Anger…..
Anger and desperation clouded the seraphim after Lute did what she was ordered and had brought back Saint Peter and Uriel for her troubling need for answers. She knew in the privacy of her office, after casting Lute out, that the probability was not there. It was impossible for any shred of her child to remain in existence, not when the blade she used still hung on the wall as a reminder.
With some effort she paced patiently behind Saint Peter while his eyes scanned the Book of Life.
Uriel stood stood behind quietly with his arms crossed as he waited to understand the meaning of this meeting.
"Interesting….." Saint Peter hummed a tune for his own thinking ad he flipped through the forbidden pages of every known Angel that is high in rank.
"What?" Sera piqued with interest and walked over behind him to loom over and see what he had discovered while the fragment pulsed in his hand.
Needless to say it was effort to get Sera to relinquish the fragment even for such a small task.
"The book…." He paused and stared at the fragment. "It definitely radiates an energy similar to the fragment but it's struggling to give us a name."
"How?" Uriel stepped to his other side and gazed down. "The book is absolute in all its names."
"Yes for those who have passed, not for a potential that may have returned." Saint Peter pointed out and focused even more to find the source.
Sera had been growing more impatient and it was beginning to show with how her aura seeped from her wings. But she had not a care for uncomfortable Peter or Uriel felt at the moment. All she could think about was her son... her child.
She still couldn't believe a few minutes ago the fragment had life, it made her thoughts run wild for the first time in centuries.
"Remain calm, Sera. It's just a theory that your own son might be back. But…..to see him again would be momentous. By the Heavenly Father I hope it is true and I can once more hold my child again. To tell him how sorry I am for my actions. Divine Beast or not he is still my baby."
Sera managed to collect herself as she gripped Saint Peter a little too tightly on his shoulder and waited silently as the pages flipped rapidly, her thoughts quickly changing back to the matter at hand.
Saint Peter was beginning to sweat at the idea of there being no answers as he tried to find the energy the marched the fragment, a nervous chuckle escaping his breath before the book stopped and took him by surprise.
"It can't be….."
He ran his fingers across the name as it slowly appeared in the forbidden list. The room felt cold with revelation as he trembled with breath at it appearing clear as day.
"What is it?" Uriel asked before seeing the name.
"It's right here." Saint Peter was on the verge of passing out at this shocking answer. His own eyes were hard to believe as he trailed each word with a shaking finger. "It says: Romna, Son of Sera…"
A long pause drew from him while Sera grew terrible anxiety for the truth to be revealed.
"Well what is it?" Sera asked in a raised tone, worry and irritation laced in her voice as the mystery made her wings twitch.
Finally Peter looked up to her and put his hand on the page, stuttering the answer with what ability he had left to speak, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Reincarnated…"
Sera took that one word to heart so deeply it broke her strength to stand. She stumbled back into Uriel's arms with a shocked look, unable to believe what Peter said.
But it was there in book. Her son was back and a whole new person, but most importantly he was alive.
Romna was back, her beloved child had returned to the living after centuries of guilt and regret to his untimely end.
She choked herself into sobs and she tears in the arms of the archangel as the thought of him being alive repeated in her mind.
"Romna...."
She had never thought her own son might return from the oblivion he was cast to, but would there be any sense of familiarity if he were to be in her arms again?
"Deep breaths." Uriel held the Seraphim tightly as her breathing became erratic.
Sera pressed a hand to her chest and felt her heart race and throb while the possibilities flooded her mind. She now had a chance to make things they were back then. She could have her son back at her side. Heaven could have one of their own back home.
Anyone in heaven would think this was out of character for their leader. But to be honest with herself she was very desperate. Too desperate to keep herself in check in front Uriel and Peter….Too desperate as a mother to ignore these feelings and maintain her demeanor while her child was somewhere alive.
But the torment of his whereabouts flooded her thinking as she hyperventilated against the archangel, wondering if he was well, if he was healthy and fed and happy.
What if he was miserable or in pain?
"I can't lose him again!" She roared mentally while trying to compose herself. "He's alive, and I will have my son at my side again. I will not let him leave me again!"
"Sera, take deep breaths!" Uriel urged the seraphim as her walls broke.
Sera heard the archangel but fell into a deep sob on her knees, pressing her hands to her mouth and muffling her cries, for there was nothing but fear and joy in her trembling form.
She felt her wings drop at the thought of Romna being alive but not with her while Uriel held her tightly to brace her.
"He's alive." He whispered softly and rubbed her arms. "He's reincarnated but he's alive."
"Alive…." She could barely hiccup that single word from behind her hands as the tears poured.
Peter stayed in his seat and closed the book, his eyes wide with shock still from the truth.
"This doesn't make any sense. Once an angel is destroyed there is no coming back."
Sera recoiled slightly at Peter's words and looked up to Uriel in desperate hope and need. She felt her heart start to race as she feared the worst and began thinking of the only move to be made.
"Search everywhere. Search the mortal realm, search hell if you must, just bring my son home."
Uriel flinched at her demanded as the desperation became a mildly painful touch of her hands grasping his arms, knowing this was a very difficult time for her.
"But Sera we don't know what he is now and the mortal realm has billons of—"
"Please I am begging you, Uriel. In all my time as High Seraphim I have never asked you to do anything of my own desire, but I am begging you to find my child and bring him home."
Uriel frowned at the idea of going on a search in entire realms for one individual. The idea made him frown, to search like a needle in a haystack that is impossibly sized.
"I would not know where to look."
Sera already had her own idea for that. She made haste to stand up and snatch the fragment from the clearly still perplexed Peter.
"Here!" She spun around and held it out to Uriel, needily giving her most sacred possession with hope. "Use it. Maybe it will grow stronger the closer it gets to Romna."
Uriel stepped forward and stared curiously at the humming fragment as he kept his apprehension deep within, knowing there was no room in this argument.
He reached for said fragment but stopped midway, uncertain of this new mission she desperately thrusted onto him.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes." She nodded eagerly which worried both men. "Fine my son and bring him home to me."
Uriel wanted to say something, to be a voice of reason. His time was unfortunate though with the angel thrusting the fragment and placing it in my hands. He was silent for a moment or two before grasping the piece of Romna and tucking it under his chest piece.
"And if I find any trouble along the way?" He asked in a more serious tone that matched his person.
Sera glared at this implication and gave off the cold authority everyone knew her to be.
"Eliminate any obstacle that keeps my son from me."
Those words alone made Saint Peter shiver.
Little did they know that a nosy lieutenant had disobeyed her being dismissed from the meeting, for curiousity bested her so badly that she was pressing an ear the entire time to the door and listening with Adam.
Her own mind couldn't process or believe what transpired as she stepped back quietly.
"No fucking way." Adam snickered quietly with a cocky grin. "She really thinks her kid is alive."
"Sir-" Lute gave a worried pause. "Isn't this a monumental occasion when one of our own is back?"
Lute was still very naive to the idea of reincarnation as it showed in how she needed answers from her commander, a most annoying factor that had Adam rolling his eyes under his mask.
"Look I'll make it short and sweet for you, dumb bitch."
Lute gave the arrogant man a bemused glare but bit her tongue on that insult before his explanation continued.
"Even if Romna is alive the point is he is reincarnated, meaning it's a new life for him. No memories." He grinned sadistically at the idea with newfound thoughts of fun. "And if he is back as an angel or divine beast, controlling him will make extermination day so much more fun."
Lute couldn't believe what she was hearing from her commander, the thought of controlling Sera's son for the purpose of extermination day sounded as wicked as it came from his mouth.
But it tickled her mind with a combination of fear for Sera potentially incurring her wrath, but at the same time it made her wings quiver with excitement at having such a weapon at their disposal.
"We could wipe all of hell away, no more demons hiding from us."
"Bingo." Adam chuckled to her catching on.
Meanwhile in Hazbin Hotel…..
Angel Dust was pacing in the foyer and was becoming increasingly worried as the minutes ticked with no live stream from the Vees or even a social media update on the whereabouts of Noctis. After a couple minutes of ringing his own hands he took a seat on the couch with Husk and Alastor breaking the silence with conversation while Nifty was on a roach hunt in the kitchen.
"So boss, got any ideas on what we saw?" Husk grunted, hiding the fact he was impressed by the human and his miraculous defiance of death.
Angel suddenly perked up when he seemed to realize what the grumpy bartender was talking about.
"To be honest I am as stumped as you are." Alastor openly admitted, tapping his microphone impatiently with his fingers as they waited for Pentious and the girls to return auccessful or not.
Husk look to his sadistically grinning master and allowed himself a moment of amusement.
"The Radio Demon, stumped by a mere human." He said humorously.
Alastoe hissed with static at Husk and sat up in the chair, prompting him to remember where his place was in the hotel.
"You really have no idea?" Angel asked curiously, breaking the conflict that would've made Husk fill with regret.
Alastor had to compose himself from letting loose a little bit of the terrir he can be, breathing slow and deep before his attention shifted to Angel Dust.
"No, even I am confused. I've never encountered such an anomaly. Noctis should have splattered to the pavement and yet he's alive and on the run."
Angel and Husk exchanged raised eyebrows for the radio demon being unknown to the development of their human friend, only to grimace in unison as they shared the same feeling of the hotel being part of something potentially dangerous.
"I say he's not human." Nifty chimed in after appearing from the top of the stairs.
The three demons forced their pondering stares to the little hoise main as she walked down the stairs to join them in their conversation.
"You got a reason behind that don't you." Husk replied in annoyance.
Nifty looked up to the grumpy cat and nodded enthusiastically which was followed by the three closing around for her answer.
"Well why do you say he's not human?" Angel asked, his expression genuinely curious about their human friend.
"Well—" Nifty paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully, frustrating the three boys more. "Noctis blasted you and Alastor away, and then his eyes glowed when vox made him made, and he floated. But I say it's because he punched Vox."
"Punched Vox?" Husk questioned.
"Uh huh." Nifty nodded again. "We are demons. We are tough. Humans are weak but Noctis hurt Vox, even broke his screen."
The boys, even Alastor himself, had a dumbfounded look at how true Nifty was with her words as she skipped away to go catch another roach that skittered away, leaving them gawking in wonder how she could be right and how Noctis was able to harm a demon as powerful as Vox.
"Is she right?" Angel looked to Alastor
"Yes….." Alastor was still gawking at how his servant actually spoke logic. "Noctis shouldnt have been able to harm Vox."
"So what does that mean then?" Husk grunted with a mild headache, mildly impressed that their friend was more than made out to be.
Alastor pondered this for a good minute and realized the only logical answer his vast knowledge could muster. The various moments of impossibility washed away his rare shock and gave fuel to his growing hunger for figuring out what made Noctis so special. His eyes widened with his smile and it made both Angel and Husk uneasy.
"Seems our friend isn't as human as he makes out to be."
The scene shifts to a mass chaos of violence and hunting across the pride district of Pentagram City. Demons of all kind and rank swarming street after street, bursting through and destroying any building they could breach in droves filled with bloodthirsty hunger.
Territorial laws were broken with gang wars breaking out in the streets more than normal as the hunt for Noctis continues in a blaze of bloodshed and gunfire.
"He's gotta be close!"
"That ten-thousand souls is mine!"
"Over my dead body!"
"Kill these fuckers so we can keep looking!"
Noctis was hiding as quietly as he could behind a pair of dumpsters after using the coat he got from velvette as bait to misdirect the demons looking for him, holding the terrified pup close to his chest and shushing it's whimpers while a few demons saw said coat and snatched it.
"Look it's the coat!"
"He must have gone this way!"
The chaos broke momentarily with the remaining gangs running down another alley while he waited for the sound of their footsteps to silence in the distance.
"I gotta find a way back to the hotel. But I don't even know where I am in this shithole."
He peeked around the dumpsters and despite the emptiness of demons being after him, a mutilation of corpses laid in the streets while Vox drones patrolled everywhere on the streets.
"What the fuck?" He gasped at the sight of children in the blood infested streets, some devoid of life, others suffering alone with various injuries beyond understanding.
The sight of death and suffering was so thick it made his stomach churn with the perpetual fear that throbbed in his heart.
He started to slowly lift himself out of his hiding spot after hearing a child groaning amongst the bodies on the street, seeing it was still alive and bleeding whilst looking right at him with growing emptiness in its eyes.
"Fuck it. I have to help."
He took one step from outside the dumpster and his eyes immediately widened in horror at the child suddenly trampled and crushed by another group of demons passing by.
The crunch of its bones echoed into the alleyway as he shot back into hiding and heard the child yelp and grunt until it was silenced by a foot that crushed its skull with a sickening crunch.
"Oh god..."
Noctis sat back down in his hiding spot as the pup began to whimper, but it was not in register of his current situation as he began to understand how severe his situation was becoming.
He began to hyperventilate and panic at the thought of how much he would have to go through to get home.
Could he even get back home?
Could he get back to Charlie and the others?
Would he die along the way, or worse be caught and dragged back to the Vees?
"I can't do this!" He clenched the handlebar on the dumpster, drowning in his own thoughts and sobbing before a familiar figure took control.
In an instant Noctis was slapped back to reality by the same hand that released said handlebar and stunned by his own body betraying him.
"What that fuck!?"
He stared at his own hand with disbelief and confusion before his entire head was grabbed by the hair and jerked, startling him to thrash against the invisible force that had him.
"LET ME—"
His mouth felt shut as if forced by an invisible hand before his head was forcefully turned to the brick wall. He suddenly realized the thing that was manhandling him was Alastor's shadow.
He calmed down somewhat as it cackled at him with that annoying smile it matched with its owner.
Alastor's shadow was having too much fun as is but reluctantly released Noctis by his shadow before forming words with its own silhouette on the wall.
"Are you done having a mental breakdown?"
"Alastor's shadow?" Noctis questioned as he rubbed his cheek of the stinging.
Said shadow reformed and confirmed with a sarcastic bow as the sound of Vox drones zoomed past the alleyway.
"Why are you here?" Noctis asked with a hint of relief in his voice.
He was not alone and that helped a great deal.
"Master had me follow you before you were taken away." The shadow answered while looking around. "Now if you are done having your fit, it's time to return home."
"Home….." Noctis repeated that word almost needily and exhaled a broken breath to emotional turmoil of wanting nothing more than to be back at the hotel where it was safe.
He allowed himself this moment of thought before nodding to the shadow with newfound determination while the pup began to fuss in his arm.
"Okay, what do I do?"
Alastor's shadow slipped away to the street while Noctis stood up and followed quietly, both parties gazing back and forth from around the corners to make sure no other demons were coming.
"Looks clear." Noctis sighed with relief and watched the shadow point to a rundown phone booth.
"I don't have any money." Noctis replied as he stepped over corpses carefully, cringing to the squeak of his boots from all the blood.
Alastor's shadow glared at the oblivious human before he slithered across and pointed at the corpses in an aggressive manner.
Noctis' eyes widened with fear as he knew what the shadow was implying for him to do no matter the situation, the corpses had what he needed and he would have to do a little sinning in order to get home.
A few minutes later he was in the rundown booth with his hands covered in blood but had pockets full of money and a shred of self-doubt seeded in his mind as he started dialing a number by memory.
"Come on. Pick up." He pleaded quietly while Alastor's shadow watched.
The seconds of hearing the other end just felt everlasting with tormentful hope as he looked around hastily for anyone that might be coming by.
Finally some hope came through.
"Hello?"
"Charlie?" Noctis said her name quietly into the phone and allowed himself a smile as he heard gasp and yell at vaggie in the background.
He had to brace himself and fight back the tears as bombarded him.
"I'm so glad to hear your voice. We saw everything on the tv and got so scared. Where are you right now? Are you hurt? Are you safe? Is anyone with you?"
"Everything?" He asked her and thought back to the incident that had him on edge.
"Yes, we saw it all. But right now we need to know where you're at right now so we can come get you!"
"I dont know where I am." He whispered and batted his gaze around for some form of clue. "Some street corner that says Vanity and Infernal Drive."
"That's perfect. It's not far!" Charlie exclaimed with her tone changing to hopeful.
Noctis could finally breathe a little after hearing her say that. He could finally eacape this nightmare Vox put him in and get back to his friends.
However, his mind drifted to the last few hours of his day and how he was in a situation of impossibility. He looked up in the phone booth and stared at the reddened sky, thinking hard and deep of himself as he heard Charlie trying to talk to him.
"Noctis talk to me. You went quiet."
"Charlie….."
"What's wrong?"
"Tell those damn eggs to drive faster!" Vaggie demanded loudly in the background, but Noctis had his mind elsewhere.
"Charlie I.…..I'm so scared." He quivered those words as he looked around with Alastor's shadow.
Nothing was around still, thankfully, as he let himself spill his emotions to the princess.
"I'm so scared. I don't know what's happening to me."
A long pause drew between them over the phone before the demoness heard his whimpering, and spoke in a calmer tone.
"I know you are. Everyone is scared too. But... Vaggie and I are scared the most right now."
"You're the most scared?" He laughed bitterly into the phone and stared down at his right hand, his sight almost blinded by how hard he was crying. "You're not the one questioning everything. I'm looking at my own hand that I used to punch Vox and the cuts are gone."
"Our reason is different." Charlie responded calmly and paused again as Alastor's shadow darted to a certain direction and slithered away.
Noctis breaths of depression and sorrow mellowed as he listened to her reason behind that admittence.
"You're reason is different?"
"Yes....the thing is....Vaggie and I...we—"
"Hey!" Noctis interrupted her for Alastor's having returned suddenly and jerked him on the shadow of his leg. "What's your problem!?"
"Noctis what's wrong?"
Noctis looked to where the shadow was pointing and focused his attention to the oncoming black limousine that sped fast to his location, mowing over the corpses like trash and approaching too quickly for him to do anything.
His breathing hastened as he went back to shouting on the payphone.
"Charlie someone's here!"
"What!?"
The limousine came to a screeching halt as Alastor's shadow merged with Noctis again to hide. Panic set as the rear doors opened and three woman shot out and strut to him with pistols pointed.
"Get him in the car, girls!" The eldest commanded before the phone booth was ripped open.
"Noctis what's going on?!" Charlie screamed as he was pulled out and pushed to the limo with said guns pressed to his back. "NOCTIS TALK TO ME!"
"BLACK LIMO! SILVER TRIMMING! THE LETTER C ON THE HOOD!"
He tucked the yelping hellhound pup in his arm as the two younger women shoved him into the limousine.
The eldest of the three picked up the phone after the younger two got in the limo and trapped the man between them with their guns pointed distantly. She remained strangely poised and calm even with Charlie still screaming on the other end of the line.
"You should be more careful, princess." She hung up on the screaming princess and strut back into the limousine.
"Drive." She commanded to her driver.
Noctis looked between both girls as the fear became a mix of protective instinct with his arms around the pup, shielding it with his body while the older woman stared critically and crossed her legs.
"Do you know who I am?" She asked with neutral expression.
"No." Noctis answered and refused to take his eyes off the guns.
She could tell from Noctis' posture this wasn't a conversation to be had at gunpoint, not when he was holding back unshed tears and trying to make himself look small while flsring at both ladies.
"Girls, put them away. He's no threat."
"Yes mother." They said in unison and holstered their pistols before moving to their respective seats.
Noctis was on edge as is, but despite being terrified he was ready to fight back to protect himself and the pup.
The mysterious woman smiled at his attitude and found some endearment that he wasn't like most in hell, a scared weakling that would beg and plead for mercy.
No, he appeared ready to fight even in the face of danger and she knew it.
"I am Carmilla Carmine." She introduced herself with a more soft tone yet commanded respect. "One of the oldest overlords here in hell and the top proprietor in weapons dealing."
"Okay," Noctis said carefully and scooted as far away as he could in his seat. "Name is Noctis, and right now I'm on the verge of crapping myself and having a mental breakdown."
One of the girls snorted before a fit of laughter.
"I like him. He's amusing."
Carmilla found no amusement in his sarcastic response and glared at the giggling girl.
"Clara, self control." She ordered sharply without taking her eyes off the man. "And you…."
Noctis gulped his fear thickly as the overlord leaned to him, whether from confrontation or curiosity he wasn't sure, but right now all he could be was scared.
"How did you do it?" She asked bluntly.
Well that certainly threw him off. Noctis' eyes widened at the question while Carmilla showed patience in speaking the matter.
"You're a human who damaged Vox with a single punch, an impossibility when your kind are weak. There is also the fact you defied death by suddenly floating inches from the ground after plummeting from their tower."
Noctis blinked repeatedly to the obvious facts as Carmila took a phone from Clara and replied the incident to him.
"This is you, is it not?"
Finally he broke out of his stupor and nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Good." She handed the phone back to Clara and crossed her arms. "Now I want the truth young man, and don't think of lying. I'd prefer not making a mess in my car."
Noctis didn't know what Carmilla meant by that but he certainly didn't want to find out.
"Now how did you do that?" She asked again more sternly.
"I…..I don't know how." He looked away with a shameful expression.
"You don't know?" Carmilla questioned in a tone that was clearly lacking belief.
Noctis shook his head vigourously without regard of the little one in his arm that fussed, his mind racing with everything that transpired over his months of his stay.
His torment finally laid before him in the breaking of his walls and vulnerability coming out in laughter and tears that worried the overlord all of a sudden.
"No. I don't know how." He looked to Carmila with a manic smile and laughed harder. "I don't know why I'm here or what I am here for. But so far today I've had to run and hide after all that. I even had to steal money from dead bodies because everyone is tearing eachother apart to hunt me down."
Carmilla could see the that he was finally having an emotional breakdown and began to worry at his continuance of explaining so jokingly to hide his pain.
The tears couldn't be hidden though.
"I mean I healed from punching Vox, plummeted to death but stopped and floated. And somehow I can blast back anyone who tries to hurt me." He laughed harder at his own words as they sounded impossible even to him. "So yeah I don't know how. I don't even know if I'm human!"
Carmilla felt herself silenced at this breakdown and watched as Noctis hung his head low, shaking with quiet sobs as the pup licked his tears. It was obvious to her now that the human she thought to be a nuisance or a threat was neither but just a young man pushed too far with the troubles of his new life.
She finally understood that he was confused and scared.
"I just want to go home." He whimpered quietly.
Carmilla felt her heartstrings pull at those words and understood all too well from her earlier days the need for safety when she was a young demoness on the streets. She felt a rush of the motherly instinct she bear mostly for her daughters and moved over to the man that watched her every move.
Noctis was wishing for this nightmare to be over whilst Carmilla extended her hand around his body. Fear immediately took in from the corner of his eye seeing daid hand reach.
"Please I just—"
He found his fear silenced abruptly by the overlord pulling him close and pressing his head into her bosom while the other hand locked around. His eyes widened in absolute shock and surprise as he found himself being comforted by the first real demon he met outside of the hotel.
He wanted to push the demoness off of him but by all sense of rational thinking he couldn't find the strength to reject her touch. The tightness of her arms was such an intense reminder of a woman at the orphanage he grew up in that it had him surrendering to this comfort with one arm around her.
"I don't know what's happening to me...… and it scares me."
Carmilla's expression softened to sympathy, her eyes showing she understood the pain he was going through.
"Rest your mind for the moment."
Noctis nodded as the emotional downpour of today took its toll finally. He relaxed against her and breathed more calmly in the embrace as she turned to her watchful daughters.
"Odette, find the nearest clothing store so he can be rid of these bloodied things." Carmilla ordered softly.
Odette exchanged a curious glance at her mother before she pulled out her phone. As she began her search they all heard the hellhound pup start whining in Noctis' arm and nipping at his skin.
"When was he last fed?" Carmila lifted Noctis gaze to her and dried the last of his tears.
"I don't know." He looked down at the whimpering pup. "They gave him to me and that was it."
Carmilla sighed reluctantly at the annoying answer as the pup began to fuss with obvious need for sustenance while Odette already had it on her search list in her phone.
"There's a store three miles east with everything he needs."
Carmilla nodded, relieved that the little trip they were taking wouldn't be too troublesome.
Noctis looked intrigued by this act of kindness and pulled away from Carmilla, though her grip remained on him as he contemplated her sudden change.
"Why are you helping me now?"
Carmilla pondered this slightly for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. She didn't want to openly admit his situation gave her a soft spot.
"Because I am an overlord and a woman of business, so I will expect a favor in return." She answered, though it was half the truth behind her intentions.
Noctis looked conflicted but remain neutral while she waited for him to speak.
"What kind of favor?" He asked cautiously and watched as she grinned.
"You are going to meet someone."
Meanwhile in another part of the destructive city Charlie frantically paced his thoughts in the limo as they drove from street to street while ignoring the carnage of the hunt. She looked in every know direction she could from her window with Vaggie on the other side while Pentious supervised the egg boys in their clumsy driving skills.
The worry became heavier with each passing second of not a clue to Noctis' whereabouts while his face was plastered on every screen in the city with the reward captioned over his head thanks to Vox and his desperation.
"This is so bad." Charlie groaned and dragged her hands over her hair. "Everyone is tearing eachother apart to find Noctis. I can't imagine if someone gets him."
"We will find him." Vaggie said firmly as she sat back down and snapped a finger at Pentious. "Read back what Charlie heard over the phone."
Pentious raised an eyebrow in thought and spoke each detail as he counted them with his fingers.
"Black limo with silver trimming and the letter C on the hood."
"That's not much to go by." Vaggie huffed in irritation and looked back out her side of the vehicle.
Her attention broke though from searching out the window as soon as she heard her girlfriend whimpering and staring pitifully at the floor. Tears fell to the carpet as Charlie sat there hugging herself tightly. She had been barely holding it together the entire day of Noctis being kidnapped from his own room, but now her mind couldn't suppress the imagination of who could possibly have him.
Was he hurt?
Was he being used?
Was he even alive?
"Charlie," Vaggie moved to her and took her place in hugging the princess tightly. "Hey, we will find him. We will get him home."
"I feel so stupid." Charlie sniffled and wiped her nose into her sleeve. "I tried to tell him how we felt when I should have told him to let us know where he is."
"It's not your fault." Vaggie tried to reassure even herself with those words and rested her head on Charlie's.
Charlie laughed bitterly and peered back out to the city as it passed by them with sinners running from street to street to check every spot for the human.
"I'm trying to run a hotel for rehabilitation but I can't even keep track of one guy we like."
Vaggie felt a pang of guilt with Charlie, something she is not accustomed to feeling when always guarded and hard-headed. She knew she was just as at fault for losing Noctis when they were all responsible for keeping him safe at the hotel.
"We all screwed up." Vaggie continued to hold the princess as they looked together while Pentious saw her phone ring again.
"Charlie, your phone." The snake demon pointed at the device, making her perk up.
The princess sbapped her gaze down at her phone and saw it was a blocked number before hastily picking it up and answering with hope.
"Hello?"
"Charlie….."
"Noctis!" She raised her voice as relief washed over with her and vaggie, her hand clutching the phone to the point of cracking. "Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm fine. I'll be back at the hotel in a little bit."
The princess turned to her girlfriend and shared the same confused look as they heard him talk.
"I'm with someone called Carmilla and she's bringing me back to the hotel."
"Carmilla?" Charlie questioned before the other end of the line was overtaken by said overlord.
"Consider this a favor, Princess."
"Carmilla?" Charlie looked to Vaggie and Pentious worriedly. "What do you want with Noctis?"
"The real question is how could you be such a foolish girl as to give the Vees the oppurtunity to take him from your hotel?"
Charlie wanted to protest to that but knew deep down the overlord was right. She had been careless for Noctis' well-being and now he was with the most dangerous in hell that could do whatever she pleases.
"Please," she pleaded softly into the phone. "Don't hurt him."
She listened to Carmilla laugh softly which didn't give any reassurance.
"He will be returned unharmed after I take him to meet an old friend. So I suggest you start thinking of better methods of keeping him safe during that time."
Charlie went to protest but heard the line go dead and checked to see the call was ended.
"Fuck." She hissed