"Wonder how long he will be out?"
"Angel stop touching him!"
"I believe we should still—"
"NO ALASTOR!"
Noctis shot up from his shock induced slumber and rammed his forehead into Charlie's, knocking her over and himself back down in sync of the headache they now shared.
He groaned and clutched his head tightly with unshed tears as the voices earlier became visibly clearer.
"DAMMIT!" He snapped and rubbed what he was certain would be a bump. "What the heck just hit me!?"
His answer came from the princess sitting on the floor and doing the same motion of clutching her own head while her friends helped her to her feet.
"That was my fault. I shouldn't have leaned so close."
Despite the blunt induced headache, Noctis found the sound of her voice to fuel his curiosity. He finally opened his eyes and found himself rested not on the couch he remembered but in a bed of a dimly lit hotel room, looking around he noticed the same people from before, which confused and alarmed himself somewhat.
"Oh god, it really wasn't a dream that I had. This is all...…real."
He clambered to his feet in haste and went to find a window or door as a means of escape or to at least get some answers. However, the touch of the demon princess was familiar once more with her hand on his chest that kept him in place.
He felt how tired and woozy his own body felt as his gaze fell down to her hand, remembering a sensation from her touch when her hands were on his head.
"Careful, as I said before you passed out again we don't know if you're injured." Charlie maintained the most gentle of tone as their eyes met.
"Big guy is blushing." Angel Dust snickered quietly, only to get elbowed by Vaggie.
As his senses became more clear, Noctis finally realized that what he thought was a dream or a drunken stupor was actually reality and sat back down on the bed.
He quickly realized that the woman in front of him was indeed a demon as he remembered before and did his utmost to not panic when the others stood around her with the same curiosity.
Except for Angel of course with his own ideas that he wanted to insinuate until Vaggie shot him a warning glare.
He gazed around the room for its dull atmosphere to collect his situation but found the surprise of the smallest demon in the room that lunged at his face.
"Hey!" He stammered and leaned back worriedly as the one eyed demon kept touching him, unsure how to respond except with trepidating breath as her giggles darkened.
"Nifty!" Charlie exclaimed as the man went stiff, unsure what he should do.
"You have a really squishy and pretty face." Her eye bore into his eyes as the touch of her hands became rougher and rougher until the princess finally grabbed her and pried her off.
"Nifty, stop that. He's having a hard time as is!"
"She ain't wrong though." Angel Dust commented smugly.
Noctis watched the interaction with a perplexed mind. He couldn't have been more confused than what he was already as he watched the little housekeeping demon thrash like a child in Charlie's hands and rambled about needing to touch his face.
"But his face is so squishy!"
"Behave." Charlie told her firmly.
Noctis watched with bated breath as the demoness handed her off to Vaggie and collected herself in a more genuine and professional manner.
"Alright," he heard Charlie clear her throat and turn with a little too wide of a smile. "Noctis, my name is Charlie Morningstar and I'm the owner of Hazbin Hotel, where you are currently residing."
Noctis nodded slowly in silence with his bewildered look as she introduced the others next who had their own greeting to give.
"This is Vaggie, my girlfriend." She tried to sound sweetly for them both as the one eyed woman glared with her arms crossed around Nifty still, which made it awkward for Charlie per usual for the cold interaction from her protector.
As embarrassed and awkward she felt though she still pressed on to make the situation as comfortable as possible for the human.
"This is husk."
Husk just grunted and downed a bottle.
"Then there's Angel Dust."
"Hiya handsome." Angel Dust purred with a small blow of a kiss. "Loving the daddy vibes."
"Goddamnit, Angel." Husk groaned and facepalmed with his free hand.
Noctis nodded cautiously at the spider demon with uncertainty of the group. Despite the awkwardness of his situation, he did find the most normal of people being the princess and it drew his attention as she walked over to the distant radio demon standing in a shadowed corner.
"And this is Alastor—The Radio Demon."
Noctis blinked repeatedly at the oddly silent demon with a growing concern for his well being, finding that smile to be the most uncomfortable thing.
"Why does he look like he wants to violate me?"
Alastor twitched at that remark as the others were holding in their urge to laugh, but not their smiles. Even the princess herself snorted quietly and made her way back to the group to take a seat next to the man.
"He's always like that." She reassured, dodging the earlier confrontation as he scratched his head.
Or she she had hoped...
"So big guy," Angel Dust spoke up and took a seat on the other side of the shirtless human, shifting closer than for comfort, leaning down on the bed with his chin in his hand. "That blast you did earlier when Alastor tried to touch you was something else."
"What blast?" Noctis asked, genuinely confused.
"The little light show you did while unconscious," Angel chuckled amusedly, looking past him to see Charlie quietly yet frantically implying to not bring it up, which he ignored. "Alastor was trying to check your soul and it backfired from your chest popping out a light that knocked his ass back."
Noctis looked back at the staticky radio demon and once more to Angel with confusion written all over his face. His thoughts jumbled even harder as he tried to find some sense of the matter.
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." He answered thoughtfully.
Vaggie wasn't so convinced though by his reaction and confronted the matter with scrutiny in her eye and dismissed Charlie mouthing to her to not push things.
"You came in through a hole that a woman threw you out of and blasted Alastor across the lounge. You're hiding something."
"Woman?" He questioned and looked to each individual. "What woman?"
His questioning brought hostility from the demoness to where she had grabbed his shoulders painfully at the protest of Charlie and the others. His eyes widened after the wince of pain as he had the unfortunate grace of seeing Vaggie so critical.
"You're lying because humans don't have power, so what is it that makes you special!?"
Noctis was caught in a hard place now between defending himself and figuring out what she wanted, staring up at her with the purest innocence as Charlie intervened by pushing her back. He had a vague memory as is and struggled already to understand what happened to him. He stared with a batting gaze at the floor while the princess scolded the hostile demoness.
He sighed in annoyance at his blurry thoughts but he just couldn't find any answer to what had him now stuck in hell and with these strange demons now bickering around him.
"What woman is she talking about?" He muttered to himself as the fighting escalated.
He suddenly remembered the last bit of his life before and felt a surging headache that had only Alastor interested, clenching his eyes shut to image that forced its self to replay.
Charlie was the first to notice his pain and worried what had Noctis groaning as she sat back down to try and massage his scalp like earlier.
"Noctis what's wrong!?"
All the arguing was gone now with the rest of the gang except for Alastor now worried as he clenched his teeth to the searing headache that Charlie couldn't soothe away.
"I was….driving home….." he averted his gaze left and right as if trying to follow the direction of his memory. "But I stopped because I saw a big ball of light in the middle of the night."
They all understood now it now, he was trying to remember what happened before his sudden appearance.
"Ball of light?" Husk questioned with his eyes moved to Alastor who remained silent but closer now.
"Something hit my truck and ripped me out of my seat." Noctis was in deep of the memory now with his hands subconsciously clenched to the pain he felt that night. Every fear, every thought that rushed his mind that night her induced a light sweat of his skin.
Every scream, every tear now followed to the unknown movement of his fists as they dragged across his fresh scars.
"It was a massive wolf with red eyes."
"Red eyed wolf?" Husk questioned to Angel.
"Hellhound maybe?" Angel whispered questioningly to Husk, but even he was unsure.
The flashes made Noctis uncomfortable, his expression shifting to the pain of every claw and jagged bite as Charlie laid a hand on his for comfort.
"Noctis you don't have to—"
His eyes snapped open whilst finding the steadiness of his breathing, realizing he had sweat on his brow.
"The ball of light screamed and hit the dog."
Charlie blinked in surprise as her friends leaned in with her to listen a little better.
"What was it?" Vaggie asked with her arms crossed.
"I don't know." He wiped the sweat off said brow and found his steady breathing, looking up to Vaggie with confusion in a mix of certainty. "But it sounded like a woman and said not again."
"Not again?" Charlie crossed her arms and puzzled her chin in deep thought all the while Nifty snuck out of Vaggie's arms to get behind Noctis and start playing with his hair.
Noctis sighed in frustration and sat back in the headrest of the bed with not a care of the little demon giggling in joy of his hair running through her little fingers. Even as Nifty was having her way with it he just stared up at the ceiling .
To him it was strange but oddly relieving that his last moment had yet to come, but now fate seemed to be dealing a harder journey to him, and with not a clue to what he should do.
"I can't go home can I?" He asked thoughtfully, it being his first thought of the life he had back in the mortal world.
Charlie and the others gave somber silence to his question which created a twinge of despair in his heart, his eyes wide with fading hope.
"Please tell me I can go home."
Vaggie softened her expression for the first time and she shook her head before the answer came bluntly from her mouth. "To be honest, no. Once you're in hell you're stuck here, alive or not."
Angel Dust nodded in agreement with his flirtatious look now pitiful for the human.
"Yeah man, whatever the reason, you're stuck down here now."
"End of the road." Husk commented before swigging some whiskey. "Better get used to it kid."
"Fuck," he muttered and breathed out a deep sigh, his hands dragging through his hair after Nifty paused. "I didn't even do anything bad."
Vaggie and the others weren't so sure about that but remained silwnt with skepticism written on their faces, but Charlie was the first to make a point.
"You're still human, which means you didn't die, so it's unclear what is to come next for you."
Noctis burned every word from the princess into his mind and brought his depressing stare down to the floor, but felt after a few moments his face rise from Charlie's hand pushing up his chin to meet her eyes.
Even as hopeless as it felt for his situation, Noctis saw the genuine care in her eyes as she said softly, "Well whatever the case, you're here for reasons we don't know yet and we will help you adjust."
He remained blank to the idea before her tenderness drew out a chuckle. He smiled inwardly at her kindness as it reminded him what he never got from others.
"You're all a bunch of strangers," he looked to each demon more thoughtfully, even back at the radio demon who was now right behind the couch. "But I guess my life was getting boring anyway with how normal it was."
"Normal is overrated anyway sweetheart." Angel Dust chimed in teasingly.
Noctis rolled his eyes playfully at the idea and chuckled louder this time. "Yeah maybe it is. Plus I was living a handyman life anyway, nothing fun."
He looked up to the sinister demon who remained smiling under that observing gaze. "Sorry about…..whatever I did."
"Oh think nothing of it," Alastor brushed off the incident as if nothing but widened his grin darkly, hissing with implication. "It just means you're an anomaly to uncover, and I enjoy mysteries."
Noctis' eyes widened in realization as Alastor placed a hand on his shoulder successfully without another blast.
"And as long as no one means you harm, your soul won't react the way it did."
"His soul? You're certain?" Charlie asked, wondering if what did happen was really the case.
Alastor nodded and removed his hand from Noxtis' shoulder, rounding the couch to join and stare down at their new guest with obvious intention of his own endeavors.
"Oh indeed." Alastor laughed behind his teeth. "When that blast repelled my touch, it was his soul responding to protecting his physical form. I felt it."
"My soul?" Noctis sat up and looked down at his scarred chest. "But that's impossible because back on earth there's no such as powers."
Alastor laughed mockingly and pinched the human on his cheek, knowing now hostility was the trigger when he didn't get blasted again.
And that Charlie was not happy with how rough he was with Noctis, seeing disapproval and perhaps something else in her glare.
"You naive human," he let go of Noctis' cheek but maintained eye contact, amusement in his tone. "So set in disbelief when the impossible has happened to you."
"Right," Noctis drawled as he rubbed the red mark on his cheek, obviously not liking how he was touched.
Out of the blue his stomach growled and he was mildly embarrassed by how loud it was. He hadn't thought about being hungry the entire time but was victim immediately to Charlie's enthusiasm when she jerked him out of the bed.
"I can make you a meal." She blurted out excitedly, suddenly enthusiastic again and ready to be the hospitable demon she was. "I make excellent sandwiches that you'll love!"
Noctis blushed at the touch of her hand as the sound of hunger grew, his face barely flushed but noticed as she told him the kitchen downstairs had plenty to offer whatever he wanted her to make should he have an idea.
He quickly stopped though in his tracks when Charlie almost got him out of the bedroom, feeling the breezy sensation at his legs and looked down to see he was in just his boxers.
He realized that someone had stripped him of his clothes and yelped, trying to cover himself with his arms. But he did notice he was clean while Angel Dust gave a low whistle.
"Charlie!" Vaggie yelled with red on her cheeks and made haste to cover Noctis with the comforter she ripped off the bed. "He's not clothed!"
"No shit!" Noctis yelped and hastily covered his lower area. "What happen to my clothes, or at least my pants!?"
"You're welcome." Angel Dust sauntered over with a sway of his hips that was much too flirtatious for the human.
Charlie snapped out of her own little world and was both embarrassed and ashamed for letting her excitement get the best of her and forget that he was almost nude.
She eyed his structure blankly before spinning away with the same blush as vaggie.
"Someone had to clean up the blood and dirt." Charlie added, drawling each word sheepishly with her gaze away as Noctis stepped back from the spider demon dragging a finger down his chest.
"But if it's any consolation," she laughed nervously with her back turned. "It's impressive that you stay so fit."
He raised an eyebrow, looking bewildered but grateful to Vaggie for the comforter as he tried to ignore the princess' compliment. "Please tell me there are clothes somewhere."
He looked from demon to demon with hope but each of them shook their heads until he stopped on Alastor who was holding up what felt like an uncomfortable sight of magic in the palm of his hand.
"I could don you proper attire," he offered with a sinister glint in his eyes. "For a price."
Alastor felt that twinge of greed in his approach as he focused onto the human with his hand extended in the same aura. He made no detail to the reason behind his intention while Noctis stared apprehensively, but the atmosphere was enough to warn when the shadows at his command darkened the room.
"A price?" He questioned, his skin having goosebumps as every instinct screamed danger to the extended hand.
Alastor hummed with a nod and waited for the shake to happen. "Just a little something in return for clothing you."
Every fathom of Noxtis' being yelled internally to not take Alastor's hand, but instinct was overpowered by surprise when Charlie got between them with a warning glare and her arms crossed.
Malice of her own had surfaced a little in that protective state she displayed, giving the radio demon new suspicion to her intentions.
"You're not making a deal with him!" Her tone was gentle but cold, and she turned back to the blanket covered human with warning. "Noctis, don't ever accept any deal from Alastor. It's his way of owning souls."
"What!?" Noctis exclaimed and didn't find any reason to be acquainted to the radio demon any longer.
He edged further back behind the princess.
Alastor twitched with some static echoing out of his microphone as the human looked from her to the overlord with apprehension and distrust.
Of course he tried to play it off with a quick wit of his shoulders shrugged with the not so convincing act of being a friend.
"Can't offer services for free, Charlie." He chuckled lightly, too lightly actually for the princess to be fooled by.
"His soul is not for you to take." Charlie remained firm and even more protective than what she led on. "Or did you forget what happened earlier."
Her reminder almost made the overlord break character but he suppressed that irritating urge of retaliating with maintaining what he believed to be a facade of gentleness and sincerity.
"You wound me," he joked dramatically, though Charlie was less than pleased with his behavior so far. "Perhaps I wanted to employ him since he will be making a permanent stay with us."
"Should I be worried?" Noctis whispered to her and took another step back, his grip tightening around the blanket with definite dislike to the demon, edging closer to the door.
Charlie didn't argue Alastor nor further answer the human but she took his hand once more and pulled him out of the bedroom with protective flare, her voice still tender but carrying authority as her pace made him stumble for a minute.
"Come on, I can help you with clothes."
"O….okay." He had no choice but to keep up with how tight her grip was.
Vaggie wasn't long to to catch up after she darted past the quietly fuming Alastor that had a barely contained hunger for the soul that he sensed radiating from the human. Irritation showed under his smile during the turning of gears in his mind before he disappeared into his shadows, leaving just Nifty, Angel Dust, and Husk in the room
Unlike Angel Dust and Nifty though, Husk was stopped mid of his bottle as he glared at the spot his master stood before with only one thought in his mind.
You dont give up like that Alastor. What the fuck are you planning?