"You okay, Charlie?"

Charlie snapped back to reality with Anthony's fingers snapping in her face. Her gut was churning, having left Alastor to rest. She kept telling herself it was okay; Vaggie stayed with him to make sure he was okay after going through two rounds of forbidden magic. There were many more feathers in his hair now, and Charlie was pretty sure there were two extra eyes peering out from his hairline.

She shook her head to get the thoughts and worries out of her head. There was something important she was doing, that Alastor was counting on her for. It had taken so much pain and effort to give what little he'd been able to. It was time for Charlie to do her part.

"Yeah," Charlie managed to weakly say, a grim smile on her face.

"I don't know what you want us to tell you," Husk said, drinking his Heaven cocktail behind the bar. "It's pretty self-explanatory. The 'she' - Lilith - that Alastor made his deal with sounds like she also made a deal with Heaven."

"It ISN'T my mom!" Charlie protested.

"Everyone that thinks that it's Lilith, raise your hand!" Cherri Bomb called out.

Eight sets of hands lifted into the air. Charlie was surprised to find that Niffty had appeared out of nowhere to add her own vote. Her little maid outfit was still bright even with how dust-covered she was from her incessant cleaning.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice called out from the entrance of the Hell Embassy. "I-" Emily stopped short, looking at the crowd that had their hands raised. She asked, "Did I miss something?"

"Yeah. Charlie can't take the fact that her moms is the one pulling the strings," Anthony said plainly.

"It is NOT MY MOM!"

"I didn't realise we were talking about that? I thought we were going to talk about a clue that Alastor was able to give you." Emily looked between all of them, trying to find an idea of what the conversation they'd been called to have was.

"We are," Charlie sighed. She pulled the crumpled paper from her inner pocket and set it out for everyone to see.

"Wow. That's some really bad handwriting," Anthony said.

"You sure Alastor wrote this? He'd normally die before he made something this shitty," Husk commented.

"He was using his new arm," Charlie explained.

"'New arm'? Do we even wanna know?" Cherri asked.

"Alastor was messing with forbidden magic and is now part-Ars Goetia," she replied easily. "Feathers all over."

"Crazy bastard," Husk mumbled.

"Sssso, he'ssss truly trying to woo you two?" Sir Pentious asked, gaze shooting to Husk.

Charlie nodded. "Little by little, we're connecting. He's opening up." A blush came to her face as she thought about her hope to cuddle soon. "Alastor really cares about us."

"HA!" Sir Pentious was now staring Husk down. "Lookssss like I won the bet!"

"He hasn't said the L word, chump," Husk grumbled. "I'll pay out once he admits that's one of his goals."

"Don't move the goalposssstssss," Sir Pentious growled. Cherri's hand on his shoulder made him look at her.

"It's okay, Pent. You'll win that bet. It's a matter of time at this point," she shrugged. "So relax and enjoy the feel of your upcoming win!"

"You guys are so WACKY! It's SO MUCH FUN to watch you guys talk!" Emily gushed as she took a seat at the end of the bar. Waving a hand, she said, "Don't mind me! I'm enjoying the scene!"

"Maybe you can help us convince Charlie that it's her mom doin' everything," Anthony said.

"Guys, can't you think of anything else that could be plausible?" Charlie asked.

"Who do YOU think is behind everything?" Cherri countered sceptically.

"I mean…" Charlie had SOME ideas. "Like, maybe it's Eve?"

" Eve ? Why the fuck would Eve do anything like this?" Anthony stared at Charlie like she was crazy.

Charlie decided to go whole-hog into it. "What if Eve replaced my mom at some point? Like, maybe it was EVE that divorced my dad! She ruined my mom's life as revenge for giving her the forbidden fruit. It's all a plot that she construed to destroy everything and everyone I love!"

"So, why would she make it so Alastor can't destroy the hotel?" Husk tapped a claw against the bartop.

Charlie admitted, "I don't know."

"It isn't Eve," Emily said. Everyone turned to her as she explained, "Just as Sera and Adam are trapped in the Pit, Eve is trapped in the Cloud. I would have been alerted if she'd escaped."

"Scratch that then, toots," Anthony commented to Charlie. "What else you got?"

"Maybe the embodiment of sin took over my mom's body and is using her as a puppet?" she suggested.

"Can ssssin think?!" Sir Pentious asked, shocked.

Emily shook her head. "The Seven Deadly Sins that rule each Ring are the Sins personified. Any extra sin that exists is funnelled into them, making them stronger."

"But, I mean, Original Sin? Could it be that?" Charlie felt like she was grasping at straws at that point.

"No, Charlie." Cherri put a hand over Charlie's clenched fist. "All clues lead to yer mom. Sorry."

"IT ISN'T MY MOM!" Charlie yelled. What was WRONG with everyone?! Her mom was too beautiful inside and out to even THINK of enslaving anyone!

"Calm down, calm down!" Anthony was waving all four arms. "This place is fire resistant but it ain't fireproof!"

That was when Charlie realised the flames were leaking out of her again. She quieted the rage, swallowing it up until she could release it later with her loved ones. They knew how to take care of her.

"Okay," she said more evenly. "I'm okay. Everything is okay." She shook her head, trying to get back on track. Charlie slid the crumpled paper over to Emily. "What do you think of this?"

Emily looked at the paper and read out, "'She made a deal with Heaven for ext'."

"You can read that much?" Charlie asked, surprised.

"I've seen so much bad handwriting. It's kind of an art form!" Emily exclaimed.

"Doessss it ssssay anything elsssse?" Sir Pentious was stretching his neck to try and look at the paper.

"No. The rest of it was literal scribbling," Emily told them.

"Oh." Charlie had to admit, she was disappointed there wasn't more.

"What can you tell us about a deal made with Heaven then?" Husk asked, cleaning an already-clean martini glass.

"Deals? Oh no, Heaven doesn't DO deals!" Emily assured him. "That kind of binding is against Heaven's principles."

"If there was ANY deal, you'd know, right?" Charlie stood from her chair, nervous for an answer.

Emily cringed. "Well, I'm new to my role. I've read all the documents, but a lot of stuff was done off the books. Sorry…"

"Hm." Charlie thought hard as everyone else considered things as well.

"What do you suppose 'ext' is?" Anthony wondered out loud.

"Who knows? We don't have enough context to figure it out," Husk noted.

An idea suddenly popped into Charlie's head. She said out loud, "I know who would know."

Everyone stared at her, Emily saying, "Who?"

Charlie sighed as she noted, "I'm going to need some spelunking gear."