Three Days After Adjusting…
It was another chaotic and fiery day in Pentagram City and in a bedroom close to Charlie and Vaggie rested the new human in a surprisingly comfortable bed with his dreams much more peaceful thanks to the effort of the princess using her magic to dull his nightmares and stress. Noctis was fast asleep in a soft embrace of heavy blanket and tenderness from four arms that caressed his body lustfully as he slept against the softest chest fluff he thought to be his pillow. His snoring was quiet with the nestling of what had him so comfortable with a string of drool running down his lip.
"Such a big baby." A familiar voice crooned knowingly that Noctis would eventually wake up to the unknown tenderness of lust and desire holding him so wantingly.
The culprit that snuck into Noctis' room snickered to himself and pet the sleeping human on his head, soaking in that moment of fun before it came to an end with the certainty of screams and anger to come about—from where he wasn't sure but it would be amusing.
Noctis slowly awoke to the feeling of warmth and tickling of his nose. He finally groaned and opened his eyes bleakly with unknowing of his arms around the demon until his arms squeezed subconsciously around the backside of the said demon, invoking a breathless moan right in his ear.
As he opened his eyes and his senses returned he realized loneliness wasn't his companion in the room and the blur of sleep cleared away quickly. His eyes widened to the size of saucers at the chest fluff he leaned from and slowly looked up to the face of the culprit grinning mischievously and petting his head
"Morning handsome." Angel Dust purred.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Noctis practically shot off the bed in a stumbling mess of blankets and sheets as his scream alarmed a certain demoness. His footing wasn't there and he fell face first onto the floor, groaning in pain while Angel Dust guffawed in a silk robe much too much small for his height.
"You dick." Noctis grunted and rolled over rubbing his nose vigourously of the pain.
Angel Dust knew what he had done and laid there, leaning over the bed with his cheshire grin and the satisfaction of flustering the human while the sound of feet increased outside the room.
"You didn't have a problem with it earlier."
Noctis felt his cheeks run hot with a mix of embarrassment and anger when he stood up, but the fact his privacy was violated is what fueled his discomfort.
"I didn't know you were in here! When did you even get in here!?"
"Middle of the night," Angel Dust answered so bluntly and purred each word, rolling onto his back in a provocative invitation. "Couldn't sleep. Needed a cuddle buddy, and you didn't complain snuggling all up in my chest like a lost puppy."
"I was asleep!" Noctis clenched his fists, his blush now visible.
"Oh what's wrong?" Angel Dust drawled teasingly as he knew what he was doing by perking up his chest with his hands. "Can't handle little old me with some snuggles?"
Noctis wasn't one to promote violence, but the urge to strangle the spider demon was there as he convinced himself mentally to stay his words as the rush of feet was stopped and followed up with rapid knocking.
"Noctis, are you okay?" Charlie called out from the other side of the door, sounding more worried than any normal persons.
She tried jiggling the doorknob. "Why is your door locked?"
Noctis actually felt grateful for the princess coming to check up on his well being but realized he was locked in the room. He made haste to find his shirt but saw that Angel was holding it out with a single finger and a lecherous smile.
He narrowed his gaze on the horny demon in challenge for it.
"Give me my shirt Angel." Noctis ordered calmly and extended his hand, but Angel twirled the shirt teasingly and hummed as he kicked his feet back and forth. "Now."
"Make me." Angel breathed huskily and gripped the shirt this time in his hand, his grin now predatory.
Charlie had heard the muffled conversation from the other side and was now pounding on the door this time with surprising force, her anger barely contained with Vaggie surprised by her behavior.
"ANGEL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!?"
"Give it now." Noctis ordered and took a cautious step toward the spider demon.
A dangerous gleam sparked in Angel's eyes as they both ignored the angered princess threatening to use her skeleton key to open the door.
"Come and get it."
Noctis knew this wouldn't end well not that words alone would make the demon return what was rightfully his, but he determined to get back what he found precious since it came from magic of Charlie's design.
He edged closed and closer with his fingers just out of reach of said shirt. He felt he was just prey for teasing until Angel Dust suddenly grabbed his wrist and with his free hand and yanked him on top.
"HEY!"
"GOTCHA!" Angel Dust cackled and took on a malicious smile as his other pair of arms sprouted and locked around the struggling human, locking him in place as the anger from Charlie became a mix of concern and rage.
"ANGEL IF YOU DO ANYTHING—"
Noctis was struggling for freedom in the moment before finding his face forcefully pressed back into the chest fluff.
"What the hell!?" He mumbled with red burning all over his face.
Angel grinned at the human's helpless state in said fluff and teased him further by playing with his hair in an intimate manner. He relished the struggling and the burning of his cheeks.
"Now be a good boy and—"
Angel found himself silenced by the explosion of the bedroom door while Noctis was startled to stiffness and mumbling.
"What the hell was that!?"
Noctis struggled for view but got his head turned just enough to be surprised by Charlie entering the room through the smoke with a fury that ignited her hair and showed her horns.
His relief that she had come to his rescue was gone as soon as it came when the princess growled with a yellow aura in her hands and a concerned vaggie behind her, both still in pajamas.
"Holy crap….."
"Angel….." Charlie snarled lowly with a dangerous glint of hostility, stomping to the pair with footsteps of fire. "We need to talk about personal space."
The spider demon suddenly felt regret and fear in a lump he swallowed thickly before slowly releasing Noctis from his arms. He smiled nervously and slid away to the other side of the bed, tossing the shirt back to Noctis.
"Easy Charlie, I was just—"
"Invading his space." She growled dangerously and took a few more steps around the bed.
The room felt hotter under the intensity of the princess as Angel backed away with his hands out in surrender. He knew Charlie was a pacifist to an extent but even she had a boiling point to tolerance and now it was showing.
"Angel Dust….." she creeped closer with each stomp.
With that fear seeded in his mind the spider demon bolted out of the room with the demoness hot on his trail screaming, "GET BACK HERE MISTER!"
The last bit of sound of Angel Dust was his victory laugh echoing down the hall and Charlie fuming her words.
Noctis merely stood there in shock of this new side of Charlie and looked to vaggie blushing at his torso. But at the same time he blushed with her at seeing how her nightgown hugged her body before turning away in unison.
He had been in so much awkwardness already for the last three days but still felt inappropriate showing his chest to another woman, even if it was not intended.
He cleared his throat and threw his shirt back on. "So ...Charlie has a mean side?"
Vaggie looked down at the floor with a still flustered expression on her face and nodded.
"She has her boiling point but lately it's reached faster since your arrival."
Vaggie wanted to say more in the matter but kept a firm bite of her tongue on the swimming jealousy over how Charlie was being so friendly to Noctis. She wanted to so badly to make her statement about who Charlie belonged to but knew better than to make hostility in the matter when her distrust to everyone and everything was making some difficulties.
The implication was done though and Noctis froze, knowing she wasn't wrong with how hospitable and caring Charlie had been since his arrival. Every moment a concern of his well being or being comfortable, it made guilt riddle his mind as he stared down at the floor with his back still turned.
"Sorry….."
Vaggie's eyes widened at the single word and she turned around to face the large man.
"Why are you apologizing?" She asked, her voice laced with concern and confusion.
Noctis sighed and paced around the room with suppressed frustrstion milking over in his expression. There was anger in the mix of his honesty as he kept his gaze on the floor.
"Because I'm a damn burden is why. All I've done is sit around here moping and trying to figure things out what the hell is going on with me with the weird lady you guys told me about and how I blasted that Alastor guy in my sleep or whatever."
He chuckled bitterly at his conflicting thoughts as Vaggie watched tentatively the change of his attitude, worrying with a hand ready to draw her spear per the norm of her distrust.
"But at the same time I'm glad….."
Her hand lowered slightly but now she was puzzled by that admission. All this time she spent trying to be distant yet observant of this human in the realm and yet here he was spilling his troubles to her, the last person that wanted to interact with him.
"How can you be glad?"
"Oh come on," he scoffed playfully and stopped to face her with control of his flush to her attire. "I mean yeah I'm the only human in hell, and surprisingly not burning which still throws me off, but back up there I was a nobody, just a handyman doing electric and plumbing."
Vaggie's gaze softened with understanding of his words but felt a twinge of guilt for not giving the benefit of the doubt to his troubling new life. She could see the fault in herself for not being a little more lenient like Charlie has been.
"You just wanted to be somebody." She whispered to herself, knowing that feeling all too well with her past.
She felt like slapping herself for being so inconsiderate as he walked over to the bathroom and turned on the faucet for a splash of water.
"Anyway—" he splashed his face with cold water and frinned awkwardly at his reflection while Vaggie stood in the doorway. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I am scared of what has happened, but I can't help but smile because somehow I finally matter."
His enthusiasm was almost contagious to Vaggie as he faltered to uncertainty with a puzzling of his chin.
"Although I'm not sure with all that's happened should lead to good fortune."
Vaggie found it endearing that depression wasn't one of his emotions and leaned on the doorframe with her arms crossed, smirking knowingly now that there was a goofy side to his person.
But still in her heart was that distrust as she watched him dry his face and asked. "You really don't know why you're here do you?"
"Afraid not." He mumbled into a towel he used before his mind drifted to the sink and realized how lacking the water pressure was. "Say, what's with the low pressure?"
Vaggie dnapped out of her thoughts and groaned at the remembrance of the hotel's mediocre water supply before she answered bitterly.
"Charlie didn't think of renovation before opening the hotel, so it's a work in progress."
"Well that's a bad start to business." He quipped and crouched down to examine the piping with a critical eye as Vaggie watched him. "Jeez, the piping is so rigid."
"Probably shouldn't do that since Alastor has shadows that do the work." Vaggie advised sagely, watching as he looked deeper under the sink. "He does take pride in repairs a little."
Noctis was already thinking in every method of repairs with his eyes narrowed in concentration, his hands tweaking a dirty pipe that was loose and dripping. He was invested now in the condition of the hotel and felt a sense of purpose for the first time in days.
"Okay!" He snipped and looked up to Vaggie from under the sink with mild irritation. "Does this place run on hot water heaters or a central boiler?"
Vaggie didn't understand the meaning behind that question but answered with a tilt of her head as he walked around her to leave his bathroom.
"Each room has a hot water heater. Why do you ask?"
"Central line?" He walked out of the bedroom and started his way down the hallway, confusing Vaggie even more as she contemplated following but went against it since she wasn't properly dressed yet.
One thought came to mind though as she watched him turn down the hallway.
Why does he have to be so weird.….. and charming?
A couple hours later in the meanwhile of breakfast, most of the group was present except for Noctis which had the now calm princess a little worried as she ate while her girlfriend and friends bantered with regular talk.
Charlie kept looking up from her food and looked to the common room or kitchen for Noctis to present himself but saw only an emptiness of the hotel that made her senses a little higher than normal.
"Has anyone seen Noctis?" She asked everyone that was present at the dining table.
Vaggie stopped long enough to answer with a more friendly tone about the human. "He was all freaked over the piping and asked me about the central line before disappearing."
"The plumbing?" Angel Dust questioned and received a nod from her as Charlie expressed curiosity. "Why would pretty boy ask about that?"
"Why don't you go ask in his bed?" Husk crudely remarked for his own amusement, making Angel Dust pout while Charlie glared at the remembrance of earlier.
"I was cold." Angel Dust mumbled like a child with his arms crossed, not seeing the skeptic looks from the others.
Vaggie rolled her eyes before the worry radiating from Charlie became her next concern that she knew wouldn't go away if someone didn't talk to her.
"Babe, I'm sure he's fine. He's probably doing something to occupy himself." She rested a reassuring hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Maybe he thinks he can help with the hotel."
Charlie wasn't so convinced by those words even from her girlfriend. She couldn't admit her growing attachment of Noctis as she looked back and forth and up and down with ridiculous thoughts that he might be somewhere impossible.
In truth Charlie was terrified for his well being as a human trapped in hell and that someone or something might harm or take him. It didn't take a genius to understand that his unique situation or his strange presence made him a target should he be discovered by any other demon outside of the hotel. Whether it be for his soul or even his good body, there was an underlying reason of her own for being worried.
"Even a few days he's been on time for breakfast. Where could he have—"
She was snapped out of her thoughts at the second empty seat at the dining table and widened her eyes with fear of the potential danger that could be happening under their noses.
She screamed for everyone to hear around her.
"Has anyone seen Alastor!?"
Only the spider demon himself answered in an uncaring manner as he played with his food.
"He's probably doing some dark radio shit like he's infamous...for….." His speech came to a slow pause of realization with Vaggie and Husk following the same thought about the radio demon. "Oh shit….."
They all shot out of their seats and shouted in unison. "FIND NOCTIS!!!"
Everyone bolted out of the dining room and scattered like cockroaches across the hotel, leaving Nifty in wonder when she entered the room.
"Where's everyone going?"
Meanwhile Outside The East Side Of The Hotel…
It was a most amusing sight for the radio demon as he stood outside near a freshly dig that was still being opened seeper with each little pile shoveled into the mound beside him, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as Noctis was almost gone in the darkness of the hotel he spent the last couple of hours digging after finding a puddle of water next to the hotel.
"If you want a grave I can easily provide." Alastor suggested with gleaming malice to the idea, clearly still grudging from the blast he endured.
Noctis cocked an eyebrow at that and stood up in the hole with his head barely above the edge as he looked up to the looking demon with a little more understanding of the warnings Charlie and the others gave.
To say he had been surprised by the radio demon and his commentary would be an understatement.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked with a hint of worry to his own well-being and went back to digging.
Silence in his dark smile was the answer as Alastor looked back over the edge with amusement in a faux idea of Noctis acting like a servant for the hotel. His smile however widened with renewed vigor of figuring out the aoul that repelled him before and to find a way to control it.
His shadow cackled but it was a sound only he heard before Noctis interrupted his thoughts.
"So you're an overlord." Noctis asked curiously as he tossed another shovel of dirt into the mound above. "What does an overlord do?"
Alastor snapped out of his own thoughts and composed himself with a quick adjustment of his attire before his shadow normalized from lurking over the human.
"Overlords, you naive human, are fifth in the hierarchy of hell. We control a vast number of souls and large territories. While our influence is little to the higher ups we still consider ourselves the gears that run hell with our power that delegates the rings."
"So like a politician?" Noctis quipped with a smirk, his eyes focused on finding the source of wetness in the mud under his feet.
Alastor twitched with some feeling of offense to that but kept control of the static he usually expressed.
"In a way yes," his smile remained but his eyes showed bemusement. The urge to correct the man in a painful manner was strong but he knew better. "But unlike your kind in the mortal realm we don't have to vote and process. We simply make rules in our territory and either torture or remove any problem with necessary force."
Noctis kept his gaze down with now mixed thoughts to the idea of politics almost non-existent in this realm, and to be honest with himself it drew a grin on him to think there was a place, even for hell, where there could action done to those who do wrong.
Such a thought however was riddled with uncertainty of just how powerful these overlords are and how such demons handled matters of dispute.
"Okay," he stopped and took a breath, looking back up to radio demon with a tilt of his head in the midst of another thought.
"Something on your mind?" Alastor hummed for his own desire of knowing.
"Yeah," Noctis nodded thoughtfully and leaned on his shovel. "What the others said about me blasting you; was it my soul or something else?"
Alastor let out a small chuckle before he gave the best answer he could.
"It was indeed your soul, and such power for mortals is impossible even down here in our realm." His smile cracked a little wider with growing curiosity and desire. "So besides the mystery woman throwing you at Charlie's feet, you are an enigma that needs studied and solved."
Noctis narrowed his gaze with suspicion. "Hence why you've watched me dig a hole for two hours?"
"Precisely."
Noctis wanted to question the demon about his intentions of studying but felt it wouldn't get him any closer to understanding. He shrugged and went back to digging the hole before his shovel hit something metallic.
Relief washed over him finally at having made the headway he had been trying to find.
"Finally." He groaned and fell to his knees.
"Find what you seek?" Alastor asked as he looked back at the hotel with sensory to the others moving hastily around the hotel.
"Yup." Noctis raised his voice with a cheerful tune and whilst following the dirt where it was most wet and started clawing handful after handful out of his way.
He was looking with critical eyes and losing all care for the dirt and grime all over his body as he started what appeared to be a small tunnel to find the answer he seemed.
"Come on." Noctis grunted as the dirt started shifted to mud. "Where are you?"
"Find anything?"
"Not yet but—" Noctis froze at the feeling of rushing water as soon as he moved another clump of mud. "Wait I found it!"
"Well at least someone around here is useful." Alastor muttered to his own shadow that cackled.
"Okay!" Noctis hollered from below and looked up from the hole. "You can do your magic thing to fix it now. It's a nasty pipe crack."
Noctis waited patiently for the radio demon to work his minion magic and be lifted out with tendrils, unaware of the panic around the hotel.
Back Inside The Hotel…
Charlie looking in basement —"Noctis!"
Vaggie on the second floor —"Hey dipshit!"
Angel Dustlooking under a bed—"Snuggle buddy!"
Husk at his bar per usual and not moving—"Where you at asshole!?"
Everybody, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust—well except for Nifty and Husk—searched high and low in the hotel for the supposedly missing human and continued with the fueling concern that Alastor had him somewhere or had hidden him away for various reasons.
Charlie being the worst to assume ran all over her hotel and checked randomly with any of her friends she crossed with but felt her concern turn into anxiety when none of them had even a clue to the whereabouts of their resident human.
She was the last to gather back in the foyer after a few more minutes.
"I can't find him anywhere!" Charlie exclaimed worriedly.
It had been forty-minutes since their rush out of the dining hall and still no sign of Noctis with the gang starting to panic. The four of them were running out of ideas and options with still no sign of Alastor either and that was not a good sign either with him so piqued by the mystery.
"He better not be torturing him." Angel Dust growled with clenched fists fueled by the wandering thoughts of their new friend being an experiment.
Unfortunately such implication plagued all their minds now with Vaggie drawing her spear and ready to get answers the hard way while Charlie started to get emotional with her imagination.
"I should've kept a closer eye on him." Charlie paced the room with her hair disheveled in the repeated motion of running her hands through it, a clear response to her anxiety.
Vaggie, even with her growing anger, tried to calm her down. "Babe, we will find—"
"Will we!?" Charlie stopped with tears starting to fall. "Noctis is a human and who knows what could happen to him and we didn't keep a closer eye on him. And with Alastor still missing it's only probable that he has Noctis for whatever sick reason!"
Charlie's pessimistic concern started to affect the three of them in different manners, but the result was all the same with the guilty conscience of leaving the human unsupervised.
However, a clink of metal on a plate snapped them out of their thoughts and drove their gazes slowly to the dining hall. Sitting at his place at the table was Noctis eating a well-earned plate of food with Alastor standing behind him.
As the anxiety from the three fades, Charlie is built up with a mix of relief and anger that the human was just sitting there covered in grime and dirt and eating a meal after they spent so much time trying to find him.
"NOCTIS!"
The human in question jolted, sensing the hostility in the way his name was shouted, and slowly turned to the angrily ceying princess stomping her way over with Vaggie and Angel Dust right behind her.
He gulped thickly in remembrance of her earlier anger and went to hide behind Alastor after standing up.
"You!" Charlie stopped him by grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. "We have been looking all over the hotel for almost an answer. Where have you been!?"
Her eyes burned with concern and desire for an answer as Vaggie took her turn.
"You can't just run off and disappear like that. We thought something happened to you!"
"Yeah!" Angel Dust snapped in agreement and gestures to Alastor. "We thought with smiles being gone as long as you that he had ahold of you for some sick fucking fantasy!"
Noctis shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny until Charlie, knowing he had disappeared for a little bit. However, the scolding halted when he felt Charlie wrap her arms around and squeezed as tightly as she could without crushing him in her demonic strength.
Meanwhile, Alastor was watching the sentimental moment with a distaste at how close the princess was acting with the way she was relieved that no harm came to him.
"Sorry." Noctis finally hugged her back, a sensation that brought more than normal for the princess. "I was outside with Alastor."
Charlie and the other two lost their sense of relief, and she stepped back with mix of concern and suspicion on her face.
"Why were you with Alastor?" Vaggie crossed her arms and glared, albeit a little less critical and more concerned for his well-being.
"Working." He answered casually before Alastor made him sit back down to finish his meal with a slight push down on his shoulder.
Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel Dust exchanged confused glances at the admittence before Alastor stood in front of Charlie and answered for the man.
"You all fret too much." Alastor chuckled a little too-friendly and rested a hand on Noctis' shoulder while Charlie watched him eat. "Noctis said he was suspicious of the water pressure and decided to investigate. Turns out it was a cracked pipe he dug up from outside."
"Cracked pipe?" Charlie's initial anger was replaced with curiosity as she took a seat next to the dirty. "Noctis, were you working on the hotel."
"Yup." He chirped with a mouthful as she rested her hand on his, a sight not unseen by Vaggie which grew her jealousy. "Earlier I saw how weak the pressure was and looked around and saw a puddle outside. So I dug it up and Alastor fixed it."
"Quite impressive I may add." Alastor remarked with a light pat on Noxtis' head while Vaggie went to the kitchen to test it herself. "His physique is not just for show as I had witnessed, Charlotte. Quite the stamina he has to dig up such a large hole."
"Holy shit!" Vaggie exclaimed with her voice echoing out. "Charlie the water running good!"
"Oh hell yeah!" Angel Dust took off and made his way uostairs. "I'm taking me a bubble bath!"
Charlie didn't dare question any further and just beamed gratitude for the human as he paused on his meal. "Noctis...thank you."
"Don't thank me." Noctis brushed off the moment with a humble point of his thumb to Alastor behind him. "He fixed it. I just did the digging."
"But you found the problem and did the hard work. So thank you again." Charlie pointed out and planted a plain kiss on his cheek before she got up to go see the water pressure herself, though said kiss was more of her own desire than she let on as he blushed.
The room fell silent again as Noctis touched where she had kissed his dirtied cheek, looking both shock and flattered with a small grin that she expressed thanks in such a way.
His eyes softened from disbelief to to the first bit of happiness he felt since his change in life and it drew out a quiet chuckle before his meal resumed with thoughts of possibly enjoying his stay in the hotel.
He found himself enjoying the kiss quite immensely while Vaggie came back and pat his shoulder before leaving the dining room with a now excited Charlie ready to use the showers for proper wash-up and relaxation.
"Quite the work you did today." Alastor commented as he leaned down to Noctis' eye level with his own curios thoughts. "Tell me, what drove you to seek out a plumbing issue that is NOT your responsibility?"
Noctis raised an eyebrow at this but held his reason firm after he snapped out of his thoughts of Charlie.
"I was a handyman back on earth, as I said before, so fixing things is basically my element. And I don't want to mooch off anyone, so I'll help in anyway I can."
"Ah, obligation it is." Alastor pretended to check his own claws as he understood the reasoning and plotted more progress. "Well if you feel so inclined to make repairs then by all means uncover more flaws to this hotel."
"Sure." Noctis chirped.
"Excellent, just be sure to wash up when you finish." Alastor hummed before taking his leave with his thoughts growing.
He walked out of the room to his place of retreat with a dark chuckle to his muttering.
"Things are going to get interesting around here when I find out what makes your soul tick."
And interesting they were about to get with a certain snake demon plotting his next attack soon...
Meanwhile In A Realm Between….
Rage, pure and burning in the lost path of souls that screamed to be judged and set free for their afterlife, a lone figure of shadow with the brightest eyes of amber cast his glare to the hellhound he sent to do the job and growled with deep irritation while clasping a cracked soul in his hand.
"You let him escape!?" The figure crushed the screaming soul in his claws and snarled at his whimpering slave. "I have you one task and now he's in hell under protection you stupid mutt!"
The hellhound in question lowered itself in submission and whimpered pitifully as his master cast a looming shadow of tortured souls that screamed in pain.
"It wasn't my fault. I was attacked by—"
"SILENCE!!!" The figure snapped, his voice quaking the entire realm with sheer force of his voice. "I DONT CARE FOR THAT BITCH AND HER INTERFERENCE. NOW HE IS UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THAT PRINCESS BITCH AND HER FRIENDS, AND WORSE IS ONE OF THEM IS ALASTOR!"
"I'm sorry master!" The hellhound laid completely to the ground of ethereal fog. "I won't fail you again. I swear!"
"No you won't!" The shadowy figure cast a red aura that grasped the yelping hellhound painfully. "Because next time you do I will ensure the Primordial Hellhounds are no more by ending your worthless life!"
He didn't wait for an answer and threw the hellhound out of his realm with only one lingering thought.
You will not interfere with my ambitions again, Natasha…..