Chapter Text
The air was warm and humid as the large dim sigil which covered the sky above began to glow brighter and shined light on the city of many names, but most residents referred to it as hell. Quickly the sky went from it's darker crimson coloring to a more natural dull red as the pentagram sigil beamed brighter in the sky, properly illuminating the city fully and casting out the vibrant night life to replace it with the busy chaos of the current day. As businesses began to open so did the streets which filled with crowds and crimes, bringing back the constant noise of the day before. At the very peaks of the tallest buildings, those who controlled large territory's of the city below known as overlords sat down at their desks scheming of ways to increase their hold and power of their land. On the other side of the coin among the asphalt ground laid the common beggars and street rats who claw for the scraps of food along with any nooks of safety they can fit themselves into. Many often live on dirty streets and alleyways searching for a place to call home, a place where there is safety even for a moment.
Down one of these dark alleyways sat a beat up cardboard box, it's flaps and edges bent and torn, and a haphazard spray painted name on the side reading "Percy’s do not touch". Hanging out the front of the box were two big rabbit feet dangling off the edge, on the other end were two rabbit ears poking out the top slightly drooped as the light sound of snoring came out from inside the box. Once the streets began to fill up with noise around the alleyway the snoring stopped and a yawn could be heard from within the box as the rabbit ears lurch up showing a sleepy, teenage kid connected to them. Percy rubbed his baggy eyes as his back cracked from the rough sleep inside the box the night before. He ruffled his dirty blonde hair back into a messy middle part and scratched his black button nose before he got up from his box to stretch his body and pat down whatever dirt was on him. The boy was clothed in baggy black clothes which were thinned, ripped, and stained at certain points but there weren’t many alternatives to choose from. As he stretched a loud growling could be heard from his stomach down below, making Percy let out a tired sigh alright lets see what I can get. Percy walked out into the busy loud streets of pentagram city, the heat finally hitting him as he absorbed himself into the moving crowd.
The sector he was in was “ruled over” by the Morningstar family. A very well know and powerful royal family with the father of which being non other than the devil himself along with his wife Lilith who was still talked about in whispers from time to time around the city, though it was far before Percy's time. The family hadn’t really cared about what happen much in their territory of city for quite a while, folks hadn’t seen anyone from the family in last 7 years for some reason and because of that, many of the homeless and poor slept between the tall red brick buildings that made up the sector, Percy included. The air had a faint scent of foulness especially today due to the the extermination the night before. Dead bodies littered the ground with many stab wounds found all over but no weapons to speak of, seems scavengers already picked the place clean. The sound of horns honking, people yelling, and fights starting fill whatever space was left in the air as Percy made his way down the beat up cracked sidewalk, his head on a swivel not just for food but for the next mugger looking to take whatever he had left. Suddenly he picks up the glow of a flickering neon open sign through the busyness of the city and his pace quickens, it had been a while since he had a good honest meal and maybe he'd have just enough to actually get something fresh. Finally he stands in front of it, a small convenience store. Small businesses weren’t extremely common in the area but they were frequent enough to have some dirt cheap ones, so Percy heads in.
As he steps inside the cool embrace of the shop’s air fills in around him as the quiet hum buzz of the lights and the whirring of an ac unit above him were the only noises that rang out in the shop, a rare moment to breath in this city. The starving street rat quickly looked around through the tight lanes full of processed food for a quick snack to fill himself up for a bit. He eyed a stick of jerky that looked cheap enough, though as pulled out his wallet he was reminded that the only thing inside was a single dollar shit… Percy looked back up at the jerky and saw that a thin stick costed two dollars, even in hell things aren't cheap. Another sigh came from Percy as he closed his wallet and went to reach for the food, no one is gonna notice if a bit of jerky goes missing. Just before his hands had grabbed hold of the food, he looked around just to make sure no one is watching, however when he peered over to the left he saw the store clerk at the front desk giving him a suspicious glare like he was already catching on to what Percy was gonna do. The store clerk motioned to the old revolver on the wall behind him trapped in glass, nearly everyone down here was armed and for good reason. With not much for options, Percy gave a forced smile to the clerk in a vain attempt to get on his good side as he quickly walks out of the store in frustration.
The boy continued on his walk and made his way towards the center of the city, hoping he'd maybe find a district with something cheaper or at least easier to grab. As Percy steped foot in the core of the city he saw the real carnage that came the night before. Piles of bodies surrounding a golden clock tower taking the appearance of a hourglass standing tall and shining without a stain on it’s immaculate and imposing figure. It was grandiose in size compared to everything else in the city and felt alien when placed next to any building in the city, it was God’s little window into hell. At the top, the tower’s analog clock sat with a count down timer that read '365', I can’t get as lucky as I did this year, gotta find a real place to stay. Weeding through the dead bodies on the street, Percy could see sinners with busted up shopping carts scrounging whatever weapons were still hidden in the piled up masses. Even the smallest pieces of the weapons could find you a pretty penny in the right district, though he knew if he tried to snag anything he’d have a scavenger on him in a second ready to take it off his hands in a permanent way so he continued walking.
Finally after making through the heart of the city Percy decided to head to cannibal town. It wasn’t the kindest district for a sinner like him but they liked to keep it 'old fashioned' which meant no security cameras and some good bakeries to look behind. Walking in past the welcome sign Percy saw what felt like a recreation of the 1920s, the buildings, the streets, the music, the people, it all gave off a very vintage feeling to it. It would have been a great place to be if you could look past the unnerving sharp toothed smiles, pale skin, and empty eye sockets of the local residents. Though despite the locals desire for the flesh, the place smelt nice with flowers planted on nearly every windowsill and everything being well kept. The only thing that stood out was himself and the locals started to notice as they gave him suspicious looks dressed in their well made suits and dresses. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d gotten looks like those and it was certainly something he could deal with, the question was how long could everyone else deal with him?
Thankfully Percy didn’t have to figure out the answer to that question yet thanks to his nose finally catching the sweet aroma of a fresh bakery in the distance. Quickly he found it and checked around him before sneaking behind the shop and finding a stained dumpster next to back door filled to the brim with trash bags. He quickly got to work opening the hatch and scrounging through the trash, though nothing caught his eye as edible.
Percy began grumbling to himself while he searched with even more vigor “can’t eat that, that’s to expired, that’s mold, that’s-”
Just as he was about to reach the bottom he came across a white trash bag bag. After picking it up and opening to see inside Percy finds the heavy bag to be full of some old bagels, they weren’t fresh but they were food and that's all that mattered to him.
“Jackpot!” Percy said with a sense of relief in his voice.
Maybe things were finally turning around for him but before he could get out he bumped his head against the back of the dumpster causing the lid to swing back down, let out a loud metal bang and trapped him inside. In most cases this wouldn’t be too much of an issue but when Percy heard the sound of a backdoor opening he knew he had to get out fast. Percy frantically tried to find a good position to push the lid back open but it was too late, the lid had lifted from the outside and he was greeted by the confused face of a local resident dressed in an apron with bowler cap covering his head.
“What in the world?!” the man said in anger and shock before quickly grabbing Percy by the ears and yanking him out of the dumpster.
A yelp came from Percy “OW! Come on man its just some stupid bagels!”.
the riled up backer snapped back with authority “I don’t care what it is! I’m not about to have some ruffian steal from under my nose!”.
“Ruffian?! I’ll show you Ruffian!” Percy quickly swung the heavy bag of bagels right at the bakers face.
The baker stumbled back and loosened his grip enough for Percy to slip out and make a sprint back to the main street.
The baker still recovering from the blow yelling out “You thief! You’ve stolen my bagels!”
Just as the boy slipped out into streets again ready to breath a sigh of relief he saw the locals starting to walk toward him with faces turning to anger, seemed the angry bakers cries were loud enough for people to hear. Thinking on his feet, Percy saw that the border of the town wasn’t too far away and if he made a run for it he might just make it. As a mob of people began to form around him panic set in, but with nothing left to lose the quick footed thief makes a run for it. He dodged past an old couple, their mouths watering as that try and fail to grab him with their claw like hands. With the end I sight Percy kept running, but as he neared the border he looked back to see a raving mob right on his tail. He couldn't make it if they keep chasing him like this, so in a desperate attempt he reached inside the bag and pocketed a bagel before throwing the rest to the mob.
“Have your damn bagels you lunatics!” Percy said as ran.
Thankfully that was enough to distract them for a moment and let him pass the border towards freedom.
Once Percy found himself back in the center of the city he finally catches his breath and lets out a sigh of relief. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the slightly molded bagel he grabbed looking down with a face of begrudging acceptance. Its not perfect but its food...
Percy began to eat his winnings as he made his way back to his 'home', making sure to avoid the darker parts so a repeat of last week’s spoiled fruit find doesn’t happen again. Though because either tiredness, his own hunger, maybe a bit of both, Percy bumped into a very big figure on his walk.
“Hey! watch where you’re-” Percy voice cuts off as he looked up.
It was him. The shark himself with the rest of his well dressed school of cronies backing him up. The man’s head was one of a great white with a small fedora and tiny well groomed mustache which might had seemed comical if wasn’t the razor sharp teeth that lined his crooked smile gleaming down at Percy.
“Hey! Well if it isn’t our favorite two eared little menace still hopping around?” the man said with a heavy air of fake sincerity.
“Look Joey can we please talk about this later? I promise you I’ll have the money!” Percy pleaded.
Joey leans down to Percy’s level speaking in a bitter tone “You said that last month….I’m gonna need you to pay for that little brat’s debt”
“Don’t call him a-”Before Percy could finish his retort he could felt a sharp pain as Joey punches him to the ground badly bruising his jaw.
“DON’T YOU TALK BACK TO ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!” yelled Joey. “It’s not my fault he got himself killed! And I’ll tell ya he racked up quite a long receipt before he checked out early. You’re lucky I like you enough to let you pay off his debt monthly rather than working you to the bone at one of those Vox-tech sweatshops. Get me five hundred dollars for this months payment in a week, or maybe I’ll string you up on a pole when next years extermination comes around?”.
Joey pulled out a fat cigar and lit it, taking a long drag as he leans down and whispers in Percy ear with a smile.
“It would give my boys a good show”.
Percy looked up at Joey with a terrified expression as a puff of black cigar smoke blew in his face. The shark and his posse laugh before walking over the beat up kid like trash on the street. Percy looked around with a pained groan rubbing his jaw as he saw his half eaten bagel on the dirty ground, stomped on by the shoe of one of the sharks. Fuck.
After getting up and making it back to alleyway where he had woken up, Percy looked around and saw his box is nowhere to be found. Looking up to the sky showed him it was starting to dim with night just right around the corner, so with no other options Percy scrounged around and made a makeshift blanket out old stained newspapers he found. As the sigil in the sky began to go out the temperature dropped quickly and leaving boy shivering like hell had frozen over as old street lights flicker on. Percy closed his eyes hoping to fall asleep if he believed hard enough but his chattering teeth and the city night life starting up weren’t going to let that happen. Though through all the noises filling the night Percy was able to pick up the sound of a pair of people walking down the street street, with one of pair having the sound of hooves clopping like a goat. Just as this strange pair was about to pass by him the sound of the clopping stopped and soon after the other footsteps halt as well. Percy opened his eyes to see a figure standing over him dressed in a red 2-piece suit, it was hard to make out any notable features in the light but as the figure knelled down to Percy's level the ambient light from the street lamps illuminated the face of this mystery person.
Her face was pristine and pure white like a porcelain doll. The perfectly reddish circles on her cheeks taking on the appearance of blush, and the faint lines going straight down from the ends of her thin black lips weren't helping that idea. Her hair was long, well groomed, and braided in the back with a light blonde coloring. The most shocking part of her was her eyes which carried a sense of immutable power but behind hid something...caring? They were the kind of eyes that spoke with certainty that everything was going to be alright and meant it which was a strange sight to see in a place like this.
“Hello there, are you alright little one?” The woman’s voice cooed
Percy was unsure what make of this whole situation, he sat up and putting his back against the wall behind him like a cornered animal. He noticed the person behind the woman with their tall stature and gray skin, it looked like she was dressed in some business casual clothing and held holding a spear of some kind.
The gray woman spoke up with a cold tone “Princess Morningstar, what are you doing? He might be dangerous, he might-”
The woman in front of Percy turned back and cut her off with as serious tone “Vaggie... I have this under control” she turned back to Percy and returned to her kinder voice “now...I am not here to cause harm”.
“Who are you?” Percy said with skepticism “what do you want? Money? Food? I don’t got it”
The woman continued unaffected by his snappy tone “My name is Charlie Morningstar”.
Percy had heard a lot a things in life but this was something else, There is no way its HER...right? “Morningstar?...like the royal family?”
Charlie gave a warm smile “Yes...That one”
At the answer to his question Percy quickly tried to clean himself up and fix his hair to seem more presentable, but not a lot could be done. Oh god what would someone like her want with me? Did I offend her? Did I steal something? Come on Percy THINK!.
“I-I uh...I apologize for uh...w-whatever I did! I promise I-I didn’t mean to do it! And I-” he said stumbling over his words.
“Do you believe in redemption?”
“...what?”
“DO YOU believe in redemption?” Charlie calmly restated
What kind of question is that?! No, now's not the time to question just run with it. “...Yes?” Percy's voice reeked of confusion
Charlie puts her hands together as she gives a him a warm smile “Well then I would like to offer you a place to stay at the hazbin hotel.”
“The what?” Percy had only heard the name through word of mouth but hadn't had the time to really look into it.
“It’s a hotel I have created to help sinners like you learn and let go of the sins of your past so you may be redeemed into pearly gates above!” She happily explained.
Percy looked at her with uncertainty in his eyes as he spoke “Uh that sounds...nice, but I don’t have any money so-”
“Oh there is no need for money, Its free to stay and enjoy our perks such as well furnished rooms and free morning lunch and dinners” Charlie said interrupting him.
Percy’s face soured a bit, it was way too good to be true. Free food? free room? a place to stay? Stuff like this doesn’t just happen, but what were his options? The only thing that vaguely resembled a home for him was gone and he still had a big debt to pay off.
and the food….
“...Alright then your highness I’ll take your offer”
Charlie offered out her hand toward Percy “We are are very glad you have, and please call me Charlie”
Percy looked down at the hand and back up at his only chance at a decent afterlife “Right, Charlie” he says as he shook her hand.
Quickly he stood up and dusted himself off before following Charlie and the other woman on their walk. He could feel the eyes of gray woman on him, or was it one eye? Now that he could finally get a good look the woman she seemed to have a scar over her left eye which was mostly covered by her long white hair that with tied with a bow in the back and came down to her knees. He quickly looked away once the woman noticed him staring and gave him a look that might’ve been able cut him if he was close enough. The walk continued on in silence for a few minutes until Percy decided to break the silence with a question.
“soooo…who's your friend?” Percy asked as he motioned to the intimidating woman
Charlie looks down at Percy then over to the woman he was motion to. “Oh her name is Vaggie, she is my personal guard”.
Percy looked back up confused “personal guard? But your daughter of the devil himself, Aren’t you powerful enough to take care of anything yourself?”
Charlie just gave a small smile towards Percy “Well I am not one that likes to partake in the more...confrontational actions towards my subjects so I have my guard to do that for me when necessary, but do understand I can defend myself if needed.”
After a bit more time passed of walking the three of them all arrived at the top of a hill with a cobble stone path leading up to a massive building that stood tall and felt as if it was looming over the three of them. Despite it’s large figure the place looked run down and old with it’s fading crimson color, almost as if it was an abandoned building from the 1920’s. Though as soon as the group had walked up the path and entered through the wooden double doors Percy could see the orange lighting that lit up the interior carrying the same older 1920’s theme that the outside had given. There was a small bar the left side of the entrance manned by fat black and white cat like sinner with nothing but a pair suspenders, a top hat, and drooping face to his name as he cleaned a glass behind the counter. At one of bar seats sat a lanky,white, spider-like sinner dressed in long black boots, a provocative short skirt, and a pink button up with a few to many buttons undone showing off a bit of chest fluff. The spider had a drink in his hands which he finished off before looking over to the door.
“Well looks who’s back, who’s the new guy?” the spider-like sinner’s voice was higher pitch and thick with a new york accent, the tone they had was almost flirtatious.
“Hello again Angel, this is our new resident Percy” Charlie said with a cheerful tone.
Percy walked over to the bar and took a seat, waving over for the bar tender.
“Are the drinks free here?” Percy asked with curiosity of someone looking for a loophole to abuse.
The cat looked him up and down unimpressed “Sorry kid but I can tell your not old enough for the real stuff.”.
“Come on I’m 17! I’m old enough!” Percy scoffed “Besides Its hell, we don’t got drinking laws down here.”.
“Well we do at this hotel.” the cat said bluntly “can’t serve minors even if I wanted to”.
Percy puts his hands together in prayer while looking at the cat pleading “come on! Can’t I try one sip? The half drank beers in the ally taste like shit”.
The cat let out a long sigh “here kid, since you asked so nicely.” the cat pours something clear into a shot glass under the table and pushes towards him. “I’ll let ya have one on the house.” he says with a tiredness as walks away from the counter to go do something at the back of the bar.
Percy looks at the glass with a bit of shock thinking he wouldn’t get this far before he downed the glass in one gulp and...nothing. That asshole gave me water! Percy was about complain about the service but the cat was already cleaning something at the back of the bar when he looked up, leaving him with nothing else to do but grumble.
“Hey don’t mind Husk, he’s a bit a mean pussy cat” said the spider sitting beside him.
Percy turned to his right and noticed up close the 4 other spindly arms under the spiders original set.
“Ya don’t say?” Percy looked up towards the spider “So who are you?”
The spider let out a small chuckle before puffing out his chest “I’m Angel dust~ The biggest star in all of hell!”
despite the mandibles poking out of his mouth, the white fur, and the strange black colored eye, he looked surprising human all things considered, some would be even say pretty.
Percy looked him up and down, squinting his eyes in suspicion “what kind star?”.
“Oh the kind you shouldn’t know about sweetheart~” Angel says as he gives a light boop on his button noise, annoying him.
After rubbing his nose Percy gets up from his seat and looks to the other side of the room to see a well furnished living room with a few fancy padded chairs and a red velvet couch surrounding a coffee table and an old CRT TV with the tiny antennas. As he approaches the couch he takes a seat and surprisingly comfy.
“You guys got some nice seats here, beats the old cardboard box I had.” Percy said starting to relax
As Percy turns back to look at everyone he’s greeted face to face with large eye ball staring him in the face. Percy jumps back nearly falling off the couch in the process.
“What the hell is this thing!?” Percy exclaimed in shocked fear.
Now that he was able to get a good look at the figure from a distance he saw it was a tiny twig woman dressed in a red and white apron with short frizzy red hair, and one big eye that stared into his soul.
“Oh you’re a dirty boy” the small lady said with small giggle after.
The lady then pull out a large feather duster from her apron pouch and started to furiously dust his face as she hummed to herself. Quickly Vaggie came over to pull her away from him as Charlie came over and looked the lady in the eye.
Once Nifty heard of a place to clean she suddenly became energetic and broke from Vaggie’s loose hold, bolts off to another section of the hotel.
Percy quickly cleans himself up and looks toward Charlie with a tired look “Are there any other crazy people I need meet?”.
Vaggie thought for a moment “There is the deer…”.
Charlie turns to Vaggie and gives a light hand wave. “Oh he’d said he’ll be out for today, I’m sure Percy could meet him in the morning.” Charlie turned Percy “It is getting rather late so may I show you to your room?”
Percy got up stretched “Sure, the couch is nice but not great to crash on”.
As the two of them make it to section of the hotel lined with numbered doors Percy could feel Charlie’s eyes on him. “So tell me Percy, what was life like before you died?.”.
Percy answered quickly “Don’t wanna talk about it...”.
Charlie looked at him with a bit of confusion “Why would you not like to talk about it? I assure you I will not share this information with any other per-”.
Percy cuts her off “Look its personal, end of conversation.”
Charlie was silent in thought for a moment, like she was trying to process what that word had meant “personal...hmm…as you wish.”.
The rest of the walk to the room was rather silent only broken up by the sound of Nifty skittering out a room and running off to clean some other mess. As the two of them reach the door charlie pulls out a ring of keys and opens the door for Percy.
“You assigned room 42 for your stay here. There will be breakfast in the morning at 9am, and I truly do hope you enjoy your stay here at the hazbin hotel.”
“Thanks” Percy said offhandedly.
As Percy walks in and is about to closed the door he hears a voice from the other side.
“Oh and Percy?” Charlie said her voice muffled by the door.
Percy creeks open the door “yeah?”
“If you ever need anything or wish to tell me anything, remember I am here.”
Percy hesitated for a bit “...yeah sure, whatever”.
He closed the door behind him and was met with a spotless room with a desk, a chair, a window, a mirror, and a bed. Oh my god a bed...Percy quickly takes off his beaten up sweat shirt, but before tossing it onto the chair he looks at it for a moment in silence. Going the window he looked up at the night sky, up there sat the glowing ball of white light that surrounded itself in rings and clouds that formed wings around it. It was so far but it lit up the night like moon light. Percy looked down toward sweat shirt again, and gently placed it on the chair beside him before laying down in bed. He felt his body relax in what felt like forever, he had become so accustom to the feeling of concrete and cardboard that a real bed felt like sleeping on clouds. Soon enough Percy could feel his tiredness hit his head and drifted off soon after. For once in quite some time...safe.