Chapter Text
It really lost meaning to try and make friends with the Hotel guests for Charlie, because they all left eventually. The system really worked, they all got redeemed. Yay. The dream came true. Almost all her friends were in Heaven now, which she had wanted, right? Vaggi was sharing her time between the Hazbin Hotel and being in Heaven following up on the redeemed Hotel guests. And, well, there was Alastor, which was pretty strange actually.
Charlie was walking to her office in the Hotel. She stopped when she saw black letters scribbled on the wall:
“insanity”
“redemption”
“lonely”
“shine”
“vision”
“absent”
It was a pretty normal sight lately, but it needed to be addressed for it to not disturb the guests. She touched the wallpaper and made the fire spark from her fingers to write more words to the side: “fire”, “dance”, “silence”, “rise”, “dead”, “sleep”. The black letters, old and new, became pixelized, shattered into small squares and disappeared. The wallpaper was clean again.
In the office Charlie sat down into the chair and opened the notebook. It had a title inside: “Alastor”. The notebook contained a chaotic list of projects she knew about that Alastor had done since they had met. Somewhat like this: “removed Vox from the overlords group”. Then, in another ink: “two (crossed out) three times”. She remembered Alastor saying that Vox kept coming up with new ideas. Other points went through pages:
- Got a contract on Rosie’s soul.
- Brought Rosie to a mental breakdown.
- Sold Rosie’s contract (Charlie never learned what it had cost and who had been the buyer).
- Helped Rosie to put an assortment of spies into Heaven.
- Then convinced Sera that he had nothing to do with that, and it was all Rosie’s doing (Alastor said that he didn’t want other overlords’ laurels).
- Established radio broadcasting to Heaven, brought Sera to mental breakdown.
- Exchanged the conceptual possibility for Heaven’s citizens to turn off the radio for a favor from Sera.
- Tried to require Sera to return Husk back to him (didn’t work because turned out to be physically impossible).
- Tried to require Sera to get Vox redeemed (didn’t work because Vox didn’t give a damn about redemption and Heaved didn’t give a damn about Vox).
- Tried to require Sera to organize reception hours in Heaven for the Hell citizens (didn’t work because it wasn’t Sera’s area of responsibility).
- Tried to convince Emily to organize reception hours in Heaven for the Hell citizens, succeeded in convincing Emily that this was what she wanted, required a favor from her in return, also succeeded. Also brought Sera to mental breakdown again.
There were many more items in the list, but Charlie closed the notebook. It started as a hobby! Nothing too serious, just following Alastor’s situation. And then it went on for many years and maybe now it was something more. Charlie didn’t have to look inside the notebook to know that there weren’t any items that said something like “abandoned the Hazbin Hotel for more than a week”. What would she do if he decided to leave? Now that redemption had been working for a long time… The table under her hand began to smolder. She looked at the smoke curling around her and sighed.
Charlie owed Alastor three favors at the moment. Not ideal, but a good result for all these years working with him. She hadn’t been able to lower this number below three for a long time now, though.
***
The empty hallway smelled of water, but the carpets looked dry. Charlie heard the water move somewhere, not like a river, but like splashing of still, dark water. She closed her eyes. The splashing became more distinct, somewhere at the floor level. Charlie bent over to reach the water, eyes still closed, and submerged her hand into the cold lake. Probably it was a lake, too deep for a puddle. Then she straightened back up and opened her eyes. There were no sounds now and no extra smells.
Outside of the hotel doors some wannabe-overlord was attacking the lobby. Again. Something heavy flew past her and exploded near the reception desk. Charlie manifested the horns and the red eyes, looked out of the entrance door and growled:
“Last warning, lady!”
Several goons outside obviously knew about Charlie, because they immediately turned away and made their way back to the city streets. However, the insect-like woman continued to send projectiles. Charlie stopped one aimed at her head with a fireball. The attacker obviously didn’t get the memo. Charlie sent the second fireball right into the figure of the woman. Screaming started, and Charlie turned away:
“Reception, everybody ok there? Perfect, I am going out.”
Then she noticed one of the guests staring at her.
“Are you new?” she asked.
“Yeah,” the gull-beaked creature answered weakly.
“What is it?” Charlie asked.
“Why did you do this? I thought the hotel rules said no violence,” the sinner stuttered, obviously unsettled.
“No violence for everybody except me”, Charlie clarified. “I normally stop any violence happening on the premises. The motivation of not getting burnt alive works wonders.”
“But it was cruel, wasn’t it?”
“It was this or angelic steel,” Charlie shrugged. “I believe in second chances, after all.”
***
Rosie’s living room was impeccable, as usual. Charlie liked coming here. She had to be careful with what information she shared, yeah, but it was pretty much like this in any home she could visit in Hell.
“Have a finger, my dear, you look like you could use some sustenance," Rosie offered.
Charlie politely took the snack and bit it. It was already dead and not moving, anyway, and Rosie tended to answer in more details when Charlie tried the appetizers.
“Whatever brings you to Cannibal town today?” Rosie inquired.
“Please don’t get mad at me, but this is about Alastor”, Charlie said carefully.
“Don’t mention his name in this house!” Rosie hissed. “Last time he brought a body infected with plague here. Not everybody has recovered yet and I lost my fourth husband to the incident. Oh, well, the husband was boring, anyway, so it is not the main problem.”
Charlie made a mental note to add this info to her notebook on Alastor.
“I was hoping to learn about Alastor’s weaknesses,” Charlie said. “Specifically in the area of getting mind-controlled.”
“Isn’t that interesting,” Rosie lit up. “Well, you know the deal. I answer three of your questions, you answer three of mine.”
“Deal,” Charlie nodded and stretched out her hand for Rosie to shake.
“You first,” Rosie said.
Charlie thought a bit on the exact words of the first question.
“Is Alastor susceptible to mind control of emotional type?”
“Yes and no,” Rosie answered. “You really have to clarify.”
“Succubus mind control,” Charlie said. “When the succubus suggests what the victim should do and they do it. Does it work on Alastor?”
“I am genuinely not sure,” Rosie said. “I’ve never seen him talk with a known succubus before.”
“Does he have some sort of protection against emotional mind control at all?” Charlie asked.
“Well of course,” Rosie laughed. “You don’t become an overlord without some kind of shield like this, especially when your mind is your strong side.”
Charlie sipped a bit of tea and tried to wrap her mind around Rosie’s answers.
“My turn,” Rosie said. “Tell me about the first time you used your succubus powers on somebody.”
“Wait,” Charlie paused, “Why do you think I am the succubus?”
“Maybe I can read? Have a large library? Anyway, it is your turn to answer, and not mine. Tick-tock, my dear!”
“I made a guy kiss me,” Charlie answered quickly before the deal forced her to start talking, which would be a lot less controllable. “Then I understood what happened and felt disgusted and ashamed. Never offered anything like this to anybody first ever again.”
“What would happen, if you told me to kiss you now?” Rosie leaned forward to Charlie, showing a lot of teeth.
“Nothing, because I am not interested in you this way,” Charlie said.
The clock on the shelf was ticking, and Rosie waited a bit, but no further clarification came from Charlie.
“How do you know how your powers work?” Rosie finally asked.
“Mum made me test them on servants, when I told her. She said it was better to do something unpleasant there and then, and just revoke the orders when it was clear they worked, than feel disgusted later. And that sex should bring joy, so if I didn’t like forcing people, I should know how to avoid triggering the mind-control.”
On the way back to the Hotel Charlie thought a bit about things Rosie didn’t have enough questions to ask about, but probably could have guessed from reading about other succubi. Charlie could only order things that were emotionally connected to liking her. Kiss, have sex, protect her, maybe some other similar things.
The street felt a bit strange to Charlie, even though everything was seemingly normal. Some people shouting and shooting, normal stuff. When the shooters saw her, they quickly paused their activities and hid inside of the shop. Charlie understood then what felt off to her: there were no strange disappearing words on the walls or fog appearing from around the corner or whispers in her ear. The Hotel felt cosy with all these things.
***
Charlie walked to the second floor lounge to find Alastor. For a moment the reality shifted in a glitch: the pixels, the dark spots, the static noise. It was really nice to be back home.
“Melody, fog, staircase,” Charlie said, and she was again in the normal hall leading to the lounge. The carpet was drenched for some reason, water dropping on the stairs. Charlie had to tell the maids to do something about it later.
Alastor was standing in the lounge corner and watching her attentively. Charlie walked to stand nearby and looked outside the window. They were quiet for a few minutes.
“I want to tell you something,” Charlie said. “But I cannot for a good reason. Let’s check if you can guess it.”
“What an interesting suggestion,” Alastor replied. “I am intrigued.”
***
Charlie woke up from the whispers, radio-like sound, unintelligible at first, but as she continued listening, the words became clear:
“smoke”
“punishment”
“dream”
“possibility”
“melody”
“countless”
She answered in the same whisper, as usual: “knife”, “leaf”, “open”, “staircase”, “star”. The room fell silent. Charlie looked at the clock and decided it was time to get up and go downstairs to check if everything was going well.
“There is a dead deer on the table in the kitchen,” Vaggi said when she saw Charlie descending the main staircase. Vaggi was sitting in the armchair, visually unbothered. “I was hoping you can do something about it, as it doesn't look edible.”
“Sure,” Charlie agreed. “Everything else ok?”
“Yeah, after you set that mad case on fire yesterday everything is expected to be quiet for at least a few more days.”
There was indeed a dead deer in the kitchen. Some flies were crawling around its glassy eyes. Charlie opened a drawer and took out a fork and a knife, then cut out a small piece of skin and meat from near the deer’s shoulderblade. She closed her eyes, put the meat into her mouth and swallowed. Then she looked again and there was just an empty table before her.
***
The view of the city from the roof of the Hazbin Hotel was familiar and calming.
“You know”, said Alastor from behind Charle’s back, “You never stop to impress me.”
Charlie thought that a long time ago she would have jumped and got scared, but now it took a lot more than somebody’s sudden appearance to actually touch her emotionally. She made the fireball in her hand disappear back to nothingness and turned to face Alastor.
“What’s it about today?” Charlie asked.
“Nothing special,” Alastor said. “Just remembering all our time together in the Hazbin Hotel lately.”
“You know, I never understood why you even stayed here,” Charlie said. “I know Rosie sent you here at first, but then you never actually left, and I never asked, why.”
She sensed the smell of water, the splashing somewhere nearby, the dark cold water slowly moving. Maybe a lake. She never could see it, after all.
“You were such a fragile creature when we first met,” Alastor said, voice getting full of static. “So devoted to pacifism. It was entertaining to watch, for some time at least.”
“I knew I would break one day,” Charlie said. “Not from the very start probably, but then I got it. One cannot stay too kind and survive here.”
“I also knew you would break, my dear,” Alastor commented, looking into her eyes with an immovable stare.
“Yeah, you knew. That’s why you stuck around?” Charlie turned around from Alastor to look at the night city again.
“I honestly thought you would tell me to kill your enemies,” Alastor chuckled, maybe a bit too close to her ear. She didn’t look. “And I planned to do this for a bit, enjoy your fall from ideals and move on to something more interesting,” Alastor continued. He put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder and she could almost feel his breath on the back of her neck. Could he see that she was enjoying the touch? Probably.
“I am the one who cannot get redeemed at all, because I am alive and immortal,” Charlie said. “That’s why I am the one who will kill and scare for the sake of our guests.”
“I never wanted to get redeemed, and you know this,” Alastor said, voice a bit vibrating.
“Telling other people to kill for me is worse than doing the killing myself,” Charlie said. It had been a pretty straightforward decision for her back then. She had the ability to fight, a very flashy one at that, so it was her place to fight. When she had finally understood that, everything clicked into place on that day. It had never been easy, but it had been straightforward enough.
***
Next time she woke up (the clock showed something about an evening again), the whispers were louder than usual. And there were dry leaves from a tree she didn’t know the name of outside her bedroom door. She took an earring out of her earlobe, put it into the heap of leaves and went to the elevator, not looking back.
The whispers continued. She took the elevator to the ground floor. It moved a few meters and stopped. Charlie waited a bit. Nothing was happening. She tapped a short melody on the elevator’s wall. The sounds echoed inside the elevator, and it started moving.
In the Hotel lobby the wind was playing with more dry leaves. The receptionist did their best to ignore it. Charlie felt the wind pushing her in the back. The front door opened a bit, and the leaves disappeared somewhere outside. She followed them. The door slammed shut behind her.
There were water splashes, the invisible lake, and Charlie followed the sound. Also some scribbled words on the building wall, but it was too far for her to read everything properly. Something along the lines of “round” and “flow”, but she didn’t want to go closer to read the rest of the words. The wind started again and was pushing her forward. The fog was lying on the ground, slowly rising.
Then there was a bar, something pretty normal, the door was slightly open and creaking. Charlie went through the door and closed it carefully. The room was half-empty for a bar at this hour. Alastor was sitting on the bar stool and drinking something. The barman was looking scared, wiping the glasses.
Charlie sat down on the stool behind Alastor. The barman put a glass with some cocktail in front of her.
“My treat,” Alastor said cheerfully. “Good evening, my dear. It is time we talked finally about what matters.”
Charlie sipped the drink from her glass. Something sweet and citrusy.
“You can try,” she said.
The shadows darkened and moved to Charlie, almost hugging her and then flowing back down to the floor. There were words appearing on the wall behind the barman’s back. “Sinner”, “blood”, “chain” and then some more, she couldn’t make them out.
She let her powers manifest, and the drink in her glass caught fire. The napkin in the ashtray was starting to smolder. She covered the glass with her hand, and the flames from the glass were dancing between her fingers. The hem of her long skirt was now also on fire, burning slowly. The fabric was thick, after all.
Then she heard water splashing and saw the dark puddle appear and roll onto the hem of her skirt. The fire went out.
The barman was slowly backing away from Charlie and Alastor.
“Damn it, are they together now?” he muttered, moving for the back door. “I am not getting paid enough for this.”
And then he was gone, and the bar was finally empty.
“You are actually controlling the fire very well,” Alastor said to Charlie.
“It is better if people think I don’t,” Charlie shrugged. “Then they don’t try anything. Are you actually controlling your shadows, voices and dark water?”
“You like them,” Alastor put his hand on the counter, very close to Charlie’s hand. She could almost feel the warmth of his skin.
“I do,” she said, watching the shadows move, the words on the walls change and the fog starting to come inside from under the door.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now if you didn’t,” Alastor said. “Normally people just start screaming.”
Charlie sipped the burning drink. It was tingly.
“Are they afraid?” She asked.
“Are they afraid of your fireballs?” Alastor smiled.
“They are just a part of me,” Charlie said. “And the glitches and the dark water are a part of you. At some point I started to understand that not everybody thinks it is normal.”
“Not everybody,” Alastor agreed.
He got up and went around the bar counter to mix the next drink for Charlie. The liquid was orange and normal-looking, but the whispers and static grew louder in her ears. She closed her eyes, put the glass to her mouth and tasted blood. She sipped it again. It was nice.
“Song, skin, wheel,” Charlie whispered and looked at the glass. The liquid was orange, sparkling and not at all blood-like.
Alastor’s fingers brushed hers, he was sitting beside her again. He was looking intensely at her face. The shadow tentacle wrapped around Charlie’s arm. Alastor covered the burning napkin in the ashtray with his hand, and the fire disappeared. Then he took Charlie’s hand into his and bent down a bit to kiss it. His lips were hot and dry on her skin.
“Tell me,” Alastor said, looking into her eyes.”What do you want now?”
“No,” Charlie said.
“I know you are a succubus,” Alastor clarified.
“Then you shouldn’t expect me to answer,” Charlie tried to pull her hand back from his grip, but he didn’t let go.
“You want to say you have never tried this ability on overlords?” Alastor asked in a light voice.
“I didn’t like any overlords.”
“Before?” Alastor asked.
She stayed silent.
“You owe me a favor,” Alastor said.
“Please, don’t,” Charlie whispered.
“Tell me what you really wanted from me in the last five minutes,” Alastor said, evoking the compulsion to answer.
“For you not to make me say this!” Charlie tried to shut up after that, but didn’t manage it. “To try kissing you. I also wanted to try your blood, but it was already your blood in this glass, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” Alastor replied calmly. Was he a bit too calm? Hard to say with him.
“You fucked everything up just now,” Charlie muttered in a sad voice. Also she was a bit angry, maybe.
“Do I look enchanted?” Alastor asked her.
“People can resist for a few minutes,” Charlie sighed.
Alastor pointedly did not move for the next half a minute.
“How about a deal?” He said. “You owe me another favor, with the usual limitations, and I truthfully answer any question of your choosing.”
“Well, you are probably ok, if you can think of deals right now,” Charlie said.
“Don't insult my abilities, I would be able to think of deals on my deathbed,” Alastor laughed, and his voice and the static noise echoed in the empty rooms around them.
“I am not staying below three favors, am I?” Charlie asked, a bit resignedly.
“Definitely not if I have any say in this. Do you want an actual honest answer or not?” Alastor let go of her hand for a moment and traced his fingers along Charlie’s cheek.
“Three answers to three questions,” Charlie said quickly. “One is too easy to answer cryptically, everybody knows that.”
“Deal,” Alastor smiled.
Charlie grabbed his hand and asked, not waiting for the green sparkles to fade:
“Did my succubus powers work on you now?”
“No,” Alastor smiled. “You could have just asked me straight away if I liked you, you know.”
“It could have been interpreted as a suggestion on my part,” Charlie sighed. “Did you feel my powers working at all?”
“Yes,” Alastor nodded reluctantly. “I know when I have to protect myself against such abilities.”
“Have you ever been under the influence of my succubus powers?” Charlie asked to clarify.
“No,” Alastor smiled again. “So, are you satisfied and have you understood that you have underestimated me?”
“I am out of questions anyway,” she said, letting his hand go.
Alastor stood up, took his microphone and offered Charlie a hand to join him.
“Well then,” he said. “Can we not have a simple conversation?”
“I am not sure,” Charlie said. “Can we just walk for a bit right now?”
They left the bar. The fog was really thick outside, hiding the words on the walls and muffling the screams from somewhere nearby. There were sounds of splashing water, and Charlie knew she could touch it if she closed her eyes. She didn’t though. She looked at Alastor instead. Was his smile a bit uneasy, or was she imagining things?
The Hazbin Hotel was nearby, the sign shining in the misty air, a bit blurry. Quiet music was playing in the lobby as they entered. There was nobody around, normal for this time of night really.
“So,” Charlie said. “Do you like me or are you just playing me?”
“Why cannot we do both at the same time, my dear?” Alastor asked, tilting his head.
“I actually like being just normally not sure whether you are romantically interested or not. A luxury, really,” Charlie replied.
“Enjoy it, then,” Alastor said joyfully and kissed her hand again. “Good night, darling.”
He morphed into the shadows and slipped away from the Hotel lobby, letting Charlie to find her own way to her room.