One Helluva Victory (Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel x OCs)

Chapter 17: Home time

Lewis sat at a meticulously maintained wooden table, his attention wholly absorbed in the intricate process of cleaning his rifle. The room was enveloped in a silence broken only by the rhythmic scrape of the cleaning rod as it meticulously swept away carbon deposits. Pulling a string through the barrel, he executed the task with a singular, fluid motion.

Across from him, Octavia sat, immersed in her breakfast.

Octavia glanced at Lewis as he methodically assembled his rifle, and inquired, "So, Dolus... I hear you've spent time on Earth."

Lewis nodded, his gaze briefly shifting from his rifle to her. "Yep, born and raised there, also died there."

Octavia tilted her head slightly, her curiosity piqued. "Could you tell me about your time on Earth?"

Completing a meticulous functions test on his rifle, Lewis shifted his full attention to her. "Earth is a cruel place, in many ways crueller than Hell."

Octavia appeared genuinely puzzled. "Really?"

Lewis affirmed with a solemn nod, "Let's take war, for example. A spectacle of the Wrath Ring. When we talk about war in Hell, it's conventional. Boots on the ground, firefights on open terrain. No air support, no bombardments." Lewis fell momentarily silent, his eyes distant as he delved into his memories. "Today, wars are fought in ambushes, surprise attacks, with steel beasts of the skies launching arrows from hundreds of miles away. Metallic war machines charging through and decimating enemy positions, only to be decimated themselves by sticks of explosives launched into the sky before raining down on their targets. Some might be shot, others may explode, and some may become what we call red smoke."

Octavia swallowed hard, her imagination painted vividly with his words. "Red smoke?"

Lewis chuckled, his demeanour eerily calm. "It's when your body is hit by such explosive power that your body leaves no trace but the faint red particles hanging in the air. I can show you if you want?"

Octavia, though only half-listening, glanced up, knowing Stolas was still asleep. "Sure."

As Octavia agreed, Lewis gracefully rose from his seat, and a mesmerizing display of flames began to dance around them, swiftly engulfing their surroundings. In the blink of an eye, they found themselves enclosed within a mesmerizing fiery circle. In this captivating inferno, there existed only themselves and the table, surrounded by the searing beauty of the flames.

With an air of caution, Lewis advised, "I'd advise not moving."

The flames, now a kaleidoscope of colours, started to morph, taking on the appearance of a vibrant skyline on one side and a textured, earthy ground on the other.

Amid this astonishing scene, a few young men materialized, their forms almost appearing incomplete, as if they were ethereal beings.

Octavia couldn't resist her curiosity. She knelt down and cautiously touched the ground, running her fingers through it. In a surprising turn of events, she slipped and tumbled through the fiery illusion.

Regaining her footing, Octavia cast an inquisitive gaze upon Lewis, who was wearing an amused smile. "Want me to play the memory now?"

She nodded, her fascination growing.

Lewis gazed forward, his eyes fixed on some distant point in time. "September 2006, I was deployed to Afghanistan during the war on terror, part of a parachute regiment in the army."

As Lewis uttered these words, the scene around them began to shift and twist. The once tranquil fiery backdrop transformed into a nightmarish battleground. The deafening sound of gunfire shattered the eerie silence. Octavia instinctively covered her head as the harrowing memories of bullets whizzing bypassed straight through her.