Balin woke up in his PJs, but soon looked around to see he was in a different bed and a different room, since Loona wasn't there snuggling with him.
Soon, the little boy yawned like he knew he was in the right place.
He then hopped out of bed and opened up the curtains, showing a city full of buildings outside the windows, a bright blue sky instead of a red one, and a beach far in the background.
He was back in the mortal realm, and in a massive city in Australia called the Gold Coast.
Balin soon walked into the hotel room kitchen to see his parents quietly making lattes, and sat at the table where they prepped him a nice breakfast. It was toast spread with a strange but culturally-iconic condiment called... uh...
Vegemite!
Just ask the jingles, they're more bonkers than I.M.P's.
After breakfast, the family set out for a day of adventure. They left their room, went through a shortcut that lead to a shopping mall next door, and walked out of the mall to what was believed to be a massive promenade.
A street full of shops, restaurants, places of entertainment galore, as if it was another mall.
The Johnson family went to all kinds of cool places along this 'pedestrian mall'. An arcade, where Balin won a contest of Dance Dance Revolution. A donut shop, where his mother, Raven, blew bubbles in her milkshake to make him laugh, even though she was against sugar. A beer garden, where his dad, Elton, drank a glass of beer watching a game of football.
And finally, a local store selling movies, toys, and balloons, which the parents drew Balin away from with nervous smiles.
And just in time, for good reason. (The store was called the 'Condom Kingdom')
The next place the family visited was the city's landmark, WB Movie World, featuring rides and entertainment celebrating the 100-year-old film studio such as the Scooby-Doo! Spooky Coaster and the Sylvester & Tweety Bird Cages.
Balin's personal favourite was a hot-seat experience where film academy students, in partnership with the park, got some onsite work filming scenes for big-time movies, with the help of any visiting volunteers. Including him.
Finally, the family walked across another city landmark. The Surfers Paradise beach.
While Raven and Elton collected shells, being marine life enthusiasts, Balin walked along the sandbar barefoot as the waves touched his feet, then laid down as if the sand was like snow and let the saltwater gush all over his body.
FADE BACK TO REALITY:
The gushing sensation in Balin's dream turned out to be Loona's bushy black-and-white tail fur, which he was still snuggled up in after his first night in Hell.
Both of them hadn't let go of each other since they fell asleep.
The hellhound was snoozing like a horse with her jaws open, releasing little snorts every now and then. But Balin didn't mind, considering he was too nestled into her fur to hear her.
Soon, the alarm on her phone started vibrating like a dog-whistle, and with her sensitive hearing, Loona woke up bearing her sharp teeth as she yawned like a lion, still laying down on her mattress.
She was about to get up, until she felt some sort of touch. She quietly seethed in anger for a bit until she saw that it was Balin with his arms still around her waist. Blushing having done that by accident, she then titled her head in surprise like a normal dog.
Looking at him smile in his sleep, Loona slowly smiled and softly rubbed his head, trying to nudge him awake.
"Balin..." she softly sang. "Hey kiddo, come on, time to wake up now."
The human kid stirred and rolled over on his other side, yawning like a puppy and not wanting to wake up yet.
"Five more minutes mommy... please...?" he groggily said.
Loona knew that feeling from anywhere and chuckled quietly. "Heh. Impressive."
Secretly, this was all a cute sight for her.
"Ohh... does my baby wanna sleep in?" she cooed in her normal voice, trying to act like his mother. "Wrapped in my tail all day?"
She then booped his nose, making them both giggle before Loona decided to sleep in too.
As she slept, the hellhound put on a grin, having got an idea of how to make the boy's first morning in Hell a surprising one.
A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER...
The pentagram sun in Hell had risen, and Balin woke up yawning and finding that Loona wasn't in bed with him this time.
But there was a note on the side of the bed saying:
"Mornin' Balin. I'm just heading to work 4 a bit, but I'll B back to check on U later. In the meantime, Y don't U have some breakfast for the day? It's on the table in the living room. C U later, little dude. "
Balin's heart melted knowing Loona would keep her word like she said she would.
Normally, she wouldn't even keep one for I.M.P, except by standing against the wall somewhere and texting/playing on her phone. Unless they needed her for her brute strength.
But luckily, she promised not to be that kind of pissed-off someone for him. So for her to do any of this for the kid without any guardian training was outstanding.
The boy walked out of the room and to the dining room table in his PJs, seeing the red sky outside Loona's apartment window. It was even brighter than it was when Loona brought him home last night, but he thought both colours were beautiful.
As he was about to have his breakfast, two slices of toast with Nutella, he heard some quiet low humming going on in the background somewhere. He looked around left to right to see what the noise was, before shrugging off to eat his toast.
Little did he know, those sounds came from Loona, who hid in the spare room watching him on all fours and growled with a toothy grin.
Her surprise I was talking about? She wanted to prank him with a surprise hellhound attack.
Once he finished one slice of toast, Balin heard the growling again. But this time, they sounded closer. So he quickly but gently got up from the table and crept around the house to find whatever was in the apartment, listening and waiting to hurt him.
He checked the bathroom to see if it was the plumbing, but it wasn't.
He checked to see if the small television set was buffering, but it wasn't that either. And thank God for that.
OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT...
A group of demons outside a TV store were watching the episode of a morning sitcom called...
"Sorry I Fucked Your Dad, I Thought He Was Your Mom."
"Brought to you by Vox Studios!" announced the voice-over.
BACK IN THE APARTMENT...
Balin then searched through the kitchen, while Loona prowled her way out of the spare room and under the table.
Then, the suspense began to grow.
As soon as the boy almost let his guard down, Loona emerged from the table, got on her hind legs, and growled louder by the second with a wicked grin, standing right behind him.
But before she could strike without him knowing, Balin picked her up and turned just in time.
"Surprise!" he exclaimed, cheekily using jazz hands.
"RAAWWRRR!" roared Loona.
She scooped him up into her arms and spun the boy around before cradling him like a baby.
"My, my, my." she snarled. "Human meat!"
Loona began shaking him back and forth in her arms like a rag doll, or a chew toy, or one of her targets in this case.
"What are you doing in my apartment?!" she boomed in a funny voice to make Balin giggle, then shrugged. "Aw well, time to eat."
She then proceeded to give the boy love-bites on his ears and on his neck, now making him laugh and squirm.
"Mmm... tasty boy..." she moaned.
"Loona! P-Please, stop!" laughed Balin.
"Loona? Who is this Loona you're talking to, huh?" she cooed, unsheathing her claws and tickling his tummy without scratching him. "Tickle? Tickle, tickle? Tickle, tickle, tickle!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Soon, Loona stopped having fun for now and put him back on the ground to recover from their laughter.
"How'd you sleep for your first night in Hell, Balin?" she asked him, gently pinching his cheek.
"I slept great Loona." replied the boy. "Thank you for wrapping your tail around me. It was the best sleep ever!"
Loona then chuckled hearing that from the kid as she gave him a hug, which then made him blush.
"I-I don't want to sound weird saying that!" he defended himself a little. "But... it really was like a blanket. So soft and so warm."
"That's okay, kiddo." replied Loona. "I mean, it must've enjoyed it too."
She then stood up and pointed at her wagging tail, before grabbing it and giving it a noogie to make it stop. This made Balin laugh a little more.
"Then again, I did have that awesome dream." he said.
"What about, kid?"
"I was on a vacation to the Gold Coast with my family."
"Ooh, that sounds fun." Loona smiled. She had no fucking idea what the Gold Coast was, but she knew it was something good.
"Yeah. It was." said Balin, sighing with a little melancholy.
Loona's ears drooped a little seeing him looking sad like this. If there was anything she hated more than crying with your head lowered, it was sighing with your head lowered.
"Oh, buddy." Loona comforted him with some shoulder rubs. "You thinking about your parents?"
"Yep. I dreamt all about them. And the last vacation we took before this." the boy replied.
"Hey now, c'mon, don't think about it like that." she smiled again, rubbing his cheek. "You were with your family, and that's all that should matter."
"Really?" asked Balin, looking up at her.
"Mm-hmm. You know what should be a good idea?" she asked next. "If you think about all those happy memories you've had with them so far, use them to make new ones here. Because I'll be right here, holding you for them, reminding you they're still here, ...and loving you."
"Okay. I guess you're right." answered Balin, with a small smile. "You really are a good girl, Loona."
Loona giggled before hugging him. "Thanks. And you really are a sweetie."
Balin then returned the hug giving a happy sigh.
"OK, kiddo, finish off your breakfast before it gets cold. We got a big day ahead of us."
"Alright." the boy then went to the table and remembered something. "Hey... you made me breakfast 'right' before I got up, didn't you?"
"Uh-huh." Loona grinned. "I sensed the time you'd awake and got right to work."
"B-But how?" asked Balin. The hellhound then pointed at her snout, indicating she could sniff when anyone's about to wake up. "Oooh...!"
"OK, eat up while it's still hot." she chuckled, before giving him a lick to the cheek.
They were both really starting to love those, as Loona loved hearing him giggle and blush afterwards the most.
MEANWHILE...
Outside the apartment, as the demons were walking among the streets for work or looting, a teenage-looking figure walked all the way to Loona's apartment, a couple minutes away.
She was evading the crowd as much as she could with her hoodie glued to her head, like she didn't want anyone knowing who she was.
Good thing nobody in Hell would care about disguises.
When she arrived, she stealthily tried to grab the doorknob before doing so successfully and slithering inside the building. And after sneaking past an empty reception area, she ran all the way to the elevator and closed it before anyone could come in or come back.
While the elevator went up, the figure took her hoodie off, revealing her to be...
Octavia Ars Goetia. Stolas' 17-year-old daughter and heir to the family throne.
It was usually like her to leave the home she lived in with butlers, magic, and exotic plant life from Earth such as Venus fly-traps. But this time was different.
The elevator to Loona's level opened and she began walking and fidgeting with her talons, like she was anxious and wanted to tell someone something that was on her mind.
She had recently disowned Stolas for his relationships with Blitzø that kept the company alive, that made her think he'd chosen him over her and her mother, Stella. Even though they did break up beforehand, she could sense a little sorrow in his heart and forgiveness in hers, and thought communicating with her first friend was the key.
After all, the first time these two met, was at a planetarium in L.A where Loona had tried to sniff her down, but who smells anything in Los Angeles?
As Via used her phone to track hers, she accidentally bumped into an asthmatic demon, causing him to hyperventilate and fall out the window with a Goofy scream, shattering the glass and everything.
She then ran from the scene until she bumped into Loona's apartment room door, making her phone's tracker go berserk.
But before she could open the door, she heard laughter coming from the other side. She was so confused. She never heard Loona laugh once in her life yet.
With her keen sense of sight turned on, being an owl demon and all, Via peaked through the see-through hole and was soon gobsmacked by what she was seeing.
She saw the hellhound leading Balin, who appeared to be a human child from the mortal realm, from the living room to the bathroom.
Seeing this unusual sight, Via slowly backed away, deciding to leave them be for a bit and perhaps come back later.
Luckily, she wasn't that surprised to wanna tell anyone about this.
...
Well, not 'yet.' But maybe not.
A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.