Chapter Text
It took a ridiculous amount of effort for Charlie to open her eyes this morning, her lids heavy and doing their absolute best to tempt her into allowing them to fall shut once more and lure her back into slumber, and they might have succeeded if it wasn’t for the bone-deep chill rattling her bones and making her teeth chatter.
Charlie curled tighter into her comforter, though she’d already wrapped herself up so completely it was starting to restrict her movement, and wondered why she was so cold. Was this it, had Hell finally frozen over?
It hit her like a tonne of bricks when she remembered, attempting to sit up in her bed but was thwarted by her entangled limbs and blankets only succeeded in struggling for a brief moment before flopping back on her pillow with a helpless whine. Memories of the last few days flickered across her mind, though some parts were hazier than others, she remembered how she’d struggled to stay awake on the trip home (though she’d mostly feigned sleep anyway, not at all ready to interact with both her parents), and she remembered her father carrying her off the train – he’d been muttering a few choice words under his breath, not that she’d been listening when she’d interrupted his grumbling to ask a favour.
Wriggling a bit to free her hands, Charlie was almost relieved to find she was still wearing the clothes she’d fallen asleep in, reaching into her pocket and retrieving the golden apple she’d asked her father for. Its skin glittered even in the dull light of her room.
Lucifer hadn’t even questioned her request when she asked for it, which she was glad for as she wasn’t entirely certain he’d have complied if he knew she wanted it for Alastor. It had been one of the thoughts that had kept her from completely dozing off on the ride home, realising that with her magic completely drained, there was no chance she was going to be able to make the silver apples to help him combat the poison still in his system, but had completely forgotten to give it to him before she finally fell asleep.
Her thoughts turning to the sinner, Charlie had mixed feelings when she realised her first reaction was to glance around her room half expecting him to be there. It had been far too easy to get used to his presence while sharing a room, but they were back at the hotel now so sharing was no longer necessary! She knew when they got back things between them would likely go back to how they had been before, though… she could have sworn he was there when she fell asleep.
Another memory popped unbidden into her mind, her stomach dropping like a stone as she remembered asking in her half-asleep state about his deal.
No, no, no, noooooooooooo
Charlie dropped the apple from her hand onto the bed in shock at the memory, pressing her palm instead against her head and cursing herself for opening her damn mouth. She couldn’t recall Alastor’s reaction, frustratingly, so she didn’t know how he’d taken the news that she knew about his deal - had seen the chain around his throat confirming what she’d already suspected – something she had meant to bring up far more delicately than just blurting it out.
Dammit, why couldn’t she remember his reaction? Had she really just announced that and passed out?! Was he mad, or did he just deny it?
Well, Charlie sighed, there was no taking it back now… and it was something they needed to talk about. While she wasn’t one to pry into the private lives of others if they weren’t willing to open up by themselves, she needed to at least know that whatever Alastor’s deal was that it wasn’t going to pose any threat to the Hotel – though, if she was honest, she had a sinking feeling that whatever it was likely was the reason he’d shown up on her doorstep in the first place. It sounded more realistic than him just being ‘bored’. Although, getting any information from him was likely to be as easy as pulling teeth.
Uncaring of her current worries, this was the moment her stomach decided to give a particularly loud growl, forcing her to realise rather suddenly that she was absolutely starving.
At least that was a problem she could fix easily.
Once she was able to disentangle herself from her sheets, Charlie swung her legs out of bed and held the post as she pulled herself up to stand pleased when her legs (though they protested shakily) didn’t immediately refuse to support her weight. She was still freezing, and every movement felt as though she had lead weights on her limbs, but she did feel stronger than she had the previous day. Though, she wasn’t going to celebrate just yet and kept her movements slow and careful as she changed out of her wrinkled clothes and into something more relaxed, and warm, settling on a pair of jogging bottoms and a hoodie from LuLu Land that her dad had sent for one of her many forgotten birthdays. It still looked early when she peered out of the windows, so she doubted any of the other residents would be up to see her anyway. With the exception of Alastor himself, none of the others were early risers, and she somewhat doubted she’d be running into the deer demon anytime soon.
True to her expectations the Hazbin Hotel was eerily quiet as Charlie made her steady way down to the kitchen, leaving heavily on the walls and even debating just sitting down for a short while as she rode the elevator to the bottom floor, her heavy limbs wishing she’d stayed in bed despite her stomachs growling complaints. Of course, if she’d stayed in bed she’d likely have done nothing more than stew in her own thoughts and given everything going on with the attack, Alastor, her parents and heaven, right now Charlie would prefer to have her mind otherwise occupied – at least for a little while.
The elevator doors opened to the deserted main foyer, not that she was terribly surprised, though a part of her felt disappointed seeing Husk’s bar empty – it just looked so sad on its own with no one there! Before giving her head a shake and making her way to the kitchen. Practically falling through the double doors, the princess was somewhat surprised to find Husk raiding the fridge while Angel sat at the island watching him, a comically large sub sandwich in his hands already missing a bite.
“Oh,” Charlie gave them a small smile as they turned to her, suddenly a little embarrassed by her less-than-proper appearance (she hadn’t even brushed her hair, Satan only knows what a mess it was!) “Sorry, I didn’t expect anyone else to be awake. Good Morning!”
Angel laughed, “’ Morning’? Think you wanna check the clock again there toots, it's evening.”
“What?”
“Yeah, you’ve been asleep for a solid twenty-four hours kid” Husk chimed in, his voice as gruff as usual but eyeing her with a slight bit of concern. It was clear the Princess was still unwell, hand out to lean against the wall beside her and a slight hunch of her shoulders as she curled into herself, and a shivering he could see even from this distance.
“We gonna hafta start calling you ‘sleeping beauty’.” Angel joked, though he too had a slight frown as he eyed her carefully.
“I’ve been asleep for a whole day?!” Charlie gaped, making her slow way across the kitchen to take a seat beside Angel at the counter. “Why didn’t anyone wake me?!”
“Because tall dark and creepy threatened to disembowel anyone who disturbed ya, and I rather like my guts to still be inside me when they get re-arranged, thank you” Angel explained crudely, earning a withering glance from Husk even as the cat-demon nodded in agreement. “Besides,” the spider continued a little more gently, “from the state of ya when he carried you in, looked like you needed it. You look like shit, by the way. Who painted your face black and blue?”
Charlie reached a hand up to touch the bruises on her face, she’d forgotten they were there until Angel’s question, poking to find they were still sore to the touch even if they no longer ached. Dropping her head against the countertop, the blonde sighed, “…it’s a long story.”
“Well we ain’t exactly busy,” Angel pressed, despite the look Husk was giving him, adding “Smiles mentioned something about you getting poisoned?”
He likely wasn’t going to let up until she told him what had happened, Charlie realised, which wasn’t terribly surprising. Still, she began to explain the abridged version of events (leaving out anything to do with Alastor’s sickness, or any… intimate moments they may have shared) while Angel clung to every word she said, eyes wide. Even Husk forgot to pretend as though he wasn’t listening to her story, the sandwich he was making himself staying only half prepared as he focused entirely on what was being said. While she explained to them about the first attack, then the second, the plot to kidnap both her and the Goetia heiress, Charlie slipped off of the stool she sat on and began rooting in the cupboards for something to eat. She was craving sugar, and soon enough found a box of her favourite (what the others called ‘sickeningly sweet’) cereal and began eating it dry from the box. By the time she’d finished telling them everything – including the return of her parents, the news about Sir Pentious, and her current lack of magic – she’d finished the first box and opened a second.
“So, where is everyone?” the princess asked once she’d finished her story, swallowing another handful of cereal. Normally the Hotel was a hive of activity in the evenings, so it was odd that only Angel and Husk seemed to be around.
“Well, about that-” Husk rolled his eyes “- you weren’t the only one with a surprise visit.”
“Yeah,” Angel butted in with a snicker, “think Husk got the scare of his life when he opened the door the other day to a bunch of Angels! His fur was all puffed up!”
“I wasn’t scared, I was… startled!” Husk snapped, jabbing a long claw at Angel's grinning face, “And what about you? You screamed like a little bitch!”
“I did not!”
“Did too!”
“-Wait!” Charlie interrupted what could become a very long and annoying argument (though Angel continued to stick his tongue out at Husk), and asked, “What angels? There were angels here?!”
Her first terrifying thought was of Lute and her band of blood-thirsty exorcists seeking revenge, though that seemed rather silly considering everyone was still in one piece. Then again…
“I think you mean ‘are here’,” Angel corrected, “that chick Emily really wanted to see you, so she decided to stick around till you came back. Her and some kid, think he’s supposed to be her bodyguard or somethin’ but so much as look in his direction and he looks like he’s about to have a heart attack!”
Husk snickered, apparently agreeing.
“Emily’s here!?” Charlie choked on her cereal.
“Yeah, and she told us all about Pentious – I still can’t believe it! Redemption fucking works, like, who knew?!”
Practically falling out of her chair, Charlie asked “Where is she?”
“Whoa, calm down before you fall and give the other side of your face a matching bruise toots!” Angel caught her, righting her back into the chair again with a huff. “Vaggie took the god squad on a bit of a tour – in disguise, of course, don’t wanna start a panic. That Emily chick was all excited about seeing Hell, it was almost flattering, like living somewhere famous.”
“Other one looked like he was about to crap his pants” Husk mumbled, grinning.
“Oh, right” Deflating a bit in her seat, Charlie scooped another handful of cereal in her mouth, asking when she’d finished, “So… where’s everyone else?”
She was absolutely not asking because she wanted to know if Alastor was around. Nope.
“Ah, right… Nifty is in her room. We kind of had to lock her in.”
“Why?”
“Well, remember how you told her to stab if she sees an angel?”
“Oh no…”
“Yeah,” Husk rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, “she kept trying to stab them, so we thought locking her in her room was the safest option. At least until you or the boss got back, figured she’d listen to at least one of ya.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Charlie assured, drumming her fingers on the countertop. “Unless Alastor already did?” she added hopefully.
“He’d probably just encourage her if he did,” Angel muttered under his breath beside her.
“Doubt it,” Husk explained, “he stalked out of here shortly after dropping you off last night and ain’t been back since.”
Charlie wilted in her seat the news, worrying her lip. If what Husk said was true, that meant Alastor had been gone all day – leaving right after she asked about his deal. Realising Husk was still watching her however she quickly shook off her worry, doing her best to give him a bright smile. “Oh, okay – well, if you see him come back can you let him know I need a word?”
“Sure,” the barman shrugged, though his expression said he thought she was crazy.
“Thanks! I better go talk to Nifty about not stabbing guests. I need everyone to be on their absolutely best behaviour while they are here, we know redemption works but Heaven still isn’t convinced it’s effective, I want to show them we can be better and maybe they’ll put a stop to the exterminations altogether!”
“Hey, I’m always on my best behaviour!” Angel protested as Charlie was leaving.
“You propositioned both of them within five minutes,” Husk pointed out.
“It’s called being polite!”
Whatever Husk’s reply it was lost to the sound of the swinging kitchen doors as Charlie exited, the half-eaten box of cereal still tucked under one of her arms, made her way back to the elevator and headed to Nifty’s room all the while trying not to let her thoughts wander to her wayward hotelier. One problem at a time, Charlie.
The talk with Nifty was… draining. Charlie was already getting tired by the time she made it to the maid's room, then was forced to dodge a surprise attack as she tried to enter, at least until Nifty realised who it was. The maid launched into apologies and explanations immediately, noticing just as Angel had about the bruises on her face and asking about them (more specifically, she had asked if Mr Alastor ate the bad guys who hurt her, and for details if he did) but Charlie was able to turn the conversation back to the angels. It took a few tries at explaining, but eventually, she managed to convince Nifty not to just go stabbing the new guests and to check with her first before killing anyone – though she did have to promise Nifty could defend herself in the unlikely event one of them was to attack her first to get her to agree – and once she was (mostly) certain she wasn’t about to go on a rampage, Charlie agreed to let Nifty out. By the time it was over, Charlie just wanted to crawl back into bed again, but given how she’d slept for a whole day felt that she ought to do at least a little work before going back to bed again.
She made her way to the office she shared with Alastor. When he’d first arrived she actually offered to give him his own office, they were in a hotel after all and it wasn’t like there was a shortage of spare rooms, but he’d insisted on sharing hers making comments about working together closely. At the time she’d thought he was just trying to get a reaction from her… given recent events, she now wasn’t sure what to think.
Despite herself, she couldn’t seem to stop the way her gaze flickered over to the ornate red chair in the corner of the office that he was rather partial to, of course finding it empty. Even if the others hadn’t told her he had left there was very little chance of finding him in their office, at this hour he would normally be upstairs broadcasting his radio show. With a moment of hope Charlie found herself flicking on the radio he had set up between their two desks, but as she’d suspected found only static on the frequency he normally broadcasted from.
Now really, she was just being silly! Charlie huffed at herself, taking a seat at her desk and eying the rather daunting piles of paperwork that had been left there during her week away. Alastor was a grown demon and an overlord at that, and he was clever. Poisoned he may be, but surely he wouldn’t be foolish enough to get himself into too much trouble, right?
Then again, the voice in her head reminded her, he’d also refused to get help the first time and let the poison get so bad before it nearly killed him.
Not helping, brain!
Sorry!
It seemed likely he’d left and stayed away because she’d mentioned his deal, though she couldn’t be sure it was the only reason, what if he didn’t come back now he knew she was aware of it? Or what if the idiot man had gotten himself hurt while avoiding her? He’d used a lot of magic during the fight at the lodge, enough to make her concerned, hence asking her father for the golden apple. It would cure the poison outright, the only problem would be convincing him to eat it when he came back. If he came back.
Stop it. He would come back. He had to… right?
Again her memory decided to make a helpful appearance. A fleeting warm pressure against her lips, a kiss she barely remembered and had almost thought she imagined.
Charlie touched her lips for a moment, heart rate picking up at the memory, couldn’t help but wonder why. Did this mean he had feelings for her? Rosie seemed to hint that he might in their conversations, though Charlie had always doubted it.
None of it mattered if he didn’t come back.
He would. He had to.
He had to.
Deciding she’d do nothing more than give herself a headache if she kept worrying, Charlie decided to tackle the least taxing task waiting on her desk – the mail. For some reason, no one else in the hotel ever seemed to check it, which was annoying considering the number of, ah, suspicious packages Angel ordered (she never opened those, not after the first one!) but thankfully there were no waiting parcels just a mountain of letters. Most of it was junk mail, flyers and coupons, occasionally there was a bit of hate mail. She was used to those by now, barely registering the vitriol written slandering her dream, tossing them all in the shredder beside her desk with barely more than a precursory glance. Vaggie had asked her once why she even bothered opening all the letters, she’d seemed more affected by the poisonous words than Charlie herself, but she’d explained that if on the off-chance anyone was ever interested in giving the hotel a chance reached out by letter she’d continue to check them. After all, there were still a lot of demons around who had died long before technology and preferred a good old-fashioned form of communication over texting.
Charlie yawned as she picked up a pile of what looked like pizza menus, shaking the pile out in case anything had gotten mixed up in the sheets, mildly surprised when a small old-looking lilac envelope fell onto her desk with a soft thud. Something about it instantly caught her attention.
Dropping the menus into a drawer (businesses opened up and closed down so often with the turf wars it was always good to keep a handful of options on hand), Charlie picked up the lilac envelope and turned it over in her hands, inhaling deeply as she realised there was an odd scent clinging to the paper – like jasmine and burnt sage. Her name ‘Princess Charlotte Morningstar’ was written in elegant script on the back, but nothing else. Nothing to indicate who might have sent it.
Interest well and truly piqued, Charlie used a single claw to tear open the envelope and shook the letter out, only to frown as she read it. In the same elegant handwriting as her name was an address… and nothing else. No name, no explanation. She checked the back of the letter as well, just in case, but it was blank.
Was she supposed to go here? If so then it was the oddest, vaguest, invitation she’d ever received. When was she supposed to go? Why? Was someone planning to meet her? What if it was some kind of trap? Given the recent events, she couldn’t help but wonder.
Flipping the paper over a few more times, checking the envelope again in case it contained something else, even holding it to the light of her lamp in case there was some kind of secret message Charlie was completely puzzled. She also decided that right now she was far too exhausted to deal with yet another mystery, but didn’t throw the letter away. Instead, tucked it back in its envelope safely, she decided to drop it in her top drawer to deal with later. After all, there was no date on it, so it couldn’t be urgent. She’d figure it out. Later.
With the post dealt with, and mystery letters put aside for now, she tried to turn her attention instead to the grocery receipts for the expense report (something Alastor usually did, considering he hated the way she’d doodle in the margins of the pages, but given he wasn’t here he could just deal with her doodles). However, numbers had never quite been Charlie’s forte, and it wasn’t long before the princess was resting her head on her desk promising to close her eyes just for a few minutes… and slipping unawares into another deep sleep.