Chapter Text
She walked through the streets of cannibal town, feeling oddly peaceful. It was the dead of night and she continued walking aimlessly through the cold, biting air of the night. The night was silent, save for the distant psithurism. She closed her eyes in bliss of the cold night brushing its wind across her skin.
An unwanted memory of a certain deer demon plagued her mind. The reason? She's still trying to figure out. The deer was nothing more other than a dealer, another client. Though, he proved himself to be quite of a special asset. That was almost seven years ago, though. Who knows where he is or what he's doing.
It was as though she felt a sense of loss. She didn't know why.
She continued her nightly stroll, a sense of uneasiness creeping itself inside of her mind, an ugly taste of bitterness washing over her. She shuddered, whether from the wind or internal turmoil, she didn't know. The howls of the wind drew her in and it was clearly a subtle warning that perhaps it's getting a little too late to be wandering around.
She swiftly turned around and headed back to her home. Unbidden, memories of Alastor plagued her mind again. That had been happening alot lately. Maybe it was reality starting to sink in, slowly reminding her that grief wasn't something you could deny or control. She'd swallowed her tears and held her head up high.
After all, she was Rosie Thorne, an overlord. She couldn't show any weaknesses. Though, technically, the other overlords didn't know of her connection to the deer demon, but still. The first few years had been easy, Rosie had guessed that the deer sinner was probably ignoring her. The following years had concerned her. After all, Alastor was never a person to ignore someone, even if he hated them.
As the years past, she started pulling his chain multiple times a day.
There was no response, of course. In hell, if a sinner's soul gets destroyed at the other end of the deal, the chain would remain. If it was the other way around, and the dealer's soul was to be disintegrated, the chain would disappear.
So Rosie, for obvious reasons, had bat around the bush. Ignoring the clearly large elephant as she went on with her day. Reality, of course, had spat back. Her excuses were becoming less believable, even to herself. Even then, her denial had been going strong.
She developed a new strategy to rid herself from problems; completely ignoring his existence. Straight up self-gaslighting. Though, the truth sat ugly, biting, and wrong behind her ribs.
So, tonight, she decided to face to truth, to see how much it bites.
Alastor wasn't here.
When she finally shut the door behind her, hot trail of tears warmed her cold rose-tinted cheeks. She stood there for a few minutes, maybe hours, crying silently. Time slipped past her fingers and eventually, she moved to sit down on her bed.
She felt highly amount of pity towards the deer.
He suddenly disappeared and no one seemed to care.
The deer hadn't meant much to her at the beginning, she assumed he would be just another client. Just another soul, just another fool, just another pet. Though, when she heard his voice through one of the radios, she knew that he was different. For one, the deer was cannibal, just like her.
He had a strong desire to hide himself from others and push people away too. For some reason, he was always smiling, and that was what made him interesting. Rosie loved to pick apart emotionally complex people. He was slightly a bit more important than other souls. He was her favorite one.
They had a somewhat healthier dynamic compared to other soul owners and got along significantly well, which was a plus.
She stared at the chain in her hands, which honestly looked more like a soft thread. Her vision blurred as tears dripped down onto her lap. She didn't know why she was so sentimental over a lost asset, but her tears dropped anyway.
The silence of the room became so loud, that her ears filled with the drumming of her own pulse. She vaguely recognized the habit as when ther ears try to hear something to fill up the silence, so her pulse hammers in her ears from time to time. She didn't know if it was a special condition or completely normal for others as well.
The thread in her hand disappeared as she barely registered the knocking of the door through the haze.
Who could it be at this hour? She huffed and quickly wiped her tears. What an interruption. She swore to tell off the person the moment she opened the door. She got up and dusted off the imaginary dust specks off of her and fixed her perfectly fine hair. She wiped away her nonexistent tears again as she marched to the door.
She opened the door gently and froze.
She focused. Okay, there was a person in front of her. Her brain short-circuited as she struggled with her memory to recall the familiar face. Their whole body was covered in a singular shadow, little antler and ear silhouettes were also coated in darkness. They looked like they could be someone's shadow, if it weren't for the piercing green dots they had for eyes. They didn't have an expression, just the green orbs.
The rough silhouette seemed to be covered in oozing ink, gaze hollow.
Rosie's instincts were flaring to assume the person was an obvious threat, but another instinct, that was a fuzzy recognition, got her hands twitching. Unsure of to attack or hold back.
Then, after several minutes, recognition hit her like an express train.
Her eyes widened as her pupils shrank. She couldn't hold back a strangled gasp as her free hand that was not holding the door knob flew to her mouth. She struggled to process the sight in front of her. Her muscles stiffened painfully as they locked inside of her body. She blinked twice as her ears filled with white noise. This-- Thi--
"Alastor?" She whispered brokenly, a new wave of heat rushing to sting her eyes. Her hands shook like a leaf for a reason she decided to dwell on later.
The shadow, that had been busy staring at the ground, snapped its gaze to her. Their eyes were hesitant as they opened their arms for an invitation for a hug, their gaze somewhat sad.
Rosie was overcome with cingulomania, as she rushed to hug the stranger- Alastor and he awkwardly returned it. She clung to him tightly, her hands digging on his darkened back as she buried her face in his hair, breathing wetly.
The awkwardness in Alastor melted away as he clung to her, fisting his hands benind her back. He melted as he let out a breath that wasn't quite a sigh, though he relaxed significantly.
Rosie pulled back to look at the sinner, inspecting him all over. She looked him over. "What happened to you, pumpkin?"
Alastor simply stared, as if not comprehending anything she said. Unbothered and a little annoyed at the interruption of the physical contact, he leaned back into her, wrapping his arms around her. If he had a tail, then it would be surely wagging.
Rosie froze again. She raised a brow at the sudden needy and touchy gesture from the infamous ace deer. Then again, he didn't really seemed to be himself at the moment. She hugged him back, lifting him off the ground, biting back a fresh wave of tears of relief she felt about the situation.
Alastor was back. He was here. Now. He wasn't hurt or--... what. What was this immense relief that followed after shortly mourning the sinner? Actually, what the actual fuck was happening today? He was supposed to be a pet. Someone beneath her.
She took him inside anyway.
He seemed to hug himself as Rosie led him into her bedroom, a reassuring and grounding hand squeezing his shoulder. It was so weird to see the radio host be so quiet. Actually, now that Rosie thought about it, he wasn't even smiling.
She paused, turning to him slowly with a curious raised brow. He turned his head to look at her slowly, silently questioning the abrupt halt. Indeed, Alastor wasn't smiling. At least not in this shadow form. He bore a very small frown.
Honestly, with his big green orbs, he looked kind of adorable.
Rosie resisted the urge to coo at him.
She sat down on the bed and patted the side next to her for the sinner to join. Alastor sat down, still not seeming to be there at all. He stared off into a fixed point in the distance. Rosie frowned, snapping her fingers near his deer ears and in front of his eyes.
She figured that Alastor was clickertrained when it came to his deer side. A single snap or a clicker would catch his attention, even when emotionally present, he would snap his gaze at the source and tear it away seconds later.
Alastor's hollow pupils turned to her slowly. Rosie frowned.
This wasn't like Alastor at all. What had happened? More importantly, how did he end up like this? She swallowed her questions down, knowing that even if she asked them now, she wouldn't get a proper answer.
Alastor was in his power charging form. That much she knew. Every overlord had a charging form of theirs that would emotionally close them off from reality, so the body would have to time to heal physically or emotionally. The person would have been willingly shifted to the form that would reflect their powers. In Alastor's case, he was a solid shadow.
Her train of thought halted as the shadow hauled himself on her.
Well, right now, he was very comfortable being vulnerable.
She huffed. He looked more like a cat than a deer right now. Clingy little thing. She wrapped her arms around him anyway. The whole thing was oddly domestic. Then, of course, her doubts rose. What if he hadn't come to Rosie? What then? He was basically completely powerless now, vulnerable too. What if Vox had-?
She swallowed hard.
She instinctively tightened her grip on the deer sinner, who only squeaked in response before shuffling closer. He rubbed his cheek at the side of her arm, as if reassurance. She shifted her weight and decided to lay her head on the pillows, pampering the sinner's ears. Alastor was hugging her by the waist, his head turned sideways, staring into the distance again.
"Are you alright, dear?" She asked, but unsurprisingly, it fell on deaf ears. "Okay. Wonderful. I can work with this." She nodded to nobody in particular.
She shifted the deer in her arms to let rest on the bed. With little protest, he let her go and curled on himself under the sheets. Rosie closed the bedroom door behind her and went downstairs into the kitchen.
She figured something somewhat decently raw might do. She opened the fridge and took out a spare liver, she decorated it with some vegetables. The cannibal woman knew for a fact that the deer wasn't so different from her after all. Rosie had also noticed that Alastor was unable to consume special types of nourishment.
Normal medication was one of them, unfortunately.
She decided to prepare a bit of lemon honey tea, since it was somewhat digestible medicine for the deer demon. As she stirred the honey with a small spoon, she heard a bit of ruckus upstairs but didn't think much of it. In this instinctive state, Alastor was probably exploring the 'unfamiliar and new' environment, despite being there plenty of times.
She headed towards the stairs and heard chaos echoing around the house.
She lifted an amused brow, a smile forming on her face. The chaos noises weren't loud enough to be concerning, but not gentle enough to be civil either. She walked up the stairs, striding down the hall to her room, in which Alastor was occupying right now.
She pushed open the door and paused.
The shadow demon was on the bed crisscrossed with a still moving bird in between his teeth. The bird twitched its wings against the threat of sharp teeth as Alastor adjusted the grip with his hands. There was a trail of blood oozing down his chin and smeared against his hands and all over the bird's body.
He froze as soon as Rosie walked in though. Ironically enough, he was like a deer in headlights with how tense his body was. Although, a kid stealing from the cookie jar fit better.
Despite the gruesome and messiness of the situation, Rosie actually snorted. Deer ears twitched at the unexpected sound. Then, as if taking it as permission, he clenched his jaw and sunk his teeth into his prey. He then tore out a wing and bit into the creature's inside parts.
The sound of his noshing and squelching of the fresh flesh filled the silent room.
Rosie moved to sit on the bedside, waiting in silence for the deer to finish his meal. Well, if Rosie knew Alastor was this hungry, she would've gotten him something right away.
When he finished, he simply, walked over and threw the torn bird out of the window like nothing had happened. He then sit down again on the bed, kicking his feet over the edge as he looked over Rosie.
Well, maybe he could eat the liver later.
Rosie put the tray of food on the bedside table. She did pick up the tea, though. Alastor, as if smelling her intentions, sprawled backwards like a freaking starfish, his back connecting with the wall as his ears pinned backwards.
Rosie blinked and proceeded to narrow her eyes in silent challenge.
Her hands twitched as if readying themselves to shut down a rebellion. The scene was infinitely funny. His green dot eyes were wide enough to be cute, but his blackened body didn't help in his case. The starfish position would've had anyone think that the sinner was avoiding death a second time, if not given context.
Before she could catch him, he bolted.
She sighed. Oh, Alastor was definitely going to be very shocked and thoroughly embarrassed when she told him about the things he put her through. She got up, rolled up her sleeves and marched downstairs.
---
Well, that was hard. Guess, the warm tea wound him down. She hadn't been babysitting since three decades and chasing down a teenage boy was not in her agenda.
He was fast asleep now, at least. She never knew of this side of Alastor and frankly she wasn't having an easy time. Sure, protection had been part of the deal, but this had been exhausting. Seriously.
She was about to fall asleep on the couch when the doorbell rang.
Curious and slightly cautious, she went to open the door. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was three thirty in the freaking morning. Who could it be now? Better yet, what other surprises could the universe had planned for her now this lovely night? She opened the door and was met with another far fetched face.
He seemed to be a bat(?) of some kind. He had dark fur and red decorations. His face was wearing a deep frown, in which Rosie assumed was frequently present. His gaze was fixed on the ground, much like Alastor earlier. Rosie made a mental note to see if there's actually something interesting planted there.
He noticed her calculating gaze and crossed his arms, clearing his throat. "I don't suppose you've seen the radio demon causing a mess nearby, have you?" He asked nonchalantly, seemingly not caring if it was the dead of night.
Rosie blinked her grip on the knob tightening for the reasons she'd uncover later. "Why?" She asked, keeping her tone light.
The bat(?) blinked. Then, he shrugged. "Dunno. I thought he'd be easy to spot." He looked at the ground, muttering. "Wouldn't even show himself. Tch, typical difficult prick."
Rosie blinked again. "Do you actually know him?" Well, that was unexpected.
"Uh, kind of. I just followed the-" He caught himself from saying the last the part and pinched the space between his eyebrows. "Look... have you seen him or not?" He sounded thoroughly done.
"Well dearie, you look pretty tired. You could stay the night, it's very late. I'm sure you'll get your answers in the morning." She proposed, willing to observe the intruder to guarantee her client's safety.
The bat-person seemed lost in thought, seemingly considering the offer and turning it over in his mind. His gaze was knowing, though. "Y'know, I just needed to talk to him. I didn't know you were close enough friends with him to hide him."
Well, shit.
He then huffed. "I assure you ma'am, I'm only here because he asked me to be" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't want to indulge on anything else." He muttered.
Rosie remained composed on the outside. "If you do not wish to harm him, I don't see the issue. Although, he's a little out of it right now." She informed simply.
The winged creature raised an eyebrow. "What? 'out of it' how?" He sighed through his nose. "Does that bitch really take me for a fucking dog?"
Before Rosie could properly respond, a blur of black wooshed past her with surprising speed and latched itself onto the furred man like its life depended on it. Silence stretched safe for the sound of repeated snuggling. Then, they both blinked.
"Alastor-?" Rosie huffed out. "Dear, why don't you give our guest a little space, no?" She indulged as calm as possible. Half of her wanted the deer sinner not to trust onto a total stranger and the other half wanted to treat their potential guest right.
The cat staggered, briefly caught off guard. Alastor continued to nuzzle himself onto his furry chest, uncaring of the consequences. The cat looked at Rosie with a dumbfounded face that clearly read, 'Are you seeing this shit?' and 'What is happening?'
Rosie sighed, her patience thinning. Part of her felt like she failed in some way and the other part was laughing on the floor. She then braced herself to separate a very wet cat. To her surprise, the deer let her. Alastor looked at her curiously.
Their potential guest looked like the universe itself had bent the laws of physics. She bit out a laugh. "Well, there you have it. Here's the person you were looking for." She pushed the radio host towards the cat in emphasis.
To her absolute delight, the bat looked utterly betrayed.
She couldn't stop herself from shaking with laughter as she doubled over. Said 'demon' looked immensely confused. Ah yes. The great, powerful, and terrifying radio demon; now completely powerless and nothing but a cuddle bear at best.
"So- wait, hold up. This is the radio demon?" He gestured to the deer. She nodded, laughter dying down. Alastor looked between them like a lost little wet, lost and confused cat.
He seemed to be processing something, but gave up. "What? The fuck?" He said plainly, all mannerisms completely forgotten. Rosie sighed again. She then ushered them both inside.
She locked the door behind her, looking at the ceiling.
This was going to be a fun night.
She gestured the cat to sit down on the couch beside the table, he did wordlessly. His gaze flicked to Alastor again assessing and wary. Alastor stared back with mock equal caution. Rosie shook her head at the two and went to the kitchen.
"What would you like, dear?" She looked back the cat with polite kindness. "I'll have a bit of whiskey" He answered back, only half-listening to her. Alastor squeaked out a deer noise.
As Rosie opened the fridge to rummage through drinks, she glanced back at her dear guest. "Can I get your name, dear?"
"Sure, name's Husk, don't wear it out." He called out.
Rosie watched the two interact silently, as a way to distract herself from sleepiness of course.
Alastor was looking at Husk, ears twitching once in a while. Then, he opened his mouth and yawned, a mouth appearing and disappearing afterwards. His inky body shuddered with exhaustion.
Then, unapologetically, he walked over to Husk as the cat stiffened, and hugged him. Not finding the position comfortable, he sat on the couch and leaned his weight on the cat who stiffened further. The deer's head connected with the cat's upper arm as he stared into nothing again, shifting every once in a while.
Husk was watching quietly the entire time. His expression softened when Alastor yawned and looked almost shy when the radio demon touched him. He was looking at him with an almost curious expression, his eyes softening with awe while his mouth was slightly agape. All of the gruffness melted away for a second before slapping back in place.
He caught her amused gaze and looked away with shame. Shame of probably doing something that he shouldn't. Something that would bite him back later for ever doing it in the first place. Odd yet familiar in a way.
Rosie shifted her gaze. She walked over with a bottle of whiskey that was decorated with pink ribbons and an empty cup for the cat to decide if he wanted to use one.
This was getting a lot more entertaining for Rosie.