Disclaimer I do not own Hazbin hotel/helluva boss series, and I am not making any money by writing this story. Hope everyone that reads this enjoys it.
thoughts will be in italics
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Peter felt exhausted as he sat at his desk, he hadn't had a goods night sleep for over 2 weeks now and he couldn't understand the feeling of unease and restlessness that was overtaking him. He had even been on a steady diet of decaff and sleeping pills and they were barely helping. What the hell is wrong with me? Everything is going well, I got a promotion, a good pay raise, I get along well with colleagues and the other employees, and my bosses aren't crawling up my back for results. So why do I feel like my guts want to explode out of my stomach? Something just felt off for Peter no matter how good things were going for him. He tried to ignore that feeling but no matter what he did he couldn't avoid it. Even now he hadn't called his wife to tell her it was safe to go back to living in the city, for 3 years now he had decided to rather put in the extra time of commuting from his in-laws home, even building a new house nearby. At times he was actually living in his office space in the research base not even going back to his apartment complex.
There was a general sense of unease that no one wanted to talk about, yet everyone felt like a blanket slowly being dropped on them. Despite how much prestige and knowledge working at New Eden provided to the scientists a lot of them were signing up for transfers out of the facility with many simply saying they couldn't handle it anymore and none of the therapists or psychiatrists hired on to support the facility being able to explain what was wrong as not even their patients could understand the sudden need to be as far away as possible from the scientific epicentre of the world. Peter wouldn't lie to himself and say he had never thought about signing up for a transfer, but he knew that personally he would not be able to handle simply giving up to a feeling of unease he couldn't explain, nor did he think his bosses would let him transfer out. When it didn't involve teach or explaining things, he was the only one capable of communicating with Cain, it was just a dead silence and an unnerving stare with anyone else, Peter recalled how a man had actually clawed his own eyes out and burst his ear drums after trying to talk with Cain.
Things weren't helped by Doctor Victor and his grating personality and need for perfection in all of his work and his staff. The man had grown irritated by the sudden feeling of superstition of his staff and could often be seen yelling at them, berating them for abandoning the path of science in fear of nothing but ghosts and shadows. That they needed to take fate into their own hands as they had been given the keys to world and they were all to scared to grab on it and make the world theirs. The man seems to lack any sense of fear or even respect for the things he is working on. I wonder if he even has any form of common sense or if he would call people thinking like that idiots and cowards for not pushing forward well beyond what many would consider sane or safe. Where was Doctor Victor? Peter hadn't seen or heard the ranting of the man for a week now and neither had anyone else though they weren't complaining, being rather grateful not to have the man yelling at them for a change.
A yawn escaped from Peter as the man felt his energy fade away for a moment. Getting up and deciding he needed to take a walk to get his mind off of how tired he was, and maybe get one of the doctors on the staff to prescribe him some horse tranquiliser. Being knocked out surely must be better than constant fitful sleep that barely lasted an hour or two and often left him feeling worse than when he had simply been exhausted.
Standing in a break room looking through a selection of candy in a vending machine Peter overheard some gossip from a security officer. Apparently, someone had caught sight of Victor. The man looked like he hadn't slept for weeks and hadn't even acknowledged the presence of the other person when they had tried to see if he was alright or get him to go to the see the medical office to get checked out. The man simply kept repeating something about a planted seed that they had all foolishly nurtured and then left for the room with the red ball and simply sat down staring at it with a look of awe and dread. No one had been able to move the man from the spot, Victor even going into a near psychotic rage when attempts were made and not even the gaseous sedatives or darts being able to put the man down. "Apparently the last thing anyone knows he did before going into this psychotic break was talking to Cain." Peter quickly left the room careful not to be seen. The lower ranked staff often clamped up not talking about or mentioning anything that could sound like things were going wrong or were out of hand in front of higher-ranking staff.
Victor had a breakdown after talking with Cain. Upper management and even some of the lower ranked staff knew where he has been this whole time. What the hell is going on? I and other colleagues have been asking for his location for a while now only to be told no one knew where he was, and it turns out they knew exactly where he was. Does his breakdown have anything to do with why upper management doesn't want me talking to Cain anymore. It had been an odd turn of events for Peter when he had simply been told he would be working with the therapists for while and not to engage with Cain until ordered too otherwise. He didn't mind the new assignment as talking with Cain always made him feel like he was missing something, like a word on the tip of your tongue that you couldn't recall, and Cain knew the word yet refused to tell you. Cain seemed to take an odd form of enjoyment watching the scientists of New Eden struggle with what he was trying to teach them or fail to understand what he was telling them about the technological path they were following or about the energy they had discovered from the remnants of the tree. The man if he was a man was unnerving and despite all he offered and gave upper management thought it best to make sure they had a trump card and so had kept knowledge of the spear away from Cain, no one was to talk about it at all to him, they had even been spending more funding and resources on the spear research.
Back in his office Peter wondered what Victor had talked to Cain about that had broken the man so thoroughly. Peter as a seasoned interrogator knew people, knew the human mind and someone like Victor didn't just break from a single conversation, no something profound and important to the man must have been damaged, some truth he couldn't accept and yet was forced to accept broke the man, as if a core part of what represented him had been damaged. Peter had seen things like it before in war torn nations, usually in child soldiers or true believers who had been forced to see that their leaders had lied to them and twisted their beliefs and hopes. Something important in irreplaceable had been broken and people didn't know what to do anymore.
As Peter pondered on what broke Victor some new papers were dropped on his desk that led him to groan a bit as he realised it was the same stuff as last week. The enhanced soldiers had been having problems. Aggression levels had been on the rise after each deployment be it in combat or dealing with the rising number of mutants and even regular soldiers seemed to be suffering from it more recently. Nightmares of things they couldn't understand or remember was spreading and having an even worse effect on morale. While nothing had happened, yet Peter was worried about some of the soldiers going off the deep end and possibly doing something dangerous. He had tried to get the higher ups to put a pause on operations for a while and to lock away the weapons until they could understand what was happening even if he had a good idea of what was causing all of this, yet they refused. The didn't want the Coalition of Faith to gain ground or popularity by having the government fall behind on protecting people. "It's all politics to these people. They refuse to see the danger or act on it when it could blow up in their faces. More likely it will blow up in my face while they relax safely in the lap of luxury in their private bunkers."
It was the energy from the tree, Peter knew it and it had him worried with how much technology and medicine was not only based on it but also being spread in civilian space and industry. The world was getting worse and yet people moved on as if nothing was happening or even attempt to understand why things seemed off. Why violence was up, why mutant animals were spreading about, why things like magic seemed to go from fiction to fact, the why no longer seemed to matter to a lot of people. People had become infected with something, something enhancing and bringing out their worst selves for the world to see. Like a slow acting poison had been given to the people and they kept taking it because of how sweet it tasted. "How long can we keep up this denial?" Who am I kidding, it's the human condition to lie to ourselves even when we know we shouldn't be doing something or telling the truth will be more helpful in the long run.
In the end Peter simply continued to do his job as ordered and kept his head down not wanting to rock the boat or put himself into an unnecessary risky situation to simply act on a hunch, it was at least a month before he decided to act when by happenstance he got his hands on documents referencing the shut down of the lower levels of the facility. Plans set up to not just shut things down but lock it down hard, as the higher ups had started building a new research facility and planned to shut down New Eden and then collapse the upper levels to trap anything and everything that was in the lower levels down there. They didn't think they could kill Cain or the darker and hidden projects in the lower levels of New Eden without a significant loss of manpower, resources, and money. "They are just going to bury everything." Peter was at a loss for words as he read through the papers a second time before he carefully put them back in place and made sure no one could tell they had been read. I need answers and this could be my last chance to get them.
It took a bit of effort, but Peter managed to make some counterfeit documents that would get him past security and into the lower levels. The guards he showed them to looked at him as if they pitied him for having to go down there but they opened the elevator none the less wishing him luck and offering him a small prayer.
"Ah Peter I was wondering when I would see you again." Cain welcomed Peter as he put down a paint brush. The room was filled with portraits of the Monalisa yet none of them held her mysterious smile, no they all had different expressions being shown off, confusion, rage, disgust, fear, worry, intrigue, and so many more as the room seemed covered in them. "Sorry about the mess but I just had such a brush of inspiration and felt the need to give it form and shape." Peter simply wondered where Cain had gotten the supplies as none of the requisition forms had made mention of any art supplies and all he could see was small gardens, impossible gardens growing all around the room.
"How?"
"Come now Peter you should know better than to ask how from me. I know how to shape and manipulate energy in ways your bosses couldn't imagine. Let's just call it magic." Cain gave a cheeky smile as he offered a chair to sit on, the same chair from their very first meeting.
"They plan to seal you down here." Peter didn't know why he had decided to tell Cain, but he felt that honesty would be the best policy right now in this situation.
Cain simply laughed as if he found the threat of permanent entrapment hilarious. "While your sympathy and worry are heartwarming, I must say it is unnecessary. So why have you come down here then Peter?" That Cain showed no fear from the information provided confused Peter he pushed that aside so that he could get the answers he needed.
"What is happening to everyone? The enhanced are changing, people are changing and even the animals are changing. Do you know what is happening?"
Cain looked disappointed at the question. "Please Peter don't ask stupid questions you already know the answer to. It's the tree, the energy you have discovered and have been syphoning and playing around with, but you already knew that didn't you. You just wanted someone else to actually speak the truth to you… How much have you bosses been keeping from you or lying about? Why have you waited so long Peter? Do you think yourself a good man, if so, then why didn't you try to convince your colleagues to also get their families and friends out of the cities, why didn't you try harder to get your bosses to slow down. You're not a good man peter but then again that just what being human means. To lie to yourself until you believe the lie."
Peter punched Cain in the face. There was impact and yet Cain didn't move an inch and it felt like he had punch a wall as he pulled his hand back shaking it in pain while Cain laughed and Peter cursed himself for letting his emotions force an action he didn't think would help or wanted to take "There he is, the real Peter, the one who has had his filter striped and acted without thinking everything through."
"Shut up Cain, that was you not me. Pushing my buttons and putting me on a path where there is only one outcome!"
"I'm a farmer Peter. I plant seeds and get them to grow as I want, the only difference between you and a plant is that you have agency and self-awareness. But you and the people around you simply act as if you have no agency. I have cared for prepared you and everyone else in this facility for such a bountiful harvest. You all knew that I had my own motives and yet you took the risks anyway. What does that say about you? You don't get to complain." Cains voice dropped off lacking any of the jovial tone it had as he told Peter that neither he, nor his bosses, nor humanity got to complain about the consequences of their actions, as they all knew what they were doing was wrong. That they knew that something bad was coming their way and had no right to whine that things were going wrong, that the world seemed to be falling apart around them and their toys were broken.
Just as suddenly as the harsh tone had arrived it was gone just as quickly as cain motioned for Peter to continue questioning him. "Come now Peter there are much better questions you could ask me. What is just on the tip of you tongue? What have you wanted to know since the start of all of this?
Peter was scared terrified as he looked at Cain, looked deep into the man's eyes as he tried to understand what Cain wanted, why he had stayed in New Eden when it was clear he could've left whenever he had wanted to. Why was he so eager to answer the questions he had refused to talk about at the start of everything. "Who are you Cain? What is that red ball? What did you tell Doctor Victor that broke him? Why only talk to me and what is going to happen next?"
Cain had a big smile on his face as he seemed to mull over the questions that had been asked. As if the right questions had finally been asked at the right time for the answers to both matter and not matter at the same time. "I'm a farmer Peter, I work and prepare the soil to plant the seeds for a future yield. I grow things and harvest what I've sown as my claim. The soil is mine to claim as was my duty and my birthright. I told you my name was Cain, but you simply took it at face value not understanding anything. I'm not a Cain I am the Cain, the first to till the soil, the first killer to grace creation. Now it is my duty to prepare this world for harvest as my mother sleeps waiting for the day she is to rise again. That is not a ball Peter it is a seed, carefully cared for and waiting to sprout. My father thought himself so smart he thought he could cheat the system, he placed my mother and I here not understanding just why it was doomed to fail even if he wished to save us, give us a chance to escape hell."
Peter fell out of his chair as Cain ranted backing up to a wall as he tried to comprehend what he was hearing. What had he unleashed, what had he helped poison the world. "What system? What are you talking about?" Cain seemed to have a genuine look of enjoyment in his eyes as he looked at the fear oozing out of Peter as the man seemed frozen unable to run for the door, to pick up the courage to try and warn someone anyone about the mistake they had made not that it would help.
"While my father was the starting point of humanity, you could say I was the starting point of mankind and industry. I watched how my descendants shaped the world with steal and fire and often wondered why. So many years passed as I hoped for someone to end my suffering as watched things crumble around me, as the gates of heaven became narrower and narrower and knowing, I had a hand in that. I'm sure you recall how the great book talks about my curse." Cain pulled back his hair showing a scar on the back of his neck that looked like a locked gate. "For killing my brother, I was marked for all to know and always know who I was and what I had done but all that could be done was for me to be shunned as I was blessed or cursed however you see it that none could harm me lest they suffer that same harm seven times as bad back upon them in recompense." Cain was laughing bitterly now as he recalled heaven branding him as his mother cried and he recalled the look in his father's eyes the man being unable to look Cain in the eye as he screamed in pain for help. "Perhaps heaven had hoped that I would be slain at some point, but it never happened and thus I simply grew, aged and suffered and then I died and thus there is the crux of the issue my father failed to take into account. My curse still took affect just not in the way anyone expected. The natural order of the world lead to my death and thus by mandate of heaven the natural order must suffer recompense and yet there was nothing to be done as I was condemned to hell, and I was contained until now. My father in his ignorance wished to save mother and I but due to my curse I could not forget, and mother dear mother became something worse."
There was a bitter look in Cain's eyes now as he looked at a wall in his cell, it simply crumbling under his glare a clear look at the red ball now revealed to be a seed containing Eve. This world is unstable, inherently so. Had Sera taken the time to seek council with the other seraphim she may have been able to make it work but this world had no core, it had no centre and likely would've collapsed in on itself. She should've questioned why it fixed itself, taken the risk of revealing secrets she wished hidden, but she didn't thus here we are. My mother became a core centre of this world. The pillar of its existence, as purgatory was meant for redemption, something had to shoulder all the sins, the dark ugly energy of the souls that taints all of humanity and what better to shoulder that burden than the first sinner, the one who allowed evil into the world. Thus I raged once I woke up, once I realised what had happened and I allowed my rage and anger to consume me as I worked to wake her up, to tear her free but at that point I didn't understand but now I do, for what is the point of freedom if my mother and I are trapped in non-existence if everything falls apart around us. So, after I was defeated, after you claimed me and my mother I decided to wait as Purgatory slowly but surely grew, connected and rooted itself to the other realms as the souls of this world fed my mother, as you fools sped up the process by spread and proliferating the demonic energy of sin. That man Victor came rather close in the end to getting me to talk earlier but for a man like him it was simple to break him, I told him the truth. Your world is false Peter, a second chance built by heaven to test dammed souls and so many of you fail its hilarious. You fall to the same vices even after your past was wiped and the slated cleaned. None of this is real, you failed already and now heaven thought you could change and yet you all proved you couldn't".
Peter felt like he was falling apart as he tried to understand, no he couldn't understand as he looked at the spiteful, angry being in front of him. A monster set on hurting all those who had hurt him and those he cared about. Who knew how unfair the world, the universe was but knew the rules and had the skill, power and ability to bend those rules and make the universe bend. "Why tell me all this? What do you have to gain?"
"You're broken souls Peter. This world is a cheap, rushed poor quality project where heaven thought it could take broken, damaged souls and put them back together. This broken project is also just a few steps from heaven just deciding to wipe the slate clean. You are all temporary but useful as I've learned so much in my time here and now heaven, hell and the seraphim will pay for what my family has suffered. As for why I'm telling you? Well, there isn't anything you could do to stop. I want you to know and understand just what is about to happen. You were a pleasant enough person to chat to and I did enjoy the confused looks on your face but mostly it's because I recognise your soul, Peter. I knew you before all of this, a con man who sought to make a life for themselves trying to live as honest a life as you could while trying to survive but a poor sale on your part dammed you. A second-hand car whose breaks failed leading to a massive pileup on a main road, didn't help that you decided to take the noose when you heard the news".
"Happen? As in now?" A loud cracking sound filled the air as Peter saw the seed cracking open as a new tree began to grow. The entire facility became to shake as it was torn apart from the inside out as the tree broke through floor after floor. Containment rooms shattered as contained mutants flooded out attacking anything in sight as people fled for their lives either to fall to tooth and claw or to be crushed under concrete.
Peter raced away his legs finally having regained their strength and courage as he grasped his chance of life and freedom knowing of a secondary escape chute he could take. It wouldn't be comfortable or safe, but it was a chance as he took out his phone desperately typing out a message and sending it to his family and friends hoping he could spare some of them the nightmare to come. Cain's laughter was all he could hear in his head as flashes of what had been wiped from his soul filled his mind. His nose filled with the smell of burning flesh and cries of pain and suffering. He was standing on a highway all of a sudden looking at a massive accident. He jumps to a motel room an empty bottle of pills and booze cans littering the floor as a tear-stained note and instructions for a lawyer on what to do with his money as he looked at a noose.
The scene broke as the other him took the step off the chair and the noose tightened around his neck. "Come on Peter you're not getting out of here alive. Why run, just sit down and accept what is to come."
"Just because you gave up Cain doesn't mean I will. What ever my past may be, whatever pain I caused that person still took steps to try and make things better even knowing he could never earn forgiveness. Peter recalled the note, how his money had been spread out to pay hospital bills, therapy, both emotional and physical and to pay out to the people who had been hurt from his callousness. Peter sent a second message out on his phone to the secondary site the spear had been moved to a last ditch warning as he stopped running and stepped into a somewhat functional computer room and started wiping any and all data on the spear from the network and even the other sites while also sending messages to people to get anything physical to the Faith, they were the only ones that could stop this, fight back.
"Really Peter. Breaking some code and data isn't going to slow me down. Everything you know about sin energy I taught you. There is nothing you can do with it that I can't do better or undo."
He was getting closer. Peter took out his phone as he recoded a message for his family telling them how sorry he was for failing them, for not protecting them or putting a stop to the madness that would soon engulf the world. "I'm sorry I can't be there with any of you to help you in the world you are about to inherit. I'll do my best to slow things down, to give you all a chance. Be safe and know that I love you all."
"Oh, isn't that sweet a last message of love. What can you do Peter? How can you slow me down when we both know not even those enhanced of yours could hold a candle to me." There was a viciousness to Cain as he slowly stalked towards Peter a piece of rebar in his hand.
"Let's find out shall we. Even if the world goes to hell at least you won't be there to take the reins immediately." Peter activated the fail safe. All around the complex hidden caches of explosives were activated and went off but with a twist as blessed energy flooded the facility the explosives having been augmented with the energy; they had been able to syphon off the spear. Peter grunted in pain as he blacked out when Cain in a rage smashed him over the head.
Cain tried to escape the facility down the path Peter had been taking only to realise he had been led into a dead end as hundreds of tons of stone and concrete and soil fell on top of him while also getting a good blast of blessed energy to the face. In his last moments of consciousness and likely life Peter only smiled knowing even for all he had helped doom his world he had done a bit to give people a chance to save it as a bright white light engulfed him.
/
No one knows what started it, but the second eruption was heralded with a new Tree growing though it simply stood still unmoving, sleeping yet unleashing many horrors into the world as sin energy spread out from it like a tree's leaves give off oxygen. Mutants that would eventually be called, demons or the afflicted flooded the world as governments fell, as military bases fell as madness took people in-mass. It would be years before anyone knew what truly had happened or at least managed to grasp pieces of it.
Peter's actions had given human souls of Purgatory a chance as while demons and afflicted took most of the world for itself, they had no unifying force no leader to direct or guide them for years and thus humanity had a chance to push back, make claims and create barriers not even the mightiest demon could break through. The Faith grew and thanks to the surviving scientists that had made their way to them and the knowledge, technology they had brought not to mention the spear. Humanity had a chance to build and prepare for Cain's return, but they at least had a fighting chance.
For Cain by the time, he managed to free himself he was not alone in power nor ability to shape sin and soul. He had rivals and challengers to face as many vied for control of the tree, the legions of demons and the world. Cain raged in anger at his revenge being stolen from him, and how he was now forced to work against these broken dolls of heaven as if they had any right to challenge him. He swore he would track down Peter's soul, the souls of his family and make their torment so great that no matter how many times the slate was wiped clean they would never forget.
/
In a white room Adam looked at a sleeping soul wondering what the hell he was going to do now to try and keep things on the down low. Despite everything souls were still managing to redeem themselves and leave Purgatory for Heaven, this Peter dude proved it, but those same souls could also reveal just how badly things were going. At the moment he had Peter and a few others in a dream state and planned to keep them a bit isolated from the other winners but that was only a stop gap solution at best and wouldn't last. Despite everything though Adam looked down and could only feel a pain in his heart as he learned Cain had not forgotten, hadn't been able to take his second chance and neither had Eve. He had simply given them more torment and he had even almost destroyed the souls of his wife and son. He couldn't fix it, he needed to fix things, he couldn't let Sera know, he could fix this. "Sorry Peter my man. Can't let you wake up just yet, but I promise you your family and their souls will be safe." Adam looked at the slowly growing mess in Purgatory and wondered just how he was going to fix this mess without informing Sera or getting help from any of the seraphim. A small feeling of dread in his chest as he flew into the cosmic gap between realms trimming away at the roots growing out of Purgatory knowing it was Eve reach out for something, anyone and feeling nothing but self-loathing as he all but cut away at her hand reaching out.
