Missing You

Then

Kayla sits in front of the mirror as her hair gets brushed by a certain little one-eyed woman.

"There you go!" Niffty then finishes by adding a tiara. "Don't you look nice?" she then started thinking. "It's missing something. Oh? I'll be right back, Little Star!" she then hops off the stool and runs out of the room.

Kayla then sighs. "Here we go again." A voice then startles her.

"How long have you been like this?"

The Sinner lets out a squeak as she jumps out of her seat and turns. Standing there in the doorway is none other than Vaggie.

"Oh, uh, for as long as I can remember," she avoids eye contact.

The Fallen Angel walks up to her. "I mean when did you stop thinking you were a kid?"

Kayla looks down. "I think I started catching up a couple months ago."

"How come you never said anything, Kayla?"

"After waking up in the Tower, I had nothing. Niffty, all of you really," she gestures to the former Exorcist. "Took me in. I'm just grateful for everything you've done for me, and I don't want to bother any of you."

"Even if it means wearing an adult sized Pretty, Pretty Princess costume from Celest's favorite cartoon?" she looks the grown woman up and down. "An extra poofy one at that."

Kayla sighs. "I just don't know what to do. I mean, other than stabbing and killing bugs this…" and gestures to herself. "…seems to be something Niffty enjoys."

"Kayla," Vaggie walks up to her and places a hand on the Sinner's shoulder. "You are considering everyone else's happiness. Especially Niffty's. But sometimes you should consider you own happiness."

"I will admit that it gets frustrating whenever Niffty ignores me when I explain that I'm not actually a little kid."

"And that's all right. Just tell Niffty."

"Tell me what?" the maid announces her presence. Before anyone could answer, she runs up to Kayla with a large ribbon. "Figured out what was missing," and ties it around her waist a little too tightly. "There! Now, you're perfect!" Niffty then jugs the woman.

"Th-thanks, Niffty," Kayla does her best not to show a broken smile.

.oOo.

At dinner the entire Hotel's Residents around the table.

"Here you go!" Angel Dust starts sliding plates of spaghetti in front of everyone.

"Yeah!" Celest claps. "I love your spaghetti, Mr. Angel Dust."

"Ah-ah-ah!" the Spider Demon waves a finger. "It's not mine. It was my Mom's special recipe."

Vaggie gets a good whiff of the meal. "Well, we should thank her for such a great meal."

"I'm sure that she would appreciate it," Angel then sets a plate in front of Kayla.

"Yes!" Kayla picks up a fork and just as the utensil touched the plate, it stabs through a demon shaped chicken nugget. "Huh?"

Niffty smiles brightly. "I know that you don't like how spaghetti feels. So, I made your favorite."

That was months ago, Kayla thought as her star eye began twitching. "Th-thanks, Ms. Niffty."

Hearing that brightened the little Sinner before she goes to eat her own food.

Kayla leans onto the table as she picks up one of the nuggets by hand and slowly starts eating it.

While this was going on, everyone around the table wearily glanced at one another.

.oOo.

Later that night, Kayla had snuck her way out of the room she shared with Niffty and made her way into the kitchen.

Wearing her unicorn onesie minus the matching slippers because they squeak, she opened the kitchen door and was surprised to see that someone other than herself is still awake.

Alastor turns to her. "Ah! Was wondering when you might show up," he had on apron with the words, Oh, Deer stitched to it. He had a small pot going on the stove.

Despite the Overlord's smile, Kayla knew that she shouldn't trust it. "H-hi, Mr. Alastor," she awkwardly waves.

"No need to pretend around me, Dear," Alastor grabs two bowls quickly filled them and places them on the counter. "Here you go! My Mother's jambalaya. Thought you might be hungry as I noticed you barely ate earlier."

Kayla cautiously glances at the bowl while eyeing the Radio Demon. She takes a spoon, scoops up some of the jambalaya, and as soon as she took a bite, the woman moans, happy to finally have something other than hell nuggets for once.

After the a few more bites, the star eyed Sinner looks back at Alastor. "Does everyone know that I don't believe I'm a little kid anymore?"

The Radio Demon nods, "Yes. Well?" he starts thinking. "Everyone but Niffty. I'm not sure if she really doesn't know or that she simply chooses not to notice. Do you remember everything?"

"No," Kayla shakes her head. "Nothing goes past Vee Tower."

Alastor's smirk grew a little. "Would you like to know?"

"Huh?"

"As an Overlord, I do have certain connections. I will do everything in my power to unveil your entire past and since your soul is technically still owned by someone else, instead you will do me one favor with absolutely no questions asked in return," he holds out a hand. "Do we have a deal?"

The star eyed demon worriedly glances at the offered hand before hesitantly reaching for it.

Something smacks Alastor's hand away. "Ow!"

"No!" standing on the counter is none other than Niffty. "You may have my soul, but you will not do anything to Kayla. She's nobody else's but mine."

Hearing that, Kayla grinds her teeth. "I'm not yours."

Niffty turns to her and blinks. "Huh!"

"I'm not yours! I've never been yours!"

The maid blinks a couple more times before smiling. "I guess someone's hungry. I'll make you some hell nuggets.'

"I hate hell nuggets!" Kalya shouts.

"But I thought they were you favorite?"

"That was months ago when I still thought I was four years old. Look at me!" she gestures to herself. "I'm a grown a(bleep) woman! Not a f(bleep)ing child!"

"Why didn't you say anything before?" the small demon reaches for her hand only to have it smacked away.

"You think I didn't!?" her voice just keeps rising as she goes on. "You just never listened! Every time I even brought up the idea of not being treated like a kid, you just waved it off and doubled down! Well, you're going to listen now!" Kayla glares. "I hate hell nuggets! I hate grape juice! I hate bug jewelry! And I especially hate you for always dressing me up in these ridiculous clothes like some doll because you want to play mommy! You've never been my mommy and you never will be!"

The outburst had surprised Alastor almost as must Niffty getting in his way of a deal.

Both the Radio Demon and Kayla stared at the maid who's looking down, hiding her face in a downcast. Instead of lashing out at the star eyed demon, Niffty simply hops off the counter and leaves the kitchen. Which is very much out of behavior for her as usually the Sinner would have picked up the nearest knife and stab whatever made her upset.

Kayla sighs and turns to Alastor. "How about that dea…" only to find the Radio Demon missing. With a sigh, the Sinner just continues eating the jambalaya. For some reason it didn't taste as good as it did before.

.oOo.

The Next day, Kayla walks down the stairs, dragging a couple of suitcases while wearing Vaggie's clothes. At the bottom of the steps is nearly every resident of the Hotel. Minus the Maid and Radio Demon.

Once she reached the bottom, the star eyed Sinner turns to the Fallen Angel. "Thanks for loaning me some clothes, Vaggie," she then turns to Charlie. "Both of you. I'll return them as soon as I get my own."

"Don't worry about it," Vaggie waves it off. "We can always buy more. Consider these a gift."

"And as another gift," Charlie reaches into her pocket and digs out a small envelope. "Well, it's actually less than a gift and more of what you've earned."

Kayla takes it out and is surprised at the check and its amount. "I-I can't accept this."

"You kinda have to," the Princess explains. "Despite the fact that you thought you were a little kid you were still helping keep the Hotel clean."

Vaggie smirks. "It's only fair that you got paid for all that time."

"Thanks, guys," Kayla looks among the group. "All of you," she continues to look around.

The Residents notice this, and Angel tells her "She's not coming down."

That upset the star eyed demon as she looked away. Then a small voice catches her attention.

"Ms. Kayla," Celest walks up to her. "I'm going to miss playing with you."

Kayla smiles. As embarrassing as it was pretending to be a child, she cannot put any fault on the Little Hazbin. "I'm going to miss playing with you too, Celest," she then hugs the girl. "I may not be able to make it to your birthday, but I'll definitely send you a gift."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Celest," she then takes another look at everyone and notices, a certain one-eyed maid tucking herself behind the corner. "Thanks for taking care of me."

Kayla stands up, takes a deep breath, and takes her first steps outside the Hotel by herself.

.oOo.

"Come on!" Kayla throws her third plate across her small apartment. Since leaving the Hotel, nothing tasted good.

The Sinner eyes the bags in the corner and sighs. "Might as well finish unpacking," she walks over to the bags and the first one she unzips, the woman is confused to find a box she did not pack. Removing the package, Kayla spots a note and quickly reads it.

Im gona mis u,

Litle Starr

Kayla opens the box and finds yet another roach necklace next to a food container with hell nuggets. Any sensible demon would have thrown away the necklace, but she found herself placing it in the fridge and is soon heating up the nuggets.

The Sinner sighs as she ate the first piece. "I should visit after I've settled down. Maybe sometime after the birthday party?"

.oOo.

Present

"Sorry I took so long to come and visit," Kayla says. "I got caught up at work again. My boss says that one more strike and I'm gone. It hasn't been easy keeping jobs and the money from the Hotel won't last forever. I know that Charlie would gladly give me another job if I asked but the idea of going to the Hotel…" she chokes on a sob. "…going to the Hotel and knowing that you won't be there scares me," the Sinner starts crying as she reaches into her purse to take out a roach necklace. "I-I kept this in the fridge," and places it on a gravestone.

Niffty

"I, I can't believe the last memory I have of you is me saying that I hate you. You were the one who took me in and even though I wasn't really a child, you practically raised me. When I said those things, I wonder if I had really caught up or if maybe I was in the teenager phase," Kayla caresses the stone. "Sometimes, you don't' know what you have until it's gone. I-I'll, I'll miss you, Mom."

The Sinner then starts walking away, bumping into an armless demon on her way out. "Sorry," she passes by, not noticing the wide-eyed stare that was given to her.

End