Chapter 5: Revelations and the New Room

Anya was now in the was on the lounge floor, with Niffty. Dinner had been the best she had eaten in years. Of course, she had her demands, such as not having carrots on her plate, which surprisingly the hotel staff understood and respected.

The child never thought that the little cyclops could be a good friend, even though she was scary. She especially loved her stories of the world of the living that Anya had come to.

One of the things they were both doing now was talking more about the things Niffty had experienced and was doing now in Hell, and mainly drawing things and memories that each of them had seen and experienced.

Whenever one of them finished their drawings, they both always told their stories and details about it.

In one of these drawings Anya had done, however, it made her very sad, causing Niffty to briefly worry about her. - "Eh... is everything okay, Anya? You got so upset all of a sudden."

The child looked at the red girl and explained. - "Yes, it's okay. It's just that Anya remembered something important, but that Anya unfortunately ended up losing on the way, when she arrived in Hell. And Anya will probably never see it again."

Niffty looked at her briefly, feeling sorry for the girl. Until an idea came to her mind. - "Hey, would you like to read some of my fanfics that I wrote?"

Anya glanced at her briefly and asked, - "What are fanfics?" - "Oh, wait here and I'll be right back, okay?" - With that, Niffty got up and left the room very quickly.

Meanwhile, two figures watched them, while talking to each other.

"So, let me get this straight: You brought this living human child to this hotel, and now you're going to be her legal guardian, right?"

"Yes, Kitten. I've always liked children. But I confess that this responsibility was suddenly thrown on me by Vaggie. But I confess that I was happy about it." - Angel Dust replied, while drinking and talking to Husk, who was behind the bar.

"Honestly, I never thought you would be interested in taking care of children or being responsible for one. You don't even take care of your own back." - Husk commented, as he watched Anya seeing Niffty return with a book.

Angel Dust just rolled his eyes in response, not at all surprised by the comment. - "I know, right? But that doesn't mean I'm not capable of taking care of her. Even more since I stopped a group of smugglers from kidnapping her for the black market or something." - he declared, taking another sip of his drink.

That ended up taking Husk by surprise. - "What do you mean by that?!" - he hadn't fully received the memo of what they had told him, so that information shocked him.

Angel glanced briefly to the sides and to where the two girls were, and then muttered. - "It turns out that while I was returning from yet another service, I heard a commotion across the street. And when I looked, I saw her running into an alley, and right behind her, I saw that group following her."

He took another sip, starting to get briefly irritated at the memory. - "And so, I had to do something, or she would have met a terrible fate right then. And so, I took out my guns and bombs, and started shooting at that group. Some of them ran away, but I managed to catch most of them. But when I surrounded them, I saw that she was no longer there, so I shot those guys for real."

Husk could feel the anger emanating from Dust's gaze and voice, and saw that he was trying his best to contain himself and speak softly, showing that he didn't want anyone else but him to hear here.

"And at one point, I was upset that I couldn't save her, but I was happy when I found her in the other alley. But I was really surprised to see that she was not only here, but also still alive. And I didn't want to let her stay on the streets and go through something like that again. And for that reason, I decided to bring her here. I thought it would be safer." - he finished, with a sigh and a brief smile of relief, as he looked back at Anya, who was having fun reading the book that Niffty was showing her.

For a brief moment, Husk also smiled, before speaking. - "Wow, that was quite... touching of you. But how do you intend to take care of her even though you have to go out from time to time, now that you're her legal guardian?" - "I... I'm not sure. But I'm sure Charlie and the others will also help, especially when I'm away for my... business. I just hope I can keep her as far away from my problems as possible..." - Angel muttered this last part to himself.

As she continued to tell details from one of her fanfics, Niffty noticed that the child was slowly becoming drowsy. - "Hey, Anya? Are you okay? Do you need to go to bed or something?"

At that moment, Charlie and Vaggie walked in, discussing something, until their focus went completely to the little child. - "Ah, Anya. We finally found you. Vaggie and I finally found a room for you to stay in. Do you want to come with us?" - the princess asked, as she approached her.

Anya just nodded at her in response, as she began to yawn. With that, Charlie picked her up and carried her. - "Well, I see we arrived at the right time." - As they left, Anya waved lightly to everyone in the room. - "Bye bye, everyone."

The three of them waved back at her in response. Then Niffty stood up and commented before closing her book. - "You know, I like her. She's really nice and really cute. How long do you think she'll be here, until we find her biological family?"

"Uh, actually, Niffty... Anya doesn't seem to have a biological family, because from what she said, she lived in an orphanage before she ended up here. So I don't think she'll have anyone looking for her, at the moment." - Angel replied, a little upset.

"At least now she has a place to stay and a babysitter to take care of her." - Husk commented, before starting to laugh.

"Hey, i'm not a babysitter, i'm a legal guardian. There's a difference, Baby." - Angel replied, before moving away from the counter and heading towards one of the chairs where Niffty was now collecting the drawings that she and Anya had made.

"So, Niffty? What kind of drawings did you and Anya make?" - he asked, interested.

"Ah, we draw things we remember and like. She made some really cool drawings, just look." - the little cyclops declared, as she showed each drawing the child had made.

They were simple things that any child would do. As Angel looked at each one, Niffty explained them to him. The drawings ranged from the orphanage she came from, and even the families that adopted her. And mainly things that Anya liked, like peanuts, spy cartoons, silenced pistols, bombs, castles and penguins.

One drawing in particular caught his eye. - "And what is that?" - he asked. Niffty looked at it and replied. - "Oh, I have no idea either. But from what Anya described, it looks like something she lost along the way when she got here and that she would never see again. It made her quite sad, though."

Angel Dust continued to stare at the drawing, as if remembering something. And abruptly, he stood up from his chair and headed for the door, still holding the drawing in one of his four hands.

"Hey, where are you going, man?" - Husk asked, taken aback. Angel stopped briefly and replied. - "If anyone asks for me, tell them I went to get something and I'll be right back." - And he left.

Husk looked at Niffty, who just shrugged and organized the drawings on a table, as he left to pack his fanfiction book back to the library.

As soon as they opened the door, the light was turned on, showing Vaggie and Charlie at the door, while the latter carried a sleepy Anya.

"Ready to see your own room, Anya?" - Charlie asked, as she watched the little girl look at the room and gasp in surprise. The princess set her down, and she and Vaggie watched her look around.

Anya walked to every piece of furniture in the room, and then sat down on her own bed, feeling how comfortable it was.

"So, what did you think?" - Charlie asked, expectantly on her face. Anya looked at her and responded with her arms up and a wide smile. - "Anya loved it."

Charlie smiled, and walked to a door. - "And not only that, you also have your own personal bathroom, too. You'll be able to do your daily cleaning every day, without the hassle of sharing with others, too."

The child got off the bed and ran to hug Charlie's legs. - "Thank you again, Miss Charlie. Anya has never been so happy to have a own room."

Vaggie had to admit that she found the scene cute, and was surprised by what the little child said. - "And Miss Vaggie, thank you very much too. Anya would like to talk to you more tomorrow."

Vaggie was completely taken aback by what she had heard and felt awkward. - "Sure, huh, Anya."

With that, Charlie took and helped Anya settle into her newest bed, as she declared. - "Well, have a good night's sleep, Anya. We'll see you all tomorrow, okay?"

She watched Anya begin to fall asleep in her bed, until she and Vaggie turned off the lights and quietly left the room.

"Oh, Vaggie. Isn't it adorable when Anya sleeps? I wonder if it's like that with children and the humans?" - Charlie commented, smiling. Vaggie just nodded slightly, a little uncomfortable and worried.

As soon as they went to the lounge, they both noticed a silence between Husk and Niffty. - "Eh... is everything okay, guys?"

"Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't it be okay?" - Niffty asked, cleaning the floor. Vaggie looked around, and asked. - "And where's Angel?"

"Ah, he went out to take care of some business and he'll be right back. Don't ask me what it was, because he didn't say." - Husk replied, as he cleaned the glasses.

The two girls looked at each other, a little worried, but decided to try to trust what Husk told them and decided to go to their room, getting ready for another day.

01/16/2025: And well, here's another chapter. Yes, I decided to delve a little deeper into the characters and research more about them. I still don't know where each place in the hotel is (I tried to find it, but I don't know the specific map of each room, so sorry for any mistakes). Some of them even had trivias about how they would react around a child, which will help me write their interactions with Anya in the next chapters, since she is a child. I haven't seen all of them, so I'll still be researching more about them.