HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, mentions of sexual language and activities, attempted rape, domestic violence and abuse, alcohol and drug use, etc.

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

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3rd Person POV

*Purrrrr....*

Ayden, in hellcat form, was curled up on her makeshift bed on the floor next to Angel's in his apartment with his pet pig, Fat Nuggets, sleeping slightly next to her before her ears perked up when the front door opened,

*Click.*

*Rre?* Fat Nuggets perked up from his little bed as well and walked over to Angel, who scooped him up and questioned softly with a bit of disbelief in his voice,

"Redemption... Silly huh Nuggs...?"

*Reee!* Fat Nuggets oinked happily and Angel chuckled softly as he cuddled with him on his bed before Ayden got up and stretched while yawning before shifting to demon cat form.

She was wearing one of the few oversized pink t-shirts Angel owned with some black short shorts underneath as pjs, her knee-length red-tipped hair was in a messy ponytail that swished around in its poofy, unkempt state as she sat on the end of his bed to ask sleepily while rubbing a paw to her eye,

"Where've ya been...?"

"Hey Ruby... Jus' workin'..."

Ayden frowned a bit at the faint scent of gunpowder and blood around his form while glimpsing the faint reddish pink marks along his jaw that looked like a residual imprint of a rough face grip before bringing her legs up to sit criss-cross while holding her ankles as she questioned with her tail swishing around behind her and head tilted slightly,

"What's this 'bout redemption?"

"Eh nothin' for ya ta worry about..."

"Ya su'e...?" Ayden asked as her face shifted to one of concern and her pierced ears and tail drooped down a bit.

"Other than we might be movin' soon? Yeah I'm sure..."

"Movin' whe'e?" She perked back up at that.

"Eh just some new crapola hotel where they won't charge us rent as long as we play nice."

"Sounds easy 'nuff." Ayden shrugged flippantly making Angel scoff and retort,

"Pft maybe for you."

"Hey!" Ayden jokingly scolded, "You fo'gettin' how many times I've bailed yer arse out when ya get in ove' yer head?"

"You savin' me? HA! You really are ~cuuute.~" Angel started using his four arms to tussle her hair, jokingly pinch her nose, and smoosh her face around as she complained,

"Noooo!" Batting at his hands with her paws in a weak attempt to push him away but he just kept going.

"Heh haah..." Angel chuckled one last time before releasing her face as he sighed, "Let's get some sleep, we can talk more about it in the morning..."

"Ok..." Ayden relented as she yawned again and somersaulted off the bed, onto the floor, and landed right on her bed again back in hellcat form just before Fat Nuggets was placed down onto his bed and the three of them settled down to sleep.

The Next Morning

*Zzzzz....* Angel was snoring a bit with Fat Nuggets curled up in his bed when-

*DONG!*

Causing Angel to bolt upright and his four fists raised shouting,

"Who's there?!"

"Jus' me." Ayden's voice sounded through the haze of Angel's waking mind as he questioned,

"Ruby...?" Blinking his eyes to clear his vision before asking her, "Uh what the fuck are ya doin'?"

"Packing."

Sure enough, Ayden was already dressed in her red tank top and buckled shorts while, behind her, all of Angel's... playthings were stuffed into a giant box labeled "Work Shit", Fat Nugget's bed, blankets, and food and water bowls had been packed into a bag along with Ayden's blankets, while she was packing up her and Angel's clothes and his makeup into her hand-me-down red backpack leaving the apartment minus the bed and some of the posters ready to move.

"Woah woah I said we were gonna talk about it first." Angel reminded her as he sat up on his bed.

"Right." Ayden nodded before adding, "Which usually means 'I've already made up my mind and we'e doin' this shite.'"

Just as he was about to protest, Ayden cut him off with,

"C'mooon you're already three months behind on rent and I'm gettin' ti'ed of the landlord threatenin' ta sell me ta the deli 'cross the street ta 'cove' costs' and 'helpin' ya with one problem'..."

After making an 'alright that's a good point' expression, Angel sighed exhaustively with a hand to his forehead as he begrudgingly agreed,

"Alright ya got me there." Before switching to a mildly annoyed tone as he saw the mannequin head for his wig on the floor, the source of the loud bang and snarked with a smirk, "Next time, keep it down otherwise that second thing isn't too far off."

"Uhh you'e welcome and hey." Ayden retorted back before she tossed the mannequin head at Angel but he caught it with two hands as he gloated,

"Ha! Ya missed!"

"Pft! Whateve'." Ayden scoffed as she hoisted her backpack onto her back before asking, "So whe'e 'xactly is this hotel?"

"Hmmm... no idea." Angel thought for a second before shrugging nonchalantly.

"What?!" Ayden yelled in disbelief before Angel explained.

"That Charlie chick didn't exactly give me an address."

Making Ayden slap a paw to her face and go over to the window to knock her head against it as Angel snarked,

"Sheesh, dramatic much?"

Making Ayden glare at him while flipping him off before her vision turned back to the window as something in the distance caught her eye and she questioned in an unsure tone,

"Uhhh was the place called the 'Happy Hotel?'"

"Yeah how'd ya know?"

Motioning with her head out the window, Angel looked out to see on the faaar outskirts of the Ring was a large building that looked like a mish-mash of a couple of structures and "Happy Hotel" in brand new neon lights.

"Hmm figures..." Angel noted in a snarky tone before Ayden announced excitedly,

"What're we waitin' for then? Let's go!"

Smiling a bit ruefully at her eagerness to get out of the shithole of an apartment, Angel grabbed his box of things with his lower arms and Fat Nuggets with his upper ones before quickly grabbing his show posters off the walls to place in the box and following Ayden out.

On their way down to the street, they ran into the landlord, who had the keys to the apartment thrown in his face before he was flipped off by both demons and Ayden added,

"See ya neve' Fuckwad!"

A quick Tommy gun to the face kept him from yelling back as Angel and Ayden walked out of the apartment, called a taxi, and made their way up to the Happy Hotel.

Short Time Skip

"Well this place is..." Ayden started to say as they stood in front of the hotel when Angel interjected,

"Trashy?"

"I was gonna say a bu'ner-downe' but that wo'ks too." She shrugged before they approached the front door and she knocked,

*TCH!* *TCH!* *TCH!*

A muffled excited voice from inside sounded from even where they stood and they exchanged a slightly disturbed look before the door was thrown open and they were greeted by a beaming Charlie as she exclaimed,

"Ohmygoshyouactuallycame!"

Bringing both of them into a tight hug before a moth-like Sinner, Vaggie, came out and she pulled her girlfriend back off the two of them as she reminded her,

"Babe, you know some people like their space."

"I'm ~sorryyyyyyy!~ I'm just so excited to have our first residents here." Turning back to the two of them as she greeted, "Angel I know we've already met but who's your adorable kitten friend here?"

A little taken aback by her overly enthusiastic greeting and question, Ayden's ears dropped back a bit in discomfort as she answered,

"Uh I'm Ayden."

"Are you a Sinner looking for redemption?" Charlie asked excitedly, only for her hope to die down with Ayden's blunt response,

"Nope, I'm a Hellbo'n jus' lookin' fer a place ta crash."

"Uh sorry we don't take freeloaders." Vaggie was quick to turn her down making Charlie exclaim,

"Vaggie!"

"Charlie, we're supposed to be working with Sinners to see if they can be redeemed. If we take in every stray we're not gonna be able to do that."

At that, Ayden bristled up, dropping her bag to hiss,

"Call me stray again, I da'e you..."

Her eyes glowed along with the freckles under them as her tone darkened with the threat making Vaggie react by pulling out an Angelic spear to ready when Charlie rushed to pull her back with a yelp,

"O-rrrrr she could help us out in exchange for a place to stay?"

The two stayed in a death glare match before Vaggie reluctantly put her spear at ease as she relented,

"I guess that could work..."

"Great!" Charlie gave her girlfriend a quick hug before going over to Ayden to ask, "So do you have any special skills that could help us out around here?"

"Uh fighting?"

"That's uhh.. anything else?" Charlie was at a loss for words so Ayden kept listing things off,

"Shooting?"

"Next."

"Pickpocketin'?"

"Ummmm no..."

"Eating, sleeping, fire tricks, spittin' up hai'balls-"

"Woahwoah wait! Say that last one again!" Charlie waved her hands to stop her and Ayden raised an eyebrow as she repeated,

"Uh spittin' up hai'balls?"

"No the-"

"I'm tellin' ya those things get gnarly as fuck! Haha!" Angel laughed interrupting Charlie before Ayden added jovially,

"Yeh! Remembe' the one whe'e the whole rat skeleton was still whole?!"

"No!" Charlie brought their attention back as she spoke, "The fire tricks thing."

"Oh.." Ayden's excitement faded a bit before it switched to a flippant attitude as she told them, "Yeh I mean I can do this."

Bringing a paw up she summoned a small fireball that she made bounce up and down like a ball before tossing it high up and catching it with her opposite paw before throwing it to the ground to make a smokescreen billow out.

Everyone minus Ayden coughed and tried to wave the smoke away before it dissipated but she was nowhere to be seen until they heard a whistle and looked up to see she had somehow managed to reappear on top of the awning under the sign for the hotel.

"That... was... INCREDIBLE!"

"R-Really?" Ayden asked, thrown off by the genuine praise before she cleared her throat and switched attitudes to say boastfully, "I mean pfsh 'course it was."

"You could help with giving this place some pizzazz! OOOH! Like weekly fireworks shows, performances,-"

As Charlie started going on, Ayden's ears tilted back in unease as she called down,

"Ok but uhh I should tell ya somethin', I-"

*RRRIP!*

"YAAH!"

The awning under her ripped, dropping her back down to the ground where she landed on all fours but her front paws ignited the dead grass in between the walkway stones causing two small fires to ignite.

"Woahwoahwoah!" Charlie yelped as she, Vaggie, and Angel jumped back to avoid the flames before Vaggie rushed inside while Ayden tried to stomp them out with her hind paws but she just stumbled back and more fires were lit underneath with every step she took until she fell back onto her backside.

Vaggie came back out with a bucket of water and splashed the whole thing over the fires, and Ayden unfortunately.

With the fires out, Ayden was left sopping wet before she went forward on all fours and shook herself off slightly spraying the others with protests and exclaims of disgust before finishing her thought from before,

"I kinda... can't fully control this powe'..."

"Yet!" Charlie practically bounced over to Ayden helping her off the ground as she devised, "We can help you learn to control this power, you use them to draw in crowds and help with publicity, and you get a place to stay. Win-win for all!"

"Whaddya think?" Ayden turned back to Angel and he shrugged minutely before responding,

"Better than sleepin' outside I guess."

"I'm in then, as long as my othe' job can be securi'y gua'd so I can get some action in once in a while too." Ayden tried to bargain but Vaggie argued,

"That's already one of my jobs."

"Theeen backup securi'y gua'd?"

"Fine..."

"'Ight then, deal." Ayden declared finally as she placed her paws on her hips and Charlie squealed with joy before twirling to stand back in front of the doors to announce,

"Great! ~Noooooow,~ I welcome you both to the Happy Hotel!"

"My arms are getting tired carryin' these so can we skip the tour til after?" Angel asked motioning to how he was still carrying the full box and Fat Nuggets, who managed to fall asleep on the ride over but the fires woke him back up and he started squirming around.

"Oh of course of course come on in!" Charlie waved for them to follow her with Vaggie close behind muttering something about "needing to recheck their fire suppression systems" before they walked over to the desk with "Concierge" on a light-up sign above as well as a Welcome banner and star-spotted balloons.

"OK let's see here..." Vaggie went behind the front desk and rummaged around a bit before pulling out two keys with vintage metal tags attached to them as she told Angel and Ayden, "You're in Room 113 Angel and Ayden will be a few doors down in 117."

"Sweet, let's go get settled in then." Angel took his key and headed for the stairs with Ayden right behind him as they headed for their rooms.

On their way there, once they made sure they were out of earshot of Charlie and Vaggie, Angel asked,

"Didja really hafta tell'em about your fire powers?"

"Should I have told them 'bout the other 'special skills' I got 'nstead?" Ayden snarked back before sighing through her nose to add, "Look, we keep the whole me bein' a hybrid and havin' this crazy crystal thing under wraps til I think we c'n trust'em."

"Fine jus' don't be expectin' me ta cover your ass too often."

"~Aww and risk me cutting off your secret supply of real Beelzejuice and not the wate'ed down shite they got up here?~" Ayden teased making Angel stop abruptly as he realized she had a point before recognizing with a proud smirk,

"I've taught you well.." Before it switched to a disappointed tone as he added, "and I hate myself for it..."

"Heh..." Ayden chuckled at her mini victory.

Once they arrived at their respective rooms, they each started putting their things away, occasionally having to give each other their things from the way Ayden had packed mostly unorganized and haphazardly.

With Ayden, she'd gotten a room with a twin-sized bed with some dusty blankets and pillows, a wardrobe for the scant few outfits she had, and a vanity desk for whatever knickknacks she wanted to put on there in the future.

Seeing how little of the already small room she took up, Ayden frowned when she realized this was the first space since leaving home she really had all to herself and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.

Reaching back into her backpack, she unzipped the secret inner pocket to pull out a Polaroid photo and put it in place on the vanity mirror, smiling at the happy memory before frowning when she remembered the painful aftermath.

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Turning her head back to the door, Ayden wondered who it could be and, after hiding the photo face down on the desk, just in case, went to open it to find Vaggie standing there who started to say,

"Charlie pointed out I might've been a little... confrontational to you before and I just wanted ta say-"

"'T's good, I fo'give you." Ayden cut her off, thinking she knew what she was going to say but Vaggie huffed a bit before correcting her,

"Uhh I was actually gonna say we might have a little ways to go to trust each other but you seem.. alright..."

"Yeh yer cool too." Ayden agreed before adding with some excitement in her voice, "'Specially with the spea', where'd ya even get that thing?"

"It's uh.. a long story." Vaggie tried to change the subject, "Anyway if there's anything you need, like toiletries or whatever, we've got some extra stuff lying around you could use."

"Ok.. thanks." Ayden told her, still a little off-put by thinking about what she needed or wanted before remembering, "Actually, d'ya have a hai'brush I could have?"

"Oh sure, follow me." Vaggie gestured for her to follow and Ayden closed her room door behind her as she followed Vaggie back downstairs to a closet where boxes and crates of stuff were stashed and Vaggie rummaged through a box while muttering,

"I could've sworn we had an extra one in her-aha!"

Vaggie pulled out an antique wooden brush with vines and flowers on the back and handle to give to Ayden who brushed a digit along the bristles to dislodge some of the dust before saying and asking,

"Cool thanks, got any sciss'rs?"

"Why?"

"Cause I wanna chop some'a my hai' off, this is gettin' too much..." Ayden pinched some of her scruffy hair to show how tangled it was and Vaggie cringed when she saw some wrappers and what looked like rodent bones in her hair as well.

"Well umm if you want I could.. I dunno.. help, I mean I style my own hair and sometimes help with Charlie's so I've got some experience."

Ayden looked over Vaggie's hair and shrugged while answering,

"Sure that'd be good, I like the swoop thing ya got goin' on."

Motioning to her bang that covered her left eye and Vaggie gave an unsure smile as she spoke,

"Ok then uh c'mon." Vaggie motioned for Ayden to follow as they went back upstairs to the bathroom.

Short Time Skip

"Well what uh what do you think?" Vaggie asked, still in an unsure tone as she stepped back to let Ayden go in front of the mirror to observe her work.

"I. Look. Fie'ce! I love it!" Ayden drew out before enthusing as she checked herself out; her knee-length hair had been decluttered, brushed out, and trimmed to be just a little past shoulder-length when down but was currently pulled into a spiky mini ponytail with two long strands acting as bangs on the sides of her face and a scruffy look to it that suited Ayden.

"Oh good.. glad I could help.."

Ayden looked back at her with a warming smile before Charlie poked her head in to ask,

"There you both are an-woah Ayden you look amazing!"

"Thanks I-" Ayden was cut off when Angel appeared behind Charlie and commented,

"Ruby there ya are an-Woah you look diff-"

"I know I look different! And would you all just come in at the same time next time!" Ayden snapped impatiently, making everyone lean back a bit.

"Ok ok yeesh!" Angel Dust stepped back with his arms up defensively before saying, "I was just coming to ask if there's anythin' ta eat in this place?"

"Oh yes! I'll go see what we've got." Charlie rushed off and Vaggie gave a ruefully loving smile at her girlfriend's enthusiasm before telling Angel and Ayden, deadpanning toward the end,

"I better go make sure she doesn't accidentally cook the expired stuff.. again..."

Vaggie walked off before Ayden turned back to her reflection in the mirror as her red highlight tips reappeared back into her hair and Angel commented teasingly,

"I always knew you were a hothead but that was a little excessive even for you."

"You know I don't like a lotta attention..." Ayden crossed her arms while looking away with her ears folding down a bit making Angel's smirk fall a bit before softening as he told her,

"Well ya can't be hidin' all the time y'know? It's no way ta live..."

"Yeh... I know..."

"Well anyway," Angel reached into his pocket as he told her, "I wanted ta give ya this for the old apartment but I think it could work here too."

Ayden's eyes widened in wonder at the rose-goldish keychain with a lozenge-shaped ruby-red crystal that led down to a chain with a ring on the end for a key.

"It's so pretty!" Ayden spoke in awe as she took the keychain and hurried to get her hotel key out to put it on there before clipping it to the waistband of her shorts and saying in a genuine tone, "Thanks...."

"No prob Fuzzball." Angel gently ruffled her hair and ear before she batted it off joking as he hooked a thumb down the hall to add, "Now let's go see if the grub's any good here."

"Yes pleeeeaaase!" Ayden enthused before they started walking down the hall to get back to the lobby as the start of their new journey at the Happy Hotel was underway...

AN- Already off to a pretty decently good start for a What If? AU if I do say so myself ^^

Some notes for this:

Takes place Pre-Pilot at the ending of the "Dirty Healings" prequel comicAyden is 14 almost 15 in this fanfic and goes by Ayden with others while Ruby is her nickname from Angel exclusivelyAyden doesn't wear her choker at all times for reasons that will be discovered in future chaptersI'm aiming for a "big brother little sister" type of relationship with Ayden and Angel, hence all the teasing and joking around with each other that will be mildly inspired by convos and jokes my own younger siblings and I have/had

So because Ayden is undergoing a different path with a different job around different people than I.M.P., you can probably expect some changes in her personality and growth, but nothing too radical or abrupt since her history before meeting and being taken in by Angel is still the same.

I'll also be working on an entirely different OC-centered Hazbin Hotel fanfic that'll hopefully be as interesting to read as this one (as a sorta sneak peek the title will be "The Hemlock Kid/Pup") and my Helluva Boss OC Insert one once the "Full Moon" episode is released in a few months

I'll be trying to update this every Sunday like with "Let's Kick Some Ash!" and am already up to almost finishing "Radio Killed the Video Star" so I should be able to keep up the consistent update schedule, but I'm still working part time 6 days a week along with classes so if that schedule breaks that's why...

Welp, until the next one, Bye!