WARNING: The following contains graphic violence, strong language, sexual themes, depictions of severe anxiety, as well as rampant demon horniness... so yes, it's intended for mature audiences.

VIEWER/READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

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3rd Person POV

"Mre...! Mre...!"

"Hmmmmm...?" Ayden roused awake from the bright yellow and orange honeycomb patterned sheets from Jin adorably kicking a foot like they were dreaming from where they curled up close to her side.

"Haaah...!"

After rolling onto her back to just stare at the hive-shaped overhead lamps over the bed, Ayden loudly sighed and was rubbing her eyes when a gentle knock sounded on the door,

*tch...* *tch...*

Before the door opened for Bee to peek in with a concerned look on her face as she told her,

"Hey... we've got some breakfast going if you're up for it..."

And Ayden slowly sat up while keeping a paw on her forehead as she answered back sluggishly,

"Be down in a sec..."

Bee gave an affirmative nod with a sympathetic smile before closing the door behind her to leave Ayden and Jin alone as the latter started stretching to wake up and brushed their tail against her arm to ask,

'Are you feeling alright... after... last night...?'

Ayden winced as a quick flashback revealed that after Blitzø had spoken those two dreaded words, he'd added,

'Get between us again and you're off the team...'

Before Ayden's shock had turned to seething anger and she yelled hard enough to send out a blast wave of sparks and heat that had knocked Millie and Moxxie away and shattered all the glass in a 10-foot radius,

'FUCK YOU!'

And ran out of the house with Jin following behind her before she could see or hear their reactions and her memories turned pretty fuzzy after that.

"C'mon," Ayden brushed her hair out of her face as she kicked the sheets off to reveal she was wearing a one-short-sleeved, off-shoulder and upper-thigh length orange star-dotted with cosmic candy pop designs on the front t-shirt nightdress with a loose black tank top underneath, and knee-length skin-tight yellow shorts and black with light yellow honeybee and hexagon-spotted stockings that left her toes exposed that'd been conjured for her by Bee, "Let's get...-"

A buzz from the nightstand next to the bed made Ayden see her phone light up with a message notification and she hesitated before picking it up to see a text from Millie asking if she and Jin were alright and somewhere safe.

With a sad smile, she texted back a simple,

*yes*

Millie responded a few seconds later with a thumbs-up emoji before adding,

*Come home whenever you both feel ready*

Ayden's face fell at that so she turned off her phone and left it on the nightstand next to her open journal, the same one she'd gotten with Alex and Remi and had started keeping on her in her satchel.

After signing the latest entry she wrote earlier that morning/night, she closed it and put the pen to the side before proceeding to stare despondently at the book and her satchel next to it before Jin hopped onto her shoulders to nuzzle their head to her cheek and break her out of her despairing trance, making her smile a bit before she got up and walked out of the guest room they stayed in for the night.

Once they walked down the stairs to get to the pristine kitchen, they both saw Bee using her powers to conjure up some whipped cream and strawberries for the waffles that were being taken by hand out of a waffle maker and placed on three plates that Tex set out on the table before placing glasses down as well so she could manifest some pitchers of milk, orange juice, and syrup over to the center of the table.

Tex noticed Ayden and Jin standing by the doorway watching them so he greeted them with a friendly wave over,

"Don't be so awkward, come on in and take some seats you two."

Ayden and Jin obliged, each of them taking a seat before two plates of waffles were slid in front of them and Bee and Tex sat down as well with him pouring himself some orange juice before holding the pitcher out to offer,

"Want some?"

"Su'e.. thanks..." Ayden mumbled half-heartedly as he filled up her glass before starting in on his breakfast.

It was quiet for a few minutes as they all started to eat until Bee noticed Ayden barely poking at her waffles, having only taken a bite so she ribbed jokingly but still gently,

"What's gotcha so down Sour Patch Kid?"

Smirking a bit at the nickname, Ayden muttered tiredly,

"'S jus' been a wei'd night... things a'e.. tense at home an'...I don' know whe'e ta go from he'e fer now..."

"And you don't have any other place to go to?" Tex asked through a half mouthful of waffle.

"Weeeeell..." Ayden drew out as she slowly started to remember how her and Jin's first stop after they arrived in the Gluttony Ring was Alex and Remi's apartment but they stopped before she could even knock on their front door when they'd heard them arguing inside,

'I swear it was a one-time thing!' Alex had been yelling before Remi had shouted back,

'And what's stopping it from happening a second, or third, or fifteenth time!'

'You know the people there like to screw u-!'

Ayden's eyes and ears snapped wider and she looked at Jin awkwardly before they both slowly and stealthily backed away from the door as the arguing continued inside,

'And there you go blaming it on the other person instead of doing the deed and handling the consequences!'

Which then led to Bee opening her door in the middle of the rain-filled night and putting a hand to her mouth in surprise when she saw the two soaked cats on her doorstep.

Back in the present, Ayden awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck as she answered his question with an unsure,

"Not really no.. so yeh... so'y..."

"Hey hey..." Bee gently put two hands on Ayden's paw and shoulder as she assured her, "It's all cool, you're always welcome here, party or no... Both of you..."

Bee referred the last part to Jin as they meowed with a grateful tone before digging into their waffle, occasionally pausing to lap at the milk in their short glass making Bee giggle before asking,

"Wanted to ask who this little candy drop was last night but it seemed like you'd both had a rough night."

"'T's ok, this's Jin, my sibling...sssss...?"

Bee and Tex's eyes looked up in mild shock and Ayden was expecting to be bombarded with more questions but was surprised when they both commented nonchalantly,

"Cool."

"Nice."

They both continued eating, leaving Ayden a bit stumped before she too decided to continue eating her waffle, the rest of the meal going towards less serious conversations.

After they all finished eating, Ayden and Jin helped with bringing all the dirty dishes to the kitchen sink so Bee could wash them while Tex had gone and looked to be getting ready for work from the way he was wearing the same outfit she'd seen him wearing last time they met when he was working for Verosika.

"Hey Babe, don't forget the drinks for tonight." Bee reminded him pointing with one of her lower arms to a yellow sack on one of the kitchen counters that was bulging with what was most likely booze bottles.

"Party's not til tonight so I'll be back to pick'em up later," Tex told her before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and waving to Ayden and Jin as he told them all, "See you all later."

Before heading out as Bee finished cleaning up the dishes from breakfast so she could tell Ayden and Jin, who was still finishing up their milk,

"I've got some paperwork to finish upstairs before the Halloween rager I'm throwin' tonight but feel free to just hang out for as long as you need."

Ayden looked to the side before asking,

"Got a room we could do some training in?"

"Yeah we got a couple big rooms you could use." Bee told her before adding, "Just try not to trash them too bad kay?"

The corner of Ayden's mouth quirked up in a cheeky smile at that as she called out jokingly while walking away,

"No promises!"

Jin hopped down from the counter closest to the sink after they placed their empty mug in it before they ran after Ayden and Bee was seen smiling after them before it dropped to a look of apprehension as she sighed before flying up to her office.

After wandering around for a bit, Ayden and Jin found a large enough room that was mostly empty aside from some stacked tables and boxes of decorations with enough space to practice.

Jin sat to the side as Ayden set up some mini piles of spools of streamers to use as makeshift targets, cocking their head when they noticed how her paws were shaking slightly as she tried to get them lined up just right before walking away to stand at ready.

Summoning multiple fireballs at once, Ayden held both paws up to hold them still in midair before swiping at each one while whirling and twirling around to send them flying off in the direction of the targets, all of them landing except the last one since she had tripped and fallen against a wall when swiping at the last fireball.

"Mrow!" Jin meowed congratulatory but was stopped when Ayden huffed and pounded her clenched fist against a wall in frustration before pushing herself off it to set the missed target up in the middle of the room, this time putting a can of soda on the very top as a weight on the streamer rolls.

Jin raised an eyebrow ridge in confused concern at the haste Ayden was taking before she walked away from the target and huffed, unsheathing her claws, before whirling around and slicing the air to send a razor-thin arc of flames that knocked a streamer roll out of from under the soda can but letting it drop neatly onto the remaining rolls.

Ayden panted and her mouth quirked up in a smile before she twirled around to send another arc out to try it again but this one was misfired and it ended up slicing the soda can in half and sending out a heated burst of soda that sent it misting over the whole room, dampening her and Jin.

Jin was shaking themself off, about to walk over to talk to Ayden when they stopped after seeing how she was gritting her fangs with a barely-restrained frustrated growl and she hurried to set up another setup.

For the next couple of hours, the pattern continued; Ayden tried various techniques out, both practiced and new, and whenever it didn't work out the way she wanted to, she'd move on to another technique again and again and again until her bangs were nearly plastered to her forehead from how much she was sweating and she half kneeled while panting with small wisps of smoke escaping with each exhale from the fire breath she had just practiced and failed at from nearly setting Jin ablaze.

Peeking back out from the drink cooler they'd hidden behind to avoid the blast, they bounded over to Ayden and put a paw on her bent knee to speak to her,

'Maybe you should just.. take a break.. refocus and recharge...?'

At their voice, Ayden looked down at them before her tired expression took on one of interest and thought as she started to formulate,

"Actually... the'e's somethin' else I wanna try fi'st."

'Ok...?'

Ayden got up and started to devise while walking away from Jin,

"A'ight! Let's wo'k on combinin' 'gain, we know it c'n be useful in a fight but we got real lucky last night that it wo'ked. We need ta get bette'."

Jin did the feline equivalent of raising an eyebrow before meowing in an unsure tone as they got into a running-ready stance.

With a quick snap of her digits, Ayden and Jin ran toward each other but just after they leaped toward each other, on course to clash and merge-

*PSH!*

"YAH!"

"MROW!"

They just headbutted each other instead and fell back, reeling and holding their heads while curling up in pain.

"FFFFFF-U-U-UUUUCK!" Ayden whined in agony as she rubbed her forehead where a dark red bruise started forming before it turned to frustration as she punched the floor and curled in on herself with her paws on her face.

"Mrow...?" Jin meowed with a concerned tone and they pried themself off the floor to trudge over to Ayden and put their head on her lap but she shifted away from their touch as she lightly pounded a fist to her forehead over the bruise to berate herself,

"I gotta get this down..."

And Jin put a paw on her arm to ask,

'Why does this matter so much to you?'

"I jus'.. I gotta get this down.. ta.. ta prove I c'n still be on the team.."

'I thought you and Blitzø talked out the whole "needing to prove yourself" thing...'

"Yeah well I still can't help it!" Ayden snapped, "Yeste'day proved I'm only around 's long he wants me around. Without I.M.P... I don't know what I'd do wi'h myself..."

'Maybe that's something you need to face...?' Einar's voice spoke up at the forefront as they sat down next to Ayden and leaned their head against her arm as he continued, 'You keep basing your sense of self-worth on what you have to offer others, it's something I've noticed you and Blitzø-mre-eek!'

At his mention, Ayden scowled harder and stood up quickly, leaving Jin to fall on the ground with a meow squeak as she stood with her back to them as she started trying to manifest some flames between her paws with limited success.

With a scowl of their own, Jin twined themself against her leg as they meowed persistently,

'You can't keep ignoring this...!'

"Watch me...!" Ayden retorted as she tried focusing her anger into her flames like Stolas taught her but thinking about their lessons just made the flames fizzle and crackle in a more unstable manner as Jin kept persisting while forcefully brushing themself against her leg, other siblings' voices fronting one at a time,

'Ya need to talk about it!' Heliosa's voice came through in her soprano-like tone.

"No I don't...!"

*PST!* *ZRT!*

The crackling kept getting more erratic and poised to outburst the more the "two" of them argued,

'Why don't you want to?!' Eulises argued and Zini added immaturely,

'Yeeeaaah why noooot?!'

"Cause I don't want to!"

'WHY NOT?!' Einar persisted.

"JUST BECAUSE!"

At her yell, a red-edged heatwave blast radiated from Ayden like the night before and shot Jin back hard enough to slam into a wall while also sending the stacked tables flying across the room and making some of the boxes of decorations combust, sending ashy remains flying around.

In the midst of it, Ayden remained standing there with her fists clenched by her sides and her stuttering panting coming through gritted fangs as wisps of smoke curled off of her form and her freckles and eyes still glowed a haunting dark red before she scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head slightly before looking at where Jin landed in a singed box of streamers that, by some stroke of luck, broke their fall.

"Mrreeoww..." Jin tumbled out of the box with a roll of orange streamers unraveling on their head as they teetered on their paws for a bit before shaking themself off and starting to clean themself off as if nothing happened.

"TCH!" Ayden made an impatient noise through her gritted fangs and stormed out of the room.

Jin watched her go with a forlorn expression on their face as they lowered themself to the floor and rested their head on their paws to rest for a bit, their tail whipping around in agitation and occasionally clinking their tail ring against the floor.

With Ayden, she had no idea where she was stomping off to... she had no idea what she was going to say to Jin after hurting them the way she did... she had no idea when she was going to be ready to go back home if she ever could after blowing up like she did...

All she knew... was that she was so tired of feeling like absolute-

"Shit!"

Ears perking up at the sound of Bee's yelling, Ayden peeked through the slightly ajar door into what looked like Bee's office from all the paperwork piled around the desk as she was talking into her hPhone,

"Are you serious?!" She paused and Ayden's ear twitched at hearing the baritone voice that was most likely Tex on the other end before Bee continued speaking, "Well that's some crazy shit to have to handle right before the party..." She gasped before asking, "Crap! Don't you have to come back to get the drinks though?!" Another pause before Bee sighed, "Sorry sorry I'm spiraling... all this certification paperwork for the adoption centers on top of the party I'm already an hour behind on preparing for... I don't think I'll be able to take them over.."

Ayden lightly knocked on the door before pushing it open to say,

"Hey uhh so'y ta interrupt but.. I could take'em..."

Bee turned around in slight shock, noting Ayden's disheveled look with a concerned eyebrow raise that made Ayden jolt as she hurried to clean herself up before grinning innocently as if she hadn't looked like a complete mess a few seconds ago.

*Was that the kid?*

Bee turned back to her phone as she told him,

"Huh? Oh yeah, she said she could drop them off real quick but she'll probably need a portal opened to the house-"

"I got my own," Ayden cut in and Bee looked at her in surprise before she added, "I'll jus' need a pictu'e o' of the house so I know whe'e I'm goin'."

*I'll send one right now,* Tex's voice came through the phone, having heard Ayden before directing to her, *Thanks kid.*

"Yeh no prob." Ayden grinned a little too forced and lopsidedly for Bee's taste, as evident from the look of concern she flashed right before covering it up with a bright smile as she told Tex,

"So she'll be right over with those, hope you take care of all that business and tell V I say hi!"

She hung up and her smile slipped to a frown as she sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose with an upper hand with the lower ones were moving some papers around on the desk causing Ayden to ask,

"What happ'ned?"

"Hah... some humans got super ballsy trying to get into the party setup and Tex had to deal with them..." Bee explained as she multitasked, talking while fixing up some papers on her desk.

"I'm guessin' this pa'ty is in the Human Realm?"

"Yeah I mean it's Halloween, y'know 'one day a year when the spirits can rise amongst the living' and all that jazz."

*Bing!*

She was cut off from saying more when her phone dinged with the notification of the text from Tex containing a picture of the human house he was at.

"Lemme see." Ayden looked over at the photo to see a multi-story house sitting atop a mountain with some Halloween decorations being put around by Succubi, Hellhounds, and other Hellborns, "Got it."

Ayden turned around about to leave the room so she could grab the drinks from the kitchen and open a portal in peace when one of Bee's arms caught her shoulder and she turned back to see her looking worried as she asked,

"You sure you're up for this?"

"Yeh, why?"

"You just seem really down and I could tell that without tasting the black licorice vibe you got going on right now."

"'Ve jus' got some stuff goin' on, I'll be fine." Ayden pulled away to start walking out when she stopped at the doorway to tell her, "C'n ya check on Jin.. I think.. they might need someone to check on them too..."

"'Course, be safe up there." Bee assured her before wishing her well and she nodded in acknowledgment.

After making a quick pit stop to the kitchen to grab the drink sack, Ayden hoisted the bag over her shoulder and freed up a paw to draw the portal, picturing that human house she saw in the picture.

After stepping through, and promptly puking into the bushes, incinerating the plant, Ayden started walking around looking for Tex, bumping into a few demons as they decorated.

Eventually, she spotted him coming out from the house with two humans draped over his arm, passed out and beaten up from trying to crash the party prep.

"Hey Kid!" He called out to her before gesturing with a side head nod for her to follow him, "Bring'em on in here."

So she followed him into the house and was dropping off the sack of drinks on one of the long tables while attaching the note Bee had left inside to the outside when her ear twitched from the sound she heard coming from the outside,

*TCH!*

"Teeeex?!" One of the Hellborns was yelling out but Ayden reacted quickly as she bolted outside and saw a human teen boy charging right for the house with a huge bouquet of pink flowers in one of his outstretched hands.

Reacting quickly, Ayden ran toward him before jumping up and whirling around midair to kick him square in the chest forcing him to fall onto his back, winded from the kick while she landed right back on all four of her paws.

"Phew!" Ayden harshly sighed as she stood back up to brush her paws off before Tex whistled impressed,

"Damn kid that was a savage takedown."

Before he picked up the kid to add to the growing pile in his arms just as a voice spoke up from behind them,

"That was impressive..."

And they both turned around to see Verosika standing there, the sight of whom made Ayden hiss with her fur bristling up,

"You?!"

"Oh it's you..." Verosika deadpanned with a bored look, unfazed by Ayden's outburst before taking another chug from her bottle and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before scowling down at her.

The two just glared at each other for a few seconds before Tex awkwardly spoke while inching away,

"I'm just gonna... go take care of these punks..."

Fully leaving the awkward scene just as Verosika snorted derisively,

"You're the little kitten who works for Blitzo..."

Ayden gnashed her fangs partially at being called kitten again and partially for her deadnaming Blitzø, no matter how angry she was with him at the moment, as she snapped back,

"The one who's still pissed at the assault you 'n yer crew did on my and my d-... on my teammate."

"And almost got all of us in deep shit because of your boss's dumbass bet!"

"You-!" Ayden was about to shoot back before her ear twitched again and,

"RAH!"

*TCH!*

She punched out another human boy who had jumped the fence closest to them looking like he was about to make a move on Verosika but wasn't given the chance as he stumbled back thanks to the punch to the face that Ayden added to by grabbing him by the shoulders to knee him in the chest before tossing him into the fence.

Ayden panted in both exhaustion and venting anger before wiping her nose with a huff when the boy tried to get back up only to be harshly kicked in the face again making Verosika comment in mild awe,

"You're pretty good at that." Before taking another swig from her bottle and crossing her arms as she asked her, "How'd you like to work security for me tonight?"

"Wha-?!" Ayden looked up at her incredulously before asking in disbelief, "I wo'k fer you' ex and you wanna hi'e me?"

"Don't read too much into it..." Verosika deadpanned before explaining in a bored tone, "Tex needs the extra hand and I want my guests to not have to worry about humans getting in and ruining the one day a year they can come up here..."

Ayden narrowed her eyes at that reasoning and crossed her arms as she thought it over before she was interrupted with,

"You got somewhere you need to be or something?"

Ayden gave her a peeved glare before realizing she really didn't have anywhere she needed or frankly wanted to be for the moment so she sighed harshly before telling her,

"Fine. Just fer the night though and this's a one time thin'."

"Deal." Verosika agreed and took another swig from her bottle before a banner was unfurled behind her from over the patio door leading to the inside of the house that read "FUCK YOU BLITZO" with a small drawing of Blitzø with a sword going through his head.

"What the-?!" Ayden cringed at the sign before looking around and realizing there were a bunch of Blitzø items with him being dead or prepared for desecration by other people.

"Oh yeah this is a Halloween-themed Anti Blitzo party, ~have fuuuuun.~"

She drew out the last part teasingly as she walked away with a sarcastic wave while Ayden stayed in her state of disbelief before it turned to deadpan annoyance that only lightened up the tiniest bit when Tex came back over to tell her,

"That coulda gone worse."

Before lightly nudging her side,

"C'mon, there's a couple of things to do to beef up security before the party starts."

Ayden had half a mind to demand to know if he knew about the party's true theme but instead she just harshly sighed discontentedly and muttered,

"Fine..."

Walking away with Tex giving her a look of concern before following behind to direct her in all the preparations and double checking to make sure they'd be able to keep humans out.

A few hours later, the first guests for the party showed up in costumes or in Blitzo hate merch, the latter making Ayden glower deeper and deeper the more demons showed up and she had to watch as everyone engaged in torturing the Blitzo effigies, taking out her own frustrations on the few humans who tried to sneak in for the first hour of the party before they eventually stopped, leaving her fidgety and restless for a distraction.

Tex had kept an eye on her dour mood the whole time, his worried expression never leaving his face before he got a text on his phone that he discreetly looked at and its content made him put on a slight face of determination, looking around before seeing a spare costume rack that'd been set up in case someone showed up without one or theirs got ruined.

"Hey kid?" Ayden looked over at him with a devoid expression before he asked enthusiastically, "Wanna join in the fun?"

"What? D'facing my boss's face?" Ayden droned sarcastically before scoffing, "Tch... no thanks..."

"Heh nah S.P.K.." Ayden gave a slight grin twitch at the shortened version of Bee's nickname for her before he nodded his head in the direction of the costume rack and she followed his motion, her face lighting up a bit at the thought before it fell with some reluctance and she looked away until he clapped a hand on her shoulder to urge, "C'mon! It's the one day a year where you get to choose what kinda mask to wear."

Ayden looked back over to the clothing rack with her frown slowly turning upward as an upbeat guitar and whistling song opening started to play in the background,

(Song is "Now You Know My Name" by The Derevolutions if you wanna listen along)

♫ Danny tried to fly a kite, surfing in her living room

Franny tried to pass her by, driving at the speed of light ♫

"Ha! Eh?" Ayden popped out from the changing screen set up in the corner wearing a khaki green safari outfit with a too-large pith helmet that kept falling over her face before Tex gave her a head shake and she agreed before going back.

♫ Now you know my name

Na-na-na-na-na-na

Yeah, now you know my name ♫

"Hmmm... naaah... I do like the bat though." Ayden commented while she swung the metal bat of the Harley Quinn costume she was wearing experimentally around before thumping it into her paw.

♫ My candy tastes like butternut, mix it with some other stuff

Swimming in my swimming pool, boy, you think I think you're cool ♫

"No way." Ayden deadpanned at the sequined lion-tamer outfit she tried on and the way the gold sequin lamé shorts were riding up on her around her tail, evident from the way it was flicking around sporadically, before going back behind the screen.

♫ Now you know my name

Na-na na-na na-na

Yeah, now you know my name ♫

"This feels extra..." Ayden deadpanned again while wearing a giant cat hoodie complete with a fake tail and large sleeves that covered her actual paws with stuffed paw hand coverings that Tex tried stifling his chuckles to but couldn't contain them for long and eventually even Ayden started chortling too.

♫ Now you know my name

Na-na na-na na-na

Yeah, now you know my name ♫

"Not su'e how this is an astronaut costume," Ayden stepped out from behind the screen wearing a glittery deep violet belted dress that had some planets, moon, and star patterns with the glitter on the skirt and some astronaut boot-themed leg coverings while carrying an astronaut bubble helmet under her arm as she shrugged, "But it's bette' than most o' the othe' stuff on the'e."

"Looks good." Tex gave a thumbs up before thinking for a second and pulling a purple galaxy-patterned hair bow that had a silver star in the center off the costume rack and fixed it into Ayden's hair so it took some of her bangs away from her newest scar before saying, "There."

Ayden looked a little unsure about showing her scar before Tex put a hand on her shoulder to assure her,

"Nothin' to be ashamed of." Pointing to his own scar over his eye as he assured her, "These just say 'I survived bitches!'"

Ayden chuckled a little as she looked over all her scars with a small new light before asking him,

"How'd ya get you's?"

"That's.. a story for another time." Tex looked a little forlorn before he shook it off to ruffle her hair as he told her, "Go get somethin' to eat or drink, except booze, I'll keep watch for a bit."

Ayden nodded appreciatively before heading off into the crowd, looking around for the table where she saw some snacks and non-alcoholic drinks set up earlier when she bumped into-

"Alex?! Remi?!"

The imp and hellhound couple turned around in surprise, the two of them in a couple's costume of a pink-clad fairy and white spotted red mushroom respectively, as Remi practically shrieked as she jumped half a foot in the air,

"Ayden?!"

Before Alex put their hand on her shoulders to calm her down from the scare as they questioned more calmly,

"What're you doing here?"

"What're you both doin' he'e?! I thought you we'e fightin'?"

"Oh Satan you heard about that...?!" Remi squeaked out as she put her hands to her face in embarrassment and Alex continued rubbing her back in calming circles as they explained to Ayden,

"We just had a little misunderstanding is all."

"You cheating on he' is a 'lil' misunde'standing?!'"

"What?! No! They'd never cheat on me! R-Right Woo...?" Remi yelped out before her tone turned a little more hesitant and Alex leaned down to kiss her on the forehead to shut down her doubts with an affectionate,

"Never Boo..."

Causing Remi to lean in with a relaxed and content smile on her face but Ayden looked more confused as she questioned,

"Then what was all that 'bout 'bein' a one-time thing' and 'doin' the deed and not dealin' wi'h the consequences?'"

"Oh that..." Alex's ears drooped down as they put their free hand on their neck in an embarrassed manner to admit, "I bought Remi the wrong orange juice."

Ayden's face dropped into an incredulous "seriously?" look before Remi added,

"And I maaaay have overdosed my Hellstrogen injection yesterday so I've been a liiiittle more.. dramatic than usual hehehe..." Remi admitted while waving her hands around before wringing them as she trailed off with a nervous chuckle.

"Haaaaah...." Ayden put a paw to her forehead in exasperation before realizing and asking while gesturing to the party, "That still doe'n't 'xplain why you'e he'e?"

"Oh we're just here supporting a few of our friends who maaaaay have gotten their hearts broken by your boss a couple years back." Remi hooked a thumb in the direction of an imp in a bloody Mad Hatter costume who was linking arms with a succubus in a bloody Alice costume as they downed two shots.

"Why exactly are you here?" Alex directed the question back in Ayden's direction that she struggled with wording her answer to until-

"FUCK BLITZO IN THE FUCKING ASS!"

She was saved from having to answer the question when Verosika shouted out to the crowd and everyone cheered while raising their drinks in the air minus Alex, Remi, and Ayden.

"Yeah we don't really think this is the best way to go about getting over someone but hey, if it works for them, it works for them." Alex commented nonchalantly before Remi questioned with no filter,

"Right? Kinda makes me wonder if he's got a higher body count with his gun or his dick."

"Boo please..." Alex rolled their eyes while hugging Remi closer before turning to ask, "Ayden what do you th-uhhh... you OK?"

But their question went unheard as the feline demoness in question's wide-eyed, slightly twitching, gaze was fixed on Verosika walking away with a piece of cake modeled after Blitzø's head with x's in his eyes and an axe in his forehead leaving Stolas behind at the snack table.

"OH SHITE!" Ayden shouted before she rapidly pulled on her astronaut helmet just before Stolas looked in her direction at the sound of her voice before shrugging and turning to walk off moodily with a drink in his hand and, at nearly the same time, saw Blitzø walking in and surveying the crowd of his ex's in the opposite direction, leaving Ayden right smack in the middle of them.

"Gotta go!" Ayden yelped, her voice slightly muffled by the astronaut helmet and she ran off into the crowd, bumping into a few demons from the way she stumbled on her paws from her rushing.

Alex and Remi watched her leave with worry on their faces but were stopped from pursuing her when their friends came back up to them swaying on their feet from how drunk they were getting and had to turn their attention to them before they got caught up in the crowd as everyone started surging outside.

Back with Ayden, she was pushing past demons in a near-frenzied state as she ran up the stairs and through the halls, losing her hair bow as she tried to find a way out but, in her frankly manic state of mind, only ended up getting more lost as she somehow wound up in the middle of one of the upstairs empty rooms, except to her it wasn't empty...

All of a sudden she was back in that alley with her old burrow; one of the old main sources of her isolation and the very representation of when she had nothing and no one that, in the moment, didn't feel so distant in the past.

"Nononononononono....! Le-OOF let me out! LET ME OUT!" Ayden screamed in a panic and tried to leave the room but ended up stumbling and accidentally body slamming the door shut with her shoulder causing her to fall on her backside with her back against the door, her helmet falling off her head so she was forced to look at her mind's hallucination of the alley as the voices started creeping in one at a time, blurring over each other in an overwhelming cacophony not matter how hard she clenched her paws over her ears...

While Stolas was singing his heart out on the stage outside for Blitzø to witness hidden in the crowd, Ayden was alone in that room, chest heaving as her heart pounded within it, droplets of sweat and tears dripped down only to evaporate with the heat that was starting to radiate off of her as she curled in on herself, her tail constricting around her while she grabbed at her hair with her paws before she started sobbing,

"Pleasepleaseplease.... nonononono-hic-HAH!"

Halfway through her plea, she cut off from having to drag a breath into her aching lungs before she started hyperventilating in short jagged breaths,

"HaahHahHahHahHahHah!"

She reached down a paw to where her thigh satchel would be, only to bunch the edge of her dress in her paw as she hazily remembered she left it in the room at Bee's place... along with the gummies she hadn't used in.. a while but had still kept out of compulsion...

"H-a-aaaaah...!"

Letting out a defeated broken sigh Ayden's chest felt like it was about to sink in on itself with the invisible weight on it and she turned back to the burrow illusion before her panicked expression turned to one of despair as a bad idea came to mind, her breathing quickening back up for a few seconds as she pulled herself to her paws but her legs stayed limp under her.

Her breathing only started to slow when she started dragging herself toward the hole... toward the familiar, uncomfortably comforting feeling of numbness and unfeeling she thought she'd never have to return to...

"NO-O!"

Before the illusion started to disappear before her eyes and all she was left with was the empty room and her still-growing sense of panic and need for escape as she frantically clawed at the floor while crying out,

"Let me in!"

Before her body started to tense from the exhaustion and stress of the anxiety attack that had her in its grip.

"Letmeinletmeinletmein...!" Ayden curled up in fetal position, helplessly whimpering before it tuned back to the outside as Stolas finished up his performance with,

*Thank you for your time.*

Before walking off the stage as the crowd applauded for him and Verosika announced while Tex howled excitedly,

*Alrighty bitches, let's get wiiiild!*

The crowd started dispersing to drink, eat, and party some more before Tex looked out at the crowd, his face dropping to one of concern as he asked his boss,

"Hey, didja see where the kid went?"

Verosika's face dropped to one of slight boredom as she answered,

"Last time I saw her she was chatting with some guests," She looked up and pointed as she added, "Those ones actually."

And a quick look out at the crowd revealed Alex and Remi trying to pry their bloody Alice friend away from where she was beating the literal stuffing out of a Blitzo dummy while crying angrily in her drunken-fueled state while the bloody Mad Hatter friend was passed out nearby with Remi keeping watch over them.

Walking over to them, Tex greeted in recognition,

"Oh Alex hey!"

"Hey Tex! Agh!" Alex greeted before they had to continue pulling their friend away from the dummy one last time so Remi could hug her close to comfort her instead before Tex asked,

"How's the bakery life treatin' ya?"

"It's really great, your girl endorsing us's been really helping business." Alex replied as they bent backward to crack their back from the struggle before Verosika coughed from where she had suddenly appeared behind him, making Tex go back to the reason he was there by asking,

"Uh didja see where the cat kid went?"

"Ayden?" Alex questioned and Remi continued their answer,

"We haven't seen her since she freaked out and ran away from us after seeing her teacher and boss inside."

That piece of info made Tex and Verosika's eyes widen a bit before Alex continued with,

"We wanted to follow her but..."

They looked over at their friends with a worried expression that Remi matched as she continued comforting their crying friend.

Silently nodding in acknowledgment, Tex was about to say something else when Verosika cut in with,

"Just.. take care of those two, we'll take care of the kid."

Alex looked at her with an unsure expression on their face before Remi placed a hand on theirs to signal them to trust her and they reluctantly nodded in agreement before helping her with taking their friends out of the party.

Tex looked over at his boss with a puzzled look before voicing,

"Uh I can handle lookin' for the kid, you don't hafta-"

"Let's just find the little hairball before she hurts herself..." Verosika spoke plainly as she headed back for the house and Tex watched her before shrugging and following behind.

Once inside, it seemed like it was going to be nearly impossible to find the barely-5-foot-tall feline demoness among all the demons inside when Tex spotted an out-of-place silver shine on the steps leading up to the second floor.

Picking the hair bow up, Tex led the way up the stairs until they got to the hallway of rooms and they each started opening them to search, Verosika eventually finding Ayden where she was still curled up on the floor sniffling and hiccuping, barely audible over the pounding music downstairs.

Bored expression dipping slightly to one of unease, Verosika stuck her head back out to signal to Tex with a head nod that she'd found her but a raised hand stopped him from entering as she closed the door behind her, but not all the way, before approaching Ayden in a crouch to question mildly,

"Hey... kid...?"

Ayden sniffed before tilting her head enough to peek out at her with one eye, glowing slightly from her tears, but flinched away when Verosika reached a hand out to help her up, making her pause before shaking it off to question,

"You just gonna lie there for the rest of the party or....?"

But Ayden didn't answer at first, only sniffled before she sobbed quietly, surprising Verosika with the absence of her accent,

"I don't wanna go back... but I don't wanna feel all this-this... ngh... tssf..!"

She curled in on herself even tighter with a small sniffle and Verosika's expression turned into one of pity as she lowered herself to sit with her back against the wall closest to Ayden, putting her bottle down to the side, as she managed to keep going, still sans accent,

"I keep.. getting caught up between the two of them and he said he'd fire me if I kept doing it... but I think if I stop focusing on them then I'll focus on my own stuff and.. I don't think I'm ready to think about all that..."

"No one ever is..." Verosika muttered as she looked away with a distant look in her eyes before continuing, "We're never prepared for the self-reflection we go through after someone breaks our world apart... and we're left to pick up the pieces..."

She was seething by the end of her sentence but lightened her expression when she saw Ayden flinch away and sighed harshly before suggesting,

"Sounds to me like you need a break from work and training til ya get this mess sorted out with you.. nobody's drama should be yours but your own..."

Ayden looked nervous at the thought as she started sitting up shakingly as the last of the anxiety attack's effects began wearing off leaving her a little more clear-headed to consider the recommendation.

She stayed upright with her paws fiddling in her lap, her tail end flicking slowly, and her ears folded down for another minute before her expression turned to one of half-determined resignation when she looked up at Verosika to nod.

"Good." Verosika grinned before standing up, picking up the bubble helmet as she did, and Ayden followed suit as she followed her out of the room where Tex was waiting for them.

"You OK?" He asked Ayden and she looked down before nodding with an unreadable expression.

Looking at his boss, she side-nodded her head to motion outside the house while handing him the helmet and Tex nodded before directing to Ayden while holding it out,

"Come on let's getcha outta here..."

Ayden nodded wordlessly again as she took it from his hands and pulled it on over her head before she went back to hugging herself so he put an arm around her shoulders to guide her down the stairs gently.

Once they reached the bottom, the two of them passed Stolas as he was laughing drunkenly and loudly while dancing with an incubus who was wearing a "Better Than Blitzo" shirt amidst all the dancing demons before Verosika split off to climb the stairs up to the second-level mezzanine.

Once they made it outside, Tex checked in on her again,

"You uh.. sure you're doin' alright?"

Ayden, still wearing the helmet, looked down before shrugging and shaking her head making Tex look worried before sighing and telling her while putting a hand on her helmeted head,

"Just remember you've got friends who care about you, don't take that for granted... Kay...?"

Ayden nodded and Tex patted her shoulder to tell her,

"Get back safe S.P.K.."

Before heading back inside, leaving her, more or less, alone on the porch so she decided to walk across the lawn, past more Blitzø haters, before making it to the curb outside the house where she stopped in her tracks when she saw the I.M.P. van parked out front.

Frown deepening underneath the helmet, Ayden walked off to the side, about to walk away from the house when she stopped again to think about what her next move could be; she could listen to Verosika and take a break from work and training until whatever drama between Stolas and Blitzø worked out and just avoid their issues or she could keep tiptoeing between them trying to pretend like things could be normal and continue ignoring her own problems... neither seemed like real winners for her as far as choices go...

*BEEEEEEEEP!*

"MRE!" Ayden was nearly spooked out of her fur when the blare of the I.M.P. van horn jolted her out of her train of thought.

Fur puffing back down, Ayden sighed before walking back over to the van, stepping over a red-stained and booze-scented sheet before knocking on the van's passenger side window.

*tch!* *tch!*

The horn stopped abruptly as Blitzø lifted his face up from where he'd been leaning it against the steering wheel and saw her there rolling his eyes before opening the window to tell her impatiently,

"Look I'm really not in the mood for whatever spacey pickup line you've got so just float your space pants outta here..."

Realizing she was still wearing the bubble helmet, Ayden's voice was muffled as she spoke,

*Really?* Fully pulling the helmet off and surprising Blitzø when he saw it was her as she snarked, "That's the best ya got...?"

Seeing his look of disbelief, Ayden was quick to say,

"I di'n't mean ta come he'e... jus'.. got caught up in mo'e stuff 'gain..."

There was a few moments of silence before Blitzø chuckled humorlessly,

"Heh... Oh I believe it kid..." He relaxed a bit before looking pensive as he struggled to say, "Look I'm.. I'm sorry about the shitty stuff I said last night..."

"You we'e right 'bout.. summa it actually but still..." Ayden looked away as she spoke in a hurt tone, "I thought 'we don't get rid o' family...'"

Blitzø flinched back a bit as his own words being repeated back to him metaphorically punched him right in the gut but didn't say anything when Ayden spoke again,

"I don't hate you Blitzø..." He looked slightly relieved by that before it fell again as she added, "but I am still mad..."

Putting a paw on her other arm while looking down and away, she sighed before deciding,

"I think... I need to take some time off from I.M.P., wo'k on my own shite for a bit..." Looking back up at him to finish with, "But I'll be back.. when I'm ready..."

Blitzø looked away as he scrubbed his face with a hand before sighing and turning back to Ayden with a downcast but reluctantly agreeing expression as he told her,

"Yeah sure... take your time Denny..."

Ayden nodded a bit, still feeling unsure about this decision before she turned to walk away, cuing Blitzø to call out,

"Need a ride?"

And Ayden stopped before looking back to answer,

"I'll go my own way..."

Giving a small wave to Blitzø before kneeling down to draw the portal outline and dropping into it to leave the Human Realm to land right back in the room at Bee's place.

"Mrow...?" Jin perked up from where they had been sleeping on the bed but Ayden didn't look at them as she sat on the edge of the bed with her paws by her sides after she'd dropped the helmet off to the side.

They stayed in that tense state for a few seconds, vibrations from the music from the ongoing party downstairs being the only sound heard, before Jin got up and sat right next to their sister to lean their head against her arm and ask,

'You doing alright now...?'

Ayden took a deep breath as she admitted,

"Not su'e..." Before tightly closing her eyes with tears visible in the corners as she told them tearfully, "I'm so sorry for hu'ting you jus' cause I was hu'ting..."

'It's OK...' Jin continued nuzzling their head against her arm before saying genuinely, 'You had to take your frustration out on somebody... I'm glad you felt safe enough to take it out on me...'

Ayden looked down at them before a grin broke through her sad expression as she chuckled,

"That was so sappy... heh..."

Before petting their head and Einar fronted as he spoke,

'Are you ready to go home...?'

"The'e's two things I need to do he'e fi'st..." Ayden reached over to her satchel and pulled two things out; her mini bag of mild catnip gummies and her phone.

Jin looked slightly worried as Ayden looked at the bag of gummies, thinking she was about to pop a few of them into her mouth, but was relieved when she crushed the bag in her paw before completely incinerating it until it was nothing but a pile of ash she dropped to the floor.

Ayden was letting out a shaky breath as she brushed the last of the ashes off onto her dress before Marcie fronted to ask,

'What's the other thing...?'

Ayden wordlessly answered by opening her phone and navigating over to their messages with Via, who had a green dot by her name to show she was online, and taking another breath before rapidly typing and sending three messages before she could second guess herself,

*Heya Princess*

*Might not hve

lessn w ur dad

next week*

*Think we could

finlly do our

sleepover

nstead?*

Her message was Read within a few seconds and the Typing bubbles popped up as Via was texting back before receiving the messages,

*If you're not

having a lesson with

my dad sure!*

*I almost have that

space travel spell

down if you wanna try*

Ayden smiled a bit before reacting to the second message with an excited emoji and texting,

*Cool!*

*C U then*

*Night*

Putting her phone facedown on the bed Ayden was breathing shakily but instead of emptiness in her chest this time, she was slowly filled with hope and excitement and she was given some confidence as she told Jin,

"The'e's one last stop we need ta make..."

Jin looked up at her with a trusting expression as she packed her stuff into her satchel before lacing it on over the dress and grabbing the helmet while they jumped onto her shoulder before they left the room.

Just as Ayden was in the kitchen to leave the helmet with a note of thanks for borrowing it, Bee entered, wearing a costume of a crop top with fangs along the deep v-neckline, a black ribbon choker, black short shorts under a red skater skirt with mini wings and a pointed tail, mini horns on her forehead, and long black fingerless gloves and toeless stockings while carrying a small pitchfork prop.

"S.P.K.!" She zipped over and gave her a tight hug while saying, "Jin filled me in on some of the stuff that happened before." Pulling back to rest her hands on her shoulders to ask in concern, "You both doing OK now...?"

"A li'l be'er now..." Ayden answered truthfully and Jin nodded, letting Bee sigh in relief with a small smile before assuring her,

"It's not selfish to not want to get caught up in others' issues while you're still working on your own."

"It's somethin' I'll try ta remembe'..."

"Good," Bee stepped back a bit as she put her hands on her hips before asking, "Heading back home?"

"One last stop fi'st..." Before she thought for a second and asked, "and think I could ask a favo' la'er?"

"Gimme your digits and we'll talk." Bee nodded and Ayden handed over her phone so she could input her contact info before handing it back to her, giving her one last hug as she told her,

"Take care of yourselves..."

Ayden nodded before Bee released her, quickly giving Jin a head pat that they purred to before she zipped back out of the kitchen back to her party so Ayden could open a portal on the wall so she and Jin could travel through to their second-to-last stop for the night; Ozzie's office.

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Ayden knocked on the large office door before the scene cut to Millie's point of view opening the apartment door from inside to reveal Ayden and Jin standing outside with the former carrying a large, ornate, and warm-hued book and a blue envelope that had Asmodeus's insignia glowing on the wax seal on the back in her arms and the latter on her shoulder.

Without saying a word, Millie stepped aside to let them both in with a grateful smile on her face before the view changed to the outside as she closed the door behind them.

...

...

...

AN- Finally out! Sorry this took a few weeks longer to post than I hoped to after posting Full Moon but school's been pretty hectic with all the projects I've had/still got going on ^^;

Fun little tidbit; I was originally gonna start the chapter with another training session with Stolas and Ayden leaving awkwardly once Blitzø arrived but when I saw that Bee had supplied the booze at Verosika's party, I thought it would be more interesting to have Ayden interacting more with the Sins, Bee and Ozzie, before whatever drama happens in Mastermind and Sinsmas that Ayden could be potentially dragged into O.o (Plus there were a BUNCH of other ways I had tried writing this chapter before settling on the course of actions that played out, so hopefully I did alright)

Also, this is my first time trying to write a full-blown anxiety attack so sorry if it wasn't completely accurate to what it actually feels like or if I overly explained and described it (I've only ever had small-scale ones since I usually/used to turn to a lot of dissociation and emotional suppression to deal with stuff) ^^;

Some other references and notes for this one:

The song that plays during Ayden's little costume montage is "Now You Know My Name" by The Derevolutions and was inspired by the scene from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts when Kipo was trying on different outfits in the first episodeAyden's little "I like the bat" moment was meant to hint at an earlier design version where instead of chains, weapon heads, powers, or a Glock she fought using a metal baseball bat (another idea I had very briefly considered was a boomerang but thought that would be too stereotypical)The whole "wrong orange juice" misunderstanding with Alex and Remi was inspired by the same kind of moment from the Monsters at Work show on Disney Plus between a sapphic couple on that showPart of Jin's talk with Ayden was quoted from an episode of "Girl Meets World" (kudos if you recognize what from which episode)Bee's party appearance is her official look for the 2024 Helluva Boss Halloween merch line that dropped over on Shark Robot yesterday (seriously considering getting her poster O.O)

As of right now, I have the three-parter all planned out and just need to get to writing them and I want to have the first and at least half of the second part written before I start to post them and I'm aiming to post them before the Ghostfuckers episode drops in October (hoping for a Halloween drop in that case) but since I have A LOT planned for it, that's just a very faint time "deadline" I'm going to try to stick to...

Until the next one, Bye!