When we came back to the hotel, Angel called to us from the rec room, wanting to show us the new commercial. The sound of Angel calling to us back to the rec room made Charlie look over at me to see if it was really necessary to go, since we were just now leaving the heaven emissary and it felt like she needed a little bit longer to compose herself before she saw people. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to see more people than just me at that moment.
"It'll just be for a moment. If the commercial is bad, I'll just slaughter them then spend the rest of the day comforting you." That was a pretty harsh thing for me to say, even if it was just my way of trying to comfort her, but it did make Charlie chuckle slightly.
"Okay, I guess we can go see it for a little bit, but not for long because I really don't feel up to dealing with more people right now." I affectionately brush her cheek.
"Just a moment. I promise." The way I brushed her cheek with affection made her warm inside, and being assured that it was just going to be for a moment gave her some relief. She then nodded slightly in response, agreeing with me and letting me lead the way back to the rec room to see what this commercial was all about. Going to the rec room, we sat down with everyone as the commercial began to start. Or at least it would have continued, if the tv didn't cut to breaking news on channel 666.
"Oh come on! What could be so important now?!" Charlie felt annoyed when all we wanted to do was just relax and watch the commercial, but the television cut to a breaking news broadcast on Channel 666 instead.
"I swear to dad, if this is about more bad things going on in this place I am going to be so goddamn pissed!"
"Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word from the Heaven Embassy that the next Extermination is happening sooner than ever before. Do you know what that means, Tom?"
"What does that mean?"
"It means we're all royally fucked!" The camera shifted to the Extermination Tower, where the giant hourglass rapidly sped up while the countdown of the next Extermination went from 358 days to 174, with Sinners panicking at the halved time. The sudden countdown to the next Extermination happening sooner than ever before felt like a total gut punch and it seemed like our worst fears had come true. Charlie immediately turned to see everyone else's reactions to the news and it seemed like they all weren't taking this news too well either. Her heart broke when she saw some of the more innocent looking sinners begin to panic and try to escape, knowing how impossible it was to try to do so.
"Holy shit. Are the Angels retaliating because we tried challenging them and their status quo?" She wasn't sure if that was the reason for the Extermination coming sooner than we had originally expected, but the idea of it being a potential possibility felt terrifying. She had no doubt that people would try to get angry and want to fight back against the angels for this decision, but she worried for their safety, given how much stronger the angels were than us. I put my hands on her shoulders.
"Charlie, we can handle this. This means what we're doing is twice as important now. People might now be desperate enough to come here if they don't want to be killed twice as frequently." My comforting gesture to put my hands on her shoulders and my support that we could handle this crisis really helped her calm down a bit.
"I know. We're doing a good thing here. If things are getting to this point and people would rather come here to potentially escape death then that means we just need to be here for them." That was then when the power cut out, plunging the hotel in darkness. Apparently, while we were talking, Alastor and TV Demon, Vox, were having an "on air" argument, and the latter got so frustrated, he short circuited, thus accidentally cutting power throughout all of Pentagram City.
"Ugh, great. Well, so long as the power's out, let's go out and see who's desperate enough to come crawling here." I took Charlie's hand, and exited the hotel, wielding my spear in my other hand to ward off anything that may harm her. The gesture of me taking her hand and leading us outside with my spear in the other hand made her feel more safe and protected against anything that could harm us as we left the hotel to see who would reach the hotel because of the changed Extermination schedule. Unfortunately, after scouring for six hours through the city, nobody joined us, despite how dire things were now. Instead of making the best of their time by redeeming themselves, the Sinners just decided to double down on sex, drugs and violence, just wanting to get lost in pleasure until doom rains down on them, when they're too wasted and high to realize they're getting killed. This was certainly a depressing sight to see and made her feel almost sad for the sinners who were now doubling down on their sinful habits after hearing about the new Extermination schedule. Instead of trying to turn their lives around and maybe get a chance at redeeming themselves, the majority of this group of sinners seemed determined to just give in to their vices until their time was finally up. I kicked the door of our hotel open, the power having come back, but I was too frustrated to care.
"Those ingrates! I swear, if you didn't care so much for your people to redeem them, I'd save the Exorcists the trouble and kill every single one of those fuckers in the whole goddamn city for wasting your time!" I was gripping my spear so hard, it was starting to bend. The sheer anger that I had towards the sinners and the way I was talking about them so harshly made her feel a little bit uneasy. At times she thought I really were going to go ahead and try to kill a majority of the sinners in the city just from seeing how much they were taking advantage of this crisis.
"Calm down, babe. I get that you hate seeing them waste all this time on their sins when there's so much more they could be doing but we can't force them to turn their lives around if they don't want to." I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"These idiots don't deserve someone like you. You're too good for this lowly plane of existence. What's the point of being a princess if your citizens don't even give you the time of day, let alone ant goddamn respect that you deserve." My words were so full of negativity that it was making her sad. It was true that the sinners hadn't done anything to try and prove that they were worthy of her efforts to try and redeem them. They were wasting their time on their sins and not listening to her at all, but seeing me so full of hate against them made her feel uncomfortable.
"I don't just help them because I expect them to give me respect or because I think I deserve it. I help people because that's what I want to do. That's what I was put here to do." I noticed your sadness, and that calmed me down further.
"I know, and I love that about you. I just wish that I wasn't the only person down here that sees you how I see you." I took hold of your hands. "Is it so hard to give you some common courtesy and kindness in return?" Even though it felt good to finally hear that I understood her feelings, it still seemed like I had so much resentment towards the sinners and the fact that they didn't give her the courtesy and kindness that they should was still upsetting me greatly. She squeezed my hands and spoke with a comforting tone.
"It's fine. I can't just force them to change their ways if they don't want to and if they choose to throw their lives away, then that's their fault. I'll just keep trying to help as much as I can."
"Do you know what I would have us do, Charlie?" She looked at me curiously as what I could possibly have in mind and since she didn't know what exactly the "us" part of the sentence meant, it just made her more curious.
"What would you have us do?"
"I'd take us to your room, lock us in, and never come back out. I can tolerate Razzle and Dazzle because they're your… whatever they are, but all I need is just you, and your sanctuary that is your bedroom where it's just us, and our love." The words I was saying were making her heart feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It felt like such a romantic and almost tempting idea to go back to her room and just lock the door to have a little bit of time between just us two away from everyone.
"That actually sounds pretty nice." We heard a knock on the door.
"Ugh, if it's a prank caller, I'm going to break their nose." I let her go to answer the door. My comment about the knock being from a prank caller made her slightly more cautious as I went to see who was at the door. When I got to the door, I took a deep breath and then opened it to see who was there on the other side. It was the snake Sinner, Sir Pentious.
"Why, hello good ssssir-" I punched the prick in the nose, laying him down flat. "Ow! Wait, wait, wait! I come in peacccce." He carefully got up. "I didn't come looking for a fight. I uhh.. I heard that you're helping people, people who want to be better?" Pentious's demeanor definitely felt different than some of the other sinners that we had recently talked to. His request for help felt genuine and not just something that he wanted to take advantage of for his own selfish reasons. The fact that he was speaking to me so calmly and politely was very promising in comparison to those other sinners that I was previously thinking of.
"That's definitely true. Are you one of those people who wanted to be better?"
"Yessss. I wissssh to move in." Charlie replied to his request in a kind and encouraging tone.
"Of course you can! We'd be very happy to have you and will provide you with some support to help you try and redeem yourself."
"Uh, Charlie." I turned you around to talk privately. "Are you sure we can trust him? Ever since Alastor moved in as our benefactor, that prick already attacked the hotel twice to get to him."
"I mean it's definitely not a bad idea to be cautious. However Sir Pentious does seem genuine in his request and I've not had any other bad experiences with him so far. Let's give him a chance and hope that he'll redeem himself and hopefully not pull those same stunts again."
"Ugh. I guess he is pretty harmless without his warship." He seemed proud of my remark. "Or even with his airship." My follow up deflated him right after. Despite feeling proud for being called harmless, he also didn't seem to appreciate that you basically called him completely and utterly useless. Still, Charlie tried not to show how funny this interaction was.
"Yeah, I think he's pretty harmless and wouldn't be able to cause too much trouble. Let's just see how things go and hope that he at least tries to redeem himself properly with our help."
"Okay." I then pointed my spear at Sir Pentious with a warning, my eye wide open again. "But let me be clear. If you do anything to hurt Charlie, or damage this hotel, I will personally rip out your fangs, and stab them into your fucking eyes. All of them. Got it, snake?" At my warning with the spear pointing directly at his face, Sir Pentious immediately seemed intimidated and a little bit afraid but this was quite understandable given the power that I had. He then put his hands up immediately as a signal of surrender and spoke nervously to me.
"Y-Yessss, I got it. I'll ssssstay calm and be on my besssst behavior. I promissssse I'll behave and try to redeem mysssself, okay?"
"Good." I relaxed. "Well Charlie, I'll let you take things from here with him." After I relaxed, it made it easier for her to speak confidently and comfortably to Sir Pentious. She now had a small bit of hope that he wouldn't be too difficult to manage because of how willing he was to try and redeem himself.
"So Sir Pentious! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!" I followed her as she gave this Sinner a tour of the first floor of the Hotel. As I followed her, she continued to make sure everything went smoothly while explaining to him different things about the hotel and the various things that the guests had access to and had the freedom to enjoy. Despite the fact that both Pentious and I were both keeping a close eye on each other, things seem to be going smoothly up to this point. "Oh man, I'm just so excited to have our real first guest!" Angel Dust asked indignantly,
"Hey, what does that make me? I moved in before this place even opened." Charlie quickly replied back,
"Ah! Sorry, Angel! For some reason I completely forgot you were the first to be here. I guess that means Pentious is actually the second real guest here after you!"
"No, Sir Pentious is the first." I corrected, before turning my attention to Angel Dust. "You constantly make us look bad, sexually harass the staff, and have literally never once tried to improve beyond keeping a free room here. You're not a real patron, Angel, you're just a freeloader mooching off of us." Angel briefly looked hurt, but then just simply rolled his eyes at my harsh yet accurate commentary about him, and then spoke in his typical flirty attitude.
"What? Can't a guy just be as fabulous as he wants to be without having to change? I'm already perfect, why would I need to improve myself when there's already no one better than me in this place?" I just gave Angel a tired look as I promptly ignored him, not bothering with answering his question. Coming down the stairs, I saw Alastor.
"Oh, Charlie. It's Alastor. How do with approach him with our new "guest situation", given their history?" The fact that I now pointed out that the new guest could potentially cause some conflict with Alastor made Charlie really begin to worry about the possible consequences. She looked up the stairs where I was pointing and she did indeed see Alastor standing there right in front of us, looking down at us with his ominous and unnerving smile. She took a deep breath and then to me in a serious tone.
"Hopefully he won't be too upset if Sir Pentious gets a room, but I'll try to talk to him as peacefully as possible." She cleared her throat. "Alastor! Our gracious facility manager! You've met our newest guest Sir Pentious…hehe."
"Ah yes! You're the one who ruined my coat last we met!" Alastor's eyes glow red in the dark with a violent temptation to rip Sir Pentious apart, as he spoke in a sinister voice. "I definitely remember you now." Pentious had now seen Alastor and his eyes went wide with fear and dread. Charlie's own feelings of dread only increased as she feared this was going to spiral into another violent incident between them. Not wanting there to be yet another bloody mess in this hotel, she spoke to Alastor in a very calm and reassuring voice.
"Sir Pentious is in the process of redeeming himself and wants to be a guest at the hotel and a productive member of our group. I guess this is a great time for your first lesson!" She clears her throat "How to apologize! The first step to becoming a better person is to admit when you are wrong. Why don't you give it a try, Sir Pentious?" I bumped the snake forward with the blunt end of my spear so that he didn't slither away. As I bumped him forward with my staff, Pentious seemed a little bit disoriented at first but then he took a deep breath and then spoke in a shaky yet confident voice.
"I am ssssorry for the desssstruction I have caussssed the firsssst time we crossssed paths. I regret my previousssss behavior and all the damage that I have inflicted upon you and thisssss hotel becausssse I ssssee the wrong in my actionssss now, and I have found a dessssire to improve mysssself. I alsssso apologize for ruining your very lovely coat.. uhm.. here." As a token of apology, Sir Pentious hands back the small fabric he tore from Alastor's coat. Alaster takes it and inspects the damage.
"Ah-Ho! Not many people have been able to take even this much off me, it must have meant quite a lot to you." Despite being generous, Alastor spontaneously combusts the fabric tear into green flames, leaving no trace as he flicked the ash off his fingers.
"That's what I'm talking about! See, Sir Pentious is really trying to redeem himself! How wonderful!" After spending a day where Sir Pentious, if awkwardly, spent all day going through the rehabilitation routines with high effort. Much more than Angel Dust ever did. Charlie was quite impressed with Sir Pentious's effort as he did his absolute best to redeem himself. He took every rehabilitation routine quite seriously and she really admired the fact that he was not half assing his way through any of his training. Despite his progress being slow and him being a little bit awkward, she had no doubts that he would eventually get there with time. I yawned as it was eventually getting late.
"Hey Charlie, I'll wrap things up. How about you go and start getting ready for bed?"
"Yeah, that seems like a very good idea. I think I'll head off to my room to get ready for bed now."
"Okay. I love you." I briefly kissed her. "Don't get too comfortable without me." My sudden and loving kiss made her immediately blush and then replied in a playful yet teasing way back to me.
"Don't worry, I won't. Love you too." I watched as you headed up to your room. I went to the bar, and snagged a light drink so that I didn't get more than a little fuzzy. As Charlie headed up to her room, she immediately got into her nightgown and crawled into her bed without taking too long to try and relax. She was very tired after an incredibly long day and she just wanted to sleep as well with her endearing boyfriend. However, on my end, I noticed something unusual. A slithering shadow went into the study. Despite being alone, I investigated, spear in hand. I looked through the door crack quietly, seeing Sir Pentious planting a camera. I burst the doors open, pointing my spear at him.
"You slithery little shit! You working for someone?! I knew there was something shitty about you!" *Pentious, immediately caught off guard, quickly got into a defensive position as you burst in pointing your spear at him.*
"Wait, hold on! I'm not here to causssse any trouble. I ssssswear! I'm just.. uh.. just checking ssssomething out! I promissssse!"
"Yeah, then what's with the camera you're planting?" Sir Pentious was now caught out in his lie and he quickly went silent as he tried to think of an excuse but your point with the camera was very solid and he had no way to disprove your accusation. "Got ya." I smirked before I jumped on him, punching him twice in the face before pressing the handle of my spear onto his throat against the floor. The sudden hits and you pressing the spear onto his throat made him try to struggle and fight back. Sir Pentious, for all his pros, was very weak and pathetic so fighting against him very easy. Your sudden bursts of punches and the spear handle press were giving him a hard time and yet he was still trying to get up and fight back, though it was clearly becoming far more difficult for him to do so. "Charlie, come quick!" I yelled as I rammed my forehead into his. My yell quickly got Charlie's attention and she immediately rushed over to the study, and she now saw both Sir Pentious and I locked in an aggressive and intense fight with each other. Her eyes widened as she saw me bash him with my forehead and he struggled to get away from my grip. The sound of Sir Pentious groaning and breathing heavily was certainly something very alarming to hear.
"What's going on?!" I pulled him up, keeping my spear's blade to his throat.
"This little bitch is a traitor. He planted a camera in the bookshelf behind us." I immediately got the idea of the situation after hearing your explanation about him being a traitor and planting a camera.
"Okay, I can see that, but we need to keep things under control. Let me handle this." Needing to escape, he slithered out of my grasp and tried to open the locked window. He brings out his wrist watch to make contact with Vox.
"Ah! Ah! Abort! Abort! S.O.S! Agent Pentious in need of immediate evacuation!"
"Pentious? Wait… you were caught?!? It hasn't even been, a day!"
"Pleassssse! You've got to get me out of here!"
"I can't believe we thought you could handle even something this simple! Do us a favour, if they don't kill you, go ahead and do it yourself! You MISERABLE FAILURE! The connection cut off, leaving the Sinner broken. After hearing the voice from the other end of the call calling Sir Pentious a miserable failure, both of us could tell that he was completely distraught and shattered. Sir Pentious now looked absolutely broken and defeated as he was barely able to keep himself standing up straight anymore with the way he was now hunched over and his arms were now limp and danging beside him.
"Shall I kill him now, Charlie?" I raised my spear. "It would be a mercy for this sorry excuse of a thing." Her answer was swift and direct as she responded to my question with absolute certainty.
"Absolutely not! We're trying to help him, remember? Killing him is the opposite of what we want to happen. I promise I'm going to handle this now so you can step aside as I speak to Sir Pentious from here on out." I growled, but I stood by as you spoke to the sinner. She then walked directly over in front of the sinner as she looked him in his eyes and spoke to him very sternly. She gave him no ideas that he could use my kindness and mercy as a chance to try and weasel his way out of being punished. "Sir Pentious, I have a very simple question for you. Please be very honest with me as that is the only way that this is going to work."
"What issss it?" He asked, depressed.
"Did you indeed plant a camera in the study?"
"Yessss. It wassss nothing perssssonal againsssst you. The Veessss hired me as a mole becausssse they're conccccerned of you and Alasssstor working together."
"Really? So that's why you planted a camera here? Because the Vees hired you to do it?"
"Yessss. I'm… I'm ssssorry. You tried to help me, and I did thissss. Who could forgive a dirtbag like me? I don't desssserve your amnessssty. But you ssssaid that wassss the firsssst sssstep, right?"
"Will you promise that from now on you will no longer attempt any type of betrayal of trust or spying against me or the other people in the hotel?"
"I promisssse." He nodded, gaining hope. "I'll be good."
"That's good to hear. But I'm not going to lie to you, I'm sure you understand that words can only go so far in an apology. You have to put actions behind your words." He nodded acceptingly. I gave him some keys.*
"Here's the keys to a room on the second floor. The common hotel rooms. Settle into it and get out of our sight, snake." I pointed out of the study. My harsh and rather rude way of dismissing Sir Pentious seemed to be a bit much in her opinion and she spoke back to me,
"Wait, I think that he at least deserves a little bit better than that. Just letting him have one of the common rooms here sounds a little bit too harsh."
"After what he pulled? He certainly doesn't deserve luxury or middle class. He's lucky I'm not sending him out to sleep in the cold outside tied to a leash." My statement about Sir Pentious only deserving to sleep in the streets with nothing except a leash to tie him to it definitely seemed a little bit too far in Charlie's opinion, even though he did deserve a punishment of some sort.
"He does deserve a punishment but not one that bad. I understand that what he did wasn't acceptable, believe me, I get that. But he's clearly shown a lot of remorse over his actions, so a little bit of forgiveness and mercy would be ideal."
"I've already forgiven him. By letting him sleep in one of our cheapest rooms. If he wants something better, he has to earn it beyond a sorry and promise." She sighed as she spoke back to me with an accepting tone.
"Alright, you make a good point. So he'll have one of the lowest class rooms then." I turned towards Sir Pentious.
"You heard Charlie. Go." At this point, Sir Pentious looked like a truly defeated and broken soul. His hands were hung down and he kept his head down low as he quietly left the room, having absolutely no other choice if he wanted a room at all. He clearly now understood that he was in a rather desperate and unfortunate situation now that he didn't have anywhere else to go as he now began to leave without any further protest. I took a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Charlie. Like my emotions, trust is not something I'm good at. You're the only person who hasn't gone out of their way to fuck with me for one reason or another." Once the sinner and now former traitor left the room, Charlie then turned back towards me as I spoke with an understanding yet concerned tone.
"I'm really sorry to hear that trust hasn't been very good for you. I understand you had some bad experiences in terms of that sort of thing which has caused this and I understand what you went through." I touched my eyepatch.
"You don't know what I've went through. And frankly, I don't want you to. I want to leave my past before you behind me. The only thing that matters to me, is you, and your dream." Charlie tried her best to remain calm and composed and she spoke in a comforting and gentle tone when she replied back.
"I understand that you want to keep parts of your past behind you and I respect that. But just know that you can always talk to me if you need it, okay?"
"Maybe I will, if your hotel actually works. You're already dealing with enough shit as it is. You don't need to deal with mine right now." My remark genuinely made her feel bad because she actually cared about me. Charlie couldn't stand the fact that I've been through so much trauma and struggle that's led me to the point of isolating myself and trying to deal with it on my own. She spoke back with the same tone as before.
"Hey, you're a very important person to me and I only want the best for you. I'm willing to deal with whatever you're dealing with because I really do care." I weakly smile.
"I know. Thank you." I sigh again. "Let's just get to bed. Today has been really trying on my patience." She looked at me with a subtle reassuring smile as she placed a gentle hand my shoulder.
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. We both need to rest after all of this." I pulled her close as we went to the top floor where our room is, and I changed into my boxers, and taking my eyepatch off. As we both made it to our shared bedroom, she loved that I was now showing some skin with my choice of bed wear. She took her hair down and began to speak with a casual and tired tone.
"Are you okay?"
"I will be. Once I cuddle with you." I smile as I get into bed. She smiled back at me as she got into bed now having gotten more comfortable with me and I laid down on her side so that she was facing me and placed her hand on my chest.
"Can I hold you?"
"Please." I nodded. She rolled closer to me as she pulled me close to her. She then spoke with a soft and caring tone.
"Is this comfortable for you? Are you comfortable being the little spoon?"
"Hehe, I'm too big to be the little spoon."
"Fair enough, then let's flip it and let you hold me." We flipped around so that I could hold her, Charlie's luscious hair in between us.
"I love holding you in my arms." She let out a contented and soft sigh as she now lay on my chest. The way we had her hair in between us felt so soft and comfy.
"It feels very comfortable being held by you."
"I love you so much Charlie."
"I love you too…" We soon fall asleep and our breathing begins to even out as we now both lie there in bed, one of us holding the other close. It's a very simple and peaceful experience and it's clear that we're both genuinely happy in this moment.