[Content Warning: Violence. A TLDR has been provided at the end of the chapter for anyone who wants to skip the gore but continue the story.]
Little Tommy Carter wanted to save the world. That's why he'd signed up so eagerly the second two government agents approached his scout troop for an elite secret mission. They needed someone to take out a demon who'd been causing trouble on Earth, and only a child would fit through their gateway. Tommy had always dreamed of being the hero. He knew he was special. He just knew it. It's why he was so good at video games.
He and his friends entered the miniature Hell portal, guns in hand and ready to rock. But then the tentacle demon happened. They had been in Hell for barely a few seconds and all but one of his friends were already dead. With a scream and a bloody splash, they were gone, reduced to unrecognizable piles of organs and helmets.
His friend Sam, who'd gone in first and had slightly more time to see the demon in question, had yanked Tommy out of the way just in the nick of time. They were the only survivors. Sam held Tommy's mouth shut until he'd stopped trying to scream. Tommy nodded. Sam let go.
They hid behind a pile of red-stained bones, listening to the tentacle demon feasting on their friends. Sickening squishy sounds and crunching came from the direction of the gruesome scene.
Sam whispered in Tommy's ear, "Let's make a run for the portal while he's distract-"
With a whirr, the portal closed. The agents probably thought they were all dead. No one would know what happened to them. They had been a troop from an orphanage, so they had no parents to ask the government agents where they were. Tommy and Sam were on their own.
Over Sam's shoulder, Tommy saw an exit. He gestured to her, just like he saw in the movies, signing, "You, me, this way."
She nodded. They could try shooting the tentacle demon with their guns, but they had limited ammo, and they still had a mission to complete. Maybe if they got it done, they could find a way to send word to the agents to find a way to get them home. Or maybe they would die there. Who knew.
Stepping as quietly as their little feet would allow, the two scout children snuck past the tentacle demon. Tommy tried not to linger on the fact that all of his friends were being eaten. One of their heads was still intact. Their dead eyes locked onto Tommy's, watching him creep out the door and leave them behind.
It was hot. Too hot. It was a struggle to breathe, but there was no relief. This was Hell, after all. Tommy and Sam searched around for clues to where they were, and how they could possibly find their target. The world around them was strange and upsetting. Monsters roamed the streets. Some of them made strange moaning noises as they rubbed their bodies together. It looked like they were hurting each other, so why on Earth were they saying, "Yes, yes, oh yes!"
Tommy didn't know what they were doing to each other, he only knew that it made him incredibly uncomfortable.
Tommy threw up. Sam stood watch, gun raised and ready to shoot if anything approached them. Nothing did. When Tommy had his bearings again, he drank from his water bottle, careful not to take too much of it. There was no way of knowing when he'd find more, or if any water down here would be safe to drink.
After several hours of wandering and sneaking around, Sam and Tommy discovered that they were in something called the "Lust Ring." Their tracker said that their target was miles and miles above their heads. They must be deeper down than they needed to be.
Then their tracker ran out of battery. They were lost, scared, and alone. Thinking quickly, they remembered their scout survival training. The first things they'd need would be food, water, and shelter. They only had enough supplies to last a day, so they had to act quickly. They were tiny compared to all the monsters, so hiding wouldn't be too difficult. They could survive if they were smart.
Things were going relatively well, if you could call it that. Sam and Tommy worked out a routine of watching each other's backs, scrounging for food in the dumpsters, filling their bottles with water from public fountains, and never staying in one place for too long. They swept the streets for weeks, looking for any way out.
At first, they wanted to finish their mission, but they soon gave up on that fantasy. Their bullets didn't last long, and they kept having to loot dead demon bodies for new weapons. Tommy was pulling a machete out of an imp's skull when he heard Sam cry out.
Turning toward the sound, Tommy saw her being dragged off. "No!" he shouted, yanking the machete free and running toward them. He chopped at the demon's ankles, trying to force them to let his friend go, but it was no use. The demon kicked Tommy in the head, and he went down. He hadn't been hit hard enough to fall unconscious, but he wished he had.
Tommy watched as the demon slowly tore Sam apart. She screamed for hours, thrashing and sobbing in the street. No one did anything. Demons just stepped over Tommy's body and continued on their way as if nothing was happening. The demon tortured Sam to death, and Tommy was forced to witness the whole thing, unable to save her.
Tommy wondered what happened when a living human died while in Hell. Did they go to Heaven, or was their soul trapped in the pit forever? He didn't want to find out. If he knew his soul would be safe, he'd have ended his own life and gotten it over with, but he couldn't risk being damned for eternity. He'd promised his dad on his deathbed that he'd be a good boy and go to Heaven with him. He had to go on.
Several heavily traumatic months later, Tommy was pickpocketing a rich-looking demon for food money when he saw several imps crowded around a television display. What he saw gave him the first glimmer of hope he'd had since he'd come here.
An angel, wings, halo, and all, was in Hell. He couldn't hear what she was saying from his hiding place, but it looked like she was associated with the company VoxTek. Tommy had learned in his time surviving Hell that VoxTek was located in the Pride Ring, which meant he had to get higher up if he wanted to find the angel. She was his only chance.
He ducked into a dark alley, checking it for other lurkers. No one was there. A newspaper from that morning lay at his feet, so he picked it up. It showed the angel again, this time standing beside an especially scary-looking demon with a wide, sharp-toothed grin. The headline read, "Radio Demon Absolved" while another read, "Angel Ambassador Owns the Vees"
Tommy stole a cell phone and found out everything there was to know about the angel. He read every newspaper, watched every program, and checked every news source he could find with information about her. He couldn't go in guns blazing. He'd learned the hard way to ask questions before doing something stupid, so he took his time studying. When he was confident that he knew how to find her, he made his move.
Straightening his helmet and checking that his machete was still sharp, Tommy pulled up a map on his stolen phone. He found an elevator. It would take him straight up to Pride. Laying low, the blood of a demon smeared beneath his eyes like war paint, Tommy found his way to the elevator. He waited until no one else was looking, then ducked into it and pressed the highest button.
When the door opened, Tommy was greeted with a scene not too different from the one he'd left. There were still naked pictures, terrified screaming, and blood splatters everywhere. The main difference was the sheer number of demons in the streets. The population was dense. Too dense. And something was different about the demons in this area. They didn't look the same.
Some of them saw him and leered, but they were all too busy doing whatever they were doing to bother with him, so Tommy ran off and found a new place to hide. For months he'd been surviving primarily by stealth, but there were so many demons here that he had a hard time finding anywhere he could go. He had to find the angel, and quickly.
According to his research, the angel was a member of a group called The Coven. He looked up the location of their headquarters. Bad luck. They were so far away it could take days to find it. He checked the location of VoxTek. Worse. That place was not only just as far off, but it was also swimming with cameras. He wouldn't be able to sneak around there. So, he checked the place known as the Hazbin Hotel. That was even further away. The Coven was his best option.
It would be tough, but he'd come this far. He couldn't give up now. He started walking. Tommy desperately wished he was old enough to learn to drive.
When the day drew to a close and the demons all disappeared to their beds or nightclubs, Tommy sought out a place to camp out. He found an empty and seemingly abandoned thrift shop labeled "Old Crap" that had plenty of little nooks he could hide in for the night. Based on the lack of footprints in the dust on the floor, very few people ever entered the place. Keeping one eye open, he drifted off. At least the nightmares were better than reality.
Tommy woke to the sound of screams. He startled, bumping his head on the inside of the cabinet where he'd hidden himself. He froze, waiting to be discovered. When nothing came for him, he chanced a peek out the cabinet doors. The room was empty.
It turned out the screams were coming from a dusty old radio. It had turned on all by itself. Tommy checked the time. It was morning. He approached the radio, touching the dial to try and turn it off. The sound might attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately, Tommy had no idea how something this old worked, so all he managed to do was change the channel.
A distorted, old-timey voice spoke from the speaker, "Good morning, imps and ignoramuses! Alastor here. Today's forecast includes a rain of terror and several bouts of…"
Tommy heard the radio announcer giving a bizarre weather report, but he wasn't paying too much attention to what they were saying. He was too panicked trying to find a way to turn the radio off before someone came in and found him. There was no screen. Why was there no screen? Who could possibly work a device without a screen?
When the morning announcements ended, and an old song called, "Puttin' on the Ritz" began to play loudly, Tommy gave up trying to turn the radio off. He took a rusty old axe off one of the thrift store shelves and began smashing. He swung hard. The radio fell to the floor with a crash. He chopped and chopped until the song faded into a spasm of wood and wires.
Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. Silence at last. He collapsed onto a moldy old chair, trying to get his heart rate under control. He listened, hoping no one would approach to investigate the racket. He'd barricaded the door, but all that would really do down here would be to buy him a few moments.
Nothing happened.
At least, not until the radio started to spark and twitch.
He stared at it, bewildered. He'd sliced the power cord, so how was it still on? With a gasp, Tommy realized shadows were stretching out of the radio's speaker. A dark hand reached out grabbing at the ground. Claws tore into the shop's dusty floor.
A voice not unlike the announcer's spoke impossibly loudly, a terrifying static making their voice sound harsh and angry, "Who dares harm one of my lovely radios?" The sound felt like it was clawing at Tommy's brain. He covered his ears painfully.
Tommy backed away, pulling his machete from its sheath. In his experience, demons with magical ability were the hardest to fight. The best way to deal with them was to cut your losses and run. But the door was barricaded, and smashing the window could just attract more demons to his location. He held the axe and machete up aggressively. If he was going out, he wouldn't be making it easy.
A second shadow hand reached out to join the other. They both clawed at the ground, dragging a dark and spindly body out of the broken remnants of the shattered radio. The closer the shadow-demon got, the louder the static became. The air crackled. Strange green symbols floated in the air, glowing menacingly. The hairs on the back of Tommy's neck stood up. The shadow creature rose to its full height, easily seven feet tall. It grinned down at him. Whatever this being was, it felt like pure malice.
The creature spoke, "Well now, isn't this interesting…"
The creature's color changed from an intangible black void into a bright red. Towering over tiny little Tommy was a thin demon with a human face and a monocle. It wore an old-style tailcoat with rips and burns along the edges. Its sharp fingers grasped a strange staff, and its animal ears stuck up on top of its head beside a small pair of antlers. Creepy dial-shaped pupils ticked within its glowing red eyes. Tommy wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.
Tommy snarled like a feral goblin, "Come on, then!" If he was going to die, he'd die fighting.
The creature tilted its head, its smile widening, "Oh? And what, pray tell, are you going to do?"
Was this thing messing with him? Thinking quickly, Tommy slashed at the evil creature. He'd have shot it, but he'd run out of ammo ages ago.
The creature laughed menacingly, easily side-stepping the machete's blade. Tommy pivoted, swinging the axe instead. The creature casually dodged again, then took its staff and dragged it under Tommy's feet, knocking him off balance. Tommy fell onto his butt with a dull thud. Long tendrils of black magic reached out from the creature's back, grabbing Tommy's weapons and tossing them aside.
"Didn't your mommy ever tell you not to run with scissors?" it asked, looming over him.
Tommy stared up at his doom. This was it. All those months of agony and horror, and he'd still never make it out. The creature grabbed him by the leg, holding Tommy up by his ankle as easily as if he were nothing but a toy. Tommy flailed in the creature's grip, punching and kicking. The creature ignored it, holding him high off the ground. Tommy screamed in panic.
"When you're quite finished," the demon said calmly, "we can discuss what to do with you."
Tommy writhed and cried for several minutes until he realized the demon wasn't doing anything. It was just standing there, holding him up in the air like it was waiting for him to calm down. Tommy dangled limply, staring at the red demon in confusion and fear.
With a shaky breath, Tommy begged, "Please… Just make it quick." He squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the end. He prayed to whatever god was listening that his soul wouldn't be trapped there.
"Oh-ho, calm down," the demon said, "I don't harm children. Now if you'll kindly stop blubbering, we can have a little chat."
"W- What?" Tommy peeked out from behind his hands. "You're not going to kill me?"
"Ha! No. I have far better options to sate my bloodlust. Though I'm quite cross with you for damaging my radio." It didn't sound cross. It sounded amused.
Tommy looked over at the smashed-up radio, then at the demon, then back at the radio. "Is this your shop or something?"
"Certainly not. You're new here, so I'll overlook your ignorance," it said. "Let's make a deal. I agree to set you down, and you agree not to run away until I release you."
The demon held its other hand out, the staff it had been holding disappearing into thin air. Tommy hesitated, considering his options. Eventually, he shook the demon's sharp claws, "Fine." What choice did he have?
A confusing flash of green later, and the demon set Tommy roughly down on the ground. "Lovely. Now, how exactly did a living boy end up in a place like this?"
Tommy tried to run. He wanted to ditch this demon and escape, but his feet stayed planted on the ground. Yanking at his legs did nothing, and he stared up at the demon, "What did you do to me?"
"We had a deal, didn't we? You won't be able to escape unless I allow it. Don't look at me like that; I'm not going to kill you. In fact, you're quite fortunate I'm the one who found you. Other demons are far less reasonable." The creature looked Tommy over, "Judging from your raggedy appearance, you've been here for some time. So, what was it? Did Vox trick you down here? That seems like something he'd do. Or perhaps you got a little too curious with some cursed object? Well? Speak up, boy."
"Wait…" Tommy squinted his eyes, "why do you look familiar?"
"I'm a popular guy," it said, snapping its fingers.
Tommy's barricade moved itself out of the way, and the demon opened the door, indicating for Tommy to exit the thrift shop. Tommy's feet moved of their own accord, forcing him to follow the demon out the door. Before it left, the demon caught sight of a glittery pink necklace. It examined the jewels for a moment, then stuffed the necklace in its pocket, leaving a pile of cash in its place. Strange. Most demons Tommy had seen just stole things. Why leave money if there was no one around to make the creature do it?
"Where are we going?" Tommy asked. He wished he'd been able to grab his weapons. The demon was forcing him to walk down the street. No cover, no shadows, nothing. He was out in the open.
"I'm taking you to my doll," it said. "With her help, I'm sure we'll be able to get you back where you belong. I think this may help her feel better. Poor thing has been rather blue lately." He laughed as if he'd made some kind of joke. Tommy didn't get it.
"A doll? Like a teddy bear?"
"No. My significant other."
"What's a significant other?"
The creature rolled its eyes, "What do the kids say, nowadays? Do you still use the word girlfriend, or has that gone out of fashion, as well?"
"No, that's still a thing," Tommy raised his eyebrow. Demons could have girlfriends?
"What's your name?"
"Tommy."
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance Tommy-boy. I'm Alastor."
Alastor snapped its… or rather his… fingers. A shiny red limousine drove up, seemingly out of nowhere. It ran over a demon who'd been crossing the street, not bothering to stop. The limo stopped in front of them, and a very sleepy-looking demon driver got out to open the door. Alastor indicated for Tommy to get in. He did so, and Alastor followed behind him, sitting across from the terrified scout.
"Now then," Alastor ordered, "You're going to tell me all about how you got here."
[TLDR: Government agents send a scout troop of orphaned children to Hell to try to assassinate a troublesome imp, but they are attacked immediately. Only one scout survives. He ends up stuck alone in Hell for months. He finds out that an angel is in Hell and decides to search for her to ask for her help. Alastor finds the scout first. They are in Alastor's limo on their way to find Elida.]