AN: FINALLY! I am up to date on AO3 and will be posting there the same schedule I do here. (Tuesdays and Thursdays).
As promised I'll let you know my favourite chapter (39) I donno I just think I did an awesome job on it.
Alastor had no way of knowing where he was if not for the minor details his shadow had passed onto him. Not that it really mattered where he was. The moral plane was his first home, he would figure it out even if he had never seen this part of it. His gaze turned up, taking a deep breath of air so fresh he thought it must be his imagination. He could see the stars that littered the night sky, something he had never appreciated much while alive. There was no gunfire, no screams of misery, only the small sounds of night creatures roaming the darkness. It was much like the bayou he had in his room, though being back in this realm showed him his illusion was nowhere near perfect, a pale comparison to the real thing.
He let out a contented sigh not caring his smile looked inhuman. There was a heavily wooded area close by, the moonlight hardly getting through the canopy of leaves and branches. A perfect place to wander alone at night. That would be where he would wander first, after he took some time to simply enjoy the living world again. This was something he planned on savouring as long as he could. Another feat no demon has ever achieved, though it was unlikely anyone would believe such a thing.
He found the mortal realm far more chilly than he remembered it being. It could simply be just a Canada thing or maybe he had gotten used to the fiery pits of Hell and had forgotten what the cold was like. He snapped a long ulster overcoat in a dark gray on himself.
After a few minutes of deep breaths, not tiring of how clean and pure the air felt, he finally turned to his shadow. "I suppose it would be best if you went south, you'll be far better at searching the cities than I."
His shadow cocked his head to the side, a bit confused. What are you going to do?
Alastor chuckled. "Why enjoy what little time I have here, my dear friend. You'll find Ellen soon enough, and things will surely get heated from then on. While you do what you do best, I intend to enjoy this before getting sucked into what will likely be a horrid noisy and undignified society. Ellen didn't speak to fondly of it, I doubt I'll enjoy much either."
There was a long pause and Alastor was about to scold his shadow as it had yet to move but it abruptly held its hand out offering him something.
Fine, but take care of my duck.
"I beg your pardon?" His shadow had never spoken back against him or an order, simply following like it was supposed to. Where did this come from? He was going to have to correct that rather quickly. He glanced down to see that his shadow had somehow brought the little black duck with it, the one he had accidentally taken from Lucifer's room.
"Why on earth did you bring this here?"
It's my duck.
"It most certainly is not."
This did explain how it had managed to move while he was resting. It brought a slight sense of relief to him knowing it meant no one had snuck into his room. Or worse seen him in such a compromised state.
Just hold on to it please.
He didn't know why he reached out to take it. He also didn't know why he was now taking orders from his own shadow. What the hell was going on here?
He never got to ask, his shadow having already darted off, easily disappearing into the night. What the hell was he supposed to do with a rubber duck? For a moment he thought about chucking it into the forest somewhere, to be lost forever, forgotten or engulfing it in flames like he had intended days ago. He must have spent too much time with Ellen, her irrational kindness wearing off on him. He let out a sigh. He supposed he owed his shadow a favour, it knew better where to find Ellen, providing him useful information, even though that was its job.
With an eye roll he tucked it into his pocket. He would hold on to the stupid little duck much to his displeasure. He wasn't sure how long it would take his shadow to find Ellen, surely it would only be a few days, maybe a week? Lucifer did say this place was the second biggest country by land mass… would that be a problem? He probably should have done some research on mortal affairs before his trip, collect as much knowledge as he could beforehand.
Could he summon things from another plane? Maybe he could read while waiting to hear back from his shadow. A quick snap of his fingers resulted in nothing. It sent a small shiver down his spine. He wasn't used to having nothing happen. Would he have been able to if he still held dominion of all those souls? He pushed the thoughts back, not wanting to dwell on the what ifs. A quick wave to summon his radio cane was enough to eliminate any lingering thoughts. It felt odd, a bit out of balance with his slightly stunted height.
A small thoughtful hum escaped him before he turned toward the forest, excited to see what sort of unspeakable depravity he could stumble across in the lone, desolate darkness. Perhaps he could make some of his own.
He started humming a jovial tune as he slowly made his way into the dark forest. There was nothing to worry about in this realm, a single, well placed bullet was not enough to take down the formidable Radio Demon. A dark laugh escaped him that echoed through the darkness. His staff started playing some jazzy tune to add to his pleasant mood. He was going to like it here.
A few times he had overheard sinners use the phrase 'it's a small world' but now that he was traversing it on his own for the first time, he was starting to think it wasn't meant to be taken literally. This place was much bigger than Hell, or Heaven for that matter and he was supposed to find her here? He just hoped his master understood how difficult a task this was.
He wasn't sure how far he had traveled, but there was a small nagging thought in the back of his mind wondering if this was all a trick. He knew its master could create pocket dimensions, and the fact he hadn't really passed anything looking remotely like civilization made him think maybe there wasn't any. It was all trees, plains and the occasional lake or river.
Just before he thought about going back, perhaps asking his master why he would pull such a cruel trick on him of all things, he spotted something glowing on the horizon. It appeared to be a single small house.
He darted over excited to what those in heaven and hell had come from, the lives they left behind. It was all something he had no way of understanding and his master rarely spoke of it. She had sometimes mentioned curious things, unspoken rules and morals humans lived by. They had all seemed silly to him, and there were a few that even frustrated her. He had always enjoyed listening to her speak of her time here, like it was a whole different world. From what he had seen, it didn't look too different from the afterlife. If anything it appeared to be a bit of a mix between both of the other realms.
He was hoping that would change now that he got a chance to explore it on his own.
He slipped into the building to find it didn't look different than the homes on either of the other realms. A small frown settled on his corporeal face. There were a few odd looking trinkets, but nothing that stood out as inherently different. Maybe the afterlife was built to resemble this place. It seemed like a silly thought. Did people miss this place? His master didn't seem to, nor those he had watched in heaven.
He slid down a dark hallway, eyes looking at the frames hung on the wall. The humans looked odd, like the form his master was wandering in now. None had large ears or tails, no horns or fins. No wings or fangs. He tilted his head to the side staring rather intensely at a picture with five humans all bundled together. There were two adults, a female and a male with three smaller humans. He only knew of children from all the time his master spent in Cannibal Town. It was rare to find children in Hell so there were very few outside of that district. Was this a family? Did humans do that often; gather in little herds? He knew his master fondly reminisced about his mother, he even met the lady. Could two people be a family? Was there a limit to the number of people in one's family? Was his master his family? And her?
A low growling pulled him from the picture to spot what appeared to be a very angry looking hellhound, though it was not standing, choosing instead to be on all fours. It wasn't properly dressed either, wandering around naked. What an odd little creature. It started gnashing its fangs in anger. Maybe it read minds?
Could this creature see him despite being enveloped in the darkness of the house? A light flicked on from above him, the sounds of feet shuffling toward the stairs.
"Copper, what is it boy?"
The shadow decided it had overstayed its welcome, the picture more than enough proof this was not where he would find his master's previous soul owner. It quickly slipped outside, though the sound of barking and growling followed it until it passed the threshold. From a distance he watched more lights in the house flick on, but no one left its compounds.
He watched the little house for a few minutes before darting off again. It wasn't until the light started dawning that he came across a large city of sorts. This also looked similar to the way the denizens of both of the other realms lived. Houses grouped together much closer and even some tall ones, apartments and the like. His eyes glared at the sun as it started peaking above the horizon. It would be more difficult to travel under its watchful eye. Not impossible, but he'd need to be a bit more careful.
He discovered very quickly that the humans all looked the same. Not clones or carbon copies of one another, but the size and shape, they didn't seem to differ much like those in the afterlife. This would make it a bit more difficult to find her.
…
After spending a whole day and a half in the city, he was left having to push onward, not finding her here either. It went like that the next few cities he had come across, searching every home and apartment for her, with no luck. He discovered the best time to check was at night, most humans retiring for the night meaning they were packed away in their homes. During the days he would normally follow a few interesting humans to see what they did. Mostly work it seemed.
He liked skools, where the children went for a portion of their days. They played games, learned things and looked genuinely happy to be there. The adults hated their work, plastering on fake smiles only to turn bitter out of eyesight. It oddly felt homely, miserable people like those in hell. Of course this place was not full of gunfire and slaughter, but it might as well have been, the way these humans were shuffling on miserably.
He also discovered that the adults were not very observant, eyes glued to phones or other screens. They interacted with others when they needed to, much like those in Hell. It meant he could indeed travel around during the day without having to worry too much about being seen, though he still stayed in the shadows just in case.
…
It took two weeks but he was certain he had finally found her. Or he was more certain this time. He may have followed a few humans around thinking he had found her only to be proven wrong at some point. He was feeling a bit better about this one though, this human had cats, something he remembered being mentioned a few times while he spent time with her.
She sat in a bedroom spending most of her day at a screen typing or reading leaving for food or bathroom breaks. Of what she was working on he couldn't tell. The problem, as he found out three 'hers' ago, cats and dogs (he discovered that hellhounds did not exist on this plane, something he learned while in skool one day) could somehow sense him. They would hiss or growl if he was close by, and since the human he was now watching had four of these cat creatures, it made it very difficult to be close enough to make a good evaluation. It didn't help that two of them seemed to follow her around the house wherever she went. Wasn't that supposed to be a dog thing?
He wasn't too concerned with the other humans in the house, they had fairly simple routines, not moving around much. It helped that the one he was watching spent most of her time on the third floor while the others chose to remain on the ground level.
He slipped up the stairs only to be greeted by some hissing at the top. Staring back at him was the smallest cat brown and black in colour, though it was the easiest to anger it seemed. It hissed at some of its kin sometimes. He elected to ignore it as he carefully slipped by giving it a mean glare and a quite angry chitter. It responded in kind with a low growl.
"Enough of that Truffles, stop being a sourpuss."
His face lit up with a smile. It sounded like her. Had he finally done it, finally found her?
He quickly had to shift under a door as he heard her get up leaving her room to deal with the creature. He gave the creature a hard glare wishing it would just leave so he could properly assess the human.
He watched as she peeked her head around the staircase and in a few doorways before turning back to the growling cat, hands on her hips.
"And what's got you all out of sorts little missy? There's no one here."
She let out a small huff before she leaned down to give the cat some pets, something he had watched some of the hotel inhabitants do with the little pig and hotel key. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture, though it didn't seem to do that to this creature.
He watched as the human's face twisted in confusion, a look that was also one he seemed to recognize. "Alright stop staring at the linen closet, you're starting to creep me out," she mumbled.
Her eyes shot over to his hiding spot but he quickly shifted into the shadows further to avoid being seen. He wasn't certain this was her, so he still needed to be careful.
When he peaked out he could see both the cat and human gone. This was proving to be the most difficult spying task he has done to date. He never had this much trouble in Hell.
He watched a poofy gray cat walk by, it turned to give the closet a look before it jumped and skittered away with a trill. That one usually left him alone. It was the orange one and the brown one that seemed to be guarding their human.
She liked music and to his, and probably his masters', joy, she had a radio in her room, one that looked very similar to the one his master kept on display in pentagram city. He also found out she liked talking to her cats, a bit odd seeing as they could not respond, but he quickly realized it was no different from their conversing.
The more he watched, the more he learned and the more he learned the more he was certain this had to be her, he just needed something to solidify it, one unmistakable sign. He would never be able to face his master again if he brought him all this way only to be wrong.
…
His master would probably be annoyed it was taking him so long, but after three days he still hadn't collected enough information to be certain. It was the longest he had followed someone and despite his master scolding him for following targets into the bathroom, he was starting to think it was the only time he could catch her alone. The cats did sit outside the door, sometimes pawing at it, but never went in.
He thought it may be something she had trained them to do, or at least the gray and orange one. If they were sitting at the door when she left she would thank them for keeping an eye on her, reassuring them she did not fall in. He wasn't sure what that meant.
One late evening he found he didn't have much of a choice. A strange female human had let herself in, going straight for her room. He slipped into the bathroom as she walked by. The two conversed for a short bit before he had to quickly squish himself into whatever shadow he could as he watched her come in with a groan muttering about someone named Julie. He watched as she took off her clothes and stepped into the shower horrified that she took a little music machine with her. Those things were ruined by water, why would she do that? His master would not be happy about that.
He thought about slipping out, already hearing his master's scornful tone about being there, but he had nowhere to go. With another unknown human in the house it was likely more risky slipping out. A small pout slipped into his face.
His head whipped to the side, eyes wide as music started playing. He recognized it. He slowly moved from behind the toilet up to the ceiling, not close enough to see in, but he knew the sound, and didn't need to see past the curtain to know she was dancing. She had danced to this with him once. This was it, the unmistakable sign it was her.
'But since the world's obsessed with saying 'Psych!
Now I like your stupid fa-'
"Holy shit! My first performance."
He couldn't contain a few happy chitters from escaping and to his surprise she didn't seem to notice. With a quick sweep of the room he found the window was cracked open and with one more look toward the shower he took off. Master will be very happy. The thought pulled a wider smile to the shadows face as he followed his connection back to the demon he was attached to.
AN: I'm sorry I know everyone wanted Alastor, but I couldn't help writing from his shadows pov. The next one is all Alastor I promise.