Chapter Text
Vaggie’s grip tightens on Charlie’s hand suspiciously as she types relentlessly. “Wait, what are you doing?”
“Uh, just sending a strongly worded email to VoxTek explaining that not only am I, ahahahah…” she slaps an arm across the window angrily, covering Vox’s zeppelin advertisement. “not a dictator but also to send their top tier reporter over here right away so we can clear the Hotel’s name with an exclusive interview!”
Vaggie’s eyes widen as she snatches the phone and holds it above her head before Charlie does anything crazy. She fruitlessly attempts to reach for it.
“Babe, listen... you know that I believe you and I’ll support your dreams no matter what,” Vaggie settles on reassuring her and places a tentative hand on her shoulder. “but it’s definitely not a good idea to reach out to the overlords trying to make you look like a horrible person.”
Charlie’s thoughts are running a million miles per second, so she brightens at this and attempts to speak again before Vaggie places her index finger across her lips to shush her.
“We don’t even know how redemption works. I mean, we were mid battle when everything happened to Pentious. Emily explained things to you, sure, but do you think Vox isn’t going to twist the fact that we have no evidence?”
Charlie’s shoulders slump at this. “Vaggie… I have to try. This is big news, VoxTek loves big news!” she clasps her hands together.
“If our newly found discovery gets broadcasted across Pentagram City then new guests will actually give the Hotel a go and I…”
She looks back to the zeppelin.
“…won’t be painted as a dictator!” she mentions desperately.
Vaggie could sympathise with her, having her public image wrecked as the Princess of Hell is definitely something to be worked out over, but rushing things could only make it worse.
“I’m not saying we have to hide it forever, but you have to be patient.” she eventually hands Charlie her phone back after seeing that she was listening.
“Once Emily shows up again, or we figure out a way to contact her, whatever, we can talk to her about it and maybe have her help us get proof of Pentious’ existence in Heaven. Then…”
She tries to find a middle ground, sighing at the fact asking VoxTek for help wasn’t a completely absurd idea.
“…then we can think about contacting Vox and his associates.”
Charlie’s eyes sparkle with excitement.
“You’re right, you’re right… ohhhh gosh…” she tries to breathe, letting out the pent up frustration.
“You’re the best, Vaggie.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Vaggie mentioned hiding the whole “redemption is possible” business from VoxTek, but she hadn’t mentioned hiding it from their friends. I mean, mostly everyone had found out when she burst into one of the rooms to spread the news but the two people she was most excited to tell hadn’t heard a word.
“Alastor! Alastor? Guess what?!” Charlie skips down the staircase at noticing him, he looked a little displeased, but that didn’t stop her. “You are never going to believe what I have in store for you about the Hotel!”
“Well, my dear, don’t keep me waiting!” he chimes, quickly readjusting his attitude. It looked quite forced and painfully sarcastic but she paid it no mind. “I’d be more than delighted to hear about whatever your charming self has conjured for me this time!”
“Actuaaally!” she drags out. “This is really important, and I couldn’t decide who to tell first between you and someone else who is also greatly important to me… so…”
Charlie pulls out her phone to shoot a quick text.
“I figured I’d tell you both at the same time!”
Lucifer suddenly teleports between the two.
Great. Lucifer, Alastor thinks.
“Charlie!” he pulls her in for a hug, almost suffocating her. “You know, I was just thinking about coming to talk to you! Crazy, right? I must be psychic!”
After he pulled away, Lucifer’s eyes settle on Alastor. They glare daggers at each other unsettlingly before he directs his attention back to Charlie.
“Does whatever you have to tell me need to involve him?” he shielded a hand at his face to whisper to his daughter.
“Don’t be so impudent, your majesty,”Alastor interrupted. “our Charlie here has insisted that we both must listen carefully to whatever important news she has to share!”
“Clearly, she wants me to know first.” Lucifer proclaims. “Considering I’m her… what was it? Dad, and everything.”
He made sure to emphasise on the word dad. Just to piss Alastor off.
Charlie watched them bicker back and forth, wondering when she should step in.
“Hmm,” Alastor hummed before deliberately leaning in close to Lucifer’s space, forcing him to back up. “but I’m the host of the Hotel, any information regarding this place should be passed to me immediately!”
“Oh, come on! What do you actually do around here, bellhop?”
“More than you’ll ever do, sire!”
“You got your ass kicked and ran away—”
“Ohhhh-kay!” Charlie hurriedly steps between the two again. “Does it really bother you guys to… you know… tolerate each other in the same room for just a couple seconds? I care about both of you a lot.”
“Nope! Doesn’t bother me at all, continue, sweetie.” he readjusts his suit and fixes his posture, acting as if the argument had never happened to begin with. Alastor rolls his eyes.
“So, as you know… we fought against Heaven and everything, winning, but in return sinners got the wrong idea of the Hotel,” she rambled. “well, we now have a solution to this! Sort of…”
“I’m listening.” Alastor said uncomfortably, he didn’t like to recall back to the battle, due to the minor inconvenience he had with Adam. Yes, he will insist that it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience to the end.
“Pentious was redeemed, and he’s up… there!” she gestured towards the sky. “So after Emily reappears, we can finally gather proof of his redemption and show all of Hell what we’re made of!”
Alastor’s face remains the same, however his eyes do lighten up a tad. Lucifer almost throws his arms around Charlie a second time before deciding against it, he doesn’t want to bombard her with affection.
“Seriously?! Honey, that is great! I knew that you could do it!” he glistens, leaning on his staff slightly.
“And what is your plan of action with this discovery?” Alastor asks, intending to fish more information out of her. Lucifer didn’t appreciate the doubting tone in his voice.
“Vaggie instructed that I keep quiet about it, but there’s no harm in telling you both, right?” she exchanges a thumbs up. “I’ll probably be brainstorming ideas for the future with her for the rest of the day…”
“No worries at all, dear, I’ll keep the Hotel at top notch whilst you’re busy.” he placed his hands on Charlie’s shoulders with mock affection. “Wouldn’t want to disturb that intelligent little mind of yours!”
Charlie bristles at the contact before her face twisted with pity. “I appreciate your helpfulness, but I don’t think it’s fair to leave all of the Hotel’s burden to you…”
Her gaze flicked between Alastor and Lucifer, the more she delayed finishing the rest of her sentence, the more dread Alastor felt for even offering help in the first place.
“I’ve got it!” Charlie beams, an imaginary lightbulb appearing at the top of her head. “My dad can help you around, discuss any big decisions, blah blah blah, until we get back and then Vaggie and I will take over from there!”
Alastor’s smile twitches and Lucifer freezes in place, looking astonished.
“Charlie, I love you, but are you sure me, helping him is a good idea?” Lucifer signals to them both. “I mean, I’m not busy or writing it off, don’t get the wrong idea! We just… don’t really click.”
“I know that already, dad… but don’t you think this could make for a good bonding session?” she sighs. “This Hotel is all about second chances, maybe you could give each other one, just for today?”
Lucifer half expects Alastor to actually agree with him for once in his afterlife but as he turns to check his facial expression, his smile starts to widen perturbingly.
“I suppose I wouldn’t mind a helping hand!” he replies before checking his claws. “Unless, of course, your father is too high in status to associate with a lowly hotelier like myself…?”
Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows. Of course Alastor would be the type of person to take advantage of the situation, he’s always loved messing with him, using his daughter in the process.
“No no no, no! Absolutely not! In fact… I bet that I can get way more done than you ever will!” Lucifer challenges, Alastor perks up at that.
“Oh, are you perhaps suggesting a deal?” he holds out a hand expectantly. “What do I receive if I prove you wrong, sire?”
Charlie brightens at their reluctant cooperation and mouths "I'll leave you guys to it” before hurrying off, a competition wasn’t what she had in mind but if it got them to actually work together, there’s nothing more she could possibly ask for.
Lucifer swipes his hand away with a sceptical glare. Alastor was still an enigma to him, and with all of his time spent in Hell, the place he practically curated, he knew better than making a deal with an Overlord.
“No deals!” he says adamantly. “You wanna take my soul over some petty competition? No can do, bambi!”
“Ha-ha!” Alastor laughs tauntingly. “Don’t be so rash. I couldn’t dream of taking your soul!”
That was something Lucifer found hard to believe. He’s the King of Hell, for Heaven’s sake.
“How about this?” Alastor tilts his head. “If I win, you must do an itty bitty favour of mine where you harm no one. Vice versa.”
He had already used this tactic on Charlie, of course, he would never inform Lucifer on how he already has a deal with his daughter. Even if the stakes of this deal were low, to have one with both Morningstars? Priceless!
“Do we have a deal?” Alastor extends a hand out once again, this time, leaning down to mock Lucifer’s short stature as he spun his staff in the process.
Lucifer looks him up and down before grunting and rolling his eyes. It wasn’t as if he could harm anyone anyway. Not unless said person happened to be an angel.
“You know what? Fine!” he places his hand into Alastor’s to shake on it and in return, the room is engulfed by an eerie, green light as the other man’s pupils turn into radio dials. “You’ll regret this.”
He will make sure of it.
Lucifer would’ve liked to inform Charlie that the supposed “bonding session” that she had suggested between him and the Radio Demon worked like a charm, but Alastor was making it incessantly difficult to even remotely like him when he had mastered the arts of provocation. He had never been fond of sinners, his opinion on them being awful for what they chose to do with free will was unshakeable before the battle with Heaven had changed his mind just a smidge.
Through subtle gestures to blatant insults, it seemed as though Alastor was trying to rile him up. He must get some sick, twisted sense of joy out of doing it, Lucifer thinks.
He observes him carefully as Alastor skims through the piece of paper he had conjured, detailing things that they were obliged to do around the Hotel.
“Does his majesty have a staring problem?” Alastor asks bluntly without looking up from the words. Lucifer almost chokes on his spit. Tolerate him for Charlie’s sake, he reminds himself
“What?” he huffed. “I was— I was looking at the paper, not you!”
Alastor ignores him. “Well, seeing as though you have no experience working here at the Hotel, I will act as your superior for today!”
So that’s why he had acted indifferent towards a helping hand. Technically, I should be his superior… Lucifer thinks.
“You’re joking.” he states. “So, what? You’re gonna make me get on my knees and clean the place from top to bottom like a slave or something to fulfil your superiority complex?”
Alastor twisted his head to glance at him with irritation before cackling whilst diminishing the piece of paper into thin air. “Why, nonsense! That’s Niffty’s job, or have you forgotten?”
As if on cue, Niffty appears with a broom in one hand, knife adorned with a grotesque looking bug in the other.
“Alastor!” she scampers over to climb onto Alastor’s head, ruffling his hair slightly with an alarming smile. “You’re hanging out with the ultimate bad boy?”
Lucifer sheepishly waves.
“He’s got quite some work to do for me today. Best not to bother him for now. You can do that for me, right?” Alastor lifts her from his head and grins.
“Yes, sir!”
And with that, she scrambles after a seemingly disobedient critter, probably intending to put her knife to use. Lucifer watches her disappear into the distance before directing his attention back to Alastor.
“Then what do you want me to do?” he asks, picking up from their previous conversation.
“Hmm,” Alastor squints, pretending to have a think about it. “How about we start with some paperwork?”
Lucifer internally groans, well, he could’ve asked for something much worse.
“Meet me in my room upstairs, won’t you?”
Without another word, Alastor melts into shadow.
Today is going to be a long day.
Angel Dust adjusts his position on the barstool, downing a cocktail. “So, the short king and smiles are actually gonna hit it off for the day?”
Husk grunts, seemingly disinterested. “Give it about an hour before shit hits the fan.”
Angel Dust perks up at this, a smug grin spreading across his face as he leans over the counter. “I’ll bet you twenty bucks that it’ll only take thirty minutes.”
“You’re on, kid.” Husk exchanges the grin.
Lucifer had no doubts that Alastor’s living space would be tacky and unsightly, and that was confirmed after he had invited him inside.
Surprisingly, despite the hideous condition of practically everything in a ten metre radius, including the several animal carcasses placed as lazy decoration, there wasn’t a prominent stench. Lucifer sniffed subtly just to make sure. It didn’t exactly smell of anything, maybe that of an old record store?
“This place is very… you…?” he doesn’t even try to hide the disgust on his face as he studies the swamp side of Alastor’s room.
“You should be honoured that I humoured you with a personal invitation.” he leans over a table, picking up a few stacks of paper arranged into a multitude of folders before placing them into the arms of Lucifer. “It’s a rare occurrence that I allow individuals inside, unless, of course, they inevitably barge in.”
“Oh, get off your high horse…”
At least these are tidy, Lucifer acknowledges as he glances down to the folders between his arms. He sets them down whilst flicking through the pages of one to look busy. Some sentences are highlighted and have tiny sticky notes with extra information.
He glances back to Alastor, who is now head down, stacking the unimportant books and folders and placing them into a pile at the side. He notices his deer ears flatten slightly as he picks up a certain book to stare at for a particularly long time. Alastor, being the mystery that he is, made Lucifer unsure of whether that meant he was content or disgruntled. I mean, he always has that creepy smile plastered on his face, it’s hard to tell how he’s feeling, so, maybe he should start picking out other things that may give that away?
“What’s that you’ve got?” he asks with slight reluctance, that makes Alastor set it down immediately and twirl around.
“Nothing of your concern.” Alastor responds with a little too much defensiveness. I guess that answers his question. Curiosity piques Lucifer’s interest, but who was he to press for information? “We best be heading to one of the office rooms, they are much more suitable for work.”
Lucifer nods and picks up the rest of the folders once more, following Alastor throughout the hallways. He had moved into the Hotel a number of days ago, but he still didn’t know his way around to a tea.
Once they enter one of the small offices, Lucifer places the folders onto the desk. Alastor takes one, flipping to the page which had a red deer bookmark. Lucifer notices this almost instantly. I guess that’s sort of endearing, he thinks.
“I’ve already read the majority of those, you should get to work.” Alastor’s grin widens as he settles on a spinny chair, lifting one leg over the other. “Paperwork doesn’t read itself, does it?”
Suddenly, all affection towards him disappears in an instant.
“You want me to read everything here from start to finish?!” he complains. “Do we even have enough time to do that…?”
“Oh, please! You’re hardly lifting a finger,” Alastor replies. “did you lose the ability to read after all of those years of being a shut-in, sire? No wonder even the tiniest bit of exertion causes you to throw a fit!”
Lucifer jumps at this, his defenses going back up as he points a finger at Alastor accusatorily. “Who do you think you are?! You don’t even know me well enough to make any judgments on my past!”
“My, it was merely an observation!” Alastor responds, getting up from his seat and walking slowly and purposefully. “Maybe Heaven banished you for your pure fainéantise?”
“Bastard!” Lucifer closes the distance, metres away from Alastor’s face as he yells. “You’re calling me lazy?! Last time I checked, I dealt with Adam, I helped rebuild the hotel, whilst you hid like a coward!”
As Lucifer makes those accusations, he unknowingly jabs his index finger, quite a number of times, straight into the wound Adam left.
Alastor immediately tenses up as pain jolts through his entire existence like his chest had gotten sliced a second time. He doesn’t dare to make a noise, although, he couldn’t stop a static laced deer cry from slipping past his usually stoic demeanour.
Lucifer leisurely removes his finger, glancing at Alastor with a raised eyebrow before realisation kicks in. Holy shit, he’s wounded?
Alastor knew Lucifer knew by now, so much for keeping his injury at a low profile. There was absolutely no way he hadn’t heard the noise that unwillingly ripped from his throat, so he naturally maintains distance by backing up, his eyes turning into radio dials and his antlers growing profusely as the green light outlines his form.
Lucifer just stands there, dumbfounded with his index finger still slightly in the air.
“Wait! I didn’t…”
It didn’t take long for Alastor to realise his mistake, he knows Lucifer didn’t mean to prod at an open wound, but his defense mechanism had acted up carelessly without much thought.
He returns to his usual self, and before Lucifer knows it…
He’s gone, morphing into shadow as the room lights on fire from the sheer amount of unreleased power on Alastor’s end.
“mean it…?”
Charlie is definitely not going to be happy about this.
“Dad?! Alastor?!” he hears from the distance.
After they extinguished the fire, it didn’t take long for both Vaggie and Charlie to interrogate him even though it technically wasn’t his doing.
“Dad, I leave you guys alone for an hour and you destroy one of our office rooms?!” Charlie paces around restlessly, anger seeping through the surface. Guilt flickers in his eyes as he runs a hand through his hair. “What the fuck were you thinking?!”
In the distance, Angel Dust could be seen handing out cash to Husk with a more than displeased expression. Weird.
Vaggie looks equally disappointed, if not, even more than Charlie. She digs her spear into the ground as she speaks. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do.”
Lucifer usually wasn’t a snitch, but he did not want to take the full brunt of the situation for Alastor of all people. Sure, he had provoked him, but none of the damages had anything to do with him!
“Okay, okay! You see as… incriminating as this looks, I promise, I’m not the only person at fault!” he laughs awkwardly before turning to Charlie. “Sweetie, I’m so, so, so sorry for everything. I’ll renovate the entire office until it’s good as new-”
“Hold up.” Vaggie cuts him off. “He is right. Where even is Al?”
Lucifer curses himself internally. There’s no way that Alastor was actually going to show up, not after he disappeared so abruptly, not after he had that expression of… what…? Genuine fea-
“Apologies for my tardiness!” Alastor calmly emerges from his shadow, startling Lucifer as he leaned against his cane. “I had a bit of an errand to run.”
Vaggie directs her attention to Alastor and gives him a death glare whilst Charlie awaits an explanation. Lucifer opens his mouth to speak before Alastor quickly explains before him.
“You see, your father and I encountered a slight disagreement, nothing that can’t be fixed!” Alastor brushes it off and bows condescendingly. “I’ll be cleaning up the office shortly, and I will humbly take responsibility for the damages.”
It’s a poor excuse for the havoc he had wreaked, Lucifer will say, but somehow, they buy it. Charlie and Vaggie look at each other before nodding.
“If that office isn’t squeaky clean by tomorrow, there will be consequences.” Vaggie threatens.
What now plagued Lucifer’s mind was… why did he take full responsibility when he had every opportunity to drag him down with him?