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
/ scene transition
Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. These words ran through the head of a little girl as she rushed down a decrepit alleyway her eyes dashing over the piles of trash to make sure nobody was hiding in them to jump her or track her down and follow her. The girl paused at the edge of the alley sticking to the wall as she peaked around the edge to make sure no one was around to see where she was going or what she was doing. Once she was sure she was alone and that she was safe the girl carefully moved towards a half-collapsed house, only stopping in front of two shallow graves giving a respectful prayer. Prayer given she climbed through a large bush that had grown over the entrance to the basement of the house and started struggling to open a partially rusted steal door in the basement of the house. I should ask dad for some grease or oil, or I may not be able to open this door one day and I can't leave it open, or some animal may find this place, or the stuff inside could spoil.
The bunker was a lucky find for the girl, who had been near starving as the city her family was living in had been suffering a famine for a while and the warlock in charge seemed to have little care for the people under his control. She had been desperately digging through trash for anything and had managed to stumble onto the place quite by accident, it had been quite a scare when she had found the bodies of the couple who had owned the house simply lying down in their bed, a small note explaining that they just didn't have it in them to live in this new world and that they hoped who ever found their stock could put it to good use. The bunker had been a truly amazing find as not only was it full of supplies, but the thing had been blessed, the divine power keeping everything inside in good condition. The girl had been so happy at the time she had rushed home to tell her parents only for her dad to silence her and told her to keep it a secret for herself. The location was to be kept secret from everyone even them and that it was the girl's backup plan, her safe spot and that while the supplies could help the family, she needed to learn how to take care of her own needs. It had been a bit of a shock having her father scold her for wanting to share but the man also made a point of being rather forceful in asking if anyone had seen or followed her.
She hadn't looked or taken note of her surroundings and had felt saddened by the disappointed look on her father's face when he told her she needed to be smarter than that reminding her of the time a classmate had stolen from her when she had shown her one of her hidey holes for the times she had been lucky enough to get candy she could keep some for later. He handed her a small rucksack and told her to go back and fill it up with what she thought the household could safely keep and barter with, without bringing any undue suspicion upon them from their neighbours or the soldiers.
The supplies had been a god send managing to keep them afloat during the harsh days of the famine. Keeping them fed, acting as good tools to barter and for the occasional bribe but most importantly for the girl she didn't have to see the shallow brands of chains on her father for whatever extra job he did that he refused to talk about when money was tight. Her father had actually managed to buy the rights to the house putting it in her name for the day she would be on her own. It had cost quite a bit to, the family going hungry for a week as her father had refused to let her go for a supply run lest people figure out where she was going and how they were getting the extra supplies. Her bag full the girl began the long journey home as a sense of paranoia fell over her again as she kept looking around to make sure no one was spying on her.
/
"Mom! Dad! I'm home." She dropped her bag in the kitchen as she looked around the house. Her father wasn't home yet taking note that his boots were not at the door, her mother came out from the backyard large reflective black glasses on her face.
"Oh, Charlie your back early. How was class today?
"Classes were cancelled for today and likely for the next week. There was a large fire nearby not to mention the soldiers got into a big fight with a big monster that broke free of its cage. No idea why they were transporting the thing in public, but they were and when it got out it ended up doing quite a bit of damage to the schoolhouse not to mention some of our teachers were killed."
Her mother frowned for a moment as Charlie prepared to go to her room. Her mother took note of the supply bag in the kitchen and sighed. "Charlie, you know that you need to ask your dad when its ok to make runs… I'll sort these out, but rest assured we will be talking when your father gets back." Her mother handed her a pair of glasses similar to her own as she left for the kitchen. "While you have free time, please check on the cockatrice, they have been acting up recently and I'm a bit worried as no summoner or tamer can come around to do a check up for at least a month, our glorious ruler decided to have every summoner, charmer, tamer and binder he could find in the city come to the castle to do a job for him."
Charlie groaned but complied not wanting to risk getting grounded when she had free time from school. Working with animals was also something she enjoyed as they seemed to always like her and even the more violent ones tended to calm down around her. While didn't think much of the calming effect, she had apparently it seemed like a big deal as she recalled her mother telling her that she could likely get a job working as an official tamer. Keeping while beasts away from the city or helping to capture them and train them in the defence of the city. The idea didn't really appeal to Charlie all that much as she knew for a fact thanks to having overheard some older students gossiping about how afflicted were also valid targets for capture, and how it was even encouraged for them to be targeted. Charlie shivered at the idea of stealing away someone's free will even if their minds were all but mush due to the forced transformation from sin energy. Charlie calmed herself down as she looked over Medusa to make sure the cockatrice was alright. "Come on girl can you tell me what's wrong?"
No answer but she wasn't really expecting one. Simply talking seemed to help as Medusa seemed to calm down. Taking a small walk out of the shed and looking around Charlie spotted some damage to the fence around the house and felt frustrated and worried not sure if it was caused by a foolish thief or if she had to worry about a beast or mutant that had attempt to break into the property. She recalled stories talked about in class and while her family didn't live on the border of the city they were still close and she recalled her dad talking to her mother about a colleague who had died when a herd of minotaur had smashed up that entire section before any soldiers or defence force could react and event then it had taken hours before the situation could be handled.
She was about to go talk to her mom about the damaged fence when the door burst open, and her dad was carried in by some of his friends. Charlie rushed in very worried as she found her mother crying, and her dad covered in chain marks and his arm partially transformed into a large wolf-like claw. Her dad's friends where apologizing profusely, that they had tried to get her father to leave but he had been on a winning streak in the pits and the host had taken notice and that the big man himself had come down and wanted to see how long he would last. They apologised as they couldn't stay long as the host had only let them leave to get the man home to rest, that they needed to come back to entertain the big man until he had his fill of violence.
"Abreham you foolish man. You shouldn't have gotten into the fights. Money was tight but we would've found a way to manage we always did."
Charlie watched helplessly from the door not sure what to do seeing her mother break down and her father in such poor condition. All she could do was go and give her mother a hug to try and comfort her as they both started crying her mom promising her everything would be alright even though both knew she was unsure if her father would even recover. Even as they hugged each other and comforted each other Charlie's eyes were stuck on her fathers mutated arm, recognizing the symptoms of sin corruption, knowing her father was risking his mind and body and towing a very dangerous line.
Charlie made to promise her mom that she would do what ever she could to help, even stop going to classes, find a job to make sure her dad didn't have to go to what ever the pit was to make extra money. Her mom had put a quick end to that. "You are not going to chain yourself to us Charlie. This city won't last, Victor won't last, no warlock that arrogant and greedy does. You are going to get a good education and you're getting out of this city Charlie, to a better city, a smarter warlock that will see your talents for what they are or hopefully you'll managed to get passage to Purgatory city." There would be no further discussion her mother's mind made up as she sent Charlie to get some medicine as the two started to patch up the more visible wounds on her father's body that hadn't healed.
/
Waking up Abreham was a bit surprised to feel a soft comfortable surface beneath his back. Looking around he realised he was home, in his bed as he took note of Charlie and Mary asleep on a chair huddle together having fallen asleep looking after him. They look so peaceful right now… Mary is going to give me quite a talking to when she wakes up. Abreham knew he had pushed himself harder and longer than he should've, but something had been different. When he had started winning, he couldn't stop, he needed to keep going, to keep winning and to keep his blood flowing with that feeling of euphoria. I need to see the priest and hope he still has some water he can spare to help expunge the extra sin energy or supress it until the next time Purgatory sends an envoy with blessed items for the city. He was risking a lot having fought more often and taken on more sin energy than usual, but any suffering was worth keeping his family safe, people higher up on the food chain were getting suspicious and he needed to keep their eyes on him and not Charlie or Mary.
Noting that Mary and Charlie were waking up he put on a fake smile acting as if he was in much better shape than he actually was or felt. "Hey girls sorry if I worried you." Charlie jumped on him in joy giving a big hug that he had to strain not to flinch from the pain his body was still feeling. "Hey, don't worry Charlie I'm alright. I'm really sorry if I scared you." He gave her a return hug before patty her on the head and wiping away some of the tears in her eyes. He did shrink back a bit when he got a look at the look of absolute anger on Mary's face, and he knew they needed to talk. "Hey Charlie, why don't you go to the kitchen and make me some of your famous cockatrice eggs, a good meal would be really helpful right now." Charlie gave a big smile having been convinced that her dad was feeling better and once he was sure she was out of ear shot he turned to Mary ready for the verbal lashing he kind of deserved.
"What were you thinking!? You know how dangerous the fighting pits are. Why would you take the risk knowing you could end up a true afflicted. Victor barely allows any of the blessed items that Purgatory city hands out as gifts to the warlocks to be provided to the people and what little blessed power there is needs to be used sparingly until the next gift day arrives."
"I'm sorry Mary. The sin energy got the better of me, I couldn't keep my ego in check, and I also heard people wondering about some of the rarer items we trade with. I needed to make sure we had a good excuse for the things we had and having a good winning streak seemed like a good idea at the time. I just had the bad luck of being supplied with poor quality cursed chains, couldn't keep the transformation and sin energy contained properly." Abreham looked at the rather visible marks on his arms and the rather painful partial transformation of his one hand with a feeling of foreboding dread. Mary also looked at his mutated arm with a painfully clear amount of fear and worry. They both knew that things couldn't keep going like this and Charlie wasn't even of age yet to live on her own.
"We could ask Charlie to lead you to the bunker she found. The blessing in the storage room could help you."
"NO!" Abreham paused a bit shocked at how he had rebutted his wife's suggestion taking a moment to calm himself. "No Mary. That could end up sapping all of the blessed energy there just to fix me up. We and more importantly Charlie wouldn't be able to use it again not to mention how suspicious it would look if I was just suddenly fixed right up after all this." He pointed to his hand. "Victor and his goons know just how many blessed items they hand out to us lesser not to mention how he keeps track of what little blesses energy is kept in stock by the priests. If anyone finds out, we have been keeping this stash a secret you know we could be executed at the very best not to mention what could happen to Charlie with all of her gifts. No, I can tough it out for a few days."
Mary gave a sad nod knowing he was right but something else was bothering her as she recalled the conversation with his co-workers when they had dragged him into the house. "Abreham, why was Victor at the fighting pit? Some of the richer residents and even the soldiers visit from time to time, but Victor would never do so, thinking it beneath him."
No Abreham did look rather weary as he tried to explain to his wife just how bad things were outside of the city and on its borders, the conversation cut short as Charlie came in with a meal on a tray and just wanting to talk with her father. To enjoy some story time and have fun and laughter fill the house to help remove the heavy weight that had seemed to settle in the air. For now, the conversation was forgotten but there was an important thing to known, something was worrying Victor and that left both Mary and Abreham worried and scared about what could get under the skin of a warlock in such a way.
/
Living in a warlock run city is always a coin toss between basically being a citizen or being a slave and even then, the difference is paper thin depending on the condition of the city and the mindset of the warlock running it. Farm city was the well-known name of the city under Victor and while he hated the name it stuck due Victor being too lazy to think of a new name to act as his cities trademark and due to his city being a large provider of food type resources to other cities and even Purgatory. The average warlock city barely broke a population of fifty thousand and even the cities ruled over by the mage council barely broke a good 250K. Victor despite his young age and the relative newness of his city manage to reach half a million all on his own though this did come with draw backs.
Victor was well known for his arrogance and it showed with how except for the immediate area surrounding his castle most of his territory was falling apart and barely held together as he kept expanding his territory even when what forces he did have were barely able to keep the borders safe and even then it was a coin toss if an afflicted or monster managed to break through, sometimes even unnoticed until things started getting wrecked.
Victor was not well liked among the small community that made up warlocks. Not only was he young but he was also extremely arrogant and obnoxious, with an extremely abrasive personality and tended to get on the bad side of most people who were on the same level as he was or higher be it politically or by a basis of personal power. Many would be more than happy to see him dead, or his city fall but unfortunately his city was to important for it to fall so many people simply grit their teeth and dealt with the man no matter how annoying he was and provided extra support when it seemed like he needed it to defend his borders.
Despite his importance as a provider of raw goods another thing that allowed Victor to manage such a large amount of territory was the magic he was specialised in and that he focused on monopolising grabbing any mage showing any proficiency in the field of magic of summoning or binding or taming. Victor had a massive force of beasts and afflicted bound and enslaved to his will or the will of those who served under him. The man had an insane skill for crafting cursed items that could also allow any regular human to become demi-awakened, basically though no were near as strong as a true awakened. What no one could figure out was how the man had managed to capture and bind a true awakened, him having actually brought it to a meeting once, likely another reason he was willing to keep so many afflicted within his borders. Many of the other warlocks thought him a fool though knowing that no matter how good his grip was on the leash around the monsters, beasts and demons he kept as his attack dogs, one day his grip would become loose enough be it from arrogance or forgetting just how dangerous his 'pets' were, and they would turn on their master. Many were waiting for that day preparing for the chance to steal Victor's territory for themselves when the man took a step to far over the line and couldn't take it back.
For Victor himself the man was a bundle of paranoia, which was normal for a warlock, but it was off the charts when looking at Victor. The man seemed to see to always be on edge ever since he had captured his pet awakened because Victor personally knew how lucky he had been. The thing had only recently regained any sense of sanity still being somewhat lost between the mind of an animal and the mind of a person and having no real control over its power. Having the awakened under his thumb allowed him a great deal of power and control but he was always working to add more chains, more weights more bindings to keep it under his thumb, bound to his will.
"What a dangerous game you seem to be playing." A hollow whisper of a voice seemed to float out of no where Victor jumping to his feet looking around as the temperature in the room seemed to drop rapidly as a misty humanoid form floated into his chambers. "I must say I've enjoyed watching you play but I wasn't so amused when you took one of my chosen as your pet." The figure pointed at the half woman half spider asleep on the floor of the chamber they were in. Every spell and cursed item being used to bind it shattering at once while the misty figure laughed at the sheer terror overcoming Victor who was about to call out for help, but it simply held a figure to what could be its lips "Shhhhh."
No sound came out of Victor's mouth, no sound could escape the chamber they were in. "Now that we can't be interrupted why don't we have a chat." The figure pointed to a spare chair in the room though Victor seemed apprehensive to the idea of sitting in it even though it was his chair. "Oh, there is no need to be worried Victor. This form is merely a projection. I don't have the time to move this far from my territory to kill a simple warlock for something as petty as taking one of my awakened."
Victor was shaking now, awakened never really formed communities, never had any real bond among their kind. The only reason for this one to care was if it wasn't simply just an awakened, the fact that it couldn't leave its territory was what really tipped him off. Most awakened didn't care about territory traveling as they liked making were every they decided to sleep or live theirs until they moved on or were forced to move. This however was different this thing in front of him was a lord. "Who, who are you? Why is a lord here? Why care about a simple awakened like this?"
"Because its mine and you stole it." There was a sharp hissing tone as the mist seemed to engulf the room entirely before returning to a humanoid shape. I am Envy and you stole from me, me who all things should belong to!" the misty being seemed to pause as it calmed itself down. "I do apologise for that outburst. That's more Greed's style but then he and I are always fighting and is the only reason you don't have an army coming down on your head, but you can pay me back for this affront, so I don't have my child here turn you inside out or become a nest for her future children."
"What stops me from simply killing this awakened right now? its no where near as strong as it could be yet and after being under my control for so long much of its power having atrophied. Plus, you are just an illusion and despite what power you have shown off, this projection doesn't have the ability to kill me." Victor felt his confidence returning as he stood up in front of the projection of the lord. Slowly large ant like beasts arrived chewing threw the walls as they ate through the barrier that had been erected around the chamber. "You seem to forget this is my castle and despite all your power I'm the one in charge here." Victor felt relieved to see his beasts had arrived to support him as he allowed his magic to flow through his body as flames covered his hands.
Envy looked at the man stunned for a moment by the sheer arrogance she was seeing and then she started laughing. "Oh, I wish I had your sense of self worth and self-importance when I was still human but what's a girl to do. Still if you refuse to pay the debt you oh me than know this, I will come to collect my dues human." In an act of spite instead of simply dispelling the projection the mist form of Envy exploded outwards destroying the roof of the tower chamber they had been inside the lord's laughter echoing out for all to hear even if they had no idea behind the context.
The visit broke the sense of security and calm Victor had as he called in every favour, he had with other warlocks to call in the back up he would need. He had his soldiers collect every homeless and workless person they could get their hands on throughout his territory anyone not being productive in maintain his lands and had them flung into dungeons and purposely infected with sin energy forcing them into monstrous afflicted. He went to fight pits looking for talent to join his army for the fight he knew was to come and that was worth more with a mind than the brute power of regular mindless afflicted. Every mage, wizard or shaman he could pull into service were handed cursed items from his personal collection so they could unleash the full might of their magical knowledge without the risk of transforming into mindless and useless afflicted. Hunters spread out across the land capturing the most powerful and dangerous beasts they could for Victor to bind and enslave into service for the coming war.
The mood in the lands under Victor had changed as people took note of longer work hours and higher quotas. How people were disappearing off the streets and how the blessed items given to the churches to spread among the people had been lowered even more. Mostly bound beast and golem constructs monitored the streets as soldiers had moved to the borders of the territory. There was also a mass migration of low skill workers to the borders as massive construction programs had been set in place as bunkers and supply lines were being built and then fortified. Traps and trails were set up and mapped for soldiers and defensive lines and trenches were dug in massive numbers. Victor had stopped any form of expansion and had instead focused everything into fortifying everything he had.
While the mood for his citizens was a sombre and depressive one as their hard lives became even harder, for Victor his mood was much more erratic though hopeful despite the dire situation he was in. In the man's mind despite his fears, he had managed to chase off a lord and that led to many other rather dangerous ideas growing in his head as he prepared for war with said lord. I already managed to bind an awakened if I win here my name will be greater than any of the other warlocks, greater than even the council. The man was terrified into an odd form of insanity as despite all the risks all he could see was the opportunities victory could bring him. What if I don't just push Envy back? What if I can kill that thing? I have more than enough blessed items from Purgatory. It will be the first confirmed kill of a lord ever since the arrival of the angels in the first Eruption. What if I took their power for my own. The idea festered in his mind as he thought about just how much more power he would have, how much more land, more territory, more everything and then not even the council would be able to stand against him. He could see it now, not only conquering Envy but becoming Envy, taking their name, title power ascending to become an awakened, a lord.
Victor stopped leaving his personal chambers with his orders simply becoming letters and notes he pushed out from under his door while he spent his days experimenting on and studying his captured awakened. He would learn the secrets that had been kept from mankind, from him that would allow him to rise to power, to rise above even the lords themselves never knowing or seeing he was being watched as while arrogant for a being of their power Envy wasn't stupid though the situation was more complicated for the lord as another of her kind sat next to her. A deal had been struck; a bargain made though much to her annoyance it had been to her disadvantage. She needed Greed kept busy with how he was always vying for her lands, and this was the only way she could set that up even though she knew it would bite her in the ass later all deals made with Wrath ended like that.
"I have your assurance that Greed will not make a move on my lands while I deal with this fool?"
Wrath laughed a cold cruel laugh but one that held no sense of humour to its tone at all. "You wound me Envy. I always keep my word and my forces are always spoiling for a good fight."
Envy wasn't assured knowing just how unruly and disorderly the lands ruled by wrath were with the only reason none of the other lords made a move against him being the sheer size of territory Wrath controlled not to mention the sheer number of afflicted and awakened under his command and that for some reason Sloth had joined with him. Wrath and Sloth had been the first to be known as awakened and that gave them the other lords a level of wariness with how little they actually knew, except for maybe Pride. Pride was always looking for a weak point a chance to attack or hurt Wrath in some manner, there was mutual history there though neither spoke about it. A deal with Wrath gives me safe passage to move against this foolish human without having to worry about Greed but I'm risking Pride moving against me if he things I'm working with Wrath in any way. Pride's territory wasn't close, but Envy recalled just how vicious the lord could be remembering the site of independent awakened that had tried to make deals with Wrath against Pride.
"If your worried about Pride, don't be. I have something else in mind that will keep that fool busy. Come now Envy even if you don't trust me, you can trust my power. You know I'm good for any deal I make, and I can keep my end." Wrath smiled as he took note that while she distrusted him Envy wanted her petty revenge more. "So, is it a deal?" Wrath took his true form, a somewhat regular human shape even if he was more of a giant of a man. Envy sighed knowing they would likely regret their choice taking on the form a humanoid form of shattered glass that had been forced together in a human shape shaking Wrath's hand to seal the deal.
/
Alone as Envy had left to start moving her forces Wrath smiled as he looked at his hand. The pieces were starting to move in the places he needed. "Oh, father your petty revenge against Samael has provided me with the investment I need to take control of this wretched realm from these annoying gnats." Cain laughed at how he was moving everyone around like pawns on an invisible chess board, a game being played yet everyone else was at a disadvantage due to how little they knew or not even knowing they were part of his game. "Soon the child will be forced to start awakening her powers and then I'll be able to break a hole in the walls you built, and mother and I will be free and then heaven and hell will know our wrath!" Magical projections of Hell and Heaven formed in the palms of his hand before he crushed them as he laughed in a twisted joy at his plans finally being able to move again as he prepared to remove all the annoying pieces off of the proverbial board.
