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Charlie was so excited she could barely hold herself still as she held Vaggie’s hand in the backseat of the limo. It was honestly amazing that the limo had survived the Extermination, Adam’s angelic beam slicing through the ground a mere four feet to the left of the garage.
“So why are we going to the train station?” Vaggie asked, brushing her thumb over the top of Charlie’s hand. Charlie smiled at her, nothing but love and excitement in her eyes.
“Well, Vaggie, it’ll be your first trip to the other Rings! I want you to get the full experience, and so we’re going to meet my dad at Uncle Ozzie’s palace, but we are going to go on the train! Just wait, you’ll love it! My dad took me when I was little, it’s so different from Pentagram City! Just hellborns, there’s half the amount of murders on the train! Plus, we’ll be in a private car, so you can just watch the scenery as we travel through Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, and Lust!”
Vaggie rolled her eyes and patted Charlie’s hands, leaning against her shoulder. “Okay, Charlie. I trust you.”
Charlie’s heart soared as she smiled so wide her nose crinkled and her eyes half-closed. She’d been planning this trip for forever, it seemed, and to have everything finally set into motion was a huge weight off her shoulders!
Up front, Razzle drove, a stuffed, inanimate plushy of Dazzle next to him to keep him company. Charlie had made it herself, experimenting with the creative powers she’d inherited from her father. So far, she could do inanimate plushies and make lights appear! There was a pang in her heart as she watched Pentagram City pass them by. It had been nearly two months since the thwarted extermination, but even now there were still signs of the battle. If only-
“Hey. Babe, I know that face. Get out of your head. We’re going on vacation. You’re taking me on a whirlwind tour of Hell, remember?”
Charlie leaned her forehead against Vaggie’s and sighed. “Right. Vacation. Everything is going to be perfect.”
The limo slowed to a stop in front of the train station. A busy place with long lines, screaming matches, and heavy security in the form of hellhounds. Technically they weren’t necessary, the souls of the Sinners would rip apart if they tried to leave the Pride Ring without a pass, but it worked as a good deterrent and cut down on the time spent cleaning the trains.
Now, Charlie had fudged the truth just a little, telling Vaggie they were going to Lust the proper way. As the Princess of Hell, she bypassed all the security checks, hand in hand with Vaggie as she skillfully wove through the crowds. The hellborn boredly went about their day, not paying any mind to the royal in their midst.
It wasn’t until they were actually boarding the train that anyone even talked to them, and it was a stewardess, a tall imp with pretty, curving horns and long hair coiled on top of her head like a pile of snakes.
“Tickets?” she said, looking them up and down. “You two sure you’re on the right train? Sinners can’t leave Pride. I’m not gonna stop you if you try, but it’ll be a mess for the janitors to clean up.”
Charlie straightened, clearing her throat and letting her demonic form slip out. “I am Princess Charlotte Morningstar, and I do not need a ticket to traverse my own kingdom.”
The imp stared up at her, red eyes darting from the crown upon Charlie’s head, the tall horns atop her head, and the six blazingly white wings flared out behind her back. “Y-your Royal Highness! Of course, my mistake! Please, enjoy your trip!”
Charlie folded herself away once more, a smile on her face. “Thanks! Have a nice day!”
She pulled Vaggie into the Royal Car and closed the door, slumping a bit in relief as Razzle set about stowing away their luggage. It might only be an overnight stay in Lust, but Charlie liked to be prepared!
“That was kinda hot, babe.”
Charlie snorted and shot Vaggie a playful look as the ex-exterminator pulled her into a seat. Overhead, the conductor announced their departure. The car swayed for a moment as the brakes released, and then they were off.
The train between the Rings of Hell was a marvel of engineering, a personal project of her father’s back when the Rings were first being established. Back then, of course, it’d been a tube of all things, twisting and turning a personal all around until they fell out at their destination. It was updated every few years to keep up with the times, and Charlie loved riding on it! She’d ridden on the current iteration, the train, that is, on its inaugural ride when she was ten. Her dad had been so excited to show it off for Charlie and her mom.
“Okay, okay, brace yourself,” Charlie ordered, gripping tightly to Vaggie’s arms as she felt the barrier approaching them. Vaggie braced herself, a grimace on her face like she was expecting pain. Charlie couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up as Vaggie looked up in awe as they passed and it…
It felt like entering Heaven, actually. A warm rush of magic washed over every single person in the train, judging them and, as saddening as it was, ripping apart any Sinners who were trying to escape Pride.
Charlie breathed in and relaxed, letting her wings fall out and spread across the specially crafted seats in the Royal Car. There were rests behind the low-backed couches for her to comfortably lay the sometimes heavy limbs down. Vaggie lit up and copied her, groaning blissfully as the weight was taken off her back.
“Babe. We have to get these for the hotel.”
“That’s such a good idea! Husk would love these!”
Vaggie frowned playfully. “Nope! All for us! We’re gonna be selfish and keep these things a secret all for ourselves!”
Charlie laughed at her antics, cuddling close. “Nifty would blab, dear. Then I’d feel just awful.”
“You’re such a good person, Charlie,” Vaggie sighed, wrapping an arm around Charlie’s shoulders and pulling her closer.
The two watched the scenery slowly shift from red to orange, the mesas of Wrath rising up above them as the train sped downward. Field after field of farmland whipped past, a few towns scattered about full of imps working the land. Charlie narrated everything she could remember about the Wrath Ring, running out of topics just in time for them to dip down abruptly into Gluttony and yellows overtook the orange.
Gluttony was the party capital of Hell, and the sounds of music reached them even inside the well-insulated walls of the train. Charlie spent more time talking about her Aunt Bee than about the actual Ring itself, but that was okay, because Vaggie had a soft smile on her face as she listened to Charlie talk.
As yellow bled into the green of Greed and the air filters clicked on with a hum, Charlie wrinkled her nose and told Vaggie that Greed was heavily polluted, Mammon was an asshole, and there were twelve stops that they’d be stuck at for at least half an hour each. Greed had its own, internal railroad system, so many trains, and yet ran so poorly because Mammon had the insane idea that people would just go on whichever train was going faster, and because it was Greed, everyone had to buy a new ticket for that train. Even if they already had a ticket for a train.
Vaggie started to doze in her lap by the fourth stop, lazily preening Charlie’s lower set of wings while the princess absently braided Vaggie’s hair and talked about the one time that Mammon had been invited to the Morningstar Ball and had put a stop to said ball for over a decade for his actions.
Charlie loathed to wake Vaggie as they finally cleared the last stop, but she didn’t want her girlfriend to miss a single thing as green became blue and Lust rose up to meet them.
“Man, Angel would love this place!”
It was perpetually night here, perfect for a night on the town, and there was always at least a slight drizzle of rain to add to the ambiance. Unlike in the Pride Ring, the rain here was actual water, something that Charlie had been shocked to learn about as a child after decades of sulfuric rain.
The way she had cried when her dad had fearlessly stepped into the wet darkness, fearing for his safety, had been teased about for decades after. If her father was with them, now, she was sure he’d make a comment about it.
“Oh! The rain is safe!” Charlie blurted as she pulled Vaggie with her to the door and stepped out. Vaggie resisted only a little as she processed what Charlie had just said.
“What?” she asked, yelling in surprise as Charlie fearlessly pulled them through the station and into the rain. It was an actual downpour, not a drizzle, and- oh, that was sweet. Her angel girlfriend had frantically, if a bit awkwardly, reached out with one of her wings to act as an umbrella for Charlie as the rain came down.
Poor Razzle bleated in dismay at the rain, the stuffed animal balancing all her luggage in his little arms. Charlie apologized and snapped her fingers, sending the luggage to the guest suite in the Lust Palace that she and Vaggie would be staying in.
Hopefully it hasn't been used by anyone recently.
Mimicking her girlfriend, Charlie raised her own wings to hover over Vaggie, blocking her from the rain. “The water evaporates from Envy and rises all the way up here to rain down! Apparently, before Greed got so polluted, they also got normal rain, but now the top four Rings only get sulfuric rain. Isn’t that cool?”
“Very cool, babe,” Vaggie agreed, leaning against Charlie. In the cool lighting of Lust and from the light of Charlie’s own wings, Vaggie looked amazing, and the princess couldn’t resist the urge to press a kiss against the other’s lips. It was quick and gentle, but it left Vaggie staring up at her breathlessly.
Razzle bleated again and Charlie laughed, brought back to reality as she looked up at the limo that arrived in front of them.
From the back of the limo, the door opened and a being made of bright blue flames stepped out, towering over the two women as he stretched and grinned down with all three of his faces at them.
“Charlie, baby, it’s been too long. And who is this lovely little moth you’ve got there?”
“Uncle Ozzie!” Charlie squealed, hugging the Sin was all her strength. She pulled back and gently shoved Vaggie forward, smiling widely. “This is my girlfriend! Vaggie! Vaggie, this is my uncle, Asmodeus, the Sin of Lust!”
“Please, call me Ozzie,” the demon purred. “Welcome to the Lust Ring.”