~Angel Dust's point of view~

"Mercy? Are you alright, hun?" I asked softly, gently pushing her door open. She refused to go back to the cottage, she was hungover, and she had just cut most of her hair off. She was in a full-on mental breakdown.

She stayed silent. I sat next to her on the bed and she leaned her head against my shoulder. We sat in silence for a long time.

"Were you ever scared at the thought of having one of us taken away?" Mercy asked.

"...yes. I was scared of being a dad too, but I never let Al see that. I acted excited about the idea of having a kid with your mother. Then you arrived in our little world and brightened up my life considerably." I told her gently, rubbing her back.

"Ben has just been hurt. He didn't do anything wrong, he was just announcing his fear by crying. They silenced him with beatings." Mercy said, her voice wavering.

"We'll find him and bring him back, okay, sweetheart? Even if it may kill us." I promised her. She nodded and curled into herself. I hugged her to me, resting my chin on her head.

"Let's clean up this haircut, okay? I'll call Molly, she'll clean up your breakdown haircut, maybe she'll shave the fur down on the outside of your ears so you can pierce them if you want. Does that sound nice, sweetie?" I asked. Mercy sniffled and nodded. "Can you come downstairs? Al's worried about you. Maybe we can get Calypso to come over too."

"Okay. Let me put on an actual bra and maybe pants." Mercy said softly.

"Okay. I'll leave you to it." I agreed, closing the door behind me. I ran down the stairs, dialing Molly's number. Molly picked up quickly, like always.

"Hi, Angie! What's up?" Molly asked cheerfully.

"Hey, Molls. So, uh, Mercy cut off most of her hair...because she had a mental breakdown about Ben being stolen. It's very messy, not as professional or good as some of her earlier jobs. I was wondering if you could clean up the cut." I explained as I made a quick list of groceries.

"Uh-huh, I'll be right over with my tools. Mind if I bring Cherry? She has nothing to do or blow up right now." Molly asked.

"Oh, go ahead and bring Cherry, sis. I might need her help too." I assured her with a laugh. "My girl buddy is better at comfort than I am, which really says something because I'm pretty good at it."

"Okay, we'll be right over in a few. See you shortly, bro!" Molly hung up.

I checked the wine cabinet. "Ay, Al? What happened to all the booze?"

"What do you mean?" Alastor sounded genuinely confused. I shook the half-empty last bottle of vodka in front of him. It was the only consumable alcohol left. "Holy fuck, who was drinking all the booze?"

"Prolly Mercy. Damn, she can really hold her liquor in that case." I said, scribbling down several different types of alcohol and a lock for the wine cabinet on the list.

"She shouldn't be drinking that much. If I was drinking out of there with no help, it would last me two years. I only drink a lot and plan to get drunk when I'm at the bar with Husk. She's still a minor!" Alastor ranted angrily.

"Yeh, yeh, yeh. Maybe we can make her something nice?" I suggested. "As a bribe to stop drinking our alcohol really fast."

"That might work." Alastor contemplated, tapping a claw to his chin before checking for chocolate chips. "There's no chocolate chips. How in Heaven's name-"

"We only had half a bag left when Cherry and I were making edible cookie dough last time. We used it all." I sighed, scribbling that down too.

"Get a gallon of milk too. Cereal is a fan favorite for the triplets in the morning and at three am even though they're only ten aND SHOULDN'T BE UP AT THAT HOUR." Alastor emphasized the last few words, sending a glare at the triplets who were playing Mario. I laughed and put it down on the list.

"Anything else, doll?" I asked.

"Apples, cheese, pre-sliced lunch meat, peanut butter, fresh strawberries, flour, sugar, yeast, salt, a bell pepper, a tomato, and I'll probably go out later to pick up some fresh meat. If you could though, pick up some more ammo?" Alastor rattled off. I wrote that all down.

"I'll be sure to drop by Malcolm's shop and get the bullets you like." I told him, patting his cheek.

"Thank you, Angel." Alastor said softly as his office phone started ringing. "Fuck. Someone wants my attention right now most likely because I left just music going on the radio. It's probably Ed."

"'Kay. I gotta let Molly and Cherry in anyways." I agreed as he pecked me on the cheek and pelted up the stairs to his office. I let my sister and my girl buddy in.

"Hi, Angie." Molly greeted me with a hug. Cherry gave me a fist bump.

"Hey, dude." Cherry said.

"Hi guys. I'll go get Mercy really quick." I said, running up the stairs. Mercy opened the door, stepping into the light to reveal how absolutely exhausted she looked.

"You look like you got hit by a truck, Jesus Christ." Cherry said, looking concerned.

"I feel like I got hit by a truck. Maybe I'll go get hit by a truck. It sounds like fun." Mercy sighed as Molly fussed over her hair.

"Mercy, were you out of your fucking mind when you chopped your hair off?" Molly shouted.

"Maybe." Mercy replied. "I was also drunk as fuck. Let's just fix this and be over with it."

"Alright, sit down on a kitchen stool." Molly said, dragging Mercy away.

"We're going grocery shopping." I told Cherry with a dead face.

"Okay...?"

"Mercy drank almost the whole wine cabinet out. We gotta replace what she drank."

"Oh. Okay. We going in the minivan, right?" Cherry indicated the garage.

"Yeah."