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Together they walked down the hallways of their brand new hotel.
Charlie was still in awe and excitement over the building. She finally felt a sense of pride and determination that was needed to run this hotel. Not to mention she now had her father there to help them all.
One that not only had faith in his daughter, the reason he got out of his depressed funk. In his defense, he was a single father, one of a daughter whose mother left without a trace while Charlie was in her teenage years.
But, this story isn’t about Charlie and Lucifer.
This isn’t even about the hotel.
It’s about Alastor.
So back to the hallways, where Charlie was pointing out every tiny detail.
“Isn’t it beautiful?! Sinners will be lined up to see this place, everyone worked so hard to rebuild this place. Even my dad helped upgrade everything! So, what do you think? I mean we didn’t really see you much after the fight… You’ve been hiding up in your bedroom.”
“Hm? Oh, yes the hotel looks quite amazing, though some of the decor your father added is a little… Angelic I suppose is the word? As for my disappearance, I have been recovering.”
“You were injured?! Why didn’t you tell us!”
“I didn’t see the need to, I can tend to my own wounds after all. I’ve been–”
Out of nowhere, Alastor found himself falling forward. Did he just trip over his own two feet? No there had to be something, like a table or a spot on the newly carpeted floors. He braced himself for a bang after hitting the floor but when he looked back… There was nothing?
“Oh my god, Al are you okay?!”
When Charlie ran over to him, she reached out to help him back up but she was met with Alastor’s hand, pushing hers away. He was already embarrassed enough as it was, he didn’t need the pity of others as well.
“I’m fine, I merely tripped… Happens to everyone, does it not?”
Alastor sighed softly as he pushed himself up, trying not to show the pain the felt from his encounter with Adam.
Something was off about him ever since the battle.
Not only had he become a bit of a hermit while he healed, he looked slightly thinner than he was before. It was a little hard to notice though since the man was already so skinny.
He was hiding the fact that he was still quite foggy in his brain, making him distracted from his everyday life.
His broadcasts had slowly changed over the past week or so. They were a little more obscure, like he was slowly losing his mind.
If that was even possible.
It was very out of character for him, yet no one really pieced together what was happening. Hell, all of the hotel probably had no idea what was even wrong with him. The only one that might know was Vox considering how he basically was the Internet, but Alastor had yet to really show his face.
People had only heard his voice, no one outside had even seen him lately. Like he was getting ready to disappear again, which of course was frustrating however Alastor never really noticed how distant he had been acting.
“You really don’t look so good… We’ve all been worried sick about you! Everyone has been asking about you.”
“You can tell them I am fine.”
Alastor rolled his eyes, brushing himself off before fixing his bowtie, then fixed his hair a bit. It had been growing in a little differently than usual. It was more fine than it usually was, kind of like it was changed with his weight loss.
This loss had been noticeable, but no one really noticed seeing how thin he was to begin with. Maybe that had something to do with fight with Adam, Charlie figured.
“Come on Al, if you don’t feel well you can tell us… We’re your friends and we want to be there to help!”
“That is very kind of you, darling however, like I said earlier, I just do not feel all that well.”
“At least come down and show everyone you’re still alive?”
Charlie grew more and more worried about Alastor. She knew he was never fully sane, anyone would have been able to tell her that, but lately just seemed different. He was sick, not just recovering, but didn’t know how to go about the situation. The last time she tried to help her friends out like this was when she hurt Angel back in the studio.
She was trying to respect his boundaries.
“Fine, fine. Only for a small period of time. I don’t need all of Hell seeing me in such a state.”
“Yay! I promise not to say anything and you can leave whenever you want… Oh oh oh! This is PERFECT.” There was a sparkle in her eyes as she looked over at Alastor, biting her bottom lip excitedly as she smiled. “We can treat this like a trust exercise! You can trust us and in return we can take care of you!”
“I do not need to be taken care of.”
As they began to walk, she huffed slightly, looking up at Alastor. “Fine, but you have to trust us enough to see you like this.” Charlie crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks a bit. “As the princess of Hell, I demand you make an appearance at least once a day!”
With a soft groan, Alastor glanced over at her as he held his hands behind his back, walking tall with his head up. He was trying to appear like he was okay, he just wasn’t good at it.
He wasn’t used to it.
The great radio demon, wounded by the first man during the battle, people caring about his health… It actually brought him back, back seven years ago.
He remembered sitting next to Vox at the time, when he would be pulled between his legs so the man could pet his hair softly. Alastor remembered how nice it felt, no matter what was wrong, Vox had always taken care of him… But now, now he didn’t have that.
He didn’t have the soft white noise, he didn’t have those arms around him, he couldn’t lay back and feel the rise and fall of someone’s chest accompanied by a heartbeat.
Alastor had been missing that a lot the past few days actually.
The scent of Vox’s sweater, the warm, the quiet, and the care. No one had ever cared for him like that and he never wanted anyone else to.
It was a little odd to him, the man had been on his mind and the memories were coming and going as they pleased. They were distracting to say the least, getting in the way of his everyday life.
Alastor had been having a hard time sleeping but also he had been falling asleep regularly during the day. No one noticed his sleep patterns, if they did they just assumed it was from the battle.
“How does that sound?”
His ear twitched as her voice rang through the fog, bringing his attention back to Charlie since he clearly was not paying attention.
“What sound?”
“...”
“Well?”
“I said maybe we could try thirty minutes… Are you sure you’re okay, Al?”
“Oh, yes, that would be a good start. Yes, let’s start there!”
Alastor had to force himself to keep up his image, proud, confident, cunning. He even had to force a smile as he pretended nothing was wrong.
“Al…”
“Chin up my dear! Now, will you escort me to the lobby? I am a little lost in this new… Labyrinth of a building.”
“I will admit, it’s definitely different.” She smiled, letting out a soft little laugh as she took the lead. “Especially since you haven’t seen much of it!” Once again, her attention was brought back to the hotel, not wanting to push the issue at hand right now. As a group they may be able to help, since Husk and Niffty knew him much better, Vaggie probably assumed she was just worried about his disappearance, Angel was just curious in general since some of his eye candy had vanished.
Lucifer didn’t really care, after all, his daughter and her dream was more important. He wanted her dreams to come true, Alastor was just a pain in the neck.
He did kind of become a giant and started to eat people in front of the building.
They butt heads a lot too so it was nice to have someone not trying to steal his baby girl from him. He had to admit though, even he noticed Alastor was acting weird. Maybe he was just humiliated by being gravely injured by just one hit, it was the only reason that made sense to him.
No one considered he was /sick/.
“Look what the cat finally dragged in.”
Vaggie looked over after hearing Charlie’s voice coming down the hallway.
“I didn’t drag him in.”
Husk murmured to himself, putting a glass down and putting the rag that was in his other hand on top of the bar since he had to clean it.
“Smiles, ya finally came outta hidin! We was startin to think ya died or some shit.”
“... You look like you did.”
Lucifer added to Angel’s statement but it was given in a more teasing tone that was trying to get a rise out of Alastor.
“I’m terribly sorry for worrying everyone, Husker, my friend, could you be a dear and pour me a glass of water?”
The room fell silent for a moment, all eyes on Alastor. An apology was the last thing they were expecting from him. The first one to actually break the silence was Husk who had an eyebrow raised but did as he was told, filling a tall glass full of water and placed it on the bar top.
“Here, you sound like shit. You sure water is gonna be enough?”
Alastor walked over, past everyone, and sat down on the stool next to Angel, pulling the glass towards himself.
“Yes, actually, let’s make it two glasses actually.”
“Boss, you’re l–”
“Did I ask?”
He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Husk. The look in his eyes was a little absent, like he was stuck in his head, as he brought the glass to his lips. Without any hesitation, he tipped the glass, drinking the whole glass of water in one go before placing the empty one back onto the bar top.
“Alastor, you really should slow down. I hear sinners can get water poisoning if they drink too much at once.” Vaggie started to walk over to the bar, watching as Alastor grabbed onto the second glass. “You’re acting like you haven’t had water in days and I know damn well you have water in your room.”
“Vags, not all water is drinkable? Don’t cha know about pollution and shit?”
“I know people throw things in the water but this is Alastor we’re talking about. Who knows what’s going on in that weird outside area in his bedroom. What was it called… A bayou?”
“Huh, makes sense. Boss here is from New Orleans after all.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Husk and Angel looked up and over at Vaggie and Charlie before looking at each other.
“It means part of it looks like a bayou, probably where he did a lot of hunting.”
“Which is weird ‘cause rednecks and all them.”
“Rednecks?”
Niffty popped up onto the bar, scaring both Husk and Angel, but Alastor seemed unphased and just finished his second glass.
“Yes, well there is some good protein sources there of various types.”
Charlie gasped before running up to the bar, slamming her hands onto it, causing Alastor to jump a little as it startled him.
Once again, all eyes were on Alastor.
“Sorry Al, I was just thinking about how you guys could tell us about earth!” She bounced on her toes. “The only stuff we really know is people’s lives! We never even considered what earth was like or its layout!”
Alastor just shrugged.
“If I must, however I am a little busy so it may be another day. That works for everyone, yes? Good.”
Alastor was acting even weirder, it was like the more he denied it, the more worried everyone became.
“Smiles what’s up? You’ve been actin weird as fuck lately. It’s like ya walked off the side of the earth if we’re talkin about bein alive and shit?”
“Non-sense, how can one walk off the face of the earth when it is round? Not to mention we walked off of Earth already, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Ugh, why do ya gotta avoid questions?!”
“Because I can choose to answer them as I please.”
Husk poured Alastor another glass of water, but also a double shot of Scotch, quietly pushing both drinks towards him.
The radio demon went to grab the glass of alcohol only to be met with the air. Like it didn’t exist or something.
“Uhh, boss?”
Alastor looked at where his hand was, a shocked look on his face as he came to realize that the glass was never there in the first place. Like he hallucinated it?
Quickly correcting his mistake, his hand moved to the glass of water which thankfully was there.
“Smiles?”
Angel actually leaned in, reaching out, and to his surprise, he was actually able to poke his cheek. He wasn’t met with teeth, not a threat, not even a punch, all he got was Alastor swatting his hand away before finishing his third glass.
“Charlie, dear, tell me, has it been thirty minutes yet?”
It was as if he was ignoring everyone and actually listening to some sort of directions.
“Almost… Oh, Niffty made some really good cookies! You have to try them!”
“Perhaps another day.”
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, glancing over at Niffty who looked a little hurt. Alastor never denied her like that, they were extremely close after all. The first one to move was Husk again, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
“Boss, I think you need to lay down.”
“Exactly,” His ears flattened as he almost glared over at Charlie, but he didn’t have the strength to do much. “I was rudely pulled from my room.”
“I’m sorry Al, we just want to make sure you’re okay… You’ve been… Out of it for the past week or two. Even your radio show has been weird.”
“Non-sense, everything is fine.”
“Dude, ya were playin the same music as Vox?”
Alastor blinked, like he just realized he was as he looked over at Angel who could swear his eyes were tired, lacking any sort of emotion. Hell even Husk had more emotions than this. It was like Alastor had just switched off.
That or someone somehow replaced him without any of them noticing.
This was just an Angel conspiracy though.
It took Vaggie a few snaps of her fingers to actually catch his attention, taking note of his ears still laid back and the bit of saliva in the corner of his mouth she just assumed was the water.
“Hello?”
“Yes?”
“We were talking to you!”
“My apologies, if you will allow me to get some sleep, I should be okay.”
He still had cotton mouth, you could hear his mouth was dry as he spoke.
Who was this and what did they do to Alastor? It was like the spark just disappeared.
His soul being consumed by something horrible, something blocking Alastor’s personality, emotions, and… Actions.
After all, he quickly refilled one more glass of water before getting to his feet. With a slight nod, he downed his fourth cup before leaving it on the bartop. Without another word, the man started to walk away, ignoring any calls he could hear behind him.
Not even an insult caught his attention.
Now everyone was scared for him, this wasn’t Alastor.
It was a zombie, a shell.
Alastor stumbled a tiny bit when he was out of sight, cursing softly as he made his way back to his radio tower and not his bedroom where he said he was going.
Instead, he reached the top of the tower, rubbing his eyes as he dropped his signature smile. His ears drooping as he managed to make it behind his desk and into his chair.
He was weak.
His eyes moved slowly as he looked out his windows, at the view of the pentagram before closing the blinds, darling the room quite a bit.
“I think you were right…”
Alastor spoke to his shadow on the floor, one whose face was starting to fade away.
Those eyes looked back over to his equipment as slid down the chair a bit.
“I have to.”
He spoke softly, reaching out to flip a few switches, watching as some of the lights turned on. Of course there were a few dials he had to turn but soon enough, all of the lights turned an electric blue as it connected only to Vox who was hooked up to his computers.
When Vox got a weird buzz, his eyes quickly darted over, noticing the whole screen was red on his left side. Confused, he closed everything around him and brought the screen in front of him. As he answered it, he could hear a static noise at first seeing as Alastor couldn’t focus his frequency.
“Bambi?! How the fuck– WHERE WERE YOU?”
“Injured.”
“DUH I WATCHED YOU GET THE SHIT BEAT OUT OF YOU, JACKASS! NO ONE GETS THE PLEASURE OF KILLING YOU BESIDES ME!”
“You… Seem to be too late.”
“Huh?”
“I’m sick.”
“Sick? So what, you need me to come coddle you like I used to? HA, fat fucking chance!”
“I don’t.”
“... Al, you’re making me nervous… How did you even manage to get my attention like this?”
“It was my last trick.”
“Last trick? What the fuck does that mean?” When he didn’t get a response, Vox got closer to the screen, even though it was pure red. He couldn’t even see Alastor so he had absolutely no idea what state he was in.
All he could tell was Alastor was acting weird, he sounded odd almost like someone was turning off the radio. He sounded tired and his responses were too short for his liking.
“Alastor? Hey, can you hear me?!”
“I can. I know you will figure it out when I’m gone.”
“Gone? You’re not disappearing for years again are you?!”
Vox was actually starting to panic, having a heavy feeling in his chest as if he felt his heart breaking. He had a very bad feeling.
“I will be gone before my body…”
His throat was still dry, much to his dismay.
“You mean your mind? You never had that to begin with, dumbass!”
“I wished to say goodbye before then.”
Yup, his heart began to sink. Vox wanted to throw up, he couldn’t lose Alastor again.
He didn’t think he could take it.
“Hold on, I’m coming over.”
“No need.”
“Well I need to see you so shut the fuck up.”
Before Alastor could even finish his sentence, the lights on his equipment turned off. Vox had disconnected the call and was already travelling to the hotel, hopping from TV screen to TV screen, camera to camera, until he was in front of the hotel, slamming the doors open.
For a minute, Charlie stood up straight and looked over, “Welcome to the–” She was quickly cut off by Vox, looking around anxiously. “Are you looking for something? I’m sure we can figure out whatever it is you need to make your stay here more comfortable! Hopefully anyways…”
She was cut off again, this time by Angel who was both shocked and scared.
“V-Vox? Whatcha doin h–”
“Where is he?”
“Where’s who?”
Charlie tilted her head curiously before her eyes drifted around, looking at everyone’s faces.
“Alastor, where the fuck is he, I need to fucking talk to the bastard!”
“Oh! You must be a friend, I’m sorry to tell you that he isn’t up for visitors. He’s not feeling so great at the moment.”
“I know, now what’s his room number before this hotel gets destroyed by the media!”
“What?!”
Vaggie’s eyes widened as Angel looked at her.
“... Ya seriously don’t know Vox? Like as in VoxTek? The media overlord?”
Vox was frustrated so without an answer, he quite literally pushed Vaggie to the side, knocking her into Charlie’s arms. Before she could say anything about it though, Vox was across the lobby, looking around for the unstable frequencies.
Once he narrowed in on them, he spotted Alastor’s presence, in the tower.
He immediately pushed his way through and up to the broadcasting studio where the door was closed but for once, not locked.
Carefully, Vox reached out and wrapped his hand around the doorknob, twisting it gently before slowly pushing the door open.
“Al…?”
“You didn’t need to…”
Once Vox brightened his screen slightly he could see Alastor.
The man was in terrible shape.
Thin, the texture in his hair changed, he clearly had a dry mouth, but he could still see a bit of saliva in the corner of Alastor’s mouth that had a weak, forced smile while his ears drooped.
“Yes I did…” He frowned, closing the door behind him before walking to the man he loved and gently touched Alastor’s head. It was hot, much hotter than it should be, he had a fever. “He didn’t do this, did he?”
Alastor shook his head slightly, letting Vox brush his fingers through his hair like old times.
“No… This started long before.”
“Then what happened?” A soft chuckle left Alastor’s throat as he looked up at Vox who could finally see the brain fog in his mind through those tired eyes. “You really are sick… Come on, I’m bringing you with me.”
“And why would I want to join you?”
“Because…” Alastor didn’t really put up much of a fight, it actually felt nice. The contact, the familiar scent, the white noise that occasionally filled his ears. “I love you.”
“I…” He let himself be carried towards the door, resting his head against Vox’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “Love you too.”
As happy as he was to hear those words, they felt like daggers.
No one stopped them as Vox silently carried Alastor across the lobby and out the front doors. Alastor didn’t even seem to care if they were seen, it’s not like he had a reputation anymore.
Well, at least one he could control.
He was sick.
Wasting away.
At least he knew, as his mind slipped he knew he was safe. He knew Vox would take care of him until his body decayed long after his mind.
Alastor knew with Vox, he was in good company. He was the last person he wanted to see before he was too far gone.
Wasting away.
His illness was fatal and his fate was sealed.
The great and powerful radio demon would soon be no more, taking a part of the media with him.