Chapter Text
Normal Monday morning. Papers of debt piled up on Peppino’s desk. Spreadsheets opened on multiple devices. Dark circles weighing so heavily beneath his eyes, he didn’t even need a mirror to know that they were there. And he hadn’t looked in the mirror.
The previous investment had officially and irreversibly gone down the drain! Gustavo’s idea: Pizza Cheese Special. With the ingredient prices rising and the restaurant’s profits careening down to the pits of hell, Gustuvo had one bright idea; what’s the best part of a pizza? The cheese of course.
Offering giant globules of pizza cheese seemed like a passable idea at best. But it didn’t take long for people to grow weary of the flavor: After all, it was just cheese all the way through. Not even a drop of tomato sauce could be spared from the constraints of the budget.
Losses had to be made up, somehow. This business really had its tail between its legs now.
Peppino reached for his mug of coffee, only to find he had already drained it. And the budget could only stretch to cover three mugs a day. Even less, if he was honest.
He put his head into his hands.
This is what he got for trying.
Peppino jolted up.
His arms were still crossed on the table from where he had leaned his head in them. Had he really fallen asleep on the job? He cursed himself underneath his breath. Then he realized what had woken him up.
The air was potent with the smell of pizza. At first he wondered if Gustavo had come in today. Not just the typical ingredients; dough, cheese, tomato, or even pepperoni. There was a hint of earthiness as well. Cooking vegetables. Something was cooking up with every ingredient in the book. And that was not cost effective.
He stood up and made for the stairwell to the kitchen, when the top landing was engulfed in shadow.
Of course, his office was dark. He had turned off all lights but the lobby to keep trim on the power bill. And the lobby was only when the building was open, unlike now. Thus, the only lightsource was a slim window that shone directly across Peppino’s cluttered desk.
His eyes rose to the window.
A large dark spot blotted out the window. It took him several seconds to process the fact that it was there, and several more to realize that it was moving.
What the hell. His gaze locked on the strange silhouette. His heels met the guard rails of the stairs behind him as he backed away. This was wrong. That thing was very wrong.
His hands gripped the rails behind him as he shuffled backwards towards the mouth of the stairwell, keeping his eyes locked on the amorphous thing clinging to his only office window.
He tried to rationalize the thing. Maybe it was an insect nest? That thought gave him the creeps.
A large, heavy weight slammed into his body. The mass had pounced on him.
It's supposed skin felt like grease as it twined a limb around his wrist and held him against the outer side of the guardrails. Its mass seemed to be molten and shifting. And the pizza smell was overpowering.
It snaked up what must have been a head: a round full pie of pizza, two pepperonis for eyes, a mushroom nose, two long slivers of pepper in what looked like a mustache, and a mouth full of small pineapple slices.
“Listen little mortal,” the ominous pizza creature said. “I’m gonna take everything here down back to hell with me. And if you don’t want to get dragged down to the fiery pits yourself, I suggest you run along.”
The sheer bewilderment of being immobilized by literal pizza meant that it took a moment for the weird creature’s threat to register.
“Hell?” Peppino asked. “So that makes you a–”
“A demon,” the creature grinned a disgusting grin made of diced fruit. “Damn right.”
This was bad. Peppino definitely shouldn’t have snapped at that priest who came by and ordered a meat lover's pizza without the meat. That was just cheese! No hellspawn was spawning in his office and..
“Did you say you were taking my restaurant to hell?”
The demonic pizza laughed gurgly. “This is what I get for living in a ring full of dogs! You mortals really have terrible ears, don’t you?”
Peppino ignored the implications and centered right back on the property problem. “Is that an answer?” He snapped.
The demon closed its mouth in a grin. “Definitely. Now get out.”
There was a sudden spin and a woosh of air, and then Peppino went careening across his office. His back crashed against a solid surface, but fell through as it gave way with the sound of shattering glass. He looked up as he fell down to see he had just been thrown out of his own office window.
His back struck the ground with a blow that knocked the air out his lungs.
As he laid on the grass, internally screaming for air, a large glow burst from the ground around him. He forced air into his lungs in time to scurry to his feet and run to sea a giant circle of red glow encircling the ground around his restaurant.
“Later, human!” He head the demon roar, and looked up to see it perched atop his restaurant, which was rapidly sinking into the ground. “Nobody will ever believe your story!”
Peppino backed away from the edge of the portal as it seared the grass around it. His restaurant! That was his life’s work, and now it was sinking into the ground.
He could run. He could go call an exorcist. But he didn’t even know where to begin. He didn’t even think demons could really show up like this until today.
The portal began to enclose, leaving a scorched circle of dead grass in its wake.
There was only one choice.
One way to save his restaurant.
Despite his shaking, he ran forward.
And he lunged into hell.