A few weeks later...
"Now Reggie, we talked about this..." you say. "You gotta let that 'burn down the hotel' shit go, man."
"I know, (Y/N), but..." he mutters, looking over your shoulder with a crazed look in his eye.
"...it's just so fun!"
He jumps up and sprints out the room, running down the hall toward the kitchen again, no doubt.
As you stand up to follow him, you can hear Reggie audibly skid to a sudden stop.
"Aww man!" he groans. "Stupid door!"
Stepping out into the hall, you see him standing just outside the new entrance to the hotel's kitchen.
Charlie had a new door to the kitchen installed, one which required a room key, unlike the original door.
It worked great in keeping Reggie out of there. No more sudden, random fires starting in the middle of the night.
However, this meant that every time Reggie wanted something to eat (something that wasn't in his hotel room's refrigerator), someone with a room key would have to let him in.
And after an incident where another hotel guest was nearly turned into a living ball of flame, it was decided that someone needed to look after Reggie when he needed to make himself something to eat.
Usually, that "someone" ended up being you.
As you walk up to the cycloptic demon, a nervous expression appears on his face.
With an uneasy smile, he says "(Y/N)! I was uh... kidding about the whole 'burning down the hotel' thing! I was just... hungry, that's it!"
"Uh huh..." you mumble, not buying his words for a second.
"No, really!" he assures you. "Could you let me in, so I could make something to eat?"
"You know what, fine." You say. "But I'm not letting my eyes off you for one second."
Rolling his eye, he sighs. "Ugh. Whatever."
You unlock the door for Reggie and he steps inside. You are about to follow him in, when you feel a light tap on your shoulder.
Turning around, you see Vaggie, with a somewhat concerned expression on her face.
"Hey (Y/N). I need to talk to you about something, really quick..." she says.
"Is it about Reggie? Don't worry, I'm making sure he's on his best behavior. Right, buddy?" you call out to him.
"Oh yeah, totally!" he replies, before you hear something shatter on the floor.
You and Vaggie wince at the sound, which was no doubt a dinner plate breaking.
"Oh shit." you hear him mutter. "Uh, I'll clean that up, don't worry!"
You sigh, before turning your attention back to Vaggie.
"No, it's not about him." she says. "It's about Charlie. She seems a bit... scared for some reason."
"What for?" you ask.
"I tried asking her what was wrong, but she wouldn't tell me anything. I feel like... she'd probably open up to you instead."
"But you're like her best friend, Vaggie. If she wouldn't tell you about it, then why would she open up to me, of all people?" you ask her.
"She seems to trust you. A lot. So... you'd probably be more successful than me." she replies.
"And I trust you with this a Hell of a lot more than Angel and Alastor, so... could you see what might be wrong with her?"
"Yeah, of course I wil-" you begin to say, before a random burst of flame from behind you suddenly makes the room a lot warmer.
"...could you keep an eye on him while I'm gone, please?" you ask Vaggie.
Pulling a nearby fire extinguisher off the wall, Vaggie says "Yeah, sure."
----------------------------------------------
Vaggie told you that Charlie was anxiously wandering around the hotel's top floor, for some odd reason, so you used the elevator to get up there.
God only knows what might be on her mind.
Maybe she's thinking of a way to actually "redeem" all these hotel guests.
More and more people have checked into the hotel, but to your knowledge, none have actually "checked out" yet.
You believe there are roughly 50 guests currently staying at the Happy Hotel. Keeping track of the numbers was more of Vaggie's job, so this is pure speculation on your part.
After hiring you, Charlie seemed more comfortable in accepting job applications, so there are a few new hotel employees that help run the place and keep things tidy.
So despite the sudden increase in customers, you don't feel "overwhelmed" very often.
Hopefully Charlie figures things out soon though. If no one is actually "checking out" of this hotel, then it probably won't stay open for much longer.
The elevator doors slide open, revealing an empty hallway.
You step out of the elevator and look around. No employees, no hotel guests, and no Charlie. Just a long hallway; its walls are lined with seemingly endless closed doors.
Strange. The way Vaggie was talking, you figured you'd find her right away.
You take a few steps forward, before calling out her name.
"Charlie? Princess? You here?"
No answer. Just a distant "Shut the fuck up, I'm sleeping!" from the other end of the hall.
Ignoring the rather rude response, you stand there for a moment and ponder.
Maybe she went to another floor for some reason?
Deciding to check the next floor down, you step back into the elevator and press the button for the floor below you.
Before the elevator doors can close, an ivory-colored hand from outside the elevator reaches out toward you, forcing the doors to reopen.
"(Y/N)? What are you doing here?" Charlie asks from outside the elevator.
"Looking for you, actually." you reply. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
The Princess gives you a gentle smile upon hearing your words, and her cheeks become a bit flustered.
"Thanks.... I've been fine, but... there's been something on my mind lately."
"What's wrong? I didn't do anything, did I?" you ask with concern.
"Oh no, of course not!" she assures you. "You've been a great employee and friend to me for so long now."
Ouch, friendzoned once again.
"It's just that... I had a dream last night, and... here, let me show you. Come with me."
You follow her out of the elevator, and see her open the door to the nearby stairwell leading to the hotel's roof.
That's strange. What could be going on up there?
She wordlessly leads you up the stairs, before opening up the door at the top of them.
The two of you step out onto the hotel's rooftop, and you don't see anything out of place. It's just... a roof, with nothing of note on it.
"Uh, Charlie? What's the problem?" you ask, looking around to see if anything might be wrong.
Pointing a finger up to the sky, Charlie looks up and says "That."
Your eyes following where she's pointing, you gasp in shock at what you see.
A distant star, very far away, is brightly flashing every few moments. It's the middle of the day, so the only "star" you typically see is the massive red pentagram over the city.
It's almost like Morse code, the way the star periodically flashes before returning to normal.
"Is that... Heaven?" you ask in disbelief.
"It has to be." she replies.
"What's going on up there? I've never seen it do that before!"
"I... I don't know. I've only seen it do that right before... exterminations." Charlie replies, the last word of her sentence barely louder than a whisper.
She looks back toward you, with a sorrowful expression on her face. "The dream I had last night. I was on the roof of the hotel, and I heard a voice... saying 'I am here to help'."
"But if Heaven only does that before exterminations, then..." you say.
"Exactly..." Charlie whispers.
"But the next one is almost a whole year away! Maybe someone from Heaven actually wants to help us out."
"I hope but... I don't know for sure..."
"If they actually plan on... doing that, then... what can we do?" you ask.
"We have to keep our guests safe, so... we should evacuate them all. Maybe... have them hide in the basement, until it's all clear and-"
A sudden blast of energy knocks the two of you off your feet, sending you tumbling onto the floor.
You find yourself laying on your back, your eyes looking toward the sky. You no longer see the distant star.
"Ugh... what the Hell was that?" you mumble, groaning in pain.
"Interesting choice of words..." an unfamiliar deep voice says with a chuckle.
You sit up, looking upon a disturbing creature with a menacing smile, and enormous white wings on its back.
An exterminator angel.