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Chapter 30:

Can we talk?

It wasn't long after Lute's trial that the entirety of hell learned that the former exorcist lieutenant had been found guilty of high treason, tho no one knew exactly what her punishment was.

3 full days had now transpired and the group consisting of Lucifer, his daughter Charlie, her partner Vaggie and the requested witness Velvette had finished packing.

By the decree of the high seraphim, they had been allowed to extend their stay a little longer to allow the group to emotionally and mentally recover from the very taxing court hearing, which Charlie and Vaggie also took as a great opportunity to catch up with their ascended friend Sir Pentious.

Now that Vaggie no longer had to hide her true nature, she could take the 2 on a tour of all the places she used to visit regularly, not really being too excited about it herself but she couldn't help but feel a warmth settling into her heart at seeing her girlfriend all giddy and happy as they went from ice-cream parlors to quaint little coffee shops.

"And as you can sssssee, with a bit of luck, I might be able to tap into hell's mobile network" the snake angel proudly showed as Charlie eagerly spoke up "Pentious, this is amazing! This means we could stay in contact regularly!" Vaggie would smile and just silently observe.

Seeing Lute finally face the consequences for her actions had been something she thought she had wanted to see for a long time, but now that it was finally done, she couldn't help but feel a bit….hollow…..it wrecked the former exorcist more then she expected.

Luckily for her, seeing her partner and once-thought-lost friend smiling was like a cold icepack on the burn, it was just what the fallen angel needed.

During their extended stay, they got to enjoy a stroll over heaven's promenade, settling down in this cute looking bistro and snacking on pastries, the did kinda draw a crowd.

It wasn't often that heaven got a visit from the princess of hell after all as many of heaven's residents did a double-take at them as they walked or flew by.

However, at one point, they were approached by a gruff looking angel woman, her body adorned with wicked looking battle scars. She didn't look like your average winner and the appearance of the fit looking lady send Vaggie into an immediate state of high alert, almost as if she recognized her as she whipped out her angelic speak "Not a step closer, Delta!"

Charlie and Sir Pentious raised their brows as Charlie immediately jumped in-between them "WHOA, WHOA, we're not here looking for trouble, we are here with the permission of the high seraphim herself. We're allowed to be here!"

She nervously began to shake her hands at the warrior woman.

The angel woman just spoke "I know, was at the court hearing" before she gave a subtle smirk as she addressed the fallen exorcist "He, I see you're reflexes are still as sharp as ever Vag-uhm….Vaggie"

This gave the princess some pause, this angel knew her girlfriend? AND took active effort to address her with her preferred pronunciation?

"You 2…..know each other?"

The fit angel gave a hearty laugh "Knew each other? We were on the front lines together, tough son-of a-bitch that one" she said as she gestured to Vaggie, who just kept staring the other angel down, Charlie realized "Wait, you're an exorcist?!"

The angel held her hands up "Was…"before she gave a sympathetic look at her former sister in arms "I….guess I wasn't the only one who didn't exactly like that damn job, hu?" as she shrugged

"But orders were orders"

Hearing this, Vaggie slowly lowered her spear "So…..you are also…?"

The angel would finish her sentence "Glad it's over? Oh heck yea" As she gave Charlie a playful shoulder punch "Ya got guts, princess, gotta admit, I should thank you. Many others wanted to lay down arms but Vags over here was apparently the only one who had the fucking balls to actually go through with it"

It had taken a little more chatting to realize this former exorcist wasn't a threat as she was eventually invited to join the trio at the table.

In the short conversation they had, Charlie had learned the exorcist's name was Delta and what she had a love for working out and showing off.

"Sooooo I was thinking….i want to make up for well…." As she waved her hand with a pained look on her face, a look that Vaggie knew and shared all too much "…."ya know"….so….if you ever need some extra hands with security, I'm your gall" Delta eagerly piped up as she flexed a bicep.

Charlie chuckled "Well, it's wonderful that you want to use your skillset for a good cause and atone for what you did, but we got Vaggie and Alastor for that, so we should be all good" as Vaggie added "But the offer is still very much appreciated, so, if we ever reconsider, you'll be the first to know" as the small group smiled. They were entering a new era of peace and cooperation between heaven and hell.

It was a strange, new feeling for everyone, but one they could get used to.

..

..

Charlie smiled and waved as her, Vaggie, her father and Velvette stepped through a portal and entered the too familiar interior of the lobby of the princess's beloved hazbin hotel.

Tho the moment the portal closed, Charlie's phone began buzzing.

"hellooooo my dear!" She heard on the other end of the line in that all too familiar old British accent "I finally got the sssssignal transmitter working!" Sir Pentious eagerly spoke up through the line as Charlie answered "Of Pentious, that's amazing!"

As the princess began to eagerly brainstorm with the snake inventor about all the possibilities, Vaggie approached the radio demon, Alastor, who was casually lounging on one of the lobby's plush armchairs "Hope there wasn't too much trouble while we were away?"

"Oh nonsense my dear" Alastor answered in that all too familiar, overconfident tone as he waved a hand dismissively "Nothing we could not handle, we had everything under control" which caused Vaggie to raise an eyebrow "Wait we?"

It was at this point that a metallic creaking noise could be heard, followed by some wooden boards snapping and a few pangs as if a chain was slowly snapping as suddenly, the chandelier of the main lobby came plummeting to the ground.

Some of the newer guests of the hotel jumped aside in shock, while some of the older residents just sighed and rubbed their temples in disappointment.

Alastor just twitched one eye in irritation as Vaggie took one casual step to the left with an annoyed face, the chandelier landing mere inches next to her as laying on it, on her side, head propped up on one arm was the anarchy overlord, Ashley, who just casually flashed them the piece sign and said "Yo"

Vaggie once again whipped out her spear and gave the shark overlord a whack on the head with the butt end "ASHLEY WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT DAMN THING WASN'T BUILD FOR THAT?!"

At this scene, Velvette would slowly step next to Charlie as she whispered in her ear "How often does that happen to provoke such a casual response?" to which Charlie replied, with an awkward chuckle "Ehhh….at the very least once per 2 weeks…."

Once an annoyed Alastor had used his tendrils to hoist the chandelier up and the anarchy overlord had received a scolding from both him and Vaggie, Ashley would lay eyes on the princess and the short fashionista overlord as she gave Charlie the fingerguns "Eyyy Charlie!" before her eyes landed on the short doll demoness "…Velvette…."

The monotone way of addressing her felt like a knife of ice through her heart, making the social media overlord flinch as she had to fight and keep her composure before she saw Ashley turn towards the front entrance "Welp, I'd say it's time for me to skedaddle and check on shizzle at my club, see ya peeps around" before she wandered off.

The princess would glance at velvette, who let her guard down the moment the shark-grinned sinner walked through the door and disappeared from view.

As she saw Velvette's face fall, a mix of sadness, hurt and regret on her face, the princess couldn't help but feel for the lovesick overlord.

"Velvette….i think it's time you talked to her, properly"

The short fashionista would flinch "Are you fucking kidding?! You seen her response, she doesn't trust me, and that's likely never going to change" as she crossed her arms and looked away, a look of defeat on her face.

Charlie put a hand on her shoulder "you won't know that unless you talk to her…want me to call her?"

The short fashionista just silently stared down at the ground as without saying a word, she slowly nodded, to which Charlie whipped out her phone….

..

..

Nightclub the aftertaste, pride ring, hell, later that night:

..

..

The loud base of the music vibrated through the air as many sinners big and small were living it up, dancing, drinking and flirting as a pink skinned woman who looked like a succubus and a shark-grinned sinner dinked their glasses together in a toast "FUCK YEA, Pink, it's good to be back!" to which her bestie responded "Yea shit Ash, no kidding, you've been crazy busy. Glad you didn't forget about lil' old me"

Ashley would wrap an arm around the pink sinner and pull her closer in a teasing way "Forget about my fucking ride-or-die bestie? No fucking way, you bitch. It'd take more then a busy schedule to be rid of ME" as the 2 downed their drinks.

It had been a little while since Ashley was able to kick back and let loose, tho in the meantime, apparently Hudson had improved his mood and behavior to such a degree that they could trust him with the bar on his own, allowing Pink Neon some well earned free time to party it up, as well as step into her role as assistant manager a little more.

It wasn't long until the 2 best friends had retreated back into Ashley's own, private quarters as they were now in the middle of catching up, playing card games and getting absolutely wasted when suddenly, Ashley's phone rang.

When she looked at the screen, the princess's name popped up "Oh shit, sorry Pink, I gotta take this one quickly. Possible official overlord business"

She quickly picked up "YOOO Charlie, what's shakin, bacon?"

"Uhm, hey Ashley….are you possibly available somewhere upcoming week?" as the shark-grinned overlord began to flip through her schedule "Uhm…yea I got time, what's up?"

The princess awkwardly giggled "Well, I'll let her do the talking herself…." Ashley could hear Charlie hand the phone to somebody, tho the next thing she heard was the familiar voice of the British fashionista" oh….it's you "Ashley said in a monotone voice.

Velvette would nervously stumble "Yea….h-hey…it's me….look….i know you don't particularly trust me…"

"hu, I wonder why" Ashley sarcastically cut her off.

"Look…." Velvette spoke "Can we talk? At the hotel perhaps? I want to patch up things with you. I want to show you that I've changed allot since the last overlord meeting and..…I'd….like us to get along better…"

Ashley stared off into the distance, deep in thought, before covering the mic of her phone with one hand.

"Pink, apparently Velvette wants to speak to me, your angle?"

The pink skinned girl pondered for a moment " Well….i know you don't particularly trust her….i get you have trust issues considering your…..past..….but….look at it this way, would she have done this a few months ago?"

This gave Ashley some pause, which Pink took as her cue to continue "Think about it, she's really been trying. She left the Vee's, she has destroyed her love potion recipe and by doing so, singlehandedly boycotted Vallentino's production line of the stuff, apparently she has patched things up with Carmilla Carmine and Zestial and the 3 of them are on speaking terms now, Fuck she even went to heaven with Charlie and the others to testify against Lute, I think it's at least fair to hear her out"

The shark overlord took a deep breath, gave her friend a nod and removed her hand from the mic "…..next week…..Friday….Charlie's hotel…..9PM" Velvette heard from the other end of the line before the telltale sound of a disconnect was heard "She…..hung up….." Velvette spoke as she handed the princess back her phone.

Velvette took a deep, shaky breath "Well….no backing out now…." As Charlie put a hand on her shoulder "Want be and Vaggie to be there?"

"…..i'd like that yea…." Velvette answered shakily.

Author's note: the next 2 chapters are going to be quite heavy, and i'm also going to take some creative liberty with a cannon character in a direction not everyone might like or be able to handle, so, you have been warned