HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore and violence, and mentions of sexual language and activities

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

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3rd Person POV

The next day, Charlie was still freaking out over the news of the Extermination coming sooner than anticipated as she paced around the living room with KeeKee prancing alongside her as she panicked, nearly ending in hysterics,

"Okay. So the extermination is coming in six months instead of a year. No big deal. Just a little setback. Nothing we can't handle. Just angels cutting our timetable in half. But who needs a whole year to save souls? Am I right?! And next time when they cut the time in half again, and again, we'll just handle it, right?!"

Before Vaggie walked up to her to grab her shoulders and assure her,

"Yes. We will."

"Oh, please," Angel spoke up from where he was sitting on the couch on his phone before continuing his two cents, "ya had less than half a chance when YA started all this salvation bullshit. And now..." Pausing to look at the onslaught of threatening texts from his boss Valentino before finishing off, "Ain't no silver lining this time toots."

"Sure there is!" Charlie tried to remain optimistic, "We just... have to look a little harder for it!"

"Well, while you're lookin', the rest'a hell is goin' nuts." Angel turned his phone around to show the new articles of Sinners screaming and rioting, "People are already freakin' out about the news. Look at what's happenin' in the Doomsday District."

Right before a message notification popped up that Charlie caught a glimpse of causing her to ask,

"Err, what is a Donkey Show?"

Making Angel panic and pull his phone back to cover up,

"Aah, heh, nothin'. My boss, Val, is just freaked out about the news too. Like I said, everyone's losin' their shit."

"Yeah, that's true..." Vaggie started to say in a devising tone, "Sinners are desperate... Maybe desperate enough to try anything to escape the Extermination?"

Causing Charlie to gasp excitedly at what she was implying before announcing,

"This is the perfect time to recruit more sinners for the hotel!"

"Cute idea and all, but you really gonna go out in all of this?" Angel questioned as he waved his phone again to show the panicked public footage.

"Hey if you a'e goin' out can I come with?" Ayden asked as she descended the stairs, already dressed with her backpack half slung over her shoulder but still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and cleaning her still slightly damp forehead as her tail dragged a bit behind her.

"OK seriously how do you sleep in every fucking day...?" Vaggie deadpanned before Charlie told her,

"Sure! Besides, it's not like people are just gonna show up on our doorstep-"

*PSSHH!*

Right before a massive explosion blew a hole in the wall by the bar as a familiar voice shouted from outside shouted,

"Show yourself Alasssstor! Come and face-"

Sir Pentious paused for a moment when he didn't see Alastor by the hole in the wall he just blew and instead saw him casually sipping coffee on a balcony on the second floor before reiterating,

"Oh there you are... Face my wraaath!"

"Who are you?" Alastor asked flippantly causing Sir Pentious to go off braggingly,

"Who am I? Who am I?!"

"Oh great... if it i'n't the Egglo'd..." Ayden cut in sarcastically as she poked her head through the hole in the wall while the others walked out to the front.

"A-HEM!" A glare was sent her way before he continued, "I am the great Ssssssir Pentiousssss...!"

While Pentious continued crowing about his self-achievements, Alastor dissolved into a shadow to join the others on the ground as they were watching the scene in front of them,

"Inventor, architect of dessstruction, villain extraordinaire!"

"~Ooooooh, he's a bad boy~" Niffty suddenly appeared, climbing on top of Alastor's shoulder before he deposited her back to the ground as he mocked,

"Ha, well if all that's true, you'd think I'd have heard of you."

"I attacked you literally last week." Pentious pointed out, while Alastor merely tilted his head in question, as he kept trying to refresh his memory, "We've done battle, like... 20 times..?"

"Well, you must have been really bad at this."

"Silence! Now cower! For when I've ssslain you, the almighty Vees will finally acknowledge me as their equal."

"Ooh!" Niffty reappeared back on Alastor's shoulder before questioning curiously, "Wait, who are the Vees?

"Oh, nobody important."

"'Not impo'tant?'" Ayden asked in disbelief before noting, "Ar'n't they some'a the biggest trendse'e's in fashion, tech-"

"As I said, nobody important."

Ayden huffed at being cut off before Alastor raised his staff summoning some more of his freaky tentacles to grab Pentious's zeppelin and shake it around, laughing at Pentious's and his Egg Boiz's screams and yelps of pain,

"Arrgh! Oh! Please! Stop!"

After a little while, Charlie tried to get him to stop torturing them,

"Um... Alastor! I think he's had enough."

But Alastor either didn't hear her over the sound of his own sadistic laughter or didn't care as Angel argued,

"Nah. He's got a few more hits in him."

"Think I can get one in?" Ayden asked before Pentious fell and landed face-first on the ground in front of them all while Alastor twirled his staff after slapping the war machine onto the side of the Hotel and commenting,

"Thanks for another forgettable experience."

Just after an Egg Boi fell and splattered in front of Charlie, Pentious spoke in a pain-filled quavering tone,

"Thank y-you..." Before bolting up, but still lying down, as he grabbed at Alastor's suit, "for letting your guard down!"

"Haha! Yah!" He cheered when he managed to tear away a piece of the fabric with his tail before Alastor started to transform and he yelped, "Oh, shit..."

"WAHHHHHH!!" He was sent flying off into the distance in a puff of green smoke before Alastor turned to everyone to say,

"Well, it looks as though I need a visit to the tailor!" Turning to leave as he waved, "Best of luck, chums."

"Wait, you're LEAVING?!" Vaggie exclaimed before telling him, "Alastor! We need your help! We need you to do your job."

"We need a wall." Angel motioned over to the hole in the wall and Alastor agreed,

"Of course! Can't let my new project fall into disrepair already. What would the papers say?!"

With a snap of his fingers, some more inky shadow demons appeared in construction uniforms with tools and Angel took an interest in one of the larger ones, shoving Vaggie away to walk up to him and flirt,

"Hey, sweet cheeks. Whatcha doin' later? I love me a man with a giant... tool."

"Try an' keep it professional Ang..." Ayden deadpanned before slinging her backpack back on and asking him, "Want me ta grab ya anythin'?"

Angel raised a finger about to say something before Ayden added bluntly,

"If it's any o' that kinda stuff, you can get it yerself..."

Angel frowned as he had to retract before revising,

"Then just some more food for Nuggs."

"OOH! Hold on!" Charlie called out as she and Vaggie rushed up to her so they could all walk together to the limo.

On the way, Ayden's ears twitched when she thought she heard a buzzing sound above them but looked and saw nothing so she shrugged and kept walking.

After driving a little while and parking in a relatively safe place, Charlie started to lay out the plan for them,

"OK so Vaggie and I will walk around and try to see if we can get any new recruits for the hotel while you go shopping for the stuff we need. Think you can grab some of this stuff while you're at it too?"

Handing Ayden a list of things that were mostly grocery and cleaning supplies requested by the others and she looked it over before stuffing the list into her shorts pocket as she answered dully,

"Su'e thing Boss..."

"We'll meet back up here in about 2 hours. What's your phone number so we can send you a reminder?" Vaggie pulled out her phone before Ayden told her blankly,

"I don' have one."

"Well then go get yourself one!" Charlie suggested cheerfully before handing her a small wad of cash and telling her, "Just meet us back here when you're done."

"Ok." Ayden agreed as she took the cash before they all got out of the limo and went their separate ways.

Once Ayden managed to get past several fighting and panicking groups of Sinners, she found herself outside a store called Wayward Fair, shrugging as she noted to herself,

"Ehh might as well get the othe's stuff he'e."

Going in to grab all the things on Charlie's list as well as the food for Fat Nuggets and an hPhone, she only barely managed to shove all the stuff into her backpack once she left the store an hour and a half later while putting her new phone in her pocket and making a mental note to set up and customize it later.

Once she left, she remembered she still wanted to get some decorations for her room since it still looked a little plain in there despite living in it for almost a month now.

Looking around past the fighting and fleeing Sinners, Ayden's gaze landed on a store called Stylish Occult and was instantly drawn in by the goth and punk products they were offering in the front windows.

Once she went inside the store, she was amazed by all the clothes, decor, and even taxidermy that were offered, all in dark colors which was right in her style palette.

"~Oooh!~" Ayden exclaimed as she browsed around the room decorations section, finding some yellow-orange firefly string lights, some black-to-red gradient curtains, and a red fuzzy star pillow.

She was grabbing what looked like the last box of glow-in-the-dark four-point star-shaped assorted-sized crystals when she was met with unexpected resistance from someone on the other side of the shelf so she argued,

"Hey I saw this fi'st!"

"Well I grabbed it first! Possession's nine-tenths of the law." The girl on the other side of the shelves argued back before Ayden retorted,

"What laws?!"

The two of them tugged the box back and forth between each other before Ayden gave a sharper tug and-

*KRSH!*

"YAH!"

Caused the shelf to come crashing down on top of her before the girl started to panic,

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry!"

The shelf jostled a bit from her trying to lift it off of Ayden before she huffed,

"Jus' move aside..."

Some heeled steps let her know she moved before Ayden brought her legs up as much as she could in the small space and took a deep breath before pushing as hard as she could and managing to get some more leeway so she could fully push it off.

Huffing a bit from exhaustion, Ayden got back on her feet but leaned over with her paws on her knees before throwing a glare at the girl she'd been fighting with before; an owl demon with shaggy feathery hair under a black

beanie with a tiara on it wearing a long-sleeved pink dress with yellow star

designs on it, a matching choker, black leggings that went into heeled

boots, and a black shawl over the whole thing.

"Are you... OK?" She asked hesitantly and Ayden huffed while stretching her arms,

"Juuuus' peachy..." Before reaching out to demand, "Now hand'em ove'..."

"No way." The girl clutched the box closer and Ayden started to threaten,

"Eithe' you hand those over or I'll hand you yer arse..."

The girl started to get annoyed as she demanded with the start of a haughty tone,

"Do you know who you're talking to?"

"No." Ayden answered bluntly, readying to create a fireball when the girl unexpectedly changed her attitude to ask in mild shock,

"Wait really?"

"What?" Ayden dropped her readying position to question dubiously with an eyebrow raised, "Should I?"

"N-no I just-"

"Then what was the whole 'reh do you know how I am?' schpiel?" Ayden made a bad impression of the girl from before with an exaggerated snooty tone that made the other girl chuckle both in amusement and embarrassment as she admitted,

"No I just... spend waaay too much time listening to my mum's screeching..."

"Been the'e..." At this point, the two of them were completely casual and were just chatting as Ayden asked, "I take it yer mum is a bit of a.. a...?"

"Overbearing nightmare..." The girl muttered moodily and Ayden shrugged before casually stating,

"I was gonna say self-righteous bitch but that wo'ks too."

The two of them chuckled for a few seconds before the lights in the store started flickering-

*TZZ!* *TZZ!* *PSH!*

"AHH!"

Before blowing out with some glass shards flying out, making the two of them duck for cover and mutter in almost unison,

"What the...?!"

"The fuck...?!"

Ayden used her night vision to see if she could find a light source before her eyes looked up and saw the multiple chandeliers hanging from the ceiling with candles already set up in them.

Lighting a fireball in her paw, Ayden concentrated really hard on only lighting the candles and not the rest of the store on fire, hesitating to fire when she saw the other girl's pink eyes shining with wonder in the light and her resolve solidified a bit more to shoot the fireball up and light up most of the chandeliers, softly illuminating the rest of the store.

The other girl pulled out her phone to try and see what was going on before commenting,

"What the...?"

"What?" Ayden asked and the girl turned her phone around to show the spamming news articles about the intense Alastor and Vox radio and TV confrontation, "Well that makes sense..."

"I still can't believe the Radio Demon's back after 7 years."

Ayden's eyes bolted back up to the girl's face as she realized maybe she knew something about Alastor so she asked,

"Do you know anythin' 'bout'im?"

"Who doesn't? He used to take out some of the most powerful Overlords to publicize their screams on his radio show before he disappeared about 7 years ago."

"Anythin' else?"

"No, not really..."

"Damn..." Ayden was discouraged that she couldn't find out more before snarking with an eyebrow raised and her paws on her hips, "And that's the guy livin' wi'h us?"

"Wait what?"

"Oh I live and wo'k up at the Hazbin Hotel." Ayden explained, nonchalantly hooking a digit behind her to refer to the hotel.

"No kidding? I thought that place shut down after the uh.. news interview.."

"Yeh you'd think so but uh nooo... y'see..."

As Ayden started explaining some of the hotel's recent... complications, just around the corner, Charlie and Vaggie were chasing after another "potential recruit" as Charlie was trying to hurriedly explain while holding several drawings of the hotel and the "plan,"

"And while you're working to atone for all your past sins you'll be allowed to stay within the sanctuary of the hotel so when the next Extermination's here-"

"FUCK OFF BITCH!" The Sinner yelled before throwing himself through the window of the store next to Stylish Occult and running back out with an armful of loot.

"Ugh!" Vaggie made a noise of disgust at the display while Charlie pouted,

"What am I doing wrooooong?"

Leaning her forehead against the front window glass of Stylish Occult while Vaggie tried to comfort her,

"It's not your fault, most of these Sinners are just- just..."

"Amazing!" Charlie piped up making Vaggie look at her incredulously as she questioned,

"What?! No they're just-"

"Not them, them!" Charlie pushed Vaggie's face against the window so she could see what she was talking about; Ayden talking with another teen, one that Vaggie recognized too from the way she questioned in shocked disbelief,

"Is that-?!"

"A new friend!"

"An Ars Goetia princess!"

The both of them chorused before Vaggie tried to protest,

"Charlie, we're already having trouble with Angels and Sinners. Do you really want to add the Ars Goetia to the mix?!"

"Vaggie, this is the first time ever I've seen Ayden talking to someone aside from Angel outside of the hotel."

"I thought our goal was to improve the lives of Sinners?"

"Well yeah but why can't we improve the lives of others while we're at it?" Charlie pointed out before she got serious as she added, "I know Ayden's supposed to be helping us but why not help her build up her confidence and social circle outside of the hotel?"

Vaggie's disapproving expression faded a little bit before Charlie finished up enthusiastically,

"Who knows? ~Maaaaybeeee~ it'll mean another ally for the hotel in the long run?"

"I don't know about that but maybe having somewhat of a social life would help her get her act together.. both literally and personally..."

"Ohmygosh could you imagine that?!" Charlie started to gush over potential future hang outs with the two teens while back inside with said teens, after paying for their purchases, Via was showing Ayden the ropes with her new phone and creating a Sinstagram account,

"And then you just create a username to finish setting up."

Handing her back her phone, Ayden hummed in thought,

"Hmmmm... how 'bout...? Ooh!" Typing for a few seconds before showing Via so she could input it into her phone and she chuckled a bit when she read it off,

"'Fi3ryous_F3lin3_235?'"

"What? Too m'ny 3s?" Ayden shrugged with a joking smile.

"No no it's great, it really suits your whole vibe."

Before tapping away at her phone and Ayden's phone dinged with a new friend request as Via announced,

"And you've got your first, and probably forever only, follower."

"Ouch!" Ayden playfully punched Via in the arm in mock offense before her ear twitched when she heard a high-pitched squeal of joy and turned to see Charlie in an overjoyed position before Vaggie pulled her aside trying to hide the two of them.

Ruefully rolling her eyes, Ayden hooked a digit in their direction while telling Via,

"Well my babysi'ers are right out front so I guess I'll see ya la'er?"

"Yeah my dad's probably wondering where I am right about now?"

"What? D'ya sneak out o' somethin'?" Ayden leaned forward teasingly and Via's guilty eye movements gave her an answer and she poked fun by continuing teasing, "Woah guess this birdy's got a ballsy side eh?"

"Ha ha..." Via "laughed" sarcastically before holding out the box of crystals and saying, "You can have these by the way."

Ayden was slightly taken back before she smiled and told her with a dismissive wave,

"Eh, I'll pick some mo'e up next time."

Walking back toward the entrance to leave before Via gently called out,

"Here."

Making Ayden turn back around to see her toss something at her and she caught it to reveal one of the larger crystals and looked back up to see Via grinning,

"So you didn't almost get crushed for nothing."

Making her grin back before winking while giving her a two-digit salute as she walked back out onto the street where Charlie and Vaggie were pretending to see her there with the limo nearby,

"Oh there you are, we just got back from-"

"Save it, Boss." Ayden told Charlie with her arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face before adding as she got into the limo, "Not a wo'd o' I'll dump the stuff."

But that didn't stop Charlie from excitedly bouncing in place while biting her lip to keep quiet as Vaggie sighed and smiled ruefully before following her into the limo.

Once the three of them got back to the hotel, they saw that Alastor's shadow ink demons were nearly finished with fixing the hole in the wall and Ayden dropped her backpack off on the living room table so everyone could get their items from within.

Meanwhile, Charlie immediately went for the couch, back in a gloomy mood at the lack of success of her original mission, with Vaggie close by.

"~Soooo?~ How'd it go?" Angel spoke up in a semi-smug knowing tone from where he was still sitting on the other couch and Vaggie sighed,

"Not a single new recruit..."

"Yeah well, who would wanna use their last days not fucking and fighting?"

"~Buuuut!~" Charlie rose from the couch to smile excitedly as she spoke, "It wasn't a total loss!"

"Chaaa'lie..." Ayden drew out in a warning tone before Charlie spilled the beans,

"Ayden made a new friend!"

"Ugh!" Ayden's ears dropped down in annoyance before Angel started to rag on her playfully with a smug smile,

"Wow, someone actually tolerated you enough to become your friend? That's impressive."

"Shuddup!"

"~Soooo~ what's their name?"

Ayden's tail whipped around before she begrudgingly answered,

"He' name's Via."

"~Playin' for the same team are we?~" Angel suggested with a sly eyebrow raise and Ayden glowered a bit before retorting,

"I'm Aroace r'membe'?"

"Yeah but you're just against sex and romance right?"

"Yeh so no relationships."

"I'm pretty sure they can be more than that." Charlie pointed out and Ayden's ears dropped down even more in the growing annoyance for the conversation before-

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

Her ears perked back up at the knocking that came from the front door and pointed at Angel and Charlie to quickly note,

"We'e done he'e..."

Before she bounded after Vaggie as she went to open the front door, revealing Sir Pentious standing there holding his hat in his hands as he greeted them,

"Why, hello my dears-"

*PSH!*

*PFT!*

"Gah!"

Before he's cut off by Vaggie punching him in the face and Ayden jumping up to kick him square in the chest forcing him to fall back on the ground so Vaggie could get her spear out to hold at his throat even as he panicked,

"Wait, wait, wait! I come in peaccce." Holding up double peace signs before Vaggie demanded,

"What are you doing here?"

"Whateve' it is, I've been itchin' for a fight..." Ayden smiled manically as she held her unsheathed claws up in a scratch-attack-ready position until Charlie appeared behind them to ask,

"Vaggie, Ayden, what's the problem?" Before she noticed Sir Pentious there and gasped before greeting, "Oh! Hello again!"

"I didn't come looking for a fight." Pentious picked himself off the ground to tell them, "I uhh.. I heard that you're helping people, people who want.. to be better?"

Causing Charlie to gasp again in excitement as she rushed over to grab his hand and led him toward the door as she introduced,

"You heard right! Welcome to our home of healing, our resort of restoration, our-"

Before she was cut off by Angel questioning incredulously but also validly,

"Are you fucking nuts? This chump was trying to kill us like literally 6 hours ago! And now you wanna bring him in here to live with us?"

"Absolutely!" Charlie answered enthusiastically, "This place is about second chances, and who deserves one more than this slithery... slippery... special little man!"

"Aren't you both supposed to protect this place?" Angel directed to Vaggie and Ayden but Charlie gave them both her puppy-dog eyes that made Vaggie give in with a sigh,

"I guess he's not much of a threat without the war machine," Sir Pentious's cobra hood lifted up in anticipation before Vaggie caused his mood to crash with, "or even with the war machine." Making his cobra hood flap down with depression as he sighed.

"Oh! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Charlie lifted her girlfriend in a twirl hug excitedly before bringing Pentious back in, Ayden hissing and making the "I'm watching you" gesture when she pulled Pentious past her to exclaim,

"Sir Pentious! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!"

"Oh no darling! Thank you! You won't regret this." Pentious told her as the three of them went back inside with Angel and Ayden following behind as they chatted with each other,

"Eh, I give you a week, tops."

"I'm bettin' 50 by tomorrow."

"I'll take that action."

They all walked over to the corner of the hotel where the bar and Husk, who was, of course, drinking, as Charlie presented,

"So, this is the bar and the bartender." Before beginning to introduce every little thing, "This is the curtain, and this is the new wall after you broke the last one, heh, and oh! Oh! This is the-"

Until Vaggie grabbed Charlie to calm her down as she pointed out,

"Babe, you don't have to show him every detail."

"Sorry, I'm just so excited to have our first real guest!" Charlie apologized eagerly before Angel and Ayden butted in insulted,

"Uh, what the hell am I then?"

"Ditto..."

"Well, you're both an important part of our family here Angel, Ayden, but you uhm, uh..." Charlie trailed off trying to be nice but Vaggie interjected bluntly while counting off on her fingers,

"Constantly make us look bad, sexually harass the staff, lounge around all day, freeload off our stuff, and have literally never once tried to improve?"

"What she means is, it's just nice to have someone interested for once."

When Charlie walked away with Vaggie to continue giving Sir Pentious the tour, Ayden noticed Angel's face fall upset and she elbowed him before assuring him,

"Don't listen ta he', I know ya really wanna be he'e..."

"Yeah sure..." Angel pushed himself off the bar counter to walk away leaving Ayden to frown worriedly after him before her attention turned to Alastor having seen that Pentious was here.

"Ah yes! You're the one who ruined my coat!" He stated before his tone turned darker as his voice darkened sinisterly, "I definitely remember you now..."

Sir Pentious gulped nervously before Charlie tried to lighten the situation by suggesting,

"Well, I guess this is a great time for your first lesson! *Ahem* 'How to apologize!' The first step to becoming a better person is to admit when you are wrong, why don't you give it a try?"

Giving him a light push in Alastor's direction as he nervously started to apologize,

"Yes..uhm.. Mr. uhm.. Radio Demon sir, please forgive me for attacking you and ruining your very lovely coat.. uhm.. here..."

Handing him the piece of his coat that he had ripped off earlier, Alastor spoke in a near-impressed manner,

"Ah-Ho! Not many people have been able to take even this much off me, it must have meant quite a lot to you."

Before he lit the piece of fabric with green flames, leaving Pentious and Charlie stunned at the action while Ayden smirked a bit in the background.

A little while later, everyone was gathered to sit in a circle as Charlie proposed,

"Now, with a new resident, I think it's important we all get to know each other! So we are going to play a little game. Everyone, follow me. My name is Charlie *claps twice* I like to sing! *claps twice* and when we get to know each other it's the greatest thing! *claps twice*"

Before gesturing to Sir Pentious as he played along hesitantly,

"My name's Sir Pentious *claps twice* I like to build *claps twice* and despite my stupid Egg Boiz, I think I'm very skilled! *claps twice*"

When Charlie gestured to Angel, he looked up from his phone disinterested before stating,

"This is stupid."

"This is not stupid! *claps twice* It's just a gaaame! *claps twice* Sir Pentious did it well so now please try to do the saaame! *claps twice*" Charlie argued rhythmically looking a little desperate for him to participate before he criticized,

"I am too sober for this."

"Well, get used to it and learn how to play, this is gonna be your whole day! *claps twice*" Vaggie told him before turning it into a slight taunt when she clapped.

"How about you Ayden?" Charlie urged, trying to keep the game going.

"Fine... " Ayden rolled her eyes before thinking for a second and playing along, slow clapping sarcastically, "My name is Ayden *claps twice* I like to nap *claps twice* And even if Cha'lie trusts you I think yer fulla crap! *claps twice*"

*SHING!*

At the last clap, she unsheathed her broken-edged claws while glaring at Sir Pentious, who gulped nervously before Charlie tried to divert the tension by announcing,

"Okaaaay next activity!"

The next exercise being a role-playing skit in front of everyone with Angel wearing a "mobster" trenchcoat and fedora and holding a script while Sir Pentious was wearing a childish sailor suit and licking an oversized lollipop.

"'Oh, I'm a bad man on the streets who never got enough hugs, now, where's an innocent kid I can sell crack to?' Wow, who wrote this?" Angel started to recite from the script before criticizing.

"It's great right? Keep going!" Charlie beamed before urging him to keep going, which he did with little to no enthusiasm,

"'Hey you.'"

"'Who, ~meeee?~'" Sir Pentious acted the part of innocent kid, sparkle eyes and all...

"'Yeah, you look like a kid who could use some... devil's dandruff?' Oh, for fuck's sake...!"

"'Not me! I have to go home and study!'"

"'Come on kid, it'll make you cool like me... the crackhead.'"

At that, Ayden barely suppressed a groan and slapped her forehead in exasperation before Pentious continued the performance with,

"'The only cool thing here is to say no to drugs! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to not have sexual intercourse before marriage!'" Pentious finished off with a bold pose and Charlie stood up to applaud and praise him,

"Yes! Oh bravo! Bravo! Wow, Pentious! At this rate, you'll be redeemed in no time."

"Thank you, thank you."

"I..." Angel started to say before finishing bluntly, "I'm going to bed."

Walking up the stairs back to his room as Charlie continued to congratulate Sir Pentious,

"I am so proud of you Sir Pentious! That was amazing!"

"Thank you! Thank you! You like me! You really like me!"

Ayden stayed behind a little while as everyone went to do their own thing before bed before heading up to Angel's room.

Before she even reached the door, her fur spiked up and chills ran up her spine when she heard Valentino's voice yelling one second before switching to a faux apologetic tone and bouncing back and forth between the two tones until the smell of smoke and a shaming-toned voice caught her attention,

"You actually think you can change? Addict trash like you doesn't change. ~I'll see you soon, baby...~"

Ayden growled defensively before hearing Angel sigh and tell Fat Nuggets as he oinked in concern,

"Sorry... not now, Fat Nuggets..."

Before he opened the door to his room to see Ayden standing right there with her arms crossed and face in a firm expression as she stated,

"Don' ev'n think 'bout it... "

"Don't know what you're talkin' about... " Angel tried to walk past her before Ayden moved to block his way and shot him a glare to say,

"Oh please ya don't need supe'hea'ing ta hea' that whiny bludger's bitchin'..."

"Ayden, I'm not in the mood for this right now..."

Ayden frowned at him using her actual name instead of his nickname for her and sighed before asking,

"Cause yer in the mood for a drink?"

And Angel looking away being the confirmation she needed before motioning with her head as she told him,

"C'mon, I know whe'e Husk keeps the strong stuff."

The corner of Angel's mouth twitched in a smile before the two of them headed downstairs to the bar where Ayden vaulted over the counter to drop to the other side before some rustling, glass clinking, and sniffing was heard by Angel as he waited.

"Boom...!" Ayden whisper-shouted as she held up a gray bottle with little demonic butterfly designs on it before popping up herself to introduce with a dramatic flourish like a salesperson, "Shadowfly Absinthe."

She handed the bottle over to Angel, who uncorked it and was about to start drinking when Ayden asked,

"A'e ya mad...?"

Angel did a double-take before answering in an unconvincing tone,

"What? Pft! No..."

"Well I know I'm miffed at the bosses fer what they said 'bout us..." Ayden hopped back over the counter to sit on top of it with her arms crossed and legs and tail kicking over the side before muttering, "They don' know us..."

"It's whatever..." Angel tried to deflect but Ayden protested,

"'T's not whateve'...!" Slumping down a bit before repeating mumbling, "They don't know us... jus' cause we don't show it doe'n't mean we don't ca'e..."

"Maybe you..."

"Cut the bullcrap... I know you ca'e too even if ya say ya don't... yer jus' real bad at hidin' it, like yer stashes..."

Ayden ruefully smirked toward the end of her sentence making Angel return the expression before it fell so he could start chugging from the bottle and she sighed.

*Tssss....*

"Hmm?"

She hummed in thought as her ears twitched at the slight rustling sound that came from down the hall and Angel turned to face the direction it had come from with a drunken expression on his face.

They both sneaked over to Charlie's office, where the door was slightly ajar allowing them to peek inside and see that Sir Pentious was setting up a small Voxtech camera in between some books on the bookshelf.

"You slippery little shit!" Angel shouted as he threw the doors open causing Pentious to scream,

"Ah! Wh-wha-?!"

"Yer workin' for the Vees?!" Ayden exclaimed in disbelief as she looked ready to attack but Angel went in to harshly poke Pentious in the chest accusingly,

"I fucking knew there was something shitty about you."

But Pentious denied the accusation as he brushed Angel's finger off of him before lying as he crossed his arms and raised his head haughtily,

"I don't know what you're talking about... whore bug...!"

Ticking Angel off enough for him to tackle Pentious to the ground and punch him in the face before they started wrestling with each other.

"Hold still so I don't hit ya Ang!" Ayden got close to the brawl with a small fireball lit in her paw but hesitated to throw it without a clear shot.

"Just help me get'im down!"

Grunting impatiently, Ayden closed her fist to extinguish the fireball before jumping onto Pentious's tail, trying to pin it to the ground as he writhed around trying to get out of the chokehold Angel put him in before he shouted,

"Get your aggressively average and furry bodies... OFF OF ME!"

All his eyes started spiraling to hypnotize them and it worked from the way Angel jolted backward in a daze and Ayden dropped to the ground clutching her own eyes from the intense dizziness the spirals brought,

"Fuck!"

"YAH!"

Luckily it wore off quickly for Angel when he quickly shook his head to snap out of it before moving to corner Pentious against the bookshelf again while Ayden was still rubbing her eyes.

"Yaaah... What's going on?" Charlie yawned as she and Vaggie walked in on the three of them in their pjs as Angel told them while grabbing Pentious's elbow,

"This lil' bitch is a tra-aitor!"

"OK the slurrin' ain't helpin' ou' case he'e... " Ayden pointed out as she was barely standing back up from shaking the dizziness away before Pentious argued,

"Preposterous! I would never betray you. You... are my best friends!"

Hugging Charlie and Vaggie before Angel brought up,

"Uh huh, then explain this!"

Before he lifted the books away to reveal the camera, shocking Charlie, and causing Pentious to hurry toward the window shouting into his watch,

"Ah! Ah! Abort! Abort! S.O.S! Agent Pentious in need of immediate evacuation!"

Vox picking up to question in disbelief,

*Pentious? Wait... you were caught?!? It hasn't even been a day!*

"Eh eh!" Ayden held a paw up in a "fork it over" motion to Angel behind her and he grunted before placing a 50 bill in it while Pentious begged,

"Please! You've got to get me out of here!"

*I can't believe we thought you could handle even something this simple. Do us a favor, if they don't kill you, go ahead and do it yourself! You miserable failure!

"I... I..." Pentious gave himself up, taking the watch off and laying on the ground to await the double death blow, "Just make it quick I guess... not that I deserve it..."

"Gladly." Vaggie and Ayden both stated simultaneously as the former got her spear out and the latter unsheathed her sparking claws before Charlie stopped them and started singing while holding a hand out to Pentious,

"Wait! Pentious...?"

♫ It starts with sorry, that's your foot in the door.

One simple sorry, spoken straight from your core. ♫

Charlie created a glittery smokey trail wherever she stepped with hearts popping up as she danced and sang,

♫ The path to forgiveness is a twisting trail of hearts!

But sorry is where it starts! ♫

Sir Pentious started singing hopelessly, sprawling to the floor dramatically,

♫ Who could forgive a dirtbag like me?

I don't deserve your amnesty. ♫

Before Vaggie, Ayden, and Angel, who was wielding his twin Tommy guns, sang as they cornered Pentious with their eyes glowing menacingly pink,

♫ Can't we just kill him?

Shoot him (burn'im) spill his blooood? ♫

Before Charlie sang, slightly unsettled at their resort to violence,

♫ That's an.. option you could choose. ♫

♫ Works for us. ♫

The trio turned back to Pentious before Charlie urged them while making them lower their weapons as they considered her words,

♫ But who hasn't been in his shoes? It starts with sorry. ♫

Before Pentious and Charlie started singing together again despite Angel, Vaggie, and Ayden looking at each other in doubt,

♫ Sorry. ♫

♫ Dig down deeper and say one sincere sorry! ♫

♫ I'm so sorry! ♫

♫ And your journey's underway! ♫

♫ It'll take time to cover your/my vast multitude of sins ♫

♫ But sorry is where it begins. It starts with sorry.... ♫

As their song ended, everyone's attention was caught by Niffty as she shouted and stomped her feet in disappointment,

"I hated that song! Why are you so lame?!"

Before kicking him in one of his body eyes while sulking as she walked away with her arms crossed,

"Not a bad boy."

"Good first day!" Charlie sighed happily before side-hugging Vaggie as she suggested, "Let's get some rest!"

Everyone walked out of the office, the lights turning off after they all left before a glowing smile and red eyes peered out of the shadows and manifested into Alastor as he picked up the watch and turned it on to contact Vox as he yelled, expecting to see Sir Pentious,

*WHAT?!?*

Only to pause in fear when he realized it was Alastor, who laughed tauntingly,

*You'll have to try harder than that next time ol' pal!*

Vox screamed in frustration, his voice fritzing and distorting before Alastor laughed maniacally as he crushed the watch with his bare hand and dissipated back into the shadows... where he wasn't alone as a pair of pinkish red eyes were also watching.

'Woah...' Ayden thought as she hid in her hellcat form, having stayed behind a bit when she'd felt the familiar shudder she gets every time Alastor's around and stuck around to see what he was up to.

Scurrying back up to her room where she finally shifted back to demon cat form, she huffed before dropping onto her bed,

"Guessin' those two have some kinda beef...?"

*BVV-VVV!*

Her ears twitched when she heard the vibrations coming from her new phone and got up to grab it from her vanity before hesitantly swiping to open it and managing to navigate over to her new Sinstagram account where 3 new messages from Via were waiting for her,

*Hey, did you see this?*

*Since you were asking about him earlier*

The third message being a link to some footage clips from the Vox and Alastor digital/radio faceoff that took out power throughout the whole Ring.

"Wow..." Ayden commented in an unimpressed tone before looking to the emojis options bar and looking through for a "meh" emoji and sent it along with,

*Already knew he

was annoying*

*What else

is new?*

Waiting only a few seconds before she got a response,

*Who's the ballsy one now?*

"Heh..." Ayden chuckled a bit before texting back, the two of them continuing the conversation well into the night...

AN- The shenanigans continue! : D

Some notes and references for this chapter:

Wayward Fair's a little reference to one of the filler stories from my Helluva Boss fanfic "Let's Kick Some Ash!"

Ayden's Sinstagram username being Fi3ryous_F3line_235 is canon in both fanfic stories made from her love of fire puns and 235 being a number of healing and self-care

"Shadowfly Absinthe" is a spoof on Butterfly Absinthe

There's a little bit of a Gravity Falls reference in here, kudos to whoever recognizes it ^^

Fun little tidbit; For Helluva Boss I was originally planning for it to be revealed that Ayden is actually a terrible singer (just to break that minor cliché) but I guess for Hazbin Hotel she'll have to be at least adequate, so I picture her singing voice as slightly raspy or off tone when singing but in a way that kinda works if you all know what I'm trying to say ^^;

Also, I still don't have a singing or voice claim for Ayden but if you all have ideas, I'd love to hear what you all think for that and how you think her and Angel's dynamic is going or any ideas for them : )

Finally managed to finish the 14,000-worded "Masquerade" chapter over Spring Break this last week, after almost three weeks of working on it O.O , and got "Dad Beat Dad" almost halfway done so the streak continues! : D

Until the next one, Bye!