All characters and content of this work belongs to their respective owners, I own nothing other than my Original Character and the plot of this story.
The concert wasn't being held for a few days, so Lady Emeraldblade and her friends decided to bunk down and wait at the hotel in the meantime. Lucifer and Vaggie agreed to host the group as honored guests during their stay, all the while trying to find a way to obtain tickets to gain entry to the event.
During that time, Emeraldblade and the mercs met several of the other hotel guests and staff.
For starters there was the resident adult film star Angel Dust, whose harsh and witty demeanor gained the Spy's liking. Both of them were often times seen lounging around the hotel, smoking one of Spy's signature cigarettes. Angel Dust occasionally tried to make advances on Spy, which the latter politely but annoyingly declined.
And then there was Husk, the front clerk and barkeep. Do to his love for booze, it was no wonder that Demoman took an instant liking into the former Overlord (which he later came to learn), the two would often times drown themselves in alcohol (including Demoman's personal favorite scrumpy), with Demoman often times telling Husk about the hardships and discrimination he had to endure through the years, from losing his eye to Merasmus, to being called a "Black Scottish Cyclops" by the enemy during the Gravel War (and occasionally then and now his own friend the Spy).
While he was sober however, Demoman also came to know Cherri Bomb, Angel Dust's loyal friend (and partner-in-crime). When he learned that she was an expert in explosives, that made him want to spend some quality time with her. The two shared stories of their adventures, and even went as far as to teach each other some unique tricks they had learned over the years, with Cherri showing Demoman how to be quicker on his feet, and Demoman showing Cherri how to jump high using bombs.
Demoman would also make numerous attempts to flirt with Vaggie due to the fact both of them were missing their left eye respectively, but Vaggie was unrequited.
Scout of course, became fond of Niffty, not only because both of them were fast on their feet, but also shared a knack for violence against their enemies. Over time, the two developed a sort of crush on each other, and eventually, when Niffty had free time one day, went out and got themselves the bucket of chicken Scout had promised.
The Medic, meanwhile, sent much of his time pestering Lucifer over learning what he had been doing since their last meeting many years earlier. Lucifer was often disgruntled by the doctor's antics, but nonetheless did his best not to offend him by hearing him out.
Finally, there was Lady Emeraldblade, who wanted to get away from the wackiness from time to time and sent much of her time with Vaggie. The manager was skeptical of spending time with the human warrior, but felt that having her to talk to was better than those obnoxious mercenaries, after all she reminded her of Charlie a lot, albeit less bubbly and more straightforward.
It was during that time when Vaggie had some downtime that she wanted to treat the guest she came to like to a sort of "dinner date" together. The two dressed formally for the occasion, with Vaggie wearing a long, white evening gown with black high-heeled sandals, and Emeraldblade wearing a similar one, only emerald green, with green high-heeled sandals that were fancier than the ones she usually wore.
The two went to a local restaurant that Vaggie often visited with Charlie in the past. There, the two ladies dined on filet mignon and Delmonico steak respectively, all the while quenching their thirst with non-alcoholic rose wine (which gained the irk of the sinner waiters for their virtuous choice). During the outing, Emeraldblade couldn't help but compliment her new friend.
"I like your long hair Vaggie, it's very pretty when you have it down like that." Emeraldblade complimented the angel, "That bow you're wearing is a nice touch as well."
Vaggie blushed, "Thank you, I like yours as well, it's beautiful."
Emeraldblade smiled, as she began playing with her hair, "Thanks, I like having mine long and down too."
There was a brief moment of silence, before Vaggie decided to change the subject.
"So tell me Emerald…if you don't mind me calling you that."
Emeraldblade blushed, "Please, you can call me Calla, that's my real name."
Vaggie smiled, "Okay Calla, what did you do before becoming a warrior?"
Emeraldblade sighed, "It's…a rather sad story in all honesty."
Vaggie's smile turned to one of concern, "You don't have tell it to me if it bothers you hon."
"No it's fine," Emeraldblade replied, "In fact, you're the first person whose asked me that ever since the…incident."
Vaggie raised an eyebrow, "What incident?"
Emeraldblade took a deep breath, "Nearly five years ago, I was about to graduate high school in my hometown of Emerald Valley, I turned in my senior-class art project in my class. I was showered in praise by my classmates and especially by my teacher Mrs. McKinnon, who I regarded as my role model for a long time. I thought it would be the happiest day of my life, but then *sniff* tragedy struck in the cruelest of ways."
Vaggie was growing increasingly worried, "What happened?"
Emeraldblade did her best to hold back tears, "An entity, whom I later learned was Nightmare, the demon I am searching for, attack my school and wreaked havoc across the town. He…killed nearly everyone in my town, including…*sniff*…my parents."
Vaggie comforted her friend my patting her hand, "There, there, I feel your pain, but how exactly did you get away from him?"
Calla regained her composure and continued her story "I barely escaped the same fate, thanks in part to Mrs. McKinnon, who turned out to really be Rosalina."
"Rosalina?" Vaggie wondered, "Isn't that the princess from the Super Mario series?"
"Yeah, that's her." Emeraldblade answered, "I was shocked to learn that she was real, let alone the fact that she saved my life. She raised me like a second mother and trained me extensively on how to use a greatsword in order to prepare me for my journey ahead."
"Hmm, it sounds like she's a really good person," Vaggie replied.
"She sure is," Emeraldblade smiled, "Anyways, just a few days ago, she sent me on this journey of mine, to search for allies who would be willing to join me in stopping Nightmare. I first met the mercs in New Mexico, and soon afterwards we defeated the first of Nightmare's minions: an evil sorcerer named Merasmus, unfortunately he escaped, taking their leader with him. After learning that the second minion, Verosika Mayday you mentioned, spent much of her time in Hell. Some of the mercs and I spoke to Lucifer and ended up here."
"Quite the story," Vaggie smirked.
"Indeed," Emeraldblade smiled, "I need all the help I can get to stop Nightmare's plan, we can't let him destroy the Universe."
"I believe you," Vaggie replied.
There was a moment of silence, before Emeraldblade broke it by asking Vaggie a personal question.
"By the way, how did you end up here in the first place?" Emeraldblade asked.
Vaggie hesitated upon hearing the question, before beginning to speak, "I don't like repeating this story, but what I'm about to tell you is something only Charlie knows about."
"…go on." Emeraldblade replied.
"You see Calla, I'm not really a demon or a sinner like most of the other people you've met or will meet in Hell, I'm actually…" Vaggie did a double take, before leaning in to whisper into Emeraldblade's ear, "…an angel."
Emeraldblade's eyes lit up, "An angel?"
Vaggie nodded, "Yes, but I wasn't any ordinary angel, several years back, I was an exorcist, a type of warrior-like angel that was sent by Heaven to exterminate Hell of sinners. I worked with two other superiors during that time: a female exorcist named Lute, and a male exorcist named Adam. On one particular mission, I was sent down to exterminate several sinners, when I learned that one of them was only a child, guilt quickly overtook me, and I refused to kill them for their actions, allowing them to escape to safety. This made Lute furious, so she proceeded to viciously attack me, gouging out my left eye as well as ripping out my old wings and halo, before banishing me here for betrayal."
"Oh my," Emeraldblade gasped, "So that's how you lost your eye."
Vaggie nodded, "Yep, I thought I was done for after that, but thankfully Charlie found me and mended my wounds, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here today."
"All the more reason why I need to rescue her," Emeraldblade replied, "But what about these other exorcists you mentioned? What happened to them?"
"About two months ago, Hell had one of its annual exterminations, Charlie, the other staff and I were forced to defend the hotel to prevent more lives from being lost. During the battle, I defeated Lute, whilst Nifty, with the help of Charlie and Lucifer, ended up killing Adam. Lute managed to escape shortly afterwards, her whereabouts being unknown as I haven't heard much about her since the attack." Vaggie explained.
"And I thought Angels were supposed to be good," Emeraldblade commented, "Just hearing that story completely changes my perspective on them."
"Well…not all angels are like that hon, there are some that are still good at heart." Vaggie reluctantly admitted, "Before that incident, Charlie and I traveled to Heaven for a brief period, there we met a young seraph angel named Emily, whom from what Charlie later told me believes in redemption, and prefers to save the souls of the damned rather than killing them outright; I bet there are many others like her out there too."
Emeraldblade giggled, "I'm looking at one right now."
Vaggie blushed, "Well…I guess that makes two then."
The waiter suddenly returned, check in hand, Vaggie paid the bill, and the two ladies left the restaurant.
Upon returning to the hotel, the two women saw everyone gathered in the lobby laughing.
"Wait, wait, wait, it gets better…, you see, when ze patient woke up, his skeleton was missing, and ze doctor was never heard from again!" Medic explained, before he began laughing again.
Everyone in the room burst out laughing once more, this time louder than before, some of them even began pounding their fists into the furniture they were sitting on. Meanwhile, Vaggie and Emeraldblade just rolled their eyes as to how ridiculous the story was, at least based on what they had heard already.
Eventually , the laughter died down, and the Medic regained his composure.
"Anyways, that's the story about how I lost my medical license." He finished.
Everyone's expressions turned from joy into concern.
"Wait a minute…are you saying all this time you've been performing medicine on us…illegally?!" Spy questioned.
"Well…illegal is such a strong word, I prefer saying that my methods are…unorthodox." Medic tried to bail out of the predicament.
"Ohhhh…merde." Spy facepalmed.
"You are one fucked up doctor," Husk replied.
Vaggie was irate after learning that the doctor in the house…er…hotel was practicing medicine illegally, Emeraldblade was equally annoyed too, but the two of them put the issue aside.
"Ahem," Vaggie cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention in the process.
"Oh, you two are back." Lucifer said.
"Yes, but while the matter of the Medic's license is concerning, we have other more pressing matters to deal with," Vaggie explained.
"How so babe?" Angel Dust wondered.
"We still need to figure out how we can obtain tickets to the show Friday night, we only have two days to go before the concert, and so far we've had no luck." Emeraldblade continued.
"Those things are very difficult to come by dear, they sell out very quickly," Lucifer explained.
"But how are we going to get them with this amount of time left? The concert's our only lead to finding Verosika and-" Emeraldblade vented.
Suddenly Demoman pulled out two items that lit up both Vaggie and Emeraldblade's eyes.
"Just bought two tickets to the show Friday night," he explained with a slur in his speech.
"Splendid Demoman," Vaggie replied, before turning back to Lady Emeraldblade, "Maybe you and I could-"
"Oh, I'm not givin' 'em to ya lasses." Demoman continued smugly.
Vaggie was growing irritated, "What do you mean you aren't giving them to us?"
"Because I'm going with YOUR TICKETS," he chuckled, whilst pulling several more tickets, enough to cover a small group.
Jokes aside, Demoman handed two of the tickets to both Lady Emeraldblade and Vaggie. Before keeping one for himself and handing several more to his friends.
"Hmm…ours have backstage passes," Emeraldblade commented.
Vaggie raised an eyebrow, "How did you really get your hands on these tickets Demoman?"
"Oh, a nice man gave 'em to me after I told him about the problem you girls were having trying to find 'em." Demoman explained.
"And who was that man?" Vaggie asked, clearly suspicious.
"Why, he's right behind ya lass." Demoman pointed behind her.
Vaggie turned around, there she came face-to-face with someone she was all too familiar with.
The man, or rather the demon was a tall, skinny individual, who was at least a head or two taller than Vaggie and Lady Emeraldblade. He had beige skin, and short, red-pink hair, with two black tufts sticking out from the side of his head, resembling deer ears. His eyes were blood red with black sclera, but his most sinister feature was his golden, razor-sharp teeth, which gave off a disturbing smile. His outfit consisted of a red pinstripe suit with a strawberry-colored dress shirt underneath with a black cross, black dress pants and gloves, and a pair of black ankle high boots with red toes. He carried a thin cane with an accessory that resembled a vintage style microphone.
"Hello, my dear," the man told Vaggie in a strange voice.
"Oh it's you…" Vaggie groaned.
"Why, that's no way to treat your establishment's host now is it?" the man explained.
"Wait, Vaggie who is this man?" Emeraldblade asked.
"Go on…introducing me to your new friend here," the man motioned Vaggie.
Vaggie huffed, before she reluctantly turned to Lady Emeraldblade.
"Emerald, this is Alastor, the Radio Demon. Alastor this is Emeraldblade," She introduced the two.
"Pleasure to be meeting you. Quite a pleasure." Alastor greeted Emeraldblade, extending his arm out to shake hers.
Emeraldblade was skeptical, as she didn't know whether or not to trust the man standing in front of her.
"So you're the one who sold Demoman the tickets to Verosika's concert this Friday I assume, correct?" she asked.
"You catch on pretty quicky dear," Alastor smiled, "However, I didn't technically sell them to your friend, I simply gave them to him."
"But why?" Vaggie wondered.
"It's the least I could do to help with your predicament after you and Charlie saved me and the Hotel after my nervous breakdown during the extermination, so when your friend told me about it, I decided to return the favor and quickly traveled to the Arena of Arrogance to obtain as many tickets to the show as I could, they were very cooperative," Alastor explained.
"Ugh thanks?" Emeraldblade "thanked" Alastor.
"My dear, if stopping Verosika will help you find and defeat this "Nightmare" your friend told me about, then count me as a benefactor to your little mission of yours."
"Technically it's a big mission, but nonetheless these tickets are all we need to get to Verosika," Emeraldblade replied.
"Then I guess we're all set then," Vaggie spoke up, "Come Friday, we're heading to the concert, so that we can kick that bitch's ass."
"Right behind you." Spy replied smugly.
Meanwhile, in the delipidated ruins of Ostrinsburg Castle, Soldier was attempting to wake up his unconscious cellmate inside the dungeon the two were imprisoned in.
" *Growl* Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Soldier shouted at the unconscious woman's face, shaking her body in an attempt to wake her from her slumber.
Suddenly, the woman's eyes began to slowly open up.
"Uhhh," she moaned, half-awake, "Where am I?"
"Lady, we're in some sort of dungeon, being held captive by my vengeful ex-roommate and his maggot, golem friend," he explained to her.
Suddenly the woman's eyes lit up, "Wait, did you say golem?"
"Affirmative," Soldier answered, "The maggot mentioned having to put up with your father and girlfriend at some sort of hotel when he kidnapped you."
"Oh no, Vaggie, Dad, I need to get back and help them!" the woman explained.
"Now hold on sister," Soldier stopped her, "We're trapped in this cell, with nothing to escape with, not to mention the whole place is likely surrounded by Nightmare and his goons."
"But how are we going to get out of here? My powers can only go so far, after all the golem was able to overpower me and my friends." She questioned.
"I…don't know," Soldier replied in defeat, "But I'll think of something."
The woman nodded with a small smile of hope, "By the way, I never asked, but what is your name?"
"My friends call me the Soldier, you?"
"Charlie, well technically it's Charlotte Morningstar, but everyone calls me Charlie, I'm the princess of hell." Charlie explained.
"Princess huh?" Soldier replied.
Charlie nodded, "Well look on the bright side, at least we have each other as company, I'm certain our friends know we're missing, and I bet Vaggie's planning a rescue mission right now to find me- I mean us."
"You sound quite optimistic for a demon," Soldier noted, "Reminds me of a friend I just met before I was captured by Merasmus."
"A friend? Who are they?" Charlie wondered.
"Some girl going by the name Lady Emeraldblade, we met her down in Roswell a few days ago; she claims she's trying to stop a powerful demon named Nightmare from destroying the Universe." Soldier explained.
"Nightmare? The golem mentioned a person by that name when he attacked my hotel. Perhaps they are one in the same." Charlie pondered.
"Yeah maybe…" Soldier replied.
"I just hope this Emeraldblade person can find us before it's too late…" Charlie hoped.