Chapter 1: Day 1: Memory Loss (Part 1)
Chapter Text
Vox POV
“There’s no trace of the files anywhere!”
Vox winced at the loud voice. His head was killing him, what happened? He tried to open his eyes, but nothing was happening. Was his screen offline?
“Then just wipe everything, we can’t take a chance that he has those files hidden somewhere.” Files? What files?
“Alright.” Who were these people? Why did his head hurt so much? Where was he?
“When you’re done get rid of him.”
Vox tried to open his eyes or move but found he couldn’t do anything. He tried to access his old video files to figure out what was happening but as quickly as he tried to pull them up, they were disappearing. Vox tried to access other materials only for them to get swallowed up as well. His entire brain was being engulfed in darkness. Vox could do nothing but brace for the inevitable as his entire system was consumed by the darkness.
*Beep*
*Beep*
What was that sound? Vox opened his eyes, looking around he found he was on the ground in some alleyway.
*Beep*
The sound was definitely coming from himself.
« Memory Tampering Detected. Activating Emergency Protocols. » A robotic voice announced in his head. Memory tampering?
*Beep*
Vox tried to remember what happened, but there was nothing. He desperately searched through his database for anything, but it was empty. Everything was gone. What happened to him?
Vox tried to sit up only for every part of him to scream in pain.
“Fuck!” All of his body was in absolute agony. Was this why he couldn’t remember anything? Was his memory damaged in an attack? Who had attacked him though, and where were they now?
*Beep*
What the hell was that sound? Vox tried looking around in his head for answers but there really was nothing. It was like he’d been completely cleaned out.
*Beep*
« Memory Tampering Detected. Activating Emergency Protocols. »
Ya. He knew that already. Anytime that alarm wanted to shut up that would be great. His head was already killing him. The beeping was not helping.
*Beep*
“Ahhhg!” Vox yelled out his frustration.
“Having trouble there old friend?” Vox looked to the end of the alleyway and saw someone standing there watching him. They were dressed all in red and their mouth was filled with sharp sharklike teeth. They were grinning widely, leaning on some sort of cane.
“Who are you?” Vox questioned the stranger. The other person cocked their head at him. They had called him ‘old friend’, did he know this person? Vox noticed the beeping had stopped. That had to be a good thing, right? The other person began walking down the alleyway towards him, Vox could do nothing but watch his approach. His body was much too mangled to attempt to run or fight so he just had to hope this person was in fact a friend. Hope it wasn’t whoever hurt him coming back to finish the job.
Alastor POV
Alastor loved a good puzzle. Kept his mind sharp and there was nothing quite as satisfying as solving a puzzle that had him truly stumped. And this one definitely had him stumped. He had no idea where it came from, or what it was. But it was fascinating. It had arrived through the airwaves, completely encrypted and completely captivating. He’d been locked up in his radio tower since he received it trying to figure it out. He had made absolutely no headway in solving it but that just made it more fun, the harder he had to work to solve it the more satisfying it would be when he did figure it out. And he would figure it out.
*Beep*
Alastor paused. Looking over at his radio staff that had made the sound.
*Beep*
Alastor picked it up, he didn’t sense anything nefarious happening, no tampering. Was he picking up someone else’s signal? Two mystery messages in one week. How lucky was he.
*Beep*
« Memory Tampering Detected. Activating Emergency Protocols. Please follow locational instructions. » Alastor stared down at his staff in confusion as a robotic voice relayed coordinates. What was this, some sort of emergency broadcast? But who would want to send it to him, he would be the last person to summon if there was trouble. How bizarre. Well, if someone was in trouble it sounded like they could use someone to help make it worse.
*Beep*
And if this annoying beeping was going to keep going off until he responded then he didn’t have much of a choice. That was fine though, he didn’t have much else going on, could be fun. Alastor slipped into his shadows, heading for the coordinates.
When Alastor arrived, he found himself in some dingy alleyway. The plot thickens. Alastor noticed a dim light at the end of the alley.
“Ahhhg!” A shout echoed off the walls of the alley. Alastor recognized that annoying voice.
“Having trouble there old friend?” The dim light looked up to face him and Alastor could just barely see Vox’s face on his heavily cracked screen. Vox just seemed to stare at him for a long moment.
“Who are you?” Alastor scoffed at the question. What sort of game was Vox playing? Sending out an emergency broadcast directly to him and then pretending like he had no idea who he was. Alastor slowly walked down the alley toward where Vox was crumpled on the ground. As he walked closer, he began to make out more and more. Vox’s entire body was a mangled mess, and his screen was completely bashed in. Alastor was surprised it was even working. Alastor also noticed the barely hidden fear on Vox’s face, but he didn’t move as Alastor approached. Just how badly was Vox injured?
“Vox, I don’t know what silly game you’re playing but you hardly look to be in any shape to be messing with me.” Vox looked down at himself for a second before looking back at Alastor.
“You know my name. So, you do know me?” Was he really going to play this out? Well Alastor had nothing better to do.
“Of course. We’re best friends, you come over every Friday night to drink wine and share secrets.” Alastor replied, rolling his eyes. Vox though just nodded slowly.
“Okay. And what’s your name?” Alastor watched Vox closely, looking over his various injuries. Maybe this wasn’t a trick. Maybe something truly terrible had happened to Vox. It would explain why he might have been desperate enough to call Alastor of all people for help.
“Alastor. So, you’ve truly forgotten who I am?” Vox squinted his eyes like he was concentrating, his screen flickered, and then Vox sighed in defeat.
“I can’t remember anything.” Anything. Well, that was interesting. It could still be a trick… but if it wasn’t. Oh the things he could do with Vox if his mind was truly a blank slate.
“That’s not surprising given the state you’re in right now. It’s a good thing I received your distress signal, who knows what would’ve happened if anyone else had come across you.” Vox just nodded along.
“So that’s what that beeping was. I guess if you were the one I sent the signal to I should be able to trust you.” Alastor restrained himself from grinning wider. Well either Vox had become quite the actor since Alastor last saw him, or this was real, and it was Alastor’s lucky day. Either way he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Yes. Now let’s get you out of here. I’ll bring you back to my place, get you all fixed up.” Alastor offered a hand to Vox. Vox lifted his own up, wincing in pain at the movement. Vox hesitated a moment but ultimately reached out and grabbed Alastor’s hand. Alastor gently pulled Vox to his feet while Vox whined in pain.
As much as Alastor would thoroughly enjoy parading the broken overlord through the streets, he recognized that someone might warn Vox’s annoying associates of his predicament, so discretion was probably best. Once Vox was stable on his feet, Alastor pulled him into his shadows, quickly transporting them both into Alastor’s room at the hotel.
“Holy shit!” Vox yelped as they emerged in Alastor’s room. “What the fuck was that?” Alastor ignored the outburst and instead used the opportunity to properly take in the damage to Vox under the bright lights of the room. His suit was hanging off him in strips, the material stained in blood and grime. The skin underneath was covered in all sorts of marks and cuts, and its own share of the blood and grime. Vox’s head was definitely the worst though. The screen was completely shattered, chunks of glass just missing. Alastor inspected the back of Vox’s head and found that his paneling had clearly been messed with, held together with a lot of duct tape. Maybe it wasn’t the injuries causing his amnesia, maybe someone had physically tampered with his brain. Alastor was reminded of the emergency broadcast he’d received, ‘Memory tampering detected’. Someone had specifically done this to Vox. Interesting. Alastor imagined Vox had quite a few enemies so who knew who was behind this specific attack. The damage did seem to support Vox’s story though. How delightful.
“Why don’t we get you to the bed and I can see about patching up some of these wounds hmm?” Alastor led Vox over to his bed, doing his best to lay him down gently. As much as it pained him to treat his biggest annoyance with such gentleness, it was for the greater good. The greater good being Alastor gaining Vox’s trust and then using it to absolutely tear him and his company to shreds. What fun.
Alastor collected whatever first aid supplies were stocked in the room and then came back to make a plan. He eyed the rags Vox was wearing.
“I suppose you’ll need some new clothes. I don’t think any of mine are likely to fit you. I guess I could send someone out to get you something. We’ll have to wait until they return to fix you up though, no point in cleaning your wounds when you’re covered in filth.” Alastor wasn’t really talking to Vox, mostly just talking to himself so he didn’t wait for a response before leaving the room. Once alone he summoned Husk to him. The cat appeared, completely startled by his change of surroundings until he noticed Alastor watching him.
“Can’t you just call me like a normal person? What do you want?” Such insubordination, it was like Husk wanted Alastor to punish him. But he hardly had the time, so he’d deal with that later.
“I have a guest. I need you to go and fetch a few changes of clothes from the shops. Here.” Alastor materialized a piece of paper with his estimates on Vox’s measurements. He passed the paper to Husk. “And please be quick. Time is of the utmost importance.” Husk looked between Alastor and his closed door a few times before sighing and turning to leave. That was more like it. No silly questions.
Alastor went back in his room, ready to get started, only to stop dead in his tracks. Vox’s grungy clothes were in a pile on the floor and Vox had one of the bed sheets wrapped around his waist.
“What are you doing?” Alastor narrowed his eyes at him. Vox looked down at himself and back at Alastor.
“You needed me out of my dirty clothes so I am.” Oh for the love of…
“Right, right. Well lay back down and rest.” Vox nodded, laying down on the bed with a lot of pain. Alastor looked over Vox again. He was a mess; Alastor had his work cut out for him. He thought about summoning some lesser demons to do the dirty work for him, but the whole point of this exercise was to gain Vox’s trust. So, Alastor grabbed a cloth and began doing his best to clean Vox off. Secretly revelling in each hiss of pain that left Vox’s mouth.
Alastor worked quickly but diligently as he cleaned off Vox’s upper half and carefully removed any broken pieces of his screen. He’d find him a new one later. Alastor did his best to suture Vox’s various wounds, but Vox really was a mess. Whoever had done this to him was truly depraved, or truly desperate. Maybe if Alastor found out who it was, he’d send them a gift basket.
“Fuck.” Vox yelped as Alastor pulled a little too hard. Oops.
After almost an hour Alastor was completely done with Vox’s upper half, he eyed the blanket.
“How… high on your legs do the injuries go?” Vox responded with his screen turning light pink.
“Not, that, high. I’ll just.” Vox leaned forward, groaning in pain the entire time, and pulled the blanket most of the way up his thighs. Well, that was a relief. Alastor got back to cleaning.
Just as Alastor was finishing up with the last of Vox’s stitches there was a knock at the door. Vox immediately tensed up.
“It’s fine, it’s just your clothes.” Alastor went to the door and found the clothes just set in a neat pile on the ground, Husk long gone. Probably for the best. Alastor brought the clothes back inside and noticed Vox trying to sit up. “Don’t bother.” Vox paused for a second but ultimately laid back down. Saving them both the awkwardness of trying to get Vox dressed again Alastor simply used some of his magic to appear the clothes onto Vox. Vox looked down at himself in surprise.
“Oh… thanks.” Alastor just nodded his head, quickly cleaning up all the used supplies.
Now for the truly awkward part.
“Do you need to use the washroom?” Vox looked at Alastor in surprise before looking down at himself and then looking back at Alastor his screen once again turning light pink.
“Uh ya.” Of course. Alastor sighed to himself but walked over to Vox anyhow.
“Alright. I’m going to use magic to carry you in there to avoid jostling your injuries. I’m hoping you won’t need any more assistance beyond that?” Vox shook his head quickly. “Great.” Alastor used the sheet under Vox to lift him gently through the air and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
While he waited for Vox to finish Alastor went about setting up a caller button since Vox would likely need his help with this for the next few days.
“I’m done.” Vox called awkwardly from the bathroom. Alastor opened the door and used the blanket to once again carry Vox carefully back to the bed. Setting him down as gently as possible. Once Alastor had put him down, he picked up the call button.
“Press this to call me if you need the bathroom or anything, but I will be around for mealtimes, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Vox nodded his head, grabbing the call button. “Are you all settled now or is there anything else you need?”
“Um, maybe some water?” Alastor snapped his fingers and a glass from the kitchen appeared in his hand. He filled it in the bathroom and set it on the table beside the bed.
“Anything else?” Vox shook his head. “Good. Then why don’t you rest now.” Vox nodded his head, his screen already beginning to power down. Alastor let out a long sigh, happy to be finally done. He went to leave the room only to hear Vox call his name quietly.
“Yes?” Alastor approached the bed. Vox didn’t look at him, screen fully off, but his voice came from one of his speakers.
“Thank you.”
“Uh, you’re welcome.” Vox didn’t say anything else, so Alastor quickly made his exit.
Alastor felt weird knocking on his own door, but he was trying to gain Vox’s trust so offering him some privacy was probably for the best. He’d even slept the night in his radio tower.
“Come in.” Vox called through the door. Alastor opened the door, walking in with a large tray of various breakfast items. He remembered Vox being partial to sunny side up eggs with buttered toast, fried potatoes and a little bit of steak, but just in case his tastes had changed Alastor had included a few other options.
As he walked up to the bed, he noticed Vox trying to sit up.
“No, no, no.” Alastor chastised. “Stay there. I’ll get something to prop you up a bit to eat.” Alastor set the tray down, going to his closet. There was an extra blanket, and he grabbed one of his bigger jackets as well. Bringing them back to the bed Alastor gently lifted Vox’s upper body, placing the folded blanket and jacket under Vox to keep his head up enough to eat. Once he was positioned Alastor went back for the tray, grabbing a chair and dragging it over to the bed. He sat down beside Vox with the breakfast tray in his lap. Vox tried to reach his arm up to grab some toast but immediately he was groaning in pain and pulling his arm back.
“Don’t strain yourself. I’ll feed you.” Vox’s eyes widened.
“You don’t have to do that, I can-”
“You can what? Stare at the food longingly while it grows cold? You’re too injured to feed yourself, let me help.” Vox looked ready to argue more but instead sighed, opening his mouth comically wide. Even without his memories Vox was stubborn as always. Alastor cut up a piece of egg and held it up to Vox’s mouth. Alastor was reminded for the first time in years just how bizarre it was to watch Vox eat. Vox moved his screen closer, so the fork was inside his screen, before closing his digital mouth over the fork. Alastor pulled the fork back, feeling the resistance. Absolutely mystifying.
Alastor continued feeding Vox silently for a few minutes before Vox stopped him.
“So, seeing as I have no memory right now, any chance you could fill in some gaps while I eat. Like who I am, how we know each other, where are we, maybe why someone would want to hurt me this bad?” Alastor thought for a moment. The more truths he used the more believable it would all be. Alastor lifted another scoop of food to Vox’s mouth.
“Well, your name is Vox. You run a business here in hell, I helped you get it started, that’s how we know each other. We met when you first got here, and I helped get you on your feet. And currently we are at the Hazbin Hotel. We’re guests of Charlie Morningstar, the princess of hell.” Vox’s eyes went wide.
“The princess of hell?” Vox got out through his chewing.
“Yes. I am a good friend of hers. I help her run her hotel. I figured it would be better to bring you here where you’d have the protection of the princess then back to your own place.” Vox nodded thoughtfully.
“That was smart. So how did we end up meeting?” Alastor thought about how to best answer the question. The truth seemed fine.
“You wanted to get started in the broadcasting business and knew that was my domain, so you hounded me for weeks to take you under my wing. I found you mildly entertaining, so I agreed.” Vox looked away, his screen a light pink again. Alastor found it amusing to see after all this time. Vox had gotten a lot better control over his power over the years, and much better control of his screen. It was almost endearing to see him reverted to how he was when he first showed up in hell. How innocent and malleable he was. Alastor would make sure to take better advantage of that this time around.
Vox opened his mouth to reply but suddenly his screen began to flicker. Vox sat frozen while his screen flickered off and on for a few seconds before returning to his normal face. Vox blinked up at Alastor dazedly.
“I… I remember.” Oh shit. Already? “I remember that day.” Just that day?
“What do you remember?” Alastor prodded gently. Vox looked Alastor in the eye.
“I remember approaching you, I thought you were going to ignore me like usual, but instead you invited me out for a drink.”
“Anything else?” Vox concentrated for a second but sighed sadly.
“No, just that. I don’t even remember going for the drink, or any of the other times I asked. Just that one memory of you finally saying yes.” Maybe if Alastor himself had bothered to remember that day their friendship began, he might’ve been more prepared for the day their friendship ended. But that was neither here nor there.
“That’s alright, I’m sure it will come back in no time. You just need some more rest.” And apparently Alastor needed to avoid mentioning anything that might trigger any of his newer memories.
Alastor went to lift another forkful of food for Vox, but Vox shook his head.
“I’m full, but thank you for the amazing food, and for all of this. We must have been really good friends for you to be willing to do this all for me.” Vox smiled contently at him and Alastor had to fight to keep a straight face.
“Of course. You’d do the same for me. Now if you’re done eating, lets redress your wounds.” Alastor put the tray off to the side and collected all of the first aid supplies again. Hopefully it would go much faster today.
Alastor eyed Vox on the bed, how best to do this.
“I need access to your injuries again. Can I just use magic to remove your outer clothing?” There was that pink tinge on Vox’s screen again.
“Ah ya. Sure. That’s… that’s fine.” It was almost like a roll reversal. Before their fallout it was always Vox making him uncomfortable, now it seemed Alastor had the upper hand.
Alastor used his power to remove Vox’s top and pants, just leaving him in his undershorts, though the mess of bandages kept Vox mostly covered. Alastor slowly worked through all of them, double checking his stitches, applying more ointments and re-bandaging everything. If Vox remembered how to access his power this would be going much faster, but for Alastor’s purposes it was best to keep Vox in the dark and just heal him the old-fashioned way. By the time Alastor was all finished it had thankfully only been half an hour this time. Alastor looked up at Vox and noticed he was pointedly looking away from Alastor, that didn’t stop Alastor from seeing just how red his screen was. Quite the change from who Vox had become in recent years, back to the more respectable man he’d been when Vox first got to hell. Alastor didn’t comment on it though, simply reappeared Vox’s clothes on his person and went to put the supplies away. When he was done Alastor grabbed the breakfast tray and prepared to leave.
“Where are you going?” Alastor looked back at Vox.
“You should get some more rest, and I have other things to attend to.” Vox nodded, looking almost sad. “I’ll be back later.” Alastor quickly left the room. He didn’t really have anything to do, but he didn’t feel like spending his entire day with Vox. Maybe he’d go work on that puzzle again. Get his mind engaged after a morning of handholding. This is why he didn’t like children; he had no interest in taking care of anyone other than himself. But it would all be worth it. When he crushed Vox and the Vees completely and could sit back and enjoy their misery, it would all be worth it.
Chapter 2: Day 1: Memory Loss (Part 2)
Notes:
It just kept going and going… lmao enjoy 😂
Chapter Text
Alastor POV
Alastor held the spoon up to Vox’s mouth, waiting patiently for him to lean forward. Vox slurped the liquid off the spoon loudly. No manners as per usual.
“Mm, this is really good. Like I was impressed by breakfast, but this is phenomenal. I-” Vox paused, his screen beginning to flicker again. Not again…
Vox’s screen reset and he focused back on Alastor. Unexpectedly Vox began laughing. What had Vox remembered this time? Was the jig up?
“What is it?” Alastor asked. Vox laughed for a few more seconds before finally calming down.
“God you’re a sore loser.” Alastor watched Vox, completely perplexed.
“Pardon?” Vox laughed again.
“We made a bet, and if I won you promised me a bowl of that stew Ruby, or Rose… Rosie, your friend Rosie was always going on about. And you were so mad you lost you found the tiniest bowl you could. It was like maybe a quarter cup of stew. Still the best stew I’ve ever had.” Alastor had forgotten that day. Unsurprisingly he didn’t care to dwell on the times where he made a mistake. The mistake in question was underestimating Vox. Alastor couldn’t remember the exact details of the bet, but it had been something along the lines of Vox needing to get a certain number of viewers for his first broadcast. Alastor had expected so little of him and Vox had blown his expectations straight out of the water. He used to do that quite often.
Alastor found himself laughing along with Vox.
“Yes. I truly did underestimate the general public’s lack of appreciation for the finer things, as well as the novelty of the bright and flashy television.” Alastor was definitely not still bitter.
“Wow. After all this time you still can’t admit that television is a worthy form of expression.” Vox rolled his eyes. Alastor scoffed at the very notion.
“Because it is not. Your medium relies on bright colours and flashy images to keep your audience’s attention. On radio there is no extra stimuli. It’s just either the music or the host, with nothing more than a captivating story to tell. Simple and perfect.” Alastor noticed Vox was just smiling at him. “What?”
“Were we always like this? Petty little squabbles over dinner. Something about it feels so… natural.” It seemed it was Alastor’s turn to go red in the face. He quickly looked away before Vox could notice, putting a hand on his face both to hide the redness and pretend as if he were thinking back.
“Yes, I suppose we did spend a lot of time bickering about silly things. It was a defining aspect of our friendship. It was beneficial though in the way that it pushed us to be more innovative. Constantly challenging each other’s ideas forcing us to be constantly improving to one up each other.” Alastor looked back at Vox, and he was still smiling at him.
“That sounds nice. Hopefully I’ll get my memory back soon so we can continue to innovate together.” Alastor felt a pang of… sadness? At the idea of Vox getting his memory back. That was silly though. Of course, Vox would eventually get his memory back, the hope was that Alastor would topple Vox’s kingdom before that happened. Clearly, he was spending too much time with Vox.
Alastor looked down at the forgotten bowl of stew.
“Alright that’s enough chitchat, let’s get you fed so I can get going I do have other places to be.” Vox’s smile fell a bit, but he nodded, opening his mouth for Alastor to put another spoonful of stew in. Alastor kept his mouth closed for the remainder of the meal and made his escape the second Vox was done. He needed to refocus.
The next morning Alastor once again brought Vox a large tray of food for breakfast. There had been no complaints from the previous day, so he just prepared the same food. When Alastor got to the room he knocked as per usual.
“Come in.”
Alastor came in to find Vox not in his bed. Looking around the room he immediately noticed Vox on the floor in the middle of the room.
“What did you do? Were you trying to get something? All you had to do was ask I would have come down and got it for you. Did you rip any of your stitches?” Alastor set down the breakfast tray so he could check Vox over to see if he ruined any of Alastor’s handy work.
“Alastor I’m fine. I was being careful; I just couldn’t make it any further. I was bored and thought I could make it to your bookcase and back. I was mistaken. It was the middle of the night I didn’t want to wake you up for a book.” Alastor finished checking all of Vox’s bandages for signs of bleeding, once he was absolutely certain Vox was fine, he sighed to himself.
“I told you to call me. Last thing we needed was you falling in the middle of the night and being left to bleed out until morning.” Alastor looked at Vox pointedly and Vox averted his gaze.
“Sorry.” Alastor sighed again. Too lazy to summon his power he simply lifted Vox up in his arms and carried him back to the bed. He set him down gently, propping him back up. Vox kept quiet during the entire ordeal, just watching Alastor silently. Once Vox was set up Alastor walked over to the bookcase, scanning the books he had. After a moment he plucked one of the books off the shelf, bringing it back to Vox. He handed it over.
“You seemed overly fond of this one.” Vox looked down at the book.
“The Sorrows of Young Werther.” Vox read the title out loud. Immediately his screen began flickering again. Alastor wasn’t surprised, he knew the book might trigger something, after all it had been a gift given to him by Vox. After a few seconds Vox focused back on him.
“Yes. I do like this one.” Vox looked up at Alastor, scanning his face, but Vox didn’t say anything else, simply set the book down and looked over at the food tray.
“Right. I’ve got breakfast for you.” Alastor grabbed the tray, bringing it over to Vox. Vox tried to lift his hand up again to grab something but ultimately it fell pathetically to his side. Alastor was unsurprised by this after Vox’s previous night of excitement. Alastor didn’t mind though, feeding Vox was an easy way to foster trust.
Once Vox had his fill it was time for Alastor to properly inspect Vox’s bandages. Conscious of Vox’s probable set back after the previous night, Alastor was overly careful as he peeled back the bandages. Although Alastor noticed some new bruising, most of Vox’s wounds were beginning to heal nicely. Alastor put some more ointment on one of the more serious wounds on Vox’s leg.
“Mmp.” Alastor pulled his hand back at the sound. He looked up at Vox, worried he’d done something wrong, but Vox was just watching him.
“Are you okay?” Vox nodded.
“Yep, yep. Keep going.” Alastor watched Vox another few seconds before continuing down his leg, trying to be even more careful now. Alastor assumed Vox was just too polite to tell Alastor that he’d hurt him.
Alastor finished up quickly, putting Vox’s clothes back in place and gathering up his things. He noticed Vox struggling to prop up his book to read. Alastor summoned one of his stock demons. Vox watched as the little critter crawled up on his bed.
“He’ll hold the book up for you, just tell him when to turn the page.” Vox stared at it in confusion but ultimately passed the demon the book. It grabbed the book, opening it up and holding it up for Vox to read. Vox chuckled a bit.
“Thanks.”
“Of course.” Alastor took his chance to leave Vox. He had a few errands to run for Charlie and then of course his puzzle to return to. He didn’t need to be babysitting all day.
After a few more days of constant care Vox was finally starting to get better. Most of the smaller cuts and scrapes were mended and the more major wounds and breaks were mostly healed.
Alastor brought Vox his breakfast as per usual and found him sitting on the edge of his bed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Vox looked back at Alastor like the kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
“I was feeling better and-”
“And you thought you’d go for a quick stroll and potentially ruin all my hard work?” Vox rolled his eyes in response.
“No. I was waiting for you. I was hoping I could make a trip to the bathroom with just some minor assistance.” Alastor sighed but went and set the breakfast tray down.
“Fine.” Vox smiled at him.
“Thanks.”
Alastor leaned down to hook Vox’s arm over his shoulder and then slowly helped Vox to his feet. There was much struggling and whining but soon enough they were making their way across the room. It felt like it took an eternity to get Vox into the bathroom but when they did get there Vox grinned at him widely. Clearly way too impressed with his ability to stumble to the washroom at a snail’s pace and with help. But progress was progress. He couldn’t use Vox until he was in better shape, and thankfully his motor function was coming back faster than his memories. The little flashes of recall were few and far in-between and mostly harmless. If anything, Alastor thought they were helping build Vox’s trust since they were always memories of their friendship. He just had to be careful not to trigger any memories from after.
Once Vox was done in the bathroom, they began the arduous trek back to the bed. Thankfully Vox was pretty light, and a good thing he had the nice flat screen instead of his old clunky box head. Which speaking of, now that Vox was doing better Alastor needed to get him a new screen. Maybe he could do that later today.
Alastor carefully set Vox down on the bed, helping him climb back in. When they were done Vox lay there panting from the exertion. Alastor went and grabbed the breakfast tray, setting it down on Vox’s lap. Vox just looked up at Alastor rather pathetically.
“Oh fine. But this is the last time. If you can walk to the bathroom, you can feed yourself.” Vox just grinned at him. No matter how many days passed it didn’t get any less weird to Alastor seeing Vox smile at him like that. Like all of their history was wiped clean. Like they were back in the 80s grabbing a drink at the pub. Casually bantering and telling jokes. It was nice.
Alastor dutifully lifted a forkful of eggs into Vox’s mouth. Now that Vox was getting better, he needed to work on the next phase of his plan, not that he really had a clear vision yet. Bringing Vox back to Voxtek was too much of a wildcard, there was no way to predict who they might run into and how they might react. He could sneak Vox directly into his office there, but Alastor wasn’t sure what alarms might be triggered or if the familiar surroundings might jump start Vox’s brain. Now if he could get remote access, it would involve a lot less variables, but that would involve Vox remembering how to do that. How could he prompt Vox to remember his business info without remembering too much?
“You know I really enjoyed that summer we spent trying every restaurant in the Pride ring. We should do that again.” Vox suggested.
“Mm, yes. Though there’s a few places that we would not be going back to. I can still taste that one rancid escargot.” Alastor winced at the memory. But wait… Alastor noticed Vox grinning at him. “You remember an entire summer?” Vox nodded enthusiastically.
“I don’t know. I was just thinking about watching y- … thinking about eating and it just unlocked. It was like a chain, just starting with one restaurant and then jumping from memory to memory.” This was not good. If Vox was getting his memory back faster, then Alastor was running out of time. “But ya I could have done without remembering that horrible escargot, I can’t believe you made me eat it.” Alastor couldn’t help but laugh as he remembered the rest of that day.
“I had quite the poker face, didn’t I? You had no idea what you were in for when you took a bite.”
“I even took a bigger bite after you told me it was the most delightful dish you’d had all week.” Vox pouted at him which just made Alastor laugh more.
“In my defence it was Sunday.” Vox playfully glared at Alastor before reaching up a hand, grabbing an egg off the breakfast tray and launching it right at Alastor’s face. Alastor just stared at him gobsmacked. Vox began to laugh uproariously while Alastor did his best to wipe the egg off his face. “So, you can’t feed yourself, but you can throw your food?” Alastor plopped the tray in Vox’s lap and got up.
“Wait no! I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.” Alastor sighed but sat back down. Watching in annoyance while Vox picked up his fork and began feeding himself.
“You just live to be a pain in my ass, don’t you?” Vox smiled innocently while popping more food in his mouth. Alastor grabbed a piece of steak off the tray and just shook his head to himself while he ate.
“And then you walked straight into a poll, completely shattering your screen, while everyone laughed.”
“I did not!” Vox exclaimed defensively.
“How would you know, you don’t remember anything.” Alastor replied, enjoying the way Vox’s face screwed up as he tried to force the memory to show up.
“Whatever. Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere anyway?” Vox practically pouted. Truly a child in an adult’s body.
Alastor checked the clock and realized just how late it was getting. He had stayed with Vox hours longer than he was supposed to. He shouldn’t be wasting time, with Vox starting to remember more he needed to get going on a plan.
“Right. I should be going. I’ll see you later.” As Alastor got up, he noticed the disappointment on Vox’s face. Vox was probably bored out of his mind stuck in bed. Well, he had his books that should be enough. Alastor didn’t have time to waste lallygagging all day. Vox could keep himself entertained for a few hours.
“Close your eyes.” Alastor called through the door. He peaked in and saw Vox holding his hands over his screen like a child. Alastor walked over to him. “Alright open.” Alastor held out the box to Vox. “It should fit your frame.” Vox’s eyes went wide as he looked at the new screen.
“Wow! You didn’t have to do this.” Vox looked back to Alastor, his digital eyes beginning to water. “You didn’t have to do any of this. You are literally the best, what in the world did I do to get such a good friend like you.” Alastor began to feel distinctly uncomfortable as Vox continued to sing his praises.
“It’s really no problem.” Vox stood up, grabbing the box and setting it down on the bed. Alastor wasn’t prepared though for Vox to turn back around and pull Alastor into a tight hug. Alastor tried to pull away, but Vox just clung on tighter. After a few seconds Vox pulled back a bit to look at Alastor.
“I swear to god once I get my memory back, I’m buying you… well I’m not sure what cause I don’t remember what you like… but I’m going to buy you something big, big and expensive.” Alastor highly doubted that Vox would be keeping that promise. But maybe that was the answer to Alastor’s own dilemma, maybe he could trick Vox into a deal, but what sort of deal could be all encompassing enough to truly bring down the Vees without being too obvious?
“Hmm maybe let’s wait until you’re fully healed before making all these promises.” Finally, Vox let go of him, going over to open the box.
“Can you help me install it?” Alastor absently wondered how Vox usually switched out his screens and frames.
“Sure.” Vox moved the box to the floor and laid back down on the bed facedown.
“Alright I’ll power my screen down and walk you through it.” Well, if nothing else this would be an educational experience, maybe while Alastor was in there he could see if he could find any signs of the memory tampering. Maybe find out how it was done, maybe figure out how to replicate it. “So, first off you need to unscrew all of the screws around the frame.” Alastor couldn’t be bothered with that, so he just used magic to take the screws out, then he gently popped the back off the frame. Inside was a mess of wires. “Alright see the box in the middle, there should be a yellow cable attached to it. Unplug that.”
“How do you remember all this?”
“I’ve been relearning my brain from the inside while I try to find my memories. It’s hard to describe to someone who doesn’t have a television for a head. But I can feel all the bits and what they do.” Alastor looked back at the cord he was about to grab.
“You can feel it?”
“Yes. But it’s not like weird, it still feels like you’re touching the outside of my head.” Alastor still thought it was weird, but he’d done much weirder, so he grabbed the cord pulling it out.
“Alright what next?”
Alastor tried his best to focus on making his and Vox’s next meal. Ignoring the unwanted thoughts that had plagued him since he finished installing Vox’s new screen. It had all felt so… vulnerable. Vox, with almost no memories to go off of, had trusted him to root around in his head like that. He could have done anything to Vox and Vox wouldn’t have been able to stop him. And to see up close the inner workings of his head, it was entrancing. All those wires and pieces that worked together to create a functioning living television set. Of course, there was a lot of magic involved as was the case with many hellforms, but it didn’t make it any less fascinating to look at. It made Alastor want to take it all apart to see how it fits, which speaking of puzzles Alastor was no closer to solving his own. He had about given up on the message itself, instead focusing on where it came from. Maybe if he could determine the source, he could find a clue.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Alastor paused in his stirring. That was someone at the front door. Alastor crept out of the kitchen, watching as Charlie hurried to open the door.
“Hi there-” Charlie barely got out.
“Where is he?!” Valentino pushed through the door. Fuck. He thought he’d have more time. Alastor didn’t hang around to hear what else Valentino wanted; he slipped into his shadows and appeared in his room.
“Shit!” Vox exclaimed at Alastor’s sudden appearance.
“You need to hide.” Alastor didn’t know how much time he had, he couldn’t just throw Vox somewhere else, or he might lose him. But maybe he could just bring somewhere else here. He was reminded of his swamp he often kept in his room. That would have to do. Alastor summoned the swamp.
“Holy shit! Where’d that come from?” Vox stared at the swamp, completely bewildered. “Also why do I need to hide?” Why indeed.
“There are some bad people looking for you. You owe them money.” Vox’s eyes grew wide.
“Crap. I thought I owned a business? Am I secretly broke?” So many questions, they didn’t have time for this.
“You took out a loan for a project that flopped, you’ll make the money back soon enough, but they didn’t want to hear that.” Vox nodded his head.
“Wow okay.” Vox was still sitting on the bed. Alastor ran over to him helping him up.
“I’m going to hide you in the swamp and get rid of them. Okay?” Vox just kept nodding as Alastor led him into the swamp. Alastor didn’t know how far was far enough, so he just kept walking until he heard a banging on the bedroom door.
“Alastor! Open up!” Well, they were out of time. Alastor helped Vox sit down behind a tree.
“I’ll be back.” Alastor slipped through the shadows back into his room, he quickly disappeared any evidence of Vox’s habitation of his room before opening the door. As he swung the door open, he was greeted by Valentino and Velvette, both looking extremely annoyed. They both pushed past Alastor and into the room.
“Where is he?!” Valentino demanded. Alastor put on his best innocent face.
“Who?”
“Vox of course.” Alastor pretended to be puzzled.
“And why would Vox be here?” Valentino got right up in Alastor’s face.
“I know you have him.” Alastor just smiled at him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but feel free to have a look around my humble abode.” Valentino squinted at him.
“We will.” They both proceeded to scour Alastor’s room. Calling out for Vox. Once the room was thoroughly examined, they eyed up the swamp.
“Feel free to check but do mind the gators.” Valentino and Velvette looked at each other for a moment before hesitantly stepping inside. They kept calling for Vox as they walked a few paces inside but ultimately, they decided to retreat back. As they walked back to where Alastor was waiting at the door, they both gave him a stink eye.
“We know you’ve got him somewhere. We will find him.” Valentino declared, wiggling a finger in Alastor’s face. Alastor gently grabbed Valentino’s finger and lowered it.
“Whatever you say. Now if you’re quite done snooping, I think you’ll be on your way hmm?” Valentino looked between Alastor and the swamp before huffing and storming out. Velvette following along behind him.
“We’re going to search this place top to bottom. If he’s here, we’ll find him!” Alastor rolled his eyes.
“Of course.” As they left the room Alastor shut the door behind him, using magic to lock it in case they doubled back, or Vox decided to take a peek. Then he proceeded to follow the two of them around the hotel. Watching as they terrorized the few guests that were there and tear apart half the rooms. When they reached Alastor’s tower Alastor stuck out his staff to stop them from entering.
“I want to make it very clear that if you touch anything in here there will be d̶̹́i̵̦̎̋r̴͔͐e̷̪̰̰̔̈́ consequences. But feel free to take a look around.” Valentino and Velvette watched him closely for a second, both looking mildly alarmed by his threat, before they walked into the room. Clearly heeding his warning, they were careful not to touch anything as they looked around and left the room rather quickly.
Thankfully that seemed to conclude their tour of the hotel as they finally headed back to the lobby. Alastor noticed a small crowd had assembled in the lobby, watching Valentino and Velvette storm out empty handed. As they exited Charlie waved behind them.
“Come back soon.” Velvette flipped Charlie off and slammed the door loudly behind them. Well, that was a close call.
With the slamming of the door all eyes suddenly turned on him.
“Alastor…” Charlie began looking nervous. “You don’t actually have Vox hidden here somewhere… right?” Alastor laughed loudly.
“Oh of course not. Vox is probably off on a bender and didn’t bother to tell his colleagues. He’s very irresponsible like that.” Charlie being the overly trusting naïve person she was immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
“Okay, good. Alright everyone let’s get back to business.”
Alastor was about to go back upstairs when he was reminded of his food in the kitchen. A delicious meal would be the perfect distraction from all the questions Vox would surely ask him. Alastor went back into the kitchen and began plating the food. He heard the door swing open again and shut.
“So, who exactly is this guest of yours?” Husk, always sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong.
“My guest is of no concern of yours, and definitely not of anyone else’s so you better keep it to yourself.” Alastor narrowed his eyes at Husk, but Husk immediately backed off. Nodding his head and retreating from the kitchen. It was so much easier when Husk actually did what he was told.
Alastor made it back up to his room in no time, unlocking the door and entering. He set the food down on the bedside table before heading out into the swamp.
“Vox it’s all clear.” Alastor walked back to where he left Vox and found him still sitting on the ground. “Vox?” Vox looked up at him. Alastor couldn’t decipher the look on his face. Did Vox figure it out? Did he remember something? Alastor didn’t have long to worry though as Vox quickly shook his head, smiling back at Alastor.
“Good. Thank you for hiding me. Now can I get the hell outta this mud?” Alastor quickly helped Vox to his feet and led him back to the room. Once there Alastor disappeared the swamp and brought Vox back toward the bed. Vox stopped him though and Alastor was once again worried for a second.
“I’m feeling pretty good today. Maybe we could sit while we eat?” Alastor felt almost upset by the question, he wasn’t sure why though. Vox feeling better was a good thing. Meant less effort on Alastor’s part. And yet… Alastor was already missing the dependency.
“Sure. We can sit at the table and eat.”
“Oh yes I remember that night!” Vox as usual was overly excited to gain another one of his memories. His elation was extremely contagious as Alastor found himself smiling widely despite himself.
“I’m surprised you remember that night at all, you were completely plastered. I had to practically carry you home.” Alastor couldn’t help but chuckle at the ridiculous memory.
“Hey! I can hold my liquor no problem, I never black out.” Vox responded indignantly.
“Oh of course. Just like you definitely remember December 31st, 1999?” Vox squinted at Alastor, clearly trying to find the memory somewhere.
“Nah I got nothing.” Alastor laughed at Vox again.
“I’m not surprised. You were absolutely zooted by eight o’clock.” Vox chuckled along with him before pausing, looking up at the clock.
“Oh crap, I didn’t realize how late it was getting, do you have to go?” Alastor looked over at the clock as well, surprised to see it was in fact quarter to nine. They’d been talking for hours, usually Alastor would’ve made an excuse up after Vox finished eating for why he had to leave, but this time he’d just completely let time get away from him. Alastor found himself not entirely ready to leave.
“Nope. I’ve got the entire evening free tonight. Nowhere else to be.” Vox’s screen quite literally lit up in response.
“Good! And since you’re staying, that story got me thinking, I’m pretty much better now, what if we had a few drinks tonight. Celebrate my good health.” Alastor thought about it. What could a few drinks hurt? He’d missed having someone to put a few back with, he mostly ended up drinking alone these days.
“Sure. Let me grab us a bottle.”
“… it truly was an affront to dancing.” Alastor paused to take a long swig of his twelfth? drink. “Which speaking of an affront to dancing, gosh I remember the one time I entered us into that dance contest in cannibal town. I, wrongly, assumed you could at least keep a rhythm, I unfortunately discovered you had two left feet.” Alastor laughed at the way Vox’s screen tinged pink, he wondered if Vox was remembering it. “I suppose it was my fault for not believing you when you begged me not to enter us in the contest and drunkenly tried to explain how the only time you’d ever danced you slipped and knocked your partner over causing her to break her arm. But I was determined to win that prize, so off we went, and I got to enjoy three and a half minutes of apologies and foot stepping. You felt so bad for me afterwards you pulled up your phone and immediately bought me the offered prize off the internet. I think it was a record player. I still have it up in my radio tower. We used to break it out on our slower nights, nothing like some smooth sentimental sounds to cap off a relaxed night of drinks. That player was quite phenomenal and…” Alastor trailed off as he noticed how Vox was leaning on his hand just watching him, smiling and nodding along to the story. “Sorry I just went off there.” Vox chuckled.
“No that’s fine. I like listening to you talk, I see why you have a radio show, your voice is enthralling.” Alastor was startled by the compliment and wasn’t sure how to respond. Before he could though Vox suddenly sat up. “I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we go up to your tower and listen to a record.” Alastor nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes. Yes.” Vox got up to walk toward the door almost immediately stumbling. “Wait, wait.” Alastor grabbed Vox’s shoulder. “Let me just use my shadows that way we don’t disturb the other guests.” Last thing Alastor needed was a drunken Vox parading through the halls. Vox nodded his agreement.
“Yes. We wouldn’t want to wake the princess from her beauty sleep. Shadow away!” Vox declared. Alastor rolled his eyes but couldn’t help a quick chuckle at the theatrics.
“One shadow coming up.” Alastor joined in before creating a large shadow in front of them.
“After you.” Vox gestured to the shadow. Alastor bowed his head in mock gratitude before stepping into the shadow, waiting until the last second to snatch Vox’s wrist and pull him in as well. Vox’s yelp being swallowed by the darkness around them. In a second, they were popping out in Alastor’s tower. Before Alastor could threaten Vox with violence the way he had to Vox’s colleagues earlier, Vox already had his drunken little hands on everything. Grabbing, pulling, and twisting whatever he could reach.
“Vox!” Vox paused, hand flipping one last switch. Said switch triggered the puzzle Alastor was working on to play. They both froze and Alastor noticed the way Vox’s screen was flickering. Alastor quickly used his magic to turn the broadcast off. He looked back at Vox who was staring at it perplexed.
“I think I’ve heard that before. I’m not sure. It sounds both familiar and not. Like I should know what it is but it’s just on the tip of my tongue.” Interesting. Wanting to test one final theory Alastor casually flipped one of the other switches, the return to sender switch as he liked to call it, almost immediately a ringing sound started coming from Vox’s head. With his confirmation Alastor flipped the switch back off.
“What was that?” Vox looked around as if trying to find the noise that came out of his own head.
“Oh, I was just bouncing some radio signals off you. No big deal.” The lie came easy, though keeping his poker face was a lot harder. His secret message had come from Vox, and based on the timeline it was within a few days of when Vox lost his memory. What in the world had Vox sent him. Maybe it would explain what happened to him.
“So, the record player?” Vox asked, bringing Alastor’s attention back to the present.
“Right, right.” Alastor pulled out the old thing and grabbed his favourite record. Once it was set and running, he went to take a seat in his chair but noticed Vox had already stolen it. That was probably for the best since Vox was still recovering, Alastor could afford to stand for a bit. Leaning back against the desk he let the music flow over him. Alcohol and jazz were such an underrated pairing. Gosh he missed nights like these, they were few and far between after Vox left, well Alastor supposed it was really after he had left, not Vox, but no need to split hairs. It was over and done. Now he just needed to make his deal. He’d figured it out now, he would get Vox to temporarily sign over his company to Alastor while he finished recuperating and regaining his memories, then Alastor would spend a few days using that power to utterly screw with the other Vees and then when he was done he’d drop poor unsuspecting Vox back off with his ruined friends. Alastor had a clear vision of the pathetic face of betrayal that Vox would wear as Alastor dropped him off with the rest of his ilk. It would be glorious. Alastor felt that pang again. The part of him that missed nights like these and frankly missed Vox was fighting a losing battle in his brain. He had to remind himself their friendship was over, there was no going back, the second Vox had his memories back he would turn on him and Alastor will have just wasted his upper hand. These past few days existed in their own little bubble, away from the outside world, and the idea of popping it, to going back to the way things were was… well if he was being honest with himself, it was completely dreadful. But it had to be done. But maybe he could just give himself a few more days. Enjoy a few more days in his bubble before they returned to reality.
Alastor looked over at Vox only to see Vox looking back at him. Once again Vox was leaning on his hand watching Alastor with a dopy little drunk smile.
“What are you looking at?” Alastor rose an eyebrow at him but Vox just grinned wider.
“Just enjoying watching the way the music just seems to flow through you. Your facial expressions with each rise and fall, the way your fingers follow along the melody on an invisible piano and your foot taps out the beat. I don’t think I’ve ever really been a music person, but I think I can understand that enjoyment you all feel by living vicariously through you.” Alastor was distinctly aware of his face heating up at Vox’s words. Alastor had always thrived on living in the shadows, never seen unless he wanted to be seen, so having someone watch him so intensely was nerve wracking. He did not enjoy feeling so seen. Not wanting to continue the conversation any further Alastor tried to think of something else.
“So anymore memories of what happened to you yet?” Alastor couldn’t help but look over at the switch for his puzzling broadcast.
“Uh, no. I guess my brain isn’t ready to relive whatever happened, and I don’t blame it. If I could figure out who did this to me without having to relive it that would be my choice, but until I know who hurt me, I’m at risk of being attacked again. So, I gotta try to remember. Maybe when I’m healed, we could go back to where you found me to see if I remember something?” That was a great idea. Well not to jog Vox’s memory, but Alastor should go on his own, maybe find some more clues for his puzzle.
“Amazing idea. But let’s wait a few days. Don’t want you out in public until you’re fully back to one hundred percent.” Vox nodded.
“Ya. Don’t want those people who attacked me or even those people from earlier to come after me.”
Alastor was already starting to feel tired, but Vox still looked completely wide awake. Well, there was one solution to that. As the last song finished Alastor threw on a new record, well an old record. He called it his Vox Lullabies record. Vox had never made it past song two. Alastor just sat back and let the melody do its job, in under a minute Vox’s digital eyes were already struggling to stay open and by the end of the final chorus Vox was leaned right back in his chair, screen offline. Too easy. Alastor strolled over to where Vox was completely passed out and gently picked him up from his seat. Alastor stepped through his shadows and arrived back at his room. He laid Vox down gently on the bed, pulling the covers over him. Before Alastor left, he paused for a moment just watching. Thinking back to the many, many, times he had had to get Vox home after a long night. The good old days. But all good things must come to an end. At least Alastor had gotten to enjoy these last few days with Vox.
Alastor quickly made his was out of the room and back to his tower. That was enough reminiscing for one night.
Alastor stared down the empty alley. He was positive it was the one where he’d found Vox. Strolling down it he took note of every scratch on the wall, every piece of litter on the ground, anything that might tell him something. At the end of the alley Alastor was unsurprised to find a whole lot of blood, Vox had been in pretty rough shape. There was also expectantly a lot of broken glass. Weirdly though there was something shiny and purple on the ground. Alastor carefully touched the unknown material and found it was some sort of dirt. A very bizarre colour in the very red themed Pride ring. Was it imported or had someone cared enough to dye it purple. Either way Alastor summoned a container, collecting a small sample of the dirt. If he found out where this came from, maybe he could figure out who had attacked Vox and maybe why Vox had sent him such a secretive message. It was definitely a long shot, but Alastor refused to give up on a good puzzle.
As Alastor was turning to leave with his prize in hand something else caught his eye. Sitting off in the corner was a feather, how interesting. Alastor snatched the feather up as well. A bird sinner. That narrowed down the possibilities quite a bit. Alastor was suddenly liking his odds a lot better then when he first ventured out that morning. Things were definitely looking up.
“So, I’ve never beaten you at chess ever?” Vox asked as he moved a pawn forward.
“Absolutely not.” Alastor responded by advancing his knight.
“Well maybe today will be the day, and we’ll throw me a grand party to celebrate my success!” Vox’s screen flickered, it had been doing that more and more often now and Alastor knew he had to stop procrastinating. “We should go out to The Burnt Hairball again! God, we had a good time there for my one millionth sale. Now the end of that night I definitely do not remember.” Vox laughed loudly before finally moving his bishop.
“Yes, you definitely had quite the night.” Alastor moved up a pawn. “I am pretty sure you hit on every single person in that bar that night, heck I’m pretty sure I caught you chatting up a poster on the wall.” Vox, who had picked up his pawn to move it again froze, there was no light tinge this time, Vox’s screen had become more pink than blue.
“I well… I was lonely. It was before I met Valentino so I was getting it anywhere I could.” Vox placed his pawn looking back at Alastor expectantly, but Alastor was the one frozen this time. Valentino. Vox remembered Valentino, and what’s worse, he remembered Valentino and hadn’t told him right away.
“Of course. I understand, the lesser of us men can’t control their urges. It’s to be expected.” Alastor used his knight to take Vox’s now unguarded bishop.
“Hey! I can control my urges and- wait what the fuck, how’d you steal my rook?” Alastor rolled his eyes.
“One. Absolutely not you are practically a slave to your baser desires. Two. That was your bishop not your rook. And three. I took it with my knight.” Alastor smiled innocently at Vox who looked completely gobsmacked.
“Right, of course.” Vox reached for his own knight, bringing it into play. “And I so too can control myself. Just cause I’m not a non-sexual like yourself doesn’t mean I can’t keep it in my pants when I choose to.” Alastor raised an eyebrow at Vox’s choice of words but grabbed his queen to move.
“A non-sexual? Really? Just because I have found a higher calling that brings me more purpose than wasting time on something even an insect can do, doesn’t mean you have to call me names. Not very nice.”
“You’re not very nice.” Vox responded in true child-like fashion, grabbing a pawn at random to move. Alastor immediately slid his bishop across to take the pawn that had been freed by Vox’s pointless move and even trapping Vox’s rook. How fun.
“No. I most definitely am not.” Alastor replied, reviling in the utter frustration on Vox’s face. In a move Alastor was utterly unsurprised by Vox ‘accidentally’ knocked the table causing all of the pieces to fall over. He stuck out his tongue at Alastor.
“I hate you! You cheat and you know-” Vox’s face began to flicker. Alastor wondered amusedly if Vox was remembering all the other times he’d been losing badly and decided to throw a fit.
“What?” Vox asked as his screen continued to flicker. Alastor went about picking up the pieces seeing as this memory seemed like it was going to be a long one. Alastor knew he was running out of time, but he would be damned if he didn’t get to enjoy one last good day.
“How am I the egotistical asshole? You prick!” Alastor froze. He looked back at Vox who was still reliving his memory. No. It couldn’t be. “Well at least I’ve gotten laid in the past century.” No. No. No. Alastor reached over, trying to shake Vox out of the memory but nothing happened.
“Well fuck you too. We don’t even need you. I was just trying to do you a favour!” The final nails in the coffin. Vox’s screen finally stopped flickering. His face returning to look at Alastor. It didn’t take a genius to see the hurt and betrayal written all over Vox’s face. The hurt and betrayal Alastor had put there.
“You…” The hurt was starting to fade but now the anger was coming in strong. “You fucking asshole!” Vox stood up from the table, grabbing his nearby glass and chucking it at Alastor’s head. Alastor barely managed to dodge the flying glassware. “You… what the fuck did you do?! You’ve been keeping me in your house, gaining my trust, what was the plan? Were you going to use me to take me and my company down? Destroy my life? Fuck with Valentino and Velvette?” Alastor couldn’t help the look of guilt that crossed his face. Vox just scoffed.
“Of course you were. Fucking sick twisted con you were running. Basically, playing house with me while I couldn’t even remember who I was. What’s fucking wrong with you?” Vox paused to take a breath before opening his mouth to go off again, but Alastor had had enough. Without thinking he opened a shadow portal behind Vox and shoved him through. Right back to his luxury tower and his friends. Back where he belonged.
Even an hour after Vox was gone Alastor still sat in his chair. Vox’s words replaying in his brain on repeat. Competing against his own brutal thoughts. ‘What’s fucking wrong with you?’, ‘Why didn’t you make the deal sooner?’, ‘Fucking sick and twisted.’ ‘Pathetic’. Alastor couldn’t take it anymore. Without another thought Alastor summoned the five bottles of whiskey in his liquor cabinet. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 3: Day 2: I Don’t Need You/I Need You
Notes:
I’m gonna crash out so hard when im done writing these two challenges lmao.
Chapter Text
Vox POV
Vox toppled backwards through the portal. Bracing himself for whatever was on the other side, only for him to land somewhere soft. Vox looked down and found he had fallen onto his bed back at Vee tower. Was this some trick? Had Alastor made some replica of his bedroom to continue his scheme? Without Vox having access to the rest of his memories it was impossible to tell. He recognized the room from the bits he had remembered but he didn’t have any concrete evidence whether the room was really his or not. Vox looked over at the door. Well, there was one way to find out. He got to his feet, a few of his injuries complained from his short fall onto the bed, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be any new injuries. He was surprised Alastor didn’t just dump him on the floor. Ugh. The absolute bastard. Vox knew he wasn’t working with all of the pieces as most of his memory was still MIA but from what he did remember of what happened with Alastor… some friend Alastor had turned out to be. And frankly if there was some simple explanation for what Vox had remembered Alastor would’ve told him instead of sending him away. It was obvious Alastor had realized the jig was up and dumped him. Vox couldn’t believe Alastor had basically held him captive for a week, gaining his trust, spoon feeding him. Vox felt a wave of embarrassment at that. Never mind the chess game, Alastor had been playing 5D chess the whole time, probably laughing while Vox had lain in bed trying desperately to remember his life. Vox’s mind was still struggling to reconcile these two opposing versions of Alastor. The old friend and the manipulative betrayer.
After a slow march across the room, doing his best not to further aggravate his injuries, Vox reached for the door to his room. He was surprised when it turned easily. He wandered out into his living room. Vox felt as a memory was triggered, just a quick glimpse of Valentino pinning him down on the couch. Vox had noticed most of his memories with Val were sexual in nature. He hadn’t regained many yet, being trapped in that hotel all this time left little chance for memories of his home to be triggered. It had been the Alastor show all week; he knew more about any random Tuesday brunch with Alastor then he did about anything that had happened since their fight. Most of his newer memories that had come back had been triggered by Val and Velvette coming by the hotel.
Vox groaned in annoyance, he had been so goddamn trusting, letting Alastor hide him in the swamp while his actual friends came looking for him. The moment Val’s voice had called out for him Vox’s brain had been taken over by memories. When he first met Val, when they went into business together, and mostly all the times they’d hooked up over the years. He imagined there were probably many missing memories that didn’t involve sex, they just probably weren’t as emotionally charged, and he’d get them back eventually. Even with all that evidence though Vox had still chosen to trust Alastor, what a fool he’d been.
But speaking of Val and Velvette he should probably try to find them. Let them know he was alive. Vox exited his rooms and into the main hallway where an elevator waited for him. Once inside though it occurred to him, he had no idea where he was going. Well, the lobby would be a good place to start. Vox pressed the button and then slumped against the wall. Fucking Alastor. Vox should still be resting not running around the tower like a lost child. He’d find Val and Velvette and then he’d get back to bed. He was sure between the two of them he’d be well cared for. The elevator arrived quicker than Vox would have liked, he pushed off the wall, trying not to stumble out of the elevator. As he walked out though he immediately saw two familiar faces.
“Val, Velvette.” Both of them looked at Vox in surprise.
“Holy shit you’re alive.”
“Nice to see you too Velvette.” After a few more seconds of frozen shock, they both approached him like they were seeing a ghost. Instead of a happy welcome home hug though Velvette smacked his arm and Vox barely held back a wince.
“Where the hell have you been? We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Obviously not hard enough.” Vox couldn’t help but respond. He knew they weren’t the ones he was really mad at, but he was annoyed he’d been left with Alastor all week.
“Hey. We even went to that ratty ass hotel to look for you.” Val added defensively.
“What took you so long?” Maybe he was being an asshole, but Vox didn’t particularly care. He was in pain, and he was pissed. He was also struggling to stay standing. Trying to be casual he took a step back to lean against the wall.
“Well, you didn’t bother to send out a distress signal so how were we supposed to know you were even missing and not just out on some bender?” Velvette had a point. Vox thought back to the distress signal he did send out. To Alastor. Why the hell had it gone to Alastor. Had he programmed Alastor in all those years ago and then just forgot to update? “And frankly we didn’t even take that long to go looking. We waited one week, maybe a day or two extra, and then we were kicking down doors.” He really should cut them some slack… wait.
“One week?”
“Ya, I thought maybe you’d shacked up with some rando for the week. Didn’t want to raise the alarm if you were just off being a man-whore.” Vox ignored Velvette’s commentary. He was much more concerned about how long he had been gone. He tried to think how long he was with Alastor before they’d shown up. Six days. He could only remember six days before Val and Velvette showed up.
“Exactly how many days did you notice I was gone before you came to the hotel?” Both Val and Velvette watched him questioningly.
“We went to the hotel on the twentieth. And I remember I was looking for you on the thirteenth and couldn’t find you.” Velvette looked to Val.
“Well, I remember the one day I had to settle for Gail when I couldn’t find you… he was nowhere near as talented with his-”
“Val.” Vox growled out.
“I don’t know, like the eleventh maybe?” Nine days. Nine days at least, who knows how long he was missing before they noticed.
“I was only with Alastor for six days before you showed up. That means I’m missing three days.”
“What do you mean missing?” Velvette finally seemed concerned for him instead of annoyed.
“What do you mean with Alastor?” And Val, jealous as ever.
“Alastor rescued me from an alleyway after…” Vox considered Val and Velvette for a moment. With his shattered memories, how much did he really trust them. “Someone attacked me. I don’t remember the attack but if I was missing for nine days then three of them were probably with whoever attacked me.” Velvette nodded along, pulling out her phone, already in detective mode. Val on the other hand…
“Okay and why the fuck did you spend six days with Alastor, and why didn’t you let us know you were there when we went to the hotel to find you?!” How to explain.
“I was helpless after the attack. I couldn’t move without help. Alastor… well he helped me. I don’t know why. Maybe he was hoping I’d owe him, maybe he wanted to be the one who got to kill me. I have no idea. But I was finally able to escape today.” Both Val and Velvette regarded him with raised eyebrows.
“Right. So, you were kidnapped by someone for three days and don’t remember it and then you spent a week playing doctor with the radio demon. Anything else?” Vox was getting fed up with Velvette’s snark. Was she always like this?
“Nope, that about sums it up. Now I need to get back to bed but if you guys want to start trying to figure out who the fuck took me that would be great.” Vox pushed off the wall and limped back into the elevator. “Also, if someone could help me get back to my bed. That would be fantastic.”
“Kitty!” Val called, and within a moment the bot had arrived. “Help Vox get back to bed.” The bot nodded following Vox into the elevator. Vox looked down at it in annoyance, but before he could protest Val and Velvette had disappeared. Vox caught himself thinking about Alastor carrying him back to bed. He banished those thoughts quickly. He did not need Alastor.
« Hey, could you bring me breakfast I don’t feel up to getting it. Thanks. » Vox messaged Valentino. He hoped Val would see his message, neither he nor Velvette had been by to see him since he got back the previous night. Vox slept through dinner and was just hoping Val would see his plea for food. Vox was surprised to get a message back almost immediately.
« Of course. It will be there in twenty minutes. » Thank god. He wondered what Val would even make him. Probably just a bowl of cereal but that was fine. He was starving. And anything Val made would be better than Alastor’s manipulation food.
Exactly twenty minutes later there was a knock at Vox’s door.
“Come in.” The door opened and Vox felt a bit of the wind leave his sails as Val’s bot wheeled in carrying a takeout bag. Vox let out a sigh as he grabbed the bag from the bot, immediately the bot went right back to its master leaving him alone again. Vox looked at the sad paper bag. He opened it and found a breakfast sandwich and some hash-browns. Well, not exactly his usual, but it was fine. Vox pulled out the breakfast sandwich and immediately felt how soggy the wrapper was. He opened it up and took a bite, he almost immediately spat it back out. After eating fresh, delicious eggs on nice crispy toast all week, this sandwich was absolutely awful. But he was starving, and beggars couldn’t be choosers, so he took another subpar bite. Vox couldn’t help his wandering thoughts as he tried to distract himself from his sad excuse for food.
“No, no, no.” Alastor chastised him. “Stay there. I’ll get something to prop you up a bit to eat.” Vox watched as Alastor went to the closet grabbing a blanket and a jacket. Alastor came back and tried to gently lift Vox’s upper body; Vox did his best not to groan at the pain. He didn’t want Alastor to feel bad for helping. Once Alastor set him back down, he grabbed the breakfast tray and a chair, sitting himself down beside Vox. Vox tried his best to reach for the tray but found his arm dropping back to his side pathetically. He was absolutely useless. Couldn’t even feed himself.
“Don’t strain yourself. I’ll feed you.” Vox looked at Alastor in surprise. He wasn’t being serious?
“You don’t have to do that, I can-”
“You can what? Stare at the food longingly while it grows cold? You’re too injured to feed yourself, let me help.” Vox tried to think of anything to refute Alastor’s point but what was there to say. Alastor was right, he could barely lift a finger. Annoyed at his own helplessness Vox sighed, opening his mouth overly wide. He watched as Alastor cut up a small piece of egg and gently placed it in Vox’s mouth for him. Vox felt like a child as he ate the proffered food, though a small part of him felt warm at the treatment. Was this normal for them? Vox didn’t remember anything about their friendship, but Alastor looked so at ease feeding him. Though as Vox glanced over at Alastor, he was surprised to see Alastor watching him closely. Vox tried to suppress the heat he could feel enveloping his screen.
Vox’s screen was heating up just remembering what happened. He still had no idea why Alastor had been watching him so closely, why Alastor had fed him like a child. It was so weird. He felt almost violated but still he felt that little touch of warmth at being so well taken care of. Vox looked back down at his shitty take-out breakfast. It was fine. This was fine. He didn’t need Alastor.
Aaaaaand more subpar take out. How lucky was he. Did he eat like this normally? Vox knew he was in hell and couldn’t die from eating greasy fast food every day but seriously. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Maybe he usually cooked for himself? Vox stared down at his gross over-processed burger, dreaming of much better food.
Vox may have been working with a very limited memory but god if this wasn’t the most delicious food he’d ever put in his mouth. As he swallowed his first spoonful of Alastor’s stew he was already looking forward to the next one.
“Mm, this is really good. Like I was impressed by breakfast, but this is phenomenal. I-” Vox paused, his sight fading as another memory took over his vision. Or more like memories, three of them flashing in rapid succession.
~~~
“You’ll never even get a tenth as many viewers on your first show as I did.” Alastor shook his head laughing.
“Wanna shake on it?” Alastor paused in his laughter to size up Vox.
“Sure. What are your terms?”
“If you’re right, I’ll stay on as your assistant/slave for another year, but if you’re wrong, I want a bowl of that stew of yours Rosie’s always raving about.” Vox stuck out a hand and Alastor considered his offer. Finally he smiled widely and grabbed Vox’s hand.
“Sounds like a deal.”
~
“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Vox watched the counter on his screen just go up and up and up. Wait until he showed Alastor, Vox couldn’t believe he actually did it. He hoped Alastor was proud of his success.
~
“You have got to be kidding me.” Vox looked down at the tiny bowl of stew Alastor had just handed him. “Seriously, you couldn’t just be happy for me?” Alastor looked at Vox as innocently as Alastor possibly could.
“Whatever do you mean? You asked for a bowl of stew, this is a bowl of stew.” Vox squinted at Alastor, he was tempted to argue back but ultimately knew this was an argument he would never win. He would take what he could get. Vox scooped up a spoonful of stew.
“Holy shit this is good.”
~~~
Vox blinked back to focus, clearing away the haze from the memories, he looked around him trying to remember where he was. As his eyes landed on Alastor, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing
“What is it?” Alastor asked, he looked almost nervous. Probably worried Vox was going to remember exactly this.
“God you’re a sore loser.” Alastor just stared at him.
“Pardon?” Playing dumb, Vox laughed again.
“We made a bet, and if I won you promised me a bowl of that stew Ruby, or Rose… Rosie, your friend Rosie was always going on about. And you were so mad you lost you found the tiniest bowl you could. It was like maybe a quarter cup of stew. Still the best stew I’d ever had.” Vox could almost see as Alastor recalled the memory, watched as his face twisted up in a wry grin, before Alastor inevitably burst out laughing.
“Yes. I truly did underestimate the general public’s lack of appreciation for the finer things, as well as the novelty of the bright and flashy television.” The man really could not accept defeat gracefully.
“Wow. After all this time you still can’t admit that television is a worthy form of expression.” Vox rolled his eyes and Alastor scoffed at him. How childish.
“Because it is not. Your medium relies on bright colours and flashy images to keep your audience’s attention. On radio there is no extra stimuli. It’s just either the music or the host, with nothing more than a captivating story to tell. Simple and perfect.” Vox found himself watching Alastor fondly while he lectured at him, though Alastor paused when he noticed Vox’s staring. “What?”
“Were we always like this? Petty little squabbles over dinner. Something about it feels so… natural.” Vox felt a pang of hurt as Alastor immediately looked away. Had he said something wrong? Alastor didn’t look angry though, just… thoughtful.
“Yes, I suppose we did spend a lot of time bickering about silly things. It was a defining aspect of our friendship. It was beneficial though in the way that it pushed us to be more innovative. Constantly challenging each other’s ideas forcing us to be constantly improving to one up each other.” Vox wished he remembered all that. It sounded like they really were close. He found himself almost missing something that was already his. If only he could remember. Alastor looked back at him and Vox noticed a trace of red on his face. Had Alastor looked away cause he was embarrassed?
“That sounds nice. Hopefully I’ll get my memory back soon so we can continue to innovate together.” Vox grinned widely at Alastor only to notice Alastor looked almost, sad? His grin never really left his face, but Vox could see it in Alastor’s eyes. Vox supposed years of friendship allowed him to read Alastor so well even if he couldn’t remember any of their history. But why was he sad?
Vox just felt confused. Had it all been an act? Taking such good care of him, pretending they had been such good friends, but then why the sadness?
Vox did his best to rid his head of such thoughts. Of course it was a trick. Alastor was just trying to manipulate him. Their past did not matter, their week together did not matter, none of it mattered. Vox was back where he was meant to be, and even if the food wasn’t all that great it didn’t come with any strings so that made it the best. He did not need Alastor’s yummy stew, he did not need Alastor’s nostalgic lectures, and he definitely did not need Alastor.
“Guys I really don’t know if I’m up for this.” Vox leaned against the wall while Velvette made last minute adjustments to their outfits.
“Vox you’ve been missing for almost two weeks, people are going to start talking if you don’t make an appearance tonight.” Velvette was right, but it didn’t change the fact that after an hour getting ready his injuries were already screaming at him.
“How about a little something something to make you feel better, hm?” Val offered him a few pills. That was the last thing Vox’s shattered brain needed.
“No, I’ll just grab a drink inside. I’ll be fine.”
“You better be.” Velvette looked him up and down one final time. “Alright let’s go.”
The three of them walked through the door together and into their party. Fashionably late to their own event as always. At their appearance there was a loud cheer from the crowd. Multiple memories of similar situations fought for Vox’s attention. Apparently, he liked to party. That seemed so different from the him he remembered from his time with Alastor. That was probably Alastor’s fault though, Alastor was probably such a stick in the mud, and once Vox made new friends, he actually got to have some fun for once. Vox saw a flash of a memory of a night he and Alastor had had out on the town, laughing and drinking… no. No, this was better.
Vox wanted nothing more that to find the nearest chair to sit down on or even a wall to lean on, but Velvette insisted upon making the rounds. So instead of a wall, he found himself leaning on Val. The problem with leaning on Val instead of a wall though, was a wall did not have wandering hands. And with every skim of Val’s hands on a healing injury Vox fought back a yelp of pain. He tried to shove Val’s hands away, but he had too many.
“Val.” Vox tried whispering at him. “Please stop.” Val scoffed at him but pulled his hands away. Vox had but a moment of reprieve before Val pulled his entire body away, causing Vox to stumble sideways. A barely restrained scream caught in his throat as Vox felt the stitches on his side tear open. They’d been almost healed too. “Fuck.” Vox cursed under his breath. It seemed that was finally what it took to get Val to give a fuck.
“Shit, what happened?” Vox fought the urge to simply growl back at him.
“I just tore open my stitches. Fuck.” Vox began hobbling toward the exit. He could already feel his side getting wet. Hopefully the blood wasn’t showing through.
Once he was finally outside, he was surprised to hear Val follow him out.
“Poor baby. Let me help you back to your room.” Well, that was a nice change of pace. Val scooped Vox up in his many arms, jostling Vox’s many injuries but that was fine. Val was finally taking care of him.
In no time they were back in Vox’s suite, Val setting him down on the bed and running off. Within a minute Val was back with a bunch of supplies, he set them all out on the bed beside Vox. Most of them looked unnecessary but Val just probably wanted to be thorough.
“Alright, are you going to be a good patient for me Voxy?” Val held up a bandaid and a thermometer from his pile of supplies. Well, it was close enough.
“Of course.” Vox could play along.
“Perfect. Then let’s get these pesky clothes off of you.” Val gave him a salacious smile and Vox could already feel his pain dulling a bit. Endorphins were a hell of a drug. That relief was only temporary though as Val practically manhandled him to get his shirt and pants off. Vox fought every urge to hurl expletives at Val. He was just trying to help, unlike some people who could just magically remove his clothes for him, Val needed to take them off by hand. Vox felt a rush of heat to his face remembering how easily Alastor stripped him of his clothes whenever he needed to change his bandages.
Val chuckled and Vox focused back on him.
“Oh, don’t tell me your weeklong stay with that frigid prude turned you back into a blushing teenager.” Well, that was uncalled for.
“Just help with the bandages Val.” Val rolled his eyes but finally took a look at Vox’s side.
“Gross, you’re bleeding everywhere.” Ya, no shit.
“Val come on.” Vox was about ready to do it himself. Thankfully other than an annoyed grumble Val didn’t protest anymore and got to work. Vox couldn’t help the gasp as the old bandage was pulled away. He didn’t remember it hurting anywhere near as much the other times. Then Val got out the needle and thread, and Vox did not appreciate the grin on Val’s face.
Val began to thread the needle through his skin and this time Vox couldn’t help the short scream of pain. This was so much worse than last time. Val looked back at him, rolling his eyes, before getting an absolutely devious look on his face.
“I know what will help with the pain.” Before Vox could protest one of Val’s hands was in his pants while the other three continued butchering his injury. Endorphins had nothing on this pain. How had Alastor done it so easily, it had barely hurt, but this, this was agony, no matter how Val tried to spin it. Vox was practically blacking out from the pain, but he could still hear Val. “That feel good? A little pleasure and pain.” He could feel Val move his hand off his dick and start grinding on him. This of course just made Val’s stitch work even more sloppy.
“Val!” Vox tried to get out.
“Oh, you like that hmm?”
“Val! Fucking stop!” Val immediately pulled himself away, glaring down at Vox.
“What do you mean stop? I’m just trying to help.”
“Well, you’re not it fucking hurts!” Val just rolled his eyes at him.
“It’s supposed to hurt.”
“Ya well it didn’t when Alastor did it.” Immediately Vox knew that was the wrong thing to say. Val’s face went from annoyed to feral in under a second.
“Oh well if Alastor does it so well why don’t you call his ass down here to fucking fix it for you. You ungrateful brat!” Val threw the tools at Vox before stomping out of the room, leaving Vox in even worse shape than before.
“Fuck!” What the hell was he supposed to do now. He looked down at the half-stitched wound. Well, he didn’t have much of a choice. Vox grabbed the needle and thread and began working on resealing the wound himself. With each pull and gasp of pain he cursed Val and Alastor. Val for his inattention and Alastor for his over-attention. Maybe he shouldn’t have compared Val to Alastor but how could he not. Val had actively caused him pain with his selfishness, and Alastor… Vox still remembered when he fell on the floor. The way Alastor had ran to his side, fretting over him and then lecturing Vox like a mother hen about calling for help the next time. He still remembered how gentle Alastor’s hands were as they redressed the bandages, he could still feel the gentle caress on his thigh as Alastor had so delicately applied the ointment to his wound. Vox felt his screen go red again at the memory of the sound he had made. Alastor, clearly innocent in some ways had completely mistaken the sound Vox made for one of pain and not the clear sound of enjoyment it had been. It was all still so confusing. Vox couldn’t tell what feelings were actually his and what were completely manufactured by Alastor’s deranged manipulations. Alastor had played him like a violin, toyed with his feelings, made Vox think Alastor might actually care for him. So, no matter what Vox may or may not feel for Alastor, it didn’t matter. Alastor was the enemy. Alastor did not care for him. And Vox did not need him.
Unsurprisingly Val did not come back that night. Probably too busy dancing with some random slut on the dance floor. That was fine. Vox had gotten this far, he didn’t need to be babied, he could take care of himself. He could order himself breakfast, he could patch his own wounds, he didn’t need Val or Alastor. Though Vox did feel bad for comparing Val to Alastor, maybe he’d apologize when he was feeling better. With his limited memory it was clear enough to Vox he may have been overstepping his relationship with Val. They weren’t together together, he didn’t remember any romantic dates, just a lot of casual sex, so maybe he was expecting too much from Val. Vox had just gotten used to Alastor’s treatment, that wasn’t fair to Val. Yes, he’d apologize. Until then he’d just enjoy his peaceful solitude.
Vox attempted to lift his phone up to watch some tv but found it was pulling on his new stitches holding his arms up like that. He tried rolling around a bit, trying to find a comfortable position to view the tiny screen without pain but it was impossible. Vox finally gave up, putting on a podcast instead and setting the phone down beside him. He definitely wasn’t thinking about how when he was at the hotel Alastor had anticipated his struggle and summoned a creature to help him. Vox had plenty of his own souls to do his bidding, he could summon one of them if he needed something. No Alastor necessary. And besides this podcast was good enough. No other help was needed.
“So, I just wanted to say I was sorry for not appreciating your help the other night. You didn’t need to leave the party to help me back to my room, but you did anyway, and I should’ve been more grateful.” Vox stood watching Val, waiting for a reaction. The last thing he needed was to push away his allies while he was already so weak. Especially when he still had no idea who did this to him in the first place. The longer Val sat there watching him the more Vox began to sweat.
Vox let out a sigh of relief when Val finally smiled back at him.
“Oh, I completely understand, you were just in a bad mood from your boo-boo.” Vox restrained himself from making a face. Somehow when Alastor infantilized him it felt sweet and caring and when Val did it, it just felt… infantilizing. God, he needed to stop comparing them. Alastor was just playing a role, trying to trick Vox into letting his guard down. And even if Val was a bit rough around the edges, Vox liked it rough. “Maybe you could make it up to me?” Val gave him a suggestive smile. As much as Vox liked it rough, he didn’t think he could take anymore rough right now. But also, he didn’t want to turn Val down again, Vox didn’t want to offend him further.
Before Vox could decide Val grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into his lap. Every single one of Vox’s injuries screamed in pain but Vox bit his tongue. Val grabbed his screen and turned Vox to face him. The twist hurt even more. Val immediately brought their lips together, sticking his tongue so far down Vox’s throat he gagged. But after only a few seconds Vox began to feel all weird and tingly. A distant memory supplied him with the info that Val’s spit contained a drug but by that point it was too late. Maybe it was for the best, taking a break from the pain for a little bit. Just give in, give his brain a quick break, take his mind off Alastor for an hour. Ya. That would be nice.
Vox had forgot how brutal the come down could be. He laid on his bed, Val long gone, and stared up at the ceiling, his thoughts drifting listlessly. All his memories had made Val out to be some sex god but after all that, Vox was just left in painful discomfort and feeling empty. It had felt good, sure, but it was so hollow. He’d felt more watching Alastor redress his bandages than the entire hour-long fiasco that was sex with Val. The drugs had been nice but as they slowly leached from his system, Vox just felt worse. Reminded of each and every wound on his person and in his heart. How sappy of him. But it was true. Through the pieces of his memory Vox was able to get back it had been clear he had fallen in love with Alastor all those years ago. Clear in the way he had yearned for Alastor’s approval, clear in the way he’d jumped at every command, clear in the way he dressed up just to impress Alastor, and clear in how he’d found any and every reason to be close to him, just to get a taste of what being close to Alastor could feel like. And as Vox spent his week with Alastor, getting to know him all over again, he found himself falling just as hard as the first time. It was pitiful really. Loving a man who could probably never love him back. But that week Vox had gotten to live the fantasy, if only for a moment.
God he was pathetic. He couldn’t go five minutes without thinking about the asshole. He Did. Not. Need. Alastor. Even when he was stuck with Alastor for the week, he didn’t need him. He only let Alastor keep feeding him because he wanted him to, not because he actually needed the help. And he only asked Alastor to help him walk so he could get closer. Even Vox’s screen. Vox could have easily fixed it himself; he just chose to have Alastor assist. He was fully capable of doing anything without Alastor it had just been nice to feel cared for. And with the way Alastor had bolted out of the room whenever he got the chance could Vox really be blamed for inventing ways to make Alastor stay longer. Every time he rushed out Vox had felt it like a knife to the heart, but when Alastor stayed, on the day he finally chose to stay, Vox let himself believe maybe there could be something. Let himself believe for the first time in half a century that maybe Alastor could love him back. And then…
And then Vox had remembered what really happened. Remembered how he had been ready to risk it all for Alastor. He offered Alastor everything, and Alastor had spat it back in his face. Vox hadn’t even tried to force his affections; he had just offered Alastor a spot at his side in business and in friendship. But Alastor thought he was better than him. Had thrown Vox away like he was disposable. Alastor didn’t care about anyone but himself.
And yet…
Vox could still remember just how gently Alastor had put him back together again. Alastor could have left him in that alleyway but instead he took him in, stitched him back up and nursed him back to health. As Vox rolled onto his side, he felt the ache of his badly treated stitches and the even worse ache in his heart. In the dark he looked over at his bedside table. A single shot glass sat amongst his other things. Vox reached out a slow hand to grab it. That memory had been particularly painful to remember. Their celebratory shot when Vox’s business had taken off, Alastor had finally admitted Vox might have actually done a good job, even after their fight Vox couldn’t move it from its place on his bedside table. The only reminder of his friendship with Alastor.
Vox pulled the shot glass into his chest like he could use it to fill the hole in his heart.
“I need you.” Vox whispered to the empty room.
Chapter 4: Day 3: Lonely/Missing the Other
Notes:
Sooo this chapter took so long cause I realized I had to actually figure out who the bad guy is lmao. Normally I kinda write as I go and then go back and add things in later when I know the ending but that doesn’t work when you post as you’re going.
The good news, I’ve cracked the case! The bad news, I kinda pigeoned holed myself with the first 3 chapters, but like y’all ain’t here for some 5 star murder mystery, you just wanna see the two idiots pretend they hate each other so I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Chapter Text
Vox POV
For the first time in weeks Vox got out of bed and didn’t feel like absolute garbage. It had been a long road to recovery, made longer by the fact that he had forgotten he could use his power to self-heal to a degree. Alastor was a dick for not reminding him and Val and Velvette couldn’t have helped since they still didn’t know about his missing memory. It had been an awkward week of pretending he knew exactly what they were talking about at any given time, but slowly his memories were filling back in around the tower. He’d even been able to get some work done during his bedrest once the more important memories came back. His kidnapping though was still a massive blank. He was going to need to retrace his steps if he wanted to regain those memories.
As Vox made his way to the kitchen for breakfast, he noticed one of his many cameras watching him. His cameras. His cameras he had absolutely everywhere. Maybe they had caught something from before he got snatched. Vox grabbed a quick snack from the kitchen and went straight to his computer room. He practically ran down the hallways, he tried to show some restraint, he had an image to uphold after all, but this mystery was killing him. Some small part of his mind worried that Alastor might have been involved, Alastor being the one to get his distress call and find him just felt too convenient, but he refused to believe it without proof. They were rivals and they messed with each other, and frankly that week had been next level insane even for Alastor, but Vox held on to the belief that his once friend couldn’t have done that to him.
It felt like an eternity, but Vox finally got himself set up at his computers for the first time in weeks. It took a bit of navigating with his patchy memory, but eventually he was able to pull up his feeds. Now where to start. Val had said he noticed he was missing on the eleventh, so maybe start with a few days before. Vox pulled up the feed for the ninth. He found himself in the kitchen at six in the morning. Good a place to start as any. He set it to eight times speed and watched himself zip around the tower. Going to meetings, yelling at subordinates, having a quickie with Val on his lunch break. Finally in the afternoon he left the tower. Vox switched to his outer cameras and watched himself stroll around town; he stopped at a few grocery shops and a couple electronic stores. He left each one empty handed. How bizarre. Once he was done with his shopping, he went back to the tower. Well at least this confirmed that he wasn’t missing for longer than Val or Velvette had noticed. Someone had grabbed him on the tenth. Vox switched to the next day, watching himself go through much of the same motions as the previous one. As his workday ended, he finally watched himself leave the tower. This time though he didn’t go shopping. He got in his private car and completely left his territory. He was surprised to see himself pull up at Carmilla’s offices. Did he have a meeting with Carmilla? Vox went back through his calendar from that day but there was nothing scheduled after work and definitely nothing with Carmilla. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any cameras in her office, so he simply fast forwarded to the end of the meeting. He once again left empty handed. Vox watched as he headed to a rougher area of the city, pulling up in front of some goon security company. What the hell did he need more security for? Though it did suddenly made sense why he visited Carmilla, he was probably getting angelic steel for the same reason he was getting security. Maybe he knew someone was after him? Clearly, he was too late though.
Once he had finished up at the security company he had apparently just gone home. Which left Vox confused, because there was no way in hell he got nabbed from his own tower. His own security was much too good. He didn’t have to wait long for it to suddenly all make sense though as he saw him and Val getting all dressed up to go out. That checked out. A little alcohol and out in the open, he was probably a sitting duck for whoever kidnapped him. But if he knew he was in danger, why the fuck would he go out to a club?
Vox watched himself go into the club with bated breath, as he switched to the inside cameras he had just enough time to watch himself go to the bar for a drink before everything went black.
“What the fuck?” Vox checked the program, but it seemed fine. He rewound the feed, and it cut off at the same time. The recordings were gone. He tried the outside cameras, but everything was gone. Vox tried fast forwarding but it wasn’t until the next morning when the feed came back. He tried looking at other cameras but whoever had cleared his memory had cleared it for a very large area. “Fuck!” Now what was he supposed to do? Without the footage he had no idea what happened that night. Or maybe he did know. Maybe if he went back to the club he’d get some of his memories back or at least find some non-tampered security footage. Vox couldn’t wait a second longer and immediately headed for the door. It was time to figure out who the fuck had been screwing with him.
Vox opted to walk to the club, hoping to catch any stray memories. He thought he might’ve caught a glimpse of a memory of Alastor in the window of a diner, but when he looked back it was gone. It was so disorienting maneuvering through town using only the guidance of his own path on the security cameras, otherwise his surroundings were a complete unknown. Clearly nothing of significance had happened on this path before because his brain was no help. Thankfully he made it to the club without getting lost, not thankfully he was a fucking idiot. They were closed. Cause it was like ten in the morning, Vox tried to peer in through the tinted windows. He spotted a few employees cleaning up. Thank god. Vox banged on the door a few times and after a moment someone came and opened it. The man looked annoyed for all of five seconds before he realized who was at the door.
“Mr. Vox sir, what can we do for you?” Vox put on his best business smile, the more helpful the staff were, the easier things would go.
“I was here a couple weeks back and realized someone stole something from me, I was hoping to check some cameras to try and catch the culprit.”
“Of course.” The man held the door open for him and Vox strolled in. The club looked just like it did on his recording. He was hoping to get a memory of the night, but nothing immediately hit him.
The man led him over to the bar.
“Take a seat and I’ll be back with the laptop.” Vox nodded, before turning to inspect the club more. He was thankful to feel a memory trigger. Only it wasn’t from the night in question. Bright lights and a bustling crowd filled his vision.
“Alastor, I promise it’ll be fun. Dancing, music, top shelf drinks on the house. Come on, you promised to give it a try.” Vox looked over at an extremely out of place and uncomfortable Alastor. Alastor sighed loudly in response but walked over to the bar.
“Alright. I’m going to need some drinks first.”
Two drinks turned to five drinks turned to twenty and Alastor was finally loosening up. Yanking Vox around the dancefloor as he used his radio-waves to remix the DJ’s music with some of his own. Thankfully everyone else seemed to be enjoying it or else were too scared of Alastor to complain. Alastor seemed to be having a blast as he whipped Vox around in some complex dance Vox could barely keep up with.
“You know something, this place isn’t half bad.” Alastor yelled over the music.
“I’m glad you’re having a good time.” Vox yelled back but Alastor didn’t hear him, too distracted by the light show going on above their heads. Alastor’s drunken little mind completely taken by the bright colours. Vox found himself completely enthralled by a different show, watching the light shine prettily off Alastor’s wide, hazy eyes. His smile wide and carefree. It was just a moment and then Alastor’s eyes were back on Vox, yanking him off to another overly complex dance and making Vox’s heart beat desperately in his chest.
Vox blinked out at the empty dancefloor, refocusing from the memory.
“Mr. Vox?” The employee was standing beside him holding the laptop.
“Ah yes, right, thank you.” The employee pressed play, Vox was about to ask him to speed it up only for the camera to cut out at the same time his own camera had.
“What the hell?” The employee tried messing around with the computer, but Vox knew it was no use.
“Damnit.” Whoever wiped his footage wiped theirs too. Vox looked around the empty room another time, ignoring the memories of his night with Alastor, trying to find anything from the night he was kidnapped, but there was nothing. Maybe he was too drunk. Shit. Now how was he supposed to figure this out?
“Well, the computer seems to be broken but maybe one of our employees saw something.” Vox’s eyes snapped back to the man.
“Yes, that’s a good idea. Where can I find them?” The employee switched out of the camera feed and pulled up another program.
“Let me get you their addresses.” See this is why he didn’t go in all guns blazing like Val often did. Honey and flies and all that.
“Perfect. Thank you.”
Vox had started off the day with so much optimism, but by the time he finished with the last employee he was beyond frustrated. After two weeks since the night in question, not a single employee from that night remembered anything. Absolutely useless.
“Fuck!” He yelled at no one in particular. He needed to think harder. He could figure this out. Clearly, he had known someone was after him if he was looking for weapons and security, maybe he let something slip at one of his stops that day. Maybe if he retraced his steps someone might know something or maybe he’d remember something. His memories were often location or person specific so maybe he might remember why he went to all of those shops if he went back. Yes, that was a good plan, he’d get to the bottom of this one way or another.
Vox turned around to start walking toward the security shop when he caught site of something in his peripheral vision. He didn’t get a chance to inspect it any further though as a new memory took over his vision completely. The same street but also different, much older.
“You know if you gave up all this silly television nonsense you could have a great future on radio.” Vox turned to see Alastor walking beside him. As much as their surroundings and Vox’s own appearance had changed over the years Alastor still looked the same.
“You wish, television is gonna blow your silly radio show right out of the water.” Vox had snapped back at him. Alastor chuckled.
“I suppose we’ll see.” Even in Vox’s memory he couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from Alastor’s face, watching him laugh so joyously even if it was at Vox’s expense.
Vox shook his head, doing his best to clear the memory. He needed to stop getting distracted. He could dwell on the past once he figured out who kidnapped him.
Vox attempted to continue on his way to the security store only for his phone to buzz. Velvette. He picked up only to hear immediate shouting.
“Vox where the fuck are you?” Vox did a quick check of his schedule and shit; he was supposed to be in a meeting right now.
“Just running a bit late. I’ll be there in a moment.” He’d have to put his investigation on hold for the afternoon. Using his newly remembered powers Vox used one of his nearby cameras to hop into his network, speeding back to the tower. Hopefully this meeting wouldn’t take long.
Four hours later the meeting finally wrapped up. What a waste of four hours. He knew the meeting was important, he had a business to run after all, but it was impossible to focus when his brain was so affixed on the mystery of his own disappearance. The moment the meeting was done he was ready to head back out only to be stopped by Val and Velvette.
“You better not be running off again Vox we’re supposed to be making an appearance at Val’s club tonight, remember?” No, no he didn’t. But Velvette didn’t need to know that.
“Of course. I’m just going to get ready.” Damnit. Guess he’d have to wait until tomorrow to keep investigating.
“Wear something sexy for me.” Val purred at him. Vox wondered if he used to find that hot. He’d become awfully indifferent to Val’s advances; a traitorous piece of his mind whispered that it was because Val wasn’t Alastor.
“Uh, will do.” Vox quickly turned to walk back to his rooms. Maybe a bit of booze and relaxation was what he needed, a light evening of unwinding, then he’d get back to business tomorrow. Maybe this would be good. Get his mind off of things. Off of him.
Vox finished off his fifth drink as he watched the dancefloor disinterestedly. All those gross, drunk bodies mashing together with little to no rhythm. This used to be his scene. The memories of past nights danced around his head as a reminder, but for some reason he just couldn’t be bothered. Val had tried to drag him onto the dancefloor a few times already but the idea of being pinned between Val and all those people was not doing it for him.
As if Val could hear Vox thinking about him, he suddenly appeared at Vox’s side.
“Enough of this depressing shit, you’re coming out now.” Val left no room for discussion as he physically dragged Vox away from the bar and out on the dancefloor. Maybe one dance wouldn’t hurt. Vox placed his hands on Val’s hips only for Val to immediately spin around and start grinding on him. Was it too much to ask for a real dance? Vox just absently stared off into the distance while Val used his body like a stripper pole. Vox’s attention was further pulled away though as he spotted a spot of bright red amongst the crowd. He tried to see who it was but in less than a second, they were gone. It was nothing. He was just seeing things. There were plenty of red sinners in hell, there was no way Alastor was at a place like this. He was much too classy for such a ‘den of degeneracy’.
Vox looked at the crowd around him. Maybe he was also too classy for this place.
Vox lightly grabbed Val’s shoulder prompting him to look at him.
“Hey, I’m gonna go. We’ll go out another night.” Val just shrugged in response before moving on to another target on the dancefloor. Vox pushed his way back through the crowd to the door. He just wanted to go to bed. What was wrong with him?
Vox stood in front of the security goon store. He still had no idea why he had gone out of network for security, he had great security, why did he need more? Well, he did get kidnapped… but still. Walking into the place Vox hoped for a memory to jump out at him but still nothing. He approached the man at the desk.
“Mr. Vox! I was wondering when you would be back in. Are you ready to activate your contract?” His contract?
“I actually just wanted to ask you about that. What were the terms of the contract again?” The man thankfully didn’t question him; he simply went onto his computer.
“Ah yes. You signed up for a premium long-term security contract, no end date, for in and around your tower. We were just waiting for you to come back and activate it, you said you needed to get some other things in place before you needed our services. Did you want to activate today? I can get my guys to your tower in under an hour.” Vox did his best not to let his confusion show on his face, simply shaking his head.
“Uh no. Not yet. My plans were delayed. But I’ll let you know.” Vox quickly made his way out of the store.
Long-term security? But it wasn’t activated right away? So, had he not known there was someone already after him? Did he think he had time to prepare for the threat? And who the hell had even been after him?
Vox checked the time. He had about an hour before his next meeting; he should probably get something to eat. Looking around the streets he spotted a few diners and bars, one of the bars though seemed very familiar. Maybe it was a regular spot for him? Well one way to find out. Vox walked over to the bar and as he opened the front door a memory immediately took over.
“Out of every bar on this street, why this run down place?” Vox asked Alastor as he was led inside.
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” Always such a cryptic bastard.
Vox shook off the memory. Still standing in the doorway. Should he find somewhere else to eat? Clearly this was a favourite place of Alastor’s, it was probably teeming with memories.
Vox sighed to himself but walked in anyway. Sitting himself down at a table. Almost immediately another memory appeared. Just another memory of him and Alastor, chatting away while they sipped their drinks. And just as soon as the memory popped up it was gone.
“Hi, what can I get you today?” Vox looked up at the waiter. Right, food. He quickly glanced at the menu.
“I’ll get the kamikaze burger and just a water. Actually.” Vox paused as another memory swept across his vision in the blink of an eye. “I’ll take a shot of whiskey too.” Something to help the memories go down smoother.
“Great, I’ll go put that in, let me know if you need anything else.” The waiter left and Vox took in the rest of the bar; it was mostly empty so early in the day. Mostly empty aside from the memories that were quickly filling the space. They were coming at him rapid fire. Fifty years or so worth of memories. The décor changed but Alastor was always his same infuriating self.
The waiter came back and plopped the shot glass down in front of Vox. Immediately he recognized it. Barely having a chance to take in the sight before the corresponding memory took over.
“To your unexpected success.” Alastor teased while holding up a shot glass.
“To my highly deserved success.” Vox corrected. They both chuckled, cheersing their shot glasses before putting the shot back.
Vox had already seen part of this memory. Their celebratory night on the town. Vox looked down at his shot glass, the same one that sat on his bedside table. He lifted it quickly, putting the shot back. The taste triggering its own wave of whiskey flavoured memories for him to get lost in.
Vox wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He’d gotten and eaten his food at some point. When he was done though he couldn’t bring himself to leave. Just letting the memories flow over him. They felt more like home then his tower did these days.
Vox was pulled from his revelry by an obnoxious beeping sound. An alarm. A reminder that he had a meeting soon. Vox sent a quick message off to his assistant telling him to push the meeting back half an hour. Just thirty more minutes. Then he’d leave.
“You know maybe we should get some practice in on your terrible dancing skills before the next competition.” Memory Alastor grinned mischievously at him from across the table. Vox felt his heart skip a beat.
“Ya, that’s a good idea.”
“You ordered dozens of frozen meals; we delivered them to your tower two weeks ago.” Vox stared blankly at the store manager. Why the hell had he ordered so much food?
“Right. Anything else?” The man looked a bit confused but shook his head.
“Nope. Though you did put a card on file in case you needed to put in another order in a couple months.” High security plus a bunch of frozen food. It sounded like he was going into hiding. What the hell was he so scared about?
“Great. Thanks for the help.”
“Uh no problem.” Vox left the store even more confused than when he went in. All the stores he’d gone to had had a similar story. All his favourite spots to get various foods from had delivered large quantities of said foods to the tower. No new memories either to help him figure it out. He was pretty sure his recall was tied to higher emotions, but you’d think he would have been scared or something. He was literally going into hiding. But even on the footage he’d watched he’d been completely relaxed. Not a care in the world as he assembled his own little panic room. Completely bizarre.
With all the grocery stores checked out he just had the electronic shop left. His last chance to find something.
As Vox began to walk toward the store he passed a butcher shop. He caught a glimpse of red inside. Without even thinking Vox began to turn toward the shop. What was he doing? He needed to keep looking for answers. Against Vox’s better judgment he found himself walking into the butcher shop. The second he walked through the door, the smell of meat hit him, and the memory hit him even harder.
Alastor set the plate down in front of Vox. The meat smelled heavenly. His mouth was watering just thinking about eating it. He barely restrained himself long enough for Alastor to sit himself down with his own plate before Vox was digging in. As the food hit his palette it was like he was tasting steak for the first time. Nothing he’d ever had could possibly compare.
“Holy fuck this is good.” Vox got out between mouthfuls. “You gotta teach me how to make this.”
“How about next Tuesday?” Vox paused mid bite.
“Wait really?” Alastor shrugged in response.
“Why not? I’m sure it will be an amusing exercise in futility.” Vox rolled his eyes at the insult but internally he was beaming. Cooking lessons with Alastor, never mind the delicious food, that would be the real heaven. Vox shoved more food into his mouth, savouring the taste.
The memory faded and Vox found himself standing alone in the butcher shop. Well not alone, the butcher was watching him like Vox was some crazy person he might have to kick out. Vox could still taste the steak on his tongue. Still feel the elation from Alastor promising him cooking lessons… what was he doing? He needed to get back to work. Vox reluctantly dragged himself away from the butcher shop.
Vox strolled into the electronics store. He wasn’t feeling super hopeful, but it was the last place left to look. He strolled through the aisles looking for something familiar. Against what seemed to be all odds a useful memory finally triggered.
Vox felt like a kid in a candy store. It wasn’t every day he got to create a whole new set-up. But with his inevitable monumental pay day this week and his little hidey hole he needed to deck out he wasn’t going to be skimping on the high-quality shit. God this was gonna be so good. He was going to hit a double pay day. He’d sell the information to Lucifer, that way it would be Lucifer’s problem to deal with, plus Vox would get paid, then he’d wait a few days and drop it to his news channels. The biggest scoop of the century. Oh, it was going to be great. And he’d be all nice and tucked away where no one could reach him when it all went down. A perfect plan.
Vox blinked back to focus. Holy crap. This, this was big. If he’d gotten Lucifer involved who the fuck had he been dealing with. What information did he have? And where did it go? Vox looked around at the computers surrounding him. It was probably stored on whatever computer he had bought. He needed to get back to the tower and figure out where his hideaway was. It would have the answers. Vox immediately ran outside, finding the nearest one of his cameras and jumping into the network.
Vox rushed through the halls of Vee tower’s lower levels. Where the fuck had he hidden this room? Vox turned another corner and practically ran into Valentino.
“Voxy! Just the person I was looking for. I was going to go get some dinner, want to join me?” Vox restrained himself from rolling his eyes.
“I can’t. I’m busy.” Vox tried to walk around Val, but Val blocked his way, pouting at him.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” Vox sighed to himself.
“No. I’m just busy. Trying to figure out who kidnapped me.” Val just kept pouting at him. For fucks sake. “Fine. Fine. But I’m choosing where we go.” Val immediately grinned at him.
“Great. Let’s go.”
“So why did you choose this… vintage place? Does it have like really hot waitstaff or something?” Val looked around the bar with distaste. Vox mostly ignored him. Choosing to focus on the memories teasing at his brain. It wasn’t like Val needed any response; the self-absorbed egotist could chat up a brick wall. “Is this style in? Should I decorate one of my clubs with the old dive bar style? Get some of the older sinners in…” Vox barely even noticed Val had stopped talking. So busy watching Alastor chug back a pitcher of beer and looking absolutely disgusted the entire time. “Vox.” Val hissed at him. That got his attention. Vox looked back at him. “This is the bar you used to go to with Alastor isn’t it.” Vox froze. Shit.
“I-” Vox tried to find the words to defend himself but what was there to say. Val was practically glaring daggers at him, not waiting another moment Val stood up abruptly. Vox heard him say something that sounded Spanish and rude under his breath before he stomped out. Vox was left sitting alone at the table. As he stared at the empty seat across from him a wave of loneliness hit him hard. Not that he particularly missed Val’s company, but he missed having someone. He’d pushed away the one person he did have. Choosing the company of a ghost over a real person that actually gave a shit about him. What was fucking wrong with him?
“Fucking finally!” Vox opened the one hundredth door in the basement and finally found what he was looking for. A set of rooms stocked to the brim with food and entertainment. He had been ready to live like a king once he went into hiding. Though seeing how the place was very obviously built for one, he planned to be a very lonely king. Maybe that was for the best. Trapped down there with only Val for company might have driven him insane.
Vox made his way to his computer lab; it was even more extravagant than his one upstairs. Well time to see what exactly he almost died for. Vox booted up the system only to get stumped on the log in. He tried his regular passwords, but none seemed to work. Clearly, he was being overly paranoid when he had set it up. Well, he had devices for that. It might take a bit to crack into his own computer, but he would get in. The device did most of the work itself though so it seemed he had some free time; it would probably take a few hours. What to do with himself? He could catch up on work… or maybe go see what Val and Velvette were up to? Though he doubted Val wanted anything to do with him right now after the bar incident even if Vox did bother to apologize. He thought longingly of the bar. Maybe he could indulge himself for just a bit. Stem the flow of loneliness seeping into him for just a few more hours.
After locking up his secret rooms Vox headed out. He felt nervous, like he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to. And in a way he was. Alastor had hurt him, betrayed him, and here he was going off to relive their memories together and moon over his nemesis like a teenage girl. This was all very wrong, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from putting one foot in front of the other. His loneliness was going to be his undoing.
Vox was so sunk in his despair he almost missed the flash of red poking out of an alley. He was about to go chase it down but stopped. It was probably just another memory. He needed to get his brain under control. Stop seeing ghosts where there weren’t any. Thank god he was on his way to a bar cause he definitely needed a stiff drink.
Alastor POV
Alastor ducked back into the alley. Had Vox seen him? That was way too close, if Vox caught him…. Why was he even doing this? Whatever Vox was mixed up in was his own problem, he did not need to involve himself, and yet… Alastor could still remember with absolute clarity how horrifying Vox had looked when Alastor found him in that alley. How terrified Vox had been without his memories. How nice it had been to have his friend back again. But that didn’t matter because now that Vox had his memories back their friendship was gone once more. That still left the matter of the puzzle though. Maybe if he followed Vox around for long enough, he might reveal something, some clue to decoding that mysterious broadcast. That was why he was following Vox. Not because the idea of finding Vox in another alley like that again shook Alastor to his core. Not because he was worried that Vox might lose his memories again. Not because he was worried whoever took Vox the first time might come back to finish the job. And definitely not because he missed the idiot. That was preposterous. He was stalking his ex-best-friend/nemesis around town because he wanted to solve his puzzle. Not that he was doing a good job at that anyway. He’d followed Vox all over the city and he was no closer to finding any answers. He’d even followed him into that disgusting den of degeneracy and found nothing except that repellent moth dancing like a harlot.
Alastor decided to take a break for the evening. He didn’t want to risk Vox catching him after that close call, and besides he could use a drink. He knew just the place.
Alastor sat alone at the bar, slowly sipping his drink. Stewing over his poor decision-making skills of late. What was he doing? Following Vox around like a deranged stalker would lead to nothing good, he did not need to get tangled up in whatever idiocy Vox had gotten himself into. He should just go home and delete that puzzle and never think about it or Vox again. But was that what he really wanted? Even if he couldn’t have Vox’s friendship Alastor wasn’t sure he could give up on their rivalry. He’d take his oldest friend anyway he could get him, even if the only way was spitting sparks and curses at him. It beat the hell out of the loneliness Alastor had battled during his seven-year absence. And sure, he had Rosie and Mimzy and he might even hazard to refer to the other hotel residents as friends, but it wasn’t the same. His friendship with Vox had been, he was loathe to refer to it as special, but it had been. Aside from his mother he’d never had any closer relationship in his life or death. Vox knew him in a way that couldn’t be compared. And maybe it had been nice to be known. But that closeness had come with strings and when Alastor could no longer put up with Vox’s ‘strings’, he had finally snapped and that had been the end of that. Now it was over and done. All these years and he still really needed to get over Vox.
“Another shot of whiskey?”
“Yesssssz.” Alastor’s ears perked up at the familiar voice. Speak of the devil. He swivelled in his chair to see Vox sitting in the corner completely inebriated. Alastor had been so distracted trying to not think about Vox he had completely missed the drunken idiot in the corner. Clearly Vox had noticed him though as he was watching him from across the room. Alastor was surprised Vox wasn’t trying to fight him or otherwise throwing a fit at his presence. Vox was just sitting there watching him, looking, dare Alastor say, fond? Had Vox lost his memories again?
Alastor rose from his chair and made his way over to Vox. Vox just kept watching him with that peculiar smile. All the way up until Alastor walked up and flicked one of his antennas. That had Vox looking at him completely bewildered.
“Wait, you’re real? I thought you were another memory.” Well, that answered one question, though why Vox seemed pleased with the memory was beyond Alastor.
“Vox what are you doing here?”
“I- this place seems to be so full of nice memories. Guess I was just reliving the glory days.” It was probably just the booze, but Vox seemed almost happy to see him, and if Alastor was happy that Vox was happy to see him then he would blame that on the booze too.
“Hmph, we did have some good memories here, didn’t we?” Vox just smiled up at him looking a bit dazed from all the alcohol he’d had. Which speaking of. The waiter came back with Vox’s shot.
“Wait, I need another one for my friend here.” Vox practically yelled as the waiter went to leave. The man nodded and left. Friend. It was probably just the booze talking. “Alastor come take a seat, stay a while.” Alastor knew it probably wasn’t the best idea, but he found himself sitting down across from Vox anyway.
“How many of those have you had?” Not that he was one to judge.
“Hmmm. Eight?”
“Nine actually.” The waiter helpfully answered as he set down the extra shot. Vox picked up both shots holding the second out to Alastor.
“To…” Vox paused as if searching for the words.
“To whiskey.” Alastor helpfully supplied as he grabbed his shot.
“No, no. To, you. For taking such good care of me. Much better than Val. He was an ass.”
“Hmm, I’ll cheers to Valentino being an ass.” They both laughed and clinked their shots, putting them back. Alastor tried not to think of the first part of Vox’s toast, the warmth he was feeling was definitely from the whiskey.
“God that shit is gross.” Vox’s face twisted up in disgust as he set the glass down.
“You ordered it. Why are you drinking it if its so disgusting?” Who in their right mind did nine shots of something they didn’t even like.
“S’cause that’s what we always drank.” Oh.
“You told me you liked it.”
“I lied.” Vox chuckled to himself. “You said it was your favourite, so I said it was my favourite too.” Well, that was quite the revelation.
“Hmm. Well, if we were to do another shot what would you pick?” Vox squinted his eyes, clearly thinking hard.
“Probs something fruity. I don’t really remember what I usually drink. But I know I don’t wanna taste the booze. Yuck.” Alastor held back a laugh. Vox was truly a child in an adult’s body.
“Alright well next time the waiter comes by we can get you something fruity.”
“You gotta have one too though.” Alastor made a face. That sounded like a dreadful idea, but then again, Vox had been drinking whiskey for years even though he hated it. Alastor could do one shot.
As was per usual when Alastor and Vox got together to drink one shot was not one shot. Within the hour they were both struggling to sit upright at the table.
“You know, I missed this.” Vox slurred out, smiling a wide cheesy grin at Alastor.
“I did too.” Alastor admitted.
“I missed you.” Alastor paused. Vox missed him, even after everything that happened between them. Alastor looked at Vox for moment, just taking in his dopey digital smile and drunken hiccups.
“I missed you too old pal.” Vox’s screen quite literally lit up at Alastor’s admission.
“You know when I was following my tracks, trying to figure out who kidnapped me, I went back to the club they kidnapped me from and had all these great memories come back of us having a good time there. Do you remember? You kept remixing the DJ’s music?” Alastor did remember that. He found himself chuckling at the memory.
“Oh yes. That was quite the night.” Vox’s eyes got really round.
“We should go there now! It would be so fun. We could take over again.” Alastor wasn’t fond of such establishments, but the way Vox’s eyes practically begged him to say yes… and besides it had been quite fun last time, with the right music, and the right company.
“Sure. Let’s go.” Vox jumped from his seat, pulling Alastor up to his feet. Vox swung an arm around Alastor’s shoulder as they headed out and Alastor felt some restless bit of his soul finally settle for the first time in years.
Chapter 5: Day 4: Jealousy
Notes:
This chapter’s a little shorter cause it’s attached to the next one.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Vox POV
Vox felt like he was dreaming. And if he was dreaming, he did not want to wake up. He felt like the king of hell as he sauntered into the club with Alastor at his side. Vox noticed all the confused looks they were getting as well as a few stealthy photos being taken. But that was sober Vox’s problem. Drunk Vox was here to partay. Their walk over to the club had sobered him up a bit, but that was an easily solved problem. As they approached the bar there was immediately someone there to take his order.
“Can we get some pornstar shots.” Vox asked only for Alastor to give him a look. “Okay fine one pornstar shot and one shot of whiskey.” The bartender nodded, speeding off to make their order.
“So, if you’ve brought me to a dance club does that mean you want to show off your subpar dance moves again?” Alastor teased, his voice barely audible over the deafening music.
“Oh, I’ve learned some new moves since you left, don’t you worry.”
The bartender returned with their shots. Vox put his back quickly and the second Alastor was done with his own, Vox grabbed Alastor’s hand to pull him out on the dancefloor. As they walked out the crowd parted around them, stares of disbelief and amusement followed them. The music abruptly pivoted, Vox recognized Alastor’s influence as the poppy club music blended in with a jazzier sound. Vox felt like he was on cloud nine. The feel of Alastor’s hand in his amplified by the copious amount of alcohol running through his system. Vox didn’t want this night to end. Thoughts of the complications that would arise in the morning ran wild in his overactive brain, but he opted to ignore the consequences of his sentimental evening and just enjoy it. Choosing to instead focus on how close Alastor was standing to him while they danced a lively jive on the dancefloor. Vox could practically feel the stares on his back, let them stare. No one was going to ruin his night.
After a dance or two they retired to one of the tables, letting the music return to normal. Deciding they both needed another drink, Vox headed back to the bar. He called the bartender over to order them an actual drink. He should probably cool it on the shots if he didn’t want to feel like shit in the morning. By the time the drinks were made, and he was able to get back to their table, someone else was already sitting in his spot across from Alastor. As he approached the table, they both looked up. Alastor looked distinctly uncomfortable and the demon across from him looked… vaguely familiar. Vox stared at the demon a bit longer, she was obviously a succubus demon, but nothing else was jumping out at him. No hidden memories coming to the surface.
“Hi.” The succubus smiled up at him. Vox fought not to give her a dirty look.
“Hi, I think you’re in my seat.” Even with his barely restrained hostility the succubus didn’t falter, she simply got up, grabbed another chair and pulled it up to their table, sitting very close to Alastor. Vox restrained himself from reacting, he simply took his seat, sliding Alastor his drink.
“So, Alastor.” The succubus began, her voice sickeningly sweet. Vox hated the way she said Alastor’s name. Her only saving grace from Vox jumping across the table to strangle her was the fact that Alastor was very clearly not into it. If Vox wasn’t so annoyed by the pastel pink hussy interrupting their night on the town, he might’ve actually laughed at the way Alastor was practically leaning out of his seat to get away from her. “You were just telling me about where you learned to dance like that.”
“My mother taught me.” Alastor replied in a bored tone.
“Oh, that’s cute. You got some mommy issues? I can be your mommy.” The succubus made a face, clearly trying to be seductive, but she had no idea what she’d done. Vox could see the anger in Alastor’s eyes. Vox had never gotten the full story, but he knew Alastor’s mother was a touchy subject.
“I think not. And you’d do well to take your vulgar and tactless come-ons somewhere else before I remove you from this plane of existence.” Alastor’s body began to contort to his more demonic form and the succubus finally seemed to understand exactly who it was she was messing with, quickly running away from the table. As she left, Alastor returned back to normal, grabbing his drink and finishing it in one gulp. Now that she was gone, Vox couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Clearly someone didn’t get the memo that we call you hell’s most unfuckable demon for a reason.” Vox barely got the words out between fits of laughter. Alastor looked absolutely unimpressed.
“I need another drink.” Alastor got up. “Did you want a refill?” Vox looked down at his own mostly empty cup. He quickly lifted it to his mouth, pouring the rest back and slamming the cup down on the table.
“Yes please.” With that Alastor headed off to the bar and Vox was left with his thoughts. He eyed the empty chairs across from him and wondered again why the succubus had seemed so familiar. Had he fucked her before? It seemed unlikely, and she hadn’t given any indication that she recognized him. Maybe he’d seen her in one of Val’s ‘movies’. It would make sense why he recognized her without really remembering her. Either way he was happy she was gone. He didn’t want anyone interrupting their night. Their night… it almost felt surreal being out with Alastor again. Some part of him knew it was just for one night. Alastor had betrayed him once and would likely do it again in the same way if Vox gave him another chance. They were enemies. There was no going back, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy one night with Alastor. One more night, no strings, and maybe all those returning memories might not hurt so bad.
After a few minutes Alastor returned with their drinks and… another succubus demon. Was there a convention in town or something? Where the fuck were they coming from? Like goddamn cockroaches.
This one seemed less aggressive than the other. She was just casually chatting with Alastor as they walked up. Alastor didn’t look particularly interested but he also didn’t seem as outwardly disgusted as last time. Not ideal. Vox found it weird that this succubus also seemed bizarrely familiar. Maybe they were just regulars and he’d seen them around before? Vox held back a huff of annoyance as she sat down with Alastor across the table.
“Wow, two powerful overlords for the price of one, must be my lucky day.” The succubus winked at Vox. Clearly it wasn’t his lucky day. “So, I heard that most overlords tend to have a particular specialty, what’s yours?” She asked Alastor, batting her ugly ass eyelashes at him.
“Radio.” Alastor responded.
“Oh, wait, are you the radio demon? I think I’ve heard your broadcasts before; the screaming is just so thrilling. Better than any shitty horror movie.” That seemed to finally grab Alastor’s attention.
“Really, they listen to my broadcast in other rings of hell?” Of course. The one way to keep Alastor interested, get him to talk about himself.
“I guess there’s not a whole lot of old timey radio hosts in hell to supply them with their jazz and sinner scream needs.” Vox butted in, trying to pull away Alastor’s attention, but the succubus just responded like she hadn’t heard Vox.
“A lot of demons are interested in the human world, and it’s a lot simpler to access human things from sinners than from up top. Much easier to get hell radio than earth radio.” Oh, this was absolutely unacceptable.
When the succubus raised her glass to take another drink Vox sent a light shock at her under the table. Her body jolted and she spilled the drink all over herself. “Shit!” She abruptly stood up, trying to wipe the drink off herself. Vox noticed the amused glance Alastor shot him, but he ignored it.
“I think you’ve maybe had a few too many, maybe you should call it a night.” Vox told the succubus, giving her a nasty grin. She glared at him but ultimately walked away. Good, now maybe they could get back to their night on the town.
“Not your type?” Alastor asked teasingly. Vox rolled his eyes.
“Is it too much to want to enjoy a peaceful night without any skanks bothering us.” Alastor chuckled but didn’t call Vox out.
“So, now that we’ve got a moment to ourselves,” Alastor began, clearly still amused by Vox’s antics. “What have you been up to since… since your stay at the hotel.” Stay. More like hostage situation. But Vox found there wasn’t as much venom in the thought as there was a week ago. Alastor had just been helping him in his own weird way.
“Just trying to figure out who attacked me and get my memories back.”
“Were you able to get all your memories back yet?”
“Not all of them, but a lot. I still don’t know who attacked me though. It’s all a big blank. Which speaking of memory blanks, those succubus demons looked so familiar, but I just can’t place them.”
“Previous affairs?” Alastor’s amused grin told Vox he was just pushing his buttons, but Vox couldn’t help his bristled response.
“Absolutely not.”
“Are you sure, they seem just your type.” Alastor was clearly having a good time at Vox’s expense.
“Har, har. You’re so funny. But most of the memories that were emotionally charged have come back faster than the rest so clearly that’s not it.” Alastor seemed to think to himself for a moment.
“That’s interesting that you can recall all other highly emotional memories except for being attacked, I imagine that was also highly emotional. Maybe your brain is blocking it out.” Vox’s own brain was stopping him from remembering it. Great. But Alastor was probably right, he usually was. Vox opened his mouth to agree when he was interrupted.
“Hi, any chance I could join you two. I am here alone and was hoping I might find some congenial company for the evening.” Vox looked up at the demon towering over their table.
There was no way…
Vox looked over at Alastor to see if he was seeing the same thing. Alastor looked equally confused, but for just a moment Vox saw a slight glint in Alastor’s eye as his eyes quickly flicked between Vox and the stranger. Did Alastor know him? Did Vox know him? Vox was sure he’d never met any of this demon’s kind before and yet the demon also felt so familiar to Vox. Maybe his brain was just fucking with him more. Maybe it was like that fake déjà vu feeling.
“A Goetia. We would be honoured to have you at our table.” Alastor gestured to the empty chair.
“Thank you.” The demon took a seat. “My name is Cynfael.” Cynfael, what a pretentious name. Why couldn’t everyone just leave them alone. Was it too much to ask for one night alone with Alastor?
“I’m Alastor, it’s a pleasure to meet you, the idiot box across the table with no manners is Vox.” Idiot box?
“Seriously?” Alastor just grinned back at Vox.
“I am not interrupting anything am I?” Cynfael asked. Vox opened his mouth to tell him that he was in fact interrupting, only for Alastor to beat him to the punch.
“No, not at all. We’re just having a fun night, the more the merrier.” Not the more the merrier. Why was Alastor entertaining this pretentious asshole? “Vox, it seems both our drinks are empty, could you grab us a refill?” And now Alastor was sending him away! What the fuck?
“Sure.” Vox begrudgingly headed over to the bar.
As he stood waiting for their drinks he couldn’t help but watch Alastor and Cyn-fail talking. Sinfael was leaning in close while they chatted but instead of Alastor leaning as far away as possible, this time Alastor was leaning in too. What the hell. Was Alastor actually into this asshole? That was impossible. Alastor wasn’t into anyone, Vox should know. He’d been chasing that unicorn his entire afterlife. But… was Alastor laughing at his stupid jokes? Vox watched incredulously as Alastor put a hand on the Goetia’s shoulder. What the actual fuck?
Finally, their drinks were ready, and Vox rushed back over. Desperate to hear what the hell they were talking about.
“Oh, I love reading about the various serial killers in human history, did you make it to any level of notoriety?”
“No, but the best ones usually don’t.” Alastor replied, his tone conspiratorial.
“If you have the time, I’d love to hear all about it. I truly enjoy the more macabre tidbits of human history. I’ve even met a few different famous killers over the years.”
“Oh, do tell.” Vox did not like how this conversation was going.
“Hey guys, I’m back. Here’s your drink Alastor.” Vox interrupted their conversation, passing Alastor his glass. Alastor grinned widely at him.
“Why thank you.” That was all Vox got before Alastor turned back to the other demon. “So, who exactly have you met? We can compare notes, I’ve certainly met a few around the ring.” Vox huffed in annoyance but sat down with his drink.
An hour had passed and the two of them were still chatting away much to Vox’s annoyance and very much despite Vox’s most unvaliant efforts. He’d tried derailing the conversation, spilling drinks, and even tried his own luck at flirting but the two of them would not be deterred. What the hell did this shmuck have that he didn’t? Vox had spent years acclimating to Alastor’s bizarre tastes and got nowhere, but this birdbrained asshat just strolled up out of nowhere and Alastor was all over him. Quite literally too. Vox watched in annoyance as Alastor leaned heavily on the feathery-fuckhead’s shoulder.
“You know, I’ve got quite a collectttion of souvenirs back at my placcce.” Alastor stated overly loud. Vox was surprised at the level of slurring from Alastor; he couldn’t remember the last time Alastor had gotten this drunk. Alastor wasn’t even this drunk when they were doing back-to-back shots at the bar. Either the bartenders here were doubling up their drinks or Alastor was acting drunk. But there was no way Alastor was pretending to be drunk, playing drunk seemed so far below him.
“Oh really? Maybe we could go back to your place and have a look?” Cynfael asked with a sly grin.
Vox was suddenly very refocused on their conversation. Was Cyn-fullofhimself trying to get Alastor to invite him back to his place? It didn’t matter though, Alastor would never say yes.
“That soundsz like a great idea.” What?!
Notes:
Obviously there’s going to be some Helluvaboss references here, but if you haven’t seen the show its totally fine, you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy the radiosilence angst you just might not understand the bad guy’s motivations.
Chapter Text
Vox POV
“That soundsz like a great idea.” What?! Alastor had the most dopy grin on his face as he slurred his response. Was he really that drunk? Was Alastor so drunk that he didn’t realize what this asshole was trying to do?
They both got up from their seats, Alastor swaying aggressively, but the Goetia grabbed his arm to steady him.
“Wait? Are you leaving? I thought we were hanging out tonight.” Vox stammered out, his mind in a panic.
“And we have had a lovely night.” Alastor stated with a wide smile. Vox felt his heart breaking all over again. This was exactly why he was supposed to be keeping Alastor at an arms length.
Alastor was watching Vox closely, his smile fading into something softer as he stepped away from the Goetia and right in front of where Vox still sat. Alastor leaned in beside Vox, whispering softly to him.
“Don’t be so jealous my silly picture box, you know I love you best.” Vox felt his heart jump at those words. But he knew Alastor didn’t mean them like that. Never could, never would.
“I know.” Vox replied back, doing his best to keep a smile in place. Not let Alastor know just how bad he was hurting. Not let Alastor know that the words he’d meant as a comfort were slowly destroying Vox from the inside out.
Alastor leaned back and with a drunkenly unsteady hand, he lifted a finger and gently booped Vox’s screen. Alastor chuckled to himself, clearly amused. Vox just watched in disbelief, was Alastor really that drunk?
“Now if you still don’t hate me when you sober up tomorrow maybe we could grab lunch.” Alastor suggested. Vox just blinked at him for a few seconds. No was the correct answer. He shouldn’t allow this to continue. Shouldn’t allow Alastor to keep toying with his feelings like this.
“Sure.” The one-word death sentence was almost worth it to see Alastor’s intoxicated face light up.
“It’s a date then. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Alastor waved to Vox as he went back to his new companion and Vox tried to ignore the twist in his gut at Alastor’s choice of phrase.
Not wanting to stay alone at the club Vox rose from the empty table and followed out behind Alastor and his new friend. Vox stood just outside the door watching the two of them walk away. A deep feeling of wrongness spread through his system like a virus. Vox just tried to shake it off. It was jealousy, simple as that, and Alastor was not his, so he had no right to be jealous of who Alastor took home.
Before Vox could stew anymore on his dark feelings he received a notification. His computer was unlocked. Finally, some good news. Vox found the closest security camera and zapped himself back to the tower.
Vox stared at the screen in frustration. It was wiped. Well not completely but it was clear whatever he had stored on there had been erased. Did he erase it himself? He must’ve. No one else could’ve gotten in here. Vox searched every corner for a single breadcrumb, anything that could tell him where everything went. And well… what Vox found left him with more questions than answers. The time stamp of his last access, the tenth, an hour or two after he went to the club. Unsurprisingly it showed him erasing all the files completely, but what was surprising was that before he erased the files, he sent them somewhere. To someone. To Alastor. Out of everyone, why the hell would he send such important documents to Alastor? At the time they were enemies, still are enemies? Vox didn’t want to think about that right now. The files were transmitted through radiowaves to Alastor’s tower. Though out of all the new questions this brought up, it did answer one, Vox’s distress signal, it hadn’t gone to Alastor specifically, it had just gone out to the last person Vox contacted.
Why hadn’t Alastor told him about the message? Vox thought back to when he was in Alastor’s studio, that encrypted message he had played by accident when he was fidgeting with the buttons. That must have been his message. Alastor probably didn’t even know what it was when he received it. Vox needed to get it back.
Vox was about to go after Alastor when he felt the tug of a new memory. His room disappeared around him and he found himself outside, stumbling down a dark street, an excess of alcohol was making it very hard to think. No, not alcohol, he had been drugged. He was in danger. Vox could barely focus as he remotely accessed his computer. He needed to delete those files before they got their hands on them, he couldn’t take a chance that they found out who the mole was. But he also couldn’t delete the files. If he didn’t make it out, someone needed to tell someone. He could send them to Val or Velvette, but he didn’t think they would do the right thing. Who did he know that was actually smart enough to know what to do with the info… no, he couldn’t, not him, anyone but him… but he did live with Lucifer. He might use it as leverage, but Alastor would understand the seriousness of the information. Would know it posed a threat against himself. He would do the right thing even if it was just out of self preservation. But Vox couldn’t just send it to him. If this was a mistake, if he was jumping the gun he needed time to get it back from Alastor. Vox quickly encrypted the message as thoroughly as he could before sending it off to Alastor. He hoped this was a mistake, but the drugs coursing through his system did not give Vox a lot of faith in that.
“You doing okay there baby? Not gonna pass out on me, are you?” Vox looked up at the pretty pink face that had been plying him with drinks and salacious promises all night.
“I’m good.” Vox barely managed to get out. He felt someone grab his arm to keep him from stumbling.
“That’s good. We wouldn’t want you passing out before the main event.” Vox looked up at the other succubus demon smiling down at him. Unlike before when their smiles were sweet and inviting now even someone as totally out of it as Vox was, could see the threat in those grins. His brain just kept screaming danger at him. But there wasn’t much he could do. His body was practically limp as they dragged him down the street. He was barely conscious as they arrived at their destination. After a single knock at the door, it opened. Vox’s head felt so heavy, but his waning sense of self-preservation forced him to look up. First, he saw the clawed feet, then the fancy suit, and as he brought his head all the way up, he found himself staring into a feathery face. All of Vox’s remaining hope that this night might still end on a positive note went out the window. The demon in front of him couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than what he was. A Goetia. This was not good. Unable to hold his head up any longer Vox let it drop, his tenuous grasp on consciousness was quickly disappearing and the memory faded to black.
Vox stared at his own reflection in his now dark computer screen. No, no, no. Fuck! No fucking wonder those bitches looked so familiar. Why hadn’t his brain warned him earlier. Now… now they had Alastor. Why the hell had they taken Alastor? Did they somehow know he sent Alastor the files? Vox didn’t know how they could possibly know that. It had taken so much digging just for him to find out that information. Had Alastor told someone about it?
It didn’t matter. What mattered was they had him and now Vox had to find them. Fast. His brain was still blocking out the torture he’d been through, but he remembered how messed up he had been when Alastor found him. He couldn’t let Alastor go through that. Not because of him. No matter what Alastor had done to him, Alastor did not deserve that.
Vox knew it was a shot in the dark, but he quickly made his way back to the club. He remotely plugged into the cameras, hoping to find something, but once they had walked off earlier, all the cameras near them went dark. How had Vox not noticed? He seriously needed to put better protections on his cameras. Hoping against hope Vox checked the cameras he had around the hotel, where Alastor was supposed to be going when he left. But unfortunately, they were all still functional and Alastor was not there. With no other option Vox resorted to simply zapping through all his blackened cameras himself, popping in and out all over town. Looking for something, anything that would tell him where Alastor was. But it was hopeless. As Vox popped back out by the club, he found himself sinking to his knees miserably. What had he done?
Vox used the camera one last time to take himself back to the tower. He wandered dazedly to his bed, sitting down on the edge. He eyed the shot glass on his bedside table. How had he fucked up so bad? Vox laid down on the bed. He thought absently about Alastor telling him he loved him and how he had just replied with I know. He should’ve said it back. Even if Alastor didn’t really feel the same way. Even if it was just between friends, because Alastor was gone now and he missed his chance.
Not really thinking Vox found himself tuning into Alastor’s frequency. It was dead of course. Wherever Alastor was he was not broadcasting. Vox tapped into the frequency, letting his heart finally say what it was desperate to say.
“I love you.” Vox laid in silence, hoping desperately for a reply. For Alastor to tell him to stop being so sentimental, tell him he was an idiot. But only silence answered him.
Two days had passed. Vox was no closer to finding Alastor and as he laid down for another night of restless sleep, he found himself tuning into Alastor’s frequency again. He’d sat listening to the silence all night the past two nights. He knew it was pointless. That no one would be on the other side. And yet….
After an hour of listening to nothing Vox’s exhaustion was finally beginning to take over. His system’s slowly shutting down, his eyes unable to stay open. He was about to fully nod off when he heard a crackle. Vox’s eyes shot open. What was that? Had he really heard something? The frequency was silent though. Maybe he had dreamt it. As Vox was about to let his eyes close again there was another crackle, this one louder and longer and definitely coming from the radio frequency. Vox sat up in bed. Was someone there? Was it Alastor. Vox didn’t dare hope. He sat, waiting, hoping, and then there was another sound. This time, it was a voice.
“I know.” Came Alastor’s voice. He was alive! Vox thanked the universe, Alastor was alive and had reached out to him. Vox was about to answer back when his vision began to get wonky, going black as a memory pulled him in.
“I know.” Alastor’s voice, the same as on the broadcast. “I know.” The same, but clearly different. “I know.” Vox’s brain was filled with Alastor’s voice. He could tell by the slight differences in intonation that they were all different memories, but they all sounded the same too. The longer he listened the more he could hear it. “I know.” The tiredness. “I know.” The weariness. “I know.” The barely restrained irritation of someone who was tired of repeating themselves.
Like floodgates opening, suddenly dozens of memories came at him rapid fire. Every little innocuous gift he gave Alastor, and over the top gesture, every drunken, and not so drunken confession. Years and years of making his feelings Alastor’s problem, until the day Alastor finally snapped. The day Vox had put together an entire presentation on why Alastor should join the Vees. How they could all help each other and gain more power. In reality it was all just a way to get closer to Alastor. To force him to spend every hour of every day with him. And Alastor saw right through it. Rejecting Vox’s proposal outright, barely giving him enough time to get a few points out before Alastor shut him down. Even then though Alastor was still nice about it. Even when Vox got pathetic, begging Alastor for a chance, telling him how much he cared for him and how good they would be together. “I know.” Was all Alastor said, his face a mix of annoyance and… sadness. Not that Vox had noticed, all Vox had heard were those same two words, that same rejection, and with that, Vox had gotten mean. Calling Alastor every manner of insult, telling him they didn’t need him anyway. And then. And only then. Did Alastor finally snap. And when Alastor snapped, he snapped. So perfectly articulating every one of Vox’s many faults and insecurities. It was nothing more than Vox had deserved though. It didn’t take long before the fight turned physical, them destroying Vox’s boardroom more than each other. Vox using every dirty trick in the book to get the upper-hand and eventually Alastor turned tail and fled. As Vox watched Alastor fade into his shadows, the memory faded out.
Vox felt like he couldn’t breathe. Like the entire world was caving in on him. It was all his fault. After all this time. It was completely his fault. He was the one who ruined their friendship. Not Alastor. He only had himself to blame. And now… and now Alastor was paying for his mistakes again. It was all his fault.
Notes:
🫢
The second I read that prompt I knew I wanted to have Alastor say it in a non-romantic way, just absolute devastation for Vox.
Chapter 7: Bonus Day 4/5: Alastor POV
Notes:
The universe hates me and gave me a really nasty injury back to back with being sick 🙃 so I figured I’d at least post this while I get back on track.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Alastor POV (back to the club night)
Alastor still wasn’t wholly convinced that this was a good idea, but nostalgia was a hell of a drug, and he wanted to milk this night for all he could. In the morning Vox would remember how much he hated Alastor, and they would go back to being enemies. But for now, he could enjoy the way Vox lit up as they took to the dancefloor. Enjoy the familiarity of dancing with his once closest friend. Let all of their history fade into the background as they moved together. Alastor had nearly forgot just how great they’d been before, before the fight, before he’d said some things he couldn’t take back and they had parted ways forever. None of that mattered though right now, because Vox was here, they were both very drunk, and they were here to have a good time. Nothing would ruin their evening.
After a dance or two they retired to one of the tables, and Alastor relinquished his hold on the music, letting it return to the previous new-fangled slop. Vox signalled that he was going to grab them a drink and Alastor simply relaxed back in his chair, watching the crowd. When they had first arrived, they’d been met by stares of fear and confusion, now though people had mostly accepted their presence, returning to their previous depraved activities. Alastor never understood why people enjoyed dancing in a large horde like that. So many strangers rubbing up against you and invading your space. But clearly this was something Vox enjoyed so he could put up with it for one night.
“Hey is this seat taken?” Alastor hadn’t even noticed the succubus demon until she was already much too close. A hand on his arm as she leaned in to ask her question in his ear.
She didn’t even wait for an answer, taking the seat across from Alastor and leaning on the table between them. “I saw you dancing out there, that was really something.” What was happening? Alastor knew his reputation wasn’t necessarily as well known in the other rings of hell, but you’d think the wide berth the other sinners were giving him would be obvious enough.
“Yes well, lots of practice. May I ask what I can help you with?” The succubus smiled at him; much the way Alastor had often seen Angel smiling before he decided to say something crude.
“Maybe I was just hoping for an encore of your dazzling performance, I promise I’d make a better dance partner than that uncoordinated hack.” As she finished speaking Alastor felt something touch his leg. It took him a moment to realize the succubus was running her foot up his calf. Alastor summoned a tentacle to delicately remove the offending foot. Before he could offer a response, he was thankfully saved by Vox’s return. Surely Vox would kick her out of his seat, and she would find some other poor demon to harass. As Vox arrived at the table Alastor noticed his confusion as he stared at Alastor’s unexpected company.
“Hi.” The succubus smiled up at Vox who barely hid his contempt for the demon.
“Hi, I think you’re in my seat.” Vox’s barely restrained annoyance was obvious in his voice and the succubus got up right away. Alastor almost let out a sigh of relief before the succubus grabbed another chair and pulled it up to their table, sitting way too close to Alastor. Why couldn’t this dull creature take a hint. At least Vox had returned with a new drink for him, the moment Vox slid him his drink Alastor took a long gulp of it.
“So, Alastor.” Alastor felt a disgusted shiver crawl down his spine at the way she said his name. As the demon leaned closer to him Alastor found himself on the edge of his seat trying to lean away from her. Had her parents never taught her about personal space? “You were just telling me about where you learned to dance like that.”
“My mother taught me.” Alastor replied in a bored tone. Hoping his lack of interest would discourage further discussion.
“Oh, that’s cute. You got some mommy issues? I can be your mommy.” Excuse her? Alastor turned to look at the aggravating woman. How dare she.
“I think not. And you’d do well to take your vulgar and tactless come-ons somewhere else before I remove you from this plane of existence.” Alastor felt his magic accumulating, his body began to contort to his more demonic form and the succubus finally seemed to understand just who she was messing with, quickly running away from the table. As she left, Alastor returned back to normal, grabbing his drink and finishing it in one gulp. Finally, some peace again. Peace that lasted all of five seconds before Vox burst out laughing.
“Clearly someone didn’t get the memo that we call you hell’s most unfuckable demon for a reason.” Vox could barely get the words out between bouts of obnoxious laughter. Alastor was oh so happy that at least Vox found this funny.
“I need another drink.” Alastor got up. “Did you want a refill?” Vox looked down at his own mostly empty cup. He quickly lifted it to his mouth, pouring the rest back and slamming the cup down on the table. How juvenile.
“Yes please.” Well at least he still had manners. Alastor grabbed their two glasses to return and headed off to the bar, he’d need a few more drinks to get the feeling of that sordid creature’s touch off his skin. The audacity of such a lower demon accosting him like that. He supposed he shouldn’t expect more from a creature that served no greater purpose than to encourage humanity’s most basic and useless drive.
Once at the bar Alastor ordered their drinks and leaned against the bar, hoping for a moment of peace before he returned to Vox.
“Hi there.” Or not. Alastor turned to his right to find yet another succubus demon. He sighed to himself.
“Hello, can I help you with something.” Alastor turned back to the bar hoping she would get the message.
“No, I just wanted to say I enjoyed the remix. They always play the most god-awful music at these places.” Alastor chuckled at her comment. Finally, a demon with taste.
“So, if you’re not a fan of the music why come here, there are lots of less off-putting establishments around?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” Fair enough.
“My friend dragged me here, what’s your excuse?”
“Well, I am what I am, and there isn’t a better hunting ground.” The succubus gave him a wink.
“Yes well, you’ll find you’re barking up the wrong tree, it’s been lovely chatting with you though.” Alastor grabbed his and Vox’s drinks and went to return to the table.
“Oh, no, it’s not like that. I actually just have some free time. It doesn’t take very long to convince one of these idiots to come home with me. I was hoping to get some intelligent conversation in first.” Hmm. It wasn’t very often he got to speak with one of hell’s native creatures. Why not?
“Well then, by all means, come join my friend and I.” Alastor led the succubus over to their table.
“So, I’ve noticed the way everyone has been watching you, you’re not an overlord, are you?”
“Why of course, as is my friend.” Alastor gestured to Vox as they walked up to the table. Alastor took his previous seat, and the succubus took the one beside him. Thankfully giving him his space.
“Wow, two powerful overlords for the price of one, must be my lucky day.” The succubus turned and winked at Vox. Alastor wondered absently if there was something she was after after-all. “So, I heard that most overlords tend to have a particular specialty, what’s yours?” She looked back to Alastor.
“Radio.” Alastor answered simply, not wanting to give her too much information.
“Oh, wait, are you the radio demon? I think I’ve heard your broadcasts before; the screaming is just so thrilling. Better than any shitty horror movie.” Suddenly Alastor was very happy with his choice to invite her to sit with them. Clearly, she had a penchant for the finer things.
“Really, they listen to my broadcast in other rings of hell?” Maybe he would have to give a shoutout to his long-distance listeners next time.
“I guess there’s not a whole lot of old timey radio hosts in hell to supply them with their jazz and sinner scream needs.” Vox butted in, clearly unable to go five minutes without the attention on him. But the succubus continued anyway.
“A lot of demons are interested in the human world, and it’s a lot simpler to access human things from sinners than from up top. Much easier to get hell radio than earth radio.” Interesting. Clearly there was an entire untapped market he needed to look into.
The succubus raised her glass to take a drink, only for her entire body to spasm, causing her to spill the drink all over herself. Alastor noticed the self-satisfied smile on Vox’s face and guessed exactly what happened. “Shit!” The succubus abruptly stood up, trying to wipe the drink off herself. Alastor ignored her flailing, preferring to watch Vox’s smug expressions as he reveled in his little victory. Alastor couldn’t help the amused grin that crossed his face.
“I think you’ve maybe had a few too many, maybe you should call it a night.” Vox told the succubus, giving her a nasty grin. She glared at him but ultimately walked away. Alastor was suddenly reminded of just why he’d enjoyed hanging out with Vox so much. Always a bundle of entertainment.
“Not your type?” Alastor asked teasingly. Vox rolled his eyes at him.
“Is it too much to want to enjoy a peaceful night without any skanks bothering us.” Alastor chuckled but decided to not push Vox anymore, he didn’t want to ruin the mood.
“So, now that we’ve got a moment to ourselves,” Alastor began, he could tell by Vox’s deadpan stare that the comment had hit its mark. “What have you been up to since… since your stay at the hotel.” Alastor wasn’t sure what to call it. A part of him felt guilty for what he’d done, he’d known it was wrong, at the time it had been a plan to take down Vox. But as they’d grown closer it had become some weird hostage situation that he didn’t know how to escape without hurting one of them.
“Just trying to figure out who attacked me and get my memories back.” That explained why Vox had been all over town. But it also raised questions, why had he been inspecting a club, food and computer shops and a security company. Maybe retracing his steps?
“Were you able to get all your memories back yet?”
“Not all of them, but a lot. I still don’t know who attacked me though. It’s all a big blank. Which speaking of memory blanks, those succubus demons looked so familiar, but I just can’t place them.” Well, that was interesting. Maybe Alastor had been on to something thinking they had an ulterior motive.
“Previous affairs?” Alastor asked knowing it would annoy Vox. Expectantly Vox bristled in response.
“Absolutely not.”
“Are you sure, they seem just your type.” Alastor continued to needle.
“Har, har. You’re so funny. But most of the memories that were emotionally charged have come back faster than the rest so clearly that’s not it.” How weird. Vox was able to recall his more emotional memories and yet couldn’t remember being attacked. It made Alastor wonder if these succubus demons were involved somehow, it would certainly explain some things.
“That’s interesting that you can recall all other highly emotional memories except for being attacked, I imagine that was also highly emotional. Maybe your brain is blocking it out.”
Vox thought about it for a moment, he opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted.
“Hi, any chance I could join you two. I am here alone and was hoping I might find some congenial company for the evening.” Alastor looked up at the demon towering over their table. A Goetia. How unusual. Alastor took in the giant bird demon. A bird… demon. Alastor thought of the feather he had found in the alley where Vox was dumped. The feather that perfectly matched this demon’s colouring. Alastor looked back at Vox, but Vox didn’t seem to recognize the demon. Interesting. He would need to gather some more information to confirm his hypothesis.
“A Goetia. We would be honoured to have you at our table.” Alastor gestured to the empty chair.
“Thank you.” The demon took a seat. “My name is Cynfael.” Cynfael, Alastor hadn’t heard of him. Which seemed to indicate his lower status since Alastor kept tabs on all the big players in the other rings of hell, just in case. So, what was a lower rank Goetic demon doing kidnapping an overlord. Had Vox managed to piss off the royals? Maybe slighted them in a broadcast, seemed unlikely to provoke this kind of a reaction.
“I’m Alastor, it’s a pleasure to meet you, the idiot box across the table with no manners is Vox.” Alastor was physically incapable of not taking every opportunity to mess with Vox.
“Seriously?” Alastor just grinned back at him.
“I am not interrupting anything am I?” Cynfael asked. Vox opened his mouth, probably to tell the demon to fuck off, but Alastor needed more time to get information.
“No, not at all. We’re just having a fun night, the more the merrier.” Alastor could see the annoyance on Vox’s face, but it was a necessary evil. Just like what he had to do next. “Vox, it seems both our drinks are empty, could you grab us a refill?” Vox looked ready to explode but surprisingly was able to get himself under control.
“Sure.” Vox begrudgingly headed over to the bar and Alastor turned back to Cynfael.
“So, what brings someone of such high esteem as yourself to our little corner of hell?” Alastor watched him closely, looking for any information.
“Just wanted to come let loose. Most Goetia are much too uptight, so I like to come out to the Pride ring sometimes where I know I won’t run into any of them.” Alastor let out a light chuckle, leaning in closer to Cynfael, hoping to get the other to let his guard down.
“Completely understandable. But why the Pride ring? Seems rather far below you to be slumming it with us sinners.”
“Hardly slumming it. I find sinners so fascinating. I love to learn how they ended up in hell. Never a dull moment in the Pride ring.”
“Yes, I imagine human sins would be interesting to a demon.”
“How about you? What are your sins?” The Goetia dropped his voice a bit and Alastor was suddenly struck by the realization the other demon was attempting to come on to him. The two succubus demons had also been trying as well. If they were all working together as Alastor suspected, then what in the world was their plan? If Vox was the target, why were they playing these games with Alastor, why not go straight for Vox. Alastor thought about the secret message Vox sent him, maybe they knew about it. Maybe this was all a plan to get him to go home with one of them so they could steal the message from him. Well two could play that game.
“Oh, I have many sins.” Alastor began, putting a light hand on Cynfael’s shoulder. “I killed many many people while I was alive.” The other demon grinned widely at him, perfect.
“So, you were a serial killer?”
“Precisely.”
“Oh, I love reading about the various serial killers in human history, did you make it to any level of notoriety?” Alastor couldn’t tell if Cynfael was just pretending to be interested or if he did have some real, perverse interest in human murderers.
“No, but the best ones usually don’t.” Alastor replied, attempting to mimic the more sultry tone Angel always used on him. It felt weird, but it was all part of the plan.
“If you have the time, I’d love to hear all about it. I truly enjoy the more macabre tidbits of human history. I’ve even met a few different famous killers over the years.”
“Oh, do tell.” Unfortunately, Vox took that moment to return to the table, already giving Cynfael an annoyed look.
Keeping Vox’s, usually amusing but presently impeding, jealousy in check would be a challenge. But it was for Vox’s benefit, he just didn’t know it yet.
“Hey guys, I’m back. Here’s your drink Alastor.” Vox passed Alastor his glass. Alastor grinned widely at him, trying to pre-emptively pacify Vox’s ego.
“Why thank you.” Alastor turned back to Cynfael. “So, who exactly have you met? We can compare notes, I’ve certainly met a few around the ring.” Alastor heard Vox huff in annoyance, but he sat down with his drink without saying a word.
“Wow I would- woulda- would’ve loved to meet him.” Alastor felt a vague sense of annoyance at his mouth’s inability to make words the way he wanted. He hadn’t had that much to drink, talking shouldn’t be so difficult. Alastor looked down at his mostly empty glass. Only his third drink since they had arrived at the club. Alastor looked back at Cynfael who he was leaning heavily against. Had the other demon drugged him? Technically it could’ve been Vox but that seemed much less likely. This was fine though, he had always had a high tolerance for alcohol and drugs. He’d get his prey out of the club, lead him back to his place and then torture the truth out of him. Though he might need to take a quick nap to sober up first but that was fine. He had this. No problemo. It was time for step two of his plan. Get his newest victim back to his place. “You know, I’ve got quite a collectttion of souvenirs back at my placcce.” Alastor stated overly loud, over-exaggerating his slurring to make Cynfael drop his guard.
“Oh really? Maybe we could go back to your place and have a look?” Cynfael asked, Alastor vaguely felt the demon’s hand squeeze his leg. He held back a shiver of disgust.
“That soundsz like a great idea.” Alastor grinned up at him. Trying to look as out of it as possible.
They both got to their feet and Alastor found himself stumbling a bit, Cynfael grabbing his arm to steady him, so Alastor didn’t tip right over. My these were some strong drugs. Nevertheless, he would persevere.
“Wait? Are you leaving? I thought we were hanging out tonight.” Ah, yes. Alastor had almost forgot Vox was still there. Well, he couldn’t have Vox following him.
“And we have had a lovely night.” Alastor stated with a wide smile. He watched as Vox’s face fell. Alastor felt terrible. They were having such a good time until this ne'er-do-well showed up. But he was doing this for Vox, solving the mystery of his kidnapping. Vox would thank him. But now his old friend just looked sad.
Alastor took a shaky step toward Vox, leaning in closely.
“Don’t be so jealous my silly picture box, you know I love you best.” Hopefully that would mollify Vox until he could explain in the morning, but he couldn’t give away the game with his prey so near.
“I know.” Vox replied back, trying his best to smile even though he was clearly upset. Alastor would fix that tomorrow though. He’d show up with all the answers and Vox would forgive him. For everything.
Alastor leaned back and with a drunkenly unsteady hand, he lifted a finger and gently booped Vox’s screen. Alastor chuckled to himself as he watched Vox’s eyes attempt to follow his finger. How silly he looked.
“Now if you still don’t hate me when you sober up tomorrow maybe we could grab lunch.” Alastor suggested. Vox just blinked at him for a few seconds. Alastor worried he was going to say no.
“Sure.” Alastor grinned widely at him.
“It’s a date then. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Alastor waved to Vox as he went back to his new prey. It was going to be a fun night.
The Goetia led Alastor away from the club, Alastor looked around, trying to get his bearings in the unfamiliar part of town.
“I think I am this way.” Alastor pointed down a side street, but Cynfael just kept leading him forward.
“Don’t worry. I know a shortcut.” A shortcut. Hah. How dumb did this bird think he was? Alastor attempted to pull away from him, ready to finally reveal his hand and get down to business, only for his legs to turn to jelly underneath him. Alastor collapsed in a boneless heap on the ground. How unfortunate, it seems the drugs were a bit stronger than he’d anticipated. Alastor looked up at the demon standing over him, his vision swimming. “Alright down there?” Alastor could hear the dark amusement in Cynfael’s voice. He recognized it because that’s how he sounded when he had his prey cornered. He’d really fucked this up, hadn’t he? Alastor found his vision and hearing fading out, the last thing he felt was Cynfael lifting him up in his arms before Alastor fully lost consciousness.
Notes:
So excited for Hazbin news 🎉
Chapter 8: Day 6: Signal Communication/Talking Through Radiowaves
Notes:
Y’all I’m sorry. I had no wifi to post. But I am done both chapters! I’ll post chapter 9 in a couple days, just got to edit it!
Also damn that new season 2 logo promo got me feeling a certain way 😮💨 I really gotta write more evil Vox stuff (I may or may not be working on a Vox as Moriarty story 😈)
Chapter Text
Alastor POV
His head was killing him. Alastor couldn’t focus on anything except the pain stabbing through his brain. What had happened? Fighting against all of his pain receptors that were screaming at him, Alastor managed to open his eyes a sliver. Looking around the room he immediately realized he had no idea where he was. His blended brain desperately tried to recall what had happened, but he couldn’t think past the pain and he had to close his eyes again. He was barely hanging on to consciousness, each second he kept himself awake was agonizing, but something had woken him up. A tickle across his consciousness. His microphone crackled to life somewhere nearby.
“I love you.” Vox.
Vox’s voice incited a panic from the people Alastor hadn’t noticed standing around him as they all scrambled loudly to find the source.
“What was that?”
“The staff. I thought it was a prop.”
“Well obviously not. Get rid of it.”
Alastor ignored the voices around him. Letting his soupy brain fade back to unconsciousness.
An unknown amount of time later Alastor found himself waking up again, this time in much better condition. Opening his eyes he found himself in an empty room. The only furniture was the bed he was currently laying on. Alastor went to sit up only to notice a clanking sound. Looking down he found a metal cuff on his ankle, attached to the foot of the bed. Not just any metal, his dampened power told him it was made of angelic steel. How unfortunate.
It took him a few minutes, but eventually Alastor was able to recall what happened. Meeting Vox at the bar and heading out to the club. The succubus hitting on him and the appearance of the Goetia, Alastor figuring out their plan and playing into it to try and get the upper hand, only to end up drugged and kidnapped. Extremely unfortunate.
Alastor supposed if they were after the message Vox sent him, they would be in to interrogate him any moment. All he could do was sit and prepare himself mentally while he waited.
Though there was no way to tell time for sure in the empty room with no windows. Alastor was positive hours had gone by. Maybe they didn’t know he was awake. Maybe this was part of their plan, leave him alone to incite internal panic before they came in. Not that that would work. He wasn’t an idiot. And frankly he was more than willing to negotiate, no torture necessary. But until they showed up Alastor couldn’t do anything but wait. Wait and think. Think mostly about what an absolute imbecile he’d been. How could he miss someone as big and obvious as Cynfael drugging his drink? Well, the answer to that was as obvious as it was humbling. Alastor wasn’t watching him. Alastor prided himself in how invincible he was, how untouchable he was to the other sinners in Pride. He hadn’t deigned to imagine he could be in any danger, so he wasn’t looking for any. And now he was locked up somewhere with no easily available escape. Locked up with angelic steel. That was interesting though. How did two random succubus demons and a non-royal Goetia get their hands on angelic steel. They had to be working for someone else with much deeper pockets, someone who didn’t want to get their hands dirty. What exactly had Vox gotten himself into?
Alastor was suddenly reminded of the message he’d heard earlier. ‘I love you.’ Oh Vox… he never changed. Alastor looked around for his staff but obviously someone had taken it away after Vox’s message. That was no good, he couldn’t get a message out without it. But if Vox’s message meant he was listening then hopefully Alastor could find a chance to send him a distress signal. That would be a last resort though. Alastor was more than capable of rescuing himself and Vox would never let him hear the end of it if Alastor got himself captured and then Vox was the one to save him. No, he’d figure this out himself. Whenever someone could be bothered to come see him that is. How long would they leave him to stew.
Alastor had no idea how much time had passed, at some point he’d even taken a light nap, before the door opened with a bang. He was completely unsurprised to see Cynfael walk in flagged by his two succubus friends.
“Glad you could finally join me, now if you could kindly let me know why the hell you’ve got me locked up in here.” Alastor kept his tone neutral, watching them all closely for any clues. Cynfael just grinned at him.
“You’re hear for bait obviously.” What?
“Pardon?” Cynfael grinned wider.
“We need something from Vox, and we saw you two the other night. The television set is clearly enamoured with you; we figured we’d use you as leverage against him. He wouldn’t give in to normal torture, but we wonder how long he’ll last if we torture you instead.” Alastor thought about denying, but they’d all heard Vox profess his love over the airwaves.
“You erased his memory, what exactly do you think you’re going to get from him?”
“I’ve had my people following him, he’s gotten most of them back, and I’m sure Vox wouldn’t have been stupid enough to wipe his internal drives like that if he didn’t have back ups somewhere. So, he gives us what we want, and we let you go. Nice and easy.” A back-up. Like the encrypted message Vox had sent him. A plan began to form in Alastor’s mind.
“Are you done?” Alastor asked, smirking at the idiots who had kidnapped him.
“Excuse me?” Cynfael glared at him.
“This wouldn’t at all have anything to do with a secret file Vox sent me right before you kidnapped him, would it?” Alastor was amused at the completely gobsmacked looks on all their faces. He did love to have the upper hand.
“You have it?” Cynfael sounded absolutely incredulous.
“Yes, and unlike Vox I am willing to bargain.” Cynfael straightened up, smoothing out his face.
“What do you want?”
“Well firstly I want to talk with whoever’s in charge.” Cynfael looked annoyed again.
“That’s me.” Alastor simply raised an eyebrow at him. It didn’t take long for Cynfael to give in.
“Fine.” The three of them walked out leaving Alastor alone again. He still had no idea who the mastermind was behind all this, but he supposed he would find out soon.
It was a good plan. If they wanted Vox’s secret message they would need to bring Alastor his equipment from his studio. He could pretend to decode the message while actually using the equipment to get help. The easy plan of course would just be to actually decode the message and obtain his freedom that way, but he wasn’t sure if he was willing to give them the information Vox had been willing to die to protect.
Alastor sighed to himself. Even when he wasn’t here it seemed Vox solely existed to make Alastor’s life harder.
It was a while before anyone returned. Alastor wasn’t surprised, he was sure whoever the big boss was thought getting their hands dirty was beneath them. But eventually the door did reopen, and Alastor was surprised to see the same three come back in.
“He’ll see you now.” Alastor watched as his chain was unfastened from the bed. “Follow me.” Cynfael led him out of the room. Wow, was the prick running this show seriously too high and mighty to come visit him. Whoever he was, was really making them drag Alastor all the way to him. How ridiculous. But it did give him an opportunity to snoop. Taking in as much of his surroundings as he could as he was led along. Finally, they arrived at an absolutely massive set of doors. How pretentious. The doors opened and Alastor was wholly unprepared for who was waiting for him as he walked in. Obviously, this wasn’t Alastor’s first time meeting a Sin. He’d spent an unfortunate amount of time with the aggravating Sin of Pride. But this one… well stories had understated just how large and menacing he was.
“Satan.” Alastor stated in disbelief. What the hell had Vox gotten them into?
Satan considered Alastor from where he sat on his overly large and overly showy thrown.
“You wanted to make a deal, let’s make a deal.”
Alastor opened his mouth to reply but was reminded of his kidnappers at his side. He had questions to ask first. If he wanted to get the upper hand and a chance at escape, he needed all the intel he could get.
“So how exactly do two succubus demons and a Goetia end up working for you, don’t you have your own people to do your dirty work for you?” Alastor absently considered the fact he should probably not piss off Satan, but that thought was promptly ignored. As it turned out though, Satan seemed to find him amusing, chuckling instead of swatting him like an annoying fly.
“A fair question, with a simple answer. I don’t care for ‘my people’ all that much. And with the amount of dissent amongst the residents of the Lust ring and amongst the Goetia, it was not too hard to find members for my cause. Between Asmodeus and certain Goetia royalty running amok and associating themselves with imps of all demons, their people are becoming rightfully disillusioned.” Well, that was certainly interesting, but not of much use to Alastor.
“And how exactly did Vox get involved with this?”
“If you plan to leave this place alive, the less you know the better.” It seemed Satan’s openness only extended so far. That was fine, he would figure it out himself.
“So, for the deal. If I help you, by providing and decoding Vox’s message, you let me free, and I get protection from whatever this is.” Alastor added some extra details to make the deal more believable while wording it in a way that would allow him to easily break it without consequence.
Satan considered the deal for a moment and Alastor kept his face and body completely neutral, not giving any intentions away.
“Fair enough.” Satan reached down a large hand to Alastor, it looked like it was on fire. Alastor approached, his chain rattling with each step. He eyed the chain, hoping it might be removed for the purposes of striking the deal. “No worries, my power is much stronger than that flimsy steel.” Well, it was a nice thought. Alastor reached up his hand completely dwarfed by the Sin’s. Satan’s fire engulfed Alastor’s hand, sealing their deal. As quickly as he could Alastor pulled his hand away and backed off.
“So where is the message?” Satan asked.
“It’s stored in my equipment in my tower. Have your people bring me my stuff and I’ll decode the message for you. It will most likely take me a while to decode, knowing what it might be about though would help.” Satan sat watching him closely for a moment.
“Alright. Go get his stuff.” Satan waved at the two succubus demons and Alastor was suddenly very alarmed for his things. If they scratched anything…. “As for the contents of the message. Why do we need you to decode it, why not use a computer program.” Alastor didn’t have a real answer. It was time for some improvisation.
“Vox isn’t stupid, he probably specifically designed it to be undecipherable by computers. I know him well; I’ll have the best chance of decoding it.” Alastor tried to read Satan’s face, get a hint on if his lie was convincing.
“Fine. But we only need you to decode the first few lines that should contain the origin of the email and where it went. If you value your life, you won’t decode anything else. Got it.” The more Alastor learned the more intrigued he was. But Satan was right, he valued his life more than what was in that message and Satan was not someone he wanted to cross.
“Of course.” Satan simply waved him away in response and Cynfael led Alastor back to his room. It suddenly occurred to Alastor as he walked back into his room that felt so small compared to the other room, that Satan had dragged him out to that weird throne room simply because he was too big for Alastor’s cramped room. A twist that had been completely unexpected. Going up against some succubus demons and a Goetia was one thing. But a Sin… and Satan of all Sins. What the actual hell had Vox dragged them into?
It had taken quite a while before all of Alastor’s equipment had been successfully moved to his new room. They had extended his chain so he could reach the rest of the room, and then he had been left to set up his things. Alastor had taken his time, inspecting each piece of equipment for damage or tampering. If one of those idiots had broken his things there would be hell to pay when he escaped, but if there was any tampering he would need to fix it. Last thing he needed was a message to Vox getting intercepted. Almost right away he’d found that a critical piece had been removed to prevent outgoing messages, luckily for him he had built everything himself and in only a few hours it was back in working order.
Alastor waited to make his move until what he could only assume was nighttime as they turned off the lights and left him to sleep. He waited a bit longer before he finally turned his equipment on. Everything had been reset when it was unplugged to move but Alastor quickly set about retuning it to his regular frequency. In just a couple minutes it was all set. Now the question was what should he say? Would Vox even be listening? Alastor had an amusing thought as he recalled Vox’s last message, thinking of Vox’s own response to those exact words at the club. Alastor flicked the switch to go live.
“I know.” He spoke into the staticky silence. Alastor waited a moment, but there was no response. “Vox? Vox, are you there?” There was more silence. Maybe Vox wasn’t tuned in.
A burst of static crackled across the airwaves.
“Ya, I’m here.” Vox responded quietly. There was a long pause before Vox spoke again, his voice shaking. “I’m so sorry.” Was Vox crying?
“Whatever for?”
“For this, for what I did to you, for everything.” Alastor didn’t know how to feel about the apology or where it was coming from. It was easier to ignore it.
“It’s alright. I have a plan.”
“A plan? You were kidnapped, what do you mean you have a plan.”
“That was part of the plan.” Alastor chuckled at the feedback coming through the speaker.
“What do you mean it was part of the plan?”
“I realized that the succubus demons and the Goetia were the ones that kidnapped you and I was hoping to get one of them alone so I could interrogate them.”
“And how well did that turn out for you?” For someone who was crying five seconds ago, Vox was being extraordinarily sarcastic.
“Just fine. I got the answers I was looking for and I have an escape plan.” Alastor answered definitively.
“Answers? Escape plan?”
“Yes. I now know who is behind all of this. Satan. I made a deal with him to decode that message you sent me-”
“You can’t!” Vox interrupted. “If Satan gets his hands on the information in that message…” What did Vox take him for, an idiot?
“I have no plans to decode it for him. I’m just buying time for my escape plan.”
“And what exactly is your escape plan?”
“You of course. Once I figure out where they are holding me, I’ll pass that information along to you and you can come fetch me. Easy as pie.”
“Right. Easy as breaking into Satan’s dungeons. A walk in the park.”
“Exactly.” Alastor heard the huff in response.
“Right.” When Vox didn’t complain any further Alastor figured it was a good time to ask the burning questions floating around his brain.
“So, what exactly is in this message worth risking our lives for?”
“I’m not sure.” How helpful.
“What do you mean you’re not sure?”
“I mean, after I sent it to you, I permanently deleted all of my copies of it so they couldn’t torture it out of me.” Well, if nothing else Vox was dedicated to his cause.
“So, we don’t even know what we’re protecting?”
“Well, I know some things. I know it was huge, and that I planned on giving it to Lucifer. Which if Satan is involved there must be some sort of civil war brewing between the Sins.”
“Really? You were going to do the right thing and hand it in? That doesn’t sound like the Vox I know.”
“Haha. I’m not an idiot. Civil war isn’t good for any of us.”
“Mhm. And I’m sure you had no plans to release it on the news afterwards?” The frequency went silent. How unsurprising. “Well, if I’m to get any work done tomorrow, I’ll need my beauty rest, so I’ll bid thee adieu for the evening. Same time tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll be here.” Vox responded. Alastor went to turn off his equipment. “Wait. Alastor?”
“Yes?”
“You’re okay right? They haven’t hurt you?”
“Absolutely not. They would’ve lost their fingers if they laid a hand on me. Anything else?”
“Uh, no. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good night.”
“Good night.”
After a day of nothing but pretending to tinker with his equipment, Alastor was almost excited to talk with Vox that evening.
“Vox?”
“Yes, I’m here! Did you figure out where they’re holding you yet?”
“Well seeing as I’ve been alone in my cell all day… no.”
“Cell?”
“Well, not a cell, it’s an empty room with a bed and my equipment. Though the open concept bathroom reminds me of a jail cell.” Alastor would never take access to a real bathroom for granted ever again.
“Right. And what’s stopping you from just using your shadows to escape?”
“The angelic steel shackle on my ankle. It’s almost completely muffled my power.”
“Shit. So, you really are a damsel in distress waiting for me to come rescue you, huh?” Alastor rolled his eyes even if Vox couldn’t see it.
“Oh, trust me, I’m not the one who’s going to be in distress. Having you rescue me is the back up plan, the second I see my opening I will gut every person in this building and stroll out the front door.”
“Is it weird that I find that hot?” Alastor just stared at the speaker for a moment. Before he could come up with a response though Vox spoke again. “Oh, fuck! I’m sorry. God, no wonder you don’t talk to me anymore. I can’t fucking do anything right. After I help you escape, I promise I’ll leave you alone.” What was Vox going on about now?
“And why would you do that?”
“I- I didn’t remember at first why we stopped talking. I just remembered the blow-up fight. But yesterday, I remembered all of it.” Oh.
“Vox, that’s alright. No need to rehash the past.”
“No. It’s not alright. You were so patient, if I was anyone else, I would’ve become fodder for your next broadcast, but with me, you just put up with it. I was fucking relentless, and you just turned me down nicely every time and carried on like nothing happened.” Alastor didn’t understand why Vox was getting all upset about this.
“That’s what friends do isn’t it? Put up with each other’s faults? I know I’m not the most experienced. You were my first close friend after all. But I thought that was how it worked.”
“Sure, faults like chewing with their mouth open or always being late. I spent almost our entire friendship forcing my feelings on you. You told me you weren’t interested over and over and I just steam rolled over all your boundaries. That’s not what good friends do. Oh god. I’m one of those ‘good guys’ Velvette is always making fun of. Just befriending someone to trick them into dating me.” Alastor felt a pang of hurt at Vox’s words.
“You only became my friend because you wanted to…” Alastor couldn’t finish the sentence, but thankfully Vox cut him off.
“No! No, no. I was your friend first. And I loved being your friend. I only fell in love with you because I loved being your friend so much.” Vox went silent. Probably realizing what he had just admitted. “Wow. Um. That’s not what I meant. Uh, I think it’s getting late. You probably need to sleep.” Vox stopped again and Alastor decided to throw him a bone.
“I wasn’t lying at the club you know. I might not be in love with you, but I do care for you. You were a dear friend, and I hope that after all this maybe we could be friends again.” Vox was quiet for a few more seconds.
“Ya. I would like that.” Vox whispered.
“Alright. Now that that is settled. We’ll talk tomorrow. Good night.”
“Night.”
By day four, it was probably more like day six or seven, but it was only day four since he could start counting, Alastor was going a bit stir crazy. His captors only popped in to feed him, and his room offered no distractions. He knew his broadcast equipment inside and out so it wasn’t like he could distract himself by working on it. He was almost tempted to actually work on Vox’s message but now that he had more information, he would probably solve it within a day. But it was best if he didn’t know anything. He couldn’t be tortured for information if he didn’t know it. Vox had been right in that regard. But that left Alastor with absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to. He was practically crawling up the walls in boredom. His only reprise was his late-night talks with Vox.
“Tell me a story.” Alastor asked. Vox waited a long moment before responding.
“What?”
“Tell me a story. Whatever you want. Just something to entertain me, you used to be so good at that.”
“Um. Any requests?” Alastor thought for a moment.
“Tell me about when you were young.”
“Oh. Um, sure. Where to begin… well my mom basically raised me alone. My father was some corporate hotshot or something, I never talked to him enough to actually know what he did. What did chronically busy but well-paid people do for a living in the early twentieth century? Either way, he was never around but I grew up well off. I hated him for never being around and yet I followed right in his footsteps, maybe hoping if I made something of myself, he’d have to notice me. I made climbing the corporate ladder my entire personality to the detriment of every one of my relationships including that with my mother. I lived alone and died alone with nothing to show for it but a pile of money that went who knows where since I had no children to give it to. I turned out like every other guy whose dad didn’t love him enough, hardly an interesting bedtime story.” Vox blurted out his entire story at a fast nervous pace. This was the most Alastor had ever heard of Vox’s living life. It was fascinating and certainly explained a few things.
“What did you do for work?” There was a moment of silence.
“Oh, right, you can’t see me right now. This is exactly why television is the superior media over radio. But anyway, I worked in television. Worked my way up to managing an entire branch of a broadcasting company. I’d always wanted to be on the radio or in the movies when I was young, that dream was quickly disposed of in order to try and gain my father’s respect.”
“Well at least you got your chance now. You’re on everyone’s televisions here.”
“Ya.” Vox responded contently. “I guess I did.” Vox yawned as he finished talking.
“You’re tired. Let’s call it for the night. Pick back up tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s your turn.” Vox replied, trying to stifle another yawn.
“Sure.”
“I suppose you could say my dead-beat father also shaped the course of my life.”
“Why am I not surprised you have daddy issues.” Alastor ignored Vox’s comment.
“My mother, bless her, had married my father in hopes of a better life. What she got instead was an angry drunk who beat the both of us relentlessly. Well, that is until I killed him. After that I got quite the taste for it, hunting down men that reminded me of him, asshole drunkards and wife beaters, I considered it a public service. But after a while the monster within began to control me more than I it and my victims began to stray outside my guidelines. New Orleans was lucky I got taken out by some idiot hunter by accident. The people I got rid of weren’t exactly the types to be reported missing, so no one even knew there was a danger. I’m happy I died before they found me out though, mostly for my mother’s sake. Outliving me was probably hard enough, but finding out I was a monster would have broken her heart.” Alastor finished. Vox stayed silent. “Not what you were expecting?”
“I mean, the murder I was expecting. You don’t just die and get a sudden taste for ripping apart souls live on air. I just didn’t take you for someone with such a noble cause.” Alastor scoffed at Vox.
“Hardly noble. I had a thirst for blood; it just happened to be for the blood of people who reminded me of my father.”
“Nah. Even down here you kept going. Killing overlords. You can pretend you don’t have any sort of code but clearly some part of you cares.” Vox paused before continuing. “Not that I’m calling you a saint or anything. You’re a murderer and you rejoice in others pain. I’m just saying you’re not some mindless monster. You’ve used the darkness inside you to make the world, and hell, a better place, even if it was through horrible means. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just as fucked in the head as you are for thinking this…” Vox trailed off. Alastor just sat silently watching the speaker. He didn’t know what to think, how to react. Was Vox, right? He always tried to hide behind excuses, he killed overlords to get them out of his way, he murdered people who beat their wives because they reminded him of his father, he helped Charlie because he was amused watching people fail at redemption. But was he kidding himself, did he even understand himself?
“Right, well I think that’s enough for tonight. Good night.”
“Oh, uh. Sure. Good night.” Vox responded and Alastor shut down the broadcast. That was more than enough introspection for one night.
“He wants to know how progress is coming.” Alastor looked up at Cynfael. It was the first time the Goetia had said a word to him since Alastor’s equipment arrived.
“There isn’t really progress when decoding something like this. At some point I will find the key and there will be a breakthrough, and I will solve it all in one go. Until then, there will be nothing to report.” Alastor had been sitting on that lie for a few days, he knew they would want more details soon, though he hoped to get at least a week before they started questioning him.
Cynfael watched him closely for a second before shrugging. He set Alastor’s lunch down on the table and turned and left. Alastor watched him leave, relieved he had accepted the lie so easily. Alastor was about to go back to pretending to work when something caught his eye.
Alastor waited until Cynfael shut the door and then approached to investigate. All near the door there was some sort of dirt accumulating. Alastor picked up some to look closer, it was very unusual. But Alastor had been all over Pride in his many years stuck in hell. And he recognized this dirt. It was from a section of hell that had been completely left in disrepair. It belonged to various powerful demons from other rings of hell. It was too far from Pentagram city and so had been abandoned over the years and was slowly turning into a ghost town. It was a large area, but this was a start. Something Vox could work with. At this rate he was going to need to rely on Vox, his captors were avoiding him like the plague not leaving much opportunity for escape. Hopefully Vox would come through for him.
“You’re right, it’s a lot of ground to cover. But I have lots of drones, I can get them flying around, maybe I’ll catch something.” It was a start.
“That’s good. Finally put those voyeuristic tin cans to good use.” Alastor teased, amused at the annoyed huff he got in response.
“Hey. No biting the hand that feeds. If I’m helping you, you can’t insult my stuff.” Like a petulant child.
“Fine.” Neither of them spoke for a moment. “I believe it’s your turn to share this evening?”
“Oh right. Hmmmm. Okay. I got one.” Vox cleared his voice, clearly going into beloved tv personality mode. “Back when I was alive there was this guy I worked with. He started not too long before me, but he showed me the ropes and we hit it off. He introduced me to all the big players around the office which helped me climb the ladder faster. He was on good terms with everyone, but no one was super close to him, so when he picked me out of the crowd it felt like such an honour. I didn’t know what he saw in me, but I found his dark humour and easy-going attitude endearing. I would do anything for him, which he knew, but he never took advantage. After years of loneliness, he was my first real friend. Not just someone I was using to get to the top, but someone I felt like I could be myself around. And I started to fall, hard.” Alastor couldn’t help but tsk.
“You really are consistent hmm?” Vox chuckled but continued.
“I kept finding any excuse to be around him, any excuse to hangout after hours. And I thought we were really building something, he was always laughing at my corny jokes and doing me favours. And whenever I got him gifts, he accepted them happily. I tried time and time again to make a move, but he always just brushed me off. I thought maybe he was just super oblivious and didn’t understand my intentions. After all guys dating guys wasn’t always the norm, I thought maybe he just thought I was being super friendly, so I kept trying. Clearly, he must reciprocate my feelings, we were practically going on dates every week, we were each others closest confidant, clearly I just needed to get through to him.” This story was starting to get awfully familiar, but Alastor let Vox continue.
“Eventually I climbed my way up the corporate ladder and wanted to bring him with me, offering him a place at my side. I could think of no better way to thank him for all his help in and out of the office, and for being such a good friend. Unfortunately, what I didn’t understand is that that wasn’t how he took it. He thought it was a trick, a way for me to get power over him, a way to force him to accept my affections. He, rightfully, snapped at me. And I, not understanding at the time why he was so upset, snapped right back. A decades long friendship, gone. And I had no idea why…” Vox trailed off and Alastor let the silence linger. Not sure what to say. “You know, losing my memories really brought clarity to them. Without all the anger, and bitterness, and jealousy, it’s easier to see my memories for what they were. Easier to look back and see I was the one in the wrong. Your friendship should’ve been enough, it was enough, I let my feelings run my life and I didn’t see how they were hurting you. I’m sorry.” Alastor stared blankly at the speaker. That was… a lot. And yet… Alastor thought maybe it was exactly what he needed to hear. The part of him that always wondered if there was something wrong with him, and here Vox was telling him that it was okay. It meant more to him then Vox would probably ever know.
“I find it better not to dwell on the past, as long as one learns from their mistakes there’s no reason to hold a grudge. Bygones and all that.” Alastor tried his best to defuse the situation. Let Vox know he was forgiven without needing to get into all those feelings.
“Right. Of course.” Vox was most definitely crying again but Alastor chose to ignore that.
“Right. Well then, maybe we should leave it here for tonight?”
“Ya, that’s probably for the best.”
“Good night, Vox.”
“Good night, Alastor.”
“Wake up!” Alastor jolted out of bed with a start. Cynfael and one of the succubus demons were standing over him.
“What?” Alastor’s sleep addled brain couldn’t come up with anything more eloquent.
“You have a meeting, let’s go.” Alastor wiped the sleep from his eyes, looking down at his grimy clothes he’d been wearing all week. Not exactly fit for a meeting, but he doubted that would matter. Cynfael detached Alastor’s cuff from the bed and marched him out of the room. Alastor began to worry as they headed back to the throne room, he could practically feel the annoyance coming from his captors. That did not bode well for whatever this meeting was about.
As they entered the room Alastor felt his hackles rise in trepidation. If he thought Cynfael was annoyed, that had nothing on the ball of wrath that was waiting for him in the throne room. Satan stood, flames spitting angrily off of him, glaring down at Alastor. This would not go well.
“You lied.” Satan growled out. No, this would definitely not go well.
“About what?” Might as well find out what lie he was being accused of before admitting to anything.
“You had no plans on decoding the message. I’ve watched you on the cameras, you’ve been pretending to work all week without actually doing anything.” Alastor had not seen any cameras in his room, but really, he should’ve assumed there was. But that didn’t matter now, what mattered was how he would get out of this.
“Oh, I promise I’ve been working. I had been working on decoding that message for over a month before you brought me here, I don’t need to stare at it to work, it’s all up here.” Alastor tapped his head.
“How stupid do you think I am?!” The flames around Satan rose. “Enough of your lies. Clearly your freedom is not motivation enough, I think it’s time we find some… new motivation.” Well, that didn’t sound promising.
Before Alastor got the chance to refute anything, Cynfael was dragging him out of the room. But instead of bringing him back to his own room, he was led somewhere else. This new room was significantly less empty than his own. Chains littered the walls and floor, and tables were stocked with all sorts of instruments to inflict the most amount of pain. No, this was definitely not going to go well for him.
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit, tired this evening. I think I’m just going to go to bed.” Alastor struggled to keep his voice steady. Every inch of his body was screaming and with the angelic cuff he couldn’t even heal himself. Vox didn’t need to know that though. Vox was already working hard to rescue him; Alastor didn’t need to burden Vox with his problems. He needed Vox focused. He could handle this himself.
“Oh, ya. No problem.” Vox sounded defeated. Well, that wouldn’t do.
“I really am tired. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Ya, I understand…” They both sat in silence for a moment.
“I’m sorry too.” Alastor blurted out.
“What?”
“For what I said. I lashed out at you when you just wanted to include me in your team, in your success. I said a lot of things in anger that I certainly didn’t mean. Also… I’m sorry if I led you on at all, I should’ve made my stance on that clear from the start. It wasn’t you; I just have no interest in such relationships. Being my… best friend was the highest honour I could give you.” Alastor had more he wanted to say but his lungs were screaming at him. Each breath was more laboured than the last. Hopefully that was enough though to make Vox understand.
“Oh… oh. You are like… oh what the hell stupid new age term did Velvette call it. Aro-sexual? No that’s not it… I don’t remember, I’ll go ask her when I see her next.” Alastor felt a bit of warmth covering up some of the pain in his chest.
“Yes, you do that and, report back to me.”
“Alright. I’ll let you sleep then. Good night.”
“Good night.” Alastor turned off his equipment and gazed across the room at his bed. The idea of standing up had him hyperventilating already, he’d barely been able to drag himself across the room for the call, but if he’d missed it Vox would’ve worried. Now he mentally prepared himself to walk back. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself to his feet, muffling a shriek of pain. He needed to be quiet. If there were cameras and he hadn’t been caught yet it meant they weren’t watching him at night. The last thing he wanted to do was tip them off. So as quietly as he could manage, biting down on his ruined coat sleeve, Alastor shuffled across the room. What was probably only a few minutes felt like an eternity before he arrived at his bed and slumped down in relief. Relief that was very short lived, once his body had recovered from the harrowing pain that was walking, all the previous aches came back with a vengeance. Alastor just laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, and trying to ignore the pain. He doubted he would be getting any sleep.
“Your turn today.” Vox chirped cheerfully. Alastor could think of nothing worse than trying to hold a conversation in his current state. He’d had no time to recover before he was dragged right back to that horrific room. If he thought yesterday had hurt, today had been almost unbearable. Bruises on bruises, cuts on cuts. Already broken bones, broken in new and more creative ways. But he couldn’t let Vox know all that.
“I. Haven’t been. Sleeping well. Maybe you could just. Regale me. With some shop talk tonight.”
“Are you alright?” Why did Vox have to choose now of all times to become perceptive.
“Right. As. Rain. Just tired.” Vox didn’t respond right away.
“Alright. Did you want to hear about my new project?”
“Sure.” Vox went off about some new doohickey he was working on, and Alastor did his best to just focus on Vox’s voice. Ignore the pain that threatened to engulf him and just enjoy the way Vox animatedly talked about his work. Vox liked to say that television was superior for its visuals, but Alastor had to disagree. Listening to Vox talk he could hear his excitement, imagine the grin on his face, the way he was undoubtedly swinging his hands around while he talked. Sometimes leaving a little something for the imagination allowed for so much more. Maybe when Alastor escaped, he could try to get Vox back into radio again. That could be fun. For now, he would just enjoy his entertainment for the evening and try to forget everything else.
“Maybe we took it a little too far today.” Alastor felt a boot kick his midsection and stars danced behind his eyes. He didn’t move though, maybe if he played dead they’d leave him alone. “Well might as well take a break while we wait for him to wake up.” Alastor heard the sounds of his tormentors walking away. The door opened, but didn’t fully shut behind them so Alastor kept still. The longer he could keep still, the longer his reprieve would last. He liked a little torture as much as the next person, but this was, well, torture. It was one thing to destroy his body for the fun of it when he could regenerate. But with each injury compounding on the last it was quickly becoming unbearable. The only thing getting him through it was imagining returning the favour once he escaped. Everything they did to him he would return twentyfold when he came back. They would rue the day-
“We really lucked out with this place. We can make him scream as loud as we want and no one will hear.” Alastor focused on the conversation outside the door. This was more information than he’d gotten all week.
“Why do those rich assholes even keep land out here, it’s completely useless.” It sounded like his initial assessment of their location was correct.
“I haven’t the faintest idea. But it’s a good thing Stolas never bothered to get rid of it. With his fall from grace the land out here is all ours for the taking. Completely remote and with Stolas busy rebuilding his reputation no one is going to bother us.” And suddenly all the torture felt like it was worth it. That had to be enough information for Vox to find him, he just had to make it long enough to tell him.
“Oh, I think I saw him twitch. I think he’s ready for round two.” Fuck.
“Oh, hell yes. I should have no problem finding the relevant contracts. I’ll have you tracked down by end of day tomorrow, and that’s a Voxtech guarantee.” Alastor was glad Vox was so excited about this, more than enough for the both of them, Alastor himself could barely muster up a yippee. Everything hurt. This hurt worse than his death, worse than every beating from his father combined. But he just had to make it one more day. One more day and Vox would come for him, he could get his power back and make everyone regret their very existence.
“Alastor?” Alastor tuned back in.
“Yes?”
“I asked if you wanted to hear more about the new device I’m designing.” Mm yes, no talking sounded great.
“I’d love to.” Vox continued on from where he left off last time and Alastor stared across the room at his bed. Maybe he could just have a quick lie down while he listened to Vox. His aching body needed it, sitting in this chair was not doing him any favours. Mind made up Alastor hobbled across the room to lay down while he listened. Maybe rest his eyes a bit.
“Alastor! Alastor!” Alastor tried to open his eyes, but he was just so tired. “Alastor. Wake up!” With great effort Alastor opened his eyes. Looking around he saw that he had fallen asleep with his equipment still running. That explained why Vox was currently yelling at him but… Alastor looked at the open door. Oh shit. “Alastor!” Alastor looked back at the radio.
“I’m awake.” He called to Vox.
“Alastor they’re coming back. They heard me on the radio. They know you’ve been talking to me.” Alastor felt like his veins had been flushed with ice. What was he going to do? What could he do? He was chained to the bed; he had no options. It only took another minute or so before he felt it. Felt the floor shaking. Felt the temperature in the room heating up. Oh, he was so totally and irrevocably screwed.
Chapter 9: Day 7: Sell Soul
Notes:
Posting from the er ✌️ I’ll live just feel like poop lol. Hope y’all are havin a better week than me 🙃
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Vox POV
“Alastor?” There was silence on the other end of the broadcast. What was happening? Wait, no. Not silence. He could hear something. It sounded like rattling, the broadcast was waning in and out, static filling Vox’s head. What the hell was happening?
“You thought you could trick me?!” A loud voice boomed through Vox’s head. Satan. “I’m done giving you chances. If you thought the torture this week was bad, I’m going to make it look like child’s play. I’m going to completely dismantle you piece by piece until there’s nothing left but a mindless drone who will do what it’s told.” Torture? Vox suddenly felt like the biggest fucking idiot. Alastor had told him he was just tired. Of course he had, Alastor’s pride wouldn’t allow him to admit that someone might actually be able to hurt him. And Alastor had been hiding his pain this entire time. What did they do to him? How badly had they hurt him? “And since you love your little broadcast so much, let’s let all of hell enjoy your misery as well.” Before Vox could even comprehend what he had heard, the broadcast cut out with a burst of static. Shit. Shit. Shit. Vox felt himself spiralling. Alastor had been tortured for days and hid it from him. This was all Vox’s fault. Alastor had been kidnapped because of him, had been tortured for days because he was protecting the message Vox sent him and god knows what the hell Satan had in-store for Alastor now all because Vox had idiotically left the broadcast on and got Alastor caught. Fuck! What had he done?
No. He needed to get a hold of himself. Alastor was counting on him. He had the information to find him now; he needed to get to work. Stolas. He’d vaguely heard of the Goetic prince. Though his reporters had been keeping an eye on him while he was in Pride, and Vox knew he was part of some huge scandal going on, but otherwise Vox avoided hellborne royalty. Nothing to be gained and the last thing he needed was to step on one of their toes. Now he needed to dig up any and all information he could on Stolas. Vox had the information necessary to rescue Alastor now, but now it was just a race against the clock.
It thankfully didn’t take long for Vox to find the area that Stolas owned. He immediately sent out his drones to scope the area and figure out which building Alastor was in. Should he try to get help? He couldn’t take on Satan on his own but if he was just sneaking in and freeing Alastor, he could avoid Satan all together. He didn’t think Velvette or Val would be super helpful for this anyway. Maybe he could recruit some of Alastor’s new friends at the hotel or at least Alastor’s souls…
Vox was abruptly interrupted from his train of thought by a loud feedback sound. It was coming from his head, from the devices around him and from outside. If Vox had ears he would cover them from the grating sound, but his own head was picking up the broadcast, so there was no escape. Thankfully it stopped after a few seconds. There was dead silence, then a voice spoke over the broadcast.
“Attention Pride, we have a very special broadcast for you this evening, we would like to dedicate this one to Vox. You know where to find us.” Cynfael. Vox had barely a moment to prepare before the screaming started. It filled up his head. There was nothing else but the horrifying screams. It was obvious who they belonged to. Alastor’s radio filter morphing into something absolutely deranged. And then, Vox’s brain finally took the opportunity to remember what it had been desperately trying to forget.
Alastor’s screams blended in horrible dissonance with Vox’s own as his memory brought him back to that room. That room where they took his body apart piece by piece, their hands rooting around in his head, brute forcing their way into his servers. Vox grabbed at his head. Momentarily unable to tell memory from reality as the pain came back to him in startling clarity. Every inch of him hurt, every nerve alight in flame, someone’s hand was in his head. Some part of Vox knew this wasn’t real, that he needed to get out, needed to go save Alastor, but all he could feel, all he could think was the pain, and the screams. The screams, he focused on Alastor’s. As much as Vox wanted to block them out because of how they seemed to rip him apart more devastatingly than any torture ever could, he didn’t. Vox focused. Dragging himself back to reality, inch by agonizing inch.
Vox blinked, clearing the memory. That did nothing though for the blood curdling screams that were completely filling his mind. He needed to go. He needed to go to Alastor. Vox didn’t think, couldn’t think. Jumping into the closest device and travelling through the network to where he knew Alastor was. Every second it took was agonizing. By the time he popped out he was going half mad at the sound, ready to start smashing his head into the nearest wall in order to find any semblance of relief. Once upon a time he had found amusement in the sounds of Alastor ripping apart souls live on air, but this… Vox leaned over and threw up in the dirt. He could feel the tears streaming down his face. His circuits were fried, and his soul was shattering to pieces. And then… it was silent. The screaming was gone like it had never been there in the first place. The ghost of Alastor’s screams still haunted his head, but the broadcast had gone dead. Hopefully that meant Alastor was getting a break and not that they had just grown bored with the broadcast. Vox looked around. He still didn’t know what building Alastor was in, and he had no back-up, but he couldn’t back down now. Vox checked in with his drones, one of them had found something. He jumped back into the nearest drone and popped out at the other one. The warehouse it found looked nondescript. But the drone had caught a succubus demon sneaking out. It had to be the right one. Vox thought about going for back-up first, but then he thought of Alastor screaming, thought of that horrid blood-soaked room he once couldn’t remember but now couldn’t forget. There was no time. That broadcast could turn back on at any moment, and who knew what was happening in the meantime. He couldn’t wait; he needed to get Alastor now.
He gathered all his drones to him and looked for an entrance. He could go in through the front but that was hardly covert, luckily a drone found a small duct leading outside. He sent the drones in first. They scouted stealthily through the hallways until they found a room under guard. He recognized the Goetia standing guard, Cynfael. Alastor had to be in there. Taking a play out of every movie ever, Vox had one of his drones knock over some supplies nearby. Immediately Cynfael ran down the hall to check. Vox wished he could take a go at the asshole right here right now, but right now he needed to save Alastor. Rescue first, making these fuckheads pay would definitely be second.
Vox had one of his drones fly over to the door, and Vox used the network to transport himself to that drone, popping out in front of the door. He opened it, surprised it wasn’t locked, and found himself in a large, mostly empty room. The only furniture in the room was a single bed. Vox breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a pile of red on the bed. Alastor. Vox closed the door, sending his drones out to find him the closest exit. Unfortunately, Vox couldn’t bring Alastor through the network with him, and he doubted Alastor would be strong enough to shadow travel, so they would need a safe path out. Once that was set in motion he approached the bed, the closer he got though the more his stomach twisted. He had assumed the red he was seeing on the bed was Alastor’s clothes and hair. It was not. There was blood absolutely everywhere. Alastor’s face was unrecognizable with all the swelling and blood. His body was bent at horrifyingly unnatural angles. Vox almost threw up again.
As Vox approached Alastor he heard a quiet whimper. Oh jesus christ. What had Satan done to him. Alastor managed to slightly open one swollen eye.
“Vox?” Vox tried to put on a reassuring smile.
“Ya. Your white knight is here to rescue you.” Vox tried joking. He knew he didn’t have a lot of time, so he immediately set to trying to pick up Alastor.
“Wait. The. Cuff.” Right. Vox almost forgot. He looked down at the chain. His power would be no good on the chain, but the bed post was made of normal metal. He could worry about getting the chain off later. Vox reached down, using his electricity to heat up the pole enough to melt it, and yanked the chain right through. Alright. Now time to go. Vox picked Alastor up as gingerly as he could. Feeling his heart break at every wince that escaped Alastor’s mouth. As Vox walked toward the door, Alastor lifted his head closer to Vox’s. Whispering to him.
“You. Know. This. Is. A. Trap. Right?” Vox just smiled softly down at Alastor.
“I figured. I had to try though.” Vox checked on his drones. A few were missing. That wasn’t great, but no alarm had been sounded, and the area outside the door was still clear so Vox opened it. He looked around the hallway. His drones had found an exit not too far away and the path there seemed clear, so he began tip toeing down the hall. Very aware that his drones were dropping like flies. Someone definitely knew he was here, but he just had to make it outside. Just make it out, find somewhere to hide. They were so close. Another drone dropped. Vox tried to speed up his walking, but Alastor was heavy and awkward to carry. Another drone. He didn’t think he was going to make it. He needed to make a choice. Use his last few drones to escape on his own and leave Alastor behind or keep going and risk both of their lives. Vox looked down at Alastor. He couldn’t leave him.
Vox turned another corner and saw the door up ahead. They were so close. His last drone went down. Vox was flying completely blind. Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five feet. The door blew in, knocking Vox flying to the floor. Looking up he found Satan standing over him. Shit. Shit.
“Vox. How nice of you to join us.” Satan looked over to his left, Vox saw a few of Satan’s henchmen waiting. It had been a trap. They never stood a chance. “Cynfael, please bring Alastor back to his room.” The Goetia came over, Vox gripped Alastor tightly. “Let him go or we will hurt him more.” Vox looked down at Alastor’s prone body, he had lost consciousness again. Vox had no choice; he let go. Cynfael scooped Alastor up and walked off. Satan walked right up to Vox, towering over him. “Now I believe we have a message of yours for you to decode. Will you be cooperating or will we be turning the broadcast back on.” Just weeks ago, Vox had been so willing to be a martyr for the cause. But with Alastor’s screaming so fresh in his mind, with images of Alastor’s broken body still so vivid in his head. He couldn’t do it.
“I’ll decode it.” Satan grinned at him.
“Glad to hear.”
Vox sat at Alastor’s radio equipment, barely able to focus on the task at hand. His brain was a spiralling mess, only made worse by his surroundings. Alastor’s equipment had been moved to the torture room in order to broadcast his screams. It made it hard to focus when all he could smell was Alastor’s blood that was splattered everywhere. His brain imagining the horrors that had occurred as well as reminding him of his own time in the room. Alastor had gone through literal hell in this room.
Vox had fucked everything up and worst of all he had dragged Alastor down with him.
Vox knew what Satan was looking for, the message itself didn’t matter, its contents were straight from Satan’s own top-secret meetings. The only thing Satan cared about was that the message didn’t get out, he already knew what it said. The origin of the message though would tell Satan who his mole was. Decoding the message would give away the identity of the one person who had been willing to put it all on the line to save the rest of hell.
Vox knew he shouldn’t decode the message; with every line he uncovered he was reminded of exactly what horrors Satan had planned for the rest of hell. Lucifer and the Sins still loyal to him wouldn’t stand a chance. All hell would literally break loose, and Vox would be left with the knowledge that he could’ve stopped it. He knew he should refuse and accept whatever horrors Satan had in store for him. But Alastor. He couldn’t let them hurt Alastor again. They’d done enough. Vox had done enough. He’d hurt Alastor for years without even realizing it, and even then, Alastor had just kept giving him chances. And even after all Vox had done, when Alastor found him beaten half to death in that alley, Alastor had taken him in. Nursed him back to health. And then Vox had gotten his memory back and blew up at Alastor again and still Alastor had forgiven him at the bar. And now Vox had dragged him into this absolute shit show and still Alastor had welcomed him back with open arms. Alastor had even apologized to him! Vox didn’t deserve him, and Alastor didn’t deserve this. Okay, well maybe from a moral sense Alastor deserved some of it, he’d done some pretty fucked up shit, but he didn’t deserve to be punished for Vox’s mistakes. Vox would make it right, even if it meant putting the rest of hell in jeopardy. They’d figure that out later. If they got away from this alive, he would do everything in his power to make things right with Alastor and to stop the coup Satan had planned.
It didn’t take Vox all that long to decode his message. That was the easy part. Now was the hard part. Negotiations.
“I’m done.” The succubus who had been standing guard watching Vox nodded. She came over and unhooked his own angelic chain, leading him out the door. They ended up in some sort of throne room with Satan sitting high and mighty at its centre.
“Did you decode the message?” Satan asked. Vox nodded. “And what did it say?”
“I want a deal first.” Satan didn’t immediately laugh in his face, so Vox continued. “When I give you this info, Alastor and I walk out of here alive. No more harm will come to us. You let us leave and go home.” Satan didn’t respond right away, sitting, watching Vox. It was making Vox sweat.
“See the only problem with that, is that you know too much. We tried wiping your memories last time and it didn’t stick.” Shit.
“At least let Alastor go. He knows nothing. Just kill me and let him go.” It was the least he owed Alastor.
Satan chuckled in response. Not exactly the reply Vox was hoping for.
“Now why would I want to kill you? Clearly, you’re a resourceful little sinner. So, you give me the information I need, and you sell me your soul, and you both walk out of here alive. You can continue on with your silly unimportant afterlife, and I’ll call on you only when I need you.”
“No.” Vox didn’t even hesitate. “Absolutely not. I’d rather you kill me than sell you my soul.” Satan chuckled again and Vox felt a sliver of fear race down his spine.
“Who said anything about killing you?” No. No, no, no. Satan’s grin widened as Vox felt the horror of his situation truly sink in. “You give me the information I want and sell me your soul, or I gut him like a fish. How does that sound for a deal.” Vox’s entire body was enshrouded in panic. He couldn’t! This was the one thing he feared more than anything else. Someone else owning his soul. Losing all free will. But he had already lost all free will. He didn’t have a choice here. If he declined Satan would simply torture the information out of him and kill them both. The only way Alastor got out of this alive was if Vox gave up his soul. There was no other choices, no back-up plans, no alternatives. This was the only option.
“Okay.” Vox barely got out the whisper.
Alastor POV
Alastor awoke slowly. As his eyes flickered open, he took in his surroundings. Where was he? It took him a moment but eventually he recognized the interior of Vox’s room. How did he get there? The last thing he remembered was being tortured, and Vox coming to his rescue. Had they escaped? No… he remembered someone stopping them, then it all went black. How had he gotten out?
“You’re awake.” Alastor’s head whipped around to where Vox was sitting, watching him.
“How did we…” Alastor trailed off.
“I decoded the message for them.” Oh. That was not good.
“You should have just-”
“I couldn’t.” Right.
“How did you convince him to let us out? I figured we knew too much.” Vox didn’t answer. Alastor stared him down, like he could pull the answers straight from Vox’s screen if he glared hard enough. The longer he stared the more ashamed Vox looked. “Vox what did you do?”
“He- he was going to kill you.”
“Vox! What did you-”
“I sold him my soul! Alright?” No.
“What?”
“He said I had two choices. I could sell him my soul, or he would kill you.”
“You should’ve let me die.” Vox scoffed at him, rolling his eyes.
“Even after all we’ve been through you still don’t get it do you? Probably because you’ve never been in love. But I could not exist in an afterlife that did not contain you. If he had killed you, I might as well have sold my soul because if you were dead my soul would’ve died along with you. Even when we were rivals and I hated your guts, you were all I thought of. Satan offered me a choice, but there was no choice. Even if you can never feel the same way about me I do you, I’ll choose you every time. Satan may own my soul now, but you will forever have my heart whether you want it or not. Okay?” Vox finished his… rant? Confession? With a definitive tone. Like what he had said was an absolute truth of the universe. And Vox was right. Alastor didn’t understand. Romantic love was the one thing he’d never been able to comprehend. He didn’t understand why his mother had been willing to stay with his abusive father. Why Vaggie had gone to war with her own people for Charlie. Why that idiotic snake had gone off to challenge Adam, facing certain death. And why Vox had sold his soul for him. It would never fully make sense. But Alastor remembered how much he had missed Vox, how much he had treasured their short time together when Vox had lost his memories. So maybe he didn’t fully understand Vox’s motivations, but he could understand Vox not wanting to lose him again, because Alastor also did not want to lose Vox again.
“Okay.” Alastor finally agreed.
Vox sort of nodded to himself before rising from his seat.
“You’re probably hungry. I’ll go get you some food. Your body still hasn’t fully recovered from all it went through, so you’ll have to take it easy for a few days. My turn to take care of you.” Vox chuckled a bit. Yes, how the tables had turned.
Vox walked out, and Alastor was left alone with his thoughts. Well, his thoughts and his pain. Even with his power back, his body had been so horribly mutilated that it exceeded even what his powerful overlord healing abilities could handle. He would be in for a painful few days. But not as painful as they could’ve been. And that was thanks to Vox. Alastor would have to return the favour. He would do anything in his power to free Vox from his deal. Thankfully taking down Satan was something him and his own soul owner would be able to agree on. Satan was a threat to everyone, and with Vox as his unwilling servant, even more so. The hotel and Alastor’s own deal could wait. It was time to free Vox and get their revenge.
Notes:
We did it! We finally reached the end of the “week”. Hope y’all enjoyed. I’ll catch y’all at the radiostatic prompt week later this month, I’m hoping to get it done ahead of time this time, and might even do some shitty art for it lol ☺️
And as always if anyone has a request lemme know, I’m always looking for things to write at work instead of doing work 😂 (and if anyone wants to see a sequel lemme know but make sure to let me know what you’d want to see from a sequel, and I’ll see what I can do 🫶)
As always thanks for reading 🩵🩵🩵
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