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“Stay in attendance for his majesty the King and his family, the Queen and the Princess of Hell, arriving!”
The guards opened the enormous doors as the royal family entered the ball room, King Lucifer in the middle and holding the hand of his beautiful Queen Lilith to his right and his heir to his left, princess Charlie. With their arrival the ball in celebration of anniversary of Lucifer’s Fall and the Founding of the Pride Ring had officially started. A ball where only the mightiest sinners got invited along with royalty of the Pride Ring and some esteemed guests of the King himself.
It was a ball of intrigue and political games, getting a good look at the competition of territory and who to avoid as well as who to align themselves with. Not that the royal family had to take part in any of it, but Lucifer and Lilith found a sort of enjoyment in it, as both Goetia and Overlords tried to play their cards right to gain any favor or edge against their competition. For Charlie it was less enjoyable though. While she enjoyed the dancing and music of the ball, the games have never been for her, especially since she was a target of such.
As heir to the throne, she was a major interest for every party, a price to be won, an opportunity. And even now that she was in a relationship with Seviathan, who also attended the ball, instead of dancing with her and guarding her from the intrigues of the night, he showed her off like a price to the others. Maybe she should have expected it. As a demon from the Envy Ring, Seviathan would want to show that she was committed to him now, that he was the one by her side and closer to the fallen throne than anyone else attending. It was natural for him.
And yet, Charlie couldn’t help but look longingly towards her parents who were having the first dance of the night. Their looks of pure love and devotion for each other where the stuff of legends, a love that defied even God. Charlie longed for that same love and there was a time she thought she had it. But it had been years since her summoning to the human world. Surely, he had moved on and settled down with another human woman. How could he not with his charm and clever remarks? Her beloved-.
That was when she noticed something from the corner of her eye. A movement of red, but with an uncanny familiarity to it. Yet when she turned to get a better look, it was gone! Could she have imagined it in her loneliness between all those people? Yet she felt like someone was watching her from the shadows. The princess of Hell was unsure what to do. Should she go in search of a stranger who reminds her of a past she left so long ago? She glanced at Seviathan, who was too engrossed in a conversation with a Lord to notice her inner turmoil. Charlie took that as a chance, so she carefully took some steps away from him, before going in search of a ghost.
It must have been her imagination, there was no way it was him! She had always known he was not holy or purely good, but when she left, he was still so young! Too young to land down here already, he still had so much life to give. And she had tried so hard to convince him to live a good life, to not make a contract with dark forces and to enjoy all the bright moments a human life could give. That is why her father had pulled her back to hell, that is why she had to leave him. She didn’t want to damn his soul, she wanted to save it! Because she wanted him to be happy! So, she had to be sure that it wasn’t him!
Charlie searched the whole room, looking through the guests, seeing familiar and new faces. Since the arrival of the Radio Demon a year prior, many old Overlords were gone. Not just overthrown, but gone. It spoke of the immense power of the Radio Demon, but so far, Charlie had only ever heard tales of him and the vague description of him being a red deer demon mixed with a radio host aesthetic of the time. The princess had only thought that she must be careful around this sinner.
However, as she spotted two red, glowing eyes from across the ball, her world stopped.
*My God, my heart beats faster!*
Charlie’s hands went to her chest as she tried to calm her heart. She was still fixated on the red eyes, so far away from her. Her body was in a state of shock as her mind tried to comprehend what her eyes saw.
*And my mind is racing*
A million questions filled her mind as the person across the room raised his glass of whiskey towards her, a wide smile on his lips. Yet his eyes spoke so much more as his smile would betray. Charlie’s cheeks became rosier as she got reminded of night so many years ago. A demon girl in human disguise and a charming man waiting at the bar for her, ready to dance the night away with her.
*Could it be...?*
*Could it be that you've come back to life?*
Emotions, bottled up from so long ago, came flooding into Charlie’s heart and filled her eyes with gentle tears. How? How was he here? It had been five years, how was he down in hell? And how was he the Radio Demon?! The most feared Overlord of all Pride Ring… the eldritch demon of destruction and torture… her beloved Radio Host from New Orleans… her Alastor.
*I know those eyes, following me*
She didn’t know when her feet decided to move, she only noticed it when Alastor’s image seemed to come closer as the room around her moved. Those eyes, so foreign yet she knew them, they never left hers as she made her way across the ballroom to him.
*Dark and familiar, and deep as the sea*
Charlie remembered the first time she glanced into those eyes. They were brown and had a spark in them, something dark, that captured her in the first second. Now they were red, with a glow to them as hellish as the sky of the Pride Ring. But they still had this captivating spark that made her heart beat faster.
*I know that face, strange though it seems*
He still had this sharp face from when he was alive. It fitted his cunning ways and intelligence, yet she also remembered how carefree this face seemed when he made a good wordplay or joke. And the smile, he had always worn, was still there, but now it was so much wider and the yellow fangs gave it something dangerous. His hair, that had been once a warm brown, was now red and with deer ears, yet still as untamable as it was in his life.
*Younger and kinder, it haunts all my dreams*
Charlie watched as he walked away, towards an open balcony. Yet his eyes never left hers completely, so she followed him, thinking back on that night in New Orleans. After he had put down his empty whiskey glass at the bar, he had also led her with his eyes to the dancefloor. She had followed him willingly until they were only a few feet away from each. She still remembered his kind smile he gifted her that night. The one she saw every night when she closed her eyes and dreamt of a life that could not be. Just as she had followed him back then, she followed him again, but now his back was turned to her and it was unclear to both of them where this night would lead. Happiness or tragedy?
*How can you stand there, a whisper from me?*
*Yet somehow, be so far away?*
She had so many questions for him. About why he landed here, how he was the feared Radio Demon, what happened in the living world to him. But the most burning question of them all was about who they were to each other now? Charlie had no doubt about her feelings for Alastor, but back then, they only were Charlie and Alastor, two humans. Now he knew the truth about her, being the princess of hell and he… he became the Radio Demon. The distance between them seemed endless.
*In eyes once familiar, a stranger I see*
*With so many words left to say*
The princess didn’t know who he was anymore. She still saw her Alastor, but how much of him was left? Or was he only the Radio Demon? If any of her Alastor was left, what should she say to him? Apologize for leaving so suddenly? Explaining her disappearance? Confessing what she didn’t manage to tell him back then? She was so unsure of everything, now that she stood in front him once more, in a situation she could have never imagined. She hoped for him to say something, anything, to let her see how much of her beloved Radio Host is left in those demonic eyes.
~This man is dead, he is no more~
~He died a little each day~
Finally, Alastor turned around, facing the woman once more he had given his heart to so many years ago. Ah, but could he really call her a woman? After all, he knew now that she was the princess of hell, a demon, the daughter of the fallen Lucifer. Nothing about her was human, never had been. That is why she had left as well, he had only been a game, an entertainment for her. After all, demons had no heart, he learned that quickly from Lucifer. He had just been a game and once he got boring, she had left for new entertainment. That knowledge had broken him even more than her disappearance. Though shouldn’t he thank her too? After she left… he saw no reason to hold back anymore.
~Like a thief, the streets of New Orleans has stolen him away~
He looked at her with his signature wide grin, holding out his hand with the shadow magic he had gained already in his lifetime. Charlie seemed shocked at his small display of power and he thought he would enjoy the sight, but his smile got weaker and his eyes reflected her own. Sadness, regrets, unspoken feelings between them… he closed his hand and looked at it, his hand more of a claw now, ever since he landed down here. A sign of the blood he had spilled ever since she had left him. He looked at her again and he noticed a glimmer in her eyes. Did she think he was still the man from back then?
~The mind plays tricks~
~You are confused~
He waved her off with the hand he had looked at a moment ago. If she thought any of the man from New Orleans was left, then she would be disappointed. He had destroyed him, this image of a man drowned in blood and shadows. Only the demon remained and he would not fall for her tricks.
~The man you seek is long gone~
~Dead and cold~
His heart he had turned to stone with every person murdered, his will got strengthened with every hunt that he came out as the successful hunter. His power fed on the misery of others and he reveled in it. Yet when he looked in her eyes, doubt filled his eyes once more. She looked so hopeful in a way, to see him again. His grin wavered more this time and he turned his hand into a fist once more, putting it over the place where his heart used to be.
~A story told, by those he trusted~
~those he loved, and those who then...~
~moved on~
He looked her straight in the eyes, his grin wide and his stare cold. It was her doing as well that he became this way. It was her leaving that had triggered the beginning of his turning. And it seemed the princess had received that message, in the way her eyes widened. Alastor had no regrets for what he did to damn him in hell… however if she regretted it, she might had cared for him after all. Yet her reaction took to long and he took it as her answer. His grin was small, close to a frown, but he turned it back into a smile as she walked past her, back to the ballroom. He headed straight towards a familiar face, one of his first friends down here.
The snake-like sinner Lamia turned around as she felt her conversation partners tensing up, looking at someone behind her. She had a pleased smile to see Alastor there, who held out his hand to ask her for a dance. Lamia accepted the silent invitation gladly, putting her hand in his as he led her to the dancefloor.
They didn’t notice how Charlie was right behind them, trying to catch up to Alastor. She had to apologize, for causing so much pain, to damn him like this. If she would have known, she would have fought back her father, would have looked for another way to see him. Instead, she had just accepted her father’s orders, like she always did. Oh, she had been so stupid! She needed to talk to Alastor, tell him that she had cared, that she still cared for him and that she would not leave his side again!
When she saw him going towards the dancefloor with another sinner, Charlie quickly looked around. If she wanted to catch up to him, then she needed a dance partner. Without much thought, she grabbed the nearest man to her, a tall sinner with the traits of a Mantis, and pulled him towards the dancefloor. The poor man had no chance to object and if Charlie weren’t so focused to get to Alastor, she would apologize to her forced dance partner. In the current situation though, she was just glad he was a talented dancer and could easily keep up with her during the waltz.
~I am a ghost, just a mirage~ *There in that voice...*
~Who chases traces of you~ *Traces of you...*
They danced around each other, never getting close to touching, yet their eyes always looked for the other. Alastor tried to fight against his wish to dance with the princess once more. He was the Radio Demon, he knew better than to get close to royalty. He would not be her entertainment once more. While Charlie tried to get closer, to somehow manage a switch of partners. But the music didn’t allow them to get too close so quickly, only close enough to see each other. And in the midst of their internal fights, they didn’t notice how their dance partners looked to each other.
*Dark and familiar, and deep as the sea*
Charlie looked longingly towards Alastor, while her dance partner looked towards Lamia. His sister. Unbeknownst to the princess, she had grabbed Manosa, who was the company of Lamia this evening. They both had the same glance in their eyes, an unspoken understanding of siblings as they figured out a plan to get their respective dance partners together. It was only a small nod, but with it, both started to take charge of the waltz at the same time, elegantly moving towards each other.
*I know those eyes...*
~This man is dead, he is no more~
~And though it's torturing me~
*Torturing me*
Luckily for the siblings, Alastor as well as Charlie were too caught up in their thoughts to notice their change in dancing. Their longing for each other was tangible as well as the tragedy that overshadowed it. Much was left unsaid, a lot got done that could never be undone and there were unknown hands, pulling strings to keep them apart. But with the help of Lamia and Manosa as well as a quick turn, the past lovers were in each other’s arms once more, while the siblings danced away.
*~Can either of us really ever be free?~*
For a moment they stared at the other in shock. For Charlie to be in his arms once more, it felt like a dream come true, one so wonderful that it hurt. Alastor even pulled her closer as they unconsciously kept dancing together in perfect harmony. He just needed to make sure it was her he danced with once more, this wonderful woman who loved music as much as he did. Yet this moment of relief and happiness got quickly overshadowed by pain.
*~How can you stand there a whisper from me...?~*
*~When you are still so far away?~*
Though they finally had each other again, danced again like they used to in the past, it wasn’t the same anymore. The secrets that got revealed weighed heavy on their memories of each other, the ones they shared and the ones they didn’t. Charlie saw the pain in Alastor’s eyes as he looked down at her. He tried to hide it with a smile, he always had, even back in New Orleans. However, she could see right through it and knew, she was the cause of that pain. And all she wanted to do was take it from him.
*~And why does the truth seem too hard to be true?~*
*~With so much broken...~*
Alastor knew he would see her again at the ball, he thought he was prepared for it. But how could he ever be prepared? Charlie had a power over him, like no one else, and not because she was a powerful demon herself. It was so much more and he knew it, even though he hated to admit it. But her-! His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand at his cheek. It was warm, soft and so familiar, he instinctively leaned into it and covered it with his own hand. When he looked down at the owner of said hand, he glanced into the tender, loving yet sad eyes of Charlie. He was caught of guard and even lost his smile. The answer he thought he had before at the balcony… he got it wrong. She did care for him!
~And so much damage~
He thought he would be happy with the knowledge, no matter what way it would turn out. He had been wrong. If she wouldn’t have cared for him, it would have been easier. Then at least he would have been able to forget her. He gently held her hand and pulled it away from his cheek. The music was coming to an end and so would this night for them. It would just be another dream for him, impossible to achieve. She would always be out of his reach.
*~There are no words~*
Charlie was confused and at the edge of tears. For a moment they had connected again, she felt her pull towards him, his heart. So why? Why did he pull away from her now? She was in such turmoil, she could only watch with tears in her eyes as he bowed and left the gentlest kiss on her hand, before rising once more to his full height. He turned away and towards the doors, all guests were whispering as he made his way to the exit, but he didn’t hear them. He fought to keep his smile up for appearance.
~Left to say...~
Alastor had made just a few steps into the hallway, away from prying eyes, when his smile collapsed once more and the tears fell from his eyes. Just as Charlie, who cried bitter tears in the middle of the dancefloor. Her parents had come to her as well as Seviathan, asking what happened and what they could do for her. Yet she didn’t hear them, her eyes still fixated on the door through which Alastor had disappeared. Their bond was broken, the damage done, but while one swore to never return to their love, the other swore to find a way to undo the pain. Because she loved him. She would find a way… for redemption.