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"You had no right." Alastor's voice shook as he spoke, shook so badly she could barely understand what he was saying. Charlie had never heard his voice shake like this before. "No right to take something so special and just… remind me of her."
She couldn't quite tell whether he was angry, or sad, or some combination of the two, or something else completely. And she no idea who the "her" he was talking about was. It pained her to see him seeming so upset, but she had finally gotten through to him. Finally. She had spent weeks trying to prove how much she cared about him. And before that, before he left, she had spent years. And despite his harsh words, despite saying he hated it, he had practically licked the bowl clean twice.
Charlie took it from him, once again having to pry his fingers from the bowl in order to quickly take it down to the kitchen and refill it with more jambalaya.
The third bowl of the spicy stew he ate much more slowly than the previous two. The first, he had practically inhaled in a single breath. He ate the second bowl only slightly more slowly. Now, though, he was eating at a much more reasonable pace. Charlie wasn't sure why he was eating so much. Was he enjoying it that much? Matbe he just needed more food than the average demon. Regardless, she made a mental note to start providing him with a lot more food at his meals.
He was friends with Rosie, and he definitely ate demon meat. Well, mostly, she had only seen him eat demons whole, not just the meat, but maybe he had been a cannibal in life, and the sin of gluttony had become a curse for him in Hell. Actually, now that she thought about it, that probably was the case, even if he wasn't originally a cannibal. In the end, she really didn't mind. She just wanted to do well by him, to make this comfortable for him, and if he was hungry, she would make sure he had as much food as he wanted or needed. Her stomach twisted at the thought of providing him demon meat, but maybe just venison would suffice? She hadn't liked that he ate that, either, exactly because it seemed too close to cannibalism, but if that was what he needed to be safe and healthy, she'd get it for him. Really, she should have thought of that long before now.
"You're eating a lot," she said quietly, looking down at his tear-stained face with a gentle, hopefully comforting smile on her face. "You know, if you were hungry, you could have just told me. I would have brought you more food. As much as you wanted. Then again, you're you, and you're probably too stubborn to tell me something like that, huh?" She clenched and unclenched a fist, wanting to reach a hand towards him but not wanting to upset him, before finally just brushing a bit of hair from his face. She didn't get a real answer, just a sort of low grunt, his eyes trained on his food. It was weird, seeing the Radio Demon like this, so disconnected from reality, but she felt good about things.
She obviously didn't like seeing him cry, hated it, even, but it proved that he was listening, that he was paying attention, now. She had gotten his attention with a kind gesture, and now she could demonstrate that she really did care about him. If only he wasn't so stubborn, then he could just tell her how she could make this nicer for him. Instead, she'd have to do her best to guess. "I'm sorry, Alastor. I should have thought of that and brought you more food. And I will, from now on. I'll make sure you don't go hungry, okay?"
He didn't look back up at her, and she noticed that his ears weren't upright anymore. They had sort of flopped down to the sides of his head, falling like wilted flowers. He must be really tired. She had only seen his ears anything but perfectly straight a handful of times, and only for a moment or two. If it weren't for those occasions, like when he and Rosie had warned her about Susan, or when Dad kept making fun of him when he came to tour the hotel, she would have thought they weren't ears at all, just part of his hair. Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused, and his favorite mug appeared on the tray with a quick sparkle of pink and gold magic. Normally, she would discourage drinking coffee this late in the day, but caffeine had never really seemed to affect him, so it was probably okay. Besides, making sure he was comfortable was more important than trying to get him to stick to a regular sleep schedule (even if she felt certain that a regular sleep schedule would be a very good thing for him),
His eyes darted over to the mug for a second, then trained back onto his food. He clutched the bowl close to his chest, as though afraid it would be torn away from him. He had spilled a good amount of it onto his shirt, which normally would have irritated him. Alastor had no issue being covered in blood and viscera, but he was very particular about not getting messy outside of gore. She let him eat in silence, not reaching for him, not speaking, no matter how much she wanted to. She just let him enjoy his dinner, let him keep the empty bowl that he seemed to be clutching like a lifeline, and whispered "Goodnight, Al. I… I love you," before turning out the lights and leaving him alone.
…
In the morning, Charlie was estatic as she prepared her and Alastor's breakfast. It seemed like she had finally gotten through to him. Those weren't tears of grief last night, it was something else. Despite what he had said, he really seemed to enjoy the food. And she was just so, so glad. She had such boundless energy, and she wanted to make him something special for breakfast, just like she had done for dinner last night. Humming, she grabbed a half-dozen eggs from the fridge and started separating them carefully, making sure not to break the yolks, which she set aside in a small bowl.
Charlie had been trying so hard, for so long, to get through to him, and it seemed that she finally had. Hopefully, they would be able to start repairing things soon. Repair their relationship, their friendship. If he really understood her, if he actually gave her a chance, then eventually, she could trust him again.
The idea of being able to work with him again, side by side, the Demon Princess of Hell and the Radio Demon, made her want to cry with joy. She wanted it so badly, almost more than anything she could think of right now. She had just missed him so, so much.
She couldn't blame him for taking such desperate measures to free himself, not really. She just wished he had trusted her more, had asked her for the help he needed. For the millionth time, she wondered if there was something else she could have done, some way she could have proven to him that she would have been willing to help him. At the very least, she wished that he hadn't left after freeing himself. Even with everything he did, draining KeeKee's power, destroying the hotel, all of it, if he had stayed and apologized, she would have forgiven him quickly. It was the abandonment that had made her bitter for so many months. Months she could have spent trying to rebuild what they once had.
Charlie shook away the wistful thoughts, trying to remember what everyone had told her. There was no sense dwelling on the what-ifs, not when she had a chance to make things better now. She beat the egg whites throughly, flicking her wrist quickly just like Alastor had taught her. And she thought about the first time he had showed her this recipe.
…
It was a few months after the final extermination, and Charlie had come running in with a letter from Heaven itself. Creamy white paper with gold lettering, finer than practically anything you could find in Hell, outside of Lucifer's palace, of course. She hadn't even read the thing completely, unable to contain herself when she had finished the first paragraph and seen the last words she ever thought she would. "Your friend, Sir Pentious, arrived unexpectedly…" Sir Pentious! In Heaven!
At the bottom, she could see a few signatures, and Charlie recognized Sera's and Emily's names immediately. Sir Pentious was in Heaven. Redemption was possible. She was right! She'd gone flying through the hotel, and Alastor, humming in the kitchen, was the first person she had run into. Vaggie was out running errands, and Alastor was here, so he would have to take the brunt of her excitement.
"Alastor!" she had practically screamed. His ears flicked slightly at the noise, and he turned his head, an eyebrow raised in obvious question. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was too late, Charlie was already speaking a mile a minute, yelling excitedly and waving her hands around. "Look! Look! It's from Heaven!"
She was waving the letter around far too much for him to read it, but she didn't even notice. "It's a letter from Heaven! Sir Pentious is there! He's alive, and he's in Heaven!" She practically flung herself at Alastor, wrapping him in her surprisingly strong grip as she squealed. If she hadn't been so excited, she would have noticed the quiet grunt of pain, the slightest flinch as she threw herself directly at the horrible wound he had received in the battle, and had been hiding ever since. Not that she had known to look for it at the time. Alastor hid it successfully for several months after the battle, stubborn idiot he was.
"Ah, that's wonderful news, my dear. Now, who are we talking about again?" Alastor seemed to genuinely not know who Sir Pentious was, even after living with him for six months.
"You know, Sir Pentious? He looks like a snake? He has a living hat? His minions were the Egg Bois? He had a giant airship that he fired lasers with?" Charlie searched his face for recognition. Nothing. "He's the one who ruined your coat, a week after you joined the hotel," she explained with an exhausted sigh.
"Ah, yes! Now that does ring a bell!" Alastor pried her off of his thin form, replacing the gloves on his hands with a snap of his fingers. "Now, my dear, I am trying to cook here, and I don't have an infinite supply of fresh gloves. If you could refrain from the, ah, emotional embraces, that would be quite appreciated."
Charlie took a few steps back, nodding "Right! Yeah, sorry! I'm just so excited!"
"Indeed my dear. Now, pray tell, what exactly happened with this… snake fellow?"
"He's in Heaven! We thought he was dead, but he isn't! In the battle, he tried to fight Adam. He was so brave, and I really thought he was going to hit him, but Adam just… He barely even glanced his way, the entire airship was gone in a blast of light and…" she started tearing up, remembering the fight. "It was after you had gone missing. I… I was so afraid that you were hurt or dead, and then Pen died, and- and-" She threw her arms around Alastor again. In the present, she wondered if his smile had twitched when she'd mentioned his fight with Adam.
After a moment, she was shoved away from him again. "Charlie, what did I just say about emotional embraces?" He sighed dramatically, still grinning down at her. "Really, dear, I am not the one to go to for these… affections. Honestly, Charlie, it's unbecoming of the Princess of Hell!" After a moment, he patted her on the head a bit, as if begrudgingly returning her hugs in the only way he would. "Now, smile, my dear! If this is good news, you shouldn't be crying your eyes out at all!" Another click of his fingers, and he had another pair of fresh gloves on, returning to stirring something with a whisk, his hand moving so fast is was a blur.
Charlie forced a smile, pushing away the tears, and she could have sworn his perpetual grin softened at the edges as she did. "Well, I didn't read the entire letter, I got so excited, but this proves redemption is possible! I- I can really help people! My dreams, everything I've worked for, it's actually happening."
Alastor hummed, and Charlie wondered why he was whisking it by hand when she remembered. Oh, yeah, right. He hated any electronic kitchen appliances. Including, she was sure, a stand mixer or a hand mixer, either one. "I suppose, then, that this means that it's not entirely whacky nonsense after all. Of course, I still sincerely doubt that there are very many sinners in this infernal pit who would care to put in the effort to better themselves, but this does at least prove that it is technically possible. Though, possibility and practicality are two entirely separate things, aren't they?"
Charlie beamed at him, shaking her head. "Oh, but they will! I know they will! Even you've become a better person than you were when you first came here. I haven't caught you trying to sneak any of your, um, special meat into the walk-in cooler since the battle. That's progress!"
Alastor chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "Now, my dear, all that proves is that you haven't caught me, not that I haven't been indulging in my usual delicacies!"
Charlie's face paled at the thought. She hadn't caught him. That didn't mean he hadn't tried, only that he might have succeeded. What if he had slipped it into something he cooked for everyone, what if she had eaten demon meat? The thought was making her sick, and she thought she might pass out, when she heard Alastor laughing as though he had told some hilarious joke. "Now, Charlie! Don't you worry your pretty little head! I've been enjoying my fill of cannibalistic delights at Rosie's every week! I wouldn't waste such fine fare on those who wouldn't appreciate it!"
Charlie let out the breath she had been holding, sighing in relief. "Right. Well, um, that's good to hear, then! I mean, I still don't like it but at least you aren't eating that stuff here. Or tricking anyone else into eating it."
Alastor hummed, pouring the fluffy egg whites into small dishes, neatly arranged on a tray, and carefully placing an egg yolk on each one. Then he topped each one with cheese and bacon and chives and slid the tray into the hot oven. Only then did he turn back to face her, grinning brightly. "Well, not that you know of! Haha!" But he gave her the slightest wink, and she felt certain that he was only teasing.
"Now, my dear, I have been meaning to discuss with you that pesky new rule, about not serving the same kind of meat as any of the residents."
A few weeks before, a shy little sinner with a pair of rabbit ears had come into the hotel, and Charlie had given her the tour of the place. She really thought the newcomer might stay and try for redemption, until Alastor loudly announced that he was making rabbit stew for dinner. The bunny had paled, run, and never returned. Alastor had played innocent, claiming he had no intentions of cooking up their visitor, energetically serving them all a stew of actual rabbit meat, rather than the flesh of a rabbitlike sinner, but she knew him. He might not have planned to cook up the rabbit demoness, but he certainly wanted her to think that he was going to.
"You see, I have a wonderful recipe for roast venison, and I think you would enjoy it greatly!" Alastor waved his hands excitedly.
Charlie's face screwed up in disgust. No, she would not enjoy eating roast venison, not when her hotelier and friend was a deer demon. Even if it wasn't technically cannibalism, it would feel way too much like it.
"Alastor, no, I don't want to eat venison. No one here does." She thought a second. "Maybe my dad would, but that's not something I want to have to deal with…"
"A shame, darling! I suppose I'll have to enjoy my venison the old-fashioned way!" He waggled his eyebrows mischievously, and his shadow snickered on the ground.
"Wait, you really did that? I thought you were messing with Vaggie!" Charlie blanched. She could argue about it, but as long as he wasn't forcing anyone else to partake and doing it in the privacy of his own room, it wasn't really hurting anything. It was just weird and creepy and gross, which was actually pretty normal for Alastor anyway. "Never mind. As long as you keep it to your room, I don't care."
"My dear, I assure you, I still indulge in my vices. I just follow your inane rules about where and when I do so. Chiefly, in my quarters or in Cannibaltown, and at times when I am not busy keeping this rinky-dink hotel running." He laughed again. He had been laughing a lot since the battle. The new building was in much better condition than the old one, but Alastor was insistent on bad-mouthing it every chance he could, largely just to irritate her dad.
"But that's better! You wouldn't have done that when you first came here, which proves you can change!" Charlie argued.
"Oh, Charlie, that's hardly change. It's simply an extension of doing my duty as the facility manager. After all, if I scare away all the prospective residents, I won't have anyone to watch stumble into a blazing glory of failure, now will I?"
"Don't you want to go to Heaven? You've spent so long down here, surely, you'd like to escape it?" Charlie couldn't imagine why he would want to stay down here, especially after her visit to Heaven. Emily had showed her so many wonderful things, and that was all in one afternoon.
"Now, now, sweetheart, I highly doubt Heaven would be half as entertaining as Hell! Why, I thrive on the chaos and the violence. Heaven would be its own form of torture for me." Alastor laughed again.
"But I bet you have family, up there. Or friends from when you were alive? Wouldn't it be nice to see them again?" His smile twitched, just the slightest bit, and when he spoke again it was, in retrospect, clearly to distract them both. From the mention of such personal details, or the at-the-time impossibility of redemption when someone still owned his soul, she didn't know.
"Why, Charlie, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to get rid of me! Are you so desperate to get rid of every sinner you care about?"
Charlie's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No! Not at all! I just… I want the best for you."
She had never really thought of that. He was right, her goal was for sinners to be redeemed, but if they were redeemed, they wouldn't be here at the hotel anymore. She'd need to read the letter from Heaven more thoroughly, but what if she wasn't ever able to see them again once they went to Heaven? She'd have to ask Emily about a meeting with Pentious, because she really didn't want to think about that alternative. That by saving them, she might also be cutting her friends off forever.
Alastor's voice shook her from that dizzying spiral. "Dear, the best thing for me is to stay right here in the pit. Why, I doubt my broadcasts would go over well with the angels, haha! No, no, darling, I will be staying right down here. No matter how many souls you may or may not be able to send to the pearly gates, I will never be among them. And I'm sure your little sweetheart won't either."
She was about to say something else when Alastor opened his mouth again, this time implanting an idea that filled her with dread. "Although, of course, if she were redeemed, Heaven might be over-eager to reclaim one of their own, hmm?" A pause. "Or perhaps they will be less likely to accept her back even if she did prove herself worthy, simply because it would mean admitting they were wrong!"
He hummed, spinning his cane and grinning at her. "Yes, that seems far more likely, does it not? The angels on high don't strike me as very humble. So I suppose, even if you send away all of your friends up there, you won't be totally alone."
He was trying to comfort her, in his own way, wasn't he? To tell her that she would always have Vaggie, and himself, and maybe even Lucifer.
…
Now, that conversation took on a slightly different light. Alastor hadn't been planning to stay here, but he knew Vaggie and Lucifer would. Even though he planned on abandoning her once he was free. And that alone was proof that he really did care, wasn't it? If only he had told her, had asked for her help, then she could have freed him herself. No scheming or manipulation required. She would have done it in a heartbeat, would have worn herself to the bone to help her friend. If only he had asked. If only he would have let himself be helped without resorting to such drastic measures.
She finished the eggs on clouds exactly as Alastor had those years ago, baking them until the whites were golden brown, and the kitchen smelled almost Heavenly.
Charlie grabbed a larger tray than usual, quickly transferring two of the dishes onto it without worrying about burns. Coming into her power had been very handy in that regard. She loved baking, and with Alastor's lessons, she learned to love cooking too, but she was a little clumsy in the kitchen, very prone to burning her fingers. Actually using her power instead of just supressing it, things like heat and fire no longer had any real effect on her. The other four servings she set out on the counter, ready to teleport them up to his room should he need them.
In his room, he acted the same as he had at lunch the day before, glaring at her through his grin and refusing to respond. She showed him a new table she had gotten for him, similar to the tray tables they used in hospitals (though she didn't mention that part). "Since you aren't up to eating at the table yet, I figured I could bring the table to you! Isn't that great?"
Unfortunately, there was no response, and he ate in silence. His gaze remained locked on the dish in front of him, his eyes only occasionally darting up to fix her with silent rage. But that was okay! She had gotten through to him last night, and she knew how stubborn he was. He would probably stew for a little while before they could make his next baby steps. That was fine! She refused to give up on him.
She ate her own serving of food, maintaining cheerful, unanswered chatter the whole time. As soon as he finished the first dish, she drew a quick circle in the air, and with a puff of gold and pink sparks, it was replaced with one of the ones from downstairs.
Alastor ate four and a half bowls before pushing away the uneaten remains silently. Good. She had only made six, and if he wanted another after this one, she would have had to go downstairs to make more. Which she would eagerly, happily do.
"I'm so sorry I didn't think to make you more food sooner. I never realized how much you eat. Especially when you're so…" His eyes raised with burning fury, and she stopped herself from finishing that sentence. Yeah, no, she should have known better than to almost say he was weak. "When you can't rely on your powers." Charlie corrected herself.
"I'll be back for lunch, okay? I'm going to run some errands, but if you need anything, you can still ring the bell. Vaggie or my dad will know and they'll get you whatever you need. I promise."
She squeezed her hands, as always resisting the urge to wrap him up in a hug, before leaving him with a smile. She had a surprise she was working on, and she knew he would love it. Or, at least, she really hoped he would.