It had been two months since the Angel incident, which meant that Extermination Day was nearing even more. In about another two months, the angels will come down and cause destruction and anarchy to the sinners once more.
Charlie was panicking in the lobby, frantically attempting to search for a solution that could promote the Hotel more and prove that redemption was possible. Aria had recommended using a mind map for a more organized plan. But with most sinners awaiting their doom hopelessly from the incoming massacre, the crew had the utmost difficulty in recruiting new guests.
Meanwhile, even though times were not pretty, Aria's bond with Alastor had strengthened so much that she didn't just see him as a guardian. He was also a father figure, who treated her well and taught her all she needed to know to become an Overlord. It had gotten to the point where she'd look forward to being by Alastor's side all day long, just to feel that parental love she never got in life.
Alastor enjoyed Aria's presence immensely as well. He cared for the young lioness as if she were family, as if she were his own flesh and blood. Despite him having some trouble with showing proper affection, there was no doubt that Aria had gained a spot in his black, corrupted heart that made him feel more human than ever before.
So on that particular day, Alastor decided that he was comfortable enough to tell the stories about his past. And to Aria's surprise, he opened up about the tales of his late mother too. She already had a hunch that Alastor was a mama's boy, but never had an idea of just how devoted the man was to his mother.
"My Ma was a wonderful woman, my dear. She would be happy to meet you." Alastor said, tilting his head slightly to glance up at a portrait of his mother hanging on the wall. "Isn't she beautiful?"
Staring at the picture in complete awe, Aria smiled softly and looked towards the deer demon, whose smile had softened significantly after sharing about his mother. "She's so pretty, Alastor." Aria murmured. "What was her name?"
It took a while for Alastor to respond, but once he did, his voice was as quiet as the bayous of Louisiana. A somber look of nostalgia wrote itself across the demon's expression, making him look more vulnerable than ever.
He despised the feeling of being so weak, especially in front of someone he cared so deeply about. Yet because of how calm Aria was, Alastor felt a lot more confortable in sharing about the darkness that enshrouded his past.
The silence in between him and his patient ward was louder than ever until he finally revealed his mother's name. "Abigail." He whispered. "Her name was Abigail, and I'll always remember her."
Aria remained quiet, her tail only flicking here and there occasionally. "What was she like?" She asked as Alastor sat down on his chair, turning his head towards the jade green fireplace.
"She was the most wonderful, kind and brilliant woman I knew, who taught me the ways of a gentleman." He replied. "She loved me to pieces, and I her. My father, however..."
Aria noticed the difficulty Alastor was experiencing when he mentioned his father. A concerned but curious look was on her face as she tilted her head, wanting to hear more coming from this troubled soul.
"He was far from being a kind man." Alastor explained briefly, his eternal grin fading to only a sad little smile. "And this is only one of the reasons why I want to speak to you today, darling. I want to make a promise."
The stag then turned to face Aria and put a gentle, gloved hand on her head, petting her hair tenderly after standing up again. "I swear to never treat you the way my father did to me. Instead of stripping away everything that you could be, I will nurture it and make sure you will harness your greatest potential even in this cesspool we call home. And as your guardian, I promise that I shall care for you just like a daughter and assist you in whatever way I can. This, shall be my vow in the deal we forged."
Those words pulled Aria's heartstrings, causing a tremor to overtake her. It hit straight to home, and knowing Alastor, he'd never play around recklessly with such words. Holding back a sob, the young lioness nodded her head and smiled. "Thank you, Alastor."
"Oh, darling..." Alastor pulled Aria into a tight embrace, allowing a few of her tears to stain his coat. "Please don't cry. It pains me to see you so sad, my little dear."
Aria buried herself in Alastor's arms and cried softly, occasionally trembling and sniffling. The deer demon rubbed her head with gentle care, feeling a warm sense of fondness overcoming the emptiness in his chest. The warm, green glow from the fireplace certainly helped make the room feel more safe, and it seemed like Hell wasn't so bad after all. If this young lady hadn't had the privilege of feeling a father's love, Alastor thought, he'll be the first to give it to her. No way was he going to let Aria be neglected ever again.
After a while of letting out the waterworks, Aria sighed and wiped her glasses after pulling away from the hug. A small, awkward giggle came out of her as her tears dried away. "Sorry for the mess, Alastor. I shouldn't have-"
"No, no darling, I can understand completely. There's no need for apologies." Alastor shushed his dear ward and grasped her hands in his. His smile was as soft as ever, one could even say a genuine fatherly smile. "Shall we go down now? Charlie will be expecting us to be there."
After a brief look down towards her hands in Alastor's, Aria nodded and sniffled one final time before squeezing Alastor's fingers. "We shall." She simply replied, allowing the stag to lead her out of his room.
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Alastor narrowed his eyes when he saw the banner to welcome Lucifer to the Hotel. As the rest of the crew scurried around frantically in the lobby, he and Aria stood on the balcony of the second floor, watching as the chaos unfolded.
"I suppose you don't fancy the idea of having him around, right?" Aria asked, glancing up at Alastor's displeased smile with a furrowed brow. "Or perhaps you just don't like men in general."
Alastor breathed out of his nostrils and closed his eyes in annoyance at the thought of Lucifer barging in the Hotel. "I despise insolent, pitiful brutes, my dear." He replied with a simple answer, which was enough for Aria to understand what he was trying to imply.
The two demons headed down to the lobby to greet the others. Aria gave Angel a fist bump before continuing to follow Alastor towards the front of the lobby At the same time, Charlie was there too and was ready to open the door. "Alright, everyone." She grinned, albeit nervously. "It's showtime!"
The door opened to reveal a king. A very short one, too.
Lucifer had the same pale skin, yellow eyes and apple-red cheeks as Charlie, and his white, regal outfit was accessorized with a top hat that made him look a bit taller than his actual height. With a cautious expression, Aria examined the king for a short while before looking up to see Alastor's hostile gaze towards Lucifer. Even his left eye was twitching, and his smile was extremely strained.
"Charlie!!" Lucifer exclaimed, reaching out to squeeze his daughter in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, it's so good to see you! I've missed you so much, haha!"
The princess managed to strain a smile and greet her father after he let go and finally allowed her to have a breather. "It's uh, good to see you too, dad. Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!" She said, gesturing to the very rushed and messy welcome party in front of them. Meanwhile, two Egg Boiz popped some party poppers to make it 0.1% more of a warm welcome.
However, Lucifer's attention was immediately drawn to Keekee, who curled up against him and rubbed her face against his legs. Completely enchanted by the tiny feline's cuteness, the king kneed and gave the kitty some good scritches. "Oh hewwo, Keekee!!"
At the same time, Razzle and Dazzle flew towards their master, catching his attention as well. "Razzle, Dazzle! Aradideedidit~" Lucifer cooed, greeting his pets. "Oh, look how much you haven't grown, still fun-sized! You taking care of my wittle girl? You better be." He threatened with an ominous tone before snickering.
Charlie was a bit wary of seeing her father look around the place. It was painfully obvious that Lucifer was trying to hide his displeasure in seeing the dilapidated Hotel, as well as the messy decor. "Wow." He cringed. "This place sure looks uh... uh-huh, yeah, uhuh... it's got a lot of character- OH!"
The sight of the bar immediately made the king grimace, finding the design and the faint stench of alcohol repulsive. "What in the unholy hell is that?!" He screamed, pointing his cane at the establishment.
"Tell me he didn't just say that. Oh, brother." Aria thought to herself. Alastor was sure to be offended by that statement, and just as she had predicted, the stag responded almost in an instant, warping into a shadowy fog to appear a few yards in front of Lucifer.
"Just some of the renovations we had done." He answered, leaning on his microphone staff with a display of smugness. "Adds a bit of color, don't you think?"
Looking at the tall deer man suspiciously, Lucifer pointed his staff at him with a raised eyebrow. "And you are?" He asked, only to be startled by Alastor appearing behind him all of a sudden. Aria watched it all silently, reveling in the smell of beef between the two demons.
She approached Alastor and stood by his side while Charlie stayed at Lucifer's. It was as if the two young women were seated in priority seats to a ridiculously comical verbal scuffle amongst two middle-aged men.
"Alastor. Pleasure to be meeting you sir, quite a pleasure." Alastor said, shaking Lucifer's cane before releasing it to wipe his hand in not-so-very hidden disgust. He then pressed his thumb and index finger together to mock the king's height, which Aria found absolutely hilarious. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name. You are, however, much shorter in real life than I thought you'd be." He taunted.
"Who- who is this nut, are you the bellhop?" Lucifer questioned with a deadpanned expression. It was so uncalled for and such a random insult that Aria almost roared in laughter had she not had enough self control.
Alastor's patience was running thin, but for some reason he just wanted to get on Lucifer's nerves so badly. Whatever was his intention, no one had any idea. But as a response, the stag scoffed and adjusted his tie to look more professional. "Aha, no! I am the gracious host of the Hotel. You might've heard of me from my radio broadcast."
Lucifer tapped his chin in mock thought before pouting. "Nope!" He snorted haughtily, elbowing Charlie as he snickered. "I guess that's why they called it the has-been Hotel, ahahaha!"
"Ha, ha, ha. It was actually my idea."
"Ha ha ha! Well it's not very clever!"
"Ha HA! FU-"
"OKAY! Alright, anyway..." Charlie got in the way to stop the two demons from actually getting into a fight and pulled Lucifer to the side to distract him. "Dad, look at this lovely parlor, where people can get to know each other and share secrets, and stories, and intimate feelings! Without Alastor, we wouldn't have been able to pretty it up this much."
Meanwhile, Aria's brilliant mind hatched a cheeky idea which was sure to bring entertainment to her beloved guardian. "Alastor?" She called, before gesturing for Alastor to lean down a bit so Aria could whisper her plan to him. "How about trying to be the dad figure towards Charlie? The king has been sooo absent in her life, after all. It's the perfect way to get under his skin."
In response, Alastor's grin widened to the point his face looked like it would break in half. "My oh my, my goodness! My dear, you are truly a genius! No wonder you're my dearest ward." He cooed, pinching Aria's cheek affectionately before sauntering over to Charlie, who had just mentioned his name in her conversation with Lucifer.
"You know, Charlie has a very unique vision. I am happy to fulfill her requests, no matter how bizarre they are." Alastor said, taking Aria's plan to action. He glanced at Lucifer and reveled at the sight of him getting more and more agitated. So to make him as mad as the Mad Hatter, Alastor put a hand on Charlie's shoulder.
Surprised, Charlie looked up at Alastor and put her hand on top of his with a grateful smile. "Oh! Thank you, Alastor." She said, having no clue about the rivalry between him and her own father, who was practically growling in frustration.
Smirking, Alastor feigned a content expression and pulled Charlie close, mimicking the actions of a proud father. "Quite an impressive young lady she is. We're all very proud of her." He ingratiated, to the point where Lucifer walked right in between them to separate Alastor from Charlie.
"Ahem!" He cleared his throat, trying to avert Charlie's attention to her other friends, pointing his cane at them. "Charlie, dear! Eheh, why don't you introduce me to your OTHER friends?"
Aria couldn't hold back a snicker while seeing how frustrated Lucifer looked and stuck to Alastor's side. She watched with an amused smile as Charlie introduced Vaggie to the king. Simultaneously, Alastor was doing the same thing.
"Oh yes, of course! This is Vaggie. She's my girlfriend!" Charlie said, gently pulling Vaggie to her side. The moth demon smiled awkwardly and waved at the king, who was absolutely and dementedly delighted.
"Oh my golly!" Lucifer exclaimed, almost screaming at the top of his lungs as he squeezed Vaggie into a joint-breaking hug. "You like girls? So do I!! We have so much in common! You put her there, Maggie! Ahah, oh yeah, she's so pretty."
Vaggie chuckled nervously and put a strand of her hair behind her ear after Lucifer let her go. "Uh, lovely to meet you, sir." She said.
The princess then led Lucifer to meet the residents of the Hotel, who were both fighting for cookies like whiny toddlers. And while Sir Pentious was distracted, Aria snuck up and took a cookie for herself without the snake knowing. "And this is Sir Pentious and Angel Dust, our guests! Oh, and Aria too. She's uh...well..."
"I'm Alastor's ward. Pleasure to meet you, your majesty." Aria greeted Lucifer with a bright smile, albeit a bit mockingly. She offered a handshake and in response, Lucifer wearily took her index finger and shook that instead.
"Charmed, I'm sure." He replied, glancing towards Alastor then back to Aria once more. The king was suspicious of the young sinner, and rightfully so.
Seeing this, Aria responded with a chuckle. "Don't worry, sire. I was taught to be very well behaved, thanks to Alastor. I can assure you that I won't cause any trouble." She said, noticing Lucifer's weariness and enjoying his discomfort.
When Sir Pentious noticed Lucifer looking towards his direction, he saluted just like a general in war. "Your Majesty!" He greeted the king before passing out on the cookie tray, right before Angel sneakily took a cookie for himself as well.
"Heya, short king~" the spider demon flirted, shooting a seductive glance at Lucifer.
"Husk is our bartender," Charlie continued, gesturing to the old cat and then the little cyclops demon who was eagerly staring at the king. "and Niffty is our housekeeper."
With a finger salute, Husk greeted Lucifer casually and watched as Niffty scurried towards the king and climbed up on his coat. "Nice to meet you." The feline said calmly.
"Hello." Niffty giggled, ecstatic to meet the ultimate bad boy of all of Hell. She snickered madly and tried to charm him with... her own way. "I clean, ehehehe~!"
All of a sudden, the chandelier from the ceiling fell and almost landed on Aria had it not been Alastor who pulled her away just in time. Dust flew around everywhere once the chandelier hit the floor, causing everyone to cough and eyes water. Of course, Aria knew that Alastor was the one who caused it, seeing that he had already known where it would fall, and therefore shielded her from the impact.
It seemed that Lucifer knew it was Alastor's doing as well, so he merely laughed and shot a glare at the deer demon. "Haha, alright then." He said lowly. With one swing of his cane, the fallen chandelier disappeared before he pulled Charlie away, bursting into song about how he's here to finally help her.
Alastor watched on, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and interrupt the song. But just as he was about to interfere, Aria put her hand on his shoulder and transferred a bit of her power to him, helping him to enhance his voice to make him sound more convincing. "It's only temporary, but I believe you'll make it worthwhile." She whispered.
Turning his head towards his little partner in crime, he gave another little pinch to her cheek. "You are a gem, my dear." he praised before walking over and bumping Lucifer away to sing to Charlie instead.
The song progressed until it wasn't even about convincing Charlie who was the better dad figure anymore. It was merely about the beef between two men who couldn't seem to get along with each other one bit. Aria watched along, with her powers only lasting about a good three minutes before Alastor and Lucifer screamed at each other, getting into each other's faces.
"Can you butt out of my song?!"
"Your song? I started it!"
"I'm singing it, I'll finish it!"
"Oh you TACKY PIECE OF-" "IT'S ME!"
Just as everything was about to get good, someone burst through the doors of the Hotel and interrupted the scuffle. She was a very short, plump sinner demoness who looked more humanoid than anyone in the Hotel. She barged in and caught everyone's attention, including Aria's.
"Yes, it's me! I know you were all waiting for me! I'm here, what a gas! Took a while, but I'm present at last!" She sang gleefully, confetti coming out of her hands in command. The woman threw some of the confetti towards Alastor, then at Husk, then everywhere. Strangely, Aria noticed that Husk looked as if he wanted to die at the sight of this woman. Alastor looked a bit annoyed, but somehow pleasant. Niffty looked as demented as ever, but also had a happy, cute little smile on her face. Did they know her?
"It's me! It's ME! MIMZYYYYY!!!" She sang in a nice high falsetto, landing in front of the entire group with a giant grin on her face. Aria tilted her head and chuckled a bit at the sight of the baffled expressions on the rest of the crew. She was just as confused as them, but from her observation, this Mimzy was...odd. The bad kind of odd.
After Mimzy ended her "grand" entrance, a moment of awkward silence lingered in the lobby before Lucifer broke the silence.
"Who?"
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Enjoy, my lovelies ❤️ Cursed Cat Alastor is trending on Twitter and I decided to contribute lmao