Chapter Text
༻♡ - ꘏ ꘏ - ১❤໒ - ꘏ ꘏ - ♡༺
For most of Hell, it was just another day of screams, blood-soaked streets, and indulgence in the most sinful of desires. The sky seemed particularly red. But in the Happy Hotel, it was the first anniversary of destruction and betrayal.
As Charlie woke up and wandered downstairs, she couldn’t shake the lingering feelings of sadness. Sure, she had known that he was there for his own reasons, but over the course of years, she had really felt that Alastor was starting to change. The first time he had met her father, Alastor had said something about how he saw Charlie as a daughter. Later, the rest of the hotel had told her how it was obviously just to get under Lucifer’s skin. Really, it was obvious, but Charlie had been a little giddy to receive such praise from the Radio Demon. Her hotelier, her friend.
But as time passed, he seemed to really take to the role of a pseudo-father figure. Lucifer didn’t exactly like it, but it wasn’t as though he was there all the time. Alastor, though, he had softened. He gave her advice, taught her how to cook. And when they received word that Sir Pentious had been redeemed, he had told her “I suppose it isn’t wacky nonsense after all, my dear!” After that, Alastor had been sure to tell her that redemption was hardly to be expected for the majority of Hell, after all they would still have to actually give redemption a chance, and who would do that?
Well, several folks, apparently.
After there was proof that redemption was possible, and the end of the Exterminations, the hotel slowly began to fill. It was hardly at capacity, but instead of one or two guests, there were nearly a dozen! Everything was going so well.
And then Alastor destroyed everything.
Charlie sat down in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of coffee and adding plenty of cream and sugar. She can practically hear him chiding her, telling her she’s ruining her coffee like that. “The best part is the bitterness, dear!”
It had been exactly one year since he ruined everything. He destroyed the Hazbin Hotel, and in the process he killed several guests and obliterated not only the building, but the very reputation of the hotel. Fortunately, none of the guests were erased, but after what happened, all of them left. Only Angel Dust stayed, saying anything was better than moving back into Vee Tower.
It was a shame. They had only rebuilt the hotel a few years ago, after the last Extermination, and it was already gone again. It had been difficult to rebuild the first time, when they were grieving Sir Pentious and Dazzle, and when they were worried that Alastor might have died too. But grief was different from betrayal.
Grief hurt deeply, and it never really went away, but at least there were good memories. Before Charlie knew about Pentious’ redemption, she could still hold him in her heart. They hung that painting of him in the hotel, and in a way, they rebuilt to honor his memory.
But Alastor’s treachery hurt in a different way, tainting every memory she had, not just of the times spent with him, but of the Hazbin Hotel in general. Even Husk and Niffty’s presence hurt a bit, since he had been the one to bring them there. After decimating the hotel, Alastor had left Husk and Niffty behind. “I won’t be requiring your services for the time being, so stay if you wish!” he had told them. And Husk did. He said it was for the same reason he fought those years ago, that he didn’t want to find new drinking buddies, but it was clear just as it was then that wasn’t the full truth. Husk and Angel Dust had been close for a while, and not long after Alastor left they had officially started dating. It was really sweet, and one of the few things to bring Charlie out of her state of shock and despair.
Niffty, on the other hand, had been disappointed at the lack of bugs to stab at the empty plot where the hotel had stood. For a while, she had gone to Rosie’s, killing bugs in Cannibal Town, but eventually she returned, and Charlie was glad to see her back. She and Vaggie had been worried about how they would manage the housekeeping when they got the hotel rebuilt.
Normally, Charlie would have been all over it, putting up posters, handing out flyers and empty applications. Vaggie tried to get her interested, suggesting she could hire sinners or hellborn, whoever was capable and willing, but Charlie had just shrugged. She had blamed herself for everything. Honestly, she still did. She had known, she had known that Alastor wasn’t here out of the goodness of his heart. How many times had he laughed at the very concept of redeeming sinners, or tried to make a Deal with her? And she was stupid enough to actually make one!
Charlie had actually started to trust the fucking Radio Demon.
She deserved every bit of fall out that came from that.
At least Alastor was still alive. No matter how angry Charlie might have been, she would never want him dead. Really, there were very few people who could send her into such rage that she wanted them dead. He was alive, but he was no longer their friend.
He never was, Charlie reminded herself for the millionth time, finishing off the last of her coffee. A year had passed, and she still felt that same stab of pain, of gut-wrenching betrayal, that she had at that moment. His smile had stretched wider than she had ever seen it, and if she wasn’t so frozen with shock she would have grabbed Vaggie and just cried into her arms.
She had changed the name back to the Happy Hotel. Anything to distance her passion project from the Radio Demon who had come in and ruined everything. It was nice now. Polished and clean, so unlike Alastor’s incongruous style of classic elegance mixed with rugged charm. No, the new new hotel was sleek and tasteful, modernized but not too much. Charlie had spent weeks trying to make it perfect. She wanted it to feel classy but welcoming, and it did. Everyone said it was great.
So why did it feel so empty and hollow?
“Hey, babe.” Vaggie’s voice startled Charlie out of her thoughts. The moth placed a hand on Charlie’s, and with the other she wiped away tears she didn’t even know she was shedding. “You really shouldn’t be wasting your thoughts on that cabrón.”
Charlie had spent a lot of sleepless nights crying into Vaggie’s arms. She had been right about everything, right from the git-go. If she had just listened when Vaggie told her not to let the Radio Demon enter the hotel on that very first day, none of this ever would have happened.
“Hey,” Charlie answered quietly, leaning to rest her head on Vaggie’s shoulder.
“Charlie, I know you’re beating yourself up right now. You’ve gotta stop doing that.” No matter how many times Vaggie told her it was okay, it wasn’t her fault, Charlie never believed her. And no matter what she did, no matter how many of her friends surrounded her, no matter how many activities she hosted, the Happy Hotel felt dull and lifeless.
“I know, I know. I just… If I had just listened to you in the first place, none of this ever would have happened. You were right, you were always right! And I was too naive and optimistic and- and-”
“And… those are some of your best traits, and just because something bad happened doesn’t mean you should feel this bad about it. Hon, he’s a manipulator. It’s what he does. And we won’t let anything like that happen again, right?” Vaggie placed a hand on her back, rubbing it comfortingly.
Now, after a full year, Charlie felt certain she knew why the hotel felt off. She missed Alastor. She was furious at him, yes. Hurt to her core, absolutely. But she missed her hotelier, her friend. His eccentric decor and his cooking, his terrible jokes and even the way he would ridicule her ideas. Because at its core, this wasn’t the Happy Hotel. It was the Hazbin Hotel. But it wasn’t the Hazbin Hotel without Alastor.
“Vaggie, that’s not it. Not entirely, at least. I… I miss Alastor.”