Chapter 29: Masquerade - Part 2
What the little girl thought was already horrible, she knew could get worse. The whole time she was there, she saw disturbing and traumatic things.
Especially in Angel Dust's mind. During his song, she saw him masking his emotions and seemingly accepting his reality.
Anya didn't even have words to describe what she felt when she saw all that. She really wanted to hug him, tell him that he wasn't alone in this and that she could even help him get out of this. God, she was even willing to switch places with him at that moment, and free him from that suffering.
The moment she heard him say that he was the only one to blame for everything that happened to him, the child ran to a hidden place and vomited everything she had been holding in until that moment.
She still continued to see more of his mind, seeing everything he had been through, consensually or not. All of that made her cry again. During all this time, Dust was going through much worse things than she herself had been through in the laboratory.
At times, Anya would sneak a little food to ease her hunger, but moments later, everything she had eaten would come out of her mouth again.
She had vomited about 7 times by that point, and she knew it wasn't healthy. But nothing compared to what she had seen.
All the while, she watched Valentino blow that smoke on the spider, and she saw the effects on him. But for some reason, those effects on her only made her feel nauseous and want to vomit again.
At times, Anya had to close her eyes for certain scenes, but she could still hear and read the thoughts. Each one more disgusting than the last.
The pieces had fallen into place for her at that moment. Angel's forced departures in her first week, his vaguely scary thoughts and shadows in his mind, the movies he acted in and wouldn't let her see at all, the voice in those audio messages...
As she watched him dance on stage with other dancers, the little girl had understood: this was Angel Dust's literal Hell. Suffering at the hands of an abusive person who wouldn't let him have any freedom until he was no longer usable. The realization of this only made her cry again, both in sadness and anger.
But then, her mind readings were interrupted when Val stepped onto the stage. She saw the spider trying to escape, but without success, and then, he was dragged away by his boss somewhere.
Without much thought, she started following them, determined to help him, even if it cost her life.
In the dressing room, Anya saw Angel locking the door, his expression dejected and depressed. She watched him walk to the balcony, seeing his boss talking to Vox, who quickly teleported away when he realized they was being seen.
As she approached, she saw Dust's thoughts again, While singing about being sick of the poison and wishing to have something to live for tomorrow.
And then, seeing him lying on the ground finally broke her. Anya ran and knelt on the ground, and hugged him, crying uncontrollably. The child saw Angel looking confused and scared by this, but then he gave in.
He wrapped his arms around her, not knowing she was really there, and began to cry. He thought about how much he wanted to get to the hotel and give Anya that same hug, so he could give her that feeling of security that he couldn't have.
Hearing that only made Anya cry even more. She nestled her face into his chest, to comfort him as much as she could. She could see that Angel was still under the hallucinogenic effect of the smoke, so he wouldn't remember this contact until she gave it to him again later.
All the way back to the hotel, Anya felt sick. She felt like she was going to faint in a moment. As soon as Angel opened the hotel door, she quickly ran towards the stairs, to avoid being caught absent. She saw Charlie awkwardly waved at him but she is ignored.
She couldn't blame him, because the princess put him in a horrible situation. As soon as she went upstairs, the little girl went into her room and removed her brooch and outfit and put them away in their proper place. She left the silenced pistol still inside her coat, just in case.
With that, she then went into the bathroom and started taking her bath. Nausea took over her again, but she resisted as much as possible not to vomit there again. After that, she went out and got dressed the same outfits again, and took another deep breath before leaving the room, as if nothing had happened.
Before opening the door, she paused for a few seconds and looked at the commode again. After thinking for a long time, the little girl went back and opened the drawer, taking the brooch again and putting it in her pocket. She then finally opened the door and headed downstairs.
As she stepped down the last step and started to head towards the bar, she stretched her arms up as she walked towards the spider, while happily calling out. - "Mr. Dust! Anya is so glad you're here, Anya was so worried."
Angel turned to her and picked her up in his arms, lifting her up high. - "Aww, hello baby girl. Papa missed you at work, you know?" - he declared, until he pulled her closer to him, hugging her.
Anya allowed herself to be involved in the hug again, hugging him in the same way as before. And it was then, that she realized: Angel referred to himself as her Papa. That made her start to whimper with happiness and she hugged him even tighter, catching him off guard.
Then Dust sat down on the bar stool again, this time feeling lighter than before. He placed her on the other bench next to him, and then, he addressed Husk, who was looking at them with a sour expression. - "Oh kitten, see some drinks for me and Anya now. After so long apart, we need something to sweeten the new life, if you know what I mean?"
Looking at the feline, the little girl saw him looking at her with... disapproval. As if he knew she had done something, but didn't want to argue with her at that moment. But despite that, Husk picked up two glasses of milkshakes and placed them on the counter, still staring at them.
With that, the spider took the two cups and handed one of them to Anya, and they both began to drink. The child felt that knot in her stomach again, as if she wanted to vomit, but she held herself back.
She continued to listen to the conversation between the two, when abruptly, Husk pushed Dust away from him, while shouting. - "Stop! Fucking Christ!"
Anya was startled by that, and wisely got off the stool and walked away. She felt tears running down her eyes again, remembering what she saw earlier. The two continued to argue, until the spider hit its head on the bar's ceiling and fell to the floor, grunting in pain. - "Arrgh! God!"
Quickly, the little girl dropped her cup and ran towards him, to check if he was okay and looked mortified at Husk, who simply asked. - "Ya done?"
Irritated, Angel gently pushed Anya away from him and then screamed and snapped at the feline.
The child could see in his mind again how broken and helpless he was. She began to cry silently, watching him in that pitiful state. After finishing, he turned and ran towards the hotel door, pushing Vaggie out of the way.
Realizing where he was going, Anya quickly ran after him, while yelling for him. She opened the door and ran a few steps, before stopping with her hand still extended to him, who had already moved far enough away not to hear her. Looking at the gate and the hotel, the little girl decided to go after Angel again.
She put the brooch on her coat again and started running after him. Charlie's voice calling to her was heard, but the little girl ignored her, knowing that she could not see or hear her. She slipped through the bars of the gate and started running after the spider, determined to do for him what no one else was doing.
Charlie closed the door, her expression worried and guilty. - "Anya's not out there anymore. I think she went after Angel." - she mumbled, feeling bad about it. While she was mumbling about what happened in the studio, Vaggie, who was comforting her, addressed the culprit of that outburst.
"Gee, sounds like someone should go after them... Someone named "Husk".
"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me. Why don't you go if you're so worried?" - Husk asked, in a sarcastic tone. The girl then pointed to the situation, annoyed. - "Because I'm not the one who sent him storming out and made Anya run after him. You caused it. You drag them back."
Charlie then protested briefly at that, still feeling bad about what she did. - "No! No... Don't force him back. Just make sure he's safe. I pushed too hard earlier and... I only made things worse. Look, he'll come back when he's ready. I just don't want anything to happen to him and Anya until then."
After that, she then declared to them, and finished with a fake smile on her face. - "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go write one hundred apology letters and a lesson planned for tomorrow about... Boundaries." - in response, Husk just rolled his eyes and slumped forward while whining like a cat, in response.
All along the way, Anya stopped to take a deep breath and catch her lost breath. She finally looked ahead, and saw Angel entering the bar, and quickly followed him, worried about what might happen.
The child heard him inhaling something, but she didn't know exactly what it was, while he was among two other guys, whose thoughts disgusted and scared her. She still had to be careful not to bump into anyone in the bar. It was then that a familiar thought was heard throughout the place, leaving her paralyzed.
"Anya, I know you're hiding around here somewhere. You can come out from wherever you are. You shouldn't be here anyway."
She turned around and saw that Husk was there, looking for both her and Angel. Knowing that the feline couldn't see or hear her, the little girl then decided to see what he would do.
She saw him sit on the counter away from where the spider was. Observing the tense atmosphere. That's when one of the demons went to the counter to get another drink for Angel, and the child saw the thoughts of what he would do:
He was putting some sort of love potion/drug in the drink to drug the spider. She also realized that Husk had realized this, hearing his sigh and his mind.
Before Anya could think to stop him, someone pushed her and she fell to the ground. As soon as she opened her eyes and looked up, she noticed one of the other demons watching her, with a sadistic smile.
It was then that she realized that he might have accidentally bumped into her and caused the brooch to fall from her coat in the fall. When she found it by her side, she had time to catch it and put it in her pocket, but before she could run away, the demon grabbed her by the back collar of her coat and pulled her up.
"Look what we have here. What's a cutie like you doing in this place, little one?" - he asked, observing her closely, then walking to the table where the others were.
He then announced, catching their attention. - "Oh guys, look what I found wandering around here." - the demon lifted her up, making her look scared at the others, who watched her in surprise and then with the same smiles.
She then saw Angel being pulled out by Husk, possibly unaware that she was there. Quickly, the little girl tried to grab her silenced pistol, but was stopped by the same demon.
"Don't worry, guys. We lost that whore, but we got something much better to have fun with tonight." - he declared, making the others laugh and agree with him. One of them even grabbed the same drug from before, planning to do to her the same thing they were going to do to Angel moments ago.
Realizing that she was in danger, Anya began to despair, but then she puffed out her chest as much as she could, and prepared to scream out loud. But before she could, the demon put his hands over her mouth, preventing her from doing so.
"Oh, no no no, girl. Screaming won't save you. Like we said before, we were hoping to have fun with that whore, when that bastard showed up and ruined everything. And now, you can make it up to us."
And then, with that, the group began to leave the bar, planning to take her somewhere else. Anya found herself horrified and desperate by this. She could do nothing against them, and her only hope was possibly to go back to the hotel, without them realizing she still was there.
While they were on the streets, the little girl saw Angel and Husk in the distance, and then she bit the demon's hand and screamed as loud as she could to them. - "MR. DUST, MR. HUSK! HELP!"
Both of them, who were singing, stopped and looked in the direction of the scream, shocked and horrified.
"An-Anya?! But what... How did she... ?!" - the spider questioned, in disbelief and disturbed when he saw the child in the hands of one of the demons. The feline growled and then shouted at them. - "Hey, you! Get your dirty hands off her, right now!"
The group quickly raised their weapons and started shooting at them, forcing them to retreat and hide behind a parked vehicle.
"Shit, why did you bring Anya with you?! Are you fucking crazy?!" - Angel questioned him, irritated. - "I didn't bring her! She was the one who followed you! I was right behind her, too!" - Husk explained, as he saw the same demon starting to move away from there, taking Anya with him.
"Shit! He's getting away with her! Stay down. I'll deal with this." - He declared, as jumped on top of the car and killed each goon with relative ease using his cards. He was about to throw it at the other demon, but had trouble with one goon jumping on his back, until Angel also pulled out one of his firearms and obliterates the demon.
With that, both of them began to fight the other demons, defeating them. Once they had gotten rid of the main obstacles, they looked back, their smiles changing to serious expressions, as now there was only one to deal with and someone to save.
Anya was having a panic attack, as the demon led her to a dark alley. She saw in his thoughts that he planned to do something horrible to her. But before he could, she heard shadows emerging from behind, and saw the demon grunt in pain and choke on his own blood.
And then, she felt a tentacle gently grab her and pull her out of the demon's hands, and put her on the ground, making the little girl see that the demon had been impaled by another tentacle. The tentacle then disappeared, when it heard someone approaching.
And then, a gunshot sound was heard and hitting the demon in the head, causing him to instantly fall to the side, revealing a angrily Angel Dust stood with one of his guns raised, smoke exhaling.
As soon as he looked down, his expression changed to despair and he ran towards Anya, who was standing there, and quickly checked on her. - "Are you okay, Anya? Did that bastard do something to you?! Did I get there in time?" - he questioned, distressed and being enveloped by guilt.
The little girl quickly nodded in response, and with that, he pulled her close to him in a tight hug. - "Good. I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time. I'm sorry, Anya. I should have paid more attention before I left. Just please, never leave the hotel alone again. Like I said, the people here might want to do horrible things to you."
Remembering everything she saw the spider go through earlier, Anya also hugged him tightly and started crying and screaming. - "I'm sorry, Mr. Dust! But Anya was so worried about you, that Anya simply didn't think of that!"
"I understand, Anya. You're forgiven. Just don't do that again, okay?" - Dust muttered as he got up from the ground, now carrying her. Anya wiped her face and nodded, smiling tearfully.
And then, he started to leave the alley, and joined Husk, who had been watching the whole scene. - "Anyway, we can go back to the hotel now, babycakes." - the spider winked flirtatiously.
The feline just rolled his eyes, while still smiling at him in response.
Finally, the three of them arrived at the hotel, with Angel and Husk laughing together, while Anya was holding on to the first one's back and staring into space, still sad for what she had caused.
She was listening to the two talking about the spider's boss, in a mocking way, and about his bad eyesight. That made her laugh a little, she had to admit.
And it was then that the little girl saw Charlie running towards them and wrapping Dust in a hug, while crying and apologizing countless times to him. And then, he declared to her, with a smile.
"Charlie, it's fine. I get it. Thanks... for caring about me."
The little girl smiled at that, while the princess began to weep tears of joy. Angel picked her up and gave her to Vaggie, while saying. - "Ehh, I think this is yours."
"Okay missy, let's get you to bed." - declared the woman, taking her girlfriend to their room, while the princess cried and exclaimed that Angel had forgiven her and that she found it beautiful.
After a few seconds of silence, Husk then turned to Angel and asked. - "Hey, how about that drink?" - the spider then looked at him and answered. - "You read my mind."
As they both headed for a drink, Anya thought about what he said and asked. - "Mr. Dust, what if Anya could read minds, what would you think?"
Dust hesitated to answer, worries visible in his thoughts. - "It would be... nice, I guess. What would you like for dinner, Anya?" - he asked, wanting to change the subject as soon as possible.
She thought for a moment, and then replied excitedly. - "Anya wants to eat Italian food!" - He laughed in response. - "Okay, but after we have a drink, you'll need to take a bath before dinner, deal?" - "Deal."
04/11/2025: Finally, I finished the second part. After crying a lot, I felt good enough to finish this chapter. And I have to confess, I had to change some paragraphs, because it was getting too heavy than planned, and I didn't want to stray from the plan of keeping anything too explicit.
Stay tuned until then, while the chapter of the next episode is still waiting to be released.