Chapter 1: A Day as Vox's Assistant
Notes:
this was the the og storyline for Luna, but i changed it to her being an overlord to really emphasize the power struggle. we'll get to that in the main story later, or it's already happened depending on how people view it.
enjoy da story!
Chapter Text
The red light of Hell’s atmosphere woke Shadonyx, forcing her to wake from her erotic dreams. She stretched her long arms, arching her back against the mattress before deflating.
The lady demon slid out her bed and made her way to the bathroom in nothing but panties and a shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror and had a moment of dissociation. What looked back at her was not her true form, merely a secondary one.
The girl in the mirror had very light violet hair fading into a darker pale violet that stopped at her ribs. Her fur was darker than the void with a blue outline at the edges. White eyes with no pupils sat above a background of pale light yellow on the right eye and pale light violet on the left. There was no mouth to look at, just more dark blue void.
When the feeling of bodily discomfort left, Onyx rubbed the sleep from her eyes and began her morning wash routine. First was a shower, then rubbing her face with scrub cleanser. It took fifteen minutes for her to dry her hair, five to comb it out. With her body cleansed of sleep and the day before, she slipped into her closet and pulled out a button up, pants, and her usual jacket with the VoxTech logo on it.
She stared at the full length mirror on the closet door for any signs of imperfection. Happy with her appearance, she made her way to the elevator outside the common space in her room and took it three levels down. Waiting right outside the doors was Simon, Vox’s other assistant. He handled things specifically within Vox’s tech department while Onyx handled the personal schedules of all three Vees, but mostly Vox.
He handed the fox demon her work designated tablet and started down the hall with a nervous frown on his lips. “He’s been cranky since he woke up,” the nervous fish demon said. “No one’s brave enough to approach him because of last time.”
Of course they are. Last time, Vox took control of someone’s mind and ordered them to jump off a bridge into the unforgiving highway, dangled someone else over the shark tank in the big meeting room, then had everyone running because he was emitting too much electricity. Unsurprisingly, that was the day Onyx disappeared for a day because of the fight she got into with Princess Charlie. It was the first time she had ever gotten so angry she didn’t clock in, and it would be the last time.
“Please talk to him. You’re the only one he remotely listens to,” the fish begged. She nodded, allowing him to heave out a sigh, and stopped in front of the doors to the elevator leading to Vox’s office.
Onyx was the only one under Vox’s employment allowed to venture into his office without an appointment or summon. The stranger thing about it was he didn’t own her soul. Unless your soul was under his name, you were forbidden from going anywhere into the Vees personal space, which included their offices. You also couldn’t get paid or live in the building employee housing.
After taking her thumb off the scanner once it flashed green with a beep, the floor lifted three floors up before stopping in a small hallway. A speaker sat beside the two double doors at the end of it. Above the speaker was a screen for her use only.
Onyx didn’t talk in the traditional sense for . . . security reasons, so she used a little avatar that spoke for her from any screen in the building or portable device. The avatar was only used within Vee Tower for professional reasons.
She pressed the tip of her index to the finger scanner at the bottom of the screen. Her avatar, which was a chibi version of her current appearance, appeared on screen and mouthlessly beamed at her while lightly bouncing in place.
“ Mr. Vox, it’s Shadonyx ,” she said. “Permission to enter?”
There is a second of feedback from the speaker. “Permission granted.” His reply was quick and to the point, but she could hear agitation in his voice from the system that muffled his voice.
The lock clicked open, allowing Onyx to walk through. Because of the cylinder shape of the building, the entire back wall was made of curved glass. The corner walls were covered in screens allowing him to view multiple channels to keep up with what’s relevant. He had access to all things specifically under his control in his private office below the ground floor.
The TV Overlord stood off to the side from his desk, staring down at the city bathed in blue lighting while a red sky hung above it. She couldn’t see his face but judging by his stance, hands behind his back and legs spread, he was contemplating.
One of those days, then, she thought with a roll of her eyes. Every now and then, someone would try to get under his skin by doubting him to his face. While he had a tougher shell than that, Vox wasn’t the only powerful being in the city, let alone the Ring. There were other people who felt entitled because of the power they wielded and wanted to make sure everyone knew it.
It was either that, or Valentino was being a whiny, tantrum causing man child. Those were the days she steered clear of his division. She steered clear of Val and his work in general because he was the walking embodiment of every sex crime ever created. But when he started causing chaos within the Tower because his anger was insatiable, she stayed as close to Vox as possible until he was alerted of Val’s behavior and was sent to fix it.
“Something wrong,” the fox asked.
He finally turned to Onyx with a stone cold gaze that could freeze someone on the spot. This gaze softened at the sight of his most trusted assistant, but the coldness didn’t disappear.
“You know how much I hate when people undermine me,” he said. So it wasn’t Val this time , she noted. He turned entirely away from the window and approached his desk. His hand glided over the corner with a sense of reminiscence.
Her avatar appeared on the computer facing half facing the both of them. She was visibly in disbelief, like she was resigned to the fact this was her life now. This was true every day she woke up in the Tower. “What happened,” she asked.
“The contract with one of our suppliers ends next week and they refuse to renew it. Apparently, there’s someone who’s using their resources more efficiently and for more money. I had a meeting with their CEO at the end of yesterday and we got into a bit of a spat.”
With every word, Onyx edged closer until she was in range to place a hand on his shoulder and massage it. Instantly, his head lolled to the side in contempt, allowing her to massage him thoroughly on that side. A loud exhale rumbled out of his chest and the corner of his lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile.
“What happened?”
“You know how suppliers with a bunch of money are. He went on a tangent about how much and how long they’ve been serving me and have received the bare minimum the entire time. Now they have this higher paying opportunity and a chance to be paid what they believe they’re owed from us.”
Her hands slid further down his arms, kneading her little fingers into his hard flesh, loosening the muscles underneath. “He does not realize the price you pay is twice, or even three times, more than any other supplier we have under your company name,” she told him. “But I doubt even then it wouldn’t convince him of anything.”
“You calm me in a way no one else can, you know that,” he said. To anyone else, it would’ve been said with irritation, but Onyx had eventually understood that was his way of showing her affection. He had a reputation to uphold or something like that.
“You wouldn’t need to be calmed if you knew when not to let things get to you,” she responded pointedly. “You’re capable of keeping yourself intact, Vox. I shouldn’t be the one everyone calls to deal with you. You’re not the only person I work for.”
The TV demon merely sighed and leaned back in his chair. He gazed at her softly, which was a contrast to how he looked at everyone else. He was known for his intimidation and power among his employees, but she knew him before he became this all controlling overlord. So it was easy for her to bust through that facade and get the job done without any BS.
The tension previously holding up his shoulders dissipated, allowing them to sag and stay there after Onyx pulled away. He lolled his head back and forth to test the relief in his neck, then leaned over the desk to grab a sheet of paper from a stack close to him.
“What are you going to do about the entitled asshole?” she asked, looking back at the tablet in her hand.
Vox sighed, throwing the paper to the side and grabbing a stapled stack from the stack. “I don’t know. There’s so many reasons why I should throw him off a bridge, but that wouldn’t help anyone but me.”
“At least you’re aware of that.” Even though she mumbled it in a low breath, he heard it and stuck out his tongue while making a face. It was adorable to her how he was comfortable being a little childish with her and no one else. It was common for him to act that way around Vel and Val, which explains why they don’t take him seriously like everyone else.
Before he could say anything else, Shadonyx’s tablet buzzed with a command from Velvette to meet her in the designer studio. Vox excused her to leave and turned his chair towards the wall behind.
Like Vox, Onyx could travel through electric lines to get anywhere in the Tower. She sped through the security camera cords until she spat herself out from the camera above the double doors. Demons rushed up and down with urgency because of the fashion line show tomorrow. It would be twice as busy tomorrow, the thought intimidating her a little.
Scanning the sea of passing heads, she found Velvette sitting in the center of the room giving orders to the models posing on a platform.
“What’s the problem,” Shadonyx asked, tapping away at the tablet in her hand.
Vel turned around, eyes blazing, only for her to explain with a calmer tone and less irritation in her voice. “For one, Val’s hoarding all his good stars, making it impossible for me to show off the lingerie line,” she began. “The next problem is that all the fabric I ordered hasn’t come in and the improvised fabric isn’t cutting it.”
The woman went on a complaint tirade, giving directions to her subordinates along the way. Onyx followed while keeping her eyes on the tablet in front of it, trying to organize the next week of Vel’s schedule. Velvette had the most meetings compared to the other Vees, which meant Onyx spent most of her time trying to keep her from losing it.
And it was at that moment that someone else rang for Onyx, someone she would rather die than be in the vicinity of. She felt the harsh shudder run down her spine when she saw his ID pic pop up on her phone.
“What do you want, Mr. Valentino?” she said as professionally as she could.
“Oh, little void pup, no need to be professional,” he cooed with a playful growl. The fact that she could picture him staring at her with playful eyes, breathing hotly on the back of her neck, made the revolution shiver even harder down her body. It should not be easy for her to imagine that when it comes to Valentino.
“We’re on work time, and the day I agree to get in bed with you is the day I walk away from this companion. I’m not going to ask again: what do you want?”
He sighed dramatically. “Since you’re not available, I need someone to work through Angel’s schedule for me.”
Skepticism squirmed in the pit of her gut. “You never allow me to make Angel’s schedule. What’s changed?”
“The fact that he answers your calls,” he responded bitterly. “The spindly whore is avoiding me and I don’t know why yet. Be a darling and handle it for me.”
“Fine,” she groaned. Handling employee schedules was a lot messier than the Vees’s, especially when it came to actors or TV regulars like Angel Dust. They dealt with twice, even three times, the workload, which is others or the employee themself arranges it themselves.
“I’ll make it up to you, little void,” came Val in his suggestive voice. “Jsut give me the time—”
“Valentino, for the last time, the day I choose to get in bed with you is the day I choose to go back to an ex.”
Velvette threw a worried side glance at her response. Onyx returned it with a steady smile. The doll demon was the only one who knew the full extent of what happened with her radio host ex boyfriend. His name and general physical description were the only things she withheld.
The way Velvette found out was the first time she ever saw the doll demon let herself be honestly concerned and soft. Like the other Vees, she was cruel and unforgiving, but for some reason, she had been comforting that day. Until then, Onyx never thought she could be someone who would care for another person’s distress.
Velvette was also the only one who knew about the consequences of her letting her emotions overwhelm her. She saw the creatures come out of the shadows and spread across the floor, the passage way into the void. One of them almost dragged her into the growing void. Velvette’s scream brought her out of the slump enough to reel the shadows in.
Since then, Vel’s always given her a look to ensure she’s doing okay. And she’s kept her mouth shut about all of it.
“Are you alright,” she asked softly enough that only Onyx could hear.
“I’m fine, Vel,” the void fox assured her. “Mentioning him doesn’t irritate me anymore.”
She gave a curt nod and turned her attention back to the models on the platform.
The rest of the day goes off how you would expect for an assistant: putting out fires, keeping up with employees to make sure they’re doing their jobs, arranging meetings, looking up what’s going on with investors, other companies under the brand name, and keeping Vox tame enough to do his job without intimidating everyone his eyes come across.
When the day came to end, the other two Vees went straight to their rooms to die in their beds and wait for revival the next morning, employees immediately exited the building if they were allowed to, but Onyx ventured down to the shark tank meeting room on the third floor of the building.
She came once a week to this meeting room after hours for the sole reason of reminiscing. This very tank was where she met the TV Overlord. She adored ocean life because of her quad sister Sapphire, but something pulled her to sharks just as much as they did to Vox, maybe less because he very clearly had an obsession with them.
She rounded to the left side door leading to controls and other tanks outside the office space. The room itself was one of a few on this floor that didn’t have exterior windows, for obvious reasons and Vox’s paranoia of invasions (the Extermination).
Vark, the one of the two male hammerheads, spotted her from further down the tank and swam eagerly to her. She smiled and placed a hand on the tank. He hovered in front of it, as if accepting her affection from behind the glass barrier.
“Hey big guy,” she cooed. “You are doing better today.”
Vax, a male tiger shark, started acting up earlier last week, causing fights between him and Vark that resulted in Vark gaining a slew of scars and small tears. The stopping point for Onyx was Vark refusing food because he was too agitated.
“He looks a lot better,” Vox said as he came up behind her. She turned abruptly, startled by his voice, then smiled and nodded. “You were right to separate Vax; Vark looks so much calmer now.”
“I know it’s Friday, but he hasn’t eaten in two weeks. Can we feed him?” Vox nodded and led her to the meal fridge. Buckets of chum were lined on shelves, each labeled with the name of the tank it’s for. At some point, she got used to the fishy smell.
“I’ve given a thought to what you said about the food closet and I was thinking about purchasing a food tank instead of ordering loads every three weeks.”
“You’ll let me start a community tank?” Excitement lit her face instantly. Sharks were great, but there was something different about watching fish swimming through kelp forests or coral cities. Freshwater tanks too, with their bark and short or tall greenery. She’s always wanted to keep a tank over forty gallons, but never had Vox’s permission. Vox turned to her and nodded with a smile. Joy flooded through her as she softly squealed.
“On another note,” she said once she calmed down, “I wanted to check on one of the lemonshark girls.”
Their tank was smaller and sat in one of the office spaces. All the shark tanks were connected through a series of lifts and staircases. Before we made our way to them, I climbed a ladder to get to the small platform at the top of the tank and splashed the surface to get the attention of nearby sharks.
Their first dorsal fins broke the surface, slicing through it like knives getting closer to the platform. The head of Veela, one of three females in the tank poked towards the fox, allowing her hand to glide across her smooth body.
While she did, Onyx inspected her for any new marks she wasn’t aware that she had. “Good, no new ones to mark down,” she noted.
Another female, Vixen, approached Vox, seemingly smiling when her father bestowed attention to her. “They’re swimming more swiftly. Makes me think Vark wasn’t the only Vark was picking fights with.”
“I wanted you against housing males with a female present. They will fight anything that tries to get in the way of their mating ticket.”
“That’s the last time I don’t heed your advice about tank housing.”
“You shouldn’t be ignoring my advice at all,” she huffed, flicking water at the chuckling TV.
They took turns tossing fish into the flurry of sharks, watching them disappear with every splash caused by the snap of their jaws and flick of their powerful tails.
“There’s nothing like watching a shark feeding frenzy,” Vox mused, leaning back to watch his aquatic children feast. “Makes you appreciate the might of a predator.”
“For some,” she mumbled.
Onyx felt Vox turn his head and could feel the concern in his gaze. She tried to play it off by skimming the surface where a tiger shark allowed her hand to glide over their back.
“Has he tried anything, you know, physical? You can tell me, you know. I won’t punish you for something he started.”
“I know. You’re fair like that.”
“I’m caring like that. I care for you, Onyx.”
She returned his words with a knowing smile. He had always cared about her, whether she realized it or not. Both as his assistant and his friends from the late 1900s. He only knew her as his assistant and the reason his colleagues haven’t burned the tower down fighting with each other or with him. But she was someone else to him once.
She leaned on him for a while, just watching the blurry figure of sharks swimming happily around the tank. The light from the light on the tank walls reflected onto them from below. His screen shone in against the line, the smallest hint of a smile half covered by the glare.
“Do you still miss her?” she blurted out.
He knew who she was talking about. “Every day.”
“Do you still love her?”
“I never stopped. And I never will.”
Once again, morning came. Everyone walked through the halls with less grogginess than the day before. She met Vox in his private office where he was watching his district from the cameras placed around the district.
He was basking in the power of it all when Velvette’s ringtone and profile picture appeared on his face. He transferred the call to a screen in front of him and was met with a pissed impatient Velvette staring at something in the background.
It was at that moment, Luna heard the screaming and saw people running in the background. If Velvette wasn’t causing it, there was only one other man baby in this company who threw a tantrum as big and as violent, based on the blood splattered on the ground, that big.
“Hello there, Velvette. How are you this hellish morning?” Vox had a shit eating grin on his face as he sipped his coffee and occupied himself with the screens surrounding him. He twirled his chair around as Velveyye explained that his little boy toy (Val) was wrecking her department while she was getting ready for the show she had been preparing for the last two weeks.
It was times like this where Vox was so unaffected and nonchalant about the events going on with the other people that he works with where Luna truly saw him as the unsympathetic CEO skeptics made him out to be. She always tried to dispel them, but sometimes, she couldn't disagree and felt a little ashamed that she stood up for him.
Once Velvette ended the call, screaming at Valentino, the fake smile Vox had played on his lips disappeared as a heavy, exhausted sigh fell out his lips. Maybe if he didn’t fake it so much, he wouldn’t be so exhausted, she said to herself.
“Anything I can help you with,” Onyx offered.
“No, no,” he waved off. “In this instance, Val is my problem. Besides, he’s expecting me. If you handled him, shit would go south very fast. I don’t need another infirmary incident.”
She smiled sheepishly and stepped to the side to let him take the lift up to the lobby. She followed him up where new paparazzi swarmed him for answers about the new Extermination date. Onyx had been surprised by the reveal, but not shocked. If anything, she expected Heaven to treat Hell and its sinner population with this level of hatred. Not that she blamed them. She hated herself as well.
To get out of it, he hypnotized the crowd by promising them a security system that had never been in development before he said it. His TV ready smile disappeared as soon as Simon approached him.
“Uh, sir, when did we begin working on Angelic Security?” the fish asked.
“Thirty seconds ago,” the TV said in a low, firm voice. With the camera people and their equipment distracted, his smile was once again. It was fake, but it was still gone. “Try and get that bitch Carmilla on the books and cancel all my appointments today. I have a fire to put out upstairs.”
He traveled through the electric currents of the nearest security camera to make his way to Vel’s studio. Simon looked back at Onyx hopefully. She put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance and followed him upstairs through the same camera.
Vel’s workers were running up and down the studio trying to get everything they salvaged ready for presentation. There were still blood splatters left on the floor from whoever Val stabbed.
“Velvette, I can see you’re busy. Tell me, where’s our hote-headed friend now?”
A pissed Velvette finally turned away from the designers she was critiquing and gave him a clipped response, “Up in his tower, waiting for a flat–faced prince to calm him down.”
Of course, no one knew why Valentino was acting out. Was there ever a reason for his outburst, at least in his mind? He was a man at the top of the food chain who was constantly angry at everyone wanting to do their own thing outside of him. He had a right to be angry for the smallest things because he was the one in control of it all.
Vel was quickly recovering from the tornado, so she didn’t need Shadonyx’s help. But the last thing she was going to do was go in that tower and deal with a pissed off Valentino. She could almost see herself getting suspended for another attack on the whiny moth demon.
Velvette saw her watching as Vox walked off to deal with the pissy boy and called her over. “Listen, I need someone to deal with the backstage action while I’m busy out front. Can you handle it?”
Onyx scoffed. “I deal with you and Valentino on a daily basis. Of course I can.” The show went off without any more interruptions.
But after the show was over, every screen in the building, probably the entire city, had the same headline on them. The sight shoved a pit down her throat and anchored her stomach to the floor.
Alastor the Radio Demon had returned from his seven year hiatus.
Onyx’s world came crashing down. Seven years of nothing, of peace and comfort in knowing she wouldn’t have to deal with him, and then he reappears as abruptly as she disappeared.
To make matters worse, he came back on the radio. His show was broadcast to the entire city from every radio and speaker pole. Everyone stopped to listen on the streets. Everyone in the tower stopped what they were doing to listen. Onyx was one of them.
The entire broadcast was him indulging a pissed Vox who was trying to diss him and failing miserably. Truly, Vox was desperate for Alastor’s approval and was masking it behind hatred. Times like this made Onyx wonder what allowed Vox to get this far in the game.
But it was something he said after the power went out from Vox’s outburst that shook Luna to the core. After he told Vox off, he addressed the audience.
“And though Vox continues to prove his worth, there is one who’ never had to try, one I’m still looking for to this day.”
No, no, no.
“ Darling enchanted by the night,
hair as fair as the moon that shines,
you will be mine, you will be mine, you will be mine.
My heart beats from it’s cage of stone
Though you have proven I can’t leave you alone
I’ll come for you and you know why
You are mine,
Radio Darling 13, so divine,
You
Are
Mine~!”
How could he forget her? How could he forget the one person who fought him and won?
Chapter 2: Radio Aftershock
Chapter Text
Shadonyx was still reeling from the revelation that Alastor was in fact looking for his previous co-host. Lunabie, aka Radio Darling #13, the last co–host Al ever had, and the only person to have fought Alastor publicly and won, was all anyone could talk about after Alastor’s little reveal at the end of his diss track with Vox.
Vox, however, was more than eager to forget about her altogether for the purpose of focusing on Alastor’s return as a whole. Onyx was not happy revisiting that portion of her past, but what choice did she have? Alastor did pose a problem for Vox and the empire he meticulously created. The worst part about it was where Alastor currently resided.
Onyx pinched the bridge of her eyes. She was going to have such a huge talk with Charlie when this day was over. She of all people should know better than to let trouble like him in. Then again, this was Hell; avoiding trouble was the last thing anyone could do. But this was preventable trouble she willingly allowed into her operations because of her motto to never turn away a demon at the door.
The worst “I can fix him” attitude in the world award goes to the Princess of Hell. What irony , Onyx thought.
She sat in on a meeting between the three Vees. Velvette had taken out her extensions and done her hair up in a bun since the day was nearly over and those extensions were a pain. Luna could relate. Before she grew out her hair, she wore extensions and hated the limitations and irritations that came with them.
Kitty, the feminine Robo–Fizz that served the Vees exclusively, laid out the drinks ordered by three overlords. Velvette was the only one who didn’t ask for any alcohol. Even though the robot wasn’t sentient like the Robo-Fizz in LooLooLand, Onyx still felt compassion to pat it on the head like she did with the celebrity it was named after.
Vox posed the obvious problem of Alastor sitting so close to the literal princess of the trash heap of a seven layered country. If he made a deal with her, it wouldn’t just be the Vees asses on the line, it would be anyone stupid enough to have beef with Alastor. With that in mind, the reminder that Al was still looking for her placed a heavier load of doom on her shoulders.
She looked at Vox and lightly tapped him with her tail. He glanced at her, eyes still blazing with intent to kill, but softer now that his gaze was on her. She would always smile at the reminder that he cared about her, even when she was hiding from him.
“Something up, Shadonyx?”
“Just . . . a thought,” she began nervously, hiding half her face behind her tablet. “If Alastor gets in the princess’s good graces or strikes a deal with her . . . he might, um . . .”
“Spit it out, Onyx.”
She took a breath. “He might use her to hunt down Lunabie and make their bond . . . permanent.”
Vox’s screen paled. His brows fell from their furrowed state and his eyes went wide in realization. Velvette followed suit, minus her brows arching up in horror.
“I never even thought,” Vel whispered.
“If Alastor is as desperate as he lets people believe, I have to think he would go to any lengths necessary to secure her back in his grasp.”
A different anger settled on the TV Overlord’s face; something protective rising to surface after years of lying dormant etched into his stony gaze. The fox’s heart fluttered. There was her knight, the demon who so bravely put himself in the way of danger for her, his empress.
Velvette saw it and tilted her head in confusion. Onyx couldn’t blame her. It was rare she saw Vox so determined or protective of another person before. Since she became his assistant, he does come off as a heartless CEO working his employees to the bone every day they walk into work. Every now and then Onyx felt like one of those employees, which prompted her to demand a raise because if she’s not getting more to deal with the amount of bullshit she encounters daily, she doesn’t have to do half the things Vox asks of her.
The protective glare in his eyes quickly disappeared. “That is something that will never come to pass. Which is our main concern now is making sure no deal is ever struck between Lucifer’s brat and that smiling freak.”
Velvette went back to staring at her phone and only briefly looked Vox’s way as she spoke. “Well how exactly are we supposed to stop it?”
“Put something inside them,” came Valentino’s crude answer. He didn’t look up from bedazzling his favorite gun. “That’s how I get the bitches to behave.”
Onyx shivered. It was times like this she did not envy Angel’s position and felt even worse for him. Despite his vulgar comment, Vox saw it as an opportunity and asked if Angel would act as a spy for them. Of course, because Valentino is the definition of “scum”, he hasn’t been returning his calls. Onyx doesn’t either.
“We need someone that little Miss Bleeding Heart, would take in.”
“Someone pathetic, desperate, with no direct ties to us,” Velvette emphasized.
“I employ every down on their ass loser this side of Hell,” Val mused. “Who the fuck is left?’ Somehow, Vox knew of someone who would do nicely.
A ping of guilt stung Onyx’s heart. Charlie was a dear friend, the first person who dared to talk to her after her debut. To be involved in the people trying to destroy her dream of a better Hell made it seem like Onyx was a fake friend. And she knew all about fake friends. But on the other hand, this was about Onyx maintaining the new life she made for herself. She refused to bend to the will of a man who clearly could not care less about her wishes. Charlie’s ignorance would not jeopardize that.
The meeting was dismissed. Valentino and Velvette walked out without looking back at Vox, who stayed back. He bent his finger at Onyx, beckoning her to him.
“What made you come to the idea he might use the princess to get to Luna?”he asked without turning his head.
“He read a poem after your power outburst, about her. A very obsessive poem.” His words still rang in her head. Her tail swayed furiously behind her. With a deep breath, she continued, “Vox, I know how important this woman is to you. She was one of the main reasons you fought Alastor. But you need to promise me you’ll be smart about this and not let your temper define how you go about this situation.”
He scoffed and smirked. “Elaborate.”
She gestured around her like a frantic maniac. “Just two hours ago, you put the entire city into pitch darkness after overexerting yourself over Alastor insulting you over the airwaves without breaking a sweat or changing his tone. If you had Luna right now, imagine how easily it would be for him to drag her back.”
His smirk fell and a painful realization took its place. He turned to her at that moment, somber face shiny with raw emotion in his eyes. “You’re right,” he whispered. “I . . . I never thought about that.”
“Because you let your anger from whatever happened back then blind you to your intelligence now. You can’t afford to let that happen again, lest you want this entire empire to fall.” She paused and tuned toward the door. She stopped a few inches away from him to add, “Unless you want her to fall back into his clawed grasp.”
And with the help of the princess, if he does end up making a deal, he would make sure she never leaves him again.
Chapter 3: Best Friend Duties
Chapter Text
Pentious, Vox’s spy, ended up failing the same day he was hired. Shadonyx should be surprised, but he was about as pathetic and desperate as it gets. Vox was as little mean to him when he was discovered by Angel Dust, but he was then shaken up when Alastor tuned in to mock him for his effort.
As soon as she heard Alastor’s voice speak through the screen peaking into the hotel, Onyx’s blood ran cold. It felt weird hearing the antique static overlays in his voice bleed through the speaker embedded in the device. It was crisp, as if he were right there in the room, but also behind a radio. He never made sense.
Vox slid his hands over her tail, needing comfort as his mind kept replaying the moment over and over. Concealed as reassurance, she comforted herself by rubbing her hand down his back.
“For some, hearing someone’s voice and seeing their face incite different responses, especially when you haven’t seen or heard anything about their person in a long time,” she said to him, resting her cheek on the side of his head. “I was shocked seeing him on a modern screen, even if he was glitched out. Never thought I’d see him again.” Hoped for it even, she thought.
“I don’t think I’m ready to see him in person.”
“That’s ok.” She didn’t want to stand in the same room as him either, but for a different reason. And the same. So many problems were associated with her and Alastor, the logistics didn’t make sense anymore.
They sat in comfortable silence for a minute.
“Do you think I’ve changed,” the demon man asked out of the blue.
“What do you mean?”
“Am I the same Vox who fought Alastor or am I someone stronger?”
She bit her lip and avoided his eyes. That was a question she had been asking herself since the battle and still didn’t have a solid answer.
“I think you’ve changed into someone who can handle his own. Whether Alastor thinks so or not shouldn’t deter you from your progress.” It was all she could think to say. He had changed, but Alastor shouldn’t be the reason he does anything. Bettering himself for his own sake should.
Vox turned to look at her with a sad and/or tired smile. The weight of his decisions and the past’s burdens on his shoulders was held in his eyes and the desire to take it away from him strengthened all the more.
“Thank you for sticking with me the way that you have.”
The fox demon smiled. “Always, Vox.”
Angel came to her the day after Alastor’s reintroduction to demon society. The noticeable concern on his face comforted her in a way Vox could not. They had known each other since they were in diapers and have been inseparable since.
“You’ve been staying at that hotel for at least half a month and he’s definitely been there since before the announcement,” she scolded. “You should have told me.”
“I wanted to get a feel for his attitude, see if he was still as obsessed with ya as Vox is,” the white spider reasoned. “Ya know I’d neva’ willingly send ya into danger, Voidie.”
Onyx wanted to be mad, she really did, but Angel has had her back more so than anyone in Hell, maybe existence (though, that would be undermining Vox contributions).
“Fine, you’re pardoned on all accounts of friendship endangerment," teased the fox.
The other spider smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Angel re-taught her how to hug after going so long without one. Any kind of affection was an experience Luna was unknowing of, not being shown it until she was out of her father’s emotionally draining household.
With Pentious at the hotel as a full guest and not a spy, Charlie would have her mind racing trying to come up with a way forward for the hotel, Angel decided to ditch them for a while to go on a day out with Onyx. She hesitates at first, remembering the last time she took a day off out of the blue, but Angel countered her doubts with the statement: “If Vox can’t stand on his own two feet, he was never meant to run a company and it will crumble regardless of who’s there.”
Eventually, she caved and linked arms with Angel as they walked down the entertainment district. All the fun spots wouldn’t be open until the sky darkened, which is also the time when Val is horniest as they both have learned (yes, there is a schedule for Val’s horny and yes, they did map it out), so they decided on shopping. While online shipping was becoming more prominent, malls inscribed an adventurous, and even relaxing (depending on the crowd), atmosphere. You could go in wanting only one thing from one store, then walk out with twelve different bags.
Some of her best memories since leaving radio behind was with Angel at a mall, indulging in themselves and each other to their hearts content. He and Vox were the only men to think she was worth spoiling down here. Her life on Earth is a different story.
“So, how have things been with Flat Face,” Angel asked as they strolled through the entrance.
“You don’t have to hate him all the time,” the fox mused.
“With everything he lets Valentino get away with, I think I’m more than allowed to hate him all the time. I still don't see what’s worth being loyal to.”
“It’s an emotional bond, Angel. I’ve seen beyond the facade and knew him before he put it on. He’s seen me at my lowest and instead of exploiting my weak state, he nurtured me back to health and gave me a place at his side.”
“How are you so certain he’ll keep that position for you alone?”
She didn’t. That was what troubled her about Vox: he wasn’t guaranteed to remain the same person at every encounter. He wasn’t required to give someone special privileges; he chose to. Onyx was no different.
“If he knew the truth . . . ”
The fox grabbed his wrist and pulled him close to whisper to him. “You know why I can’t do that. The minute anyone in that building finds out, everything comes crashing down and I return to being what I was before the fight: an overlord’s unwilling plaything.”
He pouted. “What does that make me?”
“You willingly gave up your soul to him, knowing the risks. I never gave that red–headed, ear bleeding radio host my soul, yet he still made it feel like I belonged to him in the worst way possible.”
“But he didn’t start off that way. That’s what makes us the same.”
The two spiders leaned on each other as they walked through the mall.
Onyx always had fun trying clothes on with Angel. He was the only person who was honest about how she looked. To him, her body wasn’t oversized and unappealing, it was curvy and unique. That made her adoration for him grow even more. He always made her proud to comfortably walk around with the body she has.
“You know you deserve better than the two brain dead idiots fighting over you,” Angel said out of the blue. Onyx’s arms fell at her side as she stared at herself in the mirror.
“I know,” she responded softly. “But the man I deserve is in the clouds.” She smiled and turned to him. “But I have you, and that’s more than enough.”
Angel turned and smiled back. They threw an arm around each other and walked out the store to take a lunch break.
Rocierra on Chapter 1 Thu 17 Jul 2025 02:05AM UTC
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