigal once," Molly offered.

"Why switch to a Caligo?" The Don asked.

"Butterfly species. Owl eyes on the wings freak out predators. Always loved them. Why are you all spiders?"

"The mafia's a big web."

The imp maid replaced Indigo's untouched wine glass for one filled with whiskey. Indigo gently pushed that one away as well.

"You, we know!" The Don grimaced as he pointed at Alastor. The Radio Demon smiled, exposing his sharp teeth.

"Goodness. What gave it away? The status or my diet?"

A button was clicked. Something on the wall spun. A framed picture now stood out. The lights brightened, exposing the grayscale illustrated poster. Not something you'd find in Hell.

The design reminded Indigo of the older days when illustration and painting dominated the editorial and article industries before photography. The poster certainly wasn't of Hell, as it beautifully depicted New Orleans in the Roaring 20s in the background.

The dapper man twirling a microphone in his hand winked in the foreground…

Indigo blinked, recognizing the bangs and the signature at the bottom.

"Shit…" She gasped.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Alastor shocked the mafia with his sudden static-less frustration.

"Al!" Angel Dust chuckled. "THAT was you? Dang! Your talks for Quarters on New Orleans kept us from killing each other in my fam every time it aired every 3 hours!"

"Angel…" Alastor hissed, his eyes darkening.

"What? Products from Earth are rare! Niss and I found it in the black market during our first couple years. The ONE time Henroin didn't yell at us in the afterlife!"

"And I should feel better seeing the product of the inconsiderate idiot who decided that to best spread the station's image was to change my image?"

Alastor's question stunned Angel Dust.

Indigo remembered.

Both Addison's minion and Henroin… Had called Alastor a 'half-breed'.

When she was alive, during a book club gathering at her father's store, one of the club members had asked her father if he ever experienced… 'issues', being an American born of French-Colombian parentage. There was this one time, way before Ines was born, her father had gone to a dinner outing with friends. Some drunk older man at the bar had called him a half-breed.

That asshole probably didn't care about validating Aaron Coeurdor's identity.

Indigo tossed her tequila glass at the framed poster.

Good thing it didn't come with glass protection.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Arackniss ran to pull the framed poster off the wall. Just as it was in his hands, Indigo made him trip.

Her hands started ripping the poster into squares. The Don hissed angrily. Indigo whistled while her fingers easily folded the destroyed piece of private property into origami butterflies.

Angel Dust and Alastor said nothing as greyscale origami butterflies fluttered around the room.

They winced a bit when all the paper bugs flew towards the lamps. All lamps exploded on impact. Angel Dust nonchalantly pulled out an umbrella from his fluffy chest and held it up, shielding Alastor and Indigo from the sprinklers.

And Henroin had another button for the sprinkler system shut down.

"For fuck's sake, the Hell is wrong with ya?" Arackniss exclaimed. "We let you in after we boot off the Prince of Greed and his beau, and you trash our place? What kind of manners were you raised with?"

"The kind that get lost when you die and land in Hell!" Indigo snatched Angel's umbrella, holding it like a bat. "I mean, we get dragged here by the stereotypical mafia, Gustav outright tells me I'm better offing myself in the Extermination, you disrespect your guests as assets, and I've had to put up with 1940s, overblown homophobia and racism. And you expect ME to be polite to YOU?"

She pulled out her Hellphone.

"Indigo, what are you doing?" Angel Dust asked.

"Calling Stolas."

The Don quickly pointed his gun at her.

Angel Dust shot at Henroin, who saved himself by jumping on the walls. Arackniss and Molly pulled their guns out, but at each other. They both knew the favorite son would support the don while Molly would protect her twin.

"Indigo, put that device away!" Alastor told her.

"Why?" Indigo fidgeted around her phone, keeping it away from his sight of view. "They won't let us go."

"And you think we will even if you call that self-centered, privileged blueblood?" Henroin jumped back on the ground. Mobsters stormed the room. "Anthony clearly didn't update ya. All of Hell knows of the poultry prick and his imp toy. Ya really must be Anthony's dumbest asset if you think he'll waltz in just because you're the favorite toy of that shelled colorless, legion-lacking princess who's only worth a dime to the hundreds of heirs the Goetia Family has."

"Uh… Boss?" A mobster pointed at Indigo in horror. "She…"

"WHAT?" Henroin snapped.

"She… had the prince on Voxtime the whole time…"

Voxtime, for the confused living ones, was Hell's equivalent of FaceTime.

The wall exploded. Mobsters found their heads spinning at 360 degrees, killing them effortlessly. Indigo's grin at the Don was worth Alastor's pride.

An angry Stolas walked out of the smoke, stepping over corpses.

"What. Did. You. Call. My. Daughter?" Stolas glared at the Don. The spider mobsters quivered at the sight of the Ars Goetia.

Shooing out the Prince of Greed was easy, but taking down a Goetia noble with petrification powers was another…

"He didn't mean it, Mr. Stolas." Indigo hung up her Voxtime, putting away her phone. "It's my fault. I deliberately provoked him… and I knew what would provoke you… I'm sorry."

"You can't be blamed." The prince loomed over the sinners. "Then again, better me than Paimon. This nice domain would have been ashes if he found out what happened."

"Using the Goetia favoritism…" Indigo groaned. "I spent too much time in Hell…"

"Eh, like I haven't done it before." Angel tossed the umbrella away. "Mr. Stolas? Any chance you can bring her and Alastor back?"

"I came to claim three." Stolas frowned.

Angel Dust stared at his family. "Well… There's certain business unfinished with our family. And the Don hates his Zuppa Toscana cold…"

"But Angel…" Alastor began.

"Ya ain't assets. No business. I'll meet ya later."

"Angel…" Indigo tried to speak.

"Ya asking for more trouble?" His stern question silenced. "Just as I thought. Leave with your friend's daddy before I ground you for life in a cocoon!"

Indigo stared speechlessly at him.

Alastor led her through Stolas' portal, abandoning Angel Dust…

Later

The four Ruggiero mobsters finished their dinner silently. The imp servants struggled to pull away the corpses of mobsters with screwed necks.

A typical family dinner.

"Armani. Maria. You're both excused."

Arackniss and Molly quickly scurried out of the room before Henroin could yell.

Angel Dust kept his upper fingers clasped against the table surface. His lower hands hid beneath the table. Always anticipate the possibility of getting killed…

"You're a fucking pain. You know that, right?" Henroin asked venomously.

"You keep telling me that since I was six." Angel shrugged.

"Fag shit aside, you tossed your potential for the family. And for what? Drugs and booze ya can barely afford when our family dominated that business since you and your siblings were still in the womb. Whore business that leaves ya damaged… And now the princess' project. Ya actually crazy enough to think you're good enough to join your ma with the saints?"

Angel Dust said nothing. He failed to keep his eyes straight at his father. That was all Henroin needed.

"And if ya fail? What's your backup plan?"
"What's your point?"

"Your backup plan? Ya been in that hotel for what, a year? Rumors in the streets are that the princess got herself some new customers. How long do you think you have until you're deemed useless to her? How long until a newcomer beats you and your ma gets to see THEM before ya? Will you go back to that moth if you get kicked out?"

Angel wanted to say something. He couldn't.

With Henroin, the answer was always a snark.

With Valentino, the answer was always pain.

With Alastor and Indigo…

And Angel HATED it when the homophobic godfather, his own biological father, made a point.

The best option was always self-blame.

"Since I'm stupider than a Thanksgiving turkey, what'd ya recommend I do?" Angel leaned on his chair.

When Henroin got up, he'd still tower over his son if the latter hadn't been sitting down.

"That moth pimp of yours. He's been experiencing… issues. Hasn't he?"

"Buying me away from him doesn't work."

"Offing him is."

The white-and-pink spider widened his eyes.

"Two things can kill an' Overlord. Holy weapons' the first, and you can smuggle them anywhere. The other option is another Overlord offing him. And you've been waltzing with that red half-breed. You've known him for a year now, right?"

"Yeah…"

Angel paused.

Memories of the fight they had. Arguing over Alastor's sudden suggestion to buy the spider out of Valentino's clutches.

Everything seemed to darken.

"What ya should have done in all those fuckin decades… The one thing you seem to make yourself useful…"

Every demon wanted to touch Angel Dust. Break him. Fuck him. Watch him cry.

The 'Ha! No!"

The return to the hotel after the mess on Debauchery Avenue…

The stumbling on Alastor's undesired encounters with Vox…

The countless times Alastor had discreetly left aspirins for Angel Dust whenever he returned from work throbbing…

Their chat in the Radio Tower…

"You give him what he wants, then he'd off the moth for ya. Break the contract. Ditch the hotel. The family can benefit from your assets…"

It clicked in Angel right on the spot.

Knowing Henroin, the Don could probably care less if Angel's 'assets' were asexual. He could care less if Angel didn't want them involved with his business. And he could probably care less that Angel didn't want to do what he was suggesting.

Pushing Alastor away from financial downfall to help Angel was one thing. Angel didn't want the Radio Demon to die in an Overlord battle with the bare chance of defeating Valentino. He certainly didn't want to pay such risks with sex…

Better to have Henroin think he was going along with it… Maybe…

"I'll think about it." Angel spoke calmly. He couldn't afford a brawl with his father right now. "If things get better or worse… ya'll know if I fucked up again."

The white spider got up, making his way out without even excusing himself. None of the mobsters held him back.

Angel ignored his siblings calling for him. Their voices faded away the more he walked away from the Ruggiero property. The streets of Bootleg Borough had all their shops labeled for sale.

A couple demons tried to approach Angel Dust. In his haze, he shot them with his bullets.

After nearly 40 minutes of exploring, he found the spot where they'd hidden Alastor's car. Angel managed to pick it open.

The moment he sat down on the driver's seat, his bottled frustration let out.

The car horn received his fist's smash.

A tear hit the floor.

He knew he could never do what his father suggested.

He knew he could never ascend.

He knew he could never escape his position…

He knew he could never abandon his friends. His pet. His kid. His…

'I don't think I can go on pretending that we have this thing going on… but I'm not sure I'm ready to trust you with myself. I don't know if you'd break my heart like everyone else has.'

They'd gone through Bootleg Borough together. Despite Alastor's powers being briefly neutralized…

'And I don't think I can trust you… if all I am to you is the Radio Demon. Yet I can't hide that I worry about you.'

With everything… Anthony didn't go into Bootleg Borough with the Radio Demon. He did it all with Alastor.

"Fuck… and we JUST talked about it last night!" He cried.

He adjusted the car's mirrors.

Angel Dust: I never was a real angel…

Never escaping my shame…

Never to feel any love in Hell.

Never able to kill my flame…

But he made my heart swell…

Are those wings of Hell…

Or one of my painful farewells?

Angel Dust still cried when he turned the car on.

He took the direction towards Runesville, his cheeks soaking from his tears.

Angel Dust: No wings of Hell to hear…

I don't deserve the deer.