HEAVY WARNING FOR:
Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, and mentions of sexual language and activities
Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
…
…
…
3rd Person POV
*Zzzzzzz...*
Ayden was seen sleeping on her bed when a familiar red microphone staff tapped on her forehead twice before Alastor's voice greeted in a loud and overly jovial tone,
"Rise and shine!"
Making Ayden bolt up with a yowl,
"MROW-!"
*TCH!*
And hitting her forehead right on the end of his staff.
"OWWWWW!" She rubbed the throbbing bump forming on her forehead before yelling at him, "What the fuck are ya doin'-?!"
Right before his staff was placed over her mouth to stop her from yelling anymore as he scolded her with a waving finger,
"Uhp uhp! Don't you know it's rude for a young lady to spew such profanities?"
"Don't you know it's rude ta ba'ge inta someone's room without bein' invited in?!" Ayden argued after slapping the staff away from her mouth.
"I attempted to knock but you were not responding."
"Yeh that means that it's too fuckin' ea'ly for this Satan damned shite." Ayden muttered, making sure to throw in as many curses as she could to continue to annoy him, which worked if the way his smile tightened and his eyes narrowed a tiny bit was any indication.
But the small tone of annoyance faded when he manifested a small analog clock that looked to be made of bones that hovered in the air with more voodoo symbols surrounding it as he retorted, still tightly smiling,
"That would be the case if it was still morning. I'm here to ensure you'll make it down promptly for the mandatory staff and resident meeting."
"Hrrrmmm...!" Ayden narrowed her eyes as he added,
"And do put on something less... distasteful... "
Giving a critical once-over to Ayden's pjs; the oversized t-shirt from Angel that was white to dark pink gradient with two x-ed out dripping hearts on the chest with "These tits are off limits" in white on the front that mostly covered the black short shorts she wore underneath that had a hole cut in the back to let her tail poke through as it flicked around agitatedly.
"Oh stuff it up yer arse... " Ayden muttered as she grabbed her regular clothes from the floor, quickly changed in her bathroom, came back out to dump her pjs on the floor, and waited by the door for Alastor to finally leave her room so she could slam the door shut behind them to follow him downstairs.
She slid down the stair banister in hellcat form before leaping up to flip and transform back to demon cat form, landing on all fours behind the couch where Angel was already lying with his legs kicked up over one armrest and settled to just sit on the other armrest.
When Charlie and Vaggie came down from upstairs, Alastor flicked the TV on to reveal the commercial he had made for the hotel,
*Well, hello there, you wayward Sinner! Do you like blood, violence, and depravity of a sexual nature? Of course you do, that's why you're in Hell! But what would you say if I told you there was a place to stay that had none of that?*
Alastor's voice spoke over footage of a Sinner stabbing another demon to death with a knife before he caught their attention as he announced,
*Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel, a misguided path to redemption! Founded five days ago by Lucifer's delusional daughter, Charlotte Morningstar!*
Right before the screen changed to show the hotel from the outside before changing to show Charlie, unprepared for the camera from the way she smiled nervously as the camera zoomed in on her face before Angel video bombed her by making two-fingers all around her with all his hands while Ayden stuck her tongue out at the camera as she's winking and pulling her eyelid down mockingly,
*Come place your fate in her inexperienced hands, as she tries to work through her daddy issues by fixing you!*
The footage then changes to Charlie's disaster of an interview with Katie Killjoy, photos of her with incomplete plans on a whiteboard, tearing up while facing away from her dad, and her smiling tightly as she was attempting to teach some Sinners about what it took to be a good person,
*Here we offer fun things, such as somewhat functional staff, 24-hour pest control, and a less-than-novice child playing with fire.*
Some more footage showed the foyer of the hotel where Razzle and Dazzle were seen flying around dusting and cleaning before zooming in on Husk at the bar where he collapsed, more than likely drunk off his ass before Niffty appeared with her giant needle in hand to try and stab at a bug that was crawling over Husk before switching to filming Ayden in the foyer as she's trying to practice twirling her fire sticks in both paws but dropping one when Niffty zipped underneath her and having to panicky stomp out the fire that resulted from it,
*Custom rooms, and just look at this tacky parlor! Enjoy riveting conversation with our singular resident. Wow!*
A photo of one of the pink bathrooms was shown before a pan over shot of the living room was shown with KeeKee sitting on the table before a plank of wood fell near her, scaring her off, before zooming in on Angel Dust as he sat at the couch and flipped off the camera,
*All this, and more at the Hazbin Hotel!*
A crude collage of the hotel with all its "features" labeled was shown before a last shot of the hotel's sign was shown with the words "CALL NOW! OR DON'T! I DON'T CARE! WE STILL DON'T HAVE A WORKING PHONE!" along the bottom of the screen as Alastor's voice finished off the commercial,
*Your last desperate attempt at salvation starts here!*
Right before the TV turned off so Alastor could ask Charlie and Vaggie,
"So, what do you think?"
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Vaggie broke it with a blunt,
"I'm sorry. What the fuck was that?"
"Uh, Yeah. One note-" Charlie started to say before Ayden butted in with an incredulous,
"Jus' one?"
Before Charlie continued speaking while trying not to offend Alastor or sound too harsh,
"Alastor, I mean, first off, thank you so much for making this seriously amazing, but um, maybe the tone is a bit... off.. We want people to want to come here. This makes it look, um... "
"Bad." Vaggie cut it for her girlfriend when she had trailed off before adding, "The word you're looking for is bad."
"Funny. I was going for hilarious."
"It didn't explain anything about how we're trying to save demons from extermination, which is the whole fucking point." Vaggie pointed out before Charlie agreed,
"Vaggie is right Alastor, the commercial was to let Sinners know we are trying to help them."
"Well, my dear, I haven't been active in hell for some time and everyone remembers me from my radio show, the proper medium to express oneself. But, you insisted on this noisy picture box advertisement."
He taps the television twice with his microphone staff while he spoke with bitterness in his voice before playing with his staff,
"So, I had a little fun with it."
"Oh, 'fun?' You had a little 'fun' with it?" Vaggie questioned sarcastically before standing up on the couch to berate Alastor, "Well, this is not what we want to represent us. When you showed up here a week ago, you told us you would help run this hotel. Instead, you're mocking us. Nobody's gonna wanna come to a place that a powerful Overlord like you thinks is a waste of time."
Angel raised his hand from the couch, catching everyone's attention before Vaggie snapped,
"What?"
"If'n you're filming a commercial, can I suggest you take better advantage of the talented celebrity you have right here?" Angel suggested in a flirty tone with a wink before pointing at himself with three free hands while his fourth one grabbed a bottle of beer from the floor.
"Angel, you're a porn star." Vaggie pointed out in a deadpan tone.
"A famous porn star," Angel emphasized before going on dramatically motioning, "I'll have the horniest Sinners knocking these walls down to get in."
"We are not filming a porn as a commercial." Vaggie argued and Ayden piped up,
"Neve' thought I'd say this but I agree wi'h Vaggie."
Vaggie made a little noise of insult at that before Angel tried to reason,
"Why not? Sex sells, don't it?" Before motioning to Alastor as he reappeared beside the couch close to Ayden from his shadow, "I swear if you film me going at it with Mr. Fancy Talk Creepy Voice here, you'd be rolling in participants willing to stay at this tacky hotel."
"Ha ha. Never going to happen." Alastor asserted, still with a smile but his eyes read a different tone.
"'T's the one thing he an' I agree on…" Ayden muttered, referring to their Asexuality, even if Alastor didn't fully realize it as such, just before Charlie started trying to sugarcoat again,
"Angel, I.. appreciate you wanting to use your.. special skills to, um, attract folks to the hotel, but I really don't want to exploit you in that way."
"Oh, please, baby. This body was made to be exploited." Angel boasted as he started motioning to all his body parts, "I got the arms, I got the stamina, I got the legs. I got the lung capacity. Hoohooho! Oh, I got the legs. The gag reflex, the holes, the chest fluff everyone thinks are tits."
Charlie chuckled nervously before her phone started to ring and she told him,
"Hold that thought! I'll be right back."
"I could keep going all night, baby." Angel called to her as she left to take the call in the hallway
"He really can," Ayden noted before she slouched with her ears drooping down in mild annoyance as she added, "trust me... "
"Hey, I have a question." Angel started to question, motioning back over to Alastor, "If Freaky Face over there is so powerful, then why can't he just make people stay here?"
"Oh, trust me," Alastor started to say before transforming slightly with his antlers growing and a shadow casting over his face as he spoke creepily, "I can."
"Why do you think I'm here?"
Everyone looked over to Husk who was at his bar cleaning a bottle with a rag as he griped,
"You actually think I'd be cleaning bottles and listening to you fucks bitch and moan all the time if he wasn't forcing me?"
Right before Niffty popped up from behind the counter with her hand raised as she announced,
"I like being forced."
"Keep that to yourself, Nif." Husk told her before Ayden playfully pouted,
"Awww and he'e I thought ya stuck 'round cause ya ~loved us.~"
"~Yeeeaah... ~ What? You don't love being here with me, ~Whiskers~?" Angel joined in on teasing Husk as he flirted with him but he responded with a slight cat-like snarl,
"Call me Whiskers again and I'll jam that bottle down your throat."
"~Kinkyyyyy.~" Angel teased before making a beckoning motion with his finger, "Come on, keep talking dirty."
"C'mon ya know ya walked right inta that one." Ayden taunted with an amused expression before Vaggie sighed and told them both,
"Angel, Ayden, let Husk do his job. And, no, we can't force Sinners to stay here. They need to choose to."
"I'm choosing to be here and I think it's all stupid. We're in hell, toots. That's kind of the end of the road, ain't it?" Angel expressed before Ayden added grimly with with a half-lidded look and her arms crossed,
"Least til we'e all double dead anyway... "
"Well, maybe it doesn't have to be." Vaggie argued, trying to remain hopeful, "Just because nobody has made it out before doesn't mean it's not possible."
But Angel didn't seem to agree as he put a hand on Vaggie's shoulder while deadpanning,
"Hey, whatever means I can keep crashing here rent-free... Crack is expensive."
"I thought you were supposed to be telling us whenever he tries to sneak that stuff in here." Vaggie turned to look at Ayden with an accusing glare but she just shrugged while saying,
"When he doesn't sha'e wi'h me, then I snitch."
"Angel!" Vaggie snapped at the implication that he shared his drugs with a minor and he held up his upper arms in surrender as he argued, raising an eyebrow at the last part,
"Hey I only give her the weakest shit I got for the nights she's restless. Unless you want her zoomin' around like.. last time... "
Vaggie had to suppress a shudder as she remembered the night Angel was talking about; when Ayden had gone on some kinda hyped-up Zoomies rush, literally bouncing off the walls and furniture while nearly running along the ceiling with sparks popping off her body until she crashed from exhaustion nearly half an hour later and had to be carried back to her room with the door locked to keep it from happening again... only for it to happen again... and again...
She was jolted out of the memory when Charlie exclaimed,
"Vaggie! Holy, shit!"
"Ah! What?!" Vaggie started to panic before seeing that Charlie was super excited by something from the way she waved her over enthusiastically and sighed amusedly.
After Vaggie went over to Charlie, Angel pulled Ayden down with one of his hands and hiss whispered to her incredulously,
"You snitch on me for'em... ?!"
"Re-lax I only show'em whe'e yer smalle' stashes a'e... "
"You have any idea how expensive even the small ones are... ?!"
"Uh no cause you won't let me have any... "
"Cause you don't need it... "
"And you do... ?"
Their bickering was soon interrupted when Charlie started singing out of nowhere,
I can do this! Somehow, I know it!
I'll get Heaven behind my plans!
And, despite Vaggie trying to stop her,
"Charlie, hold on... "
She kept going, dancing around the hotel as she sang,
There's just no way I could blow it.
Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance!
"It's just a meeting."
To change their minds
And touch their hearts
Or... whatever angels have!
"This could be bad... " Vaggie expressed worriedly before Charlie gently held her hands,
Cheer up Vaggie!
This could be swell!
Before spinning the two of them around before Charlie ran out of the hotel,
Something tells me that today will be a happy day in Heeeell!
"Okay, but just don't... sing to them."
But Vaggie's warning went unheard as Angel reported from where he, Alastor, Niffty, and Ayden were standing by the front door watching in interest as Charlie had danced outside,
"That bitch is halfway down the street!"
"Is she-?"
"Oh, she's dancin'!" Angel told her before taking a drink from his bottle.
"Ugh, no... " Vaggie dragged her hand down her face as the others left the doorway before Ayden sidled up next to her.
"Sooooo... a'e we gonna go afte' he' orrrrrr... ." She drew out in uncertainty and Vaggie answered,
"It's a her thing, she'll tell everyone about it later... hopefully... "
"Should we be wo'ried?"
"Hopefully not?"
"That's not reassurin'... " Ayden deadpanned with a paw on her hip before Vaggie snapped at her,
"Look! Let's just focus on one thing at a time, OK?"
Before walking away to call the others back to the living room, leaving Ayden to narrow her eyes at her back as she walked away.
Once everyone had been regathered in the living room, Husk, Niffty, Angel, and Ayden sat on one couch as Alastor sat on a separate chair and Vaggie devised while standing in front of them all,
"Okay, so Charlie is dealing with something very important, so while she's gone, we are making a new commercial. One that represents her vision and what we're doing here. So, we need a camera. Alastor?"
Alastor snaps a finger to manifest a fancy folding picture camera from the 30s into her hand but Vaggie is unamused as she specifies,
"A video camera?"
"Hmmm."
With another snap, the picture camera disappeared in exchange for an old video camera that was barely being held together with pieces of tape as Vaggie announced with determination,
"Alright! Let's do this!"
Gathering Husk and Angel over by the bar to do a skit segment for the commercial as Husk is holding the script in front of his face and Angel is leaning against the bar with his leg tapping in anticipation.
"I can't possibly see how this is gonna crash an' bu'n…" Ayden muttered from behind Vaggie, who gave her a "don't push it" look before readying the camera and calling out,
"And... Action!"
"'Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help you with anything?'" Husk read from the script in a droning tone before Angel decided to try to spice it up by teasing while stroking Husk's chin and posing suggestively,
"'I've been a ~bad boy,~ and I need a ~big, strong daddy~ to put me in my place... on the path to redemption!'"
Making Husk groan, annoyed, before continuing,
"'Well, you come-'"
Only to be interrupted by Angel moaning while rubbing his hands over his body,
"~Ohhhhh, yes!~"
"'-to the right place.'" Husk finished in a bored tone before Vaggie stopped recording to deadpan,
"Cut! Okay, Angel, I need you to be less horny if possible, and Husk, can you maybe not have a script in front of your face."
"I ain't no actor! I can't memorize this shit!" Husk says angrily as he slaps the script in his grip before Angel suggests,
"Well, we could improv this shit, baby cakes." Stroking Husk's face again as he purred, "~Rrawwr…~"
Right before Husk had enough and put his paw on Angel's face to shove him off the counter
"Whoops." He shrugs as he apologizes before reaching underneath the counter for his bottle and chugging from it as Vaggie exclaimed in disbelief,
"Husk, come on!"
"Pft!" Ayden chokes out a scoff at Angel's butthurt expression before trying to hide it with a cough as she smirks amused before Vaggie turns to her to say,
"Alright then, since you find this sooo amusing, why don't we skip to your segment now?"
Ayden's eyes went wide in shock before she suddenly found herself in front of the hotel with her two fire sticks in her paws as Vaggie planned,
"OK your line is 'Here at the Hazbin Hotel we flame to please with our customer service.'"
"Ya don't think that's gonna be taken outta context wi'h Angel's bit?" Ayden questioned critically with her head tilted and a paw on her hip.
"Just. say. the line!" Vaggie told her impatiently through gritted teeth and Ayden sighed before relenting,
"'Ight fine…"
"Aaaand… Action!" Vaggie started recording, cueing Ayden to light the sticks on fire before twirling them around with flourishes and sweeping arm movements as she smirked and announced,
"We flame ta please he'e at the Hazbin Hote-agh!"
Before one of her sticks flew out of her paw and arced through the air, lighting the awning at the entrance on fire before landing on the ground and setting the dry grass ablaze as well.
"Ahh! Woah woah!" Ayden started trying to stamp out the fire with little success.
"iPor el amor de Dios!" (For crying out loud!) Vaggie yelled exasperated before dropping the camera while it was still recording and, from its video display, it was seen when Vaggie grabbed one of the emergency water buckets from by the front door and splashed it over the awning and the sidewalk to put the fires out.
"Hrrrmmm…" Ayden grunted resentfully as she sat on the ground with water dripping off of her and her ears and tail twitching at the mild stinging pains from it before she deadpanned after getting up and shaking herself dry, "This be'er not become a regula' thin'…"
"Well maybe if you'd stop goofing around and actually take this seriously-!" Vaggie started to criticize her as she walked back over to the camera, making sure it was still working before turning back to see Ayden walking away flipping her off from behind and making Vaggie seeth in barely restrained anger before she decided to just move on to the next scene.
Back inside the hotel, Vaggie tries to get Niffty's attention as she tries to stab a bug with her needle while chanting,
"Stab! Stab! Stab!"
"Alright Niffty, Niffty. Niffty!" Vaggie had to gently grab Niffty's shoulder to get her attention before telling her, "Your line is 'We have the cleanest rooms,' okay?"
"Got it. I'm ready." Niffty exclaimed excitedly as she stood in position and Vaggie readied the camera before announcing,
"Action!"
But after the recording started, Niffty instantly froze up and stared blankly at the camera without even breathing as her pupil kept shrinking the longer the recording went on…
Vaggie looked at her puzzled as even Angel looked disturbed at the display before she spoke softly while stopping the camera,
"Uhh, cut…"
Causing Niffty to snap out of her trance-like state to smile and giggle,
"Hehe! How was that?"
"Well, Niffty you actually have to say the line, so let's roll again." Vaggie tried to explain to her, making her look teary for a few seconds before smiling again and nodding eagerly,
"Ok!"
"Action!"
But Niffty froze again, leaving Vaggie's chagrin to rise again and spike even more when Angel whispered smugly to her,
"You're doing great Vagina."
"Cut!" Vaggie snapped irritated before trying to salvage the situation by saying, "Alright, uhh maybe we can try to.. fix it in post.
"Do you even know what that means?" Angel questioned before Vaggie snapped lividly,
"I'll figure it out!"
When Angel gave her a skeptical look she just told him while walking away,
"You just figure out where's Ayden and what's wrong this time."
"What makes you think she'll listen ta me?" Angel asked critically with a doubtful look.
"Are you kidding?!" Vaggie turned back to Angel as she questioned incredulously, "You're the only one she listens to! She even says the same things as you and just-urgh go figure out what's going on with her while I deal with this."
Motioning to the camera in her hand, she walked away leaving Angel half shrug dubiously, still doubting what she told him, before he started looking throughout the hotel for her, eventually finding her outside in the neglected garden behind the hotel where she was lying on her back on a branch of one of the dying apple trees, moodily scratching at the branch above her with her chewed-on claws before Angel went to lean against the tree trunk as he commented,
"Whatever you did ta piss Vagina off that much…" Angel started to say seriously before switching to a joking tone as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his chest floof, "ya gotta show me some time so I can get her off my back next time I'm in trouble and need a quick dodge."
"Heh…" Ayden scoffed as she rolled over to land in a crouch on the branch below her before jumping down to a branch closer to Angel's head as he held a cigarette up to her and she took it as an unspoken request to light it for him with a digit so he could take a drag from it.
After letting the smoke drift through the air for a few seconds, Ayden asked semi-blankly,
"How d'ya do it?"
Making Angel hitch for a second before questioning,
"Do what?"
"Know exactly whatcha ya wanna do?"
"I don't-" Angel started to say before Ayden cut him off with,
"Everyone's always tellin' ya who yer s'posed to be but ya don't listen to'em and jus' do yer own thing and I wish I could do that too as easy as ya but…"
Trailing off as she laid back down on the branch with her chin resting on top of her crossed arms and her tail swaying from where it drooped over the branch as she mumbled,
"I don't know what I wanna do… and it sca'es me…"
Angel's eyes widened a bit when he heard that last part before he frowned again as he took one last long drag from his cigarette before tossing the butt near his foot to stomp it out and exhaling another large plume of smoke to say,
"All I know is… it's hard… but-" Angel pushed away from the tree with his hands on his hips and sides as he told Ayden confidently, "You just gotta find what works for ya and stick with it."
"How do I know what wo'ks fer me…?" She asked before falling backward to catch a lower branch and swing in place like a kid on the monkey bars making Angel look at her with an amused smile as he told her before poking her stomach,
"You'll figure it out."
"Mree!"
Ayden let out a noise of surprise at the poke before using a hand to swat back at him with a laugh and grabbing back on to swing forward and launch into the air to land on the ground with her arms in the air like a gymnast.
"Or maybe it'll find you, Fuzzball." Angel noted with an impressed look and Ayden grinned just before the scenery around them changed to reveal they had been teleported back into the hotel on what looked like a movie set as they appeared along with Niffty, Husk, and a couple of Alastor's inky shadow minions as a film crew with the equipment.
Shortly after, some spirals of green magic swirled around everyone to change their outfits into 1920s styles with Ayden back in her flapper dress from a week ago.
"Alright everyone, let's make a fucking commercial." Vaggie announced as her outfit was changed.
"Somehow I feel like this i'n't gonna wo'k out eithe'..." Ayden side whispered to Angel and he gave her an "I know right?" look before they all got to work.
Short Time Skip
"'Nyone else want some?" Ayden asked as she brought a small bag of popcorn with her from the kitchen back to the living room where everyone had been gathered to wait for their commercial to come on only for a couple of declines to sound so she shrugged and threw some kernels into her mouth before going to sit down.
Just as she sat down cross-legged on the armrest right behind Niffty, her ears perked up when she heard the front door open and close to let Charlie walk in and Vaggie ran up to her to ask excitedly,
"Charlie! How did it go, did they listen?"
"Oh, they sure did.. hear it.. But-"
"Oh come here, we have something exciting to show you." Vaggie cut her off to gently pull her back toward the living room as she explained, "Alastor pulled some strings and it's about to air."
"I pulled a few limbs too, hahaha!" Alastor joked before laughing as Charlie caught onto what Vaggie was saying,
"Wait, the commercial? You all made a new one?"
"Yeah, one of my better performances if I do say so myself." Angel bragged a bit before Ayden added,
"And I think I'm sta'tin' ta think 'bout what coul' be my thing 'round he'e."
"That's…" Charlie expressed in a heartfelt tone as her eyes welled up happily, "that's amazing…"
Before Angel cut her off with,
"Sshh, it's starting."
Revealing the beginning of their commercial with all of them in front of the hotel as Vaggie started to declare,
*Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel-*
Right before the commercial fizzled out to be replaced by the 666 Breaking News headline, making everyone, minus Alastor, Niffty, and Husk, groan and complain loudly with Ayden whining,
"Not this bitch 'gain…!"
Just as Katie Killjoy started to report,
*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?*
*No, what does that mean, Katie?* Tom questioned dumbly before Katie responded with an eye twitch,
*It means we're all royally fucked!*
Right before some footage is shown of Sinners screaming and panicking as the Clock Tower numbers changed from 358 to 176 days until the next Extermination.
"Wait, what? Why?!" Angel questioned in disbelief before Ayden exclaimed while motioning to the TV with a paw,
"What the shite happ'ned at that meetin'?!"
"Uhhhh hehehe... " Charlie chuckled nervously as she grinned sheepishly at the unamused and panicked looks everyone gave her.
After explaining just what happened at the meeting with the leader of the Angel Army, who turned out to be Adam, the first human man and the ex of Charlie's mom Lilith, everyone decided to turn in early to process all of that.
With Ayden, she was in her bathroom, back in her pjs, before she opened the door back to her room to see Alastor standing by her vanity.
Pushing down the cold spike of panic that surged up inside, she crossed her arms before questioning in a blunt tone,
"What a'e ya doin' in my room…?"
"It occurred to me that I know very little about you of all the residents here."
Another spike of panic rose up before she internally shook it off to answer in annoyed frankness,
"Let me save ya the trouble then; I'm a Hellbo'n hybrid, my dad's a hellcat and my mum's a succubus, dad bailed when I was a baby, ran away from home 'bout 2 yea's ago and have stayed with Angel this whole time. That set'led now?"
"Hmmmm…" Alastor pretended to think before stating, "No."
Making Ayden give off a cat-like noise of annoyance before she snapped,
"Mrrr… Ok ya need to get out! Now!"
Moving to shove him out before her head was firmly whacked with his mic staff as he questioned tauntingly,
"What's the matter? Afraid I might find out your secret?"
Ayden freezing in place gave him the confirmation he was looking for and his grin widened before, a split second later, she smirked back as she questioned challengingly,
"Ya wanna talk secrets? Whe'e 'xactly didja disappear off to all those yea's?"
Alastor's eyes narrowed at the unexpected defiance before her smirk deepened as she told him,
"Ya think yer the only one who notices things? I may not know much 'bout you eithe' but you don't seem like the type ta disappear and then come back jus' cause yer bo'ed. If I di'n't know any be'er I'd say you were hidin' somethin' too…"
The lights in her room started flickering with each accusation until nearly all of Alastor's face was obscured by shadows and his pupils turned to glowing radio dials as he threatened,
"You are playing with fire, young lady…"
Ayden's heart pounded in her chest and her tail poofed up slightly while flicking around but she kept up the brave face to snark back boldly,
"Yeh? Well, in your wo'ds, I am jus' a 'child playin' wi'h fi'e' remembe'?"
She raised a paw to light a blazing fireball in it as she added with her hair sparking and eyes and freckles glowing threateningly,
"I've been able ta hu't an Ove'lo'd before… we can see if I can make it two… o' we can make a bet."
At the flip of a metaphorical switch, the lights came back on and Alastor was back to his overly cheery self as he questioned eagerly,
"A deal you say?"
"A bet, no souls up fer grabs but maybe a favo'...?" Ayden clarified, extinguishing the fireball in her paw, as Alastor started to incline toward her offer,
"I would be amenable to that, provided the challenge is satisfactory."
"We try to figu'e out each other's secret without ba'gin' into each othe's personal spaces both li'erally and figur'tively. Whoeve' finds out fi'st gets one favo' from the othe'. Sound fai'?" Ayden bargained and Alastor agreed after a few contemplative moments,
"Fair enough."
Finally walking out of Ayden's room, leaving his parting words to be,
"I look forward to invoking that favor…"
"If ya do… arsehole…"
As soon as she closed her door and waited about 10 seconds to make sure he was gone, Ayden bolted over to her vanity and fell to her knees when she threw the bottom drawer open to reveal that her choker and photo were in the exact same position she'd left them in under her "distasteful" tank top shirts.
Finally allowing her brave face mask to slip, she started panting as she closed the drawer back up and hunched over on her knees and clenched paws as she thought to herself,
'I really hope this doe'n't backfi'e…'
AN- Oooooh…! Will Ayden end up regretting that wager? Or will it end up working in her favor?
Just a note for this chapter:
- The bet for a favor with Alastor was considered way before the similar events of Episode 7
Not sure if this needs to be mentioned but for new readers who might not know, Ayden is an OC who's also in my Helluva Boss fanfic "Let's Kick Some Ash!" and this story is just an AU to what would've happened if she had stayed with Angel instead of being found and hired by I.M.P.. While it isn't necessary to read the Helluva fanfic to understand this one, I still think reading both possibilities would be fun especially since I'm going to be dropping some Helluva Boss references every other chapter for those who came here from there ^^
Other than that, Masquerade is still a WIP but so far is gonna be the longest chapter at 11,000 words and still counting so the update streak is still strong!
Until the next one, Bye!