Hazbin Hotel: Ballroom

"Emily this is ridiculous, I don't want to be the center of attention here…" Of all the ridiculous schemes Charlie and Emily had come up with, he'd rather fight a whole horde of angels than go through with their next plan. He was peeking through the crack in the door at the group assembled in the ballroom where Charlie liked to hold her "open gatherings" which just amounted to group therapy. He could already see the usual suspects assembled in a chair circle in the center of the room. Angel was there, right next to Husker as usual. Alastor!? Why of all people would he be in a group therapy session? Cherri Bomb of course, Vaggie and… "No! Absolutely not!" As soon as his eyes landed on Lucifer he turned around and tried to walk off before she grabbed his hand.

Damn it all he was turning into a simpering lost pup, especially when she grabbed his hand like that "You must face him sooner or later. He's a big part of your past. It's just like a pin prick. After the first session it won't bother you as much." He rounded on her "First!" Their whisper fighting was getting picked up by Husker who was just sipping at a mug of hot coffee and whisky and smirking, leaning over to Angel "10 bucks says he doesn't last 5 minutes" Angel chuckled and whispered back "Double or nothing he gets in a fight" they shook hands and waited for the show to start. Eventually the door opened and Emily was almost dragging Caine into the room "We're here! Sorry for being late!" She picked a spot next to Angel for him to sit, seeing how their budding friendship had been going well lately. "So, the little angel got you to play nice huh?" Angel was grinning like a Cheshire cat and Caine was about ready to explode. "Spider I swear upon all that is evil…. I will skin you alive"

Charlie clapped her hands "Welcome everyone!" She signaled the session to begin, everyone taking their seats. "I see we have a new face here today!" As all eyes turned to him, Caine wanted to find the darkest corner of the room to retreat to. Being open to Emily was one thing, she made it easy and was a wonderful listener. But a group of strangers, particularly the radio demon, was pushing him to the edge. Seeing Charlie calling attention to the new member, Emily made a slashing motion against her neck for Charlie to just move on. She didn't want him to quit already. "R…right, well…anyway let's continue the discussion from last week about codependency! Especially when it comes to things like bad habits. I believe Angel was leading that discussion?" She looked to him, the porn star rolling his eyes "More like being attacked! Vagasaurus over there thinks she's so high and mighty when it comes to everyone's vices just because she doesn't have one!" he stuck his tongue out at Vaggie who just fixed him with a nasty glare "There's nothing wrong with a harmless little smoke every now and then. Especially after sex" he smirked and then nudged Caine with two of his elbows "Right dark and scary?"

Oh he was going to skin the spider. Perhaps for fur gloves and a nice pair of earmuffs, for Emily of course. "I wouldn't know…" he grumbled through clenched teeth. "Angel you're supposed to be stopping all of that, hard drugs, smoking…" Though this time Husker came to his defense "Come on where does it say a person can't have a smoke? I mean hard drugs sure, that shit'll kill you but a cigarette? It's harmless" Caine actually did feel he could contribute to this conversation, even though he didn't much want to "I myself enjoy a pipe every now and then…" Angel sat up straighter in his chair "All right! I knew you could hang!" Caine glared at him "Of tobacco, harmless pipe tobacco." Angel rolled his eyes "Weak" Alastor lit up "Oh I love the smell of a good pipe. I never indulged myself, it dulled my other senses, but still there was never anything I liked more than the smell of my father's chair. Always smelled like a fresh pipe" He was staring even more intently at Caine now.

Alastor had been coming to these stupid functions for weeks now on the off chance the overlord would come. If Charlie's stupid little idea actually worked, then he'd learn plenty about the Overlord. Every little bit helped after all. One never knew when the right tidbit of information could come in handy.

Before Angel and Vaggie could get into another argument, Charlie stepped in "Let's put a pin in that! I'm sure it'll come up again" she laughed nervously "Why don't we let someone else pick the topic? Husker? Alastor?" But before either of them could speak, Lucifer was the one to call attention to himself "I have a topic" All eyes were on him, except Caine who refused to meet his gaze. "I want to discuss why letting dangerous people in here who do nothing but leave chaos in their wake seemed to be a good idea?" His eyes were bright and bored into Caine who flinched at the accusation. "Oh apple dumpling surely you don't mean me!" Alastor let his laugh track play to diffuse the tension in the room, but it did little in the way of improving the atmosphere.

"He means me Alastor, of course he does." Caine brought his gaze around until he and Lucifer were in a heated battle of glaring at one another "Why do you think I called in a favor instead of walking through the front door. The all-powerful radio demon surely had the pull to get me in here." Lucifer sneered at him "Forcing someone to do your bidding is not part of redeeming yourself!" Caine was not going to back down now "Oh and I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that would you? Tell me, how many demons do you have on your books again oh mighty king?" Lucifer stood from his chair and slammed his staff on the ground "Why don't you crawl back to your hovel and play with your birds you washed up excuse for an overlord!" Caine was out of his chair in a shot, his own staff hitting the ground "At least mine are real you pompous apple picker!" Emily flew between them and made sure her full angelic form was on display as her voice boomed "ENOUGH!"

They didn't stop their staring contest even as they returned to their seats, Emily heaving for breath and calming herself to her normal form "Clearly you two have a history together. We're not going to solve it in one night, but can we at least try and put aside petty grievances for the good of the group?" She looked at Caine with her scathing look and then Lucifer, both finally dropping their gazes. "Well, that was interesting!" Alastor once again broke the silence with bright eyes as he leaned forward on his cane with interest. Lucifer wasn't as ready to let things go "They don't know you like I do…" Charlie decided to attempt to get things back on track "Dad…not now, please" She didn't want another fight, but the king wouldn't back down so easily "You destroy anything and everything to get what you want. You bring death with you." Caine closed his eyes. What leg did he have to stand on when the king was so right? "Different times, different goals your majesty. Or did you forget you too once thought war was the answer?"

Everyone except the ancient overlord was out of their chairs the moment Lucifer exploded into a fury of flame, all six wings extending from his back as he let his demon form be known "Don't you talk to me as if we're the same. We are not the same!" Every word spit fire, but Caine just sat there, never once showing any emotion at all. "I was fighting for what I thought was right! I was fighting so that humans like you could have the will not to be slaves for the rest of your lives. You only fight for yourself! Your own goals! Your own ends! The only reason you stopped the war was because I gave you what you wanted!" Slowly Caine rose from his chair to his full height, staying calm "You gave me what I wanted because you were scared. You knew I had you dead to rights and I could have dethroned you at any time. The only reason I didn't was because you were more valuable alive than dead. You live because I let you. So, who's the real king here?" Before Lucifer could respond, Caine pushed his way out of the room and away from the madness around him. He couldn't face this right now, and Lucifer not wanting him there wasn't going to deter him from his goal. It was only going to make things harder. When was he ever afraid of a challenge?