Chapter Text
The Undervale Hotel sat in a quiet lull, the kind of stillness that made Katherine suspicious, but she'll just savor every calm moment before it ends because she knows something is going to happen anyway it's inevitable. She sat behind the registration table, fingers tapping lazily across the keyboard as she assessed the morning's files, occupancy reports, maintenance requests, the usual mundane paperwork that kept this modest establishment running. A peaceful morning.
She hoped today wouldn't be as bad as yesterday.
The front door creaked open, announcing a new arrival. Katherine straightened in her chair, brushing a strand of hair from her face and conjuring up her best professional smile.
A woman stepped in like she owned the place, and knowing the way she carried herself, she probably could. A fur stole draped elegantly over her shoulders, oversized sunglasses perched on her nose despite being indoors, and a dress that looked like it cost more than Katherine's monthly salary. Everything about her radiated wealth, from the way she walked to the subtle glint of jewelry catching the lobby light.
"Ah, hello! Welcome to the Undervale Hotel!" Katherine greeted warmly, gesturing forward.
The woman barely acknowledged the greeting, her gaze sweeping across the lobby with a quiet assessment before settling on Katherine. "Yes. I would like to book a room for the night," she stated, her tone carrying the kind of casual authority that came with never being told no.
"Of course, let me just pull that up for you-"
CRASH.
The sound ripped through the lobby like a gunshot. Katherine flinched, her hands freezing over the keyboard. A beat of silence followed, and then a scream erupted from the second floor, muffled but unmistakable.
Heavy footsteps thundered down the staircase. A man appeared in the hallway, wearing nothing but a bathrobe hastily thrown over his shoulders, his face flushed red with fury. And dangling from his white-knuckled grip, held aloft by the back of his shirt like a misbehaving cat, was Abaddon.
The boy kicked and scratched with surprising ferocity, his small legs swinging wildly in the air as he clawed at the man's wrist.
"Damn it! Whose child is this?!" the man shouted, his voice echoing through the lobby as he thrust Abaddon forward like an offering.
Katherine's stomach dropped. "Oh.. oh gosh, I am so sorry, he's my nephew,"
"He fell from the ventilation shaft above my bed!" the man spat, finally setting Abaddon down on the floor with a thud. The moment his feet touched the ground, the boy bolted, a dark blur of tangled hair and mischief, but Katherine lunged and snagged him by the collar before he could disappear around the corner. "The whole bed is filthy! Do you know how much I paid for that!"
"I am so sorry, sir, truly," Katherine said, already pulling a spare key from the drawer with her free hand, her smile strained and exhausted at the edges. "I'll have you moved to a new room immediately, upgraded, of course. No charge for the inconvenience. I sincerely apologize on his behalf."
The man snatched the key from her hand, shot one last disgusted look at Abaddon, and stomped back toward the staircase without another word. Katherine exhaled slowly, her shoulders dropping.
She looked down at the boy pinned at her side and leaned in close, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
"Abaddon. What on earth was that about?"
The demon boy furrowed his eyebrows, completely unapologetic, his expression one of genuine annoyance rather than guilt. He straightened his posture with an almost regal air, as though he were addressing a court.
"I say, the man possessed within his chambers a most peculiar confection, a stick of dark, bitter sustenance, coated in some manner of powdery enchantment," he explained, his tone measured and deliberate, each word chosen with an almost theatrical care. "Upon my first taste, I was seized by an overwhelming compulsion, a craving most insatiable, as though the very substance had burrowed into my mind and commanded my appetite. I require more of this sorcery. With it, I shall surely bend the wills of lesser mortals to my own." He said with a wide evil grin.
Katherine stared at him.
He had just described a chocolate bar.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a slow, steadying breath. "Abaddon, I have told you time and time again you do not steal from guests, and you do not attack them. We have one rule in this hotel. One. And it's for you to stay away from the guests.”
Abaddon huffed, crossing his arms with an air of wounded nobility, but said nothing. Katherine released his collar and straightened up, smoothing down her clothes. She couldn't let the woman wait any longer.
She turned back to the registration desk, plastering on her best smile though the exhaustion behind it was impossible to fully hide.
"I am so sorry about all of that ruckus," she said, her laugh coming out slightly too nervous. "My nephew he's usually not this… chaotic."
The woman, who had watched the entire spectacle from her spot by the counter with an almost amused detachment, glanced from Katherine to the boy. Her gaze lingered on Abaddon for a moment studying him, perhaps recognizing something in the way he carried himself.
"Shouldn't he be in school at this hour?" she asked, one elegant eyebrow arching just slightly.
Katherine felt the familiar weight of that question settle on her chest. Ah. This one again. At this point it's inevitable for anyone who has seen Abaddon not to ask that.
"Well " she let out a quiet breath, glancing down at Abaddon, who was now examining the lobby's potted plant with intense scholarly interest. "He's… a special case. After my brother passed, I haven't exactly known what to do with him. He's definitely not… built for a normal school environment. You know what I mean."
The woman studied her for a moment not with pity, but with something quieter. Recognition, maybe. Then, without a word, she reached into her handbag and produced a small business card, extending it between two fingers.
"Call this man," she said simply. "I used to have the same sort of problems. Trust me he is the absolute Mary Poppins for children like yours."
Katherine blinked, puzzled, but gingerly took the card. She turned it over in her fingers. A name. A phone number. Listed, ‘private tutor and child psychologist’
"He's… a private tutor?" she asked.
"Yes. For special children," the woman said, her gaze drifting once more to Abaddon. "Like the boy."
Katherine looked down at the card again, something quiet turning over in her mind. A private tutor. For him. She had never seriously considered it, Abaddon had always resisted anything resembling education with every fiber of his being, and she had been too swamped, too exhausted, too buried under the weight of running this hotel and raising children that were in every sense of the word, not normal, to push the matter.
But this… this didn't hurt to try. At the very least.
She tucked the card carefully into her pocket and looked back up at the woman with a small, genuine smile.
"Thank you," she said softly. "Really. Here is the key to your room, thank you for staying in the Undervale”
The lady took it with a smile that showed satisfaction.