Early Heaven Time
She was hiding from her fellow angels in a nearby alleyway, it's walls were pristine but the true filth was the consistent prejudice ways of heaven for her and the other five that were shunned for being different even when made by god.
Beezlebub, a determined but young angel, caught her breath after stealing food from a grand feast in the council room that was in celebration of the birth of heaven for whatever year in a row.
She was hiding around the corner, her four arms holding the food tightly while a few guards from the council room flew past in search of the foxlike creature with her bug wings buzzing from the anxiety.
"I saw her go that way!"
"That little thief is gonna pay for dishonoring our feast!"
"When we find those freaks we are casting them out!"
Beezlebub felt her breath hitch with fear, the idea of being cast out of heaven made her heart race while her friends stayed hidden in the pile of cardboard boxes they found over time. She hated heaven as is for its viewpoint of certain angels not looking as human as the others, but to be elsewhere was a more frightening thought that had her quietly turn away from the passing gusrds.
"Hurry up." Belphegor yawned tired as she held open the torn blanket that covered their boxes. "We need to eat before they get here."
"This is stupid." Mammon crossed his arms and pouted as his stomach growled. "All because we look different we get the boot."
"I hate this place." Satan growled from his own corner.
Beezlebub felt awkward at first for hearing their complaints but soon accepted it that they were only this way for suffering from starvation. She felt some pride in stealing food to feed her fellow freaky angels and showed it with pride by the puffing of her chest.
She knew she could never get more than a few loaves of bread but it was better than nothing when they hadn't eaten in a week.
She made her first step to the box tent and was ready to feed those hungry faces.
Until….
"Got you!"
Pride faltering into shock as her friends went back into hiding, Beezlebub darted for escape but was grabbed by her lavalike tail and dragged by the one guard that was smart enough to check the alley.
"You will be punished for your sin!" Said guard told the young angel sharply as she tried to dig her claws into the marble.
The strength of an angel wasn't with her though, not when she had no powers to begin with except for flying. So all she could do was scream and drag claw marks before she was painfully pulled her out of the alley and thrown her harshly at the feet of the citizens.
It was the same as always with the citizens of heaven, even as she laid at their feet curled into a ball to protect herself.
The disdain, the disgust, the looks they shared at the sight of a foxlike Angel with big wings, four arms, and antennae on her head.
It was always judgment.
"This disgusting thing again."
"Wonder where the others are."
"Who cares, just get it away from me!"
"I'm not disgusting!" She cried angrily on the marble sidewalk, glaring up to the people. "I am perfect in the eyes of god."
The citizens laughed at her defiance whilst the guard pressed a boot on her tail before she could move.
"Behold citizens!" He gestured mockingly down at the crying Beezlebub. "The little freak sinned with stealing food during our celebration!"
He ripped one of the loaves out of her little hiding spot in her robe and threw it down with the citizens gasping at her blatant disrespect of traditions.
"The little thief thought she could taint and disrupt our celebration of heaven!"
"I had to!" She screamed defiantly, showing more spirit than her fellow rejects that stayed hidden in the alley.
Even with her tail trapped she looked up with a powerful anger and hurt that only came through the tears she flowed with her vulnerability.
"None of you care about us. You always push us around and shun us for being different even when we are all like you, creations of god!"
"You're a freak." The guard spat and grabbed both of her ears, yanking her head up.
Beezlebub couldn't help but scream to the sharp pain and thrash what little she could as the citizens took in great satisfaction of hearing her scream and cry.
"Maybe you'll learn now!"
"You're hurting me!" She sobbed loudly, unable to defend herself as he drew his blade.
The perfection of angelic steel showed so strongly in the light of heaven, but the darkness of hatred radiated in the smile this guard gave while everyone watched as Beezlebub cried and screamed.
"Maybe losing an arm will teach you!"
The citizens cheered for the young fox to be taught a painful lesson and even helped by holding her arm out for the cut.
"Let go!" She screamed and tried to bite, but the yank of her ears was a cruel remind of her helpless position.
Some called it justice while others simply watched with glee as the blade rose and reflects the terror in her bloodshot eyes.
"No please! I didn't do anything wrong!"
The citizens started chanting for her punishment.
"Take her arm! Take her arm! Take her arm."
And so it came down to remove the extra limb, causing a terrible screech from Beezlebub while her friends watched from the alley and were too petrified to intervene.
However…..
"NOOOO!" A little boy screamed, startling everyone before he came soaring wildly through the crowd with poorly controlled wings.
The guard was surprised but rendered incapacitated by the little angel with six wings smashing his little form against the armor, shattering the chest piece completely and sending said guard flying across the ground.
The blade landed and stuck into the marble just as Beezlebub realized she was saved and had the oppurtunity to escape from the hatred of these nasty angels that wanted her hurt or worse.
But she couldn't eacape, not when she was being held.
Trapped yet somehow safe, the little boy turned out to be a seraphim everyone knew and he was already holding Beezlebub in his arms and wings while the citizens gasped at his interference.
"Leave her alone!" The boy screeched as she processed what was happening.
The young boy curled like a blanket around Beezlebub and protected her whilst the guard slowly recovered to his hands and knees, realizing his chest plate was shattered with such little effort from someone barely a toddler.
"My lord, what are you doing?!"
"Lord?" Beezlebub whimpered fearfully in question, knowing there was only one Seraphim Lord.
She looked up to find the little boy was actually Romna and he was protecting her from the stunned citizens that backed away but glared with such harsh indifference.
"Lord Romna." She gasped at his anger that directed to everyone.
"You're all mean!" He yelled, or squeaked loudly at the people while his presence did in fact intimidate them even with their glares.
He tightened his wings like a cocoon around her and radiated angelic energy that was warm.
"Leave her alone!"
"My lord," the guard grunted through the pain of standing up. "Step away from that disgusting creature. She is a thief and an abomination to—"
"NOOO!" He interrupted in a screech with his power booming across the heavens.
Without control or warning to it though, the young boy cast a sound wave from his screech that had everyone holding their ears shut while a familiar power to all had heard the distress and immediately responded with swift appearance by teleporting in a flash of light with her sister beside her.
All eyes turned to the pair that were nothinf but authority and power.
"What is going on here?" The older seraphim shouted firmly.
The citizens now understood the meaning of fear and at the presence of The Seraphim Sisters when neither appeared together for anything. But this was no minor matter to them, this was Romna that had them stressed and standing side by side to see the little angel holding a crying Beezlebub.
"Momma. Auntie!"
"Romna?" Sera gasped with maternal instinct flaring as she rushed over to the pair with the citizens parting quickly.
"Lady Natasha….." the guard that started all this was immediately on one knee and bowing to The High Seraphim.
Natasha remained dangerously quiet as she glaree at said guard, wondering what foulness she was sensing around them in the city square.
"Romna, what happened?" Sera asked after falling to her knees but made no effort to remove the crying Beezlebub from him.
"They were mean momma!" He glared up to Sera an pointed one wing at the guard while another was pointed to the crowd. "That bad guard was going to cut off her arm and they were helping."
"What!" Sera responded sharply with a glare to the the people whilst her older sister move gracefully to them.
Even with the citizens brandishing nothing of a physical weapon to harm, the sheer action of participating was enough from the citizens for the eldest seraphim to slowly eye each and every cowering person that hung their head in refusal to meet their gaze.
The first to open their mouth in defense was immediately silenced by the woman with nothing more than the empty stare she gave, knowing her wrath was something of legend.
"My darling, you are hurt." Sera said worriedly.
To everyone that participated in Beezlebub's torment there was no greater insult to the seraphim family than the little lord to be harmed even if he caused it to himself. Whimpering could be heard amongst the crowd when the high seraphim kneeled down and touched her nephew on his forehead to find his divine blood trickling off her fingertip after checking.
"Who is the cause of this!?" Sera yelled angrily to the cowering people, her eyes burning white hot with maternal fury. "Who harmed my child!?"
The citizens were quick to bring forth the answer by pointing at the terrified guard, but the damage was already done and Sera was on the verge of being beyond understanding. But a calmness was brought forth bedore Sera could even stand up. By her own sister that stayed eerily calm with a hand on her shoulder.
"Let me handle this."
"But sister….." Sera wanted to argue and punish these angels for their actions.
But she couldn't with how her anger subsided from her older sister having such a strong radiance of peace and love that it intoxicated Sera with just a small touch.
"Auntie?" Noctis looked up to the older seraphim now smiling at Beezlebub in his protective hold still.
"What is your name?"
"Beezlebub." The little fox answered with a stutter, clinging to her savior more.
Said angel beamed warmth without touching Beezlebub while Satan and the others started to come out of hiding.
"I am Natasha, The High Seraphim." She gestured to herself and asked politely. "Tell me what happen?"
Beezlebub was still scared and shaken up by the ordeal, but with a little courage she pointed a finger back to her friends and spoke while staying with Noctis .
"I took food from the grand feast table. We are shunned for being different."
"I see." The woman hummed with a strong glow in her pink wings, watching Beezlebub in every manner of holding onto Romna to the point of curling her tail around his leg.
She nodded vigourously as her words were taken to heart by the angel, her tears and vulnerability not unnoticed.
"We are always hungry because nobody wants to help us. They think we're monsters because we don't look like any of you."
The angel smiled but felt anger fill her from the discrimination of their fellow angels. It didn't break her royal demeanor though as she stood up and faced the crowd that caught the guard after Sera tossed him into the bunch, taking in each and every face with burning memory.
"Lady Natasha..." Said guard couldn't find the courage to make an excuse for his actions.
Not when the calmness from her didn't come with a glare but a maternal response that scared everyone.
Slowly she approached after Sera went back to Romna and Beezlebub, her steps gentle yet menacing.
"My lady please forgive—"
Suddenly the guard was silenced by the high seraphim with the most firm hand that had ever struck him. A burning sting that turned his head sharply as he processed what just happened.
"Shame on you." She scolded softly and slapped the the other cheek. "Shame on you for your actions towards this defenseless child of god."
The guard felt frozen as he felt both cheeks sting from the maternal harshness of his superior that maintained her soft expression but somehow radiated anger in those gentle eyes. He couldn't believe that she would choose over Beezlebub over one of her loyal followers and felt betrayed deeply.
"Shame on all of you." She targeted the group next as Beezlebub watched her with swelling gratitude. "How dare you judge and attack this poor girl for trying to help her friends survive when they are shunned for being different."
"But my lady are not like us! They are animals!" One of the citizens spluttered anxiously.
"When did you decide who is beautiful and who is not in the eyes of our Heavenly Father?" Natasha asked harshly in her gentle voice. "I don't recall any of us having such a right when we are all creatures born from the love of our creator."
"Child, you can let go. You're safe." Sera said kindly.
Beezlebub shook her head and clung to Romna tighter, whimpering with her claws almost digging into the boy's skin as he answered for her.
"It's okay momma." Romna told her with a smile. "I don't mind. She needs a friend."
Before the little fox could even buzz her wings to such warmth in his his words, his arms felt differently with how she was now hugged with his cheek pressed to hers. What was worse is she couldn't understand this feeling of being accepted by someone so much higher than her while Natasha finished scolding the people and turned her attention to her friends.
"I like her. She's fluffy, momma."
"Fluffy." She breathed bedore the tears came back again and swelled. "No one's called me fluffy before."
Sera was not at all surprised by the gentleness of her child and smiled lovingly whilst Beezlebub exploded with emotions she never had the chance to express before. With a wag of her tail after it loosened from his leg, the young fox showed joy with her tears and hugged him back so strongly they fell over together.
"That she is." Sera breathed thoughtfully, watching her son giggle when Beezlebub licked his cheeks.
"That tickles!"
"Stay back!" Satan snarled with his wings flared as he stood protectively between the others and Natasha.
The high seraphim was not at all afraid nor convinced by the aggression of this dragonlike angel. Instead she beamed a motherly smile and fell to one knee and gave no implication of aggression.
"You have so much anger for your friends."
"Yeah well you jerks made it so." Satan snapped before leaning away from her hand.
This time it was their turn to be surprised as Natasha refused to let distrust and indifference gap her from her own subjects. No matter size or shape she learned to have love for all and she showed that with taking the young dragon angel with a gentle but forced hand.
Of course he was defensive and ready to snap his jaws, but that firm hand pulled him into what none of them experienced.
"Let go!"
Natasha shook her head and tightened her arms around the struggling Satan.
"It's okay." The seraphim cooed with an amount of care she knew wasn't given to any of these creatures in their lives.
The others, especially the tired Belphegor, watched as the toughest of their bunch started to calm down and made a slow response of hugging Natasha.
"What's she doing?" Mammon whispered before tensing at the seraphim now smiling at them.
"Come on. All of you." She opened her wings invitingly. "We are all children of the heavenly father."
Ozzy, Levi, Mammon, Belohegor, they all found themselves frozen by fear of this potentially being a trick when everyone else hated them.
However, the calmness and need from Satan, along with how Beezlebub was nuzzling up to the giggling Romna, had them curious and taking deliberately slow steps towards Natasha.
There was an air of uncertainty about them while the seraphim waited so patiently with Satan clinging to her wnd breathing deeply to calm the tears that threatened to spill.
"You're not gonna throw stuff at us?" Ozzy asked cautiously.
Natasha only shook her head.
"Or call us freaks like them?" Mammon pointed out the crowd.
"Child, you are not a freak. You are made in the image of our Heavenly Father." Natasha answered thoughtfully and curled her wings around them. "Why would I harm those I was tasked to protect?"
Besides Beezlebub, the other five angels didn't remain surprised for much longer however when Natasha hugged them all tightly and pecked each one on their head.
Though just a kiss, that alone cracked walls they had built inside and gave birth to a feeling none of them felt in their entire existence.
A true friend.
"Are you all hungry?"
"Starving lady!" Manmon blurted out, earning a hand that smacked his mouth closed by Levi.
Natasha giggled at this honesty and stood back up holding the hands of Satan and Mammon whils Levi, Ozzy and Belphegor held the tips of her wings.
"Sera—" she turned to face her younger sister. "I believe with have six more guests."
"That we do." Sera agreed.
"Yeah we have lots of food all the time because I can make it." Romna commented excitedly.
Beezlebub's left ear folded back to that admittence, a tilt of her head followed with that mild wonder as to how someone as little as them can make food.
"You make food?" She asked.
"Uh huh," he nodded excitedly and stood up with her. "Momma made me super strong so I can make food with magic."
"Indeed he can." Sera laughed softly, but turned to the crowd with her eyes narrowed on the crowd. "Which is why it is an insult to your seraphim lord to deny these children the right to join us and eat his wonderful creations."
Natasha rolled her eyes playfully at her sister for her harshness.
"Sister, they have been scolded enough. Let's take these children to eat."
"What does cake taste like?" Ozzy asked, following the eldest seraphim.
Nobody knew it yet in their bombardment of asking Natasha so many questions, but following behind them as Beezlebub and Noctis held hands was the start of something that would grow stronger with each passing day of their newfound friendship.
"You smell like berries." The little fox sniffed and twitched her antennae against the laughing boy's skin.
Beezlebub opened her eyes and sat up straight in the passenger seat of Ozzy's car. She was taken from the joy of that memory and forced to focus her mind through the four pots of coffee she guzzled the entire drive to the goetia palace. The drive was a little long and bumpy with how Ozzy always sped through the city like a bat out of hell, but the closer they drove through the goetis territory the more she sensed him.
The drive became anxious and scary with the gunfire now echoing between the hills, flashes of light and screams booming in front as her nose picked up the most familiar scent she hadn't caught except by the wind that carried death and gunpowder with it.
Eyes wide in recognition, The Queen of Gluttony stood up in her seat and took in a big whiff of the familiar smell underneath the foulness that punched her nose.
"Ozzy." She gasped and looked down to the all-so serious sin. "I can smell Romna."
"I smell other things." Fizzaroli commented with a scrunched nose as he waved a hand in front of himself.
Ozzy was too distracted by the sounds and smells to even acknowledge Beezlebub getting so excited she was grasping his arm and shedding tears again with her growing smile. While she could smell Romna, he could sense the man and how faint his life force was, which made him grip the steering wheel tighter as he pushed the pedal more.
"Sit down Bee, you're still tipsy!" He ordered the gluttony demon without taking his eyes off the road.
His tone was nothing Bee or Fizz heard before but she complied and took his statement of her behavior to heart by guzzling more coffee she produced with a snap of her fingers.
Still, for the most laid back demon of them all to act so sharp and authoritative had even Fizz reaching out and touching his shoulder.
"Ozzy, you okay?" He asked, his tone low with concern.
Ozzy remained quiet and started to scare the Imp Clown with his speeding. Truth be told he was angry at himself and feeling guilt for not listening to Beezlebub earlier or at least taking into consideration the possibility of Romna being alive. He was her friend and in a way they were family, but his indifference had him acting like an ass and that part continued to eat at his mind.
"Ozzy?"
"Not now baby." He said sharply, glaring at Fizz' reflection in the mirror for but a second.
"We're getting close." Beezlebub said excitedly and was starting to feel herself come to grips with reality but also the effects of four and half pots of coffee.
She was overloaded with caffeine and jittering in her seat, antannae twitching and wings buzzing uncontrollably while the flashes of gunfire loomed over the next hill.
The excitement however was gone from Beezlebub when they came over the hill and Ozzy was forced to a screeching halt at the scene in front of them.
Their attention locked in this time with Fizz breathing two words of the utmost shock.
"Holy shit….."
In front of them was indeed the Goetia Palace but surrounding it was an army of bone thin creatures tearing the grounds apart and devouring goetis guards and other henchmen from different factions that were trying to do a last line of defense against the wave of monsters that were winning.
Carnage wasn't even the best word to make out what their eyes saw with how many of these things were piled with demons that died a horrible way. The lush grasses were painted in bloods of either red or black, screams being heard in the distance, gunfire and magic exploding all over. This was a war and the entire goetia family was lined up in unison with a barrier made from their collected magic as the survivors retreated inside to tend to their wounds while the last line fell quickly.
"Romna….." Beezlebub pressed her four hands to her mouth and chest as the three of them watched from a distance the last goetia guard have his head pulled off his shoulders and devoured with the rest of his body.
"Hey look!" Fizz had followed the stream of this monsters and pointed to the one that was commanding them all.
Bee and Ozzy and turned their attention to the six winged Angel pouring these monsters from all six of his wings this time and realized who he was from Lucifer's stories long ago.
"No fucking way." Ozzy gasped, his eyes wide in disbelief that such a cruel figure actually existed. "Lyoria….."
"Ozzy we have to go now!" Beezlebub snapped and hastily took to the sky. "We have to get Romna!"
"Bee wait!" Ozzy yelled but was too late to stop the sin from soaring towards the battle.
He knew she wouldn't listen anyway, but it was still frustrating to the point of punching the radio in his car while Fizz focused on the little bit of gunfire that still went on.
"Someone's still fighting." He pointed over the seat to the one demon standing at the palace steps while a barrier surrounded.
Meanwhile inside the palace….
In the antechamber of the partially damaged palace, Carmilla ran around checking everyone for injuries and takijg a headcount after Lucifer was dragged back inside after overusing his powers to get the Hazbin and imp gangs back to the palace. Everyone was injured and exhausted from the last hour and a half of fighting with no real victory in sight after Lyoria unleashed his full force of unjudged by opening his fifth and sixth wings to pour them out.
"Is everyone still alive?" The overlord asked while checking the king for any real injury, unaware that Charlie was on the balcony above and horrified by all the carnage inaide and out.
"Mostly, lady." Blitz groaned with bruises all over his form after he and his team failed to bring down the Primordial Hellhound. "That fucking furball is damn near unstoppable." He added while Millie ignored her own problems to bandage him up.
"Where is it now?"
"Don't know, Ms. Carmine." Moxxie answered while checking a few scratches of his own. "It took off as soon as that guy out there whistled."
"You okay Loona?" Blitz grunted through a rough patching by Millie, knowing she was more than okay but still had to be sure.
"No!" The hellhound snapped with bristling fur as she rubbed her bloody ear. "That fucker took off a piece of my ear and smashed my phone!"
As inconsiderate as Loona may be, her response was more than enough to make the imp chuckle and relax for a moment.
"I'm good." Husk grunted from a nearby corner before he swigged a flask.
"I wasn't done stabbing!" Nifty cackled, making one of the nobles eye her cautiously and side step away from her.
The losses were extensive with hardly a handful of goetia guards surviving long enough to help barricade the palace doors while Stolas, Vassago and Andrealphus worked together to make a barrier with the grimoire.
A moment to breathe was all Carmilla could find to give herself after she finished checking the exhausted Lucifer and sat him upright in a rough manner.
"How did he best you without even fighting you?" She asked in a judgmental tone.
Lucifer showed that deep pride of his in how much it hurt to be bested so easily. He hated himself for what transpired but managed to keep a cocky grin through it all while she waited for an answer.
"Because I was too busy protecting my daughter since those things were trying to climb."
"Right." She sighed and shook her head before looking up to the balcony to ask the worried princess. "Charlie how is he?"
Charlie was unresponsive, she didn't even make an attempt to answer Carmilla when her mind was so fixated on the deaths of others and the injuries of her friends.
"How can someone be so evil?" She asked herself in a whisper, her hands shaky from shock.
Charlie had seen death and bloodshed before but only from a distance when she was living in her castle and shielded from extermination day mostly.
To see the truth behind war though had opened her mind to the gruesome reality of things and now she was so uncertain of herself with how she could make her dream a reality.
Most of all, how could she protect her people from someone like Adam who enjoyed this kind of thing.
"How am I supposed to protect them when they're always protecting me!?"
The reality of her ambitions only got worse when she did her own head count from said balcony and felt her heart drop when one demon wasn't with them. The one demon she and Vaggie started off with at the hotel was nowhere to be found amongst the group.
This realization gave a new meaning of heart-racing fear before she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"GUYS, WHERE IS ANGEL DUST!?"
Everyone forgot their own pain and went silent in recognition of the spider demon not amongst them in their recovery. However, with that silence came the understanding that the sounds outside were not just the judged trying to tear the barrier dowm, but gunfire still going and screams of what had to be the same demon they missed getting inside.
"He was with me!" Cherri Bomb answered and began to look around in a panic for any sign of him.
"How'd you miss the guy!?" Husk scolded Lucifer.
"It's hard teleporting everyone at once!" The king snapped defensively.
Charlie felt her fears rise higher and bolted to the nearest window while Carmilla and Lucifer took individual windows on opposite sides of the doors.
Her worst fears were confirmed.
"ANGEL NO!" She screeched, tears pouring down her cheeks.
Standing outside and atop the blood soaked steps with both guns blazing in his upper arms, Angel Dust was alone and taking a stand against the unjudged as they swarmed up the palace steps and attacked both the barrier and himself.
Tommy guns in two hands while the other pair of hands were reaching into the the near empty ammo cases, Angel Dust was a defiant and desperate force.
The spider demon was bloodied and bruised but still taking a stand with his heart throbbing to the same feeling his mind produced from the negative thinking of losing Noctis to some evil angel.
That feeling was fury.
One after another he gunned down any unjudged that got close to grabbing him, and then would fire into the swarm while Lyoria got closer with each looming step of his gaze fixed on getting to Noctis.
But the closer he got the more Angel Dust was going numb of his injuries. His body filled with adreanline and he became a raging gun toting demon of pure malice towards the first flaw while putting holes in anything that tried to get near the barrier.
Even when his position was a hopeless attempt of holding back, the motivation drove him wild.
He screamed in defiance. He screamed for the safety of Noctis. He burned his lungs and cracked his voice in the blinding gunfire of his tommy guns that he kept reloading so quickly it was almost missed by the others gathering at the windows.
"YOU AINT TOUCHING OUR BOY! YOU AINT TOUCHING HIM! DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME!?"
"What the fuck is he doing?" Husk complained in question. "That stupid motherfucker is gonna get himself killed."
"COME ON! I'LL KILL YOU ALL BEFORE YOU TOUCH NOCT!"
"Damn, he's pissed." Blitz gave a low whistle while the rest of the goetia nobles gathered in preparation of using the rest of their magic to fight should the barrier break.
"Of course he's pissed." Cherri Bomb snapped at the imp, making him flinch. "Noctis is the only person who has ever seen him as just a person, no matter what he's done."
"He loves Noctis so much." Charlie whispered to herself, tears still streaming as she watched from her window.
The worst had come though when Lyoria was not deturr by the gunfire and closed in on Angel Dust. With his presence now seen by the enraged spider demon, Angel Dust pointed his weapons directly at the first angel and dumped bullet after bullet on him while the closeness of the angel made the unjudged stoo on place and part for him.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Angel Dust declared.
The bullets that did hit were absolutely useless against Lyoria with how his wings closed off and ricocheting every round in each direction, but that didn't stop Angel from trying his hardest. If anything he was determined to put his life on the line to protect Noctis.
"YOU WANT SOME YA FEATHERY BITCH!?"
"Want some?" Lyoria questioned, and then stopped with a few steps between them, his cold expression cracking with a smile that had Alastor almost shiver even in the safety of the barrier.
The bullets had ceased when Angel Dust ran out of ammo, but his aim remained true as he stood there loading one last magazine into his right tommy gun. His bloodshot eyes burned with tears on the brim of eacape while the despair of his situation became dire with need of a miracle.
Lyoria uncovered himself of his own wings and laughed quietly to the spider demon for his bravado.
"You will die for Romna?"
Angel Dust hardened his heart with his aim at that obviously stupid question, his emotions as true as the stillness in his in his mind.
"I would put my life on the line for Noctis."
A silence of challenge echoed between the two for a moment, their eyes never breaking or leaving one another while everyone inside watched.
"I don't like this." Husk grumbled, clearly bothered by their confrontation. "Angel doesn't have a chance."
"But it is buying us time to think of something." Carmilla commented while pacing around the three goetia.
"I hope it's soon." Stolas urged as he began to sweat from the magical strain. "This is proving difficult to maintain when it's just three of us."
"Angel what are you doing?" Charlie whispered to herself.
Finally the silence was broken by the storm clapping its thunder, the rain pouring overhead still with but a chuckle from Lyoria as the lightning flashed their silhouettes.
"You?" He taunted before his chuckle became mild yet hollow laughter, his face distorting for but a moment to the twisted monster he truly was without control . "The whore who sold his soul to a sex addicted fool that thrives on lust and carnal pleasures of suffering."
Angel Dust remained where he was and narrowed his gaze at the angel that continued to mock him.
"This is most amusing. In my eternity of living I have never met someone as delusional as you."
"And why is that?" Angel Dust asked coldly, his grip tightening on his tommy gun.
"Even I must admit I find this person to be most disturbing." Alastor admitted after reappearing from his spot of recovery, surprising the Hazbin Gang wuth his confession.
Lyoria broke into a fit of laughter, guffawing with a twisted voice while the distortion of his true form flashed in and out of his control.
"Because you are nothing but a slave to your own actions, a slut that thinks they can do something against me in order to save Romna. But you're just a common sinner with a broken facade."
Lyoria took Angel by suprise with but a step forward and reappeared behind him bedore the gun could be fired. A gasp of knowing lefr the spider demon with all his friends and allies watching the potential horror unfold.
Angel could do nothing to protect himself nor stop Lyoria, the outcome of death could happen in so many ways.
So why wasn't he dead now?
Back to back, their thoughts ran opposite as the first flaw took this moment to slowly pace around Angel who was still regaining his composure.
"Tell me little sinner," Lyoria breathed those words with such calmness it was almost heart-stopping. "Why fight for that boy upstairs as he recovers?"
Angel Dust had his hard expression again but gulped knowingly.
He knows Noctis is healing. How the fuck…..
Lyoria chuckled once more, his circling steady and methodical.
"Why are you fighting so desperately to protect a creature that isn't even a person, but an animal given godlike power?"
"Angel….." Charlie breathed, watching the torment continue.
"Why—" he breathed hotly in Angel's ear. "Are you, a common whore, risking your life for someone who shouldn't even be alive?"
Why was he fighting?
Why was he trying?
Why did Noctis matter so much?
The answer was not a journey of thinking but a response of certain wheb Lyoria stopped pacing and faced him. Angel didn't need to think or feel for his reason to getting himself bloodied and bruised and facing potential death.
He knew the answer and had held onto it for so long it was part of his reason to be happy.
It was his drive to be better.
"Because I love him."
"Typical," Blitz gagged quietly from the window whilst his team glared at him. "Romance bullshit."
"Love?" Lyoria laughed again, taunting the soaked demon. "You love an animal?"
"No. I love Noctis." Angel Dust corrected so strongly, his body shaking with a tidal wave of fears ranging between fear and rage.
Blitz was about to comment on that as well until Loona punched him in the back of the head to silence him.
"Elaborate." Lyoria commanded, earning that signature smile of the perverted spider.
"He sees me as a person. Unlike everyone else, Noctis aint afraid to hug me or let me cuddle him when I need a moment. He doesn't shun me when I act like a flirting asshole to him. He finds it flattering."
Those words leaving Angel ignited a spark of defiance and a strong enough one that he he jabbed Lyoria in the stomach with the barrel of his gun, making the angel growl as his answer became emotionally powerful with emphasis of each reason.
He jabbed him again, and again, and again, each one with finality to his connection with Noctis in every statement.
"He ain't afraid to stand by me. He ain't afraid to let me sit in his lap and just hold me when I need comfort. He ain't disgusted with who I am because he doesn't care. So yeah I fucking love him like a best friend I know I don't deserve!"
He aimed again with newfound determination.
"AND YOU AINT GONNA TOUCH HIM!"
"Kill this slut." Lyoria hissed and stepped to the side, a confusing manner of defense for the angel.
Angel Dust was so fixated on Lyoria he didn't even pay attention to the primordial hellhound leaping from where Lyoria stood. Where this beast was beast was no longer the matter at hand, but a realization that he waited for Angel to be distracted.
"ANGEL MOVE!" Cherri screamed at the top of her lungs.
Words alone did snap the spider demon out of his red rage but it was too late for him to retaliate with those claws soaring right to his chest. In a way, time seemed to slow itself as the closing of Angel Dust's demise showed in the gasping fear he expressed while stumbling back involuntarily to get away.
Everyone of the Hazbin Gang was screaming for his safety, even Charlie the most with her anguished cries of losing her friend like this. Sadly there was nothing anyone could do when Stolas, Vassago and Andrealphus were still combining their magics to empower the grimoire to keep the barrier erect.
"Guess I blew it this time...….Sorry Noct." Angel scolded himself mentally, knowing he was about to be torn to pieces.
Or so he thought…..
Without warning there was a burst of blue fire familiar to Lucifer that blazed across the front entrance and exploded outward to the unjudged that were unready.
The primordial hellhound was unprepared knocked back with painful cries of his fur burning even in the rain.
Not that it lasted with Lyoria swatting him away as the flames grew.
"You worthless failure!"
Blinding and scorching these flames were now as they touched any unjudged that was foolish enough to get close. But now by some miracle Angel Dust wasn't as ready to die as he had thought himself to be.
Not in that massive hand now carrying him above the screaming unjudged that were trying to get him again.
"YOU BETTER BACK THE FUCK UP, BOY!"
"And who are you?" Lyoria was curious now and watched as a blue ember sparked before bursting into the figure that saved Angel Dust.
In the silhouette of the flames stood a massive figure of great familiarity to everyone that knew the demon for who he was, his true form up to something of 30 feet in height and intimidating for most who had any common sense.
"Well—" Lucifer grinned at the figure, knowing it just got interesting. "Didn't expect him."
The flames that formed this mystery demon doused into the only demon capable of forming them, his eyes locked on Lyoria whilst Angel Dust processed what just happened.
"Ozzy." The spider demon gasped.
"Oh shit." Blitz was even surprised to find the sin of lust now joining the fray.
Lyoria was not one bit of intimidated by the presence of the demon that now had his unjudged backing away from the flames. In fact he welcomed this surprising visit with a twisted smile and a yearning for more challenge to his conquest.
"Ah, a former angel himself." He spoke so tauntingly while Ozzy set Angel Dust down behind him.
"Stay behind me." Ozzy ordered the spider demon, his never leaving Lyoria.
Said angel tilted his head with a sickening crack. "Let me guess, here to join this hopeless mission of protecting your old friend."
"Old friend?" Charlie questioned first before the rest of her friends and the helluva gang followed the confusion.
Confusion wasn't Carmilla's strongest quality, not with her experience of being an overlord and diplomat in the hierarchy. It clicked in her mind what Lyoria was implying, so she turned her glare to Lucifer who was visibly sweating from nervousness and wide eyed to his own mistakes.
"The sins know Romna, don't they?" She asked in an accusing tone.
Lucifer's only response was a gulp, his gaze slowly turning to his daughter that was now angrily curious. It was his own fault though when he promised her earlier that there were no other secrets.
He was in big trouble.
"What else you hiding?" Husk growled before swigging his flask again.
"A question I wish to know the answer to as well." Alastor said with mock sweetness in his tone, not that it was hard to understand when his smile did not fool the glare in his eyes.
Back outside the same silence that rang between Lyoria and Angel now passed between with Ozzy just standing there, watching the first flaw with strong calculation.
Whatever was going on his head, it wasn't good.
"Well?" Lyoria chuckled, expressing an awful lot of patience for someone who was trying to kill.
Nobody but Lyoria could see Ozzy's expression when it slowly cracked into an arrogant smile.
"You should pay attention."
Such words from said sin threw the first Angel off his focus, but it was too late to react when he sensed what Ozzy was talking about.
Rage, love, malice— three of the many emotions that were burning hotter than the deepest fires of hell. But there was one feeling that caught his attention before he turned to the source that appeared out of nowhere at her full power.
This feeling was the instinct of protecting the alpha, a long dead feeling brought back to life by the revelation of Romna being back from the dead when she saw the picture.
Claws extended, hackles raised and ears folded back, this demon had used the distraction to swoop down in the darkness and roar.
"YOU WON'T TOUCH HIM!"
"Beezlebub!?" Everyone but Lucifer screamed from within the palace as her demonic voice shook the palace.
Her true size fully witnessed, her entire form a bright and powerful yellow, the sin of gluttony made the grab for Lyoria with her teeth in an attempt to tear him apart.
Her speed was unfathomable even at her true size, but it wasn't enough when the first angel leapt over her with fluid spinning and landed gracefully.
She clamped her mouth shut and came to a skidding halt beside Ozzy, prowling on her legs and all four of her arms like a predator backed into a corner.
"Dammit!"
"Oh this is rich!" Lyoria guffawed at the growling sin, her three eyes burning with hatred. "The wife of Romna here to play hero."
His laughter stopped abruptly, but the menacing smile stayed while their eyes locked.
"Only to watch him die a second time." He added wuth a lick of her lips.
"Bee," Ozzy drawled in warning of the foxlike demoness shaking furiously at that implication. "Keep calm. We need to—"
"YOU WON'T TOUCH MY HUSBAND!"
Beezlebub was clearly not right in the head whilst Charlie still gazed at her now profusely sweating father that froze with all eyes on him.
The figut resumed with Ozzy and Beezlebub working together while everyone but Stolas, Vassago, Andrealphus and the helluva gang surrounded the king of hell, and glared down at him in suspicion.
Even Nifty with how she was sitting on Husk's shoulder.
"Oh this is getting good." Blitz snickered before pulling out a box of popcorn to share.
And good it was getting with Millie and Moxxie joining him to watch the truth unfold, but not Loona who looked very unhappy all of a sudden with how her fur bristled.
"What in the FUCK did she mean by husband?" Carmilla asked, though her tone spoke serious hostility.
"How does she know Noctis?" Nifty growled.
"You're holding out." Alastor hummed, relishing the drama of their unconscious friend. "Oh please don't hold out any details, your majesty."
"Oh boy…." He could feel the walls close around him, or in this case the circle tighten around him as the barrier sparked and crackled from the various occasions Beezlebub was slammed against it.
Not that it was damaging anyway when she kept screeching like a raging banshee before attacking again.
"ILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
"Start talking asshole!" Husk barked before getting his flask again.
"Da-a-a-ad!" Charlie growled loudly, horns sprouting and hair whipping wildly before Vaggie came bolting out from upstairs to join Charlie in the possessive fury they shared.
"WHY DID SHE CALL NOCTIS HER HUSBAND!?"
Lucifer knew he wasn't in just deep trouble, he was in deep shit with his daughter for keeping more secrets and even more trouble with Carmilla for withholding that the boy she adopted was still being denied more pieces his own history.
And it showed now.
"Lucifer!" She snapped before grabbing the king by arm. "You better start talking or your gonna find out how motherly I can be."
He gulped at that threat with formidable knowledge of how protective Carmilla can be. King of Hell or not he was no fool to the wrath of a mother, especially in the situation their suffering right now.
He tried to play it down with a sheepish smile and squeaked his words, not that it helped with how pissed off Charlie and Vaggie were.
"What?" He shrugged to the circling crowd. "I mean is it really relevant that Noctis was married to Beezlebub in his past life?"
"YES!" The Hazbin Gang shouted in unison, making him flinch.
"Great." Loona said flatly with a slump of his shoulders, standing with her team that were watching the drama unfold while the fight outside got magically explosive with Beezlebub raging. "Hot guy drama….."
Blitz blinked at how dismissive she just addressed the matter before a grin crossed his face.
He looked up to his adopted daughter and said with amusement.
"You like that guy."
Loona realized what she implied and widened her eyes and being so stupid for admitting in front of her smugly grinning father. She reacted like the moody hellhound she is— by punching her father into a wall.
"SHUT UP BLITZ!"
During the whole ordeal though, Pentious remained upstairs and more composed of the situation while trying to make out the different soundings of the fight and his friends shouting at the king.
What he didn't notice though was the twitch that happened in Noctis' fingers while Max sat up and continued to sense the danger outside.
"Don't worry Max." Pentious kept his glare on the balcony. "Nothing will reach him."
"Da…."
That brief sound from Max stopped the snake from acting so hardened and focused. He looked back to the whimpering pup on Noctis' chest, dripping the tears off his fur and onto the cheeks of his father.
"Max….are you….."
"Dada….." Max whimpered, shocking the snake demon to the point of dropping his rifle.
"Max….." Pentious couldn't even stop himself from swelling with pride after Max started slapping his chest. "You talked….."
It was as if Max in his own desperation was trying to get Noctis to wake up, forcing the word out repeatedly in a cracked voice, his tone raising higher and higher as he cried.
Pentious didn't need to try and understand what was causing this, but underneath his hard exterior was a throbbing confirmation to Max and his talking.
"He needs you, Noctis….."
"Dada…..Dada....DADA!...DADA!!!!!"
Just then the windows were obliterated open by the recovered primordial hellhound and Pentious was forced to dive behind the bed after abandoning his rifle and cannon.
"SHIT!"
The primordial was covered with missing spots of fur from the scorch burns he suffered warlier, but pain was nothing but a motivator to the mission at hand.
"Now you die Leviathan!"
He lunged without a moment of pause and roared at the unconscious man and screaming pup. Pentious didn't have a chance to even recover but still tried by slithering hastily onto the bed to use his body to shield them at the last second.
"I won't let you!" He screamed defiantly.
He was going to die. He knew he was going to die. Pentious wasn't strong like the others, he had no magic or dark powers. All he had in his name was weaponry and egg boys and it wouldn't be enough.
And the last thing would hear was Max while carrying the guilt of his failure.
"I'm sorry everyone!"
"DADAAAAA!!"
Pentious clenched his eyes shut and braces himself for the claws rapidly descending. The sound of a deathly powerful blow came as Pentious laid there whimpering for the inevitable.
But it didn't come.
Suddenly he felt very warm and calm as the entire room heated up with a shimmering glow that radiated the entire room, forcing him to slowly open his eyes and see he wasn't shielding Noctis entirely but laying in his lap with Max now giggling whike the primordial hellhound snarled.
The next thing Pentious knew, he was in the presence of two figures that on the bed together. He was with a very awake and very pissed off Noctis that was sitting up while a beautiful hellhound was holding the wrist of the claws that almost struck them.
But the thing that surprised the snake demon the most was how Noctis and this hellhound were crying together.
"It's okay, Typhoon." The hellhound glowed brightly, her eyes literally burning with golden flames as she held back the primordial. "Mommy is here!"
Pentious couldn't make heads or tails of what just happened, but he knew one thing from how the female was crying as she forced the primordial back.
Something bad was about to happen, and he could feel it in his scales.