Synopsis: In a trust exercise led by Vaggie, Charlie tags along and everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. More than any of them two could have imagined.
Sinner Vaggie is the best Vaggie and I will die on this hill!
Alright Vags. You've done this before. You can do it again.
Vaggie saw the group of patrons on line waiting for her at the lobby.
Deep sigh...square shoulders...firm voice.
"Alright people! This week's activity will be about trust exercises. In 72 hours we will participate in turf wars with the sole objective of surviving and protecting your comrades in arms!" She walked in front of them with her hands on her back and with the most authority voice only 3 little sisters and 2 big sisters could give anyone.
"Until then you are to prepare and gear yourselves with what equipment you can carry to the battlefield! Accept is mandatory! If the heat of battle doesn't make you wish to want to die, I will!
"The next participants are as follow: Arackniss. Baxter. Cherri. Angel Dust–"
"I ain't coming for that shit again–"
"–You ARE coming and that's final! And Husk. Pueden irse." She was about to walk out, but felt a strong burning feeling on the back of her head. She turned around, looking down and saw Niffty, unblinking bloodshot eye directly at her, with an unnatural big smile for someone her size.
"You can come too."
Niffty immediately ran away while laughing and repeating "Stab!" Over and over again until her voice faded from her ears.
As Vaggie walked away, her senses failed to detect the pair of eyes and stimming hands watching her walk away.
Once at her room, Vaggie put a map of Pentagram City over a table. Extermination day has been just a few weeks ago, overlords lost power, gangs and their wannabe counterparts lost lives, creating a vacuum of power. New territory was fought for more on this time of the the year than ever.
New faces, unpredictable hazards. Vaggie wanted to label potential areas were conflict, while palpable, would not be as dangerous. She'd have to discuss it with Cherri Bomb and maybe even Husk for a second opinion.
She already hated the idea but maybe she would need a cup of cof—
"I want to go too," A soft voice said behind her.
Vaggie turned around and saw the only person she did not want to come to this exercise standing on the door frame. She has not even heard it open, when did she come in?
"No," Her mouth said before her mind could have a chance to speak, and even then it did not disagree. Vaggie turned back to the table.
"Why noooot?" Charlie tilted her head disappointingly as she walked to Vaggie. As soon as she was within her reach, she grabbed Vaggie by her shoulders and sat her chin on top of her head. "Pleaseeee. I'm the owner of this hotel. I'm supposed to get my hands dirty like everyone else."
"First. You're not really supposed to get your hands dirty." That's what I'm here for. "Second, we are ACTUALLY going to get our hands dirty. Blood, guts..."
"I can handle some blood!"
"Hun, you almost fainted when I cut my finger while cooking."
Charlie pouted. "That only happened once!"
"Once is more than enough. The point is, it's gonna be dangerous for you."
"And it won't be for you?" Charlie reached for Vaggie's hands and wrapped them softly. "I wanna learn how to face danger. Real danger," Her hold tightened Vaggie's hand, her eyes closed heavily for a moment. "The kind of danger you don't talk about."
Vaggie's heart dropped to the bottom of her chest. She wanted a myriad of words to spurt out of her mouth.
Yet they all stuck in her throat and only a wordless stutter came out.
"I'm not saying you should! If…you don't want to, you know I won't pressure you. Is just…sometimes I feel like there's a lot you don't tell me about you. You rarely talk about your life in the living world, what it was like. If this way I can know you just a bit better, that's enough for me.
"You're always what I need, even if I don't think you are," A weak smile lit her face. "Especially when I don't think so. So, let me be what you need, at least once."
Charlie drew her face near Vaggie's. Close enough they could feel each other's warm presence, each other's warmer breaths. With the gentleness one held a house of cards, Charlie drew herself closer and closer, until her forehead touched connected with Vaggie's.
Charlie could feel how Vaggie's feet trembled. The feet that could not be sweep off the ground even if the whole world cracked apart, those very same feet trembled as they spent the next few minutes in silence, eyes closed sharing each other's presence.
"I don't want you to be hurt." Vaggie whimpered. Fragileness filling her every word.
"I don't want you to be alone. Not like this. Not in this little head of yours you're so…trapped in."
Right. She was right. Vaggie thought. Sometimes she was so mind-absorbed, she let the world out. She let Charlie out.
Vaggie breathed deep. Her brow frowned while she tried to blink away the overflowing tears from her eye—
"Nuh uh, not yet, missy. Let it out."
Vaggie's eyes snapped open, staring into Charlie.
"I know you. Let it out. Let it out."
She let a one, single, solitary wimp before she broke and fell apart, only for Charlie to hold her together the whole time while the quietest cries filled the room.
After what felt like an eternity—though they wouldn't have minded if that had been the case—they separated. Hands still locked tight.
"Alright. You can come—"
"Yay!—"
"—With conditions. You follow my every command, no questions. I want you on my sight at all times, and stay behind me. And if I tell you is time to leave, is time to leave."
Charlie tilted her head puzzled. "How can I be on your sights if I'm behind you?"
stopped worked just for a second before she shook her head. "Just!...Stay near me. Blood hot, mind cold. Quick feet. Got it?"
"Yes sir!" Charlie saluted like a soldier with as she feigned a male voice and a harsh face, eyes fixated to the front.
Vaggie sighed. "You're so silly, hun."
"That's why you love me~!"
"Yes, I love you too."
Charlie hugged Vaggie, making sure to wrap her around her arms. She stared through the window into the city. She couldn't wait to go, while on her face grew a smile.
...
Charlie's smile had become a myth by the time she and everyone else had spent little more than five minutes into the battlefield, but to them altogether, it already felt both it had been an eternity.
A scream overloaded her ears. She turned just in time to block a bat with nails from a fish-like sinner with her shield. The nails dragged against the shield's metallic surface, creating a chirring, deafening sound.
A flashing piece of metal hit the bar, throwing it away from the shield. Vaggie used the aperture on the aquamarine sinner's stance as he lost balance, to land a clear cut on his leg, making him kneel, and in one large, vertical swing, Vaggie cut his throat. The one-eyed sinner stood back from the spurt of blood before the corpse fell to the ground, and quickly focused back on the battlefield looking for new threats.
So far, the Hazbin Hotel crew had divided into three groups.
Cherri Bomb and Angel Dust were by far the more well accustomed. Cherri threw grenades across the dark clouds of smoke, while Angel took care of finishing off whoever survived the explosion with multiple Thompson machine guns. Though dangerous as fuck, Vaggie appreciated they two drew the more attention out of everyone.
To her surprise, Baxter was with them. Much like Cherri, he was throwing chemical grenades he prepared on the spot with several substances he harbored in his purse, even giving some to Cherri for the trickier shots.
Husk and Arackniss were trying to get by. Arackniss, much like his brother, shot with dual pistols without a care, being the one with the highest kill count on his group and raising while shouting curses left and right. Husk served as some sort of sniper, focusing on the gang members that were too far away and on those Arackniss' bullet rain didn't hit.
Vaggie was sure Nifty was…somewhere. She could hear her crazy laugh from time to time above the gunshots, explosions and screams.
She remained on the skirts of the turf war territory. Just close enough so she could see her people, and intervene if it was absolutely necessary, and far away so Charlie was not in great danger, but still able to taste the heat of battle.
After a while, Baxter had succumbed to the fight, he had gotten away just a bit too much away from his group, where he became easy prey, before he was dragged through the thick clouds of smoke, only for his glasses to be the only thing that came back.
Angel Dust ran out of bullets, and his current enemies knew about this. Husk too, and when he tried to cover Angel into safety, he became the first cannon fodder, followed shortly after for Angel.
Cherri saw the death of her friend, and when she hurried to check on her, grenade on hand, a gang member threw themselves over her, causing her to fail to throw the grenade on time.
And all of a sudden, Nifty's maniacal laugh was no longer audible.
Vaggie saw all of this, and she only sighed tiredly. "This was prone to happen," She thought to herself. She was too busy watching over them for a moment she forgot to keep an eye on the most important person there.
It had all happened too fast.
Vaggie heard the scream of the one member of the group who should have never come in the first place.
In one second, she was looking at the crew, fighting together.
On the next, she saw Charlie laying on the floor, shield far away from her. She could see blood running down her face. Four sinners strolling at her with wicked, twisted, dark smiles.
Her feet began running before Vaggie could even command them to. She ran fast, faster, as fast as she could, yet it never felt fast enough.
From her back, a set of gray wings with dark gray edges sprang, allowing her to take a large leap into the air, large enough so she could fall over one of the gang members enclosing Charlie, piercing her spear right through his chest and tackle him death right into the floor.
The other three took little time to react and raise their weapons, but Vaggie was faster and cut the hand with one flash vertical swing and kicked him in the face. She was about to charge straight into the one in her left, until he raised his gun at her.
Vaggie set off fly into the sky, leaving a small cloud of dust where she just was. Bullets followed her trail as Vaggie flew over their heads, dodging them like if she was an aircraft in a dogfight, just as fast as one, and lethal.
The moment the gang member ran out of bullets, Vaggie threw her spear from the sky with deadly precision, striking him right in the center of his chest. Blood tainting the tip of her weapon now.
Vaggie descended downwards in direction to her spear to retrieve it, her hair fluttering violentlyas if they were a bunch of snakes, ready to strike, but just as she was about to grab it, the last gang member left hit her with a rusted crowbar as she was reaching the floor. Vaggie hit the ground, shoulder first, and rolled through it like a ragdoll several meters. By the time she stopped, she had no time to gather herself, as the gang member had pushed her head against the floor with his hand on her face.
For a moment, Vaggie glanced at her spear, still impaled at the now dead gang member, so, so far away from her.
Vaggie managed to overpower the gang member by grabbing him by his neck and lifting him enough so she could switch places. The process repeated back and forward a couple of times before the gang member stabbed Vaggie's hand with the sharper end of the staff on his crowbar, followed by him choking her.
Only one hand was not enough to take one of his hands off her, and even if it was, she'd still have the other fist around her neck.
Right when the lack of air began to burn her lungs, and her sight darkened more and more, Vaggie snapped her fingers, the spear on the corpse of the sinner vanished into thin air, and popped up right into existence at her free palm with a quick spark of light. Just when the last gang member noticed it, Vaggie already stabbed his abdomen, ripping his flesh open. His fist around Vaggie's neck opened in pain and Vaggie stood up from the ground in an instant, both hands wrapped at the staff of her spear, lifting the gang member, still impaled, up in the air, only for her to smash him into the ground right back, leaving him in a small puddle of his own blood.
Once she made sure he was dead, she didn't even allow herself to catch a breath before she checked on Charlie, still laying on the floor.
Vaggie rushed to her side, dropping her spear on the floor like it was nothing and gently grabbed Charlie by her shoulders, despite her bleeding hand.
"Charlie! Charlie! Are you okay!?" Vaggie checked her. She couldn't decide whether to feel relief or shame on the fact Charlie only had a relatively small wound on her forehead. A thin trail of blood running down her face.
God, how could have she been so stupid?
Charlie slowly opened her heavy eyes. "Wha-what happened? What-Oh shit! Vaggie! Your face!" Charlie lifted her upper body off the ground. While still sitting, she grabbed Vaggie's face with her hands, wrapping them softly. Her eyes opened so wide for a moment it looked like they would pop up.
The one-eyed sinner could only imagine what she looked like. Covered all in dirt and blood and who knew what else. "I'm okay, hun. It was just—"
"No, you're not! Heavens, this is my fault, isn't it? I got distracted a second and then…and then—"
"Is not your fault. These things happen." Vaggie reassured, trying to come back to her commanding, firm tone. "I'm fine. I promise."
"Vaggie," Charlie sighed. "Alright. How are the others doing?"
Vaggie gulped down, but kept a stoic face. "Baxter and Cherri died."
"Oh my—!"
"But is okay!" Vaggie held Charlie firmly by her shoulders. "They are sinners, Charlie. Remember. They will come back, eventually. Perfectly safe and sound. Like if they have never left. Just like you would have wanted."
Vaggie could still see the panic in Charlie's eyes, just as her words sunk in her. She could feel in her hands how her shoulders softened bit by bit, alongside with her dreadful expression.
"Right…right. So, I guess this means…"
A tremble nearby interrupted Charlie. One big enough they could feel the floor beneath them shake momentarily like an earthquake. It came from one of the abandoned buildings. By the time Charlie was just wondering what was that, Vaggie already held her spear in a offensive stance, standing in front of Charlie.
The rotten doors leading to the abandoned building trembled. Whatever was happening inside was coming closer. Next the walls shook down to their cements as well. The old dust in every surface of the place fell off its edges. Their hearts dropped too.
Before any of them could have truly prepared themselves, a life-sized T-rex sinner busted out of the frontal wall of the buildings, flesh and viscera from countless sinners and hellbornes hanging from their blood-stained teeth. It charged straight at them, each step louder than the last.
Vaggie pushed Charlie out of the way before the T-rex grabbed Vaggie by her torso. Their hand being big enough to wrap her torso completely, but Vaggie could still use her arms, and by extension her spear, which she did not waste time to use and stab the T-rex's hand, but no matter how much she tried, in comparison it was like she was a mosquito poking them with a toothpick.
A tiny part of Vaggie's mind wished that could have been the case with her as well, but no. That couldn't be the case when she felt like her bones cracked like the toothpick she was stabbing the T-rex with.
Just as fast as the T-rex had come, it opened its mouth with every intention to devour Vaggie. The one-eyed sinner could already see their dozens of teeth and smell its metallic breath.
As she was inches away from entering fully into their mouth, three large red sharp-pointed cones teared through the T-rex tongue, all the way to the ceiling of their mouth.
Vaggie could already tell what had happened.
That was Charlie's trident.
She had never seen her use it like that with such power…
Before she could question any further what in the actual hell was happening, Charlie rammed her trident even further within the T-rex's mouth through their chin, before drawing it out completely in one swift swing.
The T-rex dropped dead straight into the floor with a thunderous thump. Immediately, Charlie rushed to the T-rex's hand Vaggie was still trapped in, wrapped between its fingers. Despite the sheer size difference between Charlie and the fingers, the princess opened them up like if she was only moving somewhat heavy boxes, not the weight of rocks.
Vaggie fell like dead weight from the fingers of the T-rex before Charlie caught her. Unlike when Vaggie found Charlie, Vaggie was moving so little it was unsettling Charlie. She was just barely breathing so quietly as if she did not want anyone could hear she was…there.
"Vaggie! Please, talk to me!"
Everything hurt. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to try and shift to make herself any more comfortable. Her bones were acid against her flesh.
As she laid on the ground, she could see Charlie returning from her demonic transformation, right as her horns finished vanishing and her red fire eyes turned to a soft yellow.
Charlie's voice thundered against her ears and rest of senses.
It was fucking ironic.
Charlie's touch hurt like fire, but it was also the only thing that brought her comfort.
"Charlie…I think it's time to leave," She said with some of her last remaining strengths.
Charlie opened her mouth, she wanted to protest, Vaggie was in no condition to move, but she had abided to not question her today. She gulped down.
"Alright." Charlie complied with shaking voice. "Let me just…" Charlie was unsure how to proceed. She put one of Vaggie's arms over her shoulders, and lifted her as carefully and quickly as she could, making her best so that all of Vaggie's weight rested over Charlie. "Are you ready?" Charlie asked.
If it was not because Charlie was watching every feature of Vaggie, she would have missed the tiniest of nods she gave her.
The Hazbin Hotel was on the outskirts of Pentagram City, and Vaggie had had the brilliant idea of taking the crew to participate on the turf wars happening on the opposite side of the city.
But, sooner than later, Vaggie knew she was not getting to any other side. Her every step pounded nails on her body. Making the smallest of movements sent excruciating pain to every part of her body. She was no stranger to pain, and even less of a stranger to put up with it.
But this, this rose quickly to her limit.
They had not been going on their way for too long when Vaggie had enough.
"Charlie put me down! PUT ME DOWN PLEASE! FUCK!" Vaggie cried.
Charlie complied as quickly as she could, laying her down back on the floor on an alley. She took Vaggie's head and placed it down on the ground as if it was made of crystal. Tears were brimming on Vaggie's eyes as pain was getting the best of her.
"Do you need me to do anything? Anything at all. Just say it and it's yours."
"I want to…I want to go home. I want to—" Vaggie coughed blood. Somehow Charlie's white skin paled even more.
"I-I know. I promise I'm trying to take you there as quickly as I can. I-ah, I'll call my dad! Surely he can get here in no time, he can—!" It was then Charlie realized. She had left her phone on the hotel. It was prone to break due to the nature of what they had just done today.
And even if she had brought it with her, there would have been no time for anything.
Anything except…
"Charlie…"
"Yes, Vaggie, anything!" She held her hand firmly with both of her own hands.
"I…I need you to kill me."
"W-what?!"
She must have misheard her, she must have—!
"Charlie…please…you're the…only one I can…trust with this…" Vaggie now only had strength to turn her eye to Charlie. "…It hurts too much…"
"I…I—!" I know. I understand, she wanted to said. No, obviously she did not, she did not understand a great many things, but now was not the time for that.
"It's okay hun…I'm a sinner…I'll come back…like if I have never left…" Vaggie smiled at Charlie with her eye closing in. She stroke her thumb against her fingers. "Then…you can take care of me…as much as you want…"
The mere thought of killing her…despite Vaggie was giving her complete permission to do it. Heavens above, not even in her worst nightmares she would have imagined of something like this. Charlie was already crying. She knew she didn't have a reason to. Vaggie was right. She'd return, like if she had never left at all.
"I've trusted you…with my life since…I met you. I know…Charlie…I know I can trust you with my death. I could trust you with a thousand lives…"
Charlie's tears didn't take long before they started dripping. Charlie pointlessly wiped them with her arms. "I trust you with my life too…"
"Please…"
Now was not the time for niceties. Charlie needed to be strong. Charlie tried to focus her mind and bottle up her feelings. She failed miserably, yet she kept trying.
"How do you want me to…do it?"
Fuck.
Vaggie had clearly not think this through.
Life escaping through her fingers so slowly made Vaggie reminiscent about her grandma. She died of age. In her sleep. The whole family was there. That sounded nice.
"Choke me."
Charlie's eyes snapped open for a moment, alongside her mouth to protest, but then again, no arguments. What other way could she think of in time to make it as painlessly as she could for her?
She would do it. Easy and simple.
Charlie's hands lifted towards Vaggie's throat.
With the smallest amount of pressure she could come up with, she—
"No."
Charlie's hands stopped touching Vaggie's throat like if it was made of knifes, and she turned back to Vaggie, eyes full of worry, unable to blink.
"Quick."
For the umpteenth time today, Charlie's heart skipped a painful beat. She understood. The completely unspoken "I know you" mauled her heart.
Her hands placed themselves back on her throat, resting, as she prepared herself.
"Until we meet again…" Vaggie said before she closed her eye.
And then, she squeezed.
In one moment, Vaggie was laying peacefully on the ground. In the next one, her body tossed and turn like if she had been lit on fire.
Charlie wanted nothing more than to let go of Vaggie, more than ever when her lover's hands held her own. She did not realize at the moment, but that was not Vaggie and her basic instincts trying to survive.
She was making sure Charlie did not let her go so she could finish the job.
It took less than a minute before Vaggie's body stopped moving. For Charlie it felt like she had lived four lifetimes. And another four for the time Charlie spent crying for what she had just done. No matter how much she knew and reassured herself, in the grand scheme of things, everything was fine, she could not stop the tears.
Charlie could not even begin to guess how much time she actually spent in that alley, next to her lover's corpse. By the time she stood up, her knees cracked badly, but she managed to become numb to that pain.
Maybe she was beginning to understand Vaggie a little more now.
Charlie's now lifeless eyes watched at Vaggie's corpse.
What was she supposed to do with her? Leave it there so some cannibals could feed off her? This was hell. Graveyards for sinners were as common as non-acid rain. Not to mention a fucking joke.
"Fuck them." Charlie thought. She kneeled and lifted Vaggie's corpse from the ground. She will bury her on her family's palace. Maybe her dad would protest but she was going to do it.
Charlie took a moment to appreciate Vaggie finally at peace. Even dead she was a ray of light to her. Her eyes turned to the red sky of hell.
"Until we meet again…"
And Charlie walked off with Vaggie in her arms.