WARNING: The following contains strong language, sexual themes, mentions of self-harming, 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

Glaring at Cherri Bomb, Hannah pulled Ayden, who was passed out from oxygen deprivation at this point, into her side with one arm as she held up what looked like a flashbang made of dark red metal with strange symbols etched on it and sneered while looking back at Via and Loona,

"I know when to dip... for now..."

Just after she pulled the pin for the light grenade though, Via managed to summon enough magic to "grab" the back of Ayden's shirt and pull her out of her grasp just as her device went off, leaving Hannah empty-handed and furious,

*EEEEEEEEEEE!*

As soon as the light died down and everyone's ears stopped ringing, the smoke fully cleared away to reveal Hannah disappeared, leaving only Cherri Bomb on the rubble ledge still as she looked down at the trio smirking ominously and tossing a bomb up and down in her hand,

"And then there were three..."

Jumping down, she demanded while stalking toward them threateningly with her free hand in a snap-ready position close to the fuse, ready to light it at any moment,

"The fuck are you lot doin' in my area?"

"Listen Lady," Loona growled as she stepped in front of Via as she held onto Ayden while she started moving around, "We're just following our friend here so just-"

"Ruby?!" Cherri's eye widened and she dropped her unlit bomb before pushing past Loona, uncaring of the glare and growl she got in return, before pulling Ayden out of Via's hold and began relentlessly shaking her by her shoulders while shouting, "Ruby! Wake up ya cunt! Where the fuck have ya been?!"

Ayden scrunched her eyes further shut before cracking one open to mutter out,

"Whaddya think...? Fuckin' up arseholes and tearin' shite up..."

"There's my little Slugger!" Cherri head-locked Ayden before giving her a rough but playful noogie that made her laugh as she fully started coming back while Loona and Via watched the whole exchange with incredulous looks on their faces.

"You know what's going on here?" Via muttered through the side of her beak and Loona mumbled back,

"I mean somewhat but still..."

And Ayden managed to stop chuckling and escape from the noogie to look at them and tell them as she was hugged to Cherri's side,

"Guys, this's Cherri Bomb, an old friend..." Before talking to Cherri to introduce, "Cherri, these're my friends Via an' Loona."

"Well any mate o' Ruby's here is fair dinkum ta me." Cherri spoke, her accent coming through more strongly in her excitement making Loona deadpan,

"Oh great there's two of them now..."

But neither of them seemed to notice as Cherri grabbed Ayden's shoulders again to face her as she demanded,

"Seriously whe'e the fuck have ya been?! Angie's been worried sick 'bout ya!"

"He.. has...?" Ayden questioned as if she couldn't really believe what she said but wanted to.

"You kiddin'? He just about ripped this Ring a new asshole lookin' for ya when ya just bailed two years ago!" Cherri protested urgently before Loona butted in with her fur prickling up a bit in irritation,

"She's been in Imp City this whole time, so how hard was he really looking?"

"For real?" Cherri questioned, her eyebrow quirking up doubtfully with her grip on Ayden's shoulders tightening a bit making her yelp out,

"Look!" Before calming down enough to ask, "I'll catch you up jus's soon as I find Angie, he... still at the studio...?"

"Workin' there? Sure. But livin' there? Not for a while now." Cherri finally released Ayden's shoulders to place one hand on her hip and the other thumbed behind her to indicate direction as she added, "We've been holed up in this fancy hotel for a bit now-shit he might be there now!"

The last part was slightly yelled in realization before she grabbed Ayden's paw and started yanking her after her as she exclaimed,

"Let's go!"

But Loona caught her other arm to stop and hiss-whisper to her,

"We're not really following this lady to some 'hotel' are we...?!"

"You'e the ones who wanted ta come with when I di'n't ask ya to...!" Ayden hissed back pulling her arm out of Loona's grip before huffing as she forced herself to calm down to speak in a tone only slightly tinged with bitterness, "Look, I hafta do this, but you two don' hafta stick 'round, you c'n jus' wait fer me back at the mansion o' office o' whateve'."

She pulled herself away and kept walking to follow Cherri Bomb and Loona looked over to Via, who nodded with a wary look so the two of them followed suit from a distance behind them.

The whole way to the hotel Cherri mentioned, she and Ayden talked about where the latter had been while Via and Loona talked with each other again, with the former asking,

"Did you know she knew a Sinner?"

"No, but there's a lot about her life we still don't really know about..." Loona answered plainly, texting while walking, "Especially in that time between getting left behind by that pedo-bitch Hannah and getting hired by us... I think that's where she knows her and 'Angie' from..."

"Why do you think this is so important to her...?"

"She.. hasn't been in a good mental place lately..." Loona looked up from her phone to see Ayden laughing with Cherri as she spoke forlornly, "I think she's tried moving on from all the shitty things that happened to her by forgetting and maybe she thinks this 'Angie' is someone either to forgive or be forgiven by..."

Via looked up at her with an expression of worry and mild realization that Loona immediately brushed off as a dismissive,

"But hey what do I know...?"

Walking a little further ahead so Via was at the very back, with her giving Loona a sympathetic smile at the concern she was showing before it slipped to a worried frown as she started watching Ayden as she continued swapping stories with Cherri and laughing raucously, outwardly looking like nothing was wrong.

But her eyes, now that she had a chance to really look at them, looked pained, like she was nervous and frankly a little terrified for whatever was gonna happen next.

Face falling even more into worry, Via sighed as she pulled out her phone and texted her dad that she and Ayden might be back later than expected, hitting send right before Cherri shouted,

"We're here fuckers!"

Making her wince in irritation before looking up and hers, Loona's, and Ayden's eyes widened in wonder at the sight of the "Hazbin Hotel" in front of them; bright neon lights lined the building from top to bottom, some forming patterns or symbols, a giant eye looked down at them from the center of a key under the name of the hotel in more neon lights while, at the very top, on either side two towers were built, one looking like something out of a nightmare and the other looking like a large apple.

"Quite a sight ain't it?" Cherri commented as she tapped the pedestal of the statue they were standing in front of that looked like a dragon-goat hybrid in a roaring stance before casting a mournful glance at the shrine a little ways away but before Ayden could ask about it, Cherri wrapped her arms around the trio's shoulders as she guided them toward the entrance,

"I'M BACK BITCHES!"

She yelled after kicking the doors open and a cat-like Sinner with a casino referencing playing card theme at the bar a little ways from the foyer looked unamused as he was cleaning a glass before telling her as she marched up to the bar,

"Nice of ya to let the whole damn Ring know..." Before noticing the company she was towing and asked while raising a brow, "What's with the kids?"

"Well Sergeant Prude-y Puss," Cherri released Via and Loona to focus more on Ayden as she hugged her close, introducing her, "This is the lil' spitfire me 'n Angie's told ya about."

"Hmmm..." The Sinner just hummed in thought before continuing to clean the glass, "Name's Husk, if you're lookin' for Angel, he's not here."

"Seriously?" Loona huffed in impatience with her arms crossed and rolled her eyes before Via hesitantly asked,

"When will he.. be back?"

"Might be a while," Husk answered as he inspected the glass he cleaned before placing it upside down with a cautious side glance, "He's at work..."

"And where's everyone else?" Cherri questioned, referring to the empty hotel.

"'Side from Niffty, everyone's still out."

"For real?"

While the two of them argued over how she was often told to not go out "looking for trouble", Ayden's ears had drooped down at the implication Husk had made before and she sighed before reasoning,

"This could take a while," Taking a seat at the bar before turning back to her friends to tell them, "You both can still leave but I'm staying..."

"Nice try." Loona snarked as she pulled up a seat next to her and Via did the same on her other side so she was sandwiched between the two of them.

After giving them both an appreciative smile before smirking at Husk, pulling him away from his argument with Cherri, to ask,

"Whaddya have ta drink 'round he'e?"

...

3rd Person POV with Jin

(AN- There's gonna be a couple of POV switches in this chapter ^^;)

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"Yaaaaaah...!" Jin let out a loud yawn as they stretched out on the couch in the I.M.P office before kneading the fabric under their paws and settling down in a curl to take a quick nap.

Moxxie was busy sorting paperwork a bit frantically while Millie was watching him with a fond smile on her face before-

*TCH!*

Everyone jolted when Blitzø slammed the front door open to reveal he was wearing a sewer cleaner coverall disguise covered in what looked like mud at first but as soon as a pungent wave of stink hit them all, making Moxxie yelp,

"Oh cr-!"

They got a good idea of what it really was...

"Don't! Fucking. Say it...!" Blitzø snapped ticked off, stomping through the office, Moxxie full-on covering his face while Millie was just wrinkling her nose, before he grabbed Jin from the couch by the scruff of their neck making them yowl,

"MROW!"

Millie reached out, about to protest Blitzø handling them that way before he made it to his office and slammed the door behind him, leaving no room for objection.

Inside, Blitzø plopped Jin on his desk before grunting out as he struggled to wrench his ruined disguise off,

"How-urgh the fuck does that little hairball manage-hrgh to make sneaking around look so damn e-asy?! FUCK!"

He stumbled and fell on his face when he finally managed to yank the coveralls off revealing he was wearing his regular coat and outfit underneath but had fallen face-first into the soiled clothing so he was blinded by the crap.

"Fuck me...!" Blitzø grumbled to himself and felt around blindly for something to clean his face off, managing to grab what looked like just a yellow cloth at first but, after cleaning himself off, he realized he grabbed a bright yellow t-shirt that had "THE DRUNK 'N DRAWL FEST" in rusty red cowboy-themed font with the festival's logo underneath.

"FUCK! Nonononono!" Blitzø frantically tried wiping the crap off the shirt but ended up smearing it even worse so he gritted his teeth and clenched his grip before yelling as it tossed it away, "SATAN FUCKING DAMMIT!"

The t-shirt landed in a heap on the other side of the room close to the desk where Jin was still perched, having watched the whole struggle with a worried look in their eyes, before they hopped down to where Blitzø was still sitting in a kneel with a frustrated glare on his face and carefully leaned their head against his arm to ask,

'What's wrong...?'

"Abso-fucking-lutely nothing's wrong!" Blitzø drew out in a forced and angrily cheerful tone as he rapidly pulled away from Jin leaving them to fall to the floor and started to rant still through smiling clenched teeth, "I'm sooooo happy that that snooty crotch socket is outta my life and the only other demon I can count on around here is overstaying her mental health break when we all need her skills here."

'Is that really why you want her back so badly...?' Jin questioned doubtfully with an eyebrow ridge raised in suspicion, choosing to stay out of the "Stolitz" drama for their sister's sake.

"She's a valued employee, why should I worry about her outside of work...?" Blitzø argued unconvincingly and Jin rolled their eyes a bit before telling him,

'Blitzø, we've seen her memories... we know how much she looks up to you... how she looks to you for strength and support aside from.. our found parents...'

At that mention, Blitzø just winced more with his vulnerable expression deepening as he dropped to sit propped against his desk and hug himself with Jin crawling onto his lap to curl up and he hesitantly started stroking their back making them purr as he sighed and started staring off into space.

Their peaceful moment was cut short when Jin started spasming violently to where they tumbled off of Blitzø's lap and were shaking on their side as he questioned while shifting his eyes around,

"You uh.. havin' a stroke right now or...?"

"BLEH!" Jin puked up some lava that was neon red making Blitzø yelp as he stumbled backwards a bit,

"SHIT!" About to stomp on the molten fire when Jin managed to get up to stop him by tackling him backward by pouncing on his chest as they mentally shouted,

'Are you insane?! Don't touch it!'

"Well what else am I supposed to.. do...?" Blitzø started shouting back while grabbing them from under their front arms before he trailed off when he noticed the lava cooling down and hardening into something new, making him mutter, "The fuck is that...?"

Shifting his hold on Jin to where they were now on his hip in his tail's grip, Blitzø reached a hand down to the cooling lava as it began revealing a lump of a red-tinged black metallic-looking substance.

"Ow fuck...!" Blitzø had to toss the lump back and forth between his hands a few times to let it cool down before he was able to fully handle it; revealing a dark red metal that seemed to glow slightly with a muted light.

"Huh? Is this what you and your sis've been making every time you hork?"

Curious look turning to a smirking grin, Blitzø grabbed Jin out of his tail by the stomach and started shaking them up and down while squeezing them as he "cheered,"

"Make some more! Come on!"

"KLEH!" Jin choked as they were roughly Heimliched and started thrashing around in Blitzø's hold to no avail as he kept going,

"Make!"

"KLCK!"

"Make it!"

*KRCK!*

Until a bony crack sounded and Jin went limp in his grasp making him panic,

"Oh fuuuuuuuck me...!"

Holding them out in front of him to try and shake them back to consciousness but all they did was dangle limply in his hold with their head tilted all the way back so he started looking around rapidly before calling out in his light-but-hiding-tension tone,

"~M & M!~ Uhh can you come in here for a ~secooooond~?"

...

3rd Person POV with Ayden

...

"No fuckin' way!" Ayden slapped the counter as Cherri had finished another story of what she and Angie had been up to with Husk having prepared them all different drinks: Cherri had a cherry mezcal margarita (Ayden had giggled at her choice), Loona had a blackberry infused vodka cocktail, and Via and Ayden had raspberry and strawberry mocktails respectively with the fruit pulps in small bowls to be eaten separately.

"Yeeees way! He told that fucking dickhead off in front of everyone in that fucking club!"

"I woulda paid cash money ta see that! Woul'n't you?" Directing the question to Loona and Via, who were both still watching the whole series of events unfolding before them with slight dubiousness.

"I'm still having a hard time believing you actually know the Angel Dust." Via admitted as she took another sip of her drink.

"Why's it so ha'd ta believe?" Cherri questioned with a hint of offended tone on Ayden's behalf.

"Uh it's Angel Dust." Loona started while waving her phone a bit, which had one of Angel's performance posters on the screen, with Via adding while gesturing to her friend,

"And uhh her...?"

Cherri made an 'alright I see your point' head bob and shrug at that reasoning.

"Huh déjà vu..." Ayden commented blankly as she took another sip of her drink before her and Husk's ears twitched at nearly the same time as he spoke gruffly,

"Shit not again...!"

"Messy mud!" Another high-pitched feminine voice cried out before, from one of the hallways, a small, mud-spotted hellhog piglet was running away from a short cyclops Sinner with a bob haircut and wearing a 50s-style maid's outfit who was wielding a feather duster like a knife, which was probably the source of the piglet's fear.

"Fat Nuggets!" Ayden exclaimed excitedly as she hopped off her stool to kneel down with her arms open.

He stopped running to see her there before oinking happily and running right at her,

"REH REH!"

"Nuggs! Agh!" Ayden fell back with a laugh when Fat Nuggets practically pounced on her chest making her land on her butt as he started licking her face enthusiastically while also smearing some mud on her but she was too happy to care as she enthused, "~There's my favorite boy!~"

"~Hold stiiiiiill...~" The Sinner from before's voice spoke up from behind them in an ominous tone with a red light shining from below her face to heighten the creepiness, making the two of them freeze with a scream and squeal before-

"AHH!"

"REH!"

*FWOO!* *FWOO!* *FWOO!*

"There we go!" She chirped gleefully as the mini cloud of dust settled and Ayden and Fat Nuggets were left spotless of any mud or dust with the Sinner standing in front of them with her needle-like claw hands on her hips, looking proud of her work.

"Wha-?! The-?!" Ayden looked over herself and Nuggs, impressed but also creeped out by how the little Sinner was able to clean them both up in less than two seconds.

"C'mon Niff, quit scarin' the kid." Husk spoke from the bar and Niffty just giggled,

"Hehe! Sorry!" Before introducing herself, "I'm Niffty! Who are yoooouuuu?"

Leaning right into Ayden's face with a widely creepy grin that made her flick her ears back as she answered in a disturbed tone,

"Ayden."

"That sounds like a ~baaaad booooy's~ name hehehehe..." Niffty leaned back with her clawed fingertips rapidly tapping at each other in a creepy manner as she giggled darkly.

"I mean I guess but...-" Ayden looked to the others with a 'what the fuck' expression before turning back around to see that Niffty had vanished, making her swivel her head around to question freaked out, "Where'd she-?! How'd she-?!"

"You don't wanna know..." Cherri commented as she and Loona were served another drink, adding to the growing collection of empty glasses just between the two of them, leaving Ayden even more unsettled until Fat Nuggets hopped off her lap to jump around and look at her expectedly.

"Sorry buddy..." Ayden patted his head as she told him while picking him up and returning to her seat with him on her lap, "I can't change into a cat 'nymo'e..."

"Reh..." Fat Nuggets drooped down a little at that news before Husk asked Ayden while quirking up an eyebrow,

"Shapeshifter?"

"Not so much 'nymo'e...." Ayden answered plainly, not looking up from petting Fat Nuggets making Cherri question incredulously,

"Fuck's that supposed to mean...?!"

"AGH!" Ayden yelped out of nowhere with her paws on her forehead and her eyes scrunched closed.

"You OK?" Loona questioned, on the verge of jumping off her stool if not for her claws digging into the bar counter, something that Husk noticed with an annoyed glare.

"Yeh..." Ayden shook her head with an eye winced shut and the other glowing dark scarlet again before the haunting glow faded with another blink, "Jus' *koff* *koff* a headache..."

"Are you sure...?" Via asked, her voice filled with concern as she put a hand over Ayden's paw on the counter and reached her other hand to Ayden's face, grazing her bangs out of her eye before she jolted a bit at the contact and assured her hurriedly,

"Y-Ye-grhh!" Clearing her throat a bit, "Yeh 't's jus' been a li'le rough lately a-an' wi'h-wi'h Hannah showin' back up I jus'-huh..."

She was gently cut off when Via tightened her grip on her paw, not enough to be painful but enough to ground her back in the moment before she spoke with a hint of a fierce edge to her tone,

"Don't listen to anything that-that-that-" Via struggled for a bit to come up with an insult in her moment of heated indignation for her friend before settling for, "Panty waisted harlot has to say...!"

Ayden looked blankly at Via, who took on a flustered embarrassed expression that that was the best she could come up with, for a few seconds before snorting and laughing,

"Pft! Hahahahaha! I don' even know what that means...! But yeh! Hahahahaha!"

Eventually, Via's surprised expression changed to a rueful smile before she started laughing too, Loona discretely snapping a picture of the two of them before their laughing faded as Ayden looked at Via with playful light back in her eyes,

"Thanks..."

Before the two of them seemed to realize the intimate position they were in and settled for looking away from each other but keeping their pinkies intertwined as the ambiance started to lull with tense awkwardness making Husk and Cherri raise their brows at them in the background before they both looked over to Loona with expressions that read "They for real...?" as she was taking a sip of her drink and rolled her eyes in an exasperated "I know right...?" manner.

Via's pinky was seen gripping Ayden's digit a bit more as she started to ask,

"What did she mean when she said 'you came to her way back then...?'"

Making Ayden freeze and pull away from her touch so her digits could fidget each other as she started to say while avoiding eye contact,

"It was no-"

*TCH!*

When the sound of the front door slamming open before another feminine voice sang out in a soprano tone, cutting Ayden off,

"We're ~baaaaaack!~"

Before another slightly deeper voice added,

"Cherri you better still be here...!"

"Yeah yeah no need ta get yer panties in a twist Vagina!" Cherri shouted back with a cheeky smirk as two demonesses walked into sight;

One of them was a tall blonde woman who looked faintly like a porcelain doll with a pale complexion and red spots on her cheeks while wearing a red suit with a black bowtie wearing black and white heels that Ayden vaguely recognized as Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell.

The second demoness was shown to be a moth-like Sinner with long white hair styled like wings with a large red bow and wearing a red blouse with a mini skirt over dark gray stockings that went into white flats and with one of her eyes covered in an eyepatch with a giant red X over the bangs that covered it.

"PFT!"

Ayden had snorted again at Cherri's retort before she was shocked when she heard a familiar laugh,

"HAHA!"

"¡Aye chingate pendejo!" (Oh fuck you asshole!) "Not-Vagina" shook a fist in the direction of the front doors and Fat Nuggets leaped off of Ayden's lap to greet the third demon that had entered, the one Ayden had been waiting for as she hopped off her stool when he came into view carrying Fat Nuggets;

The tall spider Sinner with swoopy white hair spotted with pale pink dots and wearing a long light pink suit-blazer with horizontal white stripes down the length, a grey miniskirt, and long grey thigh-high heeled boots, his top set of arms wearing long cerise pink gloves with white detailing at the cuffs, while the bottom set of arms he wears long white gloves, and accessorizing with a grey bowtie with a cerise pink center and a black choker that almost everyone knew as Hell's top A-List pornstar Angel Dust.

"~Hi Nuggsie!~" Angel was too busy giving his pig some face nuzzles to notice Ayden at first before Fat Nuggets jumped down from his hold making him question, "What's going... on...?"

Before he saw her standing there, her hair shorter and wearing clothes that weren't riddled with holes and scratches or borrowed from him, but was definitely...

"Ruby...?"

"Hey Ang..." Ayden gave a small wave with a shy, lopsided grin as she walked up to him with a paw bunching up the fabric of her skirt from nerves as he breathed out,

"You..."

The two of them were almost right in front of each other when-

"You... You little furry bitch!" Angel shouted abruptly, breaking the tender moment.

"Oh shite!" Ayden yelped as she turned tail and started running away, jumping over furniture in an attempt to escape Angel as he chased after her yelling with four fists raised up,

"¡Torna qui! You have any idea what kinda shit I went through lookin' for you!" (Get back here!)

"Yah!" Ayden yelped as the chase was cut short when she was snatched up by all six of Angel's arms, the extra hidden ones coming out in the moment of intense emotions, and crushed her close making her whimper, "MMPH!"

Loona bolted up from her seat, about to tackle Angel to save Ayden when he unexpectedly dropped to his knees still holding her close and his teary voice sounded from the hug,

"I-I thought you were... *tsf* I thought you were dead..."

And Ayden's shell-shocked expression changed to one of matching melancholy as she tearfully snarked while hugging him back,

"Well I'm not dead ya pink je'k..."

"Heh..." Angel managed to lighten up on the hug to where he could fully look at Ayden's face being held between two of his hands, his watery smile falling a bit when he saw the new scar on her face and gently rubbed a gloved thumb over it as he whispered, "What's happened to you Fuzzball..."

"'t's a long story... *tsf!*" Ayden answered with a teary sniff of her own before swiping a paw across her eyes to wipe her tears away.

"Ohmygosh! Is this the little kitten you said you found but then ran away because of that mistake you made?!" Charlie appeared over them with her hands on her cheeks with a mix of excitement and shock.

"Babe!" "Not-Vagina" picked up Charlie from behind to take her away before saying, "As you were."

Sparing Ayden only a quick look of suspicion before hauling Charlie away as she had stars and sparkles of excitement in her eyes at the touching moment in front of her.

"Hehe..." Ayden chuckled as she fully sat back, "Quite a place he'e huh...?"

"Yyyyyep!" Angel dragged out teasingly as the two hugged again.

"Oh! The'e's some people I want ya ta meet!" Ayden spoke excitedly as she tried to hurry and pull Angel back to his feet to lead him back to the bar area.

...

3rd Person POV with Jin

...

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKIN'?!" Millie yelled in Blitzø's face as she was pulling him close by his jacket lapels while Moxxie was seen in the background putting an ear to an unconscious Jin's chest as they lay on their back on Loona's desk.

"OK in my defense!" Blitzø pulled himself away while crossing his arms before shrugging and adding plainly, "I wasn't."

Millie's face dropped to a frown with a comedic *whomp* before Moxxie spoke up,

"Well they're still breathing so lucky for you they're not dead." Looking over to the lump of metal that Jin had spat up while asking, "So you're saying that that came out of their body?"

"Horked it right up kinda like when Denny travels Rings." Blitzø answered pantomiming the action with semi-lewd exaggeration.

"Except they weren't and I highly doubt Ayden's traversing any Rings right now..." Moxxie tapped a finger to his chin in thought, "So what's causing them to.. create this substance now...?"

"MROW!"

They all turned back to Jin as they were pawing frantically at their head like it was in pain so Millie scooped them up to cradle them in her arms, despite them kicking and squirming around, as she soothed while petting their head,

"There there... It's alright..." Succeeding in calming them down as they stopped pawing and kicking before she asked, "What's wrong?"

'Head hurts...'

"Your head hurts?"

'Can see Ayden...'

"I thought you couldn't connect to each other 'nless you were close to each other?"

"OK something is definitely happening that's out of the ordinary, even for the both of them. I say we head over to Stolas's and-" Moxxie asserted before he was grabbed and pulled right into Blitzø's face as he yelled,

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR HOLLOW NOGGIN?!"

'H-Hazbiiiiin Ho-tel...?'

"She's at.. a hotel?" Millie speaking up made Blitzø and Moxxie stop fighting long enough for them to question in unison,

"Uh what...?"

"MROOOOOW!" Before Jin started spasming again while screeching with a reddish glow tinged with dark gray starting to manifest around them.

...

3rd Person POV with Ayden

A Little Earlier...

...

"~C'moooon~ ya both sure I can't offer ya a freebie?" Angel insisted suggestively with a little jig of his shoulders making Ayden roll her eyes good-naturedly.

After everyone had gotten introduced to each other, Ayden, Angel, Cherri, Loona, and Via were all still seated at the bar with Husk still serving them all while Charlie and Vaggie sat in the parlor watching everything since the bar seats had been filled.

After hearing about how they each came to know Ayden, Angel became very insistent on "paying it forward" to Via and Loona for taking care of her.

"Y'know I usually charge double fer ladies ~buuuut~-" Angel tried to continue his pitch before Ayden punched his arm to make him stop before adding with a nonchalant paw flick,

"Ange, Via's not into that stuff eithe' and yer not really Loona's type."

"Like you know what my type is..." Loona mumbled while typing away at her phone.

"Mmmm big, strong, brawny, and hot?" Ayden listed off without a hitch making Loona blush as Angel snickered a bit while elbowing her playfully,

"Hey, nothin' ta be ashamed of, it's a good type."

"Meh, I could take it or leave it." Cherri shrugged as she downed another drink before Husk told her while snatching the glass from her hand,

"Annnnd you're cut off for the night."

"Oh what? You disagree?"

"I didn't say that..." Husk smirked a little before walking away with all the empty glasses in his hands.

"Pft! Hahaha! Aye!" Ayden laughed before Angel ruffled her hair with a smile of his own before asking,

"Real talk though...?" Ayden nodded with a curious look as they both went into serious mode, "Where'd you go...? I looked everywhere for ya for months..."

Ayden looked down at the counter as she stirred her fruit paste around before answering,

"I went hiding whe'e I knew I woul'n't be found..."

At that hint, Angel subtly and quickly motioned up to the ceiling with his eyes while raising his brows in question and Ayden nodded, making him nod in understanding before she continued explaining,

"'Fter that I jus' kinda wande'ed into that I.M.P job wi'h Loona and the o'hers and from the'e I met Via."

"Glad ya found somewhere else then..." Angel's expression turned a bit dour at that making Ayden look a little guilty as she mumbled,

"Ev'rythin' coulda gone so different if I'd jus'... stayed..."

"Sorry, just one quick question about that?" Charlie asked while waving a hand in the air like an eager student.

"Yeh?" Ayden looked over her shoulder at her with a wry expression as she asked,

"What happened to make you run away?"

Ayden fully spun to face her, her tail wrapping around her leg as she started to explain,

"Somethin' bad happened... and-"

"I did it..." Angel's dark tone sounded, cutting her off and making everyone turn to see that half his face was obscured in shadows with his grip on his drink glass tightening to where small cracks started splintering out across the surface.

"Angel...?" Ayden spoke up, her voice coming through soft and worried as he continued to berate himself,

"I'm the one that drove you away... It was my fault..."

"No, it wasn't! It was my powe's!"

"Pft yeah right..." Angel scoffed with doubt before he downed his drink and Ayden started insisting,

"No really! Look I c'n prove it!" Hopping off from her stool to stand a little ways away with her arms and legs spread out as she told him, "Hit me."

And Angel choked on his drink at that demand as he sputtered out,

"*KLCK!* Wh-I'm not gonna hitcha are you fucking kiddin' me with that?!"

"Fine" She turned to Loona to tell her, "Loona, hit me."

"Nah I'm good." Loona waved a hand dismissively as she kept scrolling on her phone while Via looked increasingly worried at Ayden's demand and urgency to be hit before Vaggie spoke up from the living room,

"I'll do it."

"Vaggie!" Charlie exclaimed in shock and Vaggie shrugged while reasoning as she started walking toward Ayden,

"She's literally asking for it and I'm kinda curious to see what she's talking about."

"'Lright then, hit me." Ayden made the "come on" motion with her paws but wasn't expecting-

*SHING!*

"YAH!"

An Angelic spear to be thrust in her direction and only barely swerved to the side to avoid being hit, her powers not working to make fire from herself.

"Shite!" Ayden yelped again as Vaggie swung her spear toward her head and she only barely bent back in time to avoid the hit but the tips of her whiskers weren't as lucky.

"Woah! Br-r-r-egh!" Ayden stumbled a bit on her paws as she tried to right herself after the sudden wave of disorientation hit her before full-body shivering that gave Vaggie an opening to sweep her leg under Ayden's feet while slamming the blunt end of her spear into Ayden's chest to hit her away.

"HEY!"

"Vaggie, take it easy!"

Loona and Charlie's yells were lost as Ayden grunted when she hit the ground.

"URGH!"

As soon as she propped herself up on her paws, Ayden froze when the tip of the glowing spear was pointed at her face and she looked up at Vaggie, only for her eyes to constrict when she didn't see Vaggie but an Exorcist angel with Maleficent-like horns and wearing a star sapphire star-shaped pendant.

'No...! Not again...!' Ayden mentally panicked and her powers started manifesting around her clenched paws before the Exorcist illusion raised her barbed spear up while seething,

"Abomination...!"

"NO!" Ayden yelled as she threw her paws up sending out a wave of flames that manifested into a fragmented shield, just like before, but this time the flames were darker red tinged with dark gray and Vaggie was blasted by the shockwave of power.

"Vaggie!" Charlie exclaimed and rushed to her girlfriend's side as she held a hand to her forehead from the blast, her eye opening up with a reddish tinge glowing around it as she yelled,

"¡LE VOY HACER ALFOMBRA DE BAÑO CUANDO ESTOY TERMINADO CON ELLA!" (I'LL MAKE HER INTO A BATHMAT WHEN I'M DONE WITH HER!)

"VAGGIE! Calm down!" Charlie struggled to keep Vaggie from rushing over to Ayden with her spear raised as she hugged her middle and tried to anchor her down, causing Husk and Cherri to rush over and help her hold her back while Loona, Via, and Angel rushed as close to Ayden as they could so Loona could yell,

"OK you made your point, now drop it!"

But the shield wasn't dropping causing Via to yell,

"Ayden!"

Before using her magic on the shield fragments and struggling for a bit to raise them higher into the air to reveal that Ayden was lying on the ground convulsing on the floor with a reddish with dark gray tinge glow around her form.

"Gotcha!" Loona managed to grab Ayden's arms to pull her away from the shield before Via had to release the shield fragments and they crashed and dissipated into the floor leaving nothing but singe marks and smoke in their wake.

"HRRR! Agh! Owww...." Vaggie started coming down from the rage-frenzy as she rubbed her eye with a hand to reveal it was back to normal before asking, "What the fuck just happened?"

"Phew! You're back!" Charlie sighed in relief as she shifted position to hug Vaggie around her neck before planting a kiss on her cheek but were broken out of the moment by Angel shouting,

"Ruby!"

And they looked over to see that Ayden had stopped convulsing, but was now lying limply in Angel's hold no matter how hard he tried shaking her,

"C'mooooon wake up!"

Giving her a few pats to the face before everyone's attention as caught by a screeching sound coming from outside,

*SKREEE!*

*PSSSSHHHHH!*

Before, through the wall closest to the bar, came crashing the I.M.P. van before Blitzø fell facedown on the ground from climbing through the driver's side window before announcing, muffled by the rubble,

"Made it!"

"Oh you gotta be fuckin' kidding me...!" Husk grumbled loudly at the wall being destroyed near his bar again in the new hotel.

"Hup!" Millie jumped out of the back passenger side window and landed in a crouch as she demanded, "Where's our kid?!"

Before she saw Ayden in Angel's hold and yelled while pulling her knife out of nowhere,

"Let her go Sinner!"

About to charge at him before Loona stepped in front to deadpan,

"Chill out granny... He's a friend."

"Then why haven't we heard of.. woah him before?" Moxxie argued as he stumbled out of the van from the crash with Jin in his arms, now passed out, as he joined his wife while Blitzø was barely picking himself up from the rubble.

"~Whaaaaat?~ Fuzzball never mentioned moi?" Angel sassily held a free hand to his chest.

"Definitely not..." Moxxie deadpanned, not playing into Angel's teases until he upped the ante by getting right in his face to flirt,

"~Ya sure 'bout that cutie...~"

Making Moxxie pull back as he was reduced to a sputtering, blushing mess before Blitzø got right in Angel's face to snap,

"Back off Pornstar, if anyone's gonna nail Moxxie it's gonna be moi!"

"Excuse me..." Moxxie questioned blankly from the background while Millie ruefully shook her head before Angel scoffed while looking Blitzø up and down,

"And uhh you are?"

"The one who's gonna pound ya if ya did anything to my employee!"

"~Ooh kinky...~"

"Not like that!" Blitzø yelled as he yanked his pistol out of his coat making Angel pull out two of his Tommy guns.

"If-If we could all just calm down and-and talk about this!" Charlie tried to get between the two to stop their fighting while Vaggie was still nursing her headache at the bar with Husk.

"HEY!" Via abruptly yelled, making them all look back to where she was propping Ayden up as she spoke worriedly, "She's still not waking up..."

"What happened?!" Millie rushed over and started patting Ayden's face as if to make sure she was still there while Moxxie settled in with Jin beside her before Via told them,

"She was using a new power she learned earlier today but then she started seizing up and glowing and then she was just... out..."

"That's almost exactly like what happened to Jin right now..." Moxxie looked down at said being in his arms.

"Physically, nothin' seems outta the ordinary..." Millie announced from her spot after checking on Ayden.

"What ya think there's somethin' in her head?" Angel questioned in disbelief while one of his hands pointed to his head.

"Maybe." Moxxie answered while stroking his chin thoughtfully, making Angel make a "seriously...?" expression, before he turned to Charlie to ask with a slight bow, "Your Majesty, I don't suppose you have any way for us to teleport into Ayden's mind?"

"Weeeeeeeell..." Charlie drew out with uncertainty before answering, "Not that I know of."

"I do."

Everyone looked at Loona with looks of disbelief before she shrugged and spoke defensively,

"What? I spent a lot of time with the bird's magic book and you think I didn't read more than just the portal spell?"

"I'm sorry what?" Charlie asked but wasn't heard as Angel questioned doubtfully,

"And you can perform it?"

Making Loona shrug while answering,

"Just need some chalk."

"OOH! What color?" Charlie popped up behind Loona, startling her with her quickness, as she held up a multilayered box with a rainbow of colors of chalk that she began to list them all off, "I've got red, pink, peach, orange, dark orange,-"

"White works fine." Loona cut her off while grabbing said color and going to prepare the spell circle close to Ayden, a pentagram inside of a circle with lines branching off from the tips of the pentagram leading to five other smaller circles that were all connected to each other making a larger circle around with runes in the spaces between.

After dragging Ayden's body to line up her head and limbs with the inner pentagram and lines, she asked the others,

"So who's going in?"

"Wait what?" Moxxie questioned, still not believing Loona was actually serious about this.

"This is a basic mind travel spell, only up to five can go in," Loona emphasized while holding up said amount of fingers, "Any more and her head might explode."

"You can bet your ass we're goin' in." Millie asserted and she and Moxxie stepped forward holding hands.

"Where they go, I go." Blitzø declared stubbornly as he stepped forward with his arms crossed.

"I'm goin' too." Angel asserted, crossing his arms with a determined look on his face.

"She's my best friend, I have to go too." Via stepped up before Loona told them all,

"Alright then, get in your places and remember; look for anything that might not belong in there."

Everyone went to lie down with their heads in each of the drawn circles as everyone else gathered around to watch the process, Moxxie reluctantly leaving Jin at the bar close to where Fat Nuggets had been napping through the whole ordeal.

"Hope you all are ready..." Loona warned them all, making them all clench their eyes shut, as she held her hands out and started to recite, her voice turning hollow and echo-y, "Cogitationes meae, cogitationes vestrae fiat."

After a few seconds, everyone unclenched their eyes to look around and Millie commented while sitting up,

"Either the spell didn't work or the inside of Ayden's head looks an awful lot like this crappy hotel..."

"Oh..." Charlie spoke sounding like a wounded puppy at the criticism with Vaggie cheering her up with a side hug before Loona looked back down at the spell circle and spoke casually,

"Oh wait, did I say fiat? I meant fiet."

As soon as that correction was made everyone in the circle's eyes rolled back into their heads and they fell back into place around Ayden's body as the spell outline started glowing a haunting red, slowly building up to a brighter glow.

Just then, Niffty zoomed into the room as she announced,

"Found the bandages!" Holding up said object before she saw the spell sigil on the floor and exclaimed while pulling her feather duster out, "Messy!"

"No wait! Don't break the circles!" Loona tried to stop Niffty but she was too quick for her to catch and she managed to wipe away some of the chalk lines that connected the outer circles to each other, breaking the line just as small lights from each traveler's body rose from their chests but zoomed around the room like out of control bullets, breaking things and nearly taking people's heads off before they all zipped into Ayden's mind with a bright burst of light.

*SHOOOM!*

...

...

...

AN- Ayden and Angel Reunion! Hazbin and Helluva official (fanwork-wise) crossover! An upcoming mindscape trope romp! And an extra post on Turkey Day! : D

Since I had this chapter finished, I figured I'd show my gratitude for all you readers who continue to support my story after a year ^^

WHOLE LOTTA notes and references for this one:

The "THE DRUNK 'N DRAWL FEST" was an event centered around in the Blitzø and Ayden bonding short story "Not-So-Silent Chaos"The "Make It!" moment between Jin and Blitzø was inspired by the same moment from "The Croods"The drink choices for Cherri, Loona, and Via were based on the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss drink ideas someone posted on Lemon8 websiteThe "I'm not dead ya pink jerk!" was a reference to the similar moment from the anime "Toilet Bound Hanako-kun"The ending spell moment was based on a scene from the 100th episode of DC's Legends of TomorrowVaggie's Spanish yell was inspired by the similar moment from Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

Sorry if this chapter felt a little rushed in terms of the Hazbin and Helluva teams interacting with each other but I wanted to get to the next two chapters quickly since that's where more of the action is gonna happen.

And since the next chapter(s) is going to be delving into A LOT more of Ayden's lore and history than past chapters from both this story and "Caught in the Crossfire," it might take a little longer to write so please keep that in mind ^^;

It's still my goal to finish this "episode" and the rest of Season 2 before the end of the year like I did last year with Season 1 so I'm really hoping I can stick to it but I apologize in advance if I can't between work, school, and family drama in the coming month...

Other than that, I hope you all have a great day of family, friends, food, and gratitude whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not ^^

Until the next one, Bye!

[UPDATE 1/19/25 I didn't realize I posted this in the wrong story... sorry for the confusion ^^; ]