AN: Here it is, part 4 and the final part of Episode 1. We really are sorry that this was so long to have posted. First there was some personal stuff me and CrackedInkWell had to deal with, then our editor had personal stuff, THEN their laptop broke and had to get it fixed. It's just be one thing after another, but the entire first episode is done and after the New Year we hope to post soon Episode 2 Part 1! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We do not own Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel. The AngelAU verse is based on EmositeCC's series of art which we have permission to use.

CARNEVIL

Part 4

By TalosLives & CrackedInkWell

Edited by Anon

Based on EMositeCC's AngelAUSeries

It was an unquestionable victory. Every sinner and demon in the carnival hadn't stood a chance. While their souls were heading straight to Hell, the practical duties of cleaning up the bodies remained. Once all was said and done, the Guardian Angels felt sorry for the clean up crew who had to take care of the bloodbath.

As for the survivors, the victims, there was still work to do. Outside of the unholy grounds of the carnival, emergency tents were set up to evaluate and give medical treatment to those that desperately needed it. Heavenly doctors and nurses set to work as soon as the first of many were teleported out. Teams of doctors swarmed to treat gashes, wounds, amputations, burns, and whatever else was deemed serious. They found they had a lot to work with, as some were without arms or legs, others disfigured, and some even begged them to kill them.

There were, of course, others that the nurses tended to. Many were in shock, others were crying uncontrollably. The nurses didn't just treat those who were physically hurt, but those who were mentially, emotionally, and spiritually scared, they did what they could to comfort and give peace. However, from every patient that was handed over, they could see hope in their eyes; relieved gratitude that, at long last, their nightmare was coming to an end.

Meanwhile, over at the big top, Blitzo, Moxxie, Millie, and Luna exited while Guardian Angels search and secure the carnival to make sure that nothing was overlooked by either sinners, demons, or victims.

"Sir," Moxxie asked, "what happens now?"

"We still have one more thing to do before we can go back. We need to find Jess and make sure she's okay. I bet by now she's being looked over in an emergency tent somewhere."

"But what about you?" Luna asked. "Won't the army be pissed that we went behind their backs?"

"I'll deal with that. For now, just-"

"Excuse me? Blitzo?" As if on cue, one of the Guardian Angels approached them.

Blitzo saluted. "That would be me."

"Sir, Colonel Hadriel wants to speak with you immediately."

"I take it that this Colonel is in charge of this whole operation?"

"He's the highest ranking officer overlooking this mission, sir."

"I see…" Turning to his team, he told them, "Go find Jess. I'll meet up with you later."

The others nodded and floated away as Blitzo turned to the Guardian Angel. "I'm very glad he wants to speak, because I also want to speak to him as well."

"Follow me, sir."

Blitzo complied, floating behind the soldier towards the front entrance of the ruined carnival. Just outside of the gate, flanked by two angels with riffles, was an angel who had his helmet to the side. Though he was as composed and rigid as his guards, the scowl underneath his short blue hair clearly signaled to Blitzo that he was not happy.

As soon as Blitzo got within earshot, he saluted. "Colonel Hadriel, I presume?"

He saluted back. "Blitzo…" His expression did not change. "I'm very much aware that you are retired from any military position. But even so… do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Blitzo folded his arms behind his back. "I do, but before I get into that, may I hear what you have to say first?"

"Now that you've mentioned it…" He handed his helmet to a nearby guard. His glare hadn't softened. "I'm trying to use every ounce of my self-restraint right now, because really… Where do I start? Where do I end? Perhaps by saying that my superiors are beyond furious with your actions, and frankly, I don't blame them! This was a military situation that shouldn't have concerned you or your team. To put their lives on the line goes beyond irresponsible. We had all of this under control until you decidedly threw a wrench in our plans.

"And before you say that it worked out in the end - we got lucky! We were lucky that this didn't turn into an apocalypse level catastrophe!" Realizing he was raising his voice, Hadriel paused to take a breath. "We'd been working hard to gather whatever information we could about this cult and the demon behind it, trying to come up with a strategy to defeat them, but then you and your team came barging in all gung-ho and almost - almost - undid everything we strived for. And to find out that it's Gath'turaun - the Demon Lord of Gluttony was behind this! Really, I can't begin to imagine what sort of malfunction went on in your head to think that you thought it was a good idea to tackle!

"You'll be lucky if all you get out of this is a suspended pension! You, sir, deserve more than just a court martial! After all this, you'll be lucky if the only job you can get is cleaning out toilets in purgatory with a toothbrush! I cannot begin to imagine what kind of punishment you'll be getting after this debacle! Seriously, do you have no shame at all?! Do you…" But his ranting died when he noticed Blitzo. Blitz, on his part, didn't say anything. Standing there like a statue, his expression unmoved. "What in all of creation do you have to say for yourself?"

Blitzo said quietly, "Are you just about done, sir? Do I have permission to speak?"

Hadriel nodded.

"Freely?"

He nodded again.

"Before you and your superiors write off what I did - and yes, I am taking full responsibility for that - as possibly the worst thing that any angel of God has done since Lucifer; before you even think about punishing my employees and my niece for agreeing to this 'stunt'; and before you dishonorably discharge me before sending me to the lowest part of Hell, could you, as the highest ranking officer here, at least answer me this one little question?" Looking him in the eye, he asked, "Where were you?"

"What?" Hadriel blinked.

"I asked, where were you? From what I could gather, this whole sick, twisted carnival has been going on for three years now. Three. Years! Think about that! In that time, one-thousand-four-hundred-and-twelve souls in both Heaven and Purgatory have pleaded, begged you to do something, anything! And yet… Where were you? Even as this disgusting family held their reunion in the exact same location every year… Where were you? When the prayers of victims who'd gone through tramatic tortures, disfigurements, and being stuffed in small cages for days on end, only to be murdered in cold blood, went unanswered... Where. Were. You?

"Because the thing is, you're right! We shouldn't have gotten involved in any of this! We shouldn't be doing your job! But at this level of incompetence, to just allow hundreds upon hundreds of innocent people to be treated like animals, to have them be tortured and butchered just for the fun of it!? If you honestly did your jobs, really helped these people years ago, none of this would be happening! I'd be in bed right now! I don't know how things work with you Guardian Angels, but if the Exorcists pulled anything like that, we'd be gone! Yes, we shouldn't have gotten involved, but for three damn years, you guys would rather just stand by to gather info than actually doing your job. Frankly, you've got pretty big balls for calling me irresponsible!"

"We needed the information," the Cornel explained, trying to defend himself. "We had no idea what was really going on, nor nor the identity of the demon controlling the-"

"And have you ever wondered why you were getting nowhere? Because this whole place was under a Hidden from Heaven Hex! I'm shocked none of you deduced that!"

"How would we have known? We didn't think they could have possibly pulled it off. It seemed so unlikely-"

"Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. And the truth is they've had a shield spell up for years - and not one of you ever asked if that might have been the cause!? Oh, and don't give me any more of that 'You needed more information from the past three years' crap! My team and I found out what was going on under pounds of clown makeup! We were able to find out what they were doing to the humans, that there were demons involved, and who was behind everything in less than twenty-four hours! And keep in mind, my team doesn't have nearly the same level of training as I have, and yet we found out more in one night than you scraped together in three years!

"All you've told me is nothing but excuses! Excuses for not saving these people when they needed you the most - and most of them are not alive anymore! Look me in the eye and tell it to my face: where, in God's holy creation, were you?!"

Blitzo watched as Hadriel blinked, then turned to his bodyguards, as if hoping that they would have a response. They in turn shrugged, probably wondering why he, the one in charge, was turning to them. The Colonel was left all on his own to explain. Only, nothing came out. He opened his mouth a few times, but didn't say anything; just opened and closed it like a gasping fish.

"Well?" Blitzo's gaze hardened, and he folded his arms. "I'm waiting."

Still nothing.

However, in the midst of that tense stillness, a phone rang. Blitzo felt for his pockets, only to find that neither phones he had were ringing. It was coming in front of him. The Colonel, relieved to have a distraction, took his ringing phone out of his pocket, but took a confused look at the screen before answering it.

"Hello? Who is…" The expression on Hadriel's face immediately changed to being alert as he suddenly stiffened, held his head high, and clacked his shoes together. "Sir! My apologies… I see, how can I serve you sir…? Yes, the mission was successful. The Demon Lord has… Yes… Yes… Uh no… No… Yes… No… Yes, sir, I'm speaking to Blitzo about the… What…?" Hadriel's jaw dropped. "But sir, he nearly compromised the entire mission! I don't… Sir, I know it was successful, but… Yes… Yes… Yes, he… Not exactly, we… No… No… No… Well, what do you want me to tell him, since he's right in front of me…? I see… Yes sir… Yes sir… I understand… Glory to God, goodbye."

After Hadriel hung up, Blitzo asked, "What was that about?"

"That…" Hadriel let out a heavy breath, "was Michael. The Archangel Michael. In short, he basically said the same thing you did. Only… not as shouty."

"Is that all?"

"Among other things, he mentioned that instead of punishing you or your team, you should be regarded as heroes. Apparently, all of you would qualify for Medals of Courage for rescuing the humans against great odds."

Blitzo smirked. "At least someone near the top has some sense."

Hadriel snorted. "If you want to thank anyone, thank Major Mikial for bringing it up to Lord Michael."

Blitz suddenly went cold upon hearing that name. The name of someone that caused an endless fury inside of him that was close to bursting, but he kept it together and remained stoic. "Oh."

"Yeah, funnily enough, he was one of the ones who originally demanded secrecy for this operation." Hadriel sighed before rubbing the back of his head. "Wonder why he changed his mind."

"Why indeed," Blitzo muttered to himself with a grumble as he narrowed his eyes. What are you playing at, Mikial?

Before Blitzo could leave, Hadriel added, "Just… off the record here. While I don't entirely agree with you, you do have a point that our turtle approach has done much more harm than good. At least this time. I have no good excuse for what you brought up. Perhaps the Guardian Angels need to reexamine how we do things for the betterment of God's Creation. As crude as your organization is… perhaps there might be a thing or two we can learn from it."

Blitzo nodded. "Finally, humility at last. You ought to use it more often."

"Just one last question for you."

"What?"

"I've gotten reports that you knew how to release those souls from the demon's stomach. How exactly did you know what to do?"

After thinking for a moment, Blitzo asked, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course."

"Good." Blitzo smiled. "So can I." And after a salute, he left the colonel there, perplexed.

Taking a mental note to give credit where credit was due, Blitzo set out to find his team.

It didn't take long to find them. They were checking up on Jess, who was doing much better now that she was out of that cage and getting proper treatment. Color was returning to her face, and she had more life in her eyes then before. She was talking to Blitz's team before she noticed him. Jess quickly got up and wrapped her arms around the surprised angel with a huge smile. "Thank you! Just… thank you!"

"I take it my team told you everything?" Blitzo asked, to which Jess nodded. "Well, we made a promise to your brother. We at H.O.P.E. always keep our promises to our clients."

Jess nodded, but then frowned while looking down at her feet. "I just wish… Dennis made it too, you know? I mean, I know he's in Heaven now and I should be happy he's in a better place, but..."

Blitzo placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly at her. "I understand. We all wish that those we love won't be taken from us before their proper time. But Dennis will always be looking out for you up above. I know that it seemed like Heaven abandoned you guys for so long, and the fault is ours for ignoring this when we shouldn't have, but that's why I started this company. To be there for those that need help the most."

Just like me, Blitzo thought as his mind turned to his time in Hell. That one year where he should have died in agony, but was saved by a prince. A demon prince, of all things, who turned out to be the love that Blitzo never thought he would find.

Thinking of Stolas reminded Blitzo that there was one last person he had to save. Another promise that needed to be fulfilled this evening. Turning to the others, he said, "Hey, I need to go check something in the forest. I'll be right back."

"You want us to come with you?" Millie asked.

"Nah, we got rid of pretty much all the demons and genocided an entire family of sinners who are on their way to Hell right now," Blitzo replied with a grin. "I should be fine."

"I'm kinda surprised that you killed even the children," Jess said with a slight disturbance in her expression. "I mean, I get that they were sick and twisted, but did you really need to go that far?"

"They were already doomed," Moxxie whispered with regret. "The only way humans can summon or control demons is by sacrificing their soul to them. Once a human sacrifices their soul to a demon for the power to control them, it's all but impossible to get it back save for extreme circumstances. And even then you have to prove your devotion to it by regularly sacrificing others and taking lives to show your allegiance to Satan. All those kids were murderers and they too were twisted by their parents to be saved."

"The sad truth is that not everybody can be saved," Blitzo said, regretfully. "But even then they have a chance of redemption in Hell."

"Wait, really?" Jess asked in surprise. "I thought once you go to Hell that was it."

"Well, there is a means to redeem yourself as a demon or sinner and enter Heaven as a means for forgiveness," Millie snorted before smirking in amusement. "But that hasn't happened in a long time. Most of them demons ain't right in the head anyway. Deserve to be there, as far as I am concerned."

"Or dead," Loona muttered darkly as she growled. "Permanent death would be just as good for all of them."

Blitzo tried to prevent himself from saying anything that would arouse suspicion. He knew that the other angels would ask questions if he said anything more about saving demons, or that there were plans to do so right now with Princess Charlie's Hazbin Hotel program. A program he helped her with thanks to Stolas's assistance. Now isn't the time to talk about such things. Not after tonight.

"Anyway, I'll be back in a few minutes. Mox? Call Dennis and let him know that his sister is okay. Maybe give them some time on the phone too," Blitzo suggested, much to Jess's joy as a smirking Moxxie began to dial. Blitzo sighed and started flying as fast as he could to the forest while texting Stolas to get his portal ready.

"I still can't believe this," Xein whispered in awe as the portal to Prince Stolas's room lay before him. He couldn't believe that Blitzo managed to do it, and yet he'd felt his summoner's death and seen the angel walking towards him two hours later, a smile on his face.

There was a part of Xein that felt guilty for the deaths of his fellow demons and the sinners who were now burning in Hell for their crimes. However, upon reflecting on how he hadn't even wanted this job in the first place, plus the mistreatment he suffered from it, he quickly dismissed the thought. Not long after Blitzo appeared, the portal to Hell opened up and Xein saw Prince Stolas, the ruler of the district where Imp City was located, smiling on the other side with a wave.

Xein then saw the connection as the two looked at each other, not with any eyes of hatred or other negative emotions. What he saw was the same look his parents always gave each other every day when they were alive: love. Xein had thought that maybe Prince Stolas was holding something on Blitzo, or that maybe he was secretly an undercover demon, but the way they smiled at each other and were talking so friendly, Xein knew that this was perhaps the biggest thing in the entire universe to have ever happened.

An Angel and a Demon in love.

"Hey?" Blitzo said, getting his attention as he snapped his eyes back to the angel that saved him. "Ready to go home?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm ready," Xein said as he nodded. He then turned to the portal and asked, "And Prince Stolas has agreed to give me a job?"

"Yup, you'll be discussing that after he closes the portal," Blitzo said before narrowing his eyes which seemed to suddenly be giving a glare as sharp as a steel sword. "But you better not tell anyone what you saw tonight."

"I won't, I swear!" Xein promised. He doubted anyone would believe him anyway. Plus, he knew better than to stick his nose in royal affairs.

"Good, now take care of yourself," Blitzo said with a nod as Xein was about to step into the portal.

He then stopped and turned around to Blitzo with a smirk. "You know? I used to think that all you angels were cold-blooded monsters. But it's nice to know that some of you really are kind."

Blitzo blinked and gave a warm smile back just as Xein crossed over the portal and returned home.

Blitzo stared at where the portal had been before taking a deep breath while letting his shoulders sag all the way down. Today had been one heck of a day with all the planning, sneaking, fighting, and trying to make sure nothing went wrong in a scenario where a dozen things could get fucked. However, by the grace of the Lord himself, they managed to not only save their target, but also save so many other human lives, freed the souls of those who had been in a demon lord's belly for who knows how long, and destroyed a sick sinner cult. While a part of Blitzo wished that it didn't resort to so many deaths, considering his wish to save as many demons as possible, he knew that there were times when you had to kill for the greater good.

At least I saved one demon, Blitzo thought as began to make his way back. If only we could've saved some more. Maybe even some of the souls that were sent to Hell.

Not the cannibal family ones, but the ones trapped in Gath'turaun's stomach. While he had no control over the judgment of the deceased, he knew that they had already been through enough of a nightmare that Hell might have seemed like a paradise to some of them. Pausing mid-step, a thought came to Blitzo; he took out his cellphone and called a number that few people knew he had.

After some ringing, a voice answered on the other line. "Hello?"

"Hi, Charlie," Blitzo said, smiling upon hearing the Princess of Hell's near angelic voice. It still amazed him how the daughter of Lucifer herself was such an angel herself that if you gave her white wings and a halo she could fool anyone.

"Oh, hello, Blitz!" Charlie happily said on the other end. "What can I do for you?"

"Listen, I just thought I'd let you know that there are some sinners who could really use your help and maybe be perfect entries for your Hazbin Hotel," Blitzo suggested as he leaned on a tree. "You ever hear of Lord Gath'turaun?"

"Know him? I used to see him all the time at my Family's royal pirates," Charlie answered with a grumble. "He always smelled the worst and it was disturbing to see him try to dance with all those screaming souls inside of his belly. I tried to convince him to release them, but he just laughed and called me cute before rubbing his oily fingers on my hair. Why?"

"He's dead," Blitzo answered with a smirk. "Permanently too. Long story short I had to do it to save a client's sister."

"What?! But the souls-"

"Are free," Blitzo assured her quickly, before hearing a sigh of relief on the other side. "Stolas helped me out and I managed to free them. Most of them went to Heaven, but there are a few that went down to Hell. I was thinking that, since they suffered so much, you could help them. Maybe even convince them to take part in your redemption program."

"I'll get started on finding them right away. Thanks a lot, Blitz," Charlie said.

"No problem. Say hi to the others for me," Blitzo said before hanging up. He sighed and looked up and asked the Lord to help Charlie with helping the poor souls who suffered.

Knowing that it was going to get suspicious if he didn't return, Blitzo did so while feeling a lot better than he did before. After all, if there was anyone he trusted to redeem the souls of the damned it was Princess Charlie.

Because she helped save me from myself...

End Of Episode 1

Next Time: Secrets and Snipers

"After receiving his daughter, Princess Octavia, from his ex-wife Stella for the week, the father and daughter duo decide to have some fun by going to Times Square in New York City for some family fun. While things start off great at first, Stolas soon learns that Blitzo and his team are doing a job in the city as well and do their best to avoid each other to keep their secret relationship hidden. However, things get complicated when a sniper from Hell targets Stolas and is trying to kill him."