Chapter Text
“C’mon, Al,” Charlie held her hands together under her chin. She had been practically begging this demon for the past twenty minutes. “We’re all certain you’ll like this one!”
“Charlotte, dear, you said that about the last one,” Alastor sighed as he turned down another hallway, more than likely leading to his room to avoid being asked about the dreaded ‘movie night’ they insisted on having… again.
“Yes, but! We had Husk and Niffty watch this one before any of us asked you just to make sure it’s something you’d like!” She rushed up in front to cut him off. His eyes widened at her audacity, but decided to let this one pass as now she had his interest. Niffty and Husk had already watched it?
“If,” he got cut off by a short excited inhale from the princess, “If! If I watch the first thirty minutes, and am not entertained, then I will take my leave. After that, I will no longer be asked to join another one of your awful ‘movie nights’. Deal?” Charlie let out an excited squeal as she danced in place.
“No deals!” She chirped and pushed his hand away before grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the elevator. He simply blinked, wide eyed at the grip she had on his arm. He then glared before dipping into the shadows and popping up beside her. She gave no other reaction besides rapidly and repeatedly pushing the down button on the panel.
It took all of two minutes for Charlie to bust through the doors of the entertainment room with a shout, “he said yes!” Angel Dust and Husk snicked quietly, both knowing his hatred for these types of things.
“The Radio Demon watching a movie? Is it snowing outside?” Lucifer chuckled from his seat on one of the couches. Alastor huffed, deeming him unworthy of a response.
“Just press play before he decides to leave,” Vaggie grumbled while Charlie ran to the projector, fumbling with a few buttons before running to dim the lights. After everyone was settled in their own seats, with Niffty sitting directly beside him, the movie started.
Alastor’s eyebrows were already raised at the sight of the first scene. None of the movies they’d coerced him to watch before had ever had any carriages or cars like that before. And he had to admit, the slow music was already catchy. Then he could only blink at the sight of the characters. Well… this just got a bit more interesting.
His heart stuttered just a bit at the sight of the woman, just a touch too familiar. Now the movie had his full attention.
Why I’d expect nothin’ less from the finest seamstress in New Orleans
Pardon? Alastor’s ears shot straight up. He heard something else in the room, but it was muffled as he focused everything he had on the screen.
The others had started out watching the movie, but two of them turned towards the deer at the faint burst of static only a few minutes in. Lucifer and Husk looked at the very focused deer then at each other with raised brows. A question that neither of them could answer.
There were multiple reactions from the deer, they could all see eventually. His face never gave him away, but his eyebrows and ears said everything. Ears out to the sides? Listening and interested, but not super excited, or maybe even considered sad. Straight up like they were being pulled by strings? Very excited, or greatly interested. Pinned back? Well, mad was the only thing they could gather from that, though no one could tell why he’d be mad over a movie. The only thing that caught them all off guard, though, was the fact that his focus never once shifted from the screen. Many of them were certain he hadn’t even blinked yet.
Alastor’s emotions were all over the place. It was like a blast from the past in the form of animation. There were so many things he hadn’t seen in ages.
He could relate all too well with how Tiana was treated. Even if it was only hinted at as it was more than likely a children’s movie, the reactions were still there. His ears drooped slightly when her offer was declined even after she’d already been told yes. May as well start calling him Tiana after this movie was over because this shit was hitting a little too close to home.
Then the deer's ears had pinned even further to his head every moment the ‘Shadow Man’ appeared on screen. His shadow had been more than interested, though, as the thing popped up from the floor and on top of his head, its eyes just as wide as Alastor’s. But who even wrote the guy’s character?! Almost none of what he was doing made sense! Almost none of it was remotely close to what voodoo was supposed to be, or how it was to be practiced! That curse shouldn’t have even worked! It was offensive! He was pretty sure he might have startled some of the others at the small record scratch he emitted in reaction to the man.
Although, it was still interesting. Having a living shadow was extremely helpful when he was alive. Even if his couldn’t do whatever complicated things the one in the movie could at the time. He didn’t think anyone would look that deeply into the practice to know about them if they weren’t practitioners themselves.
He almost wanted to audibly laugh when it came to Ray and Louis. Oh, they were perfect.
Now… Mama Odie… someone else must’ve written her character because that’s how it’s supposed to be done. Whoever wrote her must’ve done some deep diving to write a voodoo priestess more in character than Dr. Facilier. Proper etiquette and relations. Her connection with the animals and the bayou itself. Yes. She was nearly perfect.
The others had taken to watching Alastor and his rather reactive shadow than watching the movie after his second record screech. The only one who hadn’t seen it in the first place was Lucifer. And even he thought the deer’s minute reactions were more interesting.
There were times where they had to keep their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing. Even Niffty had to scoot away due to the slight shaking of her body.
Angel wanted to record it, but Husk had slapped the thing out of his hand the moment it was picked up.
“If you aim that thing at him, everything is over. He’ll feel it, get pissed, then storm out,” Husk hastily whispered before Angel could get upset. The spider gave a small nod of acknowledgment before they went back to watching the deer.
Even Vaggie was having fun. She and Charlie would whisper about how he’d react next. The position of his ears or eyebrows. They didn’t account for his shadow getting involved, but that just made their guessing even more fun as the thing was even more expressive than Alastor himself.
The music slowly faded out after the credits before Charlie slowly moved to turn the projector off then slowly turn the lights back on. They all flinched when they saw the deer simply blink before sitting back up straight.
“Well, dat was an interestin’ movie,” Alastor’s eyes went even wider and his ears pinned back as his natural accent, sans static filter, came out of his mouth. His jaw snapped shut with an audible click before he turned to scan the room. Internally cringing as he noticed every single person had their mouths open in surprise. A slight, barely there blush dusted his cheeks. He’d been more reactive tonight than he had been in the last seventy years combined! “May I ask when this animation supposedly takes place?” His voice and filter now firmly put back in place.
“The thirties, boss,” Husk gave a smirk when Alastor perked up, his smile widening.
“Any, uh, any opinions, Al?” Charlie coughed. And that was all he needed before he shot out of his chair and started pacing.
“Of course I do! First and foremost, even though I loathe to admit it, it was wonderful! I dare say it’s the best thing I’ve seen on a screen! Although there were quite a few things that either didn’t make sense or were just straight up wrong,” his eyebrows furrowed as he paused.
“Uh… like what?” Angle asked, eyebrow raised as he watched the fidgety Radio Demon.
“Many things! Oh, the music was lovely, and I relate very well with Tiana. I wasn’t sure if there would ever be anything to capture even a modicum of truth like they did with her. The whole community bit made it even better. Although, I do wish it was more like that when I was alive,” he tapped his chin before glancing at the white screen.
“Wait, you’re from Louisiana?” Charlie tilted her head. Alastor huffed at yet another interruption.
“Yes! New Orleans born an’ bred,” a quick nod at the girl was his response before he turned and started pacing again, not noticing their eyes going wide. His filter had dropped once again and gone was his transatlantic accent. “Now, dere’s quite a few ting’s wrong wit’ de stuff in dere. Like Dr. Facilier. Dat man don’t know ‘is arse from a hole in de groun’.”
“What-“ Lucifer raised his finger with wide eyes before flinching back at Alastor, quickly turning while glaring and pointing at him.
“Pa entèwonp mwen!” Alastor sneered, his voice changing once more. This time… more feminine? Everyone’s jaws were now dropped. “Back ta what I was sayin’! Dat ain’t ‘ow voodoo’s done. I don’ know who da hell wrote ‘im, but dey need ta go back an’ fix it! Dat’s more den offensive! None a dat stuff woulda worked. Da only ting he ‘ad goin’ for ‘im was ‘is shadow. Even den da ting was more physical den it shoulda been. Now, Mama Odie? Dat’s ‘ow voodoo is done. Dere had ta be more den one person writin’ cause she was perfect. Ya ain’t gettin’ shit done wit anythin’ if ya don’ got no connection wit da earth an’ animals. Dat shadow man was pure hokum!” Alastor’s nose scrunched up before he shook his head. “But, in de end, I was shocked an’ more den happy Tiana got what she wanted. Ain’t a lotta folks who did back den.”
Angel, wanting to hear more of the real Alastor, asked, “really, Al, how would you even know all this? Even if you were alive around that time, it’s not like you met the people this was fashioned after. How do you know it ain’t someone else you don’t know?”
“Cause my maman was de last priestess in our area,” Alastor glared at him, “if dey was in Louisiana den dey went trough ‘er.”
“And how do you know it wasn’t?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow. Alastor huffed through his nose, his glare deadly.
“Den who was dat based off of?” Alastor scanned the room for an answer, mildly confused as to why everyone was still staring just at him.
“I heard they found a hut on the outside of the French Quarter,” Husk shrugged, blinking when the deer’s ears shot up.
“Yeah! I saw in the papers it was right on the bayou,” Angel nodded, remembering the news as it made its way up north.
“Dey found my ‘ouse, an’ still got it wrong?! Dere was a book! How did dey still get de sigils, and words, and curses all wrong!” There was a burst of static, glowing green sigils floating faintly in the air around him before disappearing rather abruptly. Angel frowned as he thought the filter was about to turn back on. “If dey ‘ad access ta all a dat, but still wrote dat trash, den I’m more den offended! I ain’t like de shadow man!”
Angel and Husk shrugged in unison.
Alastor let out a short, quiet growl before asking another question. “If dey based ‘im off a me, den who was Mama Odie? I don’ tink anyone else left much a anyting after I died.”
“Another little cabin, I think. I don’t remember if it was in the bayou, though,” Angel hummed while tapping his chin.
“Nah, I heard it was in a more swampy area,” Husk added.
“Well, I guess I can’ be too mad den,” Alastor hummed with furrowed brows.
“The fuck you mean you can’t be mad?! You were just ranting about Dr. Facilier!” Vaggie threw her hands out.
“Dey were both mine. If it was de one I’m tinkin’ of, den dat was de house a healin’ I ran wit my maman ‘fore she died. If dat’s where dey got Mama Odie from, den dat’s fine,” Alastor simply shrugged his shoulders. “I wanna know who de hell wrote dat garbage ‘bout de doctor, doh. Even wit de right tools, dey still messed it up.” He went back to tapping his chin and growling before Angel gasped and held up his hand. “Wi?”
“I know who it is! It’s why Val’s scripts are shit!” Angel beamed. Hey, a free kill is a free kill.
“Dey down ‘ere?” Alastor’s eyebrow inched up.
“Yup! One of Val’s main writers!” Angel clapped his hands together.
“Hey, no, wait!” Charlie finally jumped in, literally, as she landed in front of the door, “we don’t do revenge killing! That’s bad for business!”
“Aw, c’mon, princess. How would you feel if someone turned your life’s work into something it wasn’t?” Angel pouted, trying not to laugh as Alastor smiled brightly and pointed at him, his eyes never leaving Charlie’s.
“Mmmm,” Charlie bounced on her toes, morals battling against her, “dad help!”
“No no, I kind of want to see where this goes,” Lucifer waved a hand, chuckling when Alastor’s smile got even wider.
“Dad!” Charlie whined.
“Ya can’t stop me, sha. Ya only in de way,” Alastor’s eyes sharpened as he took a step closer.
“Wait! Hold on!” Lucifer chimed in to get him away from his daughter, “you said your grimoire was in Louisiana?” Alastor turned his sharp gaze back to Lucifer.
“What does dis ‘ave ta do wit anyting?” Alastor stood up straighter, looking down at the king.
“I get all the books! Well, magic books! If the owners are dead, and they haven’t been used in twenty-five years, then they pop up into my library!” Lucifer smiled as he inched his way in between his daughter and the deer. “I can see if it’s there if you want it.”
“An’ you didn’ tink ta mention dis when I was talkin’ ‘bout it?” Alastor threw his hands out, “whatcha mean?! Of course I want de book!” With a quick nod, Lucifer disappeared in a puff of red and golden sparkles.
“Hey, Al?” Angel called to get his attention again.
“Wi?” Alastor hummed as he spun on his heels to face the spider.
“Do you got a jar of dirt?” Angel bit his lip.
“Whatcha mean ‘a jar a dirt’?” He raised an eyebrow, ear twitching as he heard Husk and Vaggie snort.
“Just-” Angel stifled a giggle, “can ya just say ‘if you don’t want it, give it back’?” Alastor looked up and down his person before narrowing his eyes.
“If ya don’ want it, give it back.” It was a simple line, but it had Angel, Husk, Vaggie, and Niffty covering their mouths and Charlie biting her lip. “I’m assumin’ dat means somethin’ if it’s got ya crackin’ like dat,” he finished with a sharper glare. Barely reacting when he heard Lucifer poof back into the room.
“What’d I miss?” The king tilted his head in confusion as he scanned the room. That cracked Angel completely as he bent over, wheezing with his hands on his stomach and the other set on his knees.
“Dey made me say somethin’, an’ now dis,” Alastor gestured to the bunch before crossing his arms, clearly not amused.
“What did you say?” Lucifer blinked a few times.
“Well, I ain’t sayin’ it again if it’s got dis reaction de first time,” he responded in frustration. The two watched as Angel attempted to navigate on his phone before holding it up for both the king and Alastor to see. A video.
It took all of ten seconds for Alastor’s face to drop almost completely. His smile almost gone as his face turned bright red. A loud screech resounded around the room as the radio in the corner burst completely, smoke now spilling from the speaker.
“And who was going to tell me I slipped?!” He was back to his normal, transatlantic, masculine, static covered voice.
“It was hot,” Angel shrugged after catching his breath.
“I liked it,” Charlie said, sounding almost guilty.
“I like it when you slip,” Niffty giggled deviously, having heard it only once before after he’d had a rather nasty fight with Vox.
“What’s so bad about it?” Lucifer raised an eyebrow.
“I sound uncouth! Like- like- ” he couldn’t even form words with how embarrassed he felt.
“I thought it was fun,” Lucifer chimed in with a wide smile, “And! We got to learn about this lil thing in the process!” The king snapped his fingers and a thick, very old, leather bound book plopped into his hands. “I don’t know if it’s yours or not. The last name written in it is Aloysia.”
Another screech and a flinch from the Radio Demon got some wide eyes from the others.
“Do you know her?” Charlie tilted her head, curious as to why the deer reacted in such a way. Alastor took a few minutes, opening the book and looking at the first page with the names before he answered.
“I was her.” It was soft, but the wide eyes he got in return was unnerving.
”What?” It was a quiet question that escaped the group in unison. Alastor gave a small hum as he started casting small and gentle spells on the book to insure no more damage could come to it.
“It was a very different and difficult time back then. By the time I turned twelve, my body just didn’t feel right.” He shrugged, lowering himself to sit on the floor by the coffee table. The rest of the group followed, circling around him, fully absorbed in the lore the Radio Demon was dropping about himself. “It was right after signing this book, actually. Life only grew harder for my maman and me. She- like the rest of our sosyete- accepted who I was. My father, not so much. Even before, he was a rather nasty man. But after he learned what was happening… he lost it worse than ever before.” Almost everyone was holding their collective breath. Aside from Niffty, the darling she was, had scooted closer and leaned against him. The two had bonded in more ways than he had with any other.
“I don’t think I like where this is going,” Charlie muttered with her shoulders drawn up.
“No, I don’t think anyone would,” Alastor chuckled as he manifested a blank notepad and a pencil, starting to write seemingly random things. “But your assumptions would be correct. From what I can recall, none of it started until I began to attend school. Interracial relationships were heavily frowned upon and illegal back then, and as more people learned of who I was and where I came from, they began talking. My father got a lot of backlash from the community, and in turn, he took it out on us. When he finally figured out who I was trying to be, he snapped worse than he ever had before.” There was a long pause before someone finally broke it with the question everyone had been thinking.
“What happened?” Lucifer frowned as he leaned against the table, somehow feeling sorry for the Radio Demon. The deer paused in his writing then sighed.
“I was late coming home from school, unable to get there before my father got home from work. I walked in on him standing above my mother’s corpse.” There was a round of gasps. Charlie was near to tears while Niffty simply patted his thigh. He shook his head before flipping a couple pages and writing again. “That, too, is when I snapped. My first victim in both life and death. I went to ask the nearest hounsi for help. She knew of the problems at home. It was hard for the two of us, but even as emotional as we were, we got it done. Everyone simply thought I was the girl left behind. The sosyete helped me ‘disappear’, so to speak. It wasn’t until I was fifteen that I returned to society as Alastor. A new ‘white’ boy in town. The only good things my father gave me were my lighter skin and my height. It was easy to pass as a tan, lanky, teenage boy then.”
“Earth fucking sucks,” Lucifer mumbled with his forehead on the table.
“Yes, but there was still some good,” Alastor chuckled a bit louder, “and I got to take out the trash!”
“Of course you did,” Husk rolled and scoffed his eyes.
“Announcing it over the radio made it even better, too! No one suspected a thing. I started working at the station about two years after I graduated, having perfected my ‘radio voice’, as you all call it. I was a model citizen,” Alastor looked up with a devious glint in his eyes
“‘Model citizen’ my ass,” Angel snorted.
“Of course! I kept the streets cleaner than ever before! My only mistake was getting a bullet through my skull,” and with that bomb, he shrugged once again.
“How- how the fuck do ya just drop something like that and be so chill about it?!” Angel sputtered with wide eyes.
“I died. Simple as that. Doesn’t matter how it happened as we all die regardless,” and after that, he picked up his notepad to make sure everything was correct. “Now, back to the book then, yes?”
“Yeah- yes- um, please?” Charlie nodded quickly as she wiped her cheeks off, absolutely done with this depressing conversation.
“Okay, fine then! I have questions!” Angel called out as he slapped one hand on the table, Lucifer yelping and sitting up at both the sound and vibration.
“I’m sure you do,” Alastor smirked, shutting the book and turning towards the spider.
“I want to know if the stuff in the movie is stuff that can actually be done,” Angel gave a quick nod.
“Would you like to test it?” Alastor raised an eyebrow, smirking as Husk and Vaggie shuffled away, leaving Angel by himself.
“Yes,” short, sweet, and with absolutely zero self preservation. The Radio Demon’s smirk widened to an almost crazed degree as he lifted the notepad and started mumbling the incantations, his demonic powers letting him draw magic from himself instead of an outside source as he would’ve done on earth. Green and red sigils started floating around him as the overhead lights dimmed.
Alastor held out his hand as his voice got quieter, nearly breaking his words with held back laughter as Angel nervously and very slowly slid his own hand into the deer’s. With a poof of green smoke and a flash of white light, the spot where Angel was sitting was now empty.
Everyone froze.
“…uh… where’d he go?” Husk finally muttered, tail flicking.
Then came a quiet wet slap like someone dropping a wet rag.
All heads snapped down to the table where a very small, very disgruntled pink and white frog sat, its spindly appendages sprawled awkwardly across the wood. Two of its six new limbs twitched in outrage as its wide froggy mouth opened.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Angel’s voice shrieked, high-pitched and echoing out of the frog’s throat.
Charlie screamed, half in shock and half in terror. “He’s a frog! You turned him into a frog!!”
“Oh my god,” Vaggie groaned, dragging her hand down her face. “Of course this is happening.”
Niffty squealed, scooping Frog-Angel up with both hands. “Eee! He’s so cute! Look at his tiny arms! Oh oh, he’s got four of them still!”
“PUT ME DOWN, YA LITTLE GREMLIN!” Angel flailed, his tiny frog-legs kicking uselessly while his lower set of arms crossed. “This is NOT cute! I got slime on my fur! My ass is cold! And- why the hell do I taste bugs?!”
Husk nearly choked on his newly poured drink, wheezing into his glass. Lucifer, meanwhile, was doubled over, clutching his stomach and fist slamming on the table with laughter.
“Marvelous!” Alastor’s voice boomed, far too pleased with himself. His shadow writhed behind him in laughter. “Ah, the irony. Straight out of the picture show! I daresay this is the most entertaining movie night yet!”
“Change him back!” Vaggie shouted, her eye twitching as she stomped toward the deer.
“Mmm, but why would I waste such a… fascinating opportunity?” Alastor mused, tilting his head. His eyes glowed brighter as he bent closer to Angel, grin sharp and unyielding. “Tell me, my dear arachnid, do you feel the pull? The connection to the earth? To the bayou? To the-”
“THE ONLY THING I FEEL IS SLIMY, AND IF SOMEONE DOESN’T FIX THIS IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS, I SWEAR I’M GONNA-RIBBIT” Angel froze, horrified, as the last word came out as a croak.
That broke everyone. Husk snorted so hard whiskey shot out of his nose. Charlie broke and had both hands over her mouth, tears of laughter in her eyes. Even Vaggie’s stern glare cracked for a moment before she buried her face in her hands.
“Oh-hohoho! Exquisite!” Alastor clapped his hands together, static crackling with delight. “He even sounds authentic!”
“Change me back, ya psycho Bambi knockoff!” Angel snapped- or tried to- with strings of ribbits slipping between words.
Vaggie stepped between them, hands on her hips, voice low and sharp. “Now.”
Alastor tapped his chin thoughtfully, tilting his head with that razor-thin smile. “Mmm… yes, I could undo it. The only problem is…” He bent down, meeting Frog Angel’s bulging eyes with his own burning red. “This spell wasn’t from my book.”
The room went very still.
“…what do you mean, ‘wasn’t from your book’? Weren’t you just writing from it?” Husk asked, ears flicking back.
Alastor straightened, pacing in slow, deliberate steps. His voice lost its sing-song lilt, dipping into that static-riddled, too-honest cadence that always set everyone on edge. “The incantation I used… it was written in the margins. A notation. My maman never taught me that one, but it was in the Grimoire. So I assumed it was fine. Which means…” He stopped, teeth glinting. “…someone else added to my grimoire after I died.”
That was enough to sober even Lucifer, who had been snickering the whole time. His expression sharpened, golden eyes narrowing as he leaned forward. “That shouldn’t be possible. Grimoires claimed by the dead are sealed. Only the owner’s bloodline or direct disciples can alter them.”
Alastor’s ears twitched, pinned back tight. His grin didn’t falter, but it was stiff, forced. “Precisely. Which means either my maman betrayed my memory…” Static crackled louder, lights flickering overhead. “…or someone else got their claws into our work with one of our remains.”
Charlie clutched her hands together nervously, stepping closer. “O-okay, but can’t you still fix it? You’re strong, Al, you always say you can undo anything.”
The deer chuckled, low and unpleasant. “Oh, I can unravel it… but it will take time. You see, the spell latches not just to the body, but the soul, too. Until I find the proper counter-ritual, our dear arachnid friend is destined to hop.”
“Hop my ass!” Angel yelled, flailing his tiny frog arms. “I ain’t livin’ like this! I got a show tomorrow, I can’t go on stage lookin’ like Kermit’s crackhead cousin!”
Lucifer let out a bark of laughter despite himself, then quickly masked it when Charlie glared at him.
“Alastor,” Vaggie said flatly, “you’re gonna fix this. I don’t care what it takes.”
Alastor only smiled wider, leaning into the glow of his own magic. “Oh, I fully intend to, my dear! This… mystery… is far too tantalizing to leave unsolved. But until then…” He crouched down, plucking Angel delicately out of Niffty’s hands and setting him on the coffee table with a flourish. “…I suggest you all take very good care of our little amphibian friend.”
Angel immediately tried to lunge at him, croaking curses the whole way—only to bounce off the table edge and land belly-first with a splat. Husk nearly fell over laughing.
“RIBBIT- fuck you, Husk!” Angel hissed.
“Oh, this is great,” Husk smirked. “Best movie night ever.”
Alastor chuckled darkly, retrieving the book from under his arm and flipping it open again, his tone quiet but sharp as a knife:
“Now then… let’s find out who dares to write my story.”