(Three Days Bedore The Meeting)
Hazbin Hotel
Carmilla opened her eyes and internally smiled at the warmth she was witnessing while having herself a seat in the second floor lounge room with the entire gang gathered on the floor for a little game night that was suggested by Charlie before the big leave for heaven.
She looked over and suppressed her cold demeanor from melting into a smile at the laughs her daughters were sharing with Noctis while he was tentatively tended to by the princess brushing his long hair, dragging it to smooth out loose knots and remove broken strands while Vaggie sat in his lap and held Max.
The only other demons beside her who didn't participate were Alastor and Husk who remained outside parties and watched.
Carmilla twitched with that same lingering feeling that had been building after her private tantrum and took a calming breath. Her heart ached at the knowing of Noctis leaving soon for heaven with Charlie and Vaggie but was very well aware that nothing she did would stop him. He was headstrong as is and determined to get up there and make sure Charlie had a chance against heaven council even if it meant risking his existence being known.
And for that she respect the courage as an overlord, but as the woman who taught, raised, and tended to him since day one of meeting... it broke her heart a little that he would put his life on the line.
She inhaled another deep breath and stayed perfectly still in her seat, closing her eyes and listening to the happiness radiating all over the room with laughter and togetherness. She looked contemplative, as if she was figuring out a powerful decision before she would have to return to her work as an overlord.
In the so little time she had between her wirk, Carmilla made it an effort to watch Noctis progress his training with Lucifer from simple embers to levitating objects and even learning to control his emotions so his power didn't react.
Now if he could just teleporting into walls.
"Okay, I got one." Angel Dust piped in and grabbed attention with his lecherous smile. "Hey Noctis, I got one for ya."
"Lay it on me." Noctis shrugged while rubbing Vaggie's shoulders to ease the tension she and Charlie have been taking advantage of in the privacy of their besroom.
"Something tells me this won't end well." Clara whispered to her neutral sister who was still observing and noting Noctis' behavior and appearance, always ready any sudden changes.
"Okay. Okay." Angel Dust looked around the room for a moment, and then pointed to the doorway that led to the hallway. "Teleport to that doorway."
"What?" Noctis quipped with a smile, disbelieving something so simple. "You want me to do just that?"
Everybody knew the spider demon was up to something when he crossed his arms and held his head high with that same smile.
"Yup. Either do that or you have to massage me naked."
Everybody but the man groaned in disgust of his perverted option, whilst Noctis stared dryly before scooting Vaggie out of his lap. He stood up and reluctantly turned to the doorway with the spider demon waiting eagerly for him to do the dare.
Carmilla had stayed from time to time over the month of his development to see the disaster of trying to teleport and grimaced when she knew with Lucifer that it was a horrible idea to attempt something even so close-ranged.
Noctis was stubborn though, so stubborn that he didn't care about his safety when it came to figuring out his power.
But right now the overlord was certain he would make a fool of himself. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms while holding the same cold stare.
"He will learn the hard way."
Noctis inhaled deeply and flashed away for a split second before a small crumble of wall sounded when he reappeared in the the wall with his backside facing the shocked faces of everyone but a chuckling Angel Dust and an annoyed Carmilla pinching the bridge of her nose.
"SHIT!" Noctis barked on the other side of the wall as Husk spat his drink and broke out in tipsy laughter.
"You fucking dumbass!" He guffawed, clutching his stomach.
Almost everyone broke out in fits of laughter of seeing the man lodged into the wall due to his own stupidity. Even Odette was holding a hand to her mouth to hide the smile that crept her lips while Clara was rolling on the floor.
Alastor just shook his head and chuckled during his little tea time he had to himself. Nifty and Pentious were the loudest in their laughter.
"Baby…." Charlie giggled, almost unable to control herself while Vaggie had closed lups and puffed up cheeks, straining herself to tears while trying not to snort.
Lucifer rolled off the couch and cried.
Even Carmilla, the most composed of them all, smiled amusedly and burned this scene forever into her brain.
"You foolish child."
"I can't believe that worked!" Angel Dust heaved for air as Noctis tried to push hikself the rest of the through, but the hole was so perfectly rounded to his waist his hips wouldn't fit.
Max only folded one ear and tilted his head before squeaking, "Huh?"
"Stop laughing!" Noctis roared, kicking and screaming foul words.
Everyone did pause at his command, but then broke out into almost synchronized guffawing , except for the two overlords in the room, when they saw his legs kicking and flailing.
"YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF ASSHOLES!"
Angel Dust had to fight himself into controlling his laughter before the scene in front of him invoked a new idea. Slowly his smile widened into something sinister as he raised his index finger to his view.
He stared at it and chuckled darkly, then to Noctis' defenseless rear and saw how he was wearing loose shorts.
Husk was the first to finally calm down and look to the spider demon standing up with said finger still raised and slowly walked to the raging man.
"Angel?" He said quietly with a raised eyebrow while the others one by one calmed down.
"Just one time." He giggled, each step taking him closer to Noctis.
Charlie and Vaggie were not sure what he was meaning about that until they put the finger and Noctis' rear together.
"Why did everyone get quiet?" Noctis hollered from the other side of the wall, unaware of his approaching doom that continued to giggle.
"Oh Noctis," Angel Dust sang sweetly.
"Angel?"
"Let's play a new game. I'll be the doctor." He purred happily.
Noctis had not a shred of understanding the reason behind playing a new game until he realized this was the horniest demon in hell he knew to live. His eyes snapped wide before he gave screamed and flailed in the wall.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY ASS!"
His demand fell on deaf ears with Angel Dust getting closer and closer to his target as Charlie and Vaggie knew what was about to happen.
"Angel, don't you dare touch his butt!" Charlie ordered angrily.
"That's ours!" Vaggie reminded.
He looked back with a wiggle of his eyebrows and all intention of tormenting the man, unaware of the figure that shit off the couch and leapt across the room with one jumped, landing silently between him and the panicking Noctis.
"MY ASS IS NO VACANCY!"
All eyes rested on the figure that glared at the unaware pornstar spinning away from them as he mocked the girls.
"Just one press….of his...forbidden...button." He had turned back to Noctis with each word slowing down when he met the most menacing gaze Carmilla could summon.
Her eyes burned with a deadly protectiveness as she stood there like a mother bear ready to tear a new one into whoever harmed her cub, arms crossed and body stiff with readiness to teach Angel a very harsh lesson about personal boundaries.
"I believe you should go back and sit down." She advised dangerously as fingers tapped on her arms with serious impatience.
Everybody knew that Carmilla was protective of the man and always with readiness to fight anyone or anything that got too close, but this menacing presence she reeked had even Lucifer tense as she glared at the gulping spider demon.
"Right," Angel chuckled nervously and slowly backed away with his hand lowered. "Won't happen again."
Carmilla didn't take her eyes of Angel Dust until he was sitting on the floor between Husk and Pentious once more. Though her posture loosened when she felt it was safe for Noctis she still maintained that coldness as she peeked around the doorway to see him propping an elbow on the wall and resting his chin in his palm.
"Sup." He snipped with an irritated look.
"Divine power and you are so foolish as to squander it with a simple dare as teleporting." She calmly scolded.
Noctis would feel the sting of such maternal talk from the overlord, but the small grin she gave before disappearing around the doorway made him shiver out of the blue.
"Ms. Carmine?"
She raised her hand high in the air while everyone saw what she was about to do.
"Accept your punishment young man!"
"My wha—"
He didn't even get to finish from the overlord providing the hardest, most painful spank to his bottom that echoed in the room and had everyone, even the smiling Alastor, cringing at how she smacked both cheeks.
A momentary pause of process hapoened for Noctis after the sheer impact startled his mind. The pain wasn't there yet until the burning sting erupted on his rear and he turned red, both embarrassment and pain.
His scream traveled to the city.
A few minutes after being freed from his prison and embarrassed in front of everyone by the overlord, Noctis followed her alone through the hotel at the expense of Charlie and Vaggie filled with disdain that he was touched in such a way and currently seething from a distance and following them without being noticed.
Jealousy was their kryptonite, but neither dared be seen by the overlord walking slowly and conversing with him.
"I can't belive she spanked him." Charlie hissed with a fiery whip of her hair, horns visible and a deadly desire to fight the woman.
"Who the hell does she think she is?" Vaggie asked through clenched teeth.
"You're absolutely certain you need to be involved?" Carmilla asked as they rounded the corner.
Her mind was secretly spinning from his discovery of existence to the day she raged in that guest room and realized what he meant to her. And even now that same instinct she grew over time for the man screamed inside and conflicted with herself as an overlord.
Noctis looked troubled as he followed her pace through the walls while Carmilla was waiting for him to give an answer.
He knew what the woman was asking and narrowed his thoughts to the inescapable fact that this wasn't when he ran through the streets of Pentagram City to avoid being hunted. This was going to be the hardest and most dangerous thing he will ever do for the sake of loved ones that rely on his word about redemption.
He would face the woman who once slayed his past self for duty, for false vengeance and for heaven.
And even if she wasn't aware of his existence he would still be facing her about redemption for Charlie's sake.
But worst of all, the deepest scar of this entire month of waiting for the meeting, he would be holding himself strong against the High Seraphim that is his mother.
"Noctis?"
He snapped out of his thoughts at hearing Carmilla say his name and gave a definitive answer as they entered a destitute ballroom with Charlie and Vaggie still tailing them.
"Yeah I'm sure about this."
They stopped in the center of the rundown ballroom that needed serious renovations, but one man can only do so much work when more important fixings were needed.
Carmilla fixed herself with a hardened stare at his answer but found no reason to believe that he was truly ready to face the most powerful seraphim even in a heated debate. In her perspective he was not a man at the caliber everyone needed but a child with so many thoughts and emotions torrenting his mind and body that clearly showed signs of discomfort to the fact that his opinion could change the course of extermination day.
"Then why do you stand so uncertain?" She asked with crossed arms.
Noctis turned his gaze from her and answered as truthfully as he could about his spot in this situation.
"I've spent almost this entire month figuring myself out and learning about my power, and yet….." he paused with a swelling pain of muddled thinking about the High Seraphim, fearing so deeply what could happen.
Carmilla didn't speak nor offer a hand as she watched Noctis slowly begin to shake with tears.
"And yet I know just enough that everyone is counting on me to help Charlie convince Heaven about the hotel, about redemption, while I'm supposed to come to grips with the fact that I have a mother that killed me before."
He racked with sobs and had what Carmilla suspected to come for days as the deadline of the appointment got closer.
His breakdown.
"I can't do it!" He broke voice while finding the strength to lock his bloodshot amber eyes with hers. "I can't do this, Ms. Carmine. I can't be what everyone needs to be when I'm gonna be talking to the same woman that killed me in a previous life I still don't understand."
Her maternal instinct was to take the boy into her arms and do what any sensible mother such as herself would do—shield him from the world.
But she didn't. No. She stood there and continued to listen to the man having his tantrum and pacing with heavy breaths of fear.
Until her maternal instincts made her shake.
"I—I can't face someone like that. If she really is my mother then how—how the hell am I supposed to face her!? How am can I help Charlie when I am so damn scared and unready to—"
"Quiet!" She suddenly snapped.
Noctis flinched with shock as she quickly took both of his hands, pressing one to her waist while holding. She lightly kicked his feet into position and began to dance without warning.
"What is she doing?" Charlie whispered rhetorically with Vaggie just as confused as her.
Noctis was taken by surprise of the overlord wanting to dance and listened as the atmosphere of his fears disappeared into a melody of intense music with her singing to him for the first time.
Whipping her hips with his, spinning together at her command, there was no room for error in the eyes of the overlord as her resolve to opening his eyes came from her heart.
Carmilla would normally hide herself, but for Noctis…..for herself…..she was going to make him see her.
"~I can see the fear that throbs in your heart~"
"~The lingering pain you have a deadly mother~"
"~But you are a fool to not feel ready from this start~"
"~Because you need to see you always had another~"
Noctis was stunned to silence yet following her movements now during the rise of the music, his lessons in dance over their time together coming to play with the tightening of their bodies.
Together they strutted an almost perfect tango throughout the room, connecting through her words.
"~I know you carry a deepened fear~"
"~You were once a boy that fell from above~"
"~But I'm going to open your mind and make it clear~"
"~It's time for you to push away your doubt, so I tell you enough ~"
She jumped back and spun away before stopping with an extended hand.
"~A monster that foolishly cast you away for her duty~"
"~That monster is your deadly angel mother~"
"~But see in front of you the one who sees you with certainty~"
"~In your heart you know you have another ~"
Noctis was at a loss for words to see that the overlord wasn't just reaching through him with just a song and dance. Through his tears as Carmilla strutted confidently he knew what she was saying.
She was his mother.
"~She failed you back then by ending your soul~"
"~How can anyone of that choice be a mother~"
"~But here I am, the one who took on that role~"
"~So yes you do have another~"
"Another…." He breathed heavily with joy as she took his hand again and pulled into a more intricate dance.
She grabbed the back of his neck and looked over with craning him, before taking their strut further and more intricate.
"~Angel, demon, beast, it doesn't matter~"
"~You are the one who can help, because you are the one~"
"~You cannot fall again, you cannot shatter~"
Finally she came out with it, ignoring her own fear.
"Because. You. Are. My. Son~"
"~My so-o-o-n~"
"~Think of our time together~"
"~I am not that deadly mother, my son~"
"~My so-o-o-n~"
Noctis thought back to all the moments they shared and saw the truth in her every word as Charlie and Vaggie watched.
"She's calling Noctis her son…." Charlie gasped before her emotions started to swell in unshed tears and a cracked voice. "That's so beautiful."
"Charlie, no tears." Vaggie said dryly.
"I can't help it!"
"~You're gonna go up to heaven and make it done~"
"~They will see a divine beast but know you are my son~"
"~My so-o-o-n~"
"~It's time for you to fight back~"
"~It's your mission to stop the attack~"
"Because you are my son~"
"~My so-o-o-n~"
They danced their way back to the center, but this time it was Noctis who took control of the dance as Carmilla came to her declaration.
He decided to spin her, holding her hand under his before he finally did the arch with her.
"~You're gonna face your deadly mother because you are the one~"
"~You will make a worded clash with one another and tell her she is done~"
"~You and Charlie will win because you won't run~"
As Noctis took the momentum and threw her in the air, Carmilla finished her declaration with a spin mid-air.
"~Because. You. Are. My. Son~"
As the overlord came down and landed gracefully she was met with the clapping of a very emotional Charlie that gushed over calling Noctis her son.
"That was so beautiful!" She wailed and fell back into Vaggie's arms.
Annoyed wasn't the right word as Carmilla rolled her eyes and walked back up to the still processing man that couldn't believe what he heard after all that.
She grinned at his stunned face, but deep down she was filled with her own fear from expecting a response.
"Now do you understand?"
Noctis tried to give her an answer but was overcome with happiness that she saw him in such a light.
His voice trembled and he lunged at her with a hug.
"Mom…." He whispered.
Carmilla maintained a stronger composure as the acceptance of her new title filled her heart. Beneath the cold personality of an overlord she was still a mother and now riddled with joy and content that showed in the smile that crept her lips.
She hugged him in return and held on tightly as the connection they made had Noctis crying quietly in her shoulder.
"You are more than ready." She whispered, certain that beyond the dangers to come Noctis would be able to handle it.
"So why am I still scared?" He asked in her shoulder.
She understood that fear as well and breathed deeply to suppress her own cracking.
"Because you know I cannot help you the moment you go up there."
"I can't do this alone."
"And you won't!" Carmilla pulled away and cupped his face, glaring not with anger but with finality underneath her glistening eyes. "Because your lovers will be with you, and I will be with you in spirit, waiting for you to come home."
"Charlie, babe, you're ruining my shirt." Vaggie told the princess dryly while staring flatly at the two talk.
"I can't help it." Charlie sobbed pathetically.
"You really think I'm your son?" Noctis asked, standing perfectly still as she wiped his tears away with her thumbs, showing a sense of distrust when his entire life was put upside down.
Carmilla felt not a shred of doubt or confusion to her love for the man, but she knew that time would be the catslyst to bring them together as the one thing Noctis needed his entire life.
A loving mother.
"I have seen you as my son, as my child, for awhile now with how I have raised you. From teaching you to dance, providing many times for you, even tending to you when you were unconscious, I knew that I had taken you as my child."
He smiled at those words with more tears to come until she chuckled and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"No more tears, my son." She ordered in a very maternal voice, wiping them from his eyes before they could fall. "You have to be strong for all of us when you go."
"Right." He chuckled.
She grinned mischievously, using her new title to boop Noctis on his nose.
"Mother knows best after all."
He laughed.
Meanwhile in Heaven
Sera flipped the picture again and again in in disbelief, already dreading the painful failure of Uriel returning with so little to give her on her son's whereabouts.
"He was nowhere to be found on earth even with the shard?"
There was slight annoyance in the posture of the archangel as he reached for the shard underneath his chestplate.
"No, but there has been a development."
Sera, though conflicted with anger and need, remained composed and raised an eyebrow at her colleague as he untucked said shard and revealed to her a shocking change.
"It changed color a few weeks ago." He laid the shard down on her desk, now glowing a brilliant golden color. And what's strange is I sensed Romna from it for a moment. He was consumed with rage and it responded by glowing brightly."
"It can't be." She gasped as he hand trembled with reach. Slowly she picked it up and felt the power radiating off it while Uriel stood there and waited.
"What does this mean, Sera?"
"It means Romna isn't just reincarnated." She looked up from her seat with wide eyes.
Before Uriel could ask what Sera meant, she stood up and walked over to the blade on the wall and gazed at it with regret while running her thumbs on the shard.
"He's reincarnated as his original self. And now he's starting to awaken."
Uriel's eyes widened and he tried to understand while the seraphim laughed softly with glistening eyes.
"But you destroyed him, so the power of The Leviathan should be gone."
"Yes it should." She agreed and looked back at him, smiling so certain on the verge of tears. "But the proof is right here. Romna is back and still a divine beast so we will need to hasten our efforts."
"Still!?" Uriel questioned before the doors swung open to reveal the surprise visit of Michael helping Azrael inside.
"You need to hear this now." Michael demanded, surprising the two angels as he out Azrael into a seat despite his obvious weakness from limbo months ago.
Everyone knew that Michael was the most composed of the archangels and never without his resolve of being that person ebery single day, but this was different.
Whatever had him acting so out of character had him visibly shaken while Azarel clung to him for support, still wearing sacred wraps that slowly healed his wounds over the course of his recovery.
"Hear what?" Sera tucked the shard in her sleeve and looked to Archangel of Death apprehensively.
"We have a dire situation." Azrael breathed these words weakly with Michael holding him up, his gaze meeting Sera with a seriousness not seen in a long time.
"What situation?" She asked and sat back down.
Azrael couldn't believe it himself after what he encountered, but there was no doubt from his failure in limbo that what he discovered wasn't an illusion.
Fearfully he said, "The creature I fought in Limbo..."
"Yes?" She leaned in while Uriel stepped away to have himself a moment compose.
Azrael breathed the answer, both with disdain and the utmost fear that showed in his damaged wings that shook.
"It was the First Flaw."
Fear was the silence in that room, collective gasps coming from them before Sera said with a trembling of her form.
"God help us all."