Chapter 28: Masquerade - Part 1

Before you begin, I have a few warnings: graphic scenes of violence and a child being exposed to graphic violence before their eyes. As I said, this would be the heaviest chapter I would ever write. With that said, you can skip this chapter if you are very sensitive to this type of topic. With everyone warned, you can start reading if you still want to.

Anya woke up, but she couldn't get out of bed. Her body was probably still weak after she had gotten sick at the meeting yesterday afternoon. She hadn't told anyone else about it yet, but she knew Husk would find out just by reading her.

After a long struggle, the little girl managed to get out of bed, even though her body was protesting. She forced herself to go to the bathroom and take a hot bath in her bathtub. She felt dizzy and nauseous, but she held back the urge to vomit at that moment.

After 15 minutes, she came out dressed in her robe and put on her tights and a white dress, and took a deep breath to firmly regain her senses and began to head towards the door and the hallway.

Before she could go downstairs, she heard the group arguing, especially Husk, who was listing everyone's problems there:

"I know everything about you and these motherfuckers at this point." - she then sees him gesturing to Sir Pentious. - "That one. That one is an insecure buffoon whose lonely ass watches you idiots sleep!" - then to Princess Charlie. - "Princess, is a bleeding heart who wants to solve everybody else's problems 'cept her own."

The child saw from afar the princess try to deny it, but her reaction ended up confirming that the feline was indeed right. He then continued, gesturing to Vaggie, who turned her attention away from Charlie and scowled at Husk, growling under her breath.

"This one, judges everyone and everything because she hates herself."

It was then that Husk spoke about Anya at that moment. - "Anya, who is not here at the moment, is unfortunately beginning to develop an emotional dependence on some of you."

She saw Charlie and Angel's expressions change to discomfort at that, implying that the feline was mainly referring to the two of them.

The little girl was a little surprised that he saw something in her that even she couldn't see in herself. At least Husk hadn't told them she could read their minds.

She then saw him gesturing to the red cyclops, who was smiling mischievously. - "And Niffty? Heh... You don't even want to know what her deal is."

The little girl shivered briefly, as she remembered what she saw in her friend's thoughts, and what she had already seen her do. She then saw the spider act mockingly towards everyone there, and began to shamelessly flirt with Husk, who backed away and started talking about him.

"And you! Don't get me started. I see right through you and all this bullshit and how fake you are."

With that, Angel began to act even more falsely, but his thoughts gave away his true inner emotions to Anya, who was still watching the scene from upstairs, without anyone there noticing.

Before the discussion could expand further, the Angel's phone rang. Realizing that this was her chance, Anya quickly went back to her room, with a smile on her face as if it was her first day at work.

She opened the closet and took the dark blue coat and put it on, pulled on her brown boots and put on her black gloves. And finally, she opened the drawer and took out the silver brooch, and took out the silenced pistol as a precaution.

As soon as she opened the room door, Anya saw the spider starting to walk towards the door and being stopped by Charlie, and and seeing that as an opportunity, she started running down the stairs, waited for Angel to open the door as soon as he did, the child sneaked out herself to the door just before him closed it from behind.

After successfully exiting, she started following Angel to the gate and through the city streets. She started to see from his thoughts that Dust was going to his work. The smile on the girl's face was replaced by worry as she saw his thoughts.

Why did she feel like something bad was coming?

Anya was in front of the filming studio where Angel worked. Even without knowing why, she began to feel deeply uncomfortable with the place, but she took a deep breath and determination filled her face and she began to enter.

She looked around the hallways and at the staff, feeling a deep pit of fear slowly building up. Finally, she saw Angel walking towards a room and quickly followed him, but he closed the door before she could enter.

With that, the little girl let out a sigh and decided to walk a little further, not risking going too far or bumping into people.

Fortunately, thanks to the brooch Alastor had given her, no one could see and hear her, but they could still feel her if they touched her. That being said, the child had to avoid getting in anyone's way and causing them to bump into her. Fortunately, with her power to read minds, that wouldn't happen.

Just then, she heard a door open and saw the spider walking down the hallway dressed in a robe. Anya quickly followed him to see him doing his work.

The moment she entered the room, she saw that there were people around, so she quickly hid behind a wall and stood there, observing the entire scene.

Angel Dust was starting to act in some strange scene, but he then started complaining about memorizing the lines from the script, and someone, possibly the director, told him to improvise, since no one paid attention to the dialogues anyway.

As soon as the director shouted action, a gang of four demons knocked the door open and entered the room. Anya screamed in fright, but continued watching the scene, recovering from the shock.

She saw Angel seemingly startled, but then start talking seductively to the gang that had abruptly entered the room.

The moment he removed the sheet from his body, the child covered her eyes, but left one of her hands half open in case something bad happened. She understood that it was an act, but still, something told her that she shouldn't be there, but she ignored that feeling.

She wanted to know how far this would go and if she would need to help or something.

And then, a familiar thought invaded the room, and she realized that the spider had noticed it too. Looking to the side, Anya saw Charlie entering the room, looking for Angel.

A shiver ran down her spine. If the princess found out she was there, her plan would go down the drain, even though the little girl was invisible there thanks to the brooch. She saw Dust pushing past the other actor, possibly going to talk to Charlie, who was looking around the room and muttering to herself.

With that, Anya could hear the two of them muttering to each other, fear evident in Angel Dust's voice and face. She then heard Charlie say that he had come to see the spider's boss to ask for a day off, but that Angel didn't want her to see him.

The moment he said his boss's name, Val, the same looked back, calling out to him, his expression menacingly angry.

Anya turned around and saw that the movie director was actually the spider's boss. She didn't know why, but something about that guy made her dislike him.

She looked back at Charlie and Angel, who was trying to beg the princess to leave and that they would talk later. But it was too late, as his boss Val had already stood up and was walking towards them, addressing mainly Charlie.

Flames appeared in the little girl's eyes as she saw the tall guy push Angel behind him as he bended down and leaned towards Charlie. Val then took Charlie's left arm and pulls up her suit sleeve as he lecherously licked and slurped Charlie's arm, leaving a trail of his saliva.

Feeling the effect of that from afar made Anya feel nauseous again and she put her hand in a fist over her mouth as she began to cough violently. Seeing through the Val's thoughts about what that thing did only made her move further away so she wouldn't vomit right there and be discovered.

She could see from the princess and the spider's expressions that they shared the same opinion as her.

What disgusted her more than that was when Angel's boss started offering Charlie an offer to act in his adult movies, which the princess quickly turned down.

After Charlie wanted to ask to talk to him about Dust after they finished the scene, Val abruptly turned to the spider, causing him to recoil in fear. That detail made the little girl realize that it was familiar to her, but she still didn't know why.

But the boss quickly agreed and ordered the entire crew back to filming the scene and other person shouting action.

Anya quickly looked away from the scene when she noticed Charlie bothering another member of the film crew, possibly trying to persuade them to go to the Hazbin Hotel. Something told her that this was going to go very wrong.

She saw Val getting irritated with Charlie's intrusion into the filming, and even though he put on a fake smile, he briefly glanced at Angel and gritted his teeth.

In his thoughts, the child could see that Angel was certainly in trouble. But the situation got worse when Charlie tried to comment on the scene and tripped over one of the wires, causing the electricity to crackle.

And when the princess tried to fix it, the cables and wires caught fire and began to spread as she backs away from it.

Everyone on the scene started to back away from there, while Angel remained on the bed, paralyzed with fear. Anya was terrified that the fire would reach him, but before she could run to try to get him out of there, she stopped and looked back when she heard a familiar thought.

It was Val, who glared at Angel Dust menacingly, believing he's the cause of this mess. This angered Anya, because it wasn't the spider that had caused this mess, but rather, it was Charlie, who was miserably trying to put out the flames.

And then, she felt wind and pink smoke flying towards her, making her breathe in the smoke and choke and tear up. The little girl then looked back again and realized that Val had used his wings to put out the flames. And once again, his thoughts paralyzed her with pure fear.

Her attention then turned to Charlie, who was embarrassed for having caused the fire and began to awkwardly apologize and offer to clean up the mess she had caused. The boss then declared that there was no need for that, as there were people to do it. And then, he turned to Angel and ordered them to go to his dressing room.

The spider then began to follow him, with an expression of fear and anguish on its face. And once again, his thoughts were giving Anya a feeling of anguish and pain.

She then quickly began to follow him, and then entered into the dressing room. Before she could process, Val abruptly slammed the door from behind, making her scream. She then saw Angel turn around and raise his hands, as he desperately tried to explain himself. - "Val, I didn't know that-"

But then, the boss simply grunted in annoyance as he smacked the back of his hand hard across the side of Angel's face, giving his right eye a black eye. Anya let out a loud sigh and began to cry, all the while screaming for the spider.

She wanted to defend him and yell at Val for touching her Angel, but fear held her back. All she could do was look on in horror and cry in shock.

While Dust was still trying to explain, Val grabbed him close and started threatening him. And then the boss throwed Angel back, sending him colliding back against a chair that he anxiously shuffles around.

The little girl approached him, still crying and worried. The spider was visibly scared, gasping and panting out of breath. She wanted so much to hug him and protect him right there, just like he did to her. But that would give away her cover and Val would probably end up wanting to do something horrible to her in front of Angel.

She quickly moved out of the way as Val started walking towards the spider, who was still trying to explain. - "Val, please, I'm sorry... She's-"

But his boss didn't care, and continued. - "You bring her here to protect you? To FUCK with me?" - he reached his left arm out to Angel with his hand open to touch or possibly grab his chest fluff as the same backs himself away in the corner of the room in fear, instinctively grabbing his robe to try and cover his chest.

Anya simply continued to watch the scene, helpless. She then saw him use the smoke again as if to trap Angel and then he grabbed him by the neck and forcefully drags him back before slamming and pinning him down to the couch, causing the spider to scream in pain.

Even though Dust denied it, Val just violently threw the spider to the ground, causing him to slide to a stop, gasping and grunting heavily.

Unable to take it anymore, the little girl fell to her knees on the floor, while still watching the whole scene. While she was still crying, fear was replaced by anger and bargaining, and she then began to scream at the top of her lungs.

"STOP!"

"PLEASE STOP!"

"HE DID NOTHING WRONG! IT WASN'T MR. DUST'S FAULT, SO PLEASE STOP DOING THIS!"

Anya knew it was useless, as long as she wore the silver brooch on her clothes, no one could see or hear her. But still, she wanted to keep screaming. She wanted to beg for it to somehow stop. She wanted Charlie to step in right now and save Angel from the clutches of that abusive boss. But nothing happened.

She then saw Val use the smoke to form a chain and wrap it around Angel's neck, pulling him up and revealing a kind of glowing parchment.

Anya quickly stood up and walked closer to get a better look at it, and realized that it was a soul contract. And the signature was in the name of... Anthony.

Wait, Angel Dust's real name was Anthony? Why didn't he ever tell her that? And why couldn't she see it even in his thoughts?! Was there something from his past that made him want to hide it even from himself or something?!

But then, she saw Val perform mental and emotional manipulation on the spider, which now caused disgust and disgust to fill the little girl's face. And then, she caught the full name of Angel's boss: Valentino.

And after Valentino ordered Dust to throw the princess out of the studio and the latter was reluctant to answer, he then pulled out another paper, this one medium-sized, and placed it in front of the spider's face, making him shrink even more in confusion. And what he questioned was disturbing.

"So, I see you wouldn't mind if I had this girl brought here and kept in the studio with me, would you?"

Seeing Angel's expression change to horror and despair as he took a closer look at the photo, Anya realized in his mind that she was in the photo. His boss had one of the photos of her from when the spider took her shopping weeks ago. So in a way, Val knew about Anya's existence and was using her against Dust at that very moment.

"How did you-" - he tried to question, but Valentino interrupted him.

"Can you imagine this girl working on my filming? I'm sure she would redeem me as much money as you do, and she would also be much more obedient and submissive to my orders. Otherwise, you know what would come of her, don't you?"

The child felt like she was going to vomit at that, but certainly not as much as Angel, who was starting to sob and despair. - "No, please?! Anything but that! Leave her out of this! PLEASE?!" - he begged, starting to cry right there.

She then saw Val grab him by the chin and then demand. - "So, you better get that fucking C*** out of my studio, now!"

Desperate, the spider tried to defend Charlie. - "Look, V-Val, she just gets involved in everything. I-I'll tell her to leave. Just don't hurt her...!" - but in response, his boss just grabbed the collar of Angel's robe again and lifted him up off the ground, while continuing to threaten him.

"I have killed bitches for less than this attitude you're giving me. You're lucky you make me money! Now, you're going to go get rid of her, and then you are filming all night! Get me?! Or else, I'll have that little girl brought here and make you watch her having fun, without being able to do anything to participate!"

As he declared this, he threw Angel to the ground, who catches himself from the fall, and pointed at him angrily. The spider quickly regained her composure and replied. - "Yes, Val."

Anya, still disturbed by the whole scene, saw a mental note from Dust himself, which said "as long as you leave Anya out of this."

After being satisfied with the answer, Valentino suddenly pulled him out of the door with him, just as Angel had opened it and slammed it shut with force. Enough force to make a mirror inside fall over, smashing and shattering.

The child let out a scream, jumped to the side and cowered herself as pieces of glass flew towards her. Seconds later, she quickly ran to the door and pulled the handle, opening it and quickly leaving the room.

She saw Val dragging Angel with him, and throwing him violently onto the bed on the set, making Charlie look at him angrily.

Anya approached the spider to see if he was okay and then looked back up, also annoyed with his boss, which simply ordered everyone to return to work.

That attitude irritated the princess, and for the first time, Anya saw her in her demonic form. - "What makes you think you can treat him like that?!" - and then, she started walking towards Valentino, who simply stands there, smug, with his arms crossed as Charlie approaches. The child expected to see her finish off that abusive boss, but then, she saw Angel stand up and stand between them, anger and sadness on his face.

"Charlie! Just stop!"

Charlie stopped, shocked and confused by that. - "Angel, what are you talking about ab-" - she asked, but was interrupted again. - "Charlie, leave!"

Tears ran down Anya's face again, as she saw Dust's thoughts at that moment. He was suffering from doing that, but he had no other choice. It was either that or Charlie and Anya's lives would be at risk.

"I didn't want you to come here. I already asked you to leave and you didn't listen. You made things worse."

"I just wanted to help you-" - the princess tried to clarify, but the anger was now fully upon the spider at that moment. - "Well, you ain't! You actually want to help me?! Get the fuck out of here! Right now, and let me finish my work..." - he pointed to the studio door.

Charlie finally realized what she had caused, and began to cry as she began to apologize, only receiving a stern look from Dust. With that, she ran to the door, crying.

The child walked away from the scene and towards Angel, seeing that despite the angry expression on his face, he was feeling terrible about that in his thoughts. And then, Valentino approached him, laughed and chuckled lowly in satisfaction.

That only made she angrier. How could that guy do that? Hurt, manipulate and threaten her Angel as if it were nothing. Although, no one was watching her there, the little girl was sure that she wouldn't have the courage to face him, in person. Not after everything she had seen.

So, everyone was going back to film that bastard's damn adult movie scene.

All Anya could do at that moment was curl up against the wall and watch the whole thing, while holding back the urge to cry and vomit right there. She just hoped that no one else in the hotel would notice her absence until late at night.

04/06/2025: After much suffering, here is the chapter. And unfortunately, it was getting too long, so I had to stop here and divide it into two parts again. It wasn't easy to write, because I had to stop countless times because I couldn't bear to watch it without crying and screaming. This was one of the episodes that shook me the most deeply, because as I said, it's very heavy.

Yes, the scene of Anya screaming and crying was based on my own reaction when I first watched this scene. Although, I didn't want to write the violence too explicitly, I had to write it here anyway, as it is part of the plot, unfortunately.

I had time to write this part today, but I'll try to continue the second part untill the friday. Until then, I'll try to recover from this, because my head hurts. And I can tell it's going to be much heavier than this.