Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Max and Maria Knowlastname were similar in so many ways.

They had the same birthday of course being twins, they liked the same cartoons, usually picked the same pizza toppings and even shared a bedroom.

However, some of the biggest differences between the 9 years old siblings were their interests.

Maria enjoyed fantasy books with fairy tale romances and epic battles. She loved to imagine being an author someday like her Uncle Stolas (she knew her uncle wrote romances, but her parents had told her that she could not read his books until she was much older). Though Maria had just as many friends as her brother, she tended to like to stay indoors and do activities that allowed her to be out of the spotlight like tech crew for their elementary school plays and recess book club (a club her favorite teacher had founded and that she enjoyed much more than playing with the other kids outdoors). Most of all, Maria was not interested in following in parent’s footsteps. While she respected her mother’s career as an assassin and

Max on the other hand was always wanting to be in the spotlight. He enjoyed everything from sports to starring in the school play. While Maria loved reading about epic battles, Max would often act them out for his friends and family. Max often found himself doing various dares at recess and usually being the one picked for team captains of different games they would play. Most all though Max loved the idea of being an assassin like his mom someday, but his father’s love of theater had also been inherited by him at an early age and the thought of being up on a stage was just as appealing.

While most of his talents had been exclusively seen by Imp City’s Elementary School Talent Show and Fall Play audience (not to mention private shows from his friends and family), Max longed for more and the weekend of his parent’s second honeymoon was when he had a plan to make it happen.

He just did not know it at first.

“I can’t believe Mom and Dad said I can’t join Uncle Fizz’s Performing Arts Classes.” Max said grumpily, throwing his duffel bag on the bottom bunk bed.

“I mean they did not say that exactly, Max.” Maria pointed out as she threw her suitcase onto the top bunk and climbed up the metal stairs to her bed. “They said Uncle Fizz’s summer classes were full, but maybe you can go in the fall.”

“Yeah.” Max grumbled in response as he flipped on the small TV their Uncle Blitz had in the corner. “But Jax and Hannah from the play at school are both doing cool stuff to help their careers. Jax is literally working at a theater this summer in the Greed Ring and Hannah is filming an actual commercial that is gonna be seen by like a billion demons all over Hell.”

Maria rolled her eyes as she began to unpack her special edition of the latest H.H. Darling novel. She was planning on reading it all weekend long while the mini M&M’s stayed at their Uncle Blitz and Uncle Stolas’ house while their parents were on vacation.

“Jax is sweeping the popcorn off the floor of the theater and Hannah is in her dad’s local car dealership commercial that only like 5 people will see.”

Maria was expecting her brother to reply with a snarky comment or even a scoff, but instead all she heard from below was the volume of the TV getting louder and louder.

“What are you-”

“Shhhh! Look.” said Max pointing to the TV screen.

Maria looked and saw it was a new camp for kids this Summer being run by the Sin of Greed himself, Mammon.

“For only $500 dollars a month! You can send your kids to my new camp where they will be exploi-I mean excited to learn all about clowning and the entertainment biz! You will learn tricks, performance techniques, and how to make me I mean you tons of fucking money. So come on down today. We are open enrollment all Summer long, but the first day officially starts on June 8th!”

As the commercial concluded, Max got up and excitedly looked at his sister.

“I have to go to that camp.” Max said.

Maria furrowed her eyebrows.

“I mean I didn’t know you were interested in clowning? Can’t you just ask Uncle Blitz to teach you some stuff or maybe Uncle Fizz could give you some kind of private lessons next time we see him? Then you don’t need to go do either of those things.”

Max began to rummage through his suitcase and pulled out a small bag.

“I mean performing is performing. I don’t need to be a clown, but I can use that stuff to get ahead. And Mammon is like a literal Sin. Think of what I could learn or who I could meet!”

“But where will you get that money?” Maria asked.

Max flashed the shiny silver credit card that Moxxie had given the twins before they’d left.

“No!” Maria exclaimed. “That is supposed to be for an emergency. Like if we got separated from Uncle Stolas and Uncle Blitz somewhere and needed to get a taxi back here or something. Not for some dumb camp. You don’t even know if you wanna be an actor anyway. I thought you were gonna work at IMP like Mom. Or did you switch back to being in show biz already? ”

Max narrowed his eyebrows at his sister.

“You don’t get it, Maria. There are so many demons out there that are ahead of me in terms of my career. What happens if I fall behind? What if I get discovered and can make a ton of Money I’ll pay mom and dad back and could even buy them a bigger house? And it could be sign for what I will be in the future if I get noticed by someone important.”

Max then smirked and got up from his bed to climb up the ladder to face his sister who had already opened up her novel.

“Think of all the H.H. Darling books you can buy.” Max said as he raised his eyebrows and grinned at his sister.

Maria looked up from her book and finally sighed.

“Okay. But how are you gonna sneak out every day to go to this camp thing?” Maria asked.

“Leave that to me dear sister.” Max said.

Maria just scoffed and went back to reading her book.

She loved her brother, but sometimes he could be a real butt head.

 

The next morning (before anyone else was awake), Max grabbed some snacks and water bottle and got ready to leave the Stolitz household.

He had looked up the bus schedule the night before online and knew that he could walk down the street to catch a bus to Greed if he hurried.

So after walking a bit, he finally found himself at the bus stop.

As the large red transportation unit arrived at Max’s feet, he turned to look behind him. In the distance, he could see a small hint of the red tiled roof of his uncles’ one story home.

He considered running back for a moment, crawling back into bed and discarding any evidence of his planned escapade.

The young boy though instead shook the doubt and worries out of his head, hopped on the bus, and watched out the window at the passing trucks and overall barren landscape of Wrath as he headed towards the Greed Ring and what he hoped would be his one way ticket to stardom.

 

“Maria! Max! Breakfast.” Stolas called from the kitchen as he flipped a pancake.

Blitz walked up behind his husband and wrapped his arms around the bird.

“So…should I call for take out or should we take the kids to a diner?” Blitz teased.

Stolas rolled his eyes and laughed at Blitz’s joke, not taking it to heart and instead choosing to argue back lightly

“Come on now. I think my cooking has improved a bit in the last 9 years. Wouldn’t you say?” Stolas said, placing the final cooked pancake onto a plate of an already overflowing stack of pancakes.

Maria slowly walked in holding her book nervously.

“Hey Ria. Where is your brother? We have some pancakes that I’m sure are very appetizing.” Blitz said with a wink to her niece as Stolas playfully threw a dish rag at him.

“Ughhh…around…” Maria said as she quickly grabbed the plate of pancakes her Uncle Stolas had made her and began shoving them in her mouth.

Stolas did not pay any attention to this sudden change in his nieces’ demeanor or voice, but Blitz knew his satan child and he knew something about having a twin sibling.

Something was up and he was determined to get to the bottom of it immediately.

Blitz walked back to check on his nephew’s bunk, but when he arrived he found Max’s bed empty, his backpack gone, and a bunch of pillows stuffed over his comforter to make it look like he was sleeping (the oldest trick in the book that he had definitely tried as a kid along with Barbie and Fizz when they’d snuck out).

Blitz walked back into the kitchen hastily and looked at his niece with crossed arms.

“Maria?”

“Yes, Uncle Blitz.”

“Where is your brother?”

Maria did not answer and instead took another large bite of her pancakes.

Blitz just sat in silence and continued to wait for an answer.

He knew Maria would eventually finish her food and tell him the truth.

So he waited patiently until his niece was ready to tell him.

She couldn’t eat those two pancakes on her plate forever.

 

Meanwhile, Max had found himself surrounded by a bunch of other kids who were just as excited about the possibility of stardom as he was.

Suddenly Mammon appeared on stage and the cheers from the children got louder.

“Hey Kiddies! Are you ready for the greatest time of your lives!” the sin of Greed said.

All of the kids continued to cheer joyfully.

“Now first things first is any parents should be far away from here, we can’t explo- I mean have any fun with grown ups, can we now? So say bye to your parents' kids or you can leave with them and never know the possibility of fame you’re leaving behind.”

Max looked over and saw a few parents begin to take their kids away and some happily leave their kids.

Max began to look hesitant.

Sure, he’d come here without any grown ups, but the fact that someone he did not know was telling him his parents or any adult would not have been allowed to be around no matter what was making Max a little uneasy.

He decided to brush that off though and focus on what Mammon was saying.

“Now some of you kiddies are gonna need to work hard every day for this. And I can tell the ones who are gonna be willing to put in the effort. Not you hefty ones.”

Mammon pointed out a young boy who was only a few feet away from Max.

“This kid…well I’m sorry, but you may as well give up now.”

The little boy looked heartbroken as he rushed out of the event venue crying.

Max looked taken aback.

He’d never seen a grown up say something like that to a child before. Sure he’d heard people teasing one another on the playground or randomly on TV, but he knew it was wrong.

And how did Mammon know how talented that kid was by their weight?

They could have been hilarious for all he knew.

Max was getting even more of a nervous feeling as Mammon went on another spiel about what it would take to make it in this business.

Max remembered a story his parents had read to him a while back. It was about a little Imp girl who had a voice in the back of her head telling her that something was wrong when she was riding her bike. Instead of listening to all the warning signs though and the thoughts in the back of her brain telling her to turn back, she did not and ended up peddling off a cliff.

Max’s dad had a very different interpretation of the ending than his mother.

Moxxie told his son that the girl had only suffered a broken bone and would make a full recovery.

Millie on the other hand will tell her son that the child had violently perished while flying off the cliff.

Neither parent had any malice in terms of why their stories were the way they were. It was just how they were raised.

Moxxie said that his interpretation of the ending was based on what his mother would say when she read the book after bed.

Millie’s mom had read her the same book and had told her that the ending was even more of a cautionary tale most likely due to the dangers that could be had in the Wrath ring.

However, while both parents’ differed in terms of what they believed happened to the girl at the very end of the story there was one lesson that both Millie and Moxxie made sure to instill upon their children whenever they read that book.

If you feel in your gut something is not right, then get away from the situation as fast as you can if possible as it is better to be safe than sorry.

Max though, did not want to listen to the voice…at least not yet.

“That is probably the worst of it anyway. Soon we are gonna have fun and play games and then I’ll get discovered then this will be all worth it. I’m just being a worry wart.” Max thought to himself as Mammon closed his opening statement and announced that they would be starting a new activity in a few minutes.

Yeah…everything would be fine.

 

“Maria. Please tell me where your brother is?” Blitz said.

Maria shook her head frantically.

“Maria. Why won’t you tell us where Max is? We are very worried about his well being.” Stolas said bending down to be eye level with Maria.

Maria just continued to shake her head no.

She was a little worried about Max to be honest, but she did not want to betray her brother’s trust.

“Okay! That’s it, young lady.” Blitz said, snatching Maria’s book off the counter and taking out his lighter and putting the book above the open flame. “If you don’t tell me where your brother is immediately.”

“Blitz!” Stolas shrieked. “What are you thinking?”

Blitz winked at Stolas and whispered. “Don’t worry. I’m being bad cop and you be good cop.I’m not actually going to-”

Suddenly the book slipped from Blitz’s hand and caught fire from his lighter.

“Opps.” Blitz said as his eyes widened as he began to step on the flames to put them out. Though by now the book that Maria had been wanting to read all weekend was now just a pile of burnt pages and ash.

“UNCLE BLITZ!” Maria screamed.

“BLITZ!” Stolas yelled equally horrified and angry.

Blitz sheepishly grinned at his niece.

“So…that wasn’t like an expensive copy was it?”

Maria just looked at him with more anger than he’d even seen in his niece.

Yup…he was in trouble.

 

Everything was not fine.

The kids were being passed around a script that they had to read in front of a camera that Mammon was lounging behind on an oversized director’s chair.

As Max read the script, he suddenly became more and more nervous.

Max wasn’t a naive kid.

He knew a little about sex and stuff adults used or at least as much as he could decipher the older kids talking about it at recess or on the back of the bus.

His parents never shied away with talking about love and had told him if he ever had any questions about how babies were made or anything involving that then they’d be happy to answer any questions he or his sister had.

But this script he knew was definitely not something he should be saying or was appropriate for any kids here.

And now they were gonna be on video talking about this stuff.

Regardless of how this story ended, he knew one thing.

He would not be the little girl on the bike falling off the cliff.

He had to get out.

So Max rushed out of the building and onto the streets without Mammon or anyone else even giving him a passing glance.

He ran and ran for several blocks until he knew he was far enough away from the chaos that was Mammon’s “circus” camp.

The only problem now was he was all alone and had no clue how to even get back to the bus stop.

Even so, the next bus back to Wrath wouldn’t be arriving for hours anyway.

He was alone and scared.

He missed his Uncles.

He missed his sister.

He missed his parents.

It was at that moment, Max sat down on a bench under the foggy sky of Greed and began to cry.

 

“Okay, now that I ordered you a new copy of that book that apparently we can go pick up from the bookstore in a few hours.”

“And pre-ordered the sequels.” Maria chimed in with her arms folded and her body turned away in anger.

She knew it had been an accident, but she was still furious with her Uncle Blitz and rightfully so.

“Yes.” Blitz said with a sigh. “And preordered the sequels and made sure the editions of the books were the exact ones you wanted.”

Blitz looked at Stolas while mentioning that last part.

Currently he was not sure who was more mad at him for his accidental destruction of the literary text, his niece or his husband.

“Again, I am very sorry Maria. That was an accident and it will not happen again.” Blitz said, bending down at eye level with Maria. “But please tell me where you brother is.”

Before Maria could say no again, the front door opened and someone walked in.

“Hello!” called a voice.

“Barbie?” Blitz asked curiously. “What are you doing here?”

“You were supposed to take me, your husband and my niece and nephew out to lunch, remember?”

Blitz eyed the clock.

It was lunchtime already.

Time had flown by and they still did not have any answers to where Max was.

Blitz suddenly nudged for his sister to talk with him away from Maria.

She obliged and soon learned of what was going on.

After slapping her brother for both losing her nephew and accidentally burning Maria’s book, Barbie sighed.

“How did you ever survive without me?” Barbie mumbled to her brother as she walked over to where Maria was.

Barbie pulled up a chair and sat next to her niece.

“Hey Kiddo. Why won’t you tell us where your brother is?”

“I can’t. I promised myself I wouldn’t. I keep my promises.” Maria said quietly to her Aunt.

Barbie nodded.

“I get that. When you have siblings that you love you do what you can to make sure you don’t hurt them or their trust. Especially twins.”

Barbie looked back at Blitz when she said the stuff about twins.

He gave her a small nod.

Barbie looked back at Maria then.

“But sometimes there are situations where you need to tell an adult important information. Something like this…well sweetie your brother could be in trouble or hurt. We need to make sure he is safe. I am sure that he will forgive you for telling.”

Maria turned to face Barbie Wire and confessed to everyone that Max had run off to Mammon’s new camp in Greed.

Blitz grabbed his cell and began shooting off a text.

“Who are you texting?” Stolas asked, trying to peek over to see his husband’s phone.

“Someone who I know can help.” Blitz said as he sent off the message and got a message back in response seconds later.

He just hoped that this person could help and that Max was ok.

He’d never forgive himself if something happened to his nephew.

 

“Max!” a voice called to him.

Max had been sitting for about half an hour or so on that bench crying with his head in his hands.

He finally looked up warrily to his name being called.

At first he was going to ignore the figure calling to him as he figured he was a stranger that could possibly kidnap him for ransom (this was the Greed ring after all).

But Max suddenly got up and rushed to the demon when he saw who it was as they inched closer and closer to the bench.

“Uncle Fizz!” Max said, embracing his uncle.

Fizz hugged the young boy back and then led him to sit beside him on the bench.

“Are you hurt?” Fizz asked the boy looking him over for any sign of harm.

Max shook his head.

“No, but I feel really stupid.”

“You aren’t stupid Max.” Fizz said with a shake of his head. “I was like you once being enthralled by Mammon.”

“Really?” Max asked, wiping away a few more tears.

“Yup. You see me and your Uncle Blitz once went to one of Mammon’s shows and that was the night I decided I was going to work hard to be in those pageants too. So Blitz helped me with my act and soon I was Mamon’s ‘brand baby’ as he put it.”

Max continued to listen to Fizz intensely.

“Soon though, I was in over my head and being made to do stuff I didn’t feel comfortable with. That’s why I made my school in the first place. So kids would have other options then to go to Mammon. I thought Oz and Via had gotten the pageant’s shut down, but I guess he just is doing this instead now.”

“Yeah…there was some stuff that made me feel kind of uncomfortable.”

“You can tell me about it if you want to?” Fizz said.

So Max began to tell him about all the stuff he saw Mammon do from kicking the parents out to the fat shaming to the scripts that they were supposed to read that felt way too mature.

Fizz got more and more frustrated as he heard Max talk about what had gone on during that camp orientation.

Fizz quickly texted Ozzie to ask him if he could go down and see about getting Mammon’s camp closed.

Then he looked at Fizz.

“I heard from your parents that you wanted to go to my classes.”

Max nodded.

“Yeah, but you are full they said.”

Fizz nodded along.

“Yeah. I am sorry kid. I just don’t have enough time and staff right now. But come Fall, I am sure we can make a spot for you if you want. And maybe this Summer if your parents say it is okay, I can give you and your sister if she wants some mini demo versions of the lessons for free.”

“Really?” Max said, shooting up from the bench with a smile.

“Only if you let me take you home now and apologize to your family for what you put them through. And you never do something like that ever again.”

Max promised and soon Fizz was taking him back to Blitz’s home.

On the bus, Fizz smiled as he looked down at his phone to see that Ozzie and Octavia were on their way to get Mammon’s clown camp or child exploitation camp…shut down.

Fizz was sad for all the kids that were currently at that camp and hoped that his husband and the newest Ars Goetia could help put an end to it.

But he was also happy that he’d been able to help find and bring Max home.

At least today, thing would hopefully have a happy ending.

 

“So how much trouble are you in?” Maria said from her bunk reading her newly acquired special edition copy of the book Uncle Blitz had accidentally destroyed earlier.

Max groaned as he fell onto the bottom bunk.

He’d just gotten off the phone after a very long talk with his very angry parents.

“Well Mom and Dad said I can’t do basically anything fun for the rest of the week and I have to do chores here and when I get home to help pay back for the money I stole.”

“Seems fitting.” Maria said with a smirk.

Moments of silence passed between the two siblings…then Max spoke up.

“Hey Maria.” Max said.

“Yes, Max?” Maria said with a bit of worry in her voice.

After Max had been brought home, apologized to his Uncles and sister, and Uncle Blitz had taken all of them (including Barbie and Fizz as a thank you) out to lunch, he had not gotten much of a chance to talk to Maria one on one.

While he had sincerely apologized earlier, she was a bit worried it was all for show and that he was still secretly mad at her.

“Thanks for looking out for me.” Max said.

Maria gave a small sigh of relief.

“I’ll always look out for you Max…you're my twin.”

“And you’re mine, Maria.”

Then, Maria placed a bookmark in her book, Max shut off the bedroom lights and the two siblings fell peacefully asleep.

Chapter Text

For as long as Maria could remember, some of her favorite things in life were reading books.
She loved all types of tales, from novels about the history of Hell and weaponry to books about topics like music and art.

Maria’s favorite though were books written by her favorite author H.H. Darling.

H.H. Darling penned Maria’s favorite books called Gilly Buckley. Gilly was the same age as Maria and was an imp like her who could do magic. One day she was sent to a magic school where she got to learn spells and potions and fight evil. She even had a cute romance with a cute boy at the school which Maria loved as Maria loved romance stories as well (though she wasn’t allowed to read Uncle Stolas’ romance books until she was much older according to her parents).

So when Maria saw that H.H. Darling was going to be at a book convention in Pride next week, she begged her parents to take her.

“I will keep my side of the room clean and help set the table and not fight with Max…well try not to fight with Max for as long as I live if you please take me. Pleasssseee.” Maria begged that night at dinner while they sat around the table and ate spaghetti.

Millie looked at her husband disappointingly as they contemplated the date that Maria had just told her.

“I’m sorry, honey. But your Aunt Loona has me booked doing a weekend mission for some extra cash and your father has to take your brother to play practice.”

“I’m playing Fiyero in our school’s version of Wicked.” Max reminded her as he chewed with his mouth full of spaghetti.

Maria rolled her eyes.

It was all that her brother had been talking about for weeks.
She was proud of her sibling and her parents were too (especially her father as she had heard them spend so many nights practicing together and helping his son with nailing his performance).

But she was tired of her brother getting special treatment lately with his school musical casting. This was important to her and she wished that her parents had the time.

She knew that they were not doing it on purpose, but that did not make it hurt less.

Maria was about to admit defeat when she remembered something.

“Wait! Could Aunt Sallie May take me? She and Aunt Barbie’s place is right near where they are having the convention.”

Millie and Moxxie looked at one another, contemplated what their daughter had just said and then nodded.

“You’ll have to ask her, but if she says it is okay then we don’t see why not.”

Maria rushed up from the table and hugged her parents, thanking them for allowing her the opportunity to go.

As soon as she finished her food, Maria quickly texted her Aunt who replied that she’d be happy to take her niece to the event.

Maria flopped on top of her bed and turned to look at her overflowing bookshelf that sat neatly in the corner of her half of the bedroom she shared with Max.

As she could hear her brother singing Dancing Through Life from their living room, she smiled to herself.

She was going to meet H.H. Darling, the woman who’d written some of Maria’s favorite stories and inspired Maria’s dream of being an author someday too.

She just had to wait one more week.

 

The week ended up going by faster than she’d expected and by Saturday morning, Maria was standing with her aunt in line to get into the panel.

“And then Gilly finds this magical frog and he helps her to get the spell she needs to defeat the bad guy, but you don’t find out the bad guy’s identity till book 3 and it’s really shocking.”

“Well maybe I’ll have to pick up one of these books. Though I tend to like listening to audio versions on my commute.” Sallie May said.

Maria nodded excitedly.

She would love for her Aunt to read the books.

Her brother was not interested in reading and while her parents enjoyed the occasional novel now and again, they both just did not seem to have the time or interest in the books the same way she did.

Her mom had friends who were romance authors, but they were not big on reading children’s books like her and while her Uncle Stolas loved to read he tended to write and read novels that were more adult romances rather than what she read.

The only other person she knew outside of some kids her age at school who had read the books was Octavia, Stolas & Blitz’s daughter. Though Octavia was so busy with her Ars Goetia duties that she had not gotten much of a chance to talk to her lately about the books, especially the latest one.

So having another person with her similar interests would be fun.

Before Maria could continue though, the line began to move and her and her Aunt were being led to their seats.

As soon as H.H. Darling walked across the stage, Maria could not help but let out a scream along with the other attendees.

H.H. Darling had long black hair and wore a velvet purple gown as she watched the crowd of readers before her.

“Hello my wonderful readers. I’d like to begin with a reading from my latest book: Gilly Buckley and The Seven Secret Keys.”

Maria hung on to every word of the reading as she thought about the scene in the book that H.H. was reading.

It was about Gilly feeling lonely at her home when she was on summer break. Gilly had 12 siblings and she felt lost in the shuffle a lot, but she knew that she’d get to go back to magic school soon and all of the week was over.

Maria could relate.

She loved her brother and her parents, but sometimes she felt a little forgotten.

She did not think her family did this on to her on purpose, but especially since her brother had been cast in their school’s musical as the lead it felt like dinnertime lately was reserved for play discussions and family time had now been taken over by Max’s rehearsals.

Maria knew this was a big deal. Her brother was a fourth grader and was getting a role that was usually reserved for fifth graders.

It was also his first big starring role; he'd been in other productions and had speaking roles before. It was nothing like this though and she knew her brother was excited.

But Maria deserved some attention and excitement too.

And maybe Maria did not have magic powers or could fly like Gilly, but she could relate to feeling lost in a family even if her family was nowhere near as big as Gilly’s (at least those she lived with).

Finally, it was Q&A time and Maria was next up in line ready with her question.

She’d heard some rumors about their being a queer character in the next novel and Maria was determined to learn more.

She wondered if the character would be queer in regards to their sexuality or their gender identity or maybe even both.

Maria was excited to try to find out more.

So when she got up to the microphone, Maria took a deep breath and began to speak.

“H! My name is Maria and my question is, are the rumors true that the next book will have a queer character and if so, if you could tell us a little more about that character?”

H.H. Darling raised her eyebrows at Maria and gave a questionable smirk to the young Imp.

“Well…I am not aware where you heard this information, but the fact of the matter is that isn’t true and probably won’t be true. I feel that there are too many stories pandering to the LGBT community nowadays and we don’t need those as much as people think. Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I feel that stories like that are not just unnecessary but they can put ideas in young people’s heads that don’t fully know what they want. I’m not against gay marriage or anything like that, but do we really need ‘queer rep’ as much as people think we do? I’d urge you to consider this thought, but I hope despite the fact that my next book may not have the representation you’re questioning about…that you will still wish to read the book. I will tell you that there is a scene between a certain male hellhound and female succubus that I think many of my Rumi shippers will enjoy.”

Maria was frozen in shock and wasn’t sure what to say.

Before she could speak though she was being led out of line and another reader was up to the microphone asking a question about Gilly’s magic.

Maria was stricken though.

Heartbroken.

H.H. Darling was her idol.

She gave her books that made her feel and relate to characters in ways she’d never had before.

So how could someone who she’d looked up to so much and created worlds and characters she’d love…turned out to be such a bigoted terrible person?

Maria’s sadness turned to shame as she met up with her Aunt Sallie May who was standing in the back of the line.

She could not look her Aunt in the eye due to the guilt, but did gather the energy to nod when Sallie asked her if she wanted to get a sandwich at the cafe area of the convention center.

 

About 20 minutes later, Maria picked silently at her burger while Sallie May chomped into her hot dog.

“I’m sorry about what happened at the panel, kiddo.” Sallie said, offering her comfort.

Maria shook her head.

“I’m sorry that I recommended those books to you. I’m gonna donate mine when I get home. I hate her and I hate how I related to Gilly. With all her siblings and all that.” Maria said quickly, wiping tears from her eyes.

“What do you mean about Gilly with her siblings? I thought you mentioned the character has a ton of brothers and sisters.” Sallie asked, reaching out to touch her niece’s hand.

Maria took a deep breath before she started to explain to her aunt about how she’d been feeling lately.

“I guess I have been feeling down lately cause the attention is all on Max and his play and stuff. I’m trying to be a good sister and supportive and all that, but…I just feel left out and these books helped me to relate and now I feel guilty and…I’m sorry Aunt Sal, I did not mean to make you feel bad or anything like that. And I know that what she said was horrible and ughh I just hate this all so much.”

Sallie May sighed and looked at her niece.

She’d unfortunately had experience in both feeling left out of the family (all of her siblings had felt a little lost in the crowd at least one time or another as it was common in big families like hers) and being disappointed by someone she thought she’d admired turning out to be a bigoted and awful person (she’d recently stopped watching one of her favorite TV shows when it was revealed that the funds made from the show were being donated to ANTI LGBTQ+ organizations).

So while their experiences were not 1000% the same, she still could understand her niece's frustrations especially regarding the disappointment in the author.

“Hon, I know what it’s like to feel lost in the shuffle of a big family. But the best part of being in a big family is when you have a family like ours, you have more people to love you. I know that your parents and brother and uncles and every person in your life loves you and thinks you are just as special as your brother. I know I do.”

Maria looked at her Aunt with a tiny smile.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes. I will always love you. No matter what. And so do all your friends and family. You are fun, smart, creative and I know one day you’re gonna be here selling books like any of the writers here. And I will be first in line to get a autographed copy.”
“Really?” Maria asked again.

Sallie May nodded.

“Of course.” she continued. “Maybe tonight you could find some time to talk to your family about how you’re feeling? I can help you if you need it.” .

Maria shook her head no, but got up to hug her aunt.

“Thanks, but I think I can do that all on my own. But thanks for taking me today and for listening. I am sorry today just turned out to be a bust.”

Sallie May hugged her niece back and looked at time on her phone.

“Well we still have a few hours left of the convention. Maybe we could go check out some other authors and vendors. Maybe we’ll even find a new book we could both read together.”

Maria was a little hesitant at first, but decided to go along with her aunt to the vendor area upstairs.

As the two walked through the aisles of various tables and authors promoting their novels, Maria smiled as she began to see a diverse array of writers of all different species, sexualities, gender identities and of course book genres.

Maria and Sallie May stopped at a children’s chapter book author’s stand and saw that the author had a trans flag along with an array of other pride flags on their table as well as a They/Them pin.

“Hi, do you like books about ghosts? Because my new book series Ghost Tracker Kids might be of interest to you. ”

Maria was not sure, but as soon as the author (who they soon learned was named Felix Humphrey) started to explain their books Maria was hooked.

Both Maria and Sallie May got a copy (“Maybe I will try to read it on the bus ride to I.M.P.” Sallie had remarked to her niece) and had their new purchases signed by Felix.

“Maybe today had not been so bad after all.” Maria thought to herself.

 

“And then the ghost team has to split up to search for this one kid’s family treasure. And there is a romance between two nonbinary characters named AJ and Rose and there is all this cool representation and a big mystery and a little magic and it's just soo good, Max.” Maria said as she began to place all her old H.H. Darling and Gilly Buckley in a donation box. Those items were not being replaced with books and merch she’d bought from the convention earlier that day including her signed copy of the first book in the Ghost Tracker Kids series.

“Sorry your other favorite author turned out to be a jerk, but this one sounds cool. Maybe I will actually read these books this time.”

“Really?” Maria asked surprised, but then her expression turned to one of annoyance as she saw her brother’s mischievous grin appear on his face that told her he’d probably just wait till a movie or TV show adaptation came out instead.

The twins heard their parents calling for them to come to dinner and the two got up from the spots they’d been seated at to race down for pizza and pasta night.

“Wait Max…can I tell you something?” Maria stopped her brother before he could get to the door.

Max turned to his sister and shrugged.

“Sure. What’s up?” he asked.

Maria took a giant breath and then began to say what she’d been practicing saying the whole bus ride home from the convention earlier that day.

“I’m really proud of you and the stuff you’re doing with the play. But I kind of miss us all doing stuff as a family and sort of feel left out sometimes. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, but I just have been feeling a little left out lately.”

Max looked at his twin with shock and surprise.

“Oh…I’m sorry Maria. I did not know. Thanks for saying something. I guess I was kind of blinded by this whole Fiyero thing. It’s just a big deal and I am really excited.”

“I know!” Maria said, lifting her hands up. “And you should be proud and happy. I am happy for you. But I just wanted to be honest.”

“Well thanks..for being honest.” Max said playfully, punching his sister’s arm.

Maria laughed and playfully hit him back.

Before the twins could continue their conversation Millie called for the kids again and the two raced down to the kitchen.

 

“So I was thinking we could see you practice As Long As Your Mine after dinner, Max. I don’t think I’ve heard you sing that much yet and it’s one of the best songs in the show in my opinion” Moxxie commented as he placed pasta onto his plate.

“You said that about Defying Gravity and Popular and every other song in the show, Mox.” Millie teased as she grabbed another piece of pizza.

“Actually, do you think we could take a break from practicing tonight?” Max asked. “Could we play a game night instead? And I think Maria should pick the game tonight.”

Maria’s face lit up when her brother offered to let her choose.

“Really?” she whispered.

Max just gave his sister a small smile and nod.

“Can we play Mammon-o-poly?” Maria asked.

Soon the Knowlastname family found themselves in the living room comedically arguing over boardwalks and colorful toy dollars.

Maria looked at her family.

She really thought today was going to be the worst day of life when she saw the true colors of H.H. Darling, but it ended up being one of the best days she’d had in a long time.

Chapter Text

Millie rushed back into the party and practically tackled her husband into a hug.
The call with her sister had gone fine and Sallie May had told Millie what she both wanted and needed to hear.

That whatever decision Millie made, her sister would be there for her.

That even though Sallie May’s opinions of her brother-in-law were not very high, she did not think that Moxxie would react terribly to the news.

That Millie should go enjoy her Sinsmas and they could talk more later.

Enjoying her Sinsmas and trying to ignore the biggest secret she’d ever kept in her life from everyone (especially the man she loves and the person partially responsible for the subject of her biggest secret), was originally the plan.

That all changed though in a split second.

“Hey sweetie, How’d the call go?” Moxxie said as Millie embraced her spouse.

Millie was about to give a vague response regarding the phone call, when all of a sudden as she pulled her body back she slightly tripped on a small drink spill that must have been recent as the party had just begun.

Millie quickly stabilized herself before she could fall onto the ground too hard and luckily Moxxie had reached down to catch her the split second she had begun to fall.

However, time seemed to suddenly stop for both Millie and Moxxie’s as the couple’s eyes went wide with the realization of what her almost tumble had Millie drop from her pocket.

On the floor between the married couple’s feet, sat the positive pregnancy test.

Millie was frozen.

Moxxie was frozen.

M&M could barely hear it at the time, but Loona and her friends had stopped their discussion and were now staring at the couple in shock as well.

The Sinsmas party had taken quite a turn.

 

Blitz and Stolas were confused as they made their way back into the apartment to find Loona along with her two friends with their ears to the front door.

“Uhhh…what’s going on?” Blitz asked.

Loona turned back towards her father with a mischievous grin.

“Oh you’re never gonna believe this, Dad.”

Loona then proceeded to tell both Blitz and Stolas about the test.

Blitz’s eye widened more and more as Loona quickly filled the two in on what had occurred in the last few minutes and soon Blitz was pushing his face against the door along with Loona and her friends trying to hear what M&M were saying.

“Don’t you all think this is a bit…unproductive?” Stolas said, trying to find the right words.

While he did not want to spoil the evening, he did feel that this was a sensitive matter for the married couple in question and one that should involve eavesdropping from the fellow party goers.

“Yeah, Stolas is right, you guys.” Blitz said, taking his head away from the door.

“Thank you B-”

“There’s a vent in Loona’s bedroom where we can hear even better.” Blitz said as he raced to his daughter’s room along with the rest of the group except for Stolas who was sighing and placing his head in his hands.

That was not what he meant.

As Blitz, Loona, Russ and Gigi all huddled near the vent they could not make out much, but they could hear Moxxie trying his best to not freak out and failing as Millie seemed to just be crying.

Suddenly the group looked at one another uncomfortably.

This was not how anyone had expected their Sinsmas to go.

Stolas was looming behind the group and suddenly straightened his back.

He could not change the fact that he was poor now.

He could not bring back his magic.

He couldn’t even fix things with his daughter, at least not now.

However, this might be something that he could help with.

So without anyone noticing, Stolas began to slowly back out of the bedroom and over to the front door of the apartment.

 

Meanwhile, Moxxie was pacing back and forth while Millie was seated on the ground with her head rest against her knees.

“How…I mean I know how, but…oh crumbs. What are we gonna do? I mean do we even have the finances for this? What about schooling and our work and doctor’s visits and-” Moxxie rambled.

“I know, Mox. Trust me! All of these thoughts are racing into my head too.” Millie said through tears.

Moxxie all of a sudden stopped as her turned to see his teary-eyed wife on the floor of the apartment hallway.

“Oh Millie,” Moxxie said, crouching down to sit next to Millie as he began to hold her in his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m freaking out and I should be comforting you. What do you want to do? I will support you in any way you need.”

Millie placed her head against her husband’s shoulder and sighed.

“That’s just it, Mox…I don’t know what to do.”

There was an uncomfortable silence between the couple as they contemplated this.

Moxxie was about to say something when the door to Blitz’s apartment opened and Stolas walked out.

“Millie, Moxxie…” Stolas said with a nod.

“Your High…Stolas. Can we help you with something?” Moxxie asked confused as to why the former royal was standing in front of them.

“I was actually hoping that I could help you.” Stolas eyed the small vent on the ground to his right and held up a finger to the confused couple. “Though please give me a moment.”

Stolas then bent down next to the vent and squawked into the duct until he heard the group of eavesdroppers yelp as they complained about the noise.

Stolas quietly chuckled to himself before turning back towards M&M.

He then got down at their level and gave a small smile to the couple.

“I apologize for the interruption, but I thought I might be able to offer you some advice as I do know what it is like to have a child when you’re not sure if you’re ready to have one.” Stolas said trying to carefully choose his words.

Millie began to shake her head.

“If this is gonna open up some wounds-”

Stolas quickly shook his head and held up a hand.

“No…No, honestly I think it might be helpful to talk about this with someone. If that could be helpful to you that is? I don’t want to be overstepping or giving unsolicited advice where it is not welcome.”

Millie and Moxxie looked at each other and gave a small smile as the duo held each other’s hands and looked back at Stolas.

“What did you have in mind?” Millie asked, confirming that the two potential parents were open to listening to what Stolas had to say.

The owl cleared his throat and meticulously thought about how he wanted to word what he was about to say.

Then he had it.

“Growing up, I was told from a young age that I was to be married to Stella and bring forth an heir to the Goetia family. I was a terrified young father who was already in an unhappy and frankly unhealthy arranged marriage. But when I saw her egg…I don’t know it felt like everything was right. As if the planets had aligned and she was the best thing I could ask for. And she was…is the very best.”

Stolas coughed and wiped a small tear from his eyes.

He hadn’t thought it would be this hard…talking about Octavia.
He’d already talked to Blitz earlier about his daughter, so he felt he’d be okay talking to Millie and Moxxie about what it’s like to have be a parent himself.

Though even as hard as it was, he wasn’t going to stop now.

Stolas took a deep breath and continued his speech.

“There are so many great things about being a parent. You get to play with your child, teach them things, watch them grow up into someone even more amazing than you could have possibly hoped.” Stolas said with a nostalgic grin.

Millie and Moxxie gave small smiles to one another while Millie squeezed her husband's hand tight.

“But…there are things that make being a parent tough. From the sleepless nights to the constant worrying about your child’s safety to…making mistakes you may not get to take back.” Stolas said with a tiny sigh. “When you become a parent, your baby becomes a part of you…a part of your soul. Something that not everyone can or should handle whether it be due to timing, finances or desires to have that sort of a life. I assume you both already know this of course, but I can’t help but emphasize that it really is up to you both to figure out what you really want.”

The couple nodded.

Moxxie looked over at Millie and held both of his wife’s hands in his as he spoke to her.

“I know I was freaking out a little before and I know there is a lot of stuff to figure out, good or bad. But I just need you to know whatever you want to do regarding this pregnancy…I am here for you. If you want to keep the baby or not, I will always be by your side.”

Millie hugged her husband gently.

“Thank you Mox. I think we should maybe just go home and talk about this. Figure out what’s the best course of action and go from there.”

“Perfect.” Moxxie said as he helped Millie up.

The couple walked back into the apartment to gather their belongings.

“I hope I was able to help somewhat.” Stolas said “And I hope everything works out for the best with you both.”

Millie and Moxxie nodded.

“Thanks Stolas.” Moxxie said.
“Yeah…you were pretty helpful tonight.” Millie said, giving him a friendly punch on the arm.

“No trouble at all. Happy to assist.” Stolas said rubbing his arm as Millie’s playful punch ended up packing a little more than he’d expected from the Wrathian woman.

“What about them?” Millie said pointing to the doorway of Loona’s room.

“Oh well…yes, that.” Stolas said as he grabbed a chair and pressed it under Loona’s door knob to act as a temporary door lock and barricade to the rest of the apartment.

“I think you both should hurry home. This will be a little lesson in eavesdropping for them.” Stolas said with a laugh.

M&M laughed as well and quickly scurried out of the apartment so they could go home and figure out if their family of two…would become a family of three.

From behind Loona’s door, Stolas could hear the cries of Blitz, Loona and Loona’s friends all asking to be let out.

“Stolas! Stolas, the door is locked. Can you come get us out?” Blitz called out.

“What the fuck, man!” Loona could be heard yelling.

Stolas even swore he heard Gigi and Russ argue that they did not even live there.

Stolas giggled a little to himself as he took out his phone and sat up against the door, slightly perched on the chair.

He’d let the part-goers out of Loona’s room in a few moments.

But in the meantime, Stolas crafted a quick text to Octavia. He let her know again that he was proud of her and he understood completely why she was upset and angry. Telling her she had every right to be, but did want a chance to explain someday. He finished the text by reminding Via where she could find him and that he would love to talk if she was ever ready to. He then finished the message with a Happy Sinsmas.

He was not sure if Octavia was accustomed with or even aware of the Sinsmas holiday.

However as messy as this holiday had been, Stolas did hope that someday he could spend this holiday not only with his fellow IMP employees, but with his daughter too.

Stolas’ first Sinsmas had not been what he was expecting.

But he hoped that it all would work out in the end.

He hoped Millie and Moxxie would figure out what the best thing to do for them regarding the pregnancy.

He hoped that Blitz and the rest of the party atendees wouldn’t be too mad once he’d had his fun and let them out of Loona’s bedroom.

He hoped that one day…someday Octavia might forgive him or at least reach out.

All Stolas had at the moment was hope.

And for now…for now that was all he could do.

Chapter Text

Orion held the ring in his hands and felt the cool metal between his fingers.

Tomorrow was his and Octavia’s 5 year anniversary and this was it.

He was going to ask Octavia to marry him.

Ever since they’d beaten Via’s uncle and had changed the way Hell worked for the better so many years ago, the two had been inseparable.

Dates included various concerts (at least 5 Fuck You Dad concerts to be exact), dinner dates (which involved both Goetic demons attempting to cook with a multitude of failures and the occasional success stories), boring political events (that they both dreaded but were happy to bond over their shared agony) movie nights (whatever was the scariest film that either of the two could pick was usually what they ended up watching) and so much more.

Even when they were together doing nothing, there was no place else that Orion would rather be.

So after several years of dating, Orion knew in his heart of hearts he was ready to take this next step with Octavia.

He’d thought she was ready too…that was until the interview later that day.

As part of Octavia’s efforts to be more open with her subjects, she would often do various television and radio appearances to share news she felt was important for the residents of Hell to be aware of and to offer answers to any questions that were thrown at her.

If Octavia was going to be the leader she wanted to be, then then could not hide inside her ivory tower.

Which led to an interview with Katie Kiljoy on Channel 666 News.

The interview started off normal.

Orion was standing off to the side behind the camera operator watching in awe as his girlfriend gave straightforward and honest answers regarding everything from her plans for infrastructure, anti-discrimination laws and even her next appearance in Wrath for the Harvest Moon Festival.

Orion felt the feathers on his body go straight up though when Katie allowed audience questions and someone asked Octavia about the Goetia and history of arranged marriages.

“One of my initial objectives when I began to come into my role as the Ars Goetia was to outlaw the archaic views of marriage of the past Goetia. Their views on marriage were barbaric and I am glad to say I’ve been doing my best to make a future where no one will be forced to marry anyone due to laws and traditions. I shiver at the thought of having to have gotten married under those circumstances and till my last breath I will do my part to make sure no one else suffers like I almost did.”

Orion suddenly felt like the floor had opened and swallowed him whole at the sound of his girlfriend's words.

It wasn’t that Orion was offended by Via comparing their original arranged marriage “agreement” to suffering or something barbaric.

They were much too young and both had disliked the idea of not only getting married then, but being forced to sire a biological heir no matter the circumstances on the account of them both being asexual and repulsed by the mere thought of having to have sex.

However, Octavia’s answer to the question brought along a new worry that the young man had not thought of before.

What if Octavia didn’t want to get married at all?

What if the proposal brought about bad memories for Octavia?

What if he was making assumptions about her desire for marriage and now those assumptions could cause the end of them?

The two had floated around the idea of marriage a little, but were those just hypothetical questions?
Would he be doing more harm than good in asking Octavia?

Was proposing to her offensive? Selfish? Harmful?

The last thing he wanted to do is make Octavia uncomfortable and the way she’d just talked about their past…well it made him worry for their future.

So Orion quickly snuck out of the studio and told Via that he had to run a last minute errand, but he’d be back in time for dinner.

He had to speak with someone he could trust to help.

He had to go to Via’s step sister, Loona.

 

It was a weekend so Loona was at the place she shared with her girlfriend, Cleo. Cleo was out getting some snacks for the pair's movie night.

“I need to talk with you, please!” Orion said, rushing into Loona’s apartment heading straight for the couch.

“Uhhh, hello to you too.” Loona said with a mixture of confusion and offense in her voice as she locked the door behind her surprise guest and headed over to sit next to the young goetic demon who currently had his head in his hands. “You wanna tell me what is going on?”

“Do you think Octavia would hate me if I proposed?” Orion said worried as he looked at his potential future sister-in-law with terrified eyes.

“Uhhh what?” Loona said shocked that this was the reason or at least part of the reason that Orion was in her apartment.

Orion held up the ring and began to explain to the hell hound the events that had occurred earlier that day from his plan to propose to tomorrow to the interview to present day.
Loona folded her arms and laughed.

“Dude are you fucking for real?” Loona asked with raised eyebrows.

“I…I don’t get what you mean?” Orion said confusingly.

Loona laughed again.

“Via loves you man. You and her are like it for each other. Is whether she and you get married really gonna change all that? I mean Cleo and I have decided we don’t really know if we wanna do the whole marriage and kids thing. We like our lives the way they are and feel happy with that. The same could go for you and Via.”

Orion nodded.

“I understand and if she didn’t wish to get married I would happily respect her wishes and would never bring up the subject again. But what if even bringing up the subject once causes us to break?”

“Well then I guess you two were not so sturdy in the first place?” Loona said with a sly smirk as she began to file her nails.

Orion stood up and placed his hands on his hips, staring down Loona with a look of insult and shock.

“How could you say such a thing, Loona? Or love is strong and Octavia is one of the best people I know. We care for each other with all our hearts and -”

Loona lifted her eyebrows at Orion and gave a small chuckle.

“I…I should probably be speaking to Octavia about this…shouldn’t I?” Orion said embarrassingly gathering his belongings.

Loona nodded.

The two said quick goodbyes as Orion shuffled out of the apartment and headed back to the palace.

Moments later, Cleo walked in with a bag of groceries.

“Hey, was that Orion I saw in the hallway? What was he doing here?” Cleo asked.

“Oh he just needed someone to talk to about something, but now I think he’s off to talk to who he really needs to speak to.” Loona replied as she helped her girlfriend get ready for their movie night.

 

“Octavia, can we talk?” Orion asked as he walked into the couple’s shared chambers.

Octavia was in bed reading a book, which she quickly placed onto her nightstand allowing her to give her full attention to her boyfriend.

“What’s up?”

Orion walked over to his girlfriend nervously as he fidgeted with the ring in his pocket.

It was now or never.

But first he had to ask Octavia something.

“Octavia…do you ever regret how we met? Like do you wish that we hadn’t been almost forced into an arranged marriage.” Orion asked her as sat beside her on the bed.

Via looked at her boyfriend with both concern and confusion.

“No, Orion. Of course not.”

Now it was Orion’s turn to look confused.

Octavia continued.

“Do I wish we could have met under different circumstances? Yes. However, that experience as maddening as it was is what led me to you and led me to help make decisions that would change my life and others lives for the better.”

Orion smiled for a moment, but then his face went stoic.

“Did it…do you think it harmed your views of marriage…entirely?”

Orion did a mental face palm.
He had not meant to be so direct.

However, Via reacted in an unexpected way.

She began to laugh.

Orion was now back to looking more confused than ever.

“You…You’re laughing?” Orion asked hesitantly.

Octavia smiled and reached over to hug her boyfriend.

“Orion…I am working hard to help make sure that other people in positions like mine are not forced into any type of relationships they do not consent to. Relationships they do not have a choice in. I have a choice when it comes to being with you now at this moment and if you are wondering my answer will be yes…every time.”

Orion’s eyebrows crinkled as the look of perplexity soon turned to horror as Octavia had quickly pick pocketed him and was now holding the ring.

Orion gasped as he tried to take the ring back from Octavia, but Via was already slipping it on her finger.

“You know I was gonna make a speech!” Orion said as he again tried to grab the ring.

“Oh you can still tell me what it is.” Via said getting up and skipping around the room. “I just wanna wear the ring while you do it.”

Orion eventually caught up with Octavia and began to swing her around in arms.

“You’re my choice too.” Orion said as they two shared a sweet kiss.

The rest of the night was spent calling and texting family and friends to tell them the good news as well as Orion actually getting to tell Via the speech he had planned.

While the day had not gone exactly as Orion had thought it would in the end that did not matter, because he was marrying someone who he would choose in every lifetime.

And best of all…she felt the exact same way.

Chapter Text

Millie sat with her husband next to her as she glanced at the timer on her cell phone.

“How…how much longer?” Moxxie asked hesitantly as he squeezed his wife’s hand.

“Uhhh, about 1 more minute.” Millie answered, squeezing her husband’s hand back.

Moxxie let out a deep breath and nodded.

He did not know how’d they’d let this happen and frankly neither did Millie.

Ever since unexpectedly getting pregnant with the twins, Millie and Moxxie had been extremely careful in the department of contraception and making sure that there were no more surprises in the near future.

The kids were just over a year old and neither had wanted to bring up their true feelings about the size of their family.

But one night of drinking during date night when the kids had been staying with Millie’s parents and a forgotten birth control pill, had led them to this very moment in the couple’s bathroom a few weeks later.

The kids were sound asleep and she hoped that whatever reaction that she and her husband had to the news they’d be getting would not wake either of her children up.

Worst of all though…she was not sure exactly what she wanted the results to be.

Did they want another baby?

Was this something that they could afford at the moment?

Was it something they could afford ever?

Was it something they wanted ever again?

These questions stormed both Millie and Moxxie’s heads as they looked nervously at one another.

Moxxie squeezed his wife’s hand again which caused her to look up at her spouse with a nervous and curious expression.

“Hey…just like last time.” Moxxie said. “Whatever happens. Whatever you want to do. I am here for you.”

Millie responded to her husband’s sweet and courteous sentiment with a kiss that was quickly interrupted by the timer going off.

This was it.

Now or never.

The pair looked at each other one last time and gulped as Millie carefully turned the stick over.

NEGATIVE

“Oh…it’s negative.” Millie said with a voice that sounded…unsure.

“Oh…okay.” Moxxie said in a similar tone.

The couple sat in silence again with only the sounds of the nighttime nature of Summer in their neighborhood coming hazily through the cracked bathroom window.

Breaking the awkward silence and seasonal soundtrack of crickets chirping outside, Millie took a deep breath and admitted something she’d realized the moment the pregnancy test revealed its results.

“Mox…I…I don’t think I really want more kids. I am really happy with our family the way it is.”

Moxxie nodded and let out a sigh of relief.
“Yeah. To be honest Millie…I have to agree. Don’t get me wrong, if you wanted to have another baby I wouldn’t be opposed to it and I’d love that child of course. But I think that I like our family of four too and am kind of glad that the test was negative.”

Millie nodded.

“If you want, I could go get a vasectomy.” Moxxie offered.

Millie gave her husband a serious look of admiration, care and contemplation.

“Are you sure sweetie?” Millie asked. “I mean that is a medical procedure that would cause you to not be able to be on your feet for a bit.”

Moxxie shrugged.

“It’s fine. I am here with the kids most of the day anyway. And it would be an easier procedure than having you get your tubes tied, right? And this way you did not have to miss work and deal with the recovery.”

Millie nodded and hugged her husband close.

“Are you sure you are okay with this?” Millie asked.

Moxxie nodded as he embraced his wife.

“Of course.”

Before either of the two could say another word, the couple heard babbling from the baby monitor and got up to investigate.

Millie and Moxxie walked into their children’s room and rushed over to Maria who was quietly weeping in her crib.

“Aww honey.” Millie said. “Did you have a nightmare? Let Mama hold you for a bit.”

Moxxie watched calmly as his wife began to softly sing a lullaby to their daughter.

Moxxie continued to watch his wife as he looked down to survey his son who was soundly sleeping in the crib a few feet away.

As Moxxie listened to Millie’s gentle voice as she soothed Maria back to sleep, he knew that this was the right thing to do and didn’t feel any sense of regret or need for further contemplation.

Their family of four was perfect the way it was.

So tomorrow he’d call the doctor to set up an appointment.

Tonight though he just listened.

Chapter Text

Millie felt she was normally a good judge of character.

Sure, she’d had her fair share of bad boyfriends (i.e. Chaz) or people who ended up not being as friendly as she’d thought.

But for the most part, the people Millie ended up coming into contact with and bringing into her tight but loving community of those she considered friends and/or family had pretty much stayed with her and grown closer and closer since the day they’d met.

That was until she met Diana.

She was about 4 months pregnant at the time and was just beginning to show as she perused the aisles of “Hell’s Little Demons” baby store.

It was long past the days of early post Sinsmas where she had admitted her situation to Moxxie and they had ultimately decided to keep the baby. However, this was the first time she had really allowed herself to go out and enjoy the fact that she was going to be a Mom soon.

A Mom. Mommy. Mamma.

Those words felt so grown up to her, but at the same time they just felt right.

She was going to bring a new life into Hell alongside the love of her life.

Finding herself in the baby toy aisle, Millie picked up a small rubbery ball from the shelf and held it in her hands.

She was in the middle of imagining if this was the kind of toy that the new baby might want to play with when a voice interrupted Millie’s thoughts.

“Oh, you really do not want those!”

Millie turned around to see an imp of similar height standing behind her. They wore a dark blue smock like the other employees in the store seemed to, but similar to Millie they also had a small but visible baby bump.

“They want to get rid of those toys, but I’ve heard some rumors about parts of that item falling apart and becoming choking hazards. These are much better.” said the employee as they handed her a similar ball shaped item that was made from a different material.

Millie breathed a sigh of relief as she squinted at the employee’s name tag.

“Oh wow. Thank you…Diana.” Millie said as she read Diana’s badge that said both her name and She/Her pronouns.

“No trouble. I work on commission, but I am also an expecting Mom you know and we need to stick together.” Diana said, rubbing her belly.

Millie smiled at this gesture.

Besides her own mother and a few distant relatives along with some acquaintances from school she’d check in with from time to time on Sinstagram, Millie did not really know anyone else who had been pregnant before or at least anyone her own age she could talk to directly.

So Millie began to talk to Diana and ask her questions about her pregnancy. Some of the questions were things that she’d already gotten answers about from her own mother but wanted another perspective on and other questions were things she had not felt comfortable asking her mother about.

Diana had cut their conversation short as she seemed to notice something out of the corner of her eye, her and Millie quickly exchanged numbers however and Millie had left the store with not only some new toys for the baby, but with potentially a new friend.

Once outside the shop, Millie began to walk down the street when she turned back and frowned.

She saw that Diana seemed to be being reprimanded by what looked like a store manager or some higher up.

Millie felt a bit guilty and considered going back into the store to defend her friend and take responsibility for distancing Diana from her job.

However, before she could do so the bus from Gluttony to Pride was pulling up and Millie could not afford to miss the last bus back home.

Once seated, she decided to send a text to Diana to apologize and check on her new friend’s job status.

MILLIE: Hi. I hope I did not get you in too much trouble. Saw you having a heated conversation with who I’m assuming is your boss.

DIANA: No trouble at all. Just a bit of a disagreement. No harm done. Wanna get lunch tomorrow? There is a new diner on 7th Ave in Imp City. My treat.

MILLIE: Sure! But you don’t have to pay for me.

DIANA: Please. It would be my pleasure. I have a coupon anyway that is gonna expire soon.

MILLIE: Well…If you have a coupon 😆 12 P.M. works for me if that is okay with you.

DIANA: Awesome! See you are 12!

 

And that is how the story of Millie and Diana’s friendship began.

If only Millie had known though…how it would end.

 

Over the next few months, Millie and Diana spent more and more time together.
They swapped stories they had seen online about the ups and downs of pregnancy.

They texted each other a lot and Millie had even introduced Diana to Moxxie as well as Blitz, Loona, Stolas and even Sallie May one afternoon when her sister was visiting the Pride Ring.

“So, do you two do anything else but talk about pregnancy stuff?” Sallie May had asked curiously as they’d walked back to the bus stop after her sister’s weekend visit.

Millie shrugged, “Not really. I mean we are both expectant moms so we wanna support each other as much as possible. And Diana’s support system is not great anyway so it’s nice to have someone who has gone through this before and who I can talk to about all this with besides Mamma.”

Sallie raised her eyebrows.

“What do you mean, she’s been through this before? I thought this was her first baby?”

Millie shook her head.

“No. She has another child. I’ve seen pictures. But his dad left. Diana has a new boyfriend though, but he works a lot. So it’s really nice we have each other and can help one another out.”

Sallie May looked like she was about to say more, but the bus ended up pulling up and cutting their conversation short.

Though as Sallie rode off back to Wrath, she could not help but feel a strange sense of dread when it came to Diana.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something just was not right.

 

“How come I’ve never met your son?” Millie had asked Diana one night as the two friends walked down the street eating frozen yogurt.
Millie had been thinking about what Sallie May had asked and she’d thought it was odd that she had not met her son at all.
She had thought it was an innocent question.
Turns out it seemed to hit a nerve with Diana for some reason.

“Oh my Satan! Millie! I can’t believe you’d ask me that!” Diana huffed angrily.

Millie was suddenly extremely confused and concerned. She had not meant to make her new friend feel bad, but she had thought it was just an innocent question.

Before Millie could apologize though, Diana continued.

“I’m sorry I have not let you meet Sam yet, but he is busy with school and I am busy at work. I barely have a support system and it's not like I met your family right away.”

Millie was about to protest and say that she’d introduced Moxxie to her only a week or so after they'd started hanging out, but before she could say anything Diana was crying.

“You know what. I just can’t right now Millie. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

And before Millie could say anything Diana was gone and Millie was left alone on the curb wondering what she had said wrong.

 

Millie was bored out of her mind.

She had thought she could handle maternity leave. Blitz had allowed her to stay in the office with Stolas and he was not the worst company to have, especially as it allowed her to talk to someone about child rearing who had once also been an expectant parent.

It also allowed Stolas to talk about Octavia openly which he appreciated immensely. His daughter still wasn’t returning any calls or texts that he had sent trying to apologize and further explain. Finally, he’d had to face facts that the only way he would ever have a relationship with her was if she reached out to him. Whether that be in a few days or after his hundred year sentence was up wasn’t clear.

But it was nice to talk about her and Stolas wanted to help Millie with her pregnancy in any way he could.

So on a random Tuesday afternoon, when Millie was mindlessly scrolling through social media she smiled when she got a text message from someone she’d been hoping to hear from.

DIANA: Hey! I am really sorry about a few weeks back. I think it was just my hormones. So I have some old baby clothes that I thought you might like for your child. I know you’re having a girl, but fuck gender norms and these are mostly just just plain colored onesies. Anyway, I’m free the rest of the day and can send you my address. You can see my place and maybe even meet Sam if you are able to stay late enough.

Millie smiled widely.

She had tried to apologize to Diana via text multiple times (though she still had not known what she was apologizing for) and this was the first time that she’d heard a response from her since their fight.

And not only was Diana forgiving, but she was also inviting her over so that she could give Millie some free baby clothes that Millie and Moxxie desperately needed regardless.

The stars were aligning in Millie’s favor or at least that is how it seemed.

“Hey Stolas. My friend Diana invited me over to her place. So I am gonna go hang out with her for a while.”

Stolas smiled and clapped his hands together.

“Oh that is wonderful, Mildred. I am so glad to hear the two of you made up. Don’t worry, I will let Moxxie and Blitz know where you are. I hope you have a fantastic time.”

Millie waved goodbye to the former royal and headed off to Diana’s apartment.

 

“Oh Yay! You’re here!” Diana said, hugging Millie after opening the door.

Millie hugged her friend back.

She’d really missed Diana and was so grateful to be back in her good graces.

“I’m sorry again about what I said before. It was just the hormones, you know.”

Millie nodded.

She’d had her share of spats with Moxxie about trivial things over the last several months of course.

So who was she to judge?

The important thing now was that Millie and Diana could get back to being friends.

Diana pulled back and gave Millie a smile.

“I baked some brownies. They just came out of the oven. You hold tight while I go get them.” Diana said, rushing off to the kitchen.

As Millie could hear Diana rummaging in the kitchen, she decided to peek around the living room area as she waited for her friend to come back with the baked goods.

Looking around at the apartment, Millie was surprised.

With the amount of activities and clubs that Diana had said her son was involved in, she’d expected the home to be filled with more items. But from the looks of the living room, nothing much seemed to be in there except the couch, a TV and a few photos.

Millie squinted at the pictures and ruffled her eyebrows.

Something was off about the photo, but she could not put her finger on it.

Before Millie could investigate further though, she felt a hand come up to her mouth holding a damp rag.

The chemicals from the cloth seemed to almost instantly put Millie to sleep.

The last thing that Millie heard before she drifted off was the small whisper of the words: “I’m sorry.”

 

Moxxie knew something was off the moment he walked through the portal back into the office with Loona, Sallie May, and Blitz trailing behind him.

It took him about 5 seconds to realize that Millie was not in the office, but something told him in his gut that a lot worse was happening.

“Hey Stolas…where is Millie?” Moxxie asked their newest receptionist.

Stolas looked up from the book he was reading and told Moxxie that Millie had gone to visit her friend.

Moxxie was about to ask more questions when his cell phone rang.

Without even glancing at the caller ID, Moxxie picked up the call.

“Hello, is this Moxxie Knowlastname?”

“Yes…” Moxxie answered back with uncertainty.

“Hello, this is St. Anne’s, we brought your wife into the ER just now and…”

Moxxie did not remember the rest of the conversation.

He did not remember dropping the phone from his hands and Stolas picking it up.

He did not remember Stolas talking to the person on the other end of the line, getting necessary details and then asking Blitz to open a portal to Sloth.

He doesn’t remember the hours sitting in the waiting room at the hospital while the members of IMP took turns trying to get information from the nurses at the front desk.

What Moxxie does remember though is after the doctor finally came out and told them Millie was okay, he went to peek into the room where Millie was currently resting.

One of the nurses had asked him if he’d like to go see his daughter in the NICU.

He knew Millie was still resting and that she’d want him to check on their child, so even though this was not the way Moxxie had originally planned to meet his child…when he saw that tiny demon in the incubator he felt like everything in the world had vanished.

His daughter was finally here.

“Hi Maria.” Moxxie began to say as he stood over the plastic box holding his child. “It’s Daddy. I am sorry that this is how you came into Hell, but I promise I will spend every moment for the rest of my life protecting you. Because the moment your Mom told me that we were gonna have you…I promised myself that I would love you and protect you forever. I hope I haven’t messed up that second part too much, but I will spend the rest of my life making that up to you. And that first part…about how I love you. Well that never changed and will never change, Maria. I love you so much.”

The baby was small and looked exhausted. She was only about 2 pounds and Millie had only been about 7 ½ months along.

But Moxxie knew in his heart of hearts that everything would be okay in the end.

And now that he had talked to his daughter, it was time to go back and talk to his wife.

 

When Millie finally woke up it was not with a stir but with instance and fear. She had popped up from her slumber like toast popping out of a toaster.

“Maria!” she exclaimed, almost getting ready to pull the wires from her arms and rush out of the room to find her child once she realized her daughter was no longer growing in her uterus.

Luckily, Moxxie was there to help calm Millie immediately by resting his hands on her shoulder.

“Millie, sweetie…it is ok. Maria is safe. You are safe.” Moxxie said comfortingly. “Just breathe, honey.”

Millie took a deep breath, but looked frantically still at her husband.

There were so many things she wanted to say to Moxxie.

But the only thing she was able to do was fall apart with a sob and hold on to her spouse.

This wasn’t an issue for the new father however.

As he was ready to catch her the moment she understandably fell apart.

Just as she had done for him so many times before.

 

It took a few days of investigating before the detectives were able to piece together what exactly had happened.

It turns out Diana had lost a baby once before and ever since had vowed to get pregnant again. When it did not seem to be working with her boyfriend, she decided to try a different tactic…get someone to give her their baby.

Or take them by any means necessary.

So Diana began to sculpt a perfect life out of nothing.
She made up a fake child who would be around the same age as the child she had once lost if they’d been born.

She told her boyfriend who happened to work at St. Anne’s in the Demon Resources department that she was not only pregnant, but she had begun working at the baby store she’d previously worked at years ago the first time she was expecting.

In reality she’d quit that store and the day Millie had met her she'd put on her old name tag and uniform to find someone who she could possibly trick (that was why Millie had seen that manager reprimanding Diana that day. It wasn’t because she was distracted from working, but it was because she wasn’t supposed to be working there in the first place).

Her goal was to first see if she could get Millie to give up her baby willingly, but soon she saw that Millie had a good support system and was not at all going to be swayed into giving up her baby.

So she decided to go to more extreme measures.

First, when Millie began to get suspicious of her “son” she decided to pretend to be offended ( in reality she deep down knew the photoshopped pictures would not last forever).

Next after their “fight” and Diana ghosting Millie, Diana decided to use Millie’s needs and vulnerability against her.

She offered the baby clothes and forgiveness in hope that Millie would be desperate for both and come rushing over.

She was sadly correct.

Diana then put out a few of the photoshopped pictures around the apartment and got ready for Millie’s arrival.

Once putting Millie out with the chloroform, Diana performed a messy and extremely dangerous impromptu C-Section right in the middle of her apartment.
Moxxie remembered feeling the squeeze of Millie’s hand when the police informed her of this part.

Millie was not sure if what Diana had given her was strong enough to block out the pain or if it was her brain blocking her from fully remembering that trauma.

It was all a blur to her though.

Once the baby was out, Diana had thought she’d gotten away with stealing Maria.

She did not account for her boyfriend or ex boyfriend now coming home early because he’d forgotten his lunch.

Once Diana’s ex, Harry, saw the scene he quickly called 9-1-1 and used any and all medical knowledge he had or was able to get from the 9-1-1 operator to keep Milie and Maria alive till paramedics came.

He had been so busy with helping them that he had not realized his ex had slipped out the apartment door.

“We found her a few blocks away with a self-inflicted stab wound. They’d tried to revive her, but it had been too late. She was dead at the scene.”

This information had made Millie both relieved and upset.

Relieved that she never had to worry about this person coming after her or her family again.
Upset because…well she felt there was no justice in this.

It was odd. Millie’s career was spent killing people and seeking revenge. She loved the thrill of swinging her axe against a human’s skull or firing a shot into someone’s back.

Usually when she did something like that for a client she felt a sense of justice. She’d once told Moxxie that innocent and guilty were not their business and that they should just do whatever the client asks.

And while Millie still believed that for the most part, she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t satisfied when every once in a while she got to go to earth to off a cheating spouse or abusive parent.

This time though, the death of someone who’d caused so much pain and suffering felt almost empty.

Millie felt as though she’d been cheated out of not even any type of revenge (though that definitely would have been the plan), but that she’d been cheated out of something she hadn’t known she needed so much of…closure.

With the case closed and no one put away (Harry had been investigated, but it turns out he had no idea that his girlfriend was lying and was also a victim of Diana), the only thing left to do was to move on with their lives.

Millie had been free to go from the hospital, but Maria would have to stay in the NICU for weeks or possibly months.

Some could say that she dodged a bullet with a trial and that she should be satisfied with how this all turned out.

But in Millie’s eyes there was nothing satisfactory about this.

Diana was dead and could not be held accountable for her actions any further.

Maria was here, but hooked up to machines and being hovered around by doctors and nurses 24/7 (something Blitz had been able to use his popularity for and Harry had been able to use his pull at the hospital to also make sure Maria and Millie were getting that care they needed mainly due to Harry’s unnecessary guilt for this whole situation).

Millie had a scar on her abdomen that was a constant reminder of the trauma and pain she’d endured when she was forced to bring her daughter into this realm far too early.

So at the end of the day Millie felt lots of emotions including guilt, terror, anger and sadness.

Satisfaction though..she was sorry to say she was not there yet.

Perhaps she would never get there.

 

About 3 months.
That was how long Maria had to be in the NICU.
They wanted to make sure that she was growing well and was perfectly healthy before she could come home.
Initially, the doctors had predicted she would have to be in the hospital longer. However, Maria turned out to be just like her mom and dad.
A fighter.

 

When Maria was brought home Moxxie and Millie had to adapt to sleepless nights and new schedules for themselves and their newborn daughter.

And while it took some time, Moxxie had honestly believed that things were good with him and Millie and Millie especially.
He was shocked at home she seemed to be fine when it came to doing anything with Maria or even without Maria.
It was like the attack had never happened.
He’d tried to talk to Millie about it and let her know that he was here for her.
But everytime like clockworth…Millie would just say she was fine or change the subject.

So he dropped it thinking that maybe that might be the best course of action.

One night though, Moxxie’s worries skyrocketed.

Like every night since they brought Maria home, the child was crying like clockwork around 3 A.M.
And like most nights, one or both of her parents got up to take care of her.
Moxxie had seen that Millie wasn’t in bed and presumed that she was already taking care of Maria.
But when Moxxie went to go check on both the baby as well as his wife, he was met with a scene that shattered his heart.
Before him was Maria crying in her crib and Millie curled up against the nursery wall sobbing.

“Millie!” Moxxie said as he quickly took Maria from her crib and rocked her gently against his chest. He then rushed over to his wife’s side as he tried to snuggle up next to her for comfort while also helping to get Maria back to sleep.

“I’m sorry, Mox.” Millie said crying into her husband’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry, honey? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Moxxie said confused and concerned.
“I couldn’t protect her. My one job is to protect her and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it then and I can’t do it now.” Millie said as her sobs got deeper and deeper.

Moxxie looked at his wife as he began to feel tears in his own eyes, but was able to stop himself from crying for the time being. He needed to focus on his wife at this moment.

“Millie, what you went through was horrible. It was undeniably traumatic, but you aren’t to blame for it. You were harmed by a disturbed individual who unfairly took out her pain on you. You and Maria were both victims of her and that is okay to admit. It doesn’t make you any less strong or protective of our little girl.”

“It does though, Moxxie.” Millie sobbed. “I’ve been able to sense danger from a mile away before when we were on a hit. So why couldn’t I see the signs? If I couldn’t see danger in one person who pretended to be my friend…then how can I keep her safe? I…feel like she’d be better off with someone else as her Mamma.”

The fact that Millie was even thinking that was true destroyed Moxxie.

“No sweetie. No.” Moxxie said with a crack in his voice. “There is no one better suited to be Maria’s Mom than you. That woman tricked so many people and took advantage of your kindness…one of the many things I admire about you. But just because you were not able to fight for Maria in that moment doesn’t mean you were not fighting for her. You went to get outfits to clothe your daughter when you went to that apartment. The moment you woke up the first thing you did was ask me about Maria. Baby you are exactly who she needs in her life. You are exactly who me and Blitz and Stolas and Loona and Sallie May and every one of our friends and family need, Mills. Please believe me.”

Millie did not know how to respond to that.

She wanted to believe her husband…but something was holding her back.

Moxxie then gently placed Maria into his wife’s arms, staying close just in case.

But Millie just held Maria against her chest as the parents watched their infant child fall back asleep.

Moxxie gave his wife a small smile.

“See…no one else, Mills.”

“I…I just don't feel that way Mox. I wish I could, but I just don’t think I’m there.”

Her husband nodded.

“I understand. Didn’t they mention at the hospital a counseling service you could go to? Maybe that could help. I could even come with you if it could help.” Moxxie offered.

Millie thought back to when the nurse discharging her from the hospital had told her about a therapist that she might want to talk to about what happened. At the time Millie had taken the information more out of politeness than any feelings of necessity to call this therapist.

She didn’t think it would help, but maybe it could.

“I just want to be a good mom.” Millie admitted quietly as she got up and placed Maria back in her crib.
Moxxie came up from behind her and held his wife in his arms as they both looked down at their child fast asleep.
“You already are.” Moxxie said.

Tomorrow she would call the phone number for the therapist and start looking into ways to truly begin to heal from this pain she was feeling.

Tonight though, Millie would do her best to sleep soundly in her bed alongside her husband as their baby slept in the room across the hall.

It would not be an easy or quick road to get back to where she had once been.

But Millie knew with her friends and family by her side, she could make it through anything.

Including this.

 

It was several months later the next time Millie’s trust was put to the test.
Trust.
That was something she’d been talking about a lot in therapy.
How she felt she had lost her ability to see any stranger as potentially good.
People were mainly a threat to her nowadays.

This helped her to continue her work at IMP when going to earth to off someone.

When it came to trusting others in Hell though like the elderly woman at the grocery store who said Maria was adorable (it took all of Moxxie’s strength to hold his wife back as she barked at the woman to get away from her kid) or the salesman who Millie swore was looking at Maria through the window of their home (he’d just been looking through the window to see if anyone was home so he could talk to them about switching their trash collection services), those interactions were hard to say the least.

That is why Millie was shocked when she did not immediately clock the woman at the bank who asked Millie how old her daughter was.

Millie began to feel her paranoia tackle her like a large wave in the ocean, but her nerves calmed down when she saw that the woman only knew about her child because the locket with Moxxie and Maria’s photos had opened up.

“Oh…” Millie said as she tried to discreetly calm her nerves while answering the woman’s question and casually shutting the locket as she caressed it . “Almost a year now. But it feels so much longer and shorter…which I did not know was possible.”

The woman laughed.

“Aww that’s nice. My Oliver wasn’t born that long ago, but at the same time it feels like he has grown so fast in a blink of an eye. You know what I mean?”

Millie nodded and gave a small smile.

She really did.

The woman introduced herself as Lucie and showed Millie her Sinstagram with photos of Oliver sprinkled throughout.

Millie did not say much, but she did comment directly to Lucie about how much Oliver looked like his mother and how cute he was.

“I’ve gotta run, but follow me on Sinstagram okay. Maybe I will see you again soon” Lucie said as she walked over to the ATM, took out some cash and jogged out the door.

Millie could have easily let the woman’s request slip from her mind.

She could have even just considered her another long list of enemies Millie had collected in her head ever since the attack.

Instead though Millie decided to take a small baby step.

She went to Lucie’s social media page and followed her account.

A few minutes later, Millie had a notification that Lucie had followed her back.

Millie wasn’t sure if this was just going to be another random account she followed and would comment on their pictures from time to time.

Maybe she’d never hear from Lucie again.

Or perhaps their small interaction and following of one another’s accounts could turn into an actual friendship.

Millie wasn’t sure.

She was sure though that she’d just taken another big step on the road to her recovery.

She could not wait to tell her therapist at their next session.

First though she wanted to tell Moxxie the good news and hug her child close to her for the rest of the night.

So that is exactly what Millie headed off to do.

Chapter Text

“Can I have a flower?” asked a small Imp child wearing a colorful party hat who was currently standing next to Blitz.

Blitz smiled as he side eyed the other party entertainment in the room.

“Of course you can, sweetie.” he replied as he began to blow up a green balloon.

A few feet away stood Fizzaroli as he was crowded by children shouting out various objects or animals that they wanted Fizz to make balloon animals of too.

Moxxie and Millie had told Blitz that he did not need to do this. Fizz had offered first as a gift to the twins for their 6th birthday and when Blitz had heard that he wanted to do so as well in addition to the countless presents he and Stolas had already bought the twins.

But Blitz insisted and now Maria and Max had two balloon artists/former clowns at their party.

However, at the moment it was obvious that one former circus performer was more popular with the young party goers than the other.

Blitz had to admit that when he was younger balloon art was always a part of being a clown that he struggled with. The acrobatics he and Barbie were pros at and he could improv jokes on the spot like no one else (though the audience reactions to those jokes was usually mixed depending on the crowd).

Though, when it came to twisting balloons into an animal or a sword or whatever he had originally wanted to make…they always seemed to come well…just not quite right.

There was one animal though that he could always make perfectly.

“What’s this?” the young girl asked, confused at the result of Blitz’s handiwork. “That's not a flower.”

Blitz handed the green balloon over to the child embarrassingly.

He was not sure if it was the fact that he was rusty from making balloon animals or that everything he ever knew about making balloon art was coming back to him all at once.

Blitz was about to apologize to the girl and just tell her to go ask Fizz to make a flower, when Stolas who’d been watching the scene a few feet away walked over to Blitz, took the balloon art gently out of the child’s hands and started to play with it.

“My oh my! Aren't you lucky!” Stolas exclaimed exaggeratedly. “Why this seems to be a worm horse.”

“A worm horse?” the young girl asked even more confused as well as a bit skeptical.

Stolas nodded enthusiastically as he continued to move the horse balloon around.

“Yes. I suppose it ate too much sugar and his legs had to be amputated. It’s called laminitis. Still this is very unique and I am sure none of those children over there have a worm horse.”

The impling contemplated Stolas’ statement for a moment and then quickly grabbed the worm horse balloon as she rushed off to apparently show it off to the other children.

Blitz smiled at Stolas.

“Can’t believe you remembered that.” Blitz said in amazement.

“Of course.” Stolas said with a similar grin. “That was one of the best birthdays I ever had. And it was a pretty clever joke.”

Blitz chuckled.

“It was, wasn't it?”

Before either of the couple could converse any further, Blitz saw from the corner of his eye a variety of kids rushing over to him and to Fizz as they all began to ask for worm horses.

Blitz laughed as he saw that Fizz was struggling to make the horse balloon exactly as Blitz had.

“Hey! Blitz. A little help here.” Fizz called out nervously as he continued to be swarmed by children all with the same question.

“Duty calls!” Blitz said to his husband as he began to walk over and lead the other kids to the area Fizz was in so he could help with filing all the party attendees' new requests.

Before Blitz could get over to where Fizzaroli was though, he felt a tug on both his pant legs.

He looked down to see both his niece and nephew were hugging his legs tightly as they could not quite reach the man’s waist.

“Thanks Uncle Blitz.” said Maria.

“Yeah! This is the best birthday present ever.” remarked Max.

Blitz looked down at the twins with slight tears in his eyes and then held them both close.

“You both are more than welcome!” Blitz said happily. “Now! Let’s go help out Fizz.”

Blitz took the twins' hands as they led him over to his friend to help with the balloon making efforts.

Just before getting to his destination however, Blitz turned back to look at Stolas who was giving him a proud smile.

Blitz smiled back and gave his husband a small nod.

Then he marched right through the crowd of kids to help Fizz with making multiple worm horses.

Blitz was happy that he had all these new fans.

But in reality even if these kids hadn’t been interested in the worm horse balloons, that would have been okay.

Because Blitz didn’t need a billion fans.
He just needed a select few.

And while Maria and Max were at the top of that list, he could never forget the one who started it all.

Cause you see Blitz may have been Stolas’ first friend, but Stolas was Blitz’s first real fan.

And that meant more to him than anyone would ever know.

 

“What if no one shows up?” Stolas asked Blitz frighteningly as he reorganized the table with his books for the billionth time in the last several minutes.

Blitz shook his head as he grabbed at Stolas’ shaking hands to try and relax him.

“Stolas, you gotta breathe. People will come. I mean just cause you don’t have a royal title anymore, doesn’t mean people don’t wanna read what you have to say.” Blitz said gesturing towards the stacks of novels on the table in front of them.

Stolas shook his head in frustration as he held up one of the books he’d written about a prince and shopkeeper who fall in love.

“That is just it though Blitz. This is Emeril and Darrin's story. This is not about me. What if they aren’t interested in the romance I told and just want something I am not giving them?”

Blitz took the book from Stolas’ hands and pointed to the prince on the cover.

“Well first off I think Prince Darrin does resemble you somewhat.” Blitz said cheekily. “And they know you’re writing a romance Stolas. You’ve advertised it as much and if they are not interested in this smutty masterpiece you’ve written then they wouldn’t know good literature if it bit them in the ass.”

Stolas laughed.

Leave it to his husband to make him chuckle when he felt like his nerves could eat him alive.

Before either of the two could say more, Stolas heard the bell of the bookshop chime and rushed to look up.

To both his disappointment and pleasant surprise, the people walking through the door were three imps that he knew very well.

“Moxxie. Maria. Max! What a lovely surprise.” Stolas said with glee.

He’d been hoping for some new customers that would be unbiased, but he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t grateful to have some more familiar faces showing up for moral support on a day like this.

“Hey guys!” Moxxie said, holding on to both Max and Maria’s hands. “We wanted to just stop by to wish you luck and the kids had some gift cards they got from their birthday a few weeks ago that they wanted to use.”

“I’m gonna get some toys!” Max yelped as he escaped his father’s hand and began to run off to an aisle of stuffed animals and other children’s toys.

While the bookstore mainly sold novels, there were various parts of the shop that also offered gifts like stationary, mugs, card stock and even toys though most of the building seemed to house everything from used to new books.

Obviously though one of the twins was more interested in the small section of plushies and toy trucks compared to the other.

“Oh crumbs!” Moxxie exclaimed as he began to rush over to where his son had ran off. “Can you two please watch Maria while I go wrangle Max?”

Moxxie did not wait for a reply from either of his married friends as he raced to grab his son leaving his daughter standing at Stolas’ author table awkwardly and looking down at her shoes.

Blitz smiled as he bent down to Maria’s level who was currently playing with a small red pleather notebook she’d brought to the store and avoiding eye contact with anyone.

“Hey Ria, whatcha got there?” Blitz asked his Satan daughter with a smile.

Maria gave a small grin as she nervously held up the tiny red book to her uncle.

“My autograph book.” she whispered.

Blitz’s eyebrows shot up and his smile soon turned into a sly grin.

“Ohh and did you bring it to ask Uncle Stolas to sign?”

Maria nodded quickly and slightly embarrassed as she showed off the notebook.

Blitz knew that Maria could be shy at times and occasionally needed just an extra boost of confidence and helpfulness to steer her in the direction she wanted to go.

Luckily, Blitz had more than enough confidence, charisma and helpfulness to go around.

“Well I for sure know a famous author and uncle who’d be honored to have your signature be his first one as a published author at his very first event.” Blitz said with a smile as he helped to lead Maria up next to Stolas at his autograph table.

Stolas smiled at his husband and then at his favorite niece.

“And who am I making this out to?” Stolas said as he grabbed his pen and opened his hand to allow Maria to hand him the autograph book.

This helped to spark Maria’s confidence immensely.

“Maria Knowlastname. Uncle Stolas, one day I wanna write love stories like you.” Maria said with the fiercely determined nature that only came out every so often for certain people or ideals.

Stolas could have sworn his heart grew multiple sizes in that moment as he looked down at his niece and gently began to write a message in her signature book.

“Well Maria, someday I think that it will be I who will be the one asking you for your autograph my future novelist.”

Maria smiled a smile that could have brightened the sun as she hugged the book and then jumped into Stolas’ arms.

“Thank you Uncle Stolas! I love you.” Maria said as she continued to hug her uncle.

Maria could not see as Stolas embraced his niece, but he was smiling just as much as her as he saw Blitz give him a thumbs up.

He gave Blitz a thumbs up right back.

"I love you too, Maria." Stolas said as he held back small tears of joy.

 

Eventually, a crowd of people from various rings did show up to have their books signed by Stolas.

And as Moxxie spent hours trying to convince Max to pick out a book rather than another toy, Maria was allowed to sit right on her uncle’s lap and be his helper during the signing as she handed over books from the pile for Stolas to sign for those interested.

From imps in the Wrath ring to sinners in Pride, a multitude of romance readers were lining up and could not talk enough about the story Stolas had written between a young royal man and the hardworking commoner he falls in love with (though he did feel a little bad that his prospected readers may have felt a bit of a need to censor their questions about his work with his 6 year old niece seated right next to him).

Stolas must have signed well over 100 books that day.

But nothing mattered more to him than that very first signature he wrote in a book.

As it reminded Stolas of two things:

That even if he had never signed another book all day, he would have gone to bed that night feeling like a happy and successful author as Maria’s desire for his autograph and longing to be an author like him meant more than signing every single copy of his novels in all of Hell.
To never doubt the love of his life, Blitz Buckzo.

 

Stolas and Blitz may have been from two separate worlds once upon a time, but one of the things they had in common was their support for one another.

And in the end…wasn’t that really the point.

Chapter Text

Sallie May and Barbie ended up getting home from the doctor’s office later than they’d expected.

The two women walked into their home feeling defeated, exhausted, shocked and just sad.

They’d thought when they went to the doctors today that they would have good news for them. That the IVF route could work for them. That Barbie could carry their child and that this would all work out in the end.

However, the news they received was just the opposite.

Barbie would not be able to carry a child.

She’d tried to ask the doctor if it was the drug use, but their doctor had been vague and alluding to various factors that could cause someone to not be able to have a child biologically.

Barbie had to stop herself from asking more questions once she felt the squeeze of her wife’s hand.

So now a few hours after they’d originally left their home hoping for good news, they were now just standing awkwardly in their kitchen.

Neither of the women knew what to say.

“I…” Barbie began as she reached for a glass of water.

“Barb…” Sallie May said at the same time wiping tears from her eyes.

The two stopped.

Finally, Sallie May broke the silence.

“We should talk about-”

“I think I’d like to go to bed.” Barbie responded swiftly.
Sallie May considered stopping her wife and trying to talk to her more.

They had to talk about this at some point.

But Sallie was tired.

Barbie was tired.

It had been a long day.

So if that conversation had to wait until tomorrow…then so be it.

 

The next morning, Barbie and Sallie May were awoken by a knock at their door.

It was Blitz holding a bag of what looked like some bagels to Barbie.

“Hey, Barb. Hey Sal. I’m sorry about…well.” Blitz said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Barbie and Sallie May just stared awkwardly at Blitz, not sure how to respond.

Finally they let him in and Blitz immediately got to work and began setting their table for breakfast.

The house was just as silent as it had been over the last 8 or so hours except now the sounds of Blitz opening up various cartons of cream cheese and separating different bagel flavors were flowing through the air.

Sallie May was about to speak up finally when her phone buzzed.

She glanced at it and saw it was a text from Millie asking her to go out to breakfast with her.

She was about to text her sister that Blitz was already there, but looking over at her wife’s disappointed face she figured that maybe Barbie having some time with her brother and Sallie having time with her sister would be for the best.

So Sallie May quickly texted Millie that she would meet her down the street at a coffee shop, grabbed her jacket and purse and said goodbye to her wife and brother-in-law.

Sallie May kissed Barbie on the lips goodbye and rushed out the door barely able to think about how for the first time ever, a kiss with her wife felt off like they were going through the motions of what they would normally do like kiss one another goodbye with passion.

Sallie May did not have time to dwell on that though as she headed down the street to the restaurant Millie had asked her to meet her at.

 

“So….” Blitz said as he handed Barbie a newly toasted bagel with cream cheese. “I’m taking it that things haven’t been great since yesterday.”

Barbie scoffed.

“That’s the understatement of the century.” Barbie mumbled.

Blitz just nodded as he eat a piece of his own bagel and waited for his sister to continue.

Barbie took the bait easily and decided to just spill to her brother what she was thinking.

“Blitz…what if it was my fault?”

Blitz looked confused.

“What do you mean?”

“What if what happened with me not being able to carry a child…was my fault? I mean I used to do a lot of hard drugs and what if…what if that impacted everything somehow?”
Blitz’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You told me last night in your text that the doctor’s didn’t know exactly why stuff like this happens and it can be for a lot of reasons.”

Barbie rolled her eyes.

“For all I know he was just being polite. Sure it could be some genetic thing, but it could also be because of what I did…and the thought of that impacting me and worse of all Sal…”

Barbie began to wipe away some stray tears that were beginning to fall from her eyes.
Blitz immediately got up from his seat to hug his sister.

“Hey…don’t think like that. Listen, take it from someone who has asked the question ‘what if’ so many times throughout his life. It ain’t worth it.”

“Well what if Sallie May doesn’t think so? What if she leaves me or hates me forever or-”

Blitz just looked at Barbie in the eyes and shook his head.

“No. You two have been crazy about one another since day one. I don’t think this is going to break you.”

Barbie didn’t know what to say to that.

She just hugged her brother back.

She wanted to believe him…but she just was not sure.

 

“Sal…please talk to me.” Millie said, reaching over the table to take her sister’s hand.

Sallie May just sighed.

“I just…I don’t know Mills. Barbie was so upset and she is blaming herself and I just don’t know what to do. I don’t blame her. I love her and I love our life whether we have kids or not.”

Millie nodded, understanding exactly what her sister was saying.

She loved her own children, but if her and Moxxie had not been blessed with the twins she doesn’t think that not having kids would’ve caused the two to break up or love one another any less.

“Did you tell Barbie that Sal?”

Sallie May shook her head no.

“No. I thought having quality time with Blitz would be a good idea. Sometimes…sometimes you just need your sibling.” Sallie said with a smile as she squeezed Millie’s hand back.

The two continued to eat their food in silence when Millie suddenly had an idea.

“Hey remember where Mama and Daddy took us that one summer that you and I said was our favorite vacation?”

Sallie May’s eyes suddenly lit up as she grabbed her stuff, texted Barbie and Blitz to tell them where they would be and rushed off with Millie to catch the next bus to Envy.

 

“Hey.” Barbie Wire said to her wife as she looked out over the dock.

Sallie turned her head away from the sunset as her hooves gently taped against the lake water surface.

“Hi.” Sallie said solemnly.

“Can we talk?” Barbie asked as Sallie moved over to the left side of the dock to allow Barbie to sit beside her.
The two women sat quietly with the sounds of Envy as their real life background music as well as the soft chuckles of Millie and Blitz who a few feet away were kicking around a ball they’d found on the beach as they waited for Sallie May and Barbie to have their conversation.

Barbie finally broke the silence.

“Sal…I’m so so-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, hon.” Sallie May interrupted as she took her wife’s hands in hers and turned her head so she could look Barbie directly in the eyes as she said that.

Barbie looked back at her, both eyes widened with curiosity and slight fear.

Sallie May took a deep breath.

“This is not your fault. No matter what. Now we may not get to have a child in the traditional sense, but when have we ever cared about tradition? We literally ended up just eloping anyway.”

Barbie smiled thinking back to when Millie and Blitz became more invested in their wedding planning and then the actual brides that Sallie May and Barbie had enough and decided to just get all their friends and family together and have a small ceremony with the justice of the peace in Wrath.

It was the best day of both their lives.

“I don’t care what our family looks like.” Sallie May continued. “We could have no kids or we could end up adopting an entire army of children…as long as I have you then that is all the family I ever need.”

Barbie’s eyes watered for the second time in the last two days, but this time with tears of joy.

She embraced her wife and wrapped her in a tight hug.

Sallie hugged Barbie back.

“Thanks Sal. That is exactly what I needed to hear.” Barbie said as the two gently pulled away from their hug as they turned to see Millie and Blitz continuing to kick around the ball the two have found earlier on the beach.

Sallie May and Barbie looked mischievously at one another, stood up hand in hand and rushed to play impromptu kickball with Millie and Blitz.

Soon Blitz would call Moxxie, Stolas, Loona, Octavia and Orion to come to the beach asking them to bring some supplies for a night time picnic.

As the wives spent the rest of the night talking and laughing, the point that Sallie May had made earlier in the day became more and more actualized and believed by Barbie.

As long as they had one another they were all the family each other needed.

However, there was something else Sallie May had possibly unintentionally brought up that got Barbie thinking as well…adoption.

Could that be something that might work for them?

Barbie wasn’t sure.

She’d bring it up with Sallie May later.

Maybe tomorrow they could discuss adoption to expand their family from two to three or even four.

For now she was planning to happily spend the rest of the night with the family she had now.

And for Barbie and Sallie May, two lovers who’d gone from one night stands to life long married partners, that was more than either of the women could ask for.

Chapter Text

Max peeked behind the red velvet curtain of the middle school auditorium.

Ms. Taylor had told the students that they were not supposed to do that, but he could not help it.

He was nervous to say the least.

After all, it was not every day that he became one of the youngest kids at his middle school to get a leading role in a school production.

When Wicked Jr. was announced earlier in the year, Max knew one thing.

He had to get the part of Fiyero.

Ever since he could remember, his dad had instilled a life long love of musical theater in both his kids. And while Maria (despite sharing the name of at least two prolific musical theater leading ladies), was never into the genre as much as Moxxie was and seemed to prefer the comfort of a page compared to the comfort of a play…Max was just the opposite.

Max loved musical theater as much as Moxxie did.

Whenever he could be involved in anything performance related at school he took full advantage whether it be volunteering to read the morning announcements or even playing a tree in last Spring’s school play.

Now after years of playing background characters and learning anything he could to get ahead in the world of theater, his countless hours of practice and hard work were about to pay off.

He was going to play the role of Fiyero in Wicked Jr.

It had been all he could talk about for months.

So why now…did his stomach feel like lead and his heart felt like it was running a marathon?

It could be nerves and pressure from this being such a big deal for himself, his family and even his grade.

But Max knew that there was another reason he was so nervous.

That being Lincoln Carter.

Lincoln was a new student that had joined the production later on as a replacement for the Cowardly Lion after Henry Wilson had to suddenly drop out of the play due to failing Math.

Max did not know much about Lincoln.

From the few times he’d heard Lincoln talk, Max had not thought too much of the kid. He seemed nice and was willing to learn his cues fast enough (the Lion did not have any lines in the musical, but was in Act 2 of the production).

However, that was before he had heard a few of the other kids talking one day while getting ready to leave practice.

“I can’t believe Max is Fiyero. It should have been Lincoln.” Sarah, one of Max’s classmates, whispered to her friend Parker.

Max had not meant to eavesdrop, but he’d accidentally overheard his name and could not help it.

So he listened in from behind a cracked open stage door.

“But Max auditioned and got the part, Lincoln wasn’t even at our school when auditions happened.” Parker said defensively.

Max could not see it, but he knew Sarah was rolling her eyes.

“Yeah and did you know why he wasn’t at our school? It’s because I heard he was filming a TV movie in Envy. Seriously, he has been in commercials since he was like 2. You need to look those up. All I am saying is Max is lucky Lincoln wasn’t here when auditions happened cause no way Ms. Taylor would have chosen Max for Fiyero if she’d seen what Lincoln could do.”

Max didn’t hear the rest.

He had instead immediately ran to the computer the moment he was home and looked up hours of Lincoln’s material.

And as much as Max hated to admit it…he felt Sarah could be right.

Lincoln had done everything from cereal ads to even being cast as the youngest sibling in a semi popular Voxflix movie last year.

Max had no clue why a kid like this was not doing Voxflix movies all the time and was instead cast in their little play.

But Max could not lie.

Lincoln was talented, experienced and was better a performer than Max.

The classes Max was able to take with Uncle Fizz in his free time were not cutting it and if he got lucky this year then there was no guarantee he’d get lucky again.

So as Max peeked out from behind the curtain at the audience he felt his stomach tie into knots.

And when he glanced over at Lincoln getting into his Lion costume and Sarah and Parker fawning over him (Sarah was dressed in her Nessa costume while Parker was decked out in her Ozion attire for the One Short Day number), that is when Lincoln ran to the bathroom to puke.

 

“Maria, honey are you reading what I think you are reading?” Moxxie asked nervously, eyeing his daughter who had her nose in a book.

Maria looked up from the green paperback and tilted her head.

“I usually try to read a book before I see the movie so I figured a play would be no different.” Maria said matter-of-factly.

Moxxie sighed as he tried to think of how to approach this.

He was never one to restrict what Maria or Max engaged in content wise unless he and Millie felt it wasn’t appropriate for their age group.

And while a Jr. production of Wicked was perfectly suitable for their daughter to be exposed to, the novel the musical was based on was a different story.

“Come on babe. It can’t be that bad?” Millie said as she was toying with the camera settings on her phone.

She was not only taking a video of the performance for her own immediate family, but also to show others like Sallie May, Barbie, Via, Fizzaroli and even Loona who unfortunately had not been able to make it but had all shown varying interest in seeing Max on stage tonight.

Moxxie gently took the book from his daughter’s hands and flipped to a page for his wife to scan.

Moments later Millie’s eyes shot open wide and she nodded quickly in agreement with her husband.

“Sorry, hon. I think you may wanna wait till you are at least in high school for a book like this.” Millie said as Maria huffed and crossed her arms, obviously annoyed at both her parents.

“Wait! I thought this play was gonna be a snooze fest, but what’s in it that has got your panties in a twist?” Blitz said reaching over to try to grab the book from Millie’s hands.

Blitz and Stolas were seated behind Millie, Moxxie and Maria in the row directly behind them.

“Sir, can you please not tonight?” Moxxie groaned.

As Blitz and Moxxie began to have a small argument regarding Blitz trying to take the book, Maria noticed something.

Her brother was peeking out from behind the curtains and looking more scared than she’d ever seen him.

Maria knew exactly what this called for: a twin intervention.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Maria quickly said to her Uncle Stolas who smiled and nodded to her as he tried to calm his husband and friend down as they continued to argue with one another.

Maria did in fact run off to the bathroom, but instead of the girl’s bathroom she found herself knocking on the door of the small family bathroom that she’d witnessed her brother rush into moments ago.

“Hey! It’s me! I know you are in there Max.” Maria said. “Can we talk?”

Seconds later, Max hesitantly opened the door and let Maria inside.

“The show is gonna start soon.” Maria said.

Max rolled his eyes.

“Thank you Captain Obvious. I did not know that.” Max said crankily.

“Then why are you in here when you’re supposed to be getting ready?” Maria said.

Max sighed and looked his sister directly in the eyes.

Maria’s facial expressions suddenly changed from those of annoyance to ones of concern.

“I’m…I’m not good enough, Maria.”

Maria looked at her brother deeply confused.

“What are you talking about? You got cast in a leading role at our age. That is unheard of at this school.”

“Yeah, well that is not gonna matter next year when Lincoln Carter gets cast in the leading roles for the rest of our entire education.”

“That new kid? What does he have to do with any of this?” Maria asked.

“I’m not as good as him. He’s been on TV in commercials and movies. I heard next year’s show is supposed to be The Little Mermaid so guess who is gonna end up being Prince Eric or Sebastian while I’ll be lucky enough to get Fish #3.”

“Oh come on.” Maria said with a chuckle, “You’ll at least get Fish #1 for sure.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but Max was not laughing.

Maria sighed.

“Look! Next year doesn’t matter. Tonight matters. All my friends are talking about how cool it is you got this role and I’m not going to school on Monday the sister of the guy who bailed on the chance of a lifetime that he earned fair and square cause you let your nerves and ego get in the way.”

“Wait, which friends?” Max said with a raise of his brows.

Maria rolled her eyes for the millionth time tonight.

“Shut up. Now are you gonna sit here and feel sorry about something you do not even know is going to happen or are you gonna show everyone out there how much practice you have put in to get this part? Cause I did not have to hear you singing Dancing Through Life ten billion times this year just for you to blow it all up.”

Max stood in place for a second, contemplated what he had just heard his sister say and then rushed to hug Maria.

“Thank you, Ria.”

“You are very welcome.” Maria said, hugging her brother back. “Now go out there and show everyone what Knowlastnames are made of.”

Max nodded and walked out of the bathroom confidently ready to sing his heart out and show that audience and himself that he deserved to be on that stage in the part of Fiyero.

By the time Maria got back to her seat, her father and uncle had come to a truce (or maybe Uncle Blitz had won as he seemed to be very interested in reading the Wicked book now and her father looked genuinely ticked off at whatever had conspired to cause Uncle Blitz to now have the book in his possession).

“Is everything alright?” Uncle Stolas whispered to Maria.

Maria looked over at her uncle who she could tell had some sense that Maria had not left her seat to simply use the toilet.

Maria smiled and nodded though.

“Everything is perfect.”

Suddenly, the lights of the auditorium dimmed, the crowd got quiet and the show began.

 

The musical went off without a hitch.

Everyone was on cue.

No one forgot their lines.

And Max performed the numbers perfectly.

Kristy Fellows who played Elphaba had even smiled at him when they went to go take their bow.

Max was scanning the backstage as he waited for his family when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Max turned around to see Lincoln Carter standing before him with his lion costume.

“You did great tonight.” Lincoln said.

“Thanks.” Max said. “So did you.”

“I don’t know about that. I mean I think I wasn’t standing where I was supposed to during March of the Witch Hunters and I had butterflies in my stomach all night.”

Max’s eyes widened.

“But…you’ve done a ton of stuff before, right? Like you did those commercials and that Voxflix movie. What about this makes you nervous.”

Lincoln shrugged.

“I mean all that stuff was great, but I never really had to perform live in front of an audience like this before. This is all new to me and I just really wanna do the best I can.”

Max nodded.

Maybe he and Lincoln were not so different after all.

Lincoln groaned as he looked down at his cell.

“Something wrong?” Max asked.

Lincoln just smiled and shook his head.

“Nah. My dad is just running late.”

“Your dad did not come to the show?” Max asked bewildered.

Lincoln just shrugged it off.

“He’s not into this whole performing thing I do. He thinks it’s just a hobby. He is also really into his new business venture right now that he wants to get up and running by the summer. That is why we moved to Pride anyway. He’s gonna pick me up soon though so…I’ll be okay.”

Max was about to ask Lincoln some more questions when he felt a tight squeeze of two familiar arms around his body.

“Mom! Come on!” Max said with a laugh.

“Now hush. I am gonna be proud of my baby whether you want me to or not.” Millie said with a laugh.

“I am so proud of you too, Max.” his father said as he hugged his son close as soon as Millie let go.

When his parents finally let go, Max went to go hug his Uncles who praised his performance and handed him some flowers to congratulate him on a job well done.

“Told you, you could do it.” Maria said as she went in for her own hug once Max was finished talking to Stolas and Blitz.

“Thank you…I could not have done it without you.” Max whispered to his sister as he hugged her back.

“Anytime.” Maria said.

As the family began to walk outside the school to head to the van, Max saw Lincoln now outside getting into the backseat of a small car himself. He’d barely been able to register the vehicle as it sped off just as fast as it had arrived.

Max suddenly found himself hugging his father close again.

“What was that for?” Moxxie asked with a smile, small laugh and a hug back.

“Thanks for helping me over these past few months and for supporting me in all this.”

“Of course, son. I’ll always support you no matter what you do in life. Remember that.” Moxxie said.

Max was about to say something else when Moxxie suddenly became stiff as he saw that Maria was back to reading the Wicked book again.

“Maria! How’d you get that book back?” Moxxie asked, rushing to grab it from her.

“Grabbed it from Uncle Blitz when he wasn’t looking.” Maria said with a laugh as she began to race in circles to get away from her father.

Blitz looked at his niece with a stare that said he was not sure if he should be mad that Maria stole from him or proud she’d been able to pull one over on him.

As Max watched his father chase around his sister, his uncle take a video of the events unfolding on his cell, and his mother and other uncle try to help his father…Max realized two things.

 

Maybe Lincoln did have more experience then Max and maybe he’d get a leading role over Max next year or maybe he would not, but all the roles in the world could not make up for the fun and supportive family that Max was lucky enough to say he had.

The second thing.

That was that when he’d watched Lincoln walk away that night he felt something deep in his chest similar to that nervous feeling he’d felt when he was scared to go on stage earlier and when he’d gotten to talk to Kristy Fellows, one of the most beautiful girls in their whole school.

Max was not sure 100% what that feeling exactly was yet, but like the show said it was “sudden and new” and Max figured he would have all the time in the world to explore what that meant later on.

What Max did not know though was that “later on” would be coming much sooner than he could have ever imagined.

Chapter Text

“Moxxie, before you freak out…the gun isn’t loaded and there is a cover over that knife.” Millie said with a guilty look on her face as she turned around to see her husband looking confused standing in the middle of the living room having just come back from the bathroom.

Before him were his barely 1 year old babies in a crawling position facing a gun and a knife (that to be fair did indeed have a cover on it).

Uhhh…Mills…” Moxxie asked, almost too stunned to speak. “What are you doing?”

Millie sheepishly rubbed her neck.

“Okay. So I saw these videos online of parents putting out plushies or other objects out for their babies to crawl to so they could see what they would pick so I thought I would try it with Max and Maria and see what they would pick.”

Moxxie closed his eyes for a moment not knowing how to even react to what was before him.

On one hand, this is probably one of the most irresponsible and potentially dangerous ideas that he’d ever heard come from his wife.

But on the other hand….he did kind of want to see if one of the kids would grab the gun.

Moxxie rubbed his hands over his eyes and then lifted them up in defeat.

“Okay!”

“Okay?” Millie responded surprised that Moxxie was actually seemingly going along with this.

Moxxie nodded.

“Yes! But if we are gonna do this we need to make one adjustment.”

Moxxie walked over to the knife and snatched it off the ground. He then headed to the kitchen to go find a plastic utensil to replace it with.

“Hey!” Blitz said from the couch only a few feet away where he was currently curled up next to Stolas on. “Me and Stolas are trying to watch this romance movie.”

Stolas looked at Blitz confused.

“Umm…Blitz, this is an animated children’s film about anthropomorphic animals who are dealing with prejudice and missing-”

“Okay, that’s true and all.” Blitz interrupted his husband. “But come on, you can’t tell me that fox isn’t giving the bunny bedroom eyes.”

“Well I’m not sure about….well actually you may have a point.” Stolas said looking more invested in the scene playing out on the television screen.

“Uhhh…I put that movie on for the kids, ya’ know?” Millie said with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

Blitz looked at Millie with a parallel expression.

“Really, you are using your children to see who is gonna crawl to you or your hubby's weapons of choice first and you are judging me?” Blitz said with a smirk. “10 bucks on Maria going towards the knife by the way.”

Millie groaned at her best friend.

“We aren’t betting on the babies.”

“Besides Blitz,” Moxxie said walking back into the living room now carrying a plastic knife. “Millie and I are simply conducting an experiment to see which of the babies goes towards which object to see if they have an interest-”

“Blah. Blah. Blah. Moxxie, stop trying to justify your bad parenting choices and let me and Stolas watch the movie about the fox and bunny that definitely wanna fuck each other.”

“Blitz, I don’t think that this is that type of movie.” Stolas said. “Though they way he is holding her right now does beg the question if they do like one another more than friends. I mean, she hurt her ankle I believe, but he doesn’t have to hold her like that if it is just a sprain or at least not that close.”

“I know right!” Blitz exclaimed back knowing exactly what his spouse was saying.

“Quiet you two!” Millie said. “My babies have to concentrate if they are gonna grab this knife.”

“You mean the firearm, honey.” Moxxie said as he just double checked that it was not loaded.

It was not loaded just like Millie had said and Moxxie made sure to set up the two items at an equal distance before rushing over to where the kids were currently sitting.

Moxxie situated the babies where they needed to go and soon the kids were crawling towards the items.

“Go towards the glock, kids.” Moxxie chanted as the babies were off.

“Come to the knife, Max and Maria. Come towards the knife.” Millie called out to her kids.

“We can never tell anyone outside this room that we did this.” Moxxie said to Millie in all seriousness.

“Agreed.”

Maria and Max were continuing to crawl towards the weapons when both babies seemingly stopped at the same time and began to crawl away from their parents and the objects of their parent’s choosing.

“Huh?” Millie said as she turned her head along with her husband.

The babies ended up crawling somewhere alright…right over to the couch where Stolas and Blitz were continuing to watch the film.

Max plopped down right in front of the couch, his eyes fascinated by the screen.
Maria soon followed.

Millie and Moxxie looked at one another and then began to laugh.

“I guess neither of us wins this one.” Millie said with a shrug.

“They have all the time in the world to see if they will go into the assassin field like we did and what they’ll want as a weapon.” Moxxie said.

Millie nodded and then led her husband towards the living room.

“Yeah…for now let's just let them be kids.” Millie said as they sat down on the ground with their babies to watch the movie.

“Well. Well. Well.” Blitz said with a know-it-all grin. “I guess your kids wanted to spend time with their cool Uncle Blitz. Though to be fair if I was doing your little experiment they’d definitely have followed through.”

Moxxie was about to argue with Blitz, when his former boss suddenly was very distracted by what was happening in the movie.

“Love!” Blitz said pointing at the screen. “She basically said she loved him.”

“Oh there is absolutely no point in the writers of this film trying to get us to think that this is platonic.” Stolas exclaimed in agreement. “Those two are absolutely in love with one another.”

As Blitz and Stolas continued to analyze the movie (and then proceeded to start the film over again so they could watch it with their new favorite ship in mind), Millie and Moxxie just smiled at one another as well as their kids.

Millie was right.

Right now their children just needed to be their children and if they (along with their uncles) wanted to watch the animated animal movie instead of doing a silly trend to see which weapon they’d pick…well then that was just perfect.

So as Blitz restarted the film, the family all sat together and simply spent the rest of that afternoon enjoying each other's company and the love they had for one another.

And that was one thing that M&M knew they’d never have to do an experiment to be sure to prove.

Chapter Text

Millie was about to follow her boss and the rest of IMP into the hotel when something stopped her.

From across the street she could see a sinner looking quite distressed.

This was not something that usually crossed her mind, but she did recognize the sinner for some reason.

Not by exact name, but she did remember seeing during the last extermination (the one that the groups of sinners and a few of the higher ups of Hell had fought and won) someone who closely resembled the sinner feet away from her.

She recalled that the sinner had a lot of cool bombs she was throwing and overall looked pretty badass in Millie’s opinion.

So while Millie knew that she should be inside helping the IMP team get a potential client to come back from the Hazbin Hotel or at least long enough to kill the target the sinner they were pursuing originally wanted (they were just about to get them to sign a contract for one of the biggest advances IMP had ever got when after getting distracted by the Hazbin Hotel commercial they decided to rush to the Hazbin Hotel to be redeemed instead of going the revenge route).

Instead though she found herself walking across the street and standing next to the distressed looking sinner on a sidewalk bench.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Millie asked nonchalantly as she walked up next to the young woman.

“Huh?” the woman who had a thick Australian accent exclaimed as Millie interrupted her train of thought. “Oh…well trust me I am having so many thoughts right now that it might cost you a lot.”

Millie smiled as the woman slipped over to the side of the bench to allow her to sit down.

Millie sat down and introduced herself.
“Cherri Bomb.”

“Kickass name.” Millie complimented.

Cherri smiled a bit and then nodded.

“Thanks…”

Millie noticed that Cherri’s expression went from a small grin to a grimace in a matter of seconds.

So she decided to just come out and ask.

“So…Cherri, why are you sittin’ out here when I am guessing you are a guest at the Princess’ fancy hotel?”

Cherri’s eyebrows raised and she crossed her arms.

“First off, I am hanging there. I am not staying there as a guest…but…”

Cherri suddenly got quiet and took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Millie all about her and Pentious’ rivalry, the kiss, the sacrifice and now the news she’d just gotten earlier along with Charlie and the others.

“Wow! So the hotel works?” Millie asked, surprised.

Cherri nodded.

“Seems so…”

“So that Pentious fella. I knew on the news they said he sacrificed himself and now that you know he is in heaven…would you wanna see him again?”

Cherri shrugged.

“I mean at first I did so I could punch him in the face for dying.” Cherri responded, “But now I just wanna see him to ask…why me and why us? Like we are just so different…”

Millie smiled as she thought about her own husband.

Her and Moxxie could be as different as night and day. They grew up in different environments, had different interests and even differed in choices of weaponry.

But at the end of the day they love one another.

“You know my husband and I are pretty different too.” Millie said.

“Oh piss off.” Cherri said, shaking her head in disbelief at Millie’s response.

Millie did not take offense to this though and began to laugh as she further explained.

“No it’s true. I am a former farm girl from Wrath who loves violence and my husband Moxxie is a theater loving former mafia member who grew up in Greed.”

“Wow! You weren’t kidding about you two being different I guess.” Cherri said with a whistle.

“But…” Milie said, holding her finger up. “Mox and I make things work. We learn from one another, we grow together and even when we are on different pages we still end up coming back together even closer than where we started.”

Cherri nodded solemnly.

“I’m glad that works for you and your hubby. But I don't know if I am ever gonna even see him again. And if I can see him now that he is in heaven…what would I even say?”

Millie was about to respond when all of a sudden Moxxie, Loona, Stolas and Blitz all rushed out of the hotel looking frazzled.

“So….” Moxxie said, rushing over to his wife barely noticing Cherri sitting on the bench looking equally as confused as Millie. “Blitz couldn't convince the guy to come back with us and then he kind of started to flirt with this guy who was apparently a porn star but Stolas and for some reason the bartender there seemed to look miffed about it and then there was this thing with a pig and well long story short we need to go cause the Princess and her girlfriend were pretty ticked off with us and now Blitz is worried we got ourselves in deeper shit with demon royalty than we already were and getting that sinner guy just was not worth it so…yeah we need to go.”

Millie laughed and began to get up.

“Alright Mox, I am coming.”

Cherri looked shocked that the man before her was not only Millie’s husband but he’d been able to say all that without even stopping to catch his breath.

Millie got up from the bench and the two women exchanged friendly farewells.

However, as Millie began to follow her husband she stopped short and called back to Cherri.

“Hey! It may sound cliche, but opposites do attract. Whatever happens, I hope you and that sexy serpent of yours get to talk someday afterall. I’m rooting for you two.”

And with that, the small Imp woman was gone along with her husband and who she assumes were her friends or at least work acquaintances.

Cherri thought for a moment about what Millie had just told her about how she and her spouse were different but even in the few seconds that Cherri had witnessed the couple she could tell they were a dynamic duo.

Her talk with Millie wasn’t a solution, but it did give her much more to think about and she’d be lying if she said that their talk with one another had not helped her.

So with that in mind, Cherri headed back towards the Hazbin Hotel to talk with Charlie.

Millie had helped her by being a friendly ear and giving her the advice she could.

The least Cherri could do now was make sure that her and her friends were not in any trouble with the Morningstars.

So with the wise words of Millie Knowlastname playing over and over again in Cherri’s head, the Australian bombshell walked back into the hotel to help sort out whatever mess Millie’s pals had apparently.

And after that was done, she would talk more with Angel and see if he had any more insight on what she should do about her and Pentious.

The possibilities felt even more endless than ever.

But Cherri could not help but feel some excitement now that they knew the hotel’s mission actually worked.

And who knows…maybe by the end of the day she’d officially book a room.

Chapter Text

Maria smiled as she placed her bag on the bottom bunk of her cabin.

She was 17 years old and this was the year that she’d been old enough to attend a pre-college Romance Writer’s Workshop.

Maria had heard of this a few years back from one of her school’s English teachers and she finally after much research, a killer essay and recommendation from her teacher and money she saved over the last year helping with secretarial work at IMP and her mom’s nonprofit, she was now at the summer writing retreat that she’d been dreaming of for so long.

Maria began to empty out her bag that included her laptop, her notebook full of half written drafts and ideas as well as a few of her favorite romance books for inspiration (plus a few books that she still had yet to read).

 

“Oh wow! You like Felix Humphrey too!” said a voice behind Maria.

Maria turned to see a young succubus girl around her age who was eyeing one of the newest romance books she’d bought.

“Yes!” Maria nodded excitedly. “I have been a fan of them for years. And they just started this new cooking romance book series-”

 

“Match Baked in Hell! I loved that one!” spoke up another camper. This camper was an imp who had a prosthetic leg and wore a similar shirt and shorts to the other campers.

 

Maria suddenly was in full conversation with the campers who introduced themselves as Ashley and Taylor.

 

“Those are okay I guess.”

Spoke a voice behind Ashely and Taylor.

 

The voice belonged to a tall imp camper who though was wearing a similar outfit, had decided to style her outfit with a bedazzled logo of what the girls assumed to be her name as the front of the shirt read: Brittany.

“I’m a much more serious writer so I need to fill my team with reading more trade romance than anything else.”

Maria stood up and looked at Brittany confused.

 

“What’s wrong with indie authors?”

 

Brittany shrugged.

 

“Nothing, but do you not ever wonder why they were not good enough to get picked up by a real publisher.”

“Maybe they just wanted to have more control over their books and marketing. I mean there are pros and cons to different publishing outlets, right?”

Brittany looked like she was about to say something snarky as a rebuttal when they heard an announcement for all the campers to head to the mess hall to begin orientation.

So with that, Maria and her new friends made their way to orientation ready to hear what they had planned for the next two weeks.

 

“Dad, are you sure I should be here with you? I mean I am not a writer or anything.” Octavia said to her father as they headed towards the mess hall.

Stolas looked over at his daughter with confusion.

“You are a very avid romance reader though,Via. And we have not spent much time together lately so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I think your reading skills will come in handy when helping a variety of young romance writers grow their talents.”

“True…and I guess it will give me some time to see Maria. I have not seen her in so long.”

“I am so glad she suggested that I offer to be a guest teacher at this camp. Oh what fun!” Stolas said giddy.

Octavia was still unsure that this was a good idea and that she could really help anyone.

Stolas noticed his daughter’s uncertainty and bent down to her level.

“Sweetie, I am sure you will have a rewarding experience here.”

Octavia smiled and nodded.

“Okay…but race you to the mess hall old man.” Via said as she rushed off to where Stolas was supposed to give a speech.

Stolas laughed at Octavia’s teasing and quickly tried to keep up with the young girl. Though many years had gone by, Via still loved to have fun with her father when she could and Stolas would definitely not be taking that for granted especially after all the work they had done to mend and grow their relationship over the years.

Though like many times in the past…Octavia had once again won the race.

 

Maria looked in awe of her Uncle Stolas as he began to talk about romance novels and how amazed he was at all the young aspiring authors in the audience.

Suddenly Maria heard a hiss and turned around to see Brittany holding out a piece of paper.

“Fletcher wanted me to give this to you.”

At first Maria was skeptical, she’d seen Fletcher a little earlier in the day and he seemed nice. However, she wasn’t sure why he was sending her a letter.

Maria saw Fletcher smile though and Ashley & Taylor giving her a thumbs up.

Maria quickly opened the note and began to read:

Maria,
Do you want to hang out by the lake tonight at 7 after dinner?
Fletcher.

Maria contemplated this. She had never really been on a date before.

Was this a date?

Maria knew that dating was something people her age did all the time. Her brother had a boyfriend and many of her friends at school were in relationships.

However, when it came to dating, she never seemed to feel like it was something worthwhile.

She figured she would find someone someday like in her favorite romance novels.

But maybe going on a date was something that she should try and experience.

Maybe finding love at a romance writer's retreat would be her own personal happily ever after.

She looked at Fletcher again and studied his face.

He was an imp like her and had shaggy white hair and wore the same uniform as the other campers.

Maria smiled at Fletcher and Fletcher smiled back.

Maria nodded.

She had a date tonight.

She should be happy, excited, nervous, or a medley of those emotions.

So why did she feel a mixture of nothingness and dread…she was supposed to be happy, right?

Maria contemplated all of these feelings as her Uncle Stolas finished his speech and the first day of classes had officially begun.

 

Maria got ready in the mirror and took a deep breath.
Ashley and Taylor had already wished her luck and had promised that they’d cover for her at the movie night they were supposed to have after dinner that night.

“Are you nervous?” said a voice behind her.

Maria turned around to see Brittany standing with her arms crossed.

Maria shrugged.

In actuality, she was not sure how she was feeling.

She knew she should be nervous and she was somewhat but at the same time she had this strange feeling in her stomach that she just could not place.

She figured it was probably just a different manifestation of her nerves.

“When you kiss, you should use your tongue. I heard Fletcher likes that a lot.” Brittany said.

Maria was not sure if she should trust Brittany, but what if she was right?

Was that something that Maria wanted?

That was something some people liked, right?

She’d read tons of scenes about french kissing and the characters in her books always seemed to like it.

So of course she would like it too.

No matter what the thoughts in the back of her brain were saying.

Maria grabbed her stuff and rushed out the door of the cabin.

She was not sure if Brittany was making another snarky comment or not, but she did not care.

She had a date and was feeling good about it…she thought.

 

“What did you think of the ‘Romance Writing 101’ course this morning?” Fletcher asked Maria as they took their billionth walk around the lake.

“It was okay, but some of the titles that the moderator was suggesting felt a bit outdated.”

“Exactly!” Fletcher exclaimed in agreement. “Like no one cares about the romance in that queerphobic HH Darling novel. You’d think our teacher would not even bring it up after she read off the pamphlet about how inclusive this camp is supposed to be.”

“Yes! And I think she is my teacher for ‘Intro to Romance Publishing’ and I am nervous to see what happens in that class. I mean I had enough of HH Darling in real life.” Maria said, kicking a rock around.

She then began to tell Fletcher about the incident with HH Darling at the convention when she was younger.

Maria liked talking to Fletcher.

She felt he could be a good friend.

But that was just it, beyond friendship she did not see this going anywhere with Fletcher.

But was that just what people on dates felt?

I mean that is how she’d always felt for most people her age.

Were the romances she read over-exaggerating when it came to love?

She knew many of those stories took artistic liberties, but was the feeling of really liking someone one of those things?

“Maria? Would you want to kiss?” Fletcher asked nervously.

Maria nodded.

This would be her first kiss and though she had never had any desire to do this before, this was important.

It was a milestone her brother had passed years ago and she should too.

That is what you are supposed to do after all.

So Maria leaned in and let her lips gently touch Fletcher’s.

What Maria was expecting was a spark, fireworks, anything like she had ready about or seen in shows or movies ... .but she did not get that.

In actuality…she felt nothing.

It felt like kissing a wall or at least what she assumed kissing a wall felt like.

Maria suddenly pulled back fast.

Fletcher looked confused.

“Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong cause I did not mean to and I’m sorry if I-”

“No!” Maria said backing up. “You did nothing wrong. I’m sorry. I just don’t think this is gonna work.”

And with that Maria rushed off back to her cabin to head to sleep as soon as possible.

Maybe she just needed rest and would feel differently in the morning?

 

The next day and the following days, Maria did not feel any different.

The worst part is she did not know why.

Fletcher and her got along well and she could tell he was easy on the eyes.

So what was her problem?

She considered if she liked women like her Aunt Sallie May.

But the thought of kissing or being in a romantic relationship with a woman or anyone else of any gender made her feel exactly the same as she did with Fletcher.

She just did not feel it.

Did that mean she was bi?

That did not feel like the right name for how she felt or who she was either.

Maria decided to open up to Ashley and Taylor.

“I am so embarrassed.” Maria said as she got back to her brainstorming session.

The assignment was to work on outlining and brainstorming ideas for a short romance story they would finalize by the end of the summer and read small excerpts from for parents at a big showcase when they came to pick them up.

But Maria could barely concentrate on what she was writing or supposed to be writing.

What if Fletcher told everyone about the date and how it went wrong?

What if Fletcher wanted to go on another date?

There was nothing wrong with Fletcher…but that feeling of nothingness just came back when she thought about him. It felt almost like she was playing a part in a play when trying to figure out her feelings and thought of the boy in a romantic or sexual way.

And it was not just Fletcher.

This was how she’d felt whenever she was around anyone who could possibly have romantic feelings for her.

She had no desire for a sexual or romantic relationship and she thought that it would just click for her eventually.

But what if it didn’t…

It was not something she necessarily was mourning, but it also was something that kind of confused her and that she felt she needed to sit with.

“Maybe it was just nerves?” Ashley piped up to try and lighten the mood.

Maria shook her head.

“I…I don’t think so…I think I may just not be interested in anyone like that…”

Ashley and Taylor looked at her with both sympathy and understanding, but if either of the girls were about to say something that was soon forgotten when Brittany decided to chime in.

“Well do what you want, but how the hell are you gonna write good romance books if you can’t have sex or even kiss anyone? Let alone fall in love?”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Taylor said to Brittany.

Ashley began to stand up for Maria too and tell Brittany off.

But it was too late.

Brittany’s words had already stung.

How could she write love stories if she was never going to fall in love?

How could she write sex scenes?

Would everything she wrote just be ripped off of what she saw on TV or read in her books?

Maria could not stand it anymore.

She jumped up from the table, grabbed her belongings and sprinted out the door of the building they were in before anyone could even try and stop her.

 

Octavia was walking along the perimeter of the lake when she heard sniffling.

She had been told that Maria had left one of her classes and no one could find her.

So Via had started her one woman search party to try and discover where the teenager had been hiding.

Luck would have it though just a few feet away from the lake side sat a tall tree where Octavia could see the young Imp girl crying.

“Hey…what’s going on?” asked Octavia as she slowly sat down next to Maria. “Are you hurt?”

Maria shook her head and wiped away her tears.

“No. Not physically I guess.” Maria said solemnly.

Octavia dug out a small pack of tissues from her purse and handed it to Maria.

“You know a lot of people at camp are worried about you.” Via began to try and start a conversation.

She remembered a similar scenario she had faced years ago when she’d ran away to the human world by accident and Loona had been the one to find her.

Now she was in Loona’s shoes and hoped that whatever problem Maria was facing she could be of at least some type of help.

“Well…I don’t know why they would. This is a camp for future romance writers and I’m definitely not gonna be one of those…not now that I…”

Via gave Maria a reassuring look that told her that if she wanted to further tell Octavia what was going on then she would be there for her.

Maria took a deep breath and finally admitted something she had been afraid to admit for a long time.

“I’m aroace…I don’t like like anyone in that way. I don’t wanna date or kiss or have sex with guys or girls or anybody. And it was something I felt a little weird about admitting at first, but I finally realized it was the right words to describe me. I’m not ashamed or upset about that. But then…then I realized I can’t do the job I’ve wanted to do ever since I was a kid. I can’t be a romance writer.”

Octavia’s brows furrowed.

“Well why not?”

Maria looked at the Goetic Princess with confusion.

“Well I’m never gonna do any of that stuff. I won’t fall in love or have sex with anyone. So how can I be a romance writer if I can’t even feel the type of emotions and situations I am trying to portray in my characters and with my stories? I’ll just be a fraud. A joke. Or what if people accuse me of plagiarism? Or hate everything I write because they find it fake or childish or just plain bad?”

Octavia took a deep breath and handed the young girl another tissue to dry her eyes again.

Via thought for a moment about what Maria had just admitted to her and how to best go about comforting the teen.

Then she realized something.

“So you’ve read my dads books right?” Octavia asked.

Maria looked up at Octavia with some hesitation, but slowly began to nod.

“Well…do you really think dad has ever had a torrid affair with a baker’s daughter while fighting off robbers like in his one book? Or if he knows what it’s like to fall in love with a rival pirate captain in the middle of a war on the high seas?”

Maria shook her head no.

Via snapped her fingers.

“Exactly! He did some research and wrote the best he could and it turns out those are some of his biggest hits as an author. And you know, I’m ace and I still love reading steamy scenes between characters.”

Maria nodded and wiped away her tears.

“I guess that’s true.”

Octavia smiled again and held up a hand to help Maria up.

“I’m not an author, but I am a reader and I for one can’t wait to read whatever romance book you publish someday. And Maria?”

“Yes?” Maria asked.

“There are all types of love in the world. Never forget that. Just because you don’t experience something like romantic feelings for others doesn’t mean those platonic feelings you have for those in your life are any less important. People are inspired all the time in their writing and I know you’ll find that inspiration whether it be from other types of love than traditional romantic love or somewhere else.”

This made Maria smile and moments later she was hugging Octavia close.

“Thanks Octavia.”

“No problem, kid…no problem.”

For the next few weeks things only went up for Maria.

She ignored Brittany who decided to move on to bragging to some other kids about her talents and riches.

Fletcher and her talked and there were no hard feelings between them. Fletcher had even stood up to Brittany after Brittany tried to ask him out by insulting Maria’s sexuality.

Fletcher and Maria even ended up sharing some ideas for stories and promised to stay in touch after Fletcher went back to Greed where his family was from.

Taylor and Ashley told Maria that they were too victims of Brittany’s bullying as she had told them similar statements.

“She said that no one would read a romance where a bisexual girl falls in love with a bisexual boy and that my characters were just self inserts,” said Ashley.

“Brittney told me that my autistic character wasn’t written like the characters she sees on TV and when I told her I am on the autism spectrum she asked if I was sure?” Taylor had told Maria angrily.

After hearing this as well as some other rumors about ignorant comments Britney had made to other camper’s, Maria and her new friends ended up telling one of the other counselors about what Brittany had said.

The last they’d seen of Brittany she’d been packing her bags and complaining to anyone within earshot that this place was a waste of time and she could just get her parents to publish her books. She even could be heard saying her stories would make way more money than anything any camper here could write.

No one knew if she left on her own or if she had been kicked out for bullying.

But either way, it seemed everyone was glad to be rid of her.

Finally, it was showcase day.

The last day of camp.

Maria was standing backstage and going over the excerpt she’d chosen to read when she felt a tap on her shoulders.

Behind her stood her Uncle Stolas.

‘Maria, dear. Are you ready?” Stolas asked her.

Maria nodded confidently.

“Born ready!” she said. “I hope Mom, Dad and Max were able to get here okay.”

Stolas chuckled.

“Well though your immediate family support is important, I think you actually have a bit of a larger support group in the audience than you think.” Stolas said, lifting the curtain slightly aside for Maria to see.

Maria peeked out from behind the curtain and had to hold in a gasp.

Before her was not only her Mom, Dad and Max, but also her Uncle Blitz, Loona, Cleo, Orion, Aunt Sallie May, Aunt Barbie Wire and even some of her friends from school.

Maria quickly ducked back behind the curtain to stop herself from being spotted, but she was smiling from horn to horn and was happy that so many people were there to see her.

She quickly thanked her Uncle Stolas again and got back to practicing.

She had stopped for a moment to thank Octavia again for her support earlier and for all her help with the camp overall. The Goetia woman wished her good luck and reminded Maria if she ever needed to talk about anything she was only a text or call away and same went for her whole family.

Right after they ended their conversation, the lights began to flicker on and off to signal that the showcase was about to start.

Octavia rushed to get a seat next to Orion, but not before stopping to say hi to her dad and thank him.

“You know, I was not so sure about coming here and what I could offer. But I actually really enjoyed my time. Maybe we could do this again next year?” Via said.

Stolas smiled and hugged his daughter close.

“I’d love that Via. I’d love that very much.”

Maria waited in the wings as she watched one by one different kids come up to read excerpts from their romance stories. Some were extremely light and fluffy and others were borderline explicit ( the rule was PG-13 rating at the most in regards to steamy scenes, though a majority of the teens tended to read the tamer parts of their stories no matter the content as many kids had parents in the audience and did not seem to be comfortable reading that material out load in front of their families).

Finally it was Maria’s turn.

Maria walked up on the stage and got to the podium.

She looked out at the audience and smiled when she saw her family and friends there.

Octavia was right.

Love was more than just romance.

Love was when her Dad helped her with her homework or fixed one of the dresses she wore when she would cosplay as her favorite fantasy heroine at conventions.

Love was when her Mom and her sang along to songs in the car that they knew her and her brother hated or when her Mom picked up from school to get ice cream instead of punishing her after she got suspended for a week for bashing in a kid’s nose after the kid had said something offensive about one of Maria’s friends.

Love is when her and her brother use walkie talkies to talk to each other in the middle of the night even though they had their own rooms for a few years now and both had cell phones compared to when they would use those toy communication devices as 8 year-olds.

Love is when her Aunt Barbie and Aunt Sallie May take her and Max on separate shopping trips for their birthday and let them get whatever they want from the store so as to not be treated like one unit or forgotten (something that Barbie knew especially could happen in a family with twins).

Love is when she gets to spend the day at her Uncle Blitz and Uncle Stolas’ house where Uncle Blitz will take her for horseback rides and Uncle Stolas will indulge her in spirited discussions about romance book tropes.

Love is knowing she can always go to Loona and Cleo’s place when she just needs to get away from her family and that neither will judge her for it, but that they usually knew the right thing to say to help her make amends with whoever in her family she is annoyed with when she goes over there. They also always have the best snacks out of anyone she knows. She doesn’t go much anymore, but knowing she has the option is a comfort in itself.

Love is spending time with her friends at cons or after school book club or just spending time together in the library.

Love is family.
Love is friendship.
Love is important.

All Love is important.

And Maria was not sure what the future held for her.

But she realized something, especially standing up on that stage.

No matter what happened in her life, she would never be truly alone.

 

Because no matter what the Britney’s of the world or anyone else had to say about her life, she was happy and she would never let anyone tell her she had to be a certain way to be happy.

To be honest she’d actually always been happy and content with not having a romantic partner or being sexually active or even never having kissed anyone before.

In fact, she realized later on it was others telling her that she should be miserable about not having experienced or felt those certain feelings or desires that actually made her miserable.

But that was done with.

Maria would be in charge of her own happiness and would not pretend she was unhappy for the sake of others expectations.

And no one could tell her otherwise.

With those final thoughts in mind, Maria looked out into the audience once more.

She then took a deep breath and began to read.

“My name is Maria Knowlastname and this is my story…”

Chapter Text

Stolas could feel Blitz practically vibrating as they got off the hospital elevator and walked down the hall towards a particular room as the two wore matching shirts with a joke about a baby.

“Blitz, calm down.” Stolas said with a laugh.

Blitz suddenly stopped and turned towards his husband in shock.

“Calm down! How could you possibly ask me to calm down Stolas? How could you not be anything but ecstatic right now?”

Stolas smiled

“I understand and trust me I am overjoyed, but overworking ourselves won’t-”

Suddenly Stolas froze in the doorway of the room they’d at long last arrived to.

To an outsider this might look like a hospital room in the recovery ward of the maternity floor of St. Anne's.

But this was not just any old hospital room.

Inside this particular room, Octavia sat on a bed looking extremely tired, but also extremely happy.

Orion stood next to her bed looking as happy as Octavia was, but with obvious nervousness radiating from him.

A few feet away on a couch sat Loona and Cleo who seemed to be both taking pictures with their phones as well as helping to organize the gifts that had already arrived in the hospital room.

And right in between Orion and Octavia, sat a freshly laid, white as snow egg in an incubator.

Traditionally Goetia usually had their children in nests at the palace, but seeing as this new heir’s conception had been a unique one to say the least…Octavia and Orion had decided having something like an ER and infant specialists around would be ideal in this sort of situation.

Octavia and Orion had known that they wanted to have kids for some time now.

However, they also knew two things:
They wanted to wait a while after they’d gotten married to enjoy just being a duo before becoming a trio (or possibly more)
Neither Octavia or Orion were interested in conceiving the traditional way through intercourse

They’d looked into the adoption process or perhaps surrogacy. But then after sifting through some Goetic spell books randomly one day and confirming their findings with Vassago (who was almost an expert in magic as well as the Goetia history), they’d found a spell.

A spell that if done carefully could be 100% effective and help to solve all their problems.

Similar to IVF, this was almost a magical version of that medical procedure which would allow Octavia to become pregnant with her and Orion’s biological child without having to have sexual intercourse.

When Octavia had first told her father of her plans to have a child this way, he’d been excited for his daughter and especially excited at the thought of being a grandfather.

However, he did worry about his daughter.

He remembered learning about the spell as an older teen and being rather excited to share his findings with Stella.

Stolas had no interest in having sex with Stella and he had a feeling that she had not been interested much in having sex with him.

He’d thought that this would be a solution to their shared problem.

When he conveyed these findings to Stella though instead of being met with relief or even possibly gratitude (he knew Stella very well at that point and though she was not a very nice person especially towards him, Stolas deep down thought maybe this shared goal could at least make their arranged marriage more tolerable rather than the tumultuous torture that it was for the pair), he was met with a completely different emotion.

The look and reaction she gave her husband was one of disgust.

“That spell is an abomination. Not only can it be dangerous to me and the egg if not done correctly, but if anyone were to find out that we’d conceived a child that way we’d be the laughing stock of this family for sure. Damn it Stolas, I thought you had somewhat of a brain between your ears. But I guess I was mistaken.”

Stolas had felt embarrassed and ashamed.

He hadn’t looked much further into the negative consequences of the spell and had been blinded by the idea of being able to have a child without having sex with Stella.

He had not thought of anything regarding his reputation, his wife’s reputation or safety or his future child’s reputation and health.

After that day Stolas never brought up the spell again.

He never told Via this story as he did not wish to sour the perception of her mother even more than Stella had already done on her own.

However, Octavia assured her father that between medical advancements in the last twenty something years and the team that her and Orion had assembled to help with the spell and monitoring her pregnancy as well as her and her child’s health after she would lay the egg, there would be nothing to worry about.

This was a bit of an exaggeration on Octavia’s part, but she was being given the chance of a lifetime and she did not wish to waste it.

So soon the spell was cast and Octavia had learned she would be laying an egg in about 9 months.

The pregnancy had gone surprisingly smooth with absolutely no complications and now after several months, 13 hours of labor and about 30 minutes of pushing…Octavia and Orion were proud parents of a brand new egg.

“Hey Dads. Come meet my egg.” Octavia said with a raspy, but joyful voice.

Blitz and Stolas almost floated towards Octavia as they softly hugged her one by one and took turns fussing over her before Via took all strength to tell her parents that she was truly alright.

Stolas and Blitz then turned to hug Orion.

“Congrats. How does it feel to be a dad?” Blitz asked his son in law.

Orion nervously patted the back of his head.

“Honestly terrifying, but also exciting.”

“Well…” Stolas said, patting Orion on the shoulder. “That’s how you know you’re gonna be a good father.”

Finally, Stolas and Blitz turned to the egg.

“I…promised myself I wouldn’t cry,” said Stolas as he tried to pull himself together.

“I didn’t.” Blitz said as he began to bawl.

Stolas soon followed.

Orion eyed his wife who had the same grin on her face.
They both chuckled to one another.

Octavia looked around to see Loona and Cleo were taking photos and laughing at Stolas and Blitz’s reaction (though Via would have to remember to tease Loona later about that as she could’ve sworn to see a few tears in the hell hound’s eyes when they asked Loona and Cleo to be their child’s Satan Parents).

She knew that Millie and Moxxie were dropping off their kids with a sitter, but had promised to come visit O&O as soon as they could.

Their other friends and family would be visiting in the coming days and/or had already sent a gift that was currently in the large pile to the right of Cleo.

Octavia then looked back at Stolas and Blitz who had went from weeping moments ago to now silently crying to themselves as they huddled over the egg.

This family was extremely unique, but it was hers and she would not trade it for anything.

Though something was missing and as much as she did not want to admit it there was one more person she wanted to introduce the egg to.

 

“Are you sure about this, Octavia?” Vassago had asked her as he walked towards the palace dungeon with Via.

Vassago had run into Via on her way here as he was near the palace dungeon for some unrelated royal business and had offered to come with the princess to do what she was going to do.

Though Via had initially declined as she had even told Orion, Stolas, Blitz and Loona that she needed to do this alone and this stood by the statement.

She did regret at least bringing someone along to walk her to the dungeon door.

So she had asked Vassago if would at least do that to which he graciously agreed to.

When they got to the door, Octaiva looked down at the bundle she was holding and then looked up at Vassago.

“I am sure.”

Vassago nodded.

“Muy bien.” he whispered, defeated as he opened up the door to the dungeon for her.

Octavia walked down the steps and after speaking with a guard, she was brought over to a cell door that she had not seen in quite some time.

“Hello Mother.” Octavia said.

Stella had not been outside the dungeon walls for quite some time.

Though she had a small window in her cell and was allowed to go out into the prison yard for recreational use, she had not taken any of Octavia’s offers for parole and potential redemption.

At first, Octavia felt a glimmer of hope.

At long last maybe her mother was feeling remorse or guilt for what she had done.

However, Octavia had soon learned that her Mother’s reasoning behind her refusal to work towards being released was not because she was ashamed of her past actions but quite the opposite.

She was proud of those actions.

She did not believe she had done anything wrong at all.

And if she were to go the route of trying to be released from jail, then she would be required to do something Stella would never do in a million years.

Accept or admit she was wrong.

So in the end Stella spent her days in the dungeon with the occasional tabloid she was allowed as she would rather rot in a cell than ever risk losing one of the things that Stella valued the most.

Her pride.

“Octavia. I see you…you had the egg.” Stella said as she slowly got up and looked her daughter up and down with her eyes landing on the ivory colored egg that was tucked between Octavia’s chest and the carrier the egg was currently placed in.

While Stella had not seen much of the outside world in quite some time, she still looked almost identical to years ago when Octavia had last left her mother in the jail cell and informed Stella of her punishment.

Something else though had obviously not changed about Stella.

Her disdain for the untraditional.

Even if it was her own flesh and blood.

“I…I thought you’d like to see your grandchild.” Octavia said.

Stella sighed and rolled her eyes.

“You woke me up from the pleasant afternoon nap I was having for this? This abomination.”

Octaiva gasped and held the egg closer to her than she had been before but careful enough not to risk cracking it at all.

How dare her mother say something so vile, so unforgivable about her own grandkid.

“What do you mean? This is your grandchild. How could you say that?”

Stella huffed.

“Well it’s true darling. You used that dangerous and unnatural spell to conceive a child instead of the traditional way. You know I didn’t wish to have sex with your father and we all know he did not feel the same way. But I sucked it up and did my duty. You decided to create this monstrosity through such a cowardly and unnatural spell. I’m sure it was your father encouraging this. You know he-”

“Stop it!” Octavia interrupted, causing her mother to look at her in shock. “Stop it now. Say what you will about me. But you will not talk about my child that way or my father. If you really loved me you wouldn’t lie to my face or call my child, your grandchild, anything less than a miracle. I’m leaving, Mother. And this time… this time I don’t think I am coming back.”

Stella rolled her eyes and groaned.

“And what is that supposed to mean sweetie? You’re going to actually deny a grandmother her right to see her grandchild?”

Octavia was about to reach for the door when she stopped to think of a remark to her mother’s question.

“Absolutely. And in all honestly…I think it’s in their best interest that my kid does not grow up with a terrible influence like you.”

And with that Octavia marched out of the door with the egg, thus marching out of Stella’s life for good.

And that was something she absolutely did not regret.

 

Later on, Octavia sat with her father in her living room conveying to her dad the events of that morning.

“I am so sorry that your mother spoke to you like that, Octavia. Why I can’t believe that woman.”

Octavia wanted to say she could, but held her tongue.

Tonight was about celebrating her, Orion and their new addition.

Blitz was in the other room with Orion helping with dinner.

While they occasionally had servants to help with dinner, both Octavia and Orion believed self sufficiency was important and tried to frequently cook meals for themselves as often as possible even if those dishes had varying success.

Though Blitz was pretty good in the kitchen himself, so he and Orion were sure to make a great meal for tonight.

Octavia wasn’t worried about that though.

She was still just trying to get over the bad taste of her mother’s wretched words.

“What kind of grandmother says that?”

“Someone who if you agree…should probably not be a grandmother at all.” Stolas said, hoping that he was not overstepping too much.

But Stolas in fact was reading Via’s mind and she was about to say that much when the two birds turned their heads rapidly at the sound of a crack.

CRACK!

Via’s eyes brightened as she quickly called Blitz and Orion into the living room.

The egg that she’d placed in a small carrier in front of her and her father was finally hatching.

Orion held Octavia’s hand as they watched the shell of the egg they’d desperately wanted begin to crack.

And as their daughter finally came out of her shell and into this world, Octavia could not have been more happy with that fact that she was the mother to a beautiful baby bird, she had a wonderful husband who she knew was a great father, and she had two amazing parents next to them who would be the grandparents that her child deserved.

Via carefully picked up her daughter with the help of Orion and looked into the newly hatched baby bird’s eyes.

“Welcome to the world…Lyra.”