HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words and mentions of sexual language and activities, attempted rape, domestic violence and abuse, and suicidal thoughts

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

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3rd Person POV

It was the next morning following Charlie and Vaggie's disastrous meeting with Heaven and the rest of the Hazbin Crew's ruined night out.

Angel was barely waking up from having spent the night with Ayden, still asleep in his arms purring lightly, and was just sitting still to try not to disturb her when a soft knock sounded on the door,

*Tch...* *Tch...*

Before the door creaked open to allow Vaggie to peek in and whisper,

"Ayden, you awake?"

Before seeing Angel there with a finger to his mouth in a shushing signal but it was too late as Ayden sluggishly blinked her eyes open and yawned before answering while rubbing an eye with her paw,

"Yeh...?"

"Everyone's meeting downstairs so I can explain what happened... just come down when you're both ready..."

"Got it." Angel responded plainly before Vaggie nodded and closed the door behind her so he could sit up better and ask Ayden, "Sleep alright...?"

"Yeh..." Ayden answered, still a little downcast, before adding, "Di'n't have a nightma'e fer once..."

"You've been havin' nightmares?" Angel was a little surprised to hear that so he asked further, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause they'e stupid... an' they jus' keep comin' back so of'en they a'e'n't e'n that sca'y anymo'e once I wake up..." Ayden spoke blankly while Angel started thinking back to the last couple of months as he noted,

"So all those sleepy mornings... the sweating... the jumpiness... wantin' ta fight every other day... those've all been because of nightmares...?"

"See? It sounds ev'n mo'e stupid when it's said out loud..." Ayden scoffed, pulling away but Angel put a hand on her shoulder to stop her before gently turning her face to look at him as he told her,

"Hey...! It's not 'stupid...' You can talk to me about'em..."

"It's nothin' much..." Ayden didn't look him in the eyes as she listed off while bunching her blanket in her paw, "Jus'... bein' back wi'h my mum... back wi'h Hannah an' the othe's... losin' you and ev'ryone he'e..."

The last one was spoken so softly Angel almost missed it and was about to speak again when Ayden just shook her head and jumped off her bed with that same cheeky smile he sometimes wore when he didn't want to show how he was really feeling, something he was cursing himself for possibly unintentionally teaching her, as she told him while hooking a thumb to her door,

"C'mon enuff o' the mushy stuff, let's go see how bad the Bosses screwed thin's up wi'h Heaven this time."

Angel sighed before dropping the discussion, for now, and following Ayden out of her room as she commented,

"I'm willin' ta bet big time."

Angel played along and shrugged while noting,

"Eh how much worse can things get?"

Short Time Skip

"Yeah pretty bad..." Angel muttered once Vaggie had finished explaining what had gone down up in Heaven; some kinda trial, angels watching them all at the club, other angels didn't even know the Exterminations were a thing, Vaggie was, or is, an angel, and the Exterminations were continuing, with Hotel being their first target when it came in a month... bad shit all around...

"Eh eh!" Ayden held a paw up in her "fork it over" motion from where she sat on the couch armrest next to Angel and close to the chair Alastor sat in.

"How do I keep losin' these bets with ya?" Angel muttered as he handed her a few 50 bills and she smugly smiled at him while pocketing them before Niffty asked Vaggie from where she was perched on top of the TV close to her,

"So, like where are your wings?"

"Niffty, I don't have-" Vaggie was about to respond when Angel cut her off with,

"Did you ever think maybe she's sensitive about her lack of wings, just like her lack of tits?"

Pushing up his chest floof at the last bit, Niffty asked as she tugged at Vaggie's shirt,

"Yeah. Where are your tits?"

Making her sigh in forced patience as she took Niffty's hand off of her before Ayden piped in,

"Fer the reco'd, I tot'lly saw that comin'."

"No you didn't..." Angel deadpanned with a dubious eyebrow raise.

"Yeh I did!" Ayden argued as she started listing off on her digits, "That awesome spea', how she neve' wanted ta talk about how she got he'e, the a'my commandin' talk thing, and c'mon the big ass X on the eye was a pre'y big hint ev'n if it's on the wrong one. So yeh..." Ayden looked a little regretful as she finished with, "To'ally called it..."

"Any other questions?" Vaggie tried to change the subject after Niffty tried grabbing at her shirt again and Husk spoke up from his seat close to Pentious,

"I got one; How come every time Charlie talks to Heaven, we get in deeper and deeper shit?"

"It's not her fault. Angels are just-" Vaggie started to protest when Angel and Ayden cut in,

"Liars?"

"Pretende's?"

"-difficult. But Charlie's trying her best."

"Yeah, well, her best is turning out real well so far." Husk rolled his eyes as he stood up to walk away while downing his morning booze before Angel asked while, next to him, KeeKee had settled on Pentious's lap and he was petting her with his eyes wide in awe, and Ayden took a picture of the scene,

"And where is Miss Fearless Leader anyway? Isn't it about time for another 'doomed-to-fail' plan?"

"One involvin' a whoooole lotta singin' an' dancin'?" Ayden added with a ruefully joking smile.

"She's upstairs... coming up with something, I'm sure.. in our room... alone..." Vaggie spoke sadly while looking upwards towards the said room.

From the corner of Ayden's eye, she saw Alastor dissipate into his shadow and disappear and she narrowed her eyes, about to follow him, when Vaggie drew her attention back when she added,

"And the Hotel's not the only thing the Exorcists are gonna be targeting this time..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Husk questioned suspiciously and Vaggie looked right at Ayden as she answered,

"They're gonna be hunting for Ayden."

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

"Why me?!"

Angel, Husk, and Ayden all exclaimed in unison before Vaggie answered,

"Because they know you're a cambion."

Husk and Angel exchanged a worried look while Pentious was really the only one surprised by this information and Ayden was suddenly grateful Alastor wasn't in the room as she panicked,

"How?!"

"You said it at the bar?" Vaggie spoke as if the answer wasn't already obvious.

"I was blotto! I coulda jus' been spewin' random ass shite!"

"There was also an Exorcist at the trial who said she recognized you."

"Ugh!" Ayden grunted in annoyance with her head leaned back as she complained, "Tell me it wasn't that Karen bitch..."

"Keren, but yeah..." Vaggie corrected before saying exasperatedly, "It was her..."

"Greeeaaaat....!" Ayden huffed sarcastically while crossing her arms and slumping back onto the couch but her tail betrayed how she was really feeling by wrapping around her leg with the end flicking in agitation before Angel asked, some more of his Brooklyn accent coming through with his barely-hidden panic,

"Why's her bein' a hybrid such a big thing they're gonna be gunnin' for her?"

"Supposedly, throughout history, cambions were created with powers that could take out mortals, demons, even angels." Vaggie explained while motioning to Ayden with a hand as she added, "And apparently hellcats were the most... volatile... of them all so..." Vaggie had to take a breath before she revealed the next part, "They had them all hunted down and executed across the three realms a couple of centuries ago... they thought they'd killed them all with only rumors of other sightings but nothing confirmed until...-"

"-'til they saw me..." Ayden butted in blankly as she stared ahead at nothing in particular and Vaggie winced as she confirmed,

"Yeah..."

"So what're we gonna do?" Ayden jumped off the couch to walk up to Vaggie with Angel following as he questioned loudly and incredulously,

"The fuck ya mean 'we?!'"

"You just found out all of Heaven is hell-bent on making sure they finish their genocidal job and you wanna stick around?" Husk butted in as he walked up to the group with Pentious following behind as he spoke while cowering slightly,

"It doesss ssseem like a rather foolhardy choice in tempting fate..."

Ayden was making an "are you all being fucking serious right now?!" face, about to argue back when-

*FWOOOOSH!*

"HRR-RRR–RRR!"

Out of nowhere, she had a full-on body shudder with all her fur standing on end right as bright glowing neon green cracks spread out from the ceiling where the chandelier used to hang and continued growing, branching out and down to the walls with strange symbols appearing in between the cracks.

"The fuck?!" Ayden exclaimed as she grabbed onto her tail to smoothen it back down before Vaggie cried out in worry,

"No. No!"

Before she took off running up the stairs in the direction of her and Charlie's room, where Alastor must've gone to when he disappeared as Ayden soon deduced as she muttered to herself,

"Please tell me she di'n't..."

"If she did..." Husk started to say, stopping to take a swig from his booze before bluntly stating, "Then we're all screwed sooner or later..."

Ayden gave him an unamused glare before snarking,

"Wow I neve' woulda guessed..."

"And why you never should've made a 'bet' with him to begin with..." He retorted gruffly but also with a hint of concern before he went to sit on the couch just as Charlie and Alastor descended the stairs, walking past everyone toward the front door.

"Wha's goin' on?" Ayden tried to stop the two of them but they just kept walking past her until she called out to Charlie,

"Boss...?"

But she only stopped for a quick second to give her a look akin to remorse mixed in with betrayal before continuing to walk out of the hotel with Alastor by her side.

A twisting feeling of guilt seemed to knot in Ayden's chest when she saw that look Charlie gave her before she heard Angel asking Vaggie as she also descended the stairs a few minutes later,

"So-ho, uh... Alastor and Charlie just left like they were runnin' away from their responsibilities. Should we be alarmed?"

"No." Vaggie spoke determinedly before telling them all, "We have a plan, but it involves protecting ourselves against the angels."

"Wh-are you fuckin' high?!" Husk demanded in disbelief while pointing a finger to his head before Vaggie protested,

"They can be killed-"

"Yeah!" Frank, one of Pentious's Egg Boiz, stopped chasing after KeeKee with his brothers to tell Vaggie, "That knife lady, Camaro Carfight, killed one."

"Wait, you knew about this?" Vaggie kneeled in front of Frank to ask him and he replied while looking at Pentious,

"Uh, yeah. I told Boss about it months ago..."

Making her turn to him with a frustrated look on her face as she demanded,

"He what?!"

"What?" Pentious spoke defensively as he tried to reason, "They say insane shit all the time! How was I supposed to know this one was true?"

Right before another Egg Boi piped up randomly,

"Bank accounts are a scam created by the shadow government!"

"SEE?!" Pentious threw his arms in the Egg Boi's direction to make his point.

"I mean I'd believe that." Ayden shrugged before Vaggie sighed to bring them back to the matter at hand as she told everyone in the lobby,

"Haah...! What's important now is that we're going to have a fight on our hands. Look, this hotel is about to become the most dangerous place in hell, and we-.... I can't guarantee your safety anymore. I still believe in Charlie's dream.. I know this place can work.. But none of you signed up for this..."

Before she headed for the door, stopping at the doorway to leave them all with,

"I'm gonna go learn how we can fight back, and when I come home.... Well I'll understand if none of you are here..."

Fully leaving with everyone looking worried as Pentious muttered,

"Well... This is awkward..."

And Niffty waving,

"'Kay!"

Just before the front door closed, leaving them to converse among themselves,

"Sooooo....?" Angel drew out awkwardly.

"'So' what?" Ayden spoke up as she argued fervently, "This isn't really up fer debate is it?"

Moving to stand in front of them all as she declared,

"We hafta stay!"

"Why?" Husk questioned and Ayden started to argue back,

"Whaddya mean 'why?' Vaggie jus' said-"

"I mean why do you want to stay?" Husk cut her off to emphasize and Ayden hesitated to answer,

"Well.. I promised Lucifer that I'd protect this place an-"

"Bullshit. I know you take promises seriously but you don't get like this unless you actually believe in something, which hardly ever happens. So out with it!" Husk started to raise his voice with each question he directed to Ayden,

"Why do you want to stay? Why are you willing to risk your life knowing that you might be the very last of your kind because of what those angels did? Why do you really want to fight?"

Ayden had winced with each jabbing question before she fully shut her eyes to shout,

"Because I'm ti'ed of runnin' away and losin' things and people when I do!"

She opened her eyes back up to reveal her broken yet steadily burning determined gaze as she let out,

"My whole life I've been runnin' from everyone who's eve' pushed me around..." She looked back up with ferocity in her gaze, "So this time... I'm staying and fighting to protect my home..." Before looking at the others when she added, "and my friends and family..."

There was a moment of silence as Pentious teared up in happiness at potentially being called Ayden's friend, Niffty grinned up at her admiringly, and Angel gave her a soft smile of encouragement before Husk's face broke out in a proud grin as he spoke in a matching tone,

"...Now that's a cause I can get behind..."

Ayden looked a little surprised at the change before he turned back to the others to say,

"You heard her. Let's get to work."

"I'll fetch supplies for fortifications." Pentious announced before turning to raise his arm to point to the distance as he declared, "Egg Boiz, away!"

They all left to do their task before Angel told Niffty,

"Let's go see what kinda stuff we could use for barricades."

"~There's barbed wire in the basement!~" Niffty giggled out maniacally and Angel smirked as he told her,

"Let's go see how much."

Before the two of them ran off leaving Ayden and Husk still in the lobby as she spoke questioningly,

"Thanks?"

"Don't mention it." Husk told her before his smile twitched downward as he asked seriously, "When exactly did you have a close encounter with an Exorcist?"

Ayden side shrugged as she answered with a jokingly rueful smile when she snarked,

"Been down he'e fer three yea's and wi'h my 'sunny pe'sonali'y' ya think I woul'n't make an Angelic enemy o' two?"

"Yeah I can see that now." Husk returned the joking smirk before it fell again as Ayden recalled,

"Fi'st time it happened, we-I had no idea what was goin' on... I was out in the street when that po'tal opened... Di'n't even know those flying she-beasts we'e angels when they sta'ted killing.. ev'ryone before they ev'n hit the ground... One of'em spent the whole time chasin' me and I only ba'ely escaped he' that fi'st time..."

Ayden had bunched a bit of her tank top hem in her fist by her side and Husk noticed but, just as he was about to tell her to stop if she wanted, she kept going,

"The next yea'... when I was wi'h Hannah... I had fought back one day and she decided ta 'punish' me by tossin' me outside while the Exte'mination was happenin' and... she saw me again and chased afte' me again... she failed but.. she got real close ta killin' me that time..."

Ayden flicked her tail up to show the white scars on the end and along the bend before finishing,

"This last one I had this place ta hide in so I'm willing ta bet Karen was and is gonna be extra pissed when they all come he'e..." Ayden crossed her arms as she muttered bitterly. "quella fastidiosa stronza implacabile......" (the annoying relentless bitch...)

"I'll bet she is..." Husk agreed before Ayden did a double take at that before asking,

"Wait you unde'stood that?"

And Husk's smirk returned as he mildly bragged,

"Kid, I speak Italian, Russian, German, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese."

"Woah... Damn! Think ya teach me some o' those othe' ones?"

But just before Husk could answer, Angel called from where he and Niffty were standing on the mezzanine

"Aye! We gettin' this place ready for an attack or what?"

"We're co-"

"We're on it!" Ayden cut Husk's response off and gave him a knowing look that made him realize what he almost said to who and muttered,

"Thanks..."

Ayden nodded discreetly before calling up to Angel,

"Find that ba'bed wi'e?"

"And a whole buncha other stuff we can use."

Right as Pentious showed up with some of the Egg Boiz carrying some tools as he reported,

"I would sssuggest barricades on all windows but the only available planks we discovered are far too large."

"I coul' cut'em down ta size." Ayden offered as she unsheathed her claws.

"Perfect!" Pentious directed, "They're stacked in the garden close to your obstacular course."

Ayden followed him out, not noticing how Angel walked up to Husk to talk with him, and found the planks of wood the Egg Boiz had stacked up outside.

"How big do they need ta be?" Ayden asked as she stood by the pile to gauge how to go about cutting them.

"Egg Boiz!" Pentious called and three of them rushed to stand in front of him before he asked them, "How wide were the windows measured?"

"The three of us!" One of them crowed and the other two nodded in agreement.

"Soo... right 'bout...?" Ayden walked up to the stack and waited as the Egg Boiz clambered over each other to climb on top of the stack and stand shoulder to shoulder to show the size needed and she dragged a digit across the top of the plank to make a burnt line mark of measurement, "He'e?"

"Mmhmm!" An Egg Boi nodded before his brothers each rambled over each other,

"Yep!"

"Are you gonna use your claws?!"

"No she should use her cool fire powers!"

"Well how 'bout both?" Ayden challenged with a paw on her jutted-out hip and the Egg Boiz cheered before she shooed them, "Might wanna move aside though."

And they jumped off the stack to stand back with Pentious and they watched in awe as Ayden raised her left paw to the air with her claws unsheathed and a few sparks popping around them,

*BZRT!* *BZRT!*

"Haaah...!"

Taking a deep breath before summoning a small fireball above her digit tips and swiftly bringing it down in an arc of light that sliced cleanly through the measurement mark and all the way through the planks leaving only smoldering embers at the edges of the precise cut.

"Phew!" Ayden wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead as she turned back to Pentious to ask, "This good?"

"Absolutely!" Pentious slithered up to the stack with a bucket in hand to drench the embers out before telling her sheepishly, "Now we just need the other stacks done as well..."

Hooking a thumb behind him to reveal three other stacks of wood planks where his Egg Boiz had already scribbled lines the measurement of three of them for her to cut.

"Ok then..." Ayden's ears drooped a bit at the thought of doing that move again three more times but sighed and walked up to the next stack to ready herself before executing the move again.

"Phew..." She sighed again and wiped more sweat off her face when Pentious asked worriedly as he put out the embers again,

"Do these powers.. drain you?"

"So'ta...?" Ayden shrugged as she walked over to the next stack before joking slightly, "Guess I'm not quite the 'all powe'ful cambion' ev'yone thinks I am yet."

"I'm ssstill not quite sssure I fully understand how you are what you are?" Pentious admitted as Ayden readied again and she started to draw out jokingly,

"Well Pen when a daddy hellcat and mommy human love each othe' ~veeee'y much...~"

"I underssstand that aspect..." Pentious deadpanned unamused as Ayden cut through the next stack before questioning, "What I mean is; does that mean you're actually human and thisss form is just a disguise? Or iss it the other way around?"

That made Ayden really think... was she just always wearing a disguise...? Or did this form become her true form after that day...?

"I'm not really su'e..." She admitted as she moved onto the next stack and sliced through it, having to bend over with her paws on her knees as the exhaustion was starting to catch up with her from her multiple-times-within-a-few-minutes power usage even as the last stack stood waiting.

"I'd like ta think I'm still pa'tially human at least, I mean I was human til I tu'ned thi'teen and.. accidentallykilledmybestfriend... but..." Ayden rushed through that part of her sentence, even though Pentious still caught onto it but didn't say anything as she spoke forlornly while hesitating to ready the position for cutting, "Can't deny a big pa't o' me is this.. monste'..."

"But surely that's not all of what you are, is it?" He protested a bit worriedly.

"Used ta think so... thought maybe I dese'ved all the pain cause o' what I am and what I did... but then..." Ayden smiled fondly as she remembered and recounted...

...

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...

"We got'er Nuggsie..." Angel Dust picked up the small, beaten, and scratched-up hellkitten that Fat Nuggets had led him to during one of their walks through the city.

After bringing her back to his apartment, he cleaned her up of all the grime and blood stuck in her fur with a wet wipe and bandaged up all her scratch and swelling injuries before leaving her to rest on the cushioned seat by his vanity mirror.

"Ree?" Fat Nuggets squealed while tilting his head in a questioning manner as he reared up on his hind legs to look at the hellkitten.

"C'mon Nuggs, give'er some spa-"

No sooner than he said that, the hellkitten's eyes snapped open before bolting up with a yowl but she slipped off the bench from placing too much pressure on one of her hurt front paws,

*MREOW!*

No sooner than she landed on the ground below, she shifted to her demon cat form while holding onto her bandaged hurt wrist with the paw that had a thick chain trailing from a metal shackle, causing Angel to yell at the same time she shouted painfully,

"THE FUCK?!"

"FUCK ME DEAD!"

"Ain't into that kinda shit small fry!" Angel snapped as he readied his extra arms with a gun to come out on a dime if this kid made any moves.

"Yeh right! Tell that to all the rootin' stuff ya got in here ya perv!" She retorted back using her tail to pick up some fuzzy handcuffs from the ground near her before throwing them at him.

"Aye! I'm a lot of things but a tyke predator ain't one'a them." Angel pointed at her accusingly, making her try to crawl backward only to stop when she aggravated her hurt wrist, making her wince with teary eyes as the bandages detached and the ends fluttered loosely in contrast to the heavy chains on her other wrist.

After harshly sighing through his mouth to calm down, Angel told her,

"Look kid, you're hurt so take it easy ok?"

He slowly kneeled down in front of her holding two of his hands out; one right one reaching into the vanity to grab a roll of tape and a left one held out non-threateningly.

Looking at him still with a hint of mistrust in her eyes, she held her, now loosely, bandaged wrist out so he could rewrap it and use a piece of tape to fasten it better.

When he was done, she took her hand back and moved to hug her knees to her chest with her arms on top, chain clinking as she moved the arm it was attached to, and her face partially hidden in her arms, making no other moves.

"What happened to ya?" Angel dared to ask carefully and she looked down with her ears drooping and her tail curling around her legs with her knees turning inwards not fully blocking the sight of blood seeping through the front of her ripped orange shirt and equally ruined navy blue shorts where he remembered seeing some scratches on the hellkitten's body, the next thing out of her mouth only confirming his suspicions,

"I gotta get back.. Hannah'll see I'm gone soon..."

"Who's Hannah?"

"She-e..." Her voice cracked a bit before she sniffed and told him, "She.. took care of me.. wi'h the o'hers..."

Angel took note of the way her tail tightened around her legs and how her ears were practically flat against her head, nearly buried under her ratty, super long, and red-tipped hair as she talked about this "Hannah" and her friends?, all of them being signs they weren't particularly good people.

Fat Nuggets must've seen it too from the way he walked out from where he'd been hiding behind Angel and trotted over to nudge his snout under her uninjured hand surprising her from the way she flinched a bit before uncurling a bit to let him onto her lap so she could pet him and smiled a tiny bit when he licked her hand.

"You can stay here.. ain't no way I'm letting ya go back to someplace where they musta treated ya like crap if ya got scared of a sweet little piggy like Nuggsie here."

Angel got closer so he could pat Fat Nuggets's head making him squeal happily and she smiled a bit, fully uncurling so the both of them could play with Fat Nuggets between them.

"So ya got a name?"

She looked down in uncertainty as she shrugged minutely, telling him either she didn't have one or she didn't like hers,

He thought for a second before suggesting,

"How 'bout we call ya... Ruby?"

She thought for a second before agreeing,

"You c'n call me that.. Who'e you?"

Angel's knee-jerk reaction was to respond with an affronted "who am I?" before he reconsidered and answered simply with a friendly smile,

"Name's Angel Dust."

Extending his two right hands out in a handshake, Ayden looked at them blankly, which Angel took as she didn't know which one to shake so he jokingly scoffed,

"Tch!"

Before both hands firmly grabbed her paw to shake, his smile switching to a worried frown when he saw how she had flinched and her head drew downwards like she was expecting to be hit when he grabbed her.

"Hey..." Angel loosened his grip and kept one hand on hers while the other went to her shoulder as he assured her, "It's OK... I won't hurt you..."

She looked up with slightly watery eyes as Angel told her,

"You're safe here... I promise..."

And that seemed to be exactly when she wanted, or maybe even needed, to hear since the tension seemed to leave her body as soon as he said that and she let herself smile a tiny bit...

...

...

...

Back in the present, Ayden was sitting on the stack of cut planks with a paw on Frank's head as he sat right by her side while Pentious and the other Egg Boiz still stood in front of her as he listened to her story and how she finished with,

"Angel was the fi'st one ta really help me down he'e... he di'n't see me as jus' a monste'.. he saw me as a kid who needed some help..."

"And that's why you're incredibly protective of him and vicce verssa..."

"I'm protective of all my friends," Ayden lifted a shoulder up in a nonchalant shrug as she added while patting Frank's head, "Even you guys."

"~Reeeeaaally?~" Pentious questioned with joyfully teary eyes, having still had doubts about being considered her friend, and his Egg Boiz did the same before Ayden told him with an appreciative smile,

"Eh we mighta had ou' diff'rences but you'e 'ight in my book Pen."

"Ahhh thank you!" Pentious grabbed Ayden in a hug that made her meow-squeak in surprise as she was whirled around joyfully before stopping so the Egg Boiz could climb up and hug her too with little happy noises.

"OK this is happenin'..." Ayden commented with slight weirded-out disbelief as Pentious spoke joyfully again,

"Charlie said that hugs are a great way to express one's gratitude for others..."

"Well I'm feelin' 'nuff gratitude so can ya put me down now please...?"

Pentious promptly put her down and she stumbled on her feet with a paw to her forehead as she muttered tiredly,

"I'm gonna go grab somethin' ta eat real quick, you all good out he'e?"

"We'll bring these inside and start barricading the windows but they may need extra reinforcements if you are still able to use your powers." Pentious started to think before directing his Egg Boiz, "Let's get these inside and get to work!"

His minions gathered to lift the stacks while Pentious supervised them and Ayden smiled a bit before heading inside and making a beeline for the kitchen.

Once she chugged down two glasses of tap water, she grabbed a stick of her favorite snack, hellfish jerky, and headed back out to help with moving the stacks but was surprised to see they were all gone with no sight of Pentious or any of the Egg Boiz,

"Damn they'e fast..." Ayden muttered in awe and was about to turn around and return inside to see what else she could help with when she saw Angel walking out toward her.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak after reaching her, Ayden cut him off, thinking she knew what he was there for from the way she told him,

"Angel, if ya came ta try an' talk me outta this I've 'ready had two hea't ta hea'ts and I'm 'motionally and physically exhausted right now..."

"Maybe I could win an argument with you this time then..." Angel snarked lightly with a rueful smile.

"Doubt it but go ahead." Ayden retorted back, shoving the rest of her jerky stick into her mouth as they walked over to the obstacle course so she could lean against the climbing wall with her arms crossed before she bumped her eyebrows up in a "go ahead" motion as Angel started saying,

"I wanted to tell you that you don't need to do this if you just feel like you need to prove yourself to us..."

Ayden was about to argue back when Angel held up a hand so he could continue,

"But.. after talkin' with Husk, he made me realize that I need ta trust you a little more when it comes to this kinda stuff... lettin' ya make your own choices and encouraging you to 'grow as a self-motivated but still well supported young lady.'"

"Husk said all that?" Ayden raised a brow in slight disbelief from the way Angel changed his tone towards the end to mimic Husk's and he agreed animatedly,

"I know right?!"

"Fer someone who says he 'lost the ability ta love' he su'e knows a thin' o' two 'bout it."

The two of them chuckled some more before they both trailed off and Angel expressed,

"But he's right... I want you to know that whatever you do, I'm always gonna have your back..."

He smiled proudly at Ayden before he started singing,

(Song is "Make It Out Alive" by Malachiii if you wanna listen while reading this part even if some parts got cut out and the lyrics get changed a little)

♫ And no matter where we are tonight

You know I'll be by your side

Turn the darkness into light

And we'll make it out alive ♫

Ayden grinned back before joining in the song,

♫ When the flames are gettin' high

We'll be walkin' through the fi'e

As long as we keep burnin' bright

And we'll make it out alive ♫

She jumped up on top of the climbing wall and danced through fighting moves as she rapped, some streaks of fiery light following her paws as they moved,

♫ It's a war outside, fightin' angels (Yuh)

They be scheming, plottin' on me for no reason

Thought I told you that we ballin' today, ayy

Going up, we ain't fallin' today, yah... ♫

Angel was back on the ground twirling around the maypole as he sang,

♫ Are you down for the ride? Let me knooow

Hold on tight and I won't let you gooo

You know who to call when there's trouble

And you know I'll be there for you every tiiime ♫

Before they both of them stood "back to back" as they chorused,

♫ And no matter where we are tonight

You know I'll be by your side

Turn the darkness into light

And we'll make it out alive

When the flames are gettin' high

We'll be walkin' through the fire

As long as we keep burnin' bright

And we'll make it out alive ♫

Ayden rapidly cartwheeled from the top of the climbing wall to the balancing beam before going into front flips and jumping up and reaching for the sky at the very peak of the last jump while singing,

♫ Make it out, make it out

We're gonna make it out aliiive

Make it out, make it out

We're gonna make it out alive ♫

She landed and stood at the very top of the maypole, where Angel was looking up at her as she reached with a paw for the stars in the sky while singing in a longing tone,

♫ I've been runnin' all my life

But I don't wanna be all alone, all on my own... ♫

Angel gave a look of determination as he took a few steps away from the pole before singing up to her while reaching out with all four arms in a hug-ready stance,

♫ Hold onto me, til you're ready ta let goooo

You're about to take it to another leveeeel

Take off into the skyyyyy ♫

Ayden smiled before dipping backward, sending a small fireball from her paw with a flick and spinning down upside down on the pole like she'd seen Angel do for fun with Cherri-

♫ (And we'll make it out alive) ♫

*PSH!*

Just as the fireball exploded into a bright cloud of glittery fire, Ayden leaped off the pole and landed right in Angel's arms and they twirled around with Ayden flying up and out as Angel swung her around with all his hands holding her out while chorusing for the last time with the lights highlighting their bright smiles and admiring eyes,

♫ And no matter where we are tonight

You know I'll be by your side

Turn the darkness into light

And we'll make it out alive

When the flames are gettin' high

We'll be walkin' through the fire

As long as we keep burnin' bright

And we'll make it out alive... ♫

As the last notes of the song faded, Ayden and Angel stopped spinning around but they stayed in their embrace for a minute longer with their foreheads touching.

"I'll always be there when ya need me Fuzzball..." Angel spoke softly and Ayden returned the sentiment with,

"I know ya will.. 't's what gives me strength fra..."

Hearing the shortened version of 'fratellone' being directed toward him again, Angel couldn't help how his eyes misted over and he closed his eyes while smiling as he hugged his 'sorellina' closer, still thinking about Molly but also grateful he now had more family who loved him despite everything he thought would drive her away.

After a few more minutes, Ayden sighed as she reasoned while he put her back down on the ground so they could face the hotel,

"We shoul' get back ta reinfo'cin' this place cause it still looks like..."

"A burner downer?" Angel brought back up with a smirk and Ayden drew out,

"Yyyyyep!"

The both of them chuckled and Angel ruffled Ayden's hair making her swat at and punch him playfully as they headed back inside to help with the construction.

A few hours later, Ayden was helping with welding metal pipes perpendicularly over the nailed wooden planks over the windows to double secure them while wearing a welding mask over her face as she used two digits to make small torch-like flames while everyone else did their parts.

"Come along, let's put some effort into these fortifications." Pentious announced as he directed some of his Egg Boiz who were carrying a saw, a hammer, and some planks of wood.

"Yeah, fortify that..." Angel told a few Egg Boiz and they eagerly ran off to do their task while Husk was hammering some wood planks over the windows.

"Jus' need some mo'e reba's ta fo'tify these." Ayden announced as she lifted the welding mask from her face as she finished soldering before they all saw Vaggie and Charlie standing by the front doors and Angel noted,

"Well, look who decided to show up." Using his arms to pull Husk, Ayden, and Pentious close as he mildly joked, "We thought we were fightin' by ourselves."

"You're... you're still here?" Vaggie stuttered slightly while Charlie just smiled with her eyes welling with happy tears just before Pentious hissed out,

"What? Do you think we're a bunch of pusssssies?"

"I just got used to you guys." Husk noted before scoffing slightly as Angel pulled him in closer, "Tch...! I ain't finding no new drinking buddies."

"This is ou' home, we wanna fight fer it...!" Ayden spoke up determinedly with a raised fist just before Niffty popped up on top of Angel's head as she commented,

"I've named all the stains on the carpet." Giggling as she pointed to the stain in question that actually vaguely looked like a face, "Hehe! That one's Fred."

"Well, looks like we have a lot of work to do..." Charlie spoke hopefully as she held Vaggie's hand and looked at everyone fondly.

A few more hours later, everyone had gotten some more work done on the reinforcements, the cannibals that Charlie had managed to recruit were all settled in different rooms of the hotel and the Angelic weapons and supplies Vaggie was able to acquire from Carmilla Carmine were all put aside for sorting and crafting later on.

Everyone was getting ready for bed when Charlie pulled Ayden aside to tell her,

"Hey uhhh..." Charlie winced when she told her, "Alastor wants you to meet him in his radio tower."

Pushing down the cold spike of fear, Ayden raised a brow to question,

"Why?"

"IIIIIII might've ranted to him about how upset I was that everyone around me keeps secrets and mentioned that Vaggie and I found out how you're a cambion... and then he mentioned something about some kind of bet you made with him and yeeeeaaahh...."

Part of Ayden wanted to yell at Charlie for that before realizing she was also at fault for not trusting her with this... just like she'd done with Via before....

Sighing, Ayden told her with as much of a brave face as she could muster,

"I got this."

"Just uhh holler if you need backup...?" Charlie suggested in an unsure tone and Ayden smiled slightly as she told her,

"Thanks Cha'lie..."

"Hah!" Charlie gasped with stars in her eyes before scooping Ayden up into a hug as she twirled around while happily babbling.

"OK lotta hugs today..." Ayden griped just a bit before Charlie put her down to apologize and explain,

"I'm sorrryyyy!" Looking a little sheepish as she admitted, "It's just..- that's the first time you've called me by my name instead of just 'Boss'... it's nice..."

Ayden's face flushed with heat when she realized she was right and returned the sheepish grin as she told her,

"I'm sorry I di'n't trust ya wi'h this.. I really do 'ppreciate everythin' ya've done fer us..."

"I feel like hugging you again...!" Charlie happily squeaked out with her eyes welling up before Ayden joked,

"Nope!"

Running up the stairs with a smile on her face until she reached the very top floor with the door to Alastor's radio tower as her smile fell before knocking on the door and opening it to reveal rickety scaffolding that led up to the radio tower but had no other supports to keep anyone from falling the large height, something Ayden was sure Alastor knew...

"Fuckin' Hell..." Ayden carefully put a foot on the scaffolding to test its stability, only hearing a slight creak as she slowly put her other foot down while still clinging to the doorway.

"Jus'... don't look down..." Ayden told herself as she let go of the doorway and started to carefully balance before-

*TCH!*

"YAH!"

The door slammed shut with the wind making Ayden yelp as she went down on all fours, hugging the framework with both arms and legs before looking down and realizing just how high up she was.

"Shite...!" She hissed to herself before realizing and slapping her forehead, "Oh duh!"

Shifting to hellcat form so she could best balance while scurrying along the scaffolding before making it to the trapdoor that led into the radio tower and shifting back to bang on it a few times before flipping it open and dragging herself in as she griped to Alastor, who was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on it, his smile much more smug with schadenfreude,

"You we'e watchin' me the whole time we'ntcha..?"

Before he responded as Ayden slammed the trapdoor shut,

"Of course," Standing up to manifest his staff as he jested, "I never would have taken you for an acrophobic."

"If that's s'posed ta mean fea' o' heights then what?" Ayden snarked with a glare as she fully stood up with her arms crossed, "Ya gonna threaten ta drop me from the roof next time I get on yer nerves?"

"Now there's an idea!"

Ayden's deadpan glare only deepened at that before he waved a hand dismissively,

"Oh calm down, I won't resort to that unless absolutely necessary..."

His tone and appearance darkening at the last word made Ayden lean back a bit before she shook it off to question bluntly,

"What do you want? Cashin' in yer favo' 'lready? Cause Cha'lie told me she told you."

"It is tempting to end our little bet here..." Alastor tapped a finger to his chin before waving it dismissively as he spoke again, "But as it was once said; great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."

Ayden just made a confused "whaaaat...?" face at that before Alastor spoke again,

"Therefore, I propose a second act to our wager; you know of my deal but don't know with whom it's with, I know of your existence as a cambion but not why it is..."

"Whaddya mean by that...?" Ayden asked cautiously, for once not willing to test his boundaries in favor of potentially learning something about herself.

"Cambions are rare beings, often conceived for specific purposes with powers associated with that purpose, and, when I win a favor from you, I would rather know the full scope of your capabilities."

At that last part, Ayden's ears drooped down with her impatient frown as she snapped,

"Why a'e ya draggin' this out?! Do ya jus' enjoy puttin' people in these positions?"

"Yes." Alastor answered without missing a beat, "Something you should better embrace is the ability to enjoy the hunt before the catch, it makes it much more satisfying...."

Making Ayden roll her eyes before-

*TCH!*

"YAH!"

She got a whack on her head from Alastor's staff and she whined while rubbing her forehead,

"Will ya quit doin' that?! I've got an eve'lastin' lump on my head thanks ta you!"

"That temper and impatience won't get you very far, I'll keep reminding you until it sticks." Alastor merely twirled his staff in one hand before thumping it to the ground with both hands resting on the top as he looked down his nose at her.

"That's what this is...?" Ayden griped as she rubbed her head bump but accidentally ripped the exposed cut further and the jolt of pain made her growl with her eyes, freckles, and hair glowing slightly along with the drop of blood that dripped down her forehead before the pain subsided but the glow persisted as her annoyance at him grew.

"Oh-ho looks like the animal inside wants out..."

Ayden panted and crouched on the floor with her paws clutching onto the sides of her head as she tried to suppress the urge to claw and lash out but remembered what Pentious had said to her earlier and began to repeat it like a mantra through gritted teeth,

"'T'snotallIam... 'T's not all I am... 'T's not all I am..."

The glowing slowly faded with each calming breath she took until she felt the fighting urge vanish and was finding some calm when it was broken by Alastor commenting in a mildly admiring, but mostly condescending sounding, tone,

"Impressive. A great show of progress on your part." Ayden couldn't suppress the chilled shudder that ran through her body as Alastor swiped the drop of blood away before he placed a hand on her head before telling her ominously, "Don't deny the animal, but don't let it control you either... otherwise, you risk destroying everything and everyone in your path... again..."

Finally having had enough with the mind games, Ayden batted his hand away and rushed over to the trapdoor to drop through back to the outside and hurriedly made her way back into the hotel, too bothered to care about the height this time, and didn't stop until she made it to her room.

"Haaahrrrr...!" Ayden exhaled loudly ending with a growl as she slammed the door behind her and flopped onto her bed on her side.

She shuffled in, trying to get comfy, when her movements halted when her paw slid under her pillow before pulling back out with her hidden photo; the last one she ever took with her old best friend Taylor on her 13th birthday right before... she accidentally killed her with her power's awakening...

Ayden traced a digit over her friend's smiling face before looking over the rest of her; the way her dirty blonde hair flopped right over her greenish blue eyes, the bright blue star patterns against the black on her favorite shirt that matched almost perfectly with her heirloom star sapphire star-shaped pendant, seeing the doodles of two astronauts surrounded by scribbled stars on the border of the photo just like how they were on the red boots she would always wear for the dream they once shared, and how she was holding a strawberry and pistachio ice cream cone in her hand, a flavor combination she always got whenever they would get ice cream cause she claimed they "never got enough love."

Her face pinched up in sadness as her free paw went up to her right ear where the two small, matching gold hoop earrings were... the same ones Taylor was wearing in the photo until she had given them to her before...

'ALLYYYY!'

Ayden winced her eyes shut as her voice came back in her mind and she opened them back up to reveal they were welling up as she whispered tearfully to the photo,

"I'm so sorry... Sometimes I wish it'd been me that day 'nstead o' you... an' then afte'wa'ds when...."

She cut herself off by having to bite her lip to keep her from sobbing as all the conflicting feelings from her past and present collided with each other to be processed; regret for killing Taylor then and now with losing Via, happy she still had a piece of her and now had friends and family she was willing to stay and fight for, bitterness at her inner monster or animal's seemingly uncontrollable existence within her, anger at everyone who's ever hurt her and the people she cared about through her life, but an emotion in front of it all was there... just out of reach of her comprehension no matter how hard she tried to make sense of it...

She fell asleep with her head still swirling and paws clutching her pillow tightly with the photo back under it as her last thought before succumbing to sleep was,

'How can I move on when I wanna hold on too...?'

...

...

...

AN- I'm sosososo sorry for the late update but shit's been getting real crazy with the student protests and encampments here at my school... Back on Tuesday they called in riot officers threatening to use rubber bullets and tear gas to clear out the protesters who were peacefully camping out on the school's quad at 3 in the morning before arresting just over 20 of them, all right in front of the dorms I live in... and we're all basically under surveillance from the police that are still here to the point where wandering around campus in "restricted areas" is threatened with arrest... and yet student protestors are the ones being labeled as "criminals..." -_-

But anyway! Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait ^^;

Some notes and references for this one:

The song Ayden and Angel sing is "Make It Out Alive" by Malachiii from the short Marvel film "The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story" which I thought would best fit since it's about loyalty, support, and resilience in the face of challenges, something that fits Angel and Ayden's situations (and because I really am just a sucker for writing Big Brother!Angel and Little Sister!Ayden moments ^^ with some more planned for the next chapter)The flashback of how Angel and Ayden met was first introduced over in "The Circus" episode of "Let's Kick Some Ash!" but had a little extra written in since it had been interrupted over there The official digital drawing of the Polaroid photo Ayden has of her and Taylor has been posted to my Deviant Art account but the design has changed a bit from how it was first introduced in "Let's Kick Some Ash!" so it's a bit of a retcon

As of now, "The Show Must Go On" is a third of the way done, but since I want it to be done well for the Season 1 finale, I'm not entirely sure when I'll be posting it. Since I'm going to be heading back home next week after attending two of my friends' graduation and still searching for a summer job, I'll maybe have some time to work on it and hope to have it out soon once I get home, that way I can work on short story requests for this story and "Let's Kick Some Ash!" that have kinda been piling up ^^;

Very last thing! With the aforementioned summer job hunt not looking so good, I was wondering if I should start trying art side hustles like maybe posting time-lapse videos of all my drawings on Youtube, Patreon, or Ko-Fi, taking digital art commissions, making and selling stickers and pins with my OCs or canon characters, and if you'd all be interested in seeing stuff like that for any of my Hazbin and Helluva stuff? DM or comment please, I'd love to see if you'd all be interested in that since I've been thinking about it for a while but didn't know if anyone would be interested or if my digital art skills are good enough for that yet ^^;

Until the next one, Bye!