Carmilla, Odette, Clara and Zestial all in a room together, with Frank spying on them from behind a pot plant and F/N standing awkwardly in the corner- only hidden by the fabric of reality being warped by his density. Carmilla mutters in Spanish as she pours herself a drink, before beginning to down the bottle instead of the glass she poured for herself.

"Carmilla, what troubles thou? Losing thy composure is unlike thee."

"It's nothing, Zestial, really."

"The felled angel... t'was by thy hand, was it not?"

"Let's not talk about it."

"Mom, maybe he should know."

"Nobody should know. I did what I had to do. I am not discussing this."

https://youtu.be/rEs7DyLqwmo

Carmilla noticed F/N standing in the corner, silently listening to the singing and put a bladed shoe to his neck. Surprisingly, the recently deceased didn't even flinch. Her eyes widened as she spotted the line of X's ring around his throat- a permanent reminder of how he died.

"I... I know I'm not exactly supposed to be back here, let alone welcome, and beyond that I shouldn't have been allowed to listen to all that, but... I think I can relate to your situation. I think. When I was alive... When I was a kid... I killed a man to save my brother. Everyone in my neighborhood hailed me as a hero, but I was just terrified of what I had done. Terrified of my strength. I was barely even six years old. My parents continued trying to support me, telling stories about people performing incredible feats of might to save others and themselves, but none of it was enough. And that isn't even the worst of it. I-" F/N tried to continue but every time his lips moved, no sound would come out. Carmilla pulled her leg away when she realized they'd been through similar issues.

"I can't even talk about it. Nearly two decades of therapy and yet... here I am. In Hell... fuck, all this pain and I didn't even have the courtesy to die right..." he said, putting a hand to his own throat.

"You mean you-"

"Killed myself?" he asked bluntly. Zestial's eyes widened in surprise as the words left the Sinner's lips.

"I had to pretend like things were getting better for a short while but I think my therapist caught on right at the end when she said I'd likely never see my brother if I did it. But a new tie and a short drop later, I wound up here. I'm not over it. Not by a long shot. But I think I'm starting to cope better. I mean, I somewhat regret killing myself, so... that's progress? Right? Wow this is much easier to talk about than I thought... You're not gonna use this against me or anything, are you?" F/N asked, trying to lighten the mood as he chuckled. Carmilla shook her head.

"No. Especially not after that delicious sandwich you made for my daughters and I," she said, starting to chuckle as well.

"I don't remember giving out three of them..." F/N shrugged, turning to leave.

"I like cooking, so if you want something, I'm sure I could give it a shot. Just give the Hotel a call and ask for F/N," he said, turning and walking out. Frank, the terrified little egg creature, managed to slip out unnoticed.

~~

The Egg Boiz were scavenging for weapons, parts, and garbage in a dumpster. Alison, humming as she waited, kept an eye on the elevator.

"Ohhhh, this one smells like fun! Oh, I love garbage!" one of the Egg Boiz said. The elevator door rang, and Alison stopped Frank before he managed to meet back with the other eggs.

"So, what did you hear?" she asked.

"First, the old guy w-was all, "Y-you're not yourself. You're the one who killed the angel," a-a-and, she was all , "♪ Whatever it takes ♪ And then the muscly guy you came with talked about how he died!" Frank said, nervously eyeing the elevator.

"And then what was the second to last last thing?" Alison asked, perking up at the mention of the angel.

"She killed the angel?" Frank asked.

"Interesting. Lets keep this between us, shall we?" she asked, grinning sadistically as the area around her staticed for a brief moment.

"You got it, boss!" Frank said, saluting Alison as she heard another elevator ding.

~~

Back at the inside of the hotel, Charlie looked down after a disastrous trust exercise. Vaggie came on the balcony to see her.

"Hey."

"Hey." Charlie seemed distracted and distant, causing Vaggie to frown further.

"I'm sorry I got so crazy today," she sighed, causing Charlie to grab her hand.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put pressure on you. We work as a team. I guess I just thought all this would be easier, but, we'll figure it out, together. I mean, look what your exercise did for them," Charlie said, waving her hand towards Angel, Pentious, and Niffty, all laughing amongst themselves after one crazy battle against the demons in a turf war.

"And then, when that buff guy started beating the shit outta you!" Angel laughed, nearly doubled over.

"Yes, and with the dismembered arm. Yes, that was... particularly unpleasant." Pentious laughed, the laugh stopping rather quicky as she remembered the event in great detail."

"I liked that part!" Nifty giggled.

"Well... hey, at least you can take a beating like a champ. You did okay, new kid." Husk rarely gave out compliments, let alone a pat on the shoulder, so it was quite the surprise to Charlie and Vaggie. (Wow that fuck up was rather embarrassing. Good thing I reread these for shiggles (other favorite word- combining shits and giggles))

"...Really? Oh well, I suppose I did get into a little of the old, rough and tumble today. And uh, thank you for pulling me out of there." Madam Pentious sighed, feeling for the first time at home with the group. Everyone laughed with enjoyment, but Niffty ruined the moment by laughing manically, causing the other three to stop and witness her insanity.

"Well, how about that?"

The front door opens, and Alison enters the hotel with the Egg Boiz minions tailing behind him. Vaggie notices them and calls out to Alison.

"Alison. failed to get rid of the eggs, I see," Vaggie felt sort of vindicated that Alison had finally not succeeded.

"Yes, well, the little monsters prove to be rather useful," She replied. At the end of her sentence, Alison glowed with excitement. She had learned several valuable pieces of information during and after the meeting.

"Why don't you give them back to Pentious?" Vaggie asked, figuring it was better to remove minions from Alison while she had little control of them. Upon hearing this, Pentious got teary eyed at Vaggie's words.

"Really?" she asked, on the verge of crying. Vaggie sighed, shaking her head. Somehow, someway, she was going to regret that decision.

"Yeah. After today, I guess I can trust you with them. But seriously, no more weapons." Vaggie glared, hoping the point would get across without issues. Pentious got emotional and slithers down to hug her Egg Boiz as Alison walks away.

"Ahhh! My eggs! Yay. Ah, it's so good to have you back. *drops the Egg Boiz* Now, go clean my quarters this instant!" she commanded, causing the Egg Boiz to immediately scatter as Charlie and Vaggie watched them leave.

"Maybe, things'll move faster than you think," Charlie said hopefully. Right as she spoke, F/N had finally returned. He looked different- lighter maybe? It wasn't clear.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll talk about it." Charlie and Vaggie looked at each other, confused and concerned. Vaggie knew what he meant, but didn't know what to expect.

God this took too long! Between issues with applying for college, work, getting sick, losing interest and gaining inspiration when I can't type, this got super delayed. Fortunately I already had a plan for the next few chapters so those should be much smoother. Finally.

Last chance for deciding for or against the drunk cat girl. Make your choices carefully.