Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Alastor huffs at another strangled noise right into his head- it was getting rather annoying!
Vox was supposed to be dead, and yet he was still annoying him by screeching and chattering insistently away. It suits the picture box, Alastor muses, his smile straining as it contiunes on.

This is one of the few times, if he could, he might frown.

Honestly, it was giving him quite the migiriane. Alastor sighs silently, massaging his temples.

It was all in his head. Just leftovers of Vox. He wasn’t here. Not anymore.

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Valentino sits at Vox's bedside. An unconscious person and somebody left alone with their thoughts was not a fun time.

Somebody like Vox, who was always pacing or fidgeting, shouldn’t be this still, ever. Even in normal sleep, he’s tossing and turning, shifting, talking in his sleep...

It's just wrong, and sets Valentino on edge. The only noise he can hear is the machine monitoring Vox's heart beeping somewhat steadily and Vox's stuttering breath. It's driving him insane. Well, more than he already was.
Valentino isn’t sure if Vox can feel his touch or even hear him, but pressing a kiss to Vox's limp hand does bring him some comfort.
Vox can’t be taken from him this easy. Vox has always been so goddamn stubborn, he would not go out unless it was on his own terms.

Valentino sighs heavily, settling Vox's hand back to his side, just wishing Vox’s stupid screen would light up again and Vox would give him that shit eating showman smirk again.
But that was just wishful thinking. Even if Vox was still aljve, he was far from waking up, and even if he did, Valentink was sure he’d been out of it. Angelic infection does a number on you if you manage to survive the wound itself.

But alas, he wasnt going to see his televison’s annoying smirk for a good while, so he takes ahold of Vox’s hand again, kissing it, and squeezing it, humming a melody he’s long forgotten the words to.

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Velvette sighs exasperatedly, massaging her temples. She never thought there'd be a time where she got tired or even irritated with social media and the upkeep of being an influencer, but here she was. She supposes there's a first time for everything.

She's being running Vox's social media profiles, pretending to be him, to keep up the facade of everything being just fine, as if Vox wasn't comatose in the room next to her. Velvette didn't really want to leave Valentino with him- if something went wrong, such as Vox's temperature spiking or his heart rate dropping, he would have no idea what to do- but she needed a break.

She really was the backbone of the Vee's at this point, Vox literally unconscious, fighting death, and Valentino closed off, having no idea how to run a business anyway.

She shuts her phone off, making sure it was fully locked, before placing it facedown. Her breath hitches- she has no idea what to do with Vox like this, and she honestly misses him.

Velvette takes a deep breath in, letting the breath out in a sigh. She wipes her tears away, before standing up, brushing off her outfit, as if it could've been mussed after only sitting down for a few moments.

She quickly fixes her hair, adjusting any stray strands, never one to let anyone see her a mess, even if the only ones who likely would be seeing her today were Val and possibly a couple employees.

Velvette makes her way down the hallway, heels clicking softly against the floor, until she makes it to the room they have Vox in.

She pushes the door open slowly, trying not to startle anybody in there- just Valentino, really. He'd been jumpy lately.

"Hey, V. Any changes?"

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It feels colder in the room, almost, Velvette thinks. Though wasn’t Vox’s room always rather chilly? She can’t remember exactly and it sets off this ache deep inside her.

When she got to Hell, she didn’t think she’d have to worry about grief anymore. Seeing Vox, one of her best friends, connected to so many monitors and wires, his heartbeat unusually sluggish… It brings a feeling she can’t define nor that she wants to dwell on for too long.

Valentino finally seems to notice her, exhausted eyes blinking owlishly at her for a moment.

“...Not much different from yesterday. Or the day before that,” Valentino murmurs, voice thick with exhaustion and…tears?

It almost physically hurts Velvette to think of Valentino crying. Like it’s something that doesn’t belong on his face. She’s used to him yelling, screaming, throwing this, not…

This.

She can’t say she blames him for not acting like himself. She certainly feels off with Vox missing in action, to a point where she’s getting very minimal work done.

Before, she felt a passion in her work. Her posts, her designs…
Now it just felt like a chore. A sense of normalcy. Something to keep the public happy, maybe.

Really, she was the one holding them together, the one keeping their reputation intact at this moment in time.

She’s not used to it. Vox is the one who calms down the crowds, Vox is the one who makes the public happy.

And now he’s laying on his bed, having been modified for the medical equipment, his hand limply in one of Valentino’s.

Velvette swallows hard. She will not cry right now, she has to stay strong for them…

“C’mere, babydoll,” Valentino murmurs softly, gently resting Vox’s limp hand down as if he’s afraid to break him if he’s nothing short of gingerly with him. Valentino opens his arms out to Velvette.

She stands there for a moment- she doesn’t really know why, she’s always known Val to be affectionate- but after a little bit she returns the embrace.

Truthily, Velvette’s too tired to really cry, but a few tears spill from her eyes.

At least she’s got one of her Vees left.

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Alastor has managed to cope with the noises for now, though it is getting awfully bothersome. He’s strolling down the streets of Hell, planning on paying a visit to Rosie, when he quite literally stumbles into a shorter, eel-like sinner, clearly new, perhaps freshly dead.

Alastor isn’t sure of what he thinks about the sinner yet- they look pitifully modern, but he could overlook that.

Alastor’s grin widens, helping the eel sinner up.

“Well, wasn’t that quite a tumble you took, my friend!” Alastor says as a laugh track plays.

The sinner blinks up at him, dark blue eyes wide- they’re very interesting, light blue sclera with dark blue pupils and no visible iris.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, but it still isn’t very polite not to greet someone,” Alastor says.

“I-I, uhm. Sorry. Hi. My name’s Levi,” The eel sinner- Levi- says, eyes darting around.

“Alastor. Pleasure to meet you.” Alastor says.

Levi reminds him an awful lot of Alastor’s dreadfully darling picture box when he first died…Anixous, wild eyes, skittish…

“You look like a rat caught in a trap. Care to share whatever’s the matter?” Alastor asks, tilting his head a little.

“Sorry, uh..” Apologizing again. “I can’t be the only one who hears screaming, right?”

Alastor tries to hide the way his eyes widen. So it wasn’t just in his head like he hoped. Something was going on, and he wasn’t sure he was a fan of it.

Alastor’s brow furrows yet his grin doesn’t leave his face, simply straining. “...I think we need to talk privately, friend,”

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“...That’s a little ominous, don’t you think?” Levi murmurs as Alastor grabs onto his wrist and begins to pull him to an entirely opposite direction of where Alastor was originally headed.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, my dear,” Alastor says calmly, making Levi fluster.

“I- pretty - what?” Levi stammers.

Alastor laughs. “You’re rather fascinating when you're confused, did you know that?”

Levi’s face turns dark blue- a thing that surely would’ve been red instead if they were still human.

At this point, Levi just lets Alastor practically drag vaem to wherever they’re going- Levi can sense Alastor is a far more powerful demon, especially compared to himself, and he’s not exactly…keen on picking a fight with Alastor for reasons other than fear and caution.

Alastor hums a cheery tune as he pulls Levi along, although his for once racing thoughts are contrasting it. If Levi could hear it too, and it wasn’t just his imagination or a hallucination, what could this possibly mean is happening to Vox?

Sure, he’s supposed to be Vox’s arch nemesis- a rather dramatic title, if you ask Alastor- but if whatever is happening to Vox is torturing him to the point he is quite literally screaming over the frequencies, and Alastor doesn’t exactly appreciate people hurting what’s his.

Besides, Alastor considers the “nemesis” part one-sided…not that he’d let anyone know it, let alone tell Vox. He’d rather be double dead than do that!

Levi nearly trips on the stairs leading up to Alastor’s radio tower, Alastor sparing a quick glance to them. “I wouldn’t suggest taking another tumble today, my friend,” Alastor says, almost teasingly.

“I’m not exactly planning on it, thanks,” Levi says with a sarcastic grumble.

It isn’t very long before they make it to the top, where Alastor can talk with Levi safely, in private.

“So…you wanted to talk about the screaming, I guess? You seemed rather…jumpy? On edge, maybe, since I mentioned it.” Levi asks hesitantly.

Alastor sighs, his permanent grin straining a little. “I suppose it was wishful thinking for me to assume it was all in my head,”

“That implies we’re the only ones who can hear it,” Levi retorts.

“You’d be correct. Or maybe any demon connected to technology, no matter how proper or disgustingly modern has this ability. I can’t be sure yet,” Alastor says. “It’s new to me. I do know the voice screaming, but he hasn’t screamed over the frequency before this,”

It isn’t very obvious, but although Alastor isn’t very wise in the subject of new technology, he can tell Levi’s sinner form, while it does seem mostly eel like, also takes inspiration from a device he’s heard being called an MP3 player.

“You…know the voice?” Levi asks, squinting his eyes at Alastor.

“I can sense your skepticism. But I knew him. His name is Vox, he’s a foolishly modern TV demon who I’ve got a distaste for.” Alastor says, and half of it isn’t quite the truth.

Levi looks at him, hesitant to believe him.

But eventually, the shorter sinner sighs. “What have I got to lose, I guess. Let’s figure this out,”