Charlie was working in her office, trying to get caught up on some paperwork. She discovered that even though it wasn't great for redemption purposes, Roger was much more tolerable drunk, than sober. He got too close into her personal space and didn't seem to get the hint when she would step away. It was bad enough Vaggie had started noticing, stepping in a few times in between the two. He did seem really keen on getting redeemed and he was probably the only one here that actually was trying to give 100%. She could ignore the drunken ravings for now. She was sure with a few more months she could get him to reduce the drinking and hopefully ship him up to heaven.

A knock on her door pulled her from the planning calling to whomever to come in. From her angle it looked as though the door had opened on its own. A few seconds later Nifty pulled herself up onto the chair on the other side of her desk. Charlie pulled a smile to her face, leaning forward to give the little cyclops her full attention.

"Hey Nifty, what's up?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Charlie tried blinking back her surprise but didn't quite manage.

"What? No! Why do you think you did something wrong?"

She watched as the little demon's lip started quivering, her eye wide. "Alastor let me go, did I do something wrong? Is he mad at me? Why did he leave?"

Charlie's heart started aching. She pushed to her feet moving around the desk to hug the little demon. "Oh no Nifty, he's not mad at you." Nifty, though having no proof, was the only one still hoping that Alastor was still out there somewhere. She said he couldn't die, that the returning of all the souls meant he was in some sort of trouble or he got really angry and left for another city. Charlie could relate, she too had a hard time accepting his death, but her chat with Rosie was the real nail in the coffin. But she wasn't going to crush Nifty's spirit. If she wanted to hold on to hope a bit longer she wasn't going to be the one to burst that bubble. She'd come to that realization on her own.

"I'm sure he'll come back as soon as he can. He wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye." She held Nifty at arm's length giving her a reassuring smile. She was about to tell the little maid that it was good to hold on to hope and maybe they were all wrong when loud screaming came from the lobby.

She darted from the office thinking it was another attack but found Roger pointing and screaming at the tv.

"That's him! The guy that killed me! It's him! I couldn't forget even if I wanted to!"

The rest of those in the lobby circled around the tv and hushed whispers started to erupt.

"That guy is mad, there's no way."

"Dude must be higher than a kite."

Charlie mindlessly placed Nifty down and moved her way through the group. "What's going on here?" Her gaze moved to the tv to find it was a segment of Vox. He had bumped up the reward on Alastor's body.

"That's the guy! IT'S HIM!" Roger pointed, screaming at the screen.

"Vox?" Angel asked, confused.

"No, the other guy. Alastor. I saw him, he killed me, he's the reason I'm stuck in this shit hole!"

"That's some bullshit, He's a demon like the rest of us he can't make it to the mortal realm. It's impossible." Chichi, the ant looking sinner crossed her arms annoyed.

"I tell you, it's him. He took my soul! Tricked me for it."

Charlie swallowed nervously. Alastor was notorious for taking souls, but for him to be in the mortal realm was impossible like Chichi had said.

Roger started looking around frantically. "He's not here is he? Please tell me he's not here."

"He ain't here. You're lucky, cause he was a sick bastard. Got his kicks out-"

"-Cutting people up? Humming along to Jazz while reveling in your screams? Playing twisted mind games?" Roger nodded, eyes wide at the cat-like bartender he interrupted. "He did it all. Alastor sends his regards."

The room was quiet, the only sound was Vox on the tv raving about the latest VoxTech gadget, but no one seemed to be watching or listening anymore. All eyes had turned to watch Roger with mixed looks of horror or disbelief.

Charlie clapped her hands together letting out a nervous laugh hoping to find something to ease the sudden weight that had filled the room.

"Oookaay. I think that's enough tv for now. How about we sit down to have a nice time doing…uh..games!" She quickly flipped the tv off moving over to one of the new bookshelf that held an assortment of games.

"We have stockticker, Vees-opoly, connect four, perfection…" She held up a few shoving them into the hands of the closest sinners to her. Vaggie moved beside Charlie noting the hint of panic in her voice.

"Uh babe?"

Charlie quickly pulled her aside. "Can you run this little game activity? I need a minute to talk with my dad."

Vaggies face turned serious. "You don't actually think this guy is being serious do you? The dead can't go back to the world of the living, there's no way this guy saw Alastor there."

Charlie held her hands out. "Of course, but-" She turned to look at Roger who was still raving about Alastor, a circle of sinners watching, only half listening.

"-I don't know, I just don't know why he would lie about something like that. If he's new, how would he know Alastor?"

"Uh maybe because Vox has been plastering the guys image everywhere? Not to mention there are still some old posters of the guy. I'm sure he's probably heard about Alastor from people wandering the city. He's probably mad he's in Hell and picked the first person he found to blame for it. And lucky for him, Alastor's not around to really terrorize the guy." She lightly grabbed Charlie's shoulders. "We both know it's impossible for him to be in the mortal realm. Your dad even said it was impossible."

Charlie started fidgeting with the hem of her jacket, her lips pressed together trying to fight her thoughts. She couldn't seem to pull her eyes off the rat looking sinner. She couldn't shake the thought that Roger was telling the truth. She shook her head.

"You're right." She gave Vaggie a small smile and confident nod before turning back to the group of sinners. She couldn't get wrapped up in this hearsay, she had a redemption program to run and right now she had games to supervise and instruct.

Vaggie and Chichi were right. If anyone would know it would be her dad and if he said it was impossible to get to the mortal realm then there was no denying it. Roger was just confused. That was much easier to deal with. Though she still wasn't fully convinced. Was it possible to make it to the mortal realm? If it was, Alastor would probably had to have made a deal, something big like-

Her eyes widened looking up the stairs to the elevator, a small chill running down her spine. Nifty was right. She turned back to the room biting her lip now unsure if she should stay. She needed to talk to her dad, but she couldn't leave Vaggie here alone.

Would Alastor really have traded all of the souls he owned for a trip to the mortal realm? If so, why would her dad agree to it? The two hated each other. 'Can't find a body if there isn't one' It all made sense, the pieces were all falling into place but it still didn't answer the real question. Why?

For now she could rest a bit easier knowing that Alastor had not died, and he hadn't returned yet because he wasn't even on this plane. It also made sense why he didn't say goodbye, it had to be secret. But why was he gone for a month before he lost all of his souls? Had he been in the mortal realm that long?

After a short time deliberating she decided she would stay. She could find her dad afterwards. It would also give her some time to think of questions to ask. She let out a breath and made her way back to the group that had pulled out some more board games.

From the top of the stairs Lucifer stood, hidden just out of sight, listening. Alastor had been gone a week and if this Roger guy wasn't doped out of his mind, it was possible Alastor was indeed the one to send him to Hell.

He peeked around the corner, eyes locked on the rat demon that had now moved to the bar, throwing back a drink talking to Husk. Even from the distance he could tell the cat wasn't listening. Everyone seemed to think the guy was off his rocker and he could work with that. If anyone found out he was telling the truth there was going to be a lot of problems.

Cecile walked down the promenade with purpose today, there was something she wanted to see for herself. She had spent a while in heaven, but even she didn't know about everything it had to offer. In this case, it was probably a good thing. She was glad she had found out about why her son had been sent to hell from him, rather than the alternative. Scrying orbs.

One of the few things in heaven that needed to be signed out by a cherub and had its use closely monitored. It allowed the user to watch people still in the mortal realm. Of course there was a chance a recently departed may become attached to such a thing, intent on watching loved ones they may have left behind unable to let go of their past life. One of the reasons it had such strict rules on its usage. It probably wasn't really advertised to those recently welcomed souls for that reason. She could understand that, but to have had some solace after leaving her son on his own would have made the first few years much more manageable. It also would have kept her from waiting almost a century wondering why he had never passed the pearly gates.

She didn't really have a use for them now seeing as those she would have liked to check up on had all passed and joined her in heaven, but with the recent turn of events there was one person that she was interested in watching. Her daughter in law. So for the first time in her afterlife she made her way to the library to sign out one of these scrying orbs. She had never used one, but from what she heard, they were quite simple to use. She hoped it wasn't all hearsay.

She smiled and offered polite greetings to those she passed as she made her way towards the large white marble building that one might mistaken for the earthy Parthenon. It wasn't the largest building in heaven, but it was certainly close. It was still a sight to behold, the stone work alone was masterful work. Old biblical stories and depictions were meticulously painted along the ceilings and some walls.

She had been to the library often as she enjoyed a good book on some of her down time, so maneuvering around the library wasn't an issue. There was never a time she couldn't find what she was looking for. Whether it be something in a different language, an obscure or scarcely known text or even something that was recently printed on the mortal plane. It was a place she liked to spend a day simply browsing titles curious of all the knowledge this one building held. But today wasn't one of those days.

She suspected she knew where to go to sign out an orb, the only part of the library she hadn't really explored. There was never a need to go to the back aside from some private study rooms, which she never bothered using, reading at home infinitely more comfortable. Her suspicions were correct, finding behind the back desk a wall with different coloured pouches that seemed to hold large round objects.

As she approached the far back corners of the library she found a sheep looking cherub that she remembered was named Rachel. Cecile gave her a polite smile as she made it to the desk.

"Hello Rachel. How are you today?"

The cherub looked up with a little look of surprise passing her face before returning the smile.

"Oh Cecile, I'm heavenly. What are you doing back here?"

Cecile noticed the cherub did not return the pleasantries, going straight for her reason of being there. It seemed this was raising red flags for the little cherub, and Cecile was curious as to why. She kept her smile light like she hadn't noticed the slight change. She knew most of the cherubs well from her visits to the library for books almost on a biweekly basis.

"Well isn't that just splendid. I've recently found out about scrying orbs and I was hoping to sign one out for a try."

She watched Rachel's smile twitch. It seemed she would have to be very careful if she was going to continue using this service in the future.

"Of course, there's some paperwork to fill out first and you can't leave the library with it. We have some private rooms where you can take it and of course there is a limit on how many times it can be signed out in a week."

Cecile lifted her smile. "Of course."

Rachel handed her a clipboard and pen and Cecile went to work filling out the sheet. It was very detailed for something so simple. It asked for her information, which seemed standard, but she found it a bit odd they wanted to know who you were looking to watch, for how long and how they were connected to you. She had no issues with the answers, there was no reason to lie about such things, though the fact it was even asked for didn't seem to sit right with her.

When she handed the clipboard back she watched Rachel quickly scan over to make sure it was all properly filled out.

"Daughter in law? You've never mentioned this-" She squinted down at the clipboard to find the name. "-Ellen before. She's still alive?"

Cecile laughed. "Well of course she's still alive, it would be a bit silly to sign out an orb otherwise."

Rachel's cheeks were dusted with a hint of pink. "Right, right. Of course."

Cecile could sense the question the Cherub really wanted to know, she wasn't surprised, she probably would have been curious too. If she had been dead for a century, how could she possibly have a daughter in law that was still alive? While she wasn't sure she could elaborate she could ease some of the little cherubs' worry. Her smile softened.

"You're curious as to how such a thing could be possible."

Rachel cleared her throat pulling the sheet off the clipboard and placing it into a wire basket behind her. "It's none of my business. I didn't mean to be disrespectful."

"There's no disrespect at all. It's only natural to be curious. Though I'm not sure I'm at liberty to explain."

Rachel only nodded, handing her a heavy looking deep purple bag.

"Well thank you Rachel, I will return this promptly to you when I am finished."

Cecile turned toward one of the little private study rooms and carefully pulled the orb out of the bag. It was about the size of a tabletop globe, and pure crystal. She realized she probably should have asked how it worked before getting herself all settled, but if she couldn't figure it out on her own she would go back and ask. In the bag was also a thin plate, meant to keep the orb from rolling away, it also being a deep purple colour.

A small frown pulled to her lips as lightly rolled a hand over the surface and nothing happened. Was there some sort of incantation she needed? Rachel would have told her if there was. She leaned in a bit closer trying to find anything in the clear crystal. Nothing.

She sat in silence for a few moments thinking. Maybe she needed to be polite and simply ask for what she wanted.

"Show me Ellen," she all but whispered to the ball.

Her eyes lit up as she watched gray smoke fill and swirl inside the orb before becoming clear again, this time with an image of a woman sitting at a table with three others. She wasn't sure how it would have known which 'Ellen' she would have been referring to, but she supposed that was the magic of it.

Her smile grew as she realized she had caught the girl in the middle of dinner with her family. It was something she felt good watching, not invasive, but still held some intimacy and warmth.

"Can you stop holding a mortgage on the potatoes?"

Cecile watched as an older man, dark hair that had started receding from the top of his head, moved to hand the bowl of mashed potatoes over to Ellen only to pull it away at the last second with a chuckle.

"Did you want these?"

Ellen's eyes turned to challenge her father. "You know what? Maybe I don't need them." She quickly reached across the table grabbing his plate and swapping it with her empty one.

"Ellen!"

She shoveled a mouthful of potatoes into her mouth before turning to her mother. "What? He started it."

Her father just laughed as he scooped some potatoes onto his 'new' plate.

The older woman just shook her head before giving her husband a look, which only intensified his laughter. "She's quick."

Ellen smiled. "That's right, old man. Keep up."

He finally put the bowl down reaching across the table to give her hand a squeeze, just chickling lightly. "I love you little girl."

"I know," she responded brightly. "You gotta love me cause I'm the baby. And I gotta love you cause you're the daddy."

"That's right," he responded sternly, though his tone was full of humour.

Cecile watched for a half an hour as Ellen ate with her family, some light banter bouncing around the table, though it was mostly her and her dad. Once dinner was concluded he watched her wander the house spending some time with her cats, it appeared she had four, the orange one following her around like a little fuzzy shadow.

She interacted with them like they were little children, cooing over them with so much love and adoration it reminded her of how she cooed over Alastor when he was still little. Her heart ached a little at the thought of the predicament her son had found himself in.

She leaned back with a heavy sigh. "Now if only I could see how Alastor was doing."

She leaned her head back, eyes on the ceiling letting her mind wander to her son. She hoped he had made it back okay and that he had found away from the woman he sold his soul to. It had been a few weeks since she ran down the promenade screaming, but the amount of work cut out in front of her son was something she had been thinking about often. She didn't fully understand what it really meant to sell your soul to someone, but the way he spoke of it, it wasn't a good thing to do. It made her heart hurt knowing he had done it to find Ellen to find out the answer wasn't that simple. Of course he still needed to find a way to the mortal realm, something she honestly didn't think he would ever be able to accomplish. There was no way any archangels would ever allow a sinner back onto the mortal plane. Even winners weren't allowed.

Her poor boy would now forever spend eternity trying to find a way back to her and it was probably never going to happen. The cruelest of punishments one could acquire and there was nothing she could do to help.

She almost fell backwards out of her chair when a voice broke the silence of the room. One that she hadn't heard since before she had died.

"And you've made certain it's her?"

Cecile sat up taller as she looked back into the orb to find it had changed its subject. Her son appeared to be in a forest, his shadow darting around in excitement. He looked like he did the day she had left that plane. Always dressed like a proper gentleman, a genuine smile warming his soft features. You were never fully dressed without one. She had never forgotten what he had looked like, what he sounded like. She couldn't stop the happy tears that slipped down her cheeks.

A hand tightly grabbed the front of her dress, needing something to ground her to the moment. He had done it. She didn't know how but it didn't matter. Ellen was right, though she had no reason to doubt her. It seemed her son was indeed quite powerful, accomplishing things that had never been done. Her chest swelled with pride.

"Go getter baby," she whispered to the grinning figure in the orb.