A/N: And another chapter! :) Christmas coming soon, I might try something for the holidays. :P
DieKleineHexeCapraiaOfTheReich;
"Thanks for the review! Much appreciated. Now, regarding knowledge of how Heaven works when it comes about Charlie; Yes and No. She does understand the concept of being good and being evil and what separates both, but it's clear that what she learned may not be the entire truth. It is not revealed under what circumstances Lucifer fell. It's not entirely out of possibility that he may have biased views regarding anything about Heaven, or maybe not. It's too much to speculate and there's no basis to set the bar since the show is too far away from addressing any of that. No, Collin wouldn't think of Charlie as a Fallen, he wasn't allowed to know much about Lucifer even while in Heaven, I made sure to mention it on a previous chapter as a taboo of sorts. There's a ton to build on this, and I cannot just wait for the show to catch up on that kind of stuff anyway."
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"Ok, I gotta ask... which ones?"
"What?"
"Remember what you said back at the hotel? About you committing sins?"
"Hum, yes? I did."
"When and which ones?"
"Heh, well... both of them happened with you."
"What? Are you saying that you sinning is my fault?!"
"Because it sort of is? I mean... Heaven has issues with people drinking and having... physical affairs without being engaged. Besides, I wasn't given much of a choice."
"Oh, fuck Heaven! Having a bit of fun ain't a fucking sin, they can suck my dick!"
Collin bursted out laughing. Loona sounded so silly and obnoxious that he couldn't help but find it extremely humorous. He was glad they were having a bit of privacy at the moment. Octavia, much to their surprise, has a fair amount of money on her, courtesy of being a Goetia with a generous credit card on her backpack. She got tired of screwing around the streets and decided to take her to one of her favorite places at the edge of town. The place resembled, in Collin's modest opinion, a rather luxurious motel. Although the amount of formality coming from the staff that worked there made it clear that this wasn't a place to cause trouble of any sort. Collin even took notice of some Hellhounds working as security, which surprised him initially. He never wondered what could Hellhounds do for a living in Hell, surely they were on the more hard labor side of things thanks to their strength. Loona's work as a receptionist really didn't seem like an ideal fit now that he thought about it with more care. It would explain her excessive amounts of energy at the office, she just was not meant to sit on a chair for too long.
Not that he kept dwelling on such thoughts for too long, not half an hour later and Loona was just easing herself into a pool of warm water alongside a rather embarrassed Octavia. The Owl was using light clothing for the occasion, but Loona's lack of care for bathing clothes left her somewhat in shock. Obviously the Hellhound took notice of this right away.
"Oh, relax girl! This just feels too good to be worrying about anything else! What? Never been near another woman before?" She joked with a huge smirk on her face.
"Not quite. Is just... this feels a bit... invasive. I mean, I wasn't even sure why we decided to do this so soon." She replied sheepishly, which surprised Collin. He did not expect the Owl to retract into shyness, but he couldn't blame Octavia acting like that when a huge naked Hellhound eased herself into a pool of warm water right next to her.
"What? Oh, right. You don't get out much, do you? Eh, whatever, not that you have to worry about anything. Me and Collin are comitted. Unless you wan-
"Loona! She's seventeen!" Collin quickly blurted out, looking affronted at such suggestion. The Hellhound merely shrugged.
"So? This is fucking Hell, no one cares about that shit. Not like she's that young either. I wouldn't say it if I felt wrong about it." She immediately replied with a rather annoyed look back at him. "I'm the last person you should be worrying about doing that kind of fucked up shit. Octavia ain't a kid."
"The law says th-
"What law? The Human law? From which country? Or state? Or whatever excuse you can think of? Here there is no excuses. I had to fight on my own since I was young, don't give me that crap about bullshit law. I had none of it."
Collin's expression was of being punched, recalling Loona's subtle implications about child trauma during her days at the orphanage. He felt like a moron for forgetting such detail, although he still worried about Octavia's innocence.
"Fine, sorry for bringing that up. Still, I don't want this to cause us to suffer a rather violent death if her father finds out." He pointed out rather sharply. That seemed to do the trick as Loona subtly moved a few inches away from the Owl.
"Okay, okay, I know when to not argue with the obvious." She relented with a sigh. "Still, choice is up if you ever feel like giving it a try. We promise to not bite." She added with a mischievous grin. Collin growled lightly, to which Loona rolled her eyes at. "Well, at least I won't." Octavia merely blinked, stunned by such bodacious offer.
"Huuuh... I will... think about it." She replied meekly, looking desperate to steer the conversation into safer waters.
"So, did that weird dude fixed your shit?" Loona casually asked, slowly coming near Collin. The wolf tensed up as he felt something touch him under the water on a rather sensitive spot. He threw an unamused glance at the Hellhound, but Loona bounced his disapproving look effortlessly. He was not gonna let her play him like that in front of Octavia.
"Yes." Collin replied curtly, picking up his phone, which now gave off a rather strange vibe as the exterior had darkened considerably. The wolf wasn't happy that Alastor messed up with the software, making everything displaying on the screen to fit Hell's style, even the ominous symbols from the Apps were looking exaggeratedly cursed. He couldn't get over the fact that most Apps installed in the device turned into cheap, plagiarized, versions of their original selves. Sinstagram? Fallenfiction? Twatter? DeviousArt? Evildit? And the worst of all; Fuckbook. "This is a disgrace."
Loona snorted.
"What? It looks to be working fine." She said while resting her head at his shoulder while looking at the screen. "Say, you should customize your accounts and stuff, so I can add you." Loona picked her phone from the nearest hanging shelve. "Here, you can just copy my contacts so I don't have to say it all the time."
Collin slowly picked up her device, scrolling hesitantly at the very few numbers she had saved on her list. Yet, as he accidentally pressed the wrong spot, Loona's Sinstagram opened, revealing a more generous number of people she seemed to follow.
"Huh... who is Hellboy sixty nine?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, staring at the avatar of a rather flamboyant looking Hellhound. Loona didn't reply right away as she looked to the side, seemingly embarrassed.
"Ah, no one, err, I was just, you know, looking around these days and stuff. It was before we met." She explained with a hint of nervousness. "Is no one important!" Collin nodded slowly as he kept checking the rest of the follows.
"Vortex, Vero... wait! What?! Verosika Mayday?!" He shouted in disbelief. Loona blinked, stunned that the wolf recognized one of her favorite singers. "How this can be?! I just saw her few weeks ago in the Human re-
Collin paused. Looking at both girls in utter disbelief.
"Why is she allowed to trespass into the other realm and, to make things even more aggravating, actively work in both of them?! Is she insane?!"
"Huh, what's the big deal?" Loona asked, not understanding why Verosika making a career in both realms would be a problem. Even Octavia wasn't sure what could be the issue. She merely shrugged in response to the commotion.
"Oh, no, nothing indeed. Just you better hope she won't get found out by an Angel at any point, considering they go off in-
But Collin's muzzle shut forcefully, making him wince in pain as his tongue got caught in between his teeth. Thankfully he didn't lose the grip on the phone, avoiding the fate of the device falling into the pool.
"Collin? You okay?" Loona immediately asked, raising her head as she felt his body tremble abruptly. Her heart skipped as she saw a trail of blood coming out of his mouth. "Collin?!"
He raised his free hand to placate her sudden panic. His jaw slowly loosened as he lost the will to keep talking. He focused his thoughts elsewhere, remembering that the fundamentals of the silencing contract required him to do so. Octavia looked a bit spooked, her eyes looking around for any type of suspicious activity, one hand raising timidly as she powered a spell to find any potential intruders.
"That... really hurt." He said slowly, only to have blood pouring of his mouth at a bigger rate. He admonished himself for the carelessness before casting a heal to seal the biting wound. "I forgot... this... heavenly curse. Can't think of any other way to describe it."
"Wait... is that the thing that you told me about? That you can't say certain stuff?" Loona asked, the memory of this topic coming back at her rather vaguely. She held his face with her hands, slowly rotating his mouth while keeping his jaw partially open. Collin raised an eyebrow, it felt weird to be examined in such a intrusive way, but definitely it was not worse than a day in the dentist's office back at Heaven. He never understood why in heavens health care is a thing when they did not suffer from decaying. "You look okay now. Still a bit of blood on your fur, wash that out before it dries. Trust me on that, it fucking sucks when it happens."
"Huh, thanks. I will do that." He replied distractedly, his stomach was making rumbling noises again, which meant he needed to feed soon, otherwise there would be issues. Collin was still trying to get around the fact his body needed better care, suddenly he understood how awful it was to be in a difficult financial position and have to rely on others to survive with basic needs. He always pitied humans that suffered with poverty, but never understood the full extent of that struggle before. It was both humiliating and depressing.
They had left Hazbin Hotel in a hurry thanks to Loona, but the wolf still managed to talk with Charlie while getting her number. She was adamant for him to return soon, apparently she had hundreds of things to ask about Heaven and whatnot, even offering him a job and a place to stay rent free. He was very tempted but Loona clearly was not having any of it. He tried to convince the Hellhound to take on a job there aswell, yet she so promptly refused that it got him by surprise.
His head was starting to ache with so many things to keep up with, and all the craziness from the past three days was starting to catch up with his body. He let out a pained sigh as he allowed himself to sunk deeper into the pool until only his head was above surface. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the feeling of the water gently compressing his body. Unlike that time in the bathtub with Loona, this time he actually could enjoy the moment without feeling overly stressed out. He was so thankful that Loona and Octavia let him be, perhaps taking note of how exhausted he appeared.
Loona had snatched back her phone, looking invested on the device for some time until Octavia coughed rather dramatically to get her attention.
"What?" She asked dubiously.
"We gotta talk about you conjuring portals, or did you forget?" She replied back with a frown. The Hellhound merely shrugged.
"What's the big deal? It's just a spell." She waved it off without concern but the Owl Demon shook her head.
"No, it's way more than that. Those kind of spells require a lot of energy to be executed properly. The reason the book exists is not only for the formula of the spell, but also as a way to storage a massive amount of energy into it. Not even my father could do it as randomly as you just did so effortlessly."
Now that definitely got her attention, even Collin perked his ears into the conversation.
"Huh? That can't be. I mean, sure. I can do some spells here and there." Loona said while trying to think of a reason to justify her abilities. "I learned few things on my own."
"Illusion spells are far weaker than the conjuring of a cross-dimensional portal!" Octavia rebuked with some exasperation. "A Hellhound, under no circumstance, should be able to perform that spell."
Loona was unsure of what to say, she didn't even knew that conjuring anything could be such a big deal, not that she tried before anyway.
"You seem way more bothered by the fact that a Hellhound did it than anything else."
Octavia was completely taken aback by this, looking at the wolf with astonishment. Loona didn't react, she merely glanced to her side, giving Collin a rather bewildered look.
"What?! No! It's not that! I ain't... I don't see Hellhounds like that." She immediately replied, looking flustered all of sudden. Collin snorted, clearly not believing her. "I don't think less of Loona just because of what she is, I'm just saying that it is expected that her kind to not have such powers. It is what I learned when growing up."
"Wording." Collin calmly said in return.
"Huh?!"
"You said; 'A Hellhound', rather aggressively I may add. That only implies there's some kind of prejudice from your part. You could've said; 'Normally Hellhounds cannot', which would've been a more neutral way to say it."
Octavia stood speechless for a moment, she couldn't fathom that this wolf just schooled her on etiquette. Loona was trying her best to not smirk. As much she thought sweet, but unnecessary, for Collin to defend her over such a minor detail, she couldn't help but find it funny to see a Demon being educated by an Angel.
"Yeah, no sweat. Octavia ain't that kind of jerk. She's cool in my book." Loona waved the issue off without any further consideration. Octavia looked surprised, but thankful nonetheless. Collin shrugged.
"Just making sure. Honestly, I don't think I can stomach that kind of treatment. I know I'm supposed to be good and all, but I don't feel generous towards people that treat others like lesser beings. It's... infuriating."
"If you say so, but I don't think you're the type of guy to blast someone just cause they're grade A assholes." The Hellhound replied, raising a rather challenging eyebrow at him. Collin huffed.
"I know few other spells." He replied ominously, to which Loona and Octavia could only react with a doubtful glance. "I'm not into gratuitous violence, but if the situation requires... I can defend myself far better than using rudimentary weaponry."
"That I will pay to see." Loona shook her head, but the weight of her soaked hair made it difficult for her neck to move smoothly. "Urgh, I need to dry up soon. Wanna help me? We can go get some food too. As much I enjoy this kind of stuff, I don't wanna spend too long in water."
"Sure? I will follow you out when you're done. What about you, Octavia?" He asked, addressing the bird more gently.
"I will do the same. Might wanna call Dad to assure him I'm good and all of that. He can get quite jumpy if I go silent for too long when I'm not around." She explained with a sigh. "I get that he worries, but he needs to chill a bit. I won't be living with him for much longer anyway... say, may I ask you something?" She added hesitantly. Collin nodded quickly. "Since you came here... are you not scared? I mean, this is Hell. Horrible things and all of that. I would think an Angel would be too afraid to even think about going anywhere or talking with anyone."
"Well, that is a fair question. To be honest? I am scared." Was his genuine reply, to which Octavia tilted her head in confusion.
"But... you are here, with me and Loona. What makes this... okay to you?"
Collin sighed. He couldn't blame her for making a rather logical approach to question the reasons that an Angel could have to stay in Hell.
"Nothing about this is okay. Yet... what even is definition of right or wrong at this point? I'm not too sure... that line blurred tremendously since I got here. I get common sense towards needless killing, torture, abuse and few other things. But... being here? Talking with you two? Being this close to Loona? I don't think is wrong at all. Actually, feels as natural as it would on a regular day back at the Human Realm. I mean, unless you two want to kill me..." He paused, looking at them expectantly, but both girls merely shook their heads. "If no harm is meant then why there should be any issues?"
Loona and Octavia shared another concerned look.
"Well, no? Yet, there will be plenty that will try to harm you, really bad. I won't always be at your side to help you out." Loona pointed out, giving him a worried glance.
"Don't worry, I will be working on something to assure my safety. Besides, I could use with practicing more with guns, I think. Not really desirable, but necessary. Perhaps I could ask Moxxie about it?" He wondered aloud.
"Pff, sure. If anyone gets guns, is him. Now how abo-
Loona was interrupted by her device shaking and ringing a tone that surprised Collin.
"Is that... heavy metal?" He asked, the edges of his muzzle bending upwards slowly.
"Yeah, yeah. Not everyone is only into pop stuff." She dismissed while taking the call. "Who is... huh, yeah. Sure, what's your... okay... I will tell him. The price? About... then why you...urgh, sure. Yeah, fine. Later!" She shut the call abruptly with clear annoyance. "Fucking twat. I guess we just got another client. Wants a couple dead."
Collin blinked. He had almost forgot the kind of job Loona is involved with.
"Does this mean you will partake on it? Blitzo did promote you after all." Collin asked carefully. Loona didn't reply right away, she could tell the wolf was concerned about her taking part into murder. She sighed heavily.
"I wanted to tag along just to get out and see stuff, not because I enjoy the idea of ripping someone apart." Loona argued, although she looked very uncertain. "I guess I will just be decoy or some shit, not really be on the dirt side of things. Besides, I don't really mind it that much. Every time they get out to do that stuff the Humans tend to be huge assholes anyway. They deserve what they get."
Collin shook his head, knowing that there was no point arguing about something he's woefully unaware of. A small part of him was immensely grateful to hear Loona was not into bloodshed, yet he worried if taking part into those murdering acts far more often would end up affecting her somehow.
"Anyway, I gotta let Blitzo know about this job. Probably will want us early at the office tomorrow. Sucks, but I'm kinda excited about it for once. Anything than that fucking desk."
"Say, we still didn't get to the part of how you can even conjure portals, remember?" Octavia pointed out sharply. Loona and Collin blinked simultaneously.
"Oh, right. To be honest, I have no fucking idea, didn't even know I shouldn't be able to. It only seemed a matter of memorizing the spell." The Hellhound said rather apologetically. Octavia shifted her attention towards Collin almost immediately.
"You sure you don't have anything to do with it? You didn't use any weird stuff to change anything about Loona, did you?"
"Besides a potent healing spell? No, not really." Collin replied, rushing through his memories for any indications that he could've done something out of the ordinary. "I don't remember doing anything that could be considered experimental or similar."
"Huh, what that healing spell was for?" The Owl quickly questioned.
"Well, I was sick, and he used it for that. Like, was really sick. It felt weird though, like my body was itching all over the place, even felt warm, which it ain't a usual thing to feel in Hell." Loona recalled slowly, describing the feeling the best she could. "I don't know, but it worked really well. It kinda was one of the reasons I stuck with him." She added with a genuine smile. The wolf blushed lightly as he looked away with a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah, I don't think a healing spell should give you an excessive amount of power." Octavia sighed, frustrated with the lack of explanation for Loona's immense pool of energy. "Still, I think it has to be something regarding Collin, but it's impossible to tell if you never tried anything like that before, or did you?"
"What? Conjuring shit? Nah, just illusion stuff at best." She replied nonchalantly.
"There has to be something, well, no point thinking on an empty stomach." Octavia jumped out of the pool, making her way to the shower in a hurry. "Let me hit the bath first before you clog the drain with all that fur." She said with some mirth.
"Oh, haha, ain't you a funny girl." Loona mocked in return. Collin shook his head in amusement before returning his attention back at Loona.
"Say, anything you want to talk about before she comes back? It will be a few minutes anyway."
"How about we screw up real quick? I'm definitely in the mood." She suggested while positioning herself in front of the wolf. Collin huffed.
"Come on, Loona. We can do that another time, not with Octavia here. Please?" He begged, a bit exasperated that she was trying to make such moves with someone else nearby.
"Gez, fine, whatever. I can wait, I think." He relented tiredly. "You ain't no fun."
"Wh.. that isn't fair! I'm just trying to-
She shut him up by placing a huge clawed finger on the edge of his nose.
"I'm not serious, chill. You can't take a hint, can you? Heh, clueless. Now, regarding small talk, yeah, I wanted to ask you something."
Collin stood in silence, surprised that she actually agreed with his stance on the matter.
"Oh... well, then, what is it?"
Loona clasped her hands, suddenly her expression turning sour. Her attention wandering elsewhere as she seemed to gather determination to push forward. Collin stood apprehensive as he analyzed her body language, at least from what he could see above the water.
"Collin... you cured me of something that simply should not be possible. After what Octavia said about me doing something I should not be able to... I want to find a way to break my bond with Blitzo."