Gabster

With Alastor, you see the same mechanic on how the fandom treats him:

His canon aversion to intimacy is dismissed as “fixable” or a kind of obstacles to work around

His autonomy is overwritten so a ship can function

His trauma is romanticized instead of respected

His violence and control issues are aestheticized rather than interrogated

He stops being a character and becomes a thing to be used for emotional payoff.

He’s objectified like how many women in fiction are because of his demeanor (I believe that’s way), it's actually really interesting to watch. Alastor’s gentleman-like behavior mirrors a set of expectations that have historically been imposed on women in fiction: perfection in every way

Women in fiction are often expected to be:

Polite

Composed

Emotionally contained

Aesthetically pleasing even in distress

Alastor performs that exact thing:

Constant smile

Controlled speech

Impeccable manners

Emotional restraint even under pressure

Alastor can not have any real uglyness to him that isn't visually pleasing to the audience I’ve seem this with how people constantly compare “pilot” Alastor to “show” Alastor (they're the same person to me) where people often expression how they don't like how “show” Alastor shows more of himself and “pilot” was far more contained and it was harder to truly see his emotions. “Pilot Alastor is praised by some people for being more energetic and enthusiastic even thought in the show they make it known that Alastor is getting more and more tired of working at the hotel, he isn't allowed to actually express that in anyway “We can know that he's annoyed but they shouldn't show that too much, it's unpleasant”.

Because he performs flawless composure, audiences subconsciously assume:

> “He exists to be looked at, not listened to.”

That’s the same expectations female characters fall into.

Moral containment

Women are often expected to be “good victims”:

Suffer quietly

Remain likable

Be redeemable and nurturing despite trauma

Alastor gets shoved into a warped version of this:

His darkness is acceptable only if it’s “cool”

His boundaries are ignored because he’s “charming”

His refusal of romance is framed as denial, not choice

Alastor is not allow to verbally express any real discomfort he feels

His gentlemanliness makes people feel entitled to him.

Emotional labor projection

Another parallel:

Women are often expected to regulate others’ emotions.

With Alastor:

People sometimes project emotional softness onto him

They expect him to “eventually open up”

People expect Alastor to open up without any real justification, as if his comfort and vulnerability are things others are entitled to. He’s expected to feel safe and emotionally available on command, even when he’s given no reason to trust or soften.

*Mind you this is the scene right after Vox forced Alastor to watch him and Val have sex

They want him to be the stable, controlled one in relationships

And humbling him and expecting him to effortlessly take care of himself and others all at the same time

But canon Alastor does not exist to soothe others.

That expectation is imposed on him just like it is on women, but why does this happens specifically to Alastor?

Alastor sits at a crossroads of traits that trigger objectification:

Power without any vulnerability

Elegance without emotional access

Restraint mistaken for consent

Trauma hidden behind competence

When a character refuses to emote on demand, fandom often responds by rewriting them to make them consumable.

That rewriting is gendered even when the character is male.

The irony here is that:

Alastor is one of the few characters whose entire arc is about:

Control

Autonomy

Refusal to be owned

Weaponized politeness

And fandom responds by trying to own him anyway.

When a character:

Is composed

Is desirable

Withholds emotional access

Refuses normative intimacy

They are punished by being objectified.

Now with all this mind

One of the things that makes Alastor such a compelling character is that he withholds from us people wanna know him more. He is polite but not warm, charming but not open, helpful but not selfless. He performs control so well that people forget it is a performance. His smile is constant, his manners are impeccable, his voice never cracks and because of that, audiences often assume he is simple. He looks and acts as if he has everything emotionally together when it far more possible he doesn’t.

Alastor is emotionally blunted, not empty. He feels selectively, inconsistently, and often without clarity. He forms attachments slowly on his own terms, and usually through routine, usefulness, or shared structure rather than intimacy. He values autonomy above almost everything. He does not like being owned, commanded, or morally reframed by others. Even his “kindness” is conditional and deliberate. Nothing about him is accidental.

And yet, despite all of this, fandom consistently treats Alastor as if his interiority is optional.

My comparison to him and how women are treated in fiction becomes unavoidable.

In fiction, women especially composed, polite, emotionally restrained women are often treated less as subjects and more as functions . Their trauma is aesthetic. Their boundaries are negotiable. Their refusal is interpreted as tension rather than a choice. Their restraint is read as availability. They are expected to be perfect, palatable, and ultimately consumable.

Alastor fits that same mold almost too well.

He is gentlemanly. He is controlled. He is aesthetically pleasing. He does not emote “correctly.” He rarely explains himself. And because of that, fandom feels entitled to rewrite him into something more accessible. His lack of interest in romance becomes a challenge. His autonomy becomes something to be overcome. His refusal becomes “he just hasn’t met the right person yet.”

Instead of asking who Alastor is, fandom often asks what he can be used for.

That pattern becomes especially obvious when you look at how he’s handled in ships.

Take Lucifer, for example.

In a lot of radioapple content, Alastor is made subservient emotionally, morally, or literally. He is framed as someone who needs to be put in his place, corrected, commanded, or owned. For a recent example of this the “executioner theory” where Lucifer makes a deal with Alastor that allows him to order Alastor to kill on command, as if Alastor’s entire character arc hasn’t been about resisting ownership and refusing chains. This theory alone full proves my point about how a lot people use and place Alastor in different pairs as a mere accessory. What benefit does Alastor have at all in this scenario and even if there was one can't he just optain it himself especially without being under ownership again.

This dynamic is bizarre on a narrative level, but it’s worse on a thematic one.

Alastor is black, mixed-raced Creole man from the early 1900s. Lucifer is depicted as a white, aristocratic embodiment of old power. When fandom imagines Lucifer commanding Alastor, controlling his violence, or “taming” him, it recreates a racialized power dynamic whether people intend it or not. A powerful Black man’s autonomy is stripped so a white authority figure can be centered as dominant, tragic, or morally superior.

What’s especially telling is that these interpretations often ignore Charlie entirely. A deal where Lucifer controls Alastor’s actions by killing any sinner he commands directly contradicts Charlie’s ideology, her dream, and goes against the overall narrative of Hazbin. But those themes are inconvenient when the goal is a ship, so they’re discarded.

Alastor’s autonomy is sacrificed first.

Instead of Lucifer fans trying to question why Lucifer sees not causing harm as a form of punishment to begin with, they instead jump to trying to fix Lucifers problem cuz “poor him” and instead of taking a moment and wondering why Lucifer has that specific punishment to begin with they come to the conclusion of “Lets use Alastor to fix Lucifers personal “problem””.

With Vox, the treatment shifts but the objectification doesn’t disappear.

In Radiosilence (the one-sided dynamic), Alastor often becomes the unattainable prize. His lack of interest isn’t respected as a boundary; it’s framed as an obstacle. Vox’s obsession is explored, centered, indulged while Alastor’s subjectivity fades into the background. He exists to be wanted. Even tho Alastor presents and how he feels about Vox is the prime reason for the existence of this specific kind of ship Ive only seen few people actually dive into how Alastor would feel or behave in this scenario (even tho its canon now) it is almost always focused on how Vox feels.

In Radiostatic, the problem becomes even clearer. Alastor is frequently aestheticized to the point of abstraction. His femininity stays in this one which for some reason is quite rare as people often remove this trait from Alastor within some ships of him, but they sometimes strip his agency. He’s depicted as something Vox has a status symbol, a beautiful possession, emotional jewelry. In many cases, some radiostatic fans have even admitted to not even liking Alastor at all even tho they full ship this ship. He’s there to make Vox happy, to complete Vox’s narrative, to serve Vox’s emotional arc.

Alastor is no longer a person. He is an accessory.

This mirrors exactly how women in fiction are often treated in shipping spaces: valued for what they provide to another characters rather than who they are themselves.

Alastor’s entire character is built around resisting this exact thing. He does not give emotional access freely because he knows what happens when he does.

In some cases people will excuse Vox’s behaviour even if it's not for a ship by saying “Alastor actually enjoys being stalked he enjoys the harrassment, the assault” this very similar how people would blame and try to excuse similar behave made towards woman not even just in fiction.

And fandom responds to this by forcing access anyways, by rewriting his resistance as desire, reframing his boundaries as a kind of denial, and turning his control into compliance.

It’s honestly a shame, because there are so many thoughtful and interesting ways to explore a character like Alastor, yet so many people default to shallow or outright harmful depictions instead. I’ve seen people dismiss the exploration of (queer)platonic dynamics as boring and even when they don’t say it outright, it often feels like they simply don’t know how to engage with a character like Alastor unless romance or sex is involved.

His identity his refusal of intimacy, his control, his emotional distance could be incredibly fun and challenging to work with, but instead fandom keeps forcing him into amatonormative frameworks that flatten him. Rather than asking what kind of connections Alastor would choose, people focus on reshaping him into something easier to consume. And that, more than anything, feels like such a waste.

I also can’t help but notice that some people pride themselves in their understanding of complex issues like representation, ethics, or specific dynamics making analysis after analysis but when the opportunity arises and if they’re not faced with anything that they personally can not relate to or can not view as surface level, they shut down. They skim the surface, dismiss concerns, or talk over people actually trying to engage, because confronting the topic might force them to confront their own perception. It’s easier to stay comfortable, keep everything flat, and avoid thinking too deeply but doing that only guarantees the same problems keep repeating. The reaction people gave when the conversation of Alastor experiencing racism while alive and how people in this fandom would much rather fight hard to dismiss this idea rather look at how that would effect him and his relationships with others characters was telling, on how they are either ignorant and/or uncomfortable with digging deep into such topic

The fact that this is happening to a male character was actually very confusing to me at first I constantly wondered “what is it about character that makes people treat him like this”. There is more I wish to expand on but Alastor is non-normatively masculine, he's feminine in how he carries himself but he visually masculine enough where his popularity isn't diminished, his racially identity, emotionally restrained, and uninterested in traditional romance. Those are the same traits that have historically made women easier to objectify in fiction.

So, Why is Alastor’s autonomy always the first thing to go?

There something about Alastor that doesn't give him the same amount of privilege that other male character get and i do believe it has to do with even more things than just him having a lot of womanly attributes and once I notice it, I started to notice it everywhere and its very obvious that people are completely unaware of these implications when addressing Alastor but then that would have to bring up another conversation as to why these kinds of interpretation of him is the “default” and and why people don't immediately notice the implications of these depictions.

I could make a second part of this and going into more as to why this happens more maybe

Title: Realization

AO3 Link: Realization - Chapter 1 - ADGAEA - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon) [Archive of Our Own]

Alastor cursed lowly. 

He’d only looked away from the child for a single second, but in that time, the child had managed to climb to an unreasonable height on one of her bookshelves and was now falling. 

He quickly jumped into action and caught the child as she was still crying out in fear.

He cradled the girl close to him as he attempted to calm her down, but it was not working very well.

He couldn't help but tense when the door to Charlie’s room opened and not just one, but both of her parents were standing there, and now glaring at him.

He shuddered under their harsh gazes.

He did not fight back as Lucifer approached and gently took Charlie from his arms. He gritted his teeth as Lilith followed behind her husband and gently patted Charlie’s head before she faced him again and harshly gripped his arm before she dragged him out of the room.

~~

Charlie sniffled as her dad cradled her and soothed her.

That had been very scary.

She sniffled and looked around as she questioned her dad, “Where’s Al? He saved me from falling! I was so scared!”

She watched as her dad’s brow furrowed before he hummed and responded, “Ah, your mother took him out into the hall to talk to him for a minute. Why don’t you stay here for a few minutes. I’ve got to go talk to him and your mother for a little bit. No more climbing on shelves either, little miss!”

Charlie nodded as her dad gently sat her down on her bed and she wiped tears out of her eyes. 

However, she was curious as her father left the room. She crept to her door and poked her tongue out the side of her mouth as she pressed her ear to it so she could hopefully listen in on whatever her parents were talking about. She hoped that they’d get done soon though! SHe wanted her toy back! She already missed Al so much!

She could hear her mother’s stern voice before she heard her dad command, “Stop, Lilith. He may have missed seeing her at first, but he did catch her. He didn’t upset her. The fall did.”

She teared up a bit as she listened to her mother’s scary tone say, “He still made her cry, and I WILL NOT tolerate that!”

She then heard what sounded like a smacking sound alongside a small ‘oof’.

Her eyes widened as she realized that her mother had just struck someone! Why would she do that?

She heard her mother say, “Keep better watch over her, Alastor. One more mistake and you will join our daughter’s other retired toys regardless of how attached she gets. Understand?”

She heard Alastor call out cordially, “Yes, my Queen.”

She then rushed away from her door and jumped back onto her bed. 

Her parents were always the ones to bring her new toys. But, she was confused. Alastor hadn’t sounded like a toy there. Were her toys not just manifestations from her parents?

Were they real?

She was brought out of her musings as the door was opened again and her dad ushered Alastor in in front of himself as he said, “Sorry we took your toy from you for a bit, Char-Char! He’s back now, though!”

She smiled softly as she said, “That’s ok, dad. Thank you! Let’s get back to playing, Al!”

She softly gripped Alastor’s hand as her father nodded in approval as her mother watched from the doorway.

As soon as her parents were gone, her smile dropped and she looked up at Alastor as she questioned, “Do you feel pain?”

She watched his eyes widen in slight surprise before his face went neutral again as he answered, “I am capable of feeling pain, yes. But not to worry, dear.”

She scrunched up her face as she said, “You’re not something my parents conjured for me, are you?”

He questioned, “Whatever do you mean, dear?”

She teared up a bit as she said, “I heard you three in the hall. You sounded real. You’re alive, aren’t you?”

Alastor hesitated before he sighed and confirmed, “Yes, dear. I am real.”

She sniffled slightly and he bent to her level. She almost immediately launched herself onto him and hugged around his chest as best as she could as she questioned, “Do you even want to be here? Are you going to leave me?”

She felt Alastor pat her head lightly before he answered solemnly, “I did not choose to be here, dear, and I cannot leave you, but know that regardless of what brought me here, I have grown to care for you.”

She sniffled again as she wiped her face on his shirt and questioned, “Why would they do this, Al? Why? I could be happy with real toys. I don’t want to force a REAL person to be my toy!”

She curled closer to him as he hummed lightly before saying, “I don’t know, my dear, but I shall grin and bear it. So shall you, dear. I am still the same Alastor that you have known since I arrived in your life.”

She sniffled again as she said, “But you don’t want to be here!”

He sighed as he said, “Never you mind what I want, Charlotte. It’s getting pretty late, why don’t I read you a story before it’s time for your bedtime routine?”

She nodded as she rubbed her eyes and glanced up at Al’s face as he stood and carried her over to her bookshelf so she could choose a story.

She ruffled her brow as she said, “I don’t want one of those stories, Al. Can you tell me a story about you?”

She felt him stiffen before he answered, “I suppose, but it shall stay between the two of us, dear. How about I tell you the story of my first adventure into learning magic with my mother?”

She grinned as she said, “I’d like that!”

He sat her on her bed and began the story.

She was still confused, but for now she was getting sleepy.

Charlie grimaced as her father left her room. She’d cried out in fear, and her parents had thought that Alastor had mis-stepped again, but she’d climbed on top of a chair this time and nearly toppled off.

Alastor had caught her of course, but she knew her parents didn’t really care who the fault laid on.

She hoped that Alastor would be alright when he was able to return. Her father had seemed rather annoyed this time as well, and she knew that he wasn’t going to stop Alastor from being punished by her mother.

She had heard them threaten to kill him in the past when she’d managed to injure herself on one of the toys he’d conjured for her, and he’d returned to her with slightly haunted eyes before his carefully crafted mask came upon his face again.

That had been less than a year ago. She’d been gifted with him when she’d turned five, had figured out that he was a real person when she was six, and now she was soon to turn eight, and she was no closer to figuring out how she could help him.

She’d dared to question her parents about it once, but they continually dodged her question, and Alastor had been taken away from her for a couple of days, and when he’d returned, he’d been more reserved than normal.

She rubbed at her eyes as she teared up again.

All she ever did was make things worse for him. She was powerless to help him get free.

She jolted slightly and rubbed at her eyes. She smiled fakely as her father once again entered, Alastor and her mother trailing behind him.

She kept the fake smile on her face even as she noticed that there were definitely abrasions on Alastor’s face.

Lucifer calmly said, “Apologies for your toy’s appearance, Char-Char! He fell in the hall and got a little roughed up but should look better in no time. Though, if you’d rather get rid of him and get a new toy, I certainly wouldn't mind!”

Charlie's eyes widened slightly as she panicked and waved her hands as she said, “NO!”

Both Lucifer and Lilith stared at her with surprised looks on their faces.

She quickly got a pouty look on her face and crossed her arms as she said, “He’s my favorite toy! You can’t get rid of him!”

She then walked over to Alastor and hugged him around the waist. Now that she was older, she had come to notice that he didn’t like being touchy very much, but this was needed to reaffirm her point.

Lucifer huffed as he said, “Alright, Char-Char! Just let me know if you change your mind!”

He then took Lilith’s arm and began to leave. Charlie noticed the glare her mother sent in Alastor’s direction.

However, she was relieved when her parents finally left them alone.

She quickly let go of him and stood in front of him. She grimaced as she noticed that he was still masking. She could see the remnants of fear in his eyes though. He was amazing at masking, but after spending so much time with him, so many years, she was rather adept at being able to read his true emotions by watching his eyes.

“Al, are you okay? What did they do? Is there anything I can do to help?” she rapidly questioned.

Alastor simply continued to smile as he answered, “I am alright.”

She didn’t accept that answer and questioned, “No, you’re not. What did they do?”

She noticed him visibly stiffen before he answered, “I am simply your toy, dear. I feel no pain.”

Her eyes widened at the obvious lie. She growled and gritted her teeth.

She balled her hands into fists as her eyes turned red and her horns began to poke out a little as she said, “Did my mother use her song on you? Did she bind you?”

She watched as his jaw stiffened. He did not answer, but he looked away from her. She had her answer. Her mother had bound him to be directly under her control.

Tears of anger poured down her face as she said, “She can’t do this! Can you use your powers anymore? I know they had you bound to the property, but did she truly bind your soul to be completely under her control?”

She watched as he stiffened again.

He simply answered, “I am but a toy. I have no powers.”

She couldn’t help it. She kept her crying quiet so as not to alert her parents as she launched herself at Alastor. He caught her and gently circled his arms around her.

She hugged him tightly as she tearfully declared, “I’ll free you one day, Alastor. I promise. I’m sorry. I should've been more careful. I’m sorry!”

She held onto him as he simply patted her hair.

He was unable to answer any other way until the song wore off. Her binding of his soul wouldn’t wear off, but the song keeping him in this docile state with only standard answers would wear off within the week, he was sure of it.

His soul now belonged directly to Lilith, and his actions were directly monitored and his true powers suppressed.

He was well and truly trapped.

But no matter, he would find a way out eventually, and his voice wasn’t trapped forever.

She could take his soul, but she couldn’t take his spirit.

He wasn’t going to lose his determination to escape.

Rosie gasped in surprise and lost her grip on her teacup as the chain tethering Alastor’s soul to her shattered like the cup that she’d just dropped. Her hands shook and she swallowed as she sat forward and held her head in her hands.

She should have worked harder to find him. She’d even questioned that odd fellow of a television man that her deer had begun to mentor just over a year before he disappeared. That fellow had actually been the one to inform her of his disappearance when he’d missed a meeting and hadn’t been at his radio tower either.

And she herself got confirmation that he was indeed missing when he didn’t show up for their weekly tea and gossip session. She should have known that when there were no screams or sounds coming from her radio during the normally scheduled time that something had gone wrong.

And things around Hell had since gotten a bit worse, considering Alastor was no longer present to take the worst of the trash out. And now he’d never be able to again.

And now, she’d failed him. He was no doubt dead by whatever force had decided to take him.

She snarled.

Someone had killed her property, her deer, her best friend!

She wouldn’t stop looking until she found the culprits. 

They would pay.

She would ensure it.

Perhaps she could even invite the TV head into the loop, especially since his technological advancements were making things a little easier when it came to spying and he’d managed to make his way to overlord status already.

~~~~~~

Vox stared at the one picture that he had of himself and Alastor.

He sighed. It had been more than three years since he’d gone missing. He missed the red asshole so much. He had a crush on the guy practically since he got to hell and had managed to catch his eye by pulling a rather stupid stunt that had nearly gotten him killed, had it not been for the fact that he’d actually managed to kill the low-level overlord just before Alastor had also arrived, apparently having decided to also take out the very same overlord.

And then Alastor had taken him in and mentored him. He still had a crush, but after spending a decent amount of time with the guy, he knew it would remain unrequited. And he was fine with it. He’d rather still be allowed to at least talk to him than just simply be laughed at and turned away completely if he dared to confess that he had a crush.

He sighed again. He supposed that it no longer mattered though, considering that Alastor had completely disappeared from all of Hell. He’d nearly driven himself crazy looking for Alastor, and almost got himself killed when trying to search in other overlord’s territories, but the searches yielded nothing.

Not even Rosie had found anything as of yet.

He sat the picture back on the console as he powered the station up. He was glad that Alastor had grown to trust him enough before his disappearance to grant him access to his main domain at the radio tower.

Every once in a while when he had time he’d stop by and do a broadcast. It wasn’t nearly anything like Al’s broadcasts, but it at least ensured that the equipment remained in good running for if Alastor were to ever return.

He was grateful for Al’s mentorship, and he would do whatever he could to defend Alastor’s domain and territory as best as he could until he would return. He was also grateful for the advice to begin going by a pseudonym as that had saved him from a rather icky spell that needed a person’s true name to work. He’d killed the little upstart pretty quickly after the attempt.

He’d yet to form much of a domain for himself yet outside of Alastor’s territory, but he was steadily growing in the number of souls he had under contract.

And his company was also growing exponentially these days as television continued to grow in popularity and he owned the main broadcasting company. He headquartered it inside of Alastor’s domain close to the radio tower. He knew that Al probably wouldn’t like it, but it made it easier for him to defend both his growing business as well as Alastor’s territory.

He hoped that Alastor would be proud of him when he returned.

Because he would return. 

Alastor sighed as he sat on the ground beside Charlie's bed and leaned his head against the wall.

For the first time in ages, he actually felt tired. Though, he supposed that was the effect of having one’s soul split. Dear Charlie had figured out a bit before she’d managed to tucker herself out by crying, but she hadn’t understood the true implications behind why his magic was gone.

Of course, with her still being so young at only just about eight years of age, she hadn’t been exposed to magical knowledge enough to know that his shadow power type was linked directly to his soul.

And Lucifer had had the honor of slicing his shadow off of him with an angelic steel dagger while Lilith used her magic to hold him down. It had been so excruciating that he hadn't even been able to make a sound during the process. He’d then been forced to make the choice to make a deal with the Queen for his soul.

If he wanted to keep his now split soul alive, he had to agree to hand ownership of it completely to the Morningstars so that he could be more easily monitored, as they weren’t happy with the amount of ‘mistakes’ that he’d been making around Charlie lately with his magic.

Thus, the deal was made, and the soul chain he’d had with Rosie had shattered as it was overwritten by the soul deal of the far more powerful Morningstars. And now Lucifer kept his shadow, his most treasured part of his soul, locked away.

And he was told that he was lucky that they didn’t simply destroy it after he’d failed to keep Charlie from nearly injuring herself again.

His entire body ached at the loss of his magic. His soul ached at the distance with which it  was being split. He couldn’t even conjure his staff anymore.

For the first time since he ever entered Hell, he closed his eyes, and did not wake until the next morning when dear Charlie stirred.

He missed his soul.

He missed his freedom.

And now, he had very little chance of getting it back without help.

Perhaps, in due time, his dear Charlotte would be able to help him figure something out.

After all, the dear girl was starting to take after him more and more.

Rosie’s eyes widened as she grinned when she caught sight of her last visitor for the day at the emporium!

She greeted warmly, “Lili! It’s good to see you! How’s everyone doing? It’s been a while since you’ve had time to stop by and update me on things, dear!”

She ushered the Queen inside as she closed the door behind her. She was glad that she was in between husbands at the moment so she wouldn’t be nagged on for spending time with her gals! Granted, that complaint was the reason why she was currently down a husband at the moment anyway, but oh well. He should’ve known better than to try and control her, so he had it coming.

Lilith smiled at her and responded, “Hey, Ro. It’s been pretty busy these days with more requests coming in due to the crime rates being ever increasing. Charlie’s doing well though. She’s advancing quite nicely in her lessons. I think that she might be ready to actually start actively learning to use her magic around her next birthday!”

Rosie practically squealed as she said, “Oh, that’s wonderful, darling! How about the hubby?”

She frowned as she watched a displeased frown paint her friend’s face as she replied, “He’s becoming depressed again and is beginning to hide himself away in his workshop or with one of the sins and absolutely avoiding his duties and once again leaving me to be the one to carry the load.”

Rosie tutted as she led Lilith to a settee and began to serve her tea and some lady fingers. 

She replied, “Oh, I’m sorry for that, dear. Well, if you do get too tired of his shenanigans, you know where to send him. He may be a fallen archangel, but you know I could take care of things! I wonder if he’d taste rotten though?”

Lilith simply laughed loudly as she enjoyed the tea and munched on a lady finger. She rarely got to enjoy such delicacies because it made Lucifer squeamish, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t kill him.

Rosie’s playful mood was dampened with Lilith’s next inquiry, “How’s your search going, Ro? Your deer’s been missing for how long now?”

Rosie sat across from Lilith and smoothed down her skirt as she frowned and responded, “It’s been just over four years now, and I have yet to find an actual lead as to what happened to him. Ever since our deal snapped, it’s become even more impossible to track him down. First, the chain I had on him became invisible to me, and then one day it suddenly became visible again and shattered! I miss my deer so much, Lili. He’d hate to hear me say it, especially since I often teased him by calling him pet, but I grew to see him like a brother. And now he’s dead and I’m no closer to finding his killer.”

She sat her head in her hands as she began to shake slightly while a few tears trickled down her face.

~~~~~~

Lilith grimaced.

It was good to hear that Rosie was no closer to figuring out that she and Lucifer had been responsible for Alastor’s disappearance, but it was saddening to see her in such a state.

She hadn't known that Alastor was one of Rosie’s at the time, but It's not like Rosie was hurting for power, and regardless of her feelings for said soul, it wouldn't hurt her to remain bereft of just the one.

She cringed as Rosie then said, “I wish that you could help me. It’s all such a mystery. I mean, who would be powerful enough to even hide him from me as well as kill him?”

Lilith knew the obvious answer, but simply sighed with sadness as she replied, “I don’t know either, but you know very well why I can’t help.”

Rosie simply groaned as she said, “I know, I know! Just because I’m your friend, doesn’t mean that you can show favorites. If you help me find just one soul, you’d have lots of others trying to take advantage and get the same thing. I know, Lili, but it still hurts. I miss him so much.”

Lilith sighed before she responded, “I know it hurts, Ro. I wish I could help stop the hurt, but I can’t. Maybe you’ll get a lead soon and have your vengeance.”

Alastor tensed as Lilith entered Charlie’s, well, pretty much his too, room.

She very rarely came to see him during the day unless something Charlie had told her that they’d played had sounded too dangerous or upsetting for the child.

He closed the book that he’d been reading and glared at Lilith as she simply smirked at him.

She rolled her eyes at his glare before she laughed lightly and said, “You’ve been quite behaved lately, little deer. You’ve been helping keep Charlie happier as well in light of her idiotic father’s pseudo-abandonment of us thanks to his depression and hermit-like coping mechanisms.”

Alastor furrowed his brow as Lilith ranted a bit more before she sighed and said, “Well, anyway, I figured that you deserved a special little treat from a good acquaintance of yours for being such a good toy. I decided to give them to you myself instead of having the usual staff just deliver it with your daily meal.”

He then watched as she conjured a familiar looking box and grabbed it out of the air before it could fall to the ground.

It was without a doubt a container of lady fingers, specifically those which Rosie herself prepared for her emporium to sell. His eyes were wide as she simply tossed the box at him. He was unprepared for it to be tossed at him, but he easily caught the box.

Sure enough, the tag had Rosie’s emporium’s label on it.

He stared at the label for a while before Lilith interrupted his musings as she said, “I do so hope you enjoy them. Rosie made these ones special by my request. You’ve done good little deer. Be sure to keep that up, lest you want to end up like those which your treats used to be attached to.”

He watched as she then left the room. Wards sealing the door behind her once again so that he still couldn't wander.

He held the box in his hands and carefully unwrapped it. Sure enough, Rosie’s specialty lady fingers were enclosed. A whole dozen of them. He hadn’t had any in so long.

He wanted to be happy to have them, but all he could feel was anxiety.

Lilith may have said that it was a treat for being good, but the wench was very subtle and good at manipulation, He had no doubt that this was also a subtle threat.

He knew that Rosie occasionally talked to Lilith, but this was more concerning than that.

Lilith seemed to know that Rosie was also a dear acquaintance of his.

And now, if he did end up stepping out of line in her eyes again, he wouldn’t be the only one at stake.

He hadn’t thought that things could get worse, but he should have known better.

This was why he should have never gotten close to anyone in Hell.

Anyone you get close to could be used against you.

To keep you in line. To control you.

Charlie grinned as she ate a piece of her birthday cake. She snickered as she watched Alastor cringe the whole way through eating a piece that Lilith had forced him to take, considering he was a ‘guest’ at the small family party between just the three of them since Lucifer was still off being a hermit somewhere.

She knew Alastor hated sweet things, but the faces he made when he encountered them were always so funny!

However, the grin on her face became confused as Lilith then beckoned for her attention, “Charlie, dear, you’ve gotten old enough now where I think it’s time that you begin lessons on how to control your powers.”

Charlie furrowed her brow and tilted her head before she spared a split second glance at Alastor and then replied to Lilith, “Won’t I just know how to automatically use them? I already know that they’re connected to my emotions somehow.”

Lilith simply smiled at her and said, “It’s more complex than that, dear. We don’t even know what your entire power set is yet, and I need to begin training you so that we can discover that and make you the strongest princess of Hell that there ever will be.”

Charlie then smiled as she knew that would be what was expected of her, but she was worried. What type of powers would her mother be teaching her? And how would having powers make her a better princess of hell?”

She simply responded, “Okay, mom. When do we start?”

Lilith grinned back at her and said, “Your first lesson will be in a few days, dear. Need to let the sugar high from today wear off, haha! You’ll need some rest to as well, dear. Your expected power set does take quite a bit of energy to manifest if you want to be able to control them.”

Charlie nodded and continued to munch on her cake.

This had been rather surprising to her.

~~~~~~

Charlie paced back and forth in her room as Alastor put away a few of the gifts that she had been given.

She was still confused about why her mother was so worried about training her on how to use her powers.

She exclaimed, “Why do I need to know how to use these powers? If they’re anything like hers, I don’t want them! I don’t want to be able to force someone to do anything!”

Alastor simply sighed and laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with frustrated tears in her eyes.

He simply said, “Powers can be very useful, my dear. Before mine were taken from me, they were useful for far more than just controlling someone. And as the princess of Hell, you will need every power at your disposal to defend yourself from the masses should the day ever come that sinners become rebellious.”

Charlie crossed her arms and pouted before she waved a hand and said, “Well, I don’t want her teaching me how to use them! I don’t want to be like her!”

Alastor responded, “Then why don’t you learn a different set of powers from me that are magic based. You can still learn from your mother, but also have a backup plan in place in case you truly grow to hate the powers that you were born with.”

Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise before her face scrunched up and she declared, 

"But Al, you never wanted to be here! Why would you even want to teach me, when I’m the reason you can’t even use your magic!"

Al simply sighed before he said, "Perhaps I never wanted to be here, but that doesn't mean that I haven't grown to care for you. And even though I cannot use magic, which is by no means your fault, it would bring me joy to teach you just as my mother once taught me.”

Char sniffled again before saying, "But still! You’re still captive here?! They ripped you from your life! Oh no, it’s been years! Are you even able to contact anyone on the outside?"

A muscle in Al's jaw twitched as he responded, "No. I cannot. But I have my own ways of knowing that some whom I care for are still well, even after all these years."

Charlie sniffled and then turned herself to snuggle into his chest as he patted her back.

She vowed, "I'm gonna get you out of here eventually, Al. I promise."

He simply hummed as he responded, “I know, dear. I know. How about we work on your ability to summon things into being today, hm? Well, after you figure out how to tap into your own soul that is, dear! Haha!”

Charlie nodded as she wiped at her eyes.

Umbra growled.

So many years had already gone by, split away from the other half of their soul. Every minute added to the agonizing ache of being kept apart. Kept among the shadows of that pitiful fallen archangel’s workshop and prevented from leaving.

They pressed against the wards keeping them contained and hissed.

However, they also couldn’t help but grin.

The rotten archangel had been away and uncaring of them for long enough that the wards were weakening.

It had burned to try and go up against the wards, but not nearly as much as it once had. 

Before long, the wards would weaken enough to at least partially free them.

And then, they could enact their plan to get help.

They wouldn’t let either of them suffer for any longer than they were forced to.

~~~~~~

Charlie grinned as she conjured a small lotus in a glass of water.

She cheered, “I did it!”

Alastor laughed happily as he said, “You did indeed, my dear.”

She hugged him and he smiled down at her. He had grown used to her hugs so long ago. He did still have bad days where he didn’t want to be touched, but he couldn't help but humor her. She really had grown so much over the years under his tutelage.

He said, “Before long, you’ll be able to conjure more than that and maybe even create your own pocket dimension!”

Charlie stepped away from him as she continued to smile.

She then responded, “That’d be so cool!”

He simply nodded.

She then said, “My lessons with my mother have been going well too. I still don’t like learning from her nearly as well as I do learning from you, but I think I’m starting to like my powers. They’re still kind of scary, but I can see how they’d be useful for more than just the bad stuff.”

He smiled softly as he responded, “That’s good, dear. The more power that you have at your disposal, the better.”

She shrugged and said, “Maybe, but hopefully I’ll never need to use them for anything she seems to want me to know to use them for. After all, it’s not like I ever want to be a seductress like her or to control the masses. Ick.”

Alastor shuddered at that thought too, especially the first part. Ick. 

While it would provide him with many MANY more voices that he could add to his broadcasts once he was free, he did NOT want to think of his dear Charlie ever being like that.

He simply looked at her and said, “Charlotte, dear, never even put that thought into the air again.”

Umbra grinned. It was time. 

It had been more than ten years since their captivity began, and it was finally time!

The wards weren’t completely shattered, but they could now easily stretch part of themselves through the gaps in the wards.

Just enough to mess with their soul chain contracts. 

They needed to get a specific one.

Vincent’s.

Vincent would've never given up on finding them, so he would heed the call of the chain. 

They couldn't fully manifest the chain thanks to the palace itself being warded and protected and the fact that they were still partially trapped under Lilith’s control, but they could at least give the chain a nudge to try and send a message.

After all, he had witnessed their kidnapping but had been essentially mind-wiped by Lilith from remembering.

Perhaps a little nudge to the chain could help Vincent remember something.

Enough to try and take some sort of action, as they were sure that their mentorship had been enough to keep their little TV head alive and on the path to becoming an overlord that could be just as powerful as them one day.

~~~~~~

Vox grimaced as he felt a splitting pain in his head. He then noticed the faint glow of the chain that connected him to the soul deal he had with Alastor.

He felt a small yank from it again and grimaced as his screen glitched and the headache grew stronger.

He had no idea what was going on or what Al was trying to tell him from wherever he was, but he hoped the pain would stop soon.

Maybe going to Rosie’s would help, considering she had a similar power set to Al’s and had even made him the staff as a conduit for his powers.

He glitched multiple times on his way to Rosie’s but he persisted with the hope that she would be able to help.

He entered the Emporium with far less decorum than usual and it cleared out with his presence as his reputation had grown to make him nearly as feared as Alastor had been before his disappearance.

“Ugh, Rosie, your powers are kind of like Al’s aren’t they? I think his powers are on the fritz or something because of something happening wherever he is. Something's happening with our bond?”

Rosie looked at him in confusion before she asked, “What did you just say?”

Vox blinked as he rubbed the side of his head as he tried to ease the headache coming from the strain associated with the bond chain.

He said, “Um, something’s going on with the bond between me and Al? It was a condition of him mentoring me. Oh, shit, is it taboo to mention bonds between overlords or something or are soul contracts between overlords not allowed? I didn’t just fuck something up, did I?”

He panicked slightly before he became confused as Rosie’s face lit up. She seemed ecstatic and was tearing up as she said, “He’s alive?!”

Vox simply cocked his head and said, “Um, yeah. I mean, this is the second time I’ve felt something weird with the bond, like it was tugged harshly almost like it was going to break the first time, but it didn’t and now this weird shit is happening.”

Rosie shook her head and growled in frustration as she reprimanded him and said, “You idiot. We’ve been working on the case of Al’s disappearance for years, and you never thought to tell me that you could sense if he was alive or dead and that ya had a deal with him?!”

Vox blinked as he said, “Um, no. I figured you’d probably know. He mentioned that you two had some sort of deal, so I figured that you could still feel that he was alive from your side.”

Rosie smirked before she laughed and said, “Oh, I should’ve known that you didn’t know the extent of things. Hon, when you felt that first tug, I felt a soul contract SHATTER. And when it shatters, that means a demon is double dead. I thought Al was dead. You just gave me some of the best news I could have gotten, and now a new possible lead. Now, come here and let me try and figure out what’s going on.”

Vox’s eyes were wide with surprise before he cringed as he glitched once again and Rosie led him to sit down.

She frowned as she used her magic to probe around his head to try and diagnose the problem.

She hummed as she said, “The chain is trying to summon memories from you that are hidden deep within your soul. I believe that someone has blocked some of your memories.”

Vox grimaced as another wave of pain hit and he said, “Well, that would explain the head-splitting headache. I know you two don’t really like more modern technology like my head, but if you can find the memory processor, it's essentially my brain, and if you can find where it’s being blocked and unblock it, maybe that’ll help.”

Rosie hummed as she said, “Well, I can certainly try. I’ve picked up some of your jargon from our little meetings over the years. Oh, and just because we don’t like new technology doesn’t mean we don’t know how to use it, Mister! Respect your elders!”

Vox blushed in embarrassment as he said, “Sorry. And thank you. Do I need to do anything?”

Rosie simply hummed and said, “No, dear. Just sit as you are and let me work my magic.”

It was rather quiet as Rosie’s magic worked until she let out a small, “I think I got it!”

And then it was like a small explosion in his head as images filled his screen and the memories flooded back to him.

He had been walking alongside Alastor when they were both ambushed by the Queen and King of Hell who had eyes for no one but Alastor. Who they’d managed to knock out with some sort of spell fairly quickly.

And then he’d been forced to choose to die or have his memory of the kidnapping be sealed by Lilith. And, of course, he’d chosen the option to have his memories sealed.

Once his screen cleared again, he had tears running from his eyes. 

He’d seen Alastor get kidnapped and hadn't even remembered.

He was shaking as he looked back up at Rosie. He held his breath as he looked at her face. It was an expression he had only seen a couple of times.

She was absolutely furious.

Rosie growled, "That BITCH! She's been to tea with me so many times over the years! She's seen my investigation and sadness over losing Al! She fucking knew where he was the whole time. She and her rotten husband stole him away from me!"

Vox gulped as he watched Rosie’s form begin to shift slightly and get bigger and he said, “Um, Rosie, I know you’re angry, I am too, but try and calm down.”

She growled out, “NEVER TELL A WOMAN TO CALM DOWN!”

Vox made an ‘eep’ sound and held his hands up placatingly as he said, “Ok, ok! I know you’re furious, but this is still a lead. I can still feel a slight pulling on the chain.”

Rosie huffed as she quickly got to calling herself down. She shrank back down to her normal size and fanned herself as she apologized to him.

She then questioned, "Your power has grown quite a bit. Have you gained the ability to manifest soul chains yet?"

Vox confusedly said, "Uh, I think so."

Rosie tilted her head before she sighed and explained, "If you can manifest the chain between you and Al, we can track it down. We can find him. I’m pretty sure he’s at the palace, considering who took him, but we must be sure about it. You idiot, we could've tried this years ago if I'd known that his contractees can still see their chains if manifested!"

Vox simply blinked as he said, "Oh, OH shit yes! Let's do it!"

She says, "I can't believe you never told me before. I've been lamenting over his death for years now!"

And he shrugs and says, "I thought you were just being dramatic or had given up hope or something!"

She shook her head in exasperation as she geared up and said, “Let’s go. We have a deer to save.”

Sure enough, the chain led directly to the palace.

They were stopped in their tracks by a sort of barrier.

Rosie explained with a snarl, “It’s warded around the palace to keep anyone without an official escort out. We can’t get in.”

Her hands balled into fists.

Vox’s eyes widened as he stuttered out, “W-what are we going to do now? How do we get him out?”

Rosie was about to reply, but they were suddenly blown back by the wards keeping the shield up around the palace shattered as well as all of the windows within the vicinity and the sound of not one, but two extremely powerful and commanding singing voices rang out.

And Rosie knew that this meant that the Queen and her daughter were absolutely having a horrible fight about something.

But she couldn’t care less about that, as whatever it was had just given them the opening to getting in and getting Alastor out.

She looked at Vox, who now had a slightly cracked screen from the whole commotion, and grinned as she said, “We’re in.”

~~~~~~

Charlie stared at Lilith in disbelief as she looked between her and Al.

She settled on staring at her mother as she said, “You can’t.”

Lilith simply sighed and said, “ Charlie, dear. It's time for you to be rid of him. You're getting too old for toys now, dear. Plus, he will be repurposed for the time being.”

She gritted her teeth as she felt her horns begin to poke out slightly.

Lilith grimaced at her as she said, “Calm down, Charlotte. You’re fifteen years old. You should not be this upset about this decision.”

Charlie’s hair began to sway violently as she said, “What happened to all of the ‘toys’ that came before him? Were they ‘repurposed’ to! I won’t let you take him!”

Lilith growled at Charlie as she said, “Watch your tone with me, child! I own him and can do with him as I wish. You are still young and do not understand how Hell works. If you are that worried about it, I will at least tell you that he won’t be ‘decommissioned’ like the others were. He’s still useful. Perhaps I could even convince him to finally be by my side since your idiotic father hasn’t decided to show himself in years now.”

Charlie gritted her teeth. 

She was disgusted. She had witnessed her mother attempt to proposition Alastor years ago, too young at the time to realize what it had meant, but now she was older and knew the connotations of it.

She spit out, “Never going to happen. He’s never liked you. Not to mention you own his soul and have held him captive for more than TEN FUCKING YEARS!”

Charlie felt a slight headache come over her as her mother used her song to command, “You will obey me, daughter!”

However, she fought the command, and now, Charlie was furious.

Alastor saw the look in her eyes and knew exactly what she was about to do.

He called out warningly, “Charlie!”

However, Lilith’s eyes were lit up and her horns were out as she commanded him, “SILENCE!”

And he could say no more. All he could do was stand by and watch as the mother and daughter fought.

A song begun, two voices battled for control, so loud that Alastor had to cover his ears as best as possible so as to not have them become damaged. 

He was unprepared when the clash of voices became so intense as to cause a sort of explosion, and the palace’s windows shattered. The vibration of the two clashing voices was strong enough to knock him against the closest wall hard enough to knock him out.

The two continued fighting each other with their voices. 

And at last, after mere minutes of the clashing songs, the younger voice grew stronger, aided by the power of her soul, the power that Alastor had taught her to use.

And she won as Lilith’s song completely broke.

Charlie’s song remained strong as she ordered, “Release him.”

Lilith had collapsed to the ground under the strength of her daughter’s song.

She glared up at her daughter who then amplified her song to a painful level.

Lilith screamed as she manifested the purple chain that tethered Alastor's soul to herself and broke it just as Charlie ended her song.

Both were panting. Both were exhausted.

They heard footsteps close by and both looked towards the door. Now noticing that there was a distinct green chain in the room leading towards Alastor’s prone body.

Charlie’s eyes widened in fear as she realized that Alastor was unconscious.

She quickly ran over to him while calling his name.

Umbra was ecstatic.

The chain tethering them to Lilith was broken!

They quickly made their way to the very room which they could sense their other soul half in.

It was a pity that they couldn’t reattach themselves.

They simply had to settle for curling as close to their other half’s unconscious body after they reassured the young one that they were in good company.

~~~~~~

Charlie stood protectively in front of Alastor as she watched two unfamiliar to her people bust inside through the door. She hadn’t realized that battling her mother had taken down all of the wards around the palace, but she’d be damned before she let anyone else hurt Alastor.

Her horns were back out as she stood in front of him, ready to defend, but she was surprised as she felt a gentle tugging at her sleeve.

She looked beside her confusedly and her face lit up with excitement as she realized, “UMBRA! You’re still here! They didn’t get rid of you!”

She smiled as Umbra smiled at her as well. She watched closely and nodded her head as Umbra motioned that the two who had just entered were friends. 

Charlie nodded in understanding and watched as Umbra curled around Alastor.

She was quite sad to see it. It was only a few years after the fact that she found out the truth of what her parents had really done to Alastor and the true implications as to why he no longer had his shadow.

She’d only learned the shadow’s name on a particularly rough day when Alastor had agreed to teach her a little longer one day because she was curious about what exactly may have happened to his shadow.

She was still wary as the two newcomers approached them.

The woman greeted her, “Hello, dear. I haven’t seen you since you were a baby, so I’m not surprised that you don’t recognize me, but I’m Rosie. And this here is Vox. We’re both friends of Alastor’s and we’ve been looking for him for years.”

Charlie's eyes widened as she said, “You have?”

Both of them nodded and Vox said, “Yeah. We have.”

A groan alongside a familiar static sound echoed through the room.

Rosie then said, “Shush, he’s waking up!” as the three carefully knelt by Alastor.

The three of them and Umbra were around him as he groaned again and opened his eyes.

Of course, they all had to fall back to avoid being headbutted when he jolted straight up and gripped at his neck and exclaimed, “I’m free!”

Charlie burst into tears before she launched herself at him to hug him as he let out a little ‘oof’ sound.

His smile widened as he said, “You finally did it, my dear. I’m free.”

He then looked up and his eyes widened as he caught sight of his two oldest acquaintances.

“Rosie! Vox!” he said as both of them simply looked at him and joined in on the hug.

He was thrown back by the weight of all three of them and they ended up in a pile, Umbra barely escaped being squished as they laughed silently with glee at the uncharacteristic scene.

Soon, they each helped each other up.

Vox broke the happy reunion by questioning, “Uh, Al, What happened? The end of the chain tethering my soul to our deal is split between you and Umbra.”

Rosie gasped as she just noticed what Vox had been talking about.

Charlie appeared downtrodden as Alastor growled while Umbra curled closer around him and grimaced sadly.

Rosie put a hand over her mouth as she gasped, “Oh, Al, they didn’t!”

Al simply looked away from her as he said, “They did.”

Vox was confused as he looked between the two of them.

He questioned, “What? What happened?”

Charlie ended up being the one to answer him with sadness in her eyes as she said, “They cut his soul in half. Took his powers from him.”

Vox’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “That’s what happened when the bond strained all those years ago! They literally tore your sole in two! THOSE FUCKERS!”

Rosie was tearful as she drew Umbra and Al into another hug and said, “I’m so sorry, my dear. So sorry. I wish I could fix this.”

She was surprised when the determined voice of Charlie interjected with, “Maybe you can’t, but I can. I’m the daughter of an archangel and the first human woman. My father was a creator of sorts. There’s got to be something I can do to fix what they did.”

Rosie simply shook her head as she said, “Dear, very few have healing magic, and from what I understand, the only thing that can do this sort of injury is angelic steel, and wounds made by that are near impossible to heal.”

Charlie simply smirked as she shrugged and said, “Near impossible doesn’t mean impossible.”

And damn if Rosie didn’t smirk right back at the girl. She could tell that girl had so gotten some determination and sass from her deer over the years!

They moved to one of the sitting rooms as Charlie prepared herself. She was really nervous, but Alastor had full confidence that she could do anything she put her mind to.

Rosie and Vox stood aside and watched as Alastor put his trust in the princess.

Rosie couldn't help but smile. Her deer had been captive for years, but it was good to know that despite the hardships, he hadn't been alone for all of it.

Charlie simply took a deep breath before she took Umbra's hand in one of hers and then took Alastor's hand in the other.

She kept her eyes closed as she began to sing lowly. Rosie was amazed as a low red glow emitted from where her hands were connected to Alastor and Umbra.

Her song remained smooth and almost sweet as the red glow spread from her hands and across Umbra and Alastor who both seemed to be fascinated by what was going on.

And before they knew it, a final crescendo echoed within the room and the bright red shone silver for a split second and the soul was mended.

Charlie opened her eyes, which were now silver slit pupils haloes in red. As the power seeped out of her, her eyes returned to normal and she began to slump from exhaustion.

Alastor easily caught her as he absolutely grinned, ecstatic to be whole once more. 

Charlie leaned against his chest and stuttered out, “Did it work?”

Alastor patted her hair fondly as he said, “Yes, my dear, it worked.”

And then she absolutely passed out.

Alastor then looked up at Rosie and Vox. Vox appeared stupefied that it had actually worked while Rosie appeared very proud and joyful.

Alastor sighed with content as he could now feel the full extent of his powers again. He beckoned Umbra to carefully take Charlie as he stood once again.

Umbra gently laid Charlie on the closest couch and put a small pillow under her head.

Alastor grinned as he flexed his powers. 

He laughed as he said, “I’d missed this! And lookie here, all of my contracts are still active! And so is my power! Not even a lick of power coming from those seems to be lost! Rosie, how does this work?”

Rosie simply rolled her eyes as she responded, “Dear, to be honest, all I did was make you your conduit. You spawned in hell with more power than I could have given you to start with, much to my surprise, but you never figured it out and tried to challenge the contract, and I sure wasn't going to point it out and lose the contract willingly! But I was able to make you the conduit so it wasn't a complete loss on your side!”

Alastor simply leveled her with an exasperated look as she smiled sharply in response.

He grumbled a bit before he then summoned said staff and said, “Nevertheless, my power is fully intact! I can still feel my broadcasting tower calling to me now that the radio waves from it are no longer being blocked by any sort of warding.”

He looked over at Vox who was blushing and rubbing the back of his neck slightly as he said, “Yeah. That might be my doing.”

Alastor simply raised a brow and Vox knew to elaborate, “I didn't remember the details of everything until recently, but I knew that our contract was still active, and I didn't want your territory to deteriorate so I kind of made it my mission to protect it while building my own. I occasionally ran broadcasts and made sure to keep everything well maintained within your territory. I also may have started building my own company and reputation within your territory too. Sorry.”

Alastor snorted and said, “As I would expect from a devoted mentee such as yourself. You’ve done well. Granted, I would prefer it if your territory was not intertwined with mine, but considering you kept my territory defended, I will grant you the privilege of granting you that part of my territory. So long as you never interfere with the rest of it. Especially my broadcasting tower.”

Vox was close to exploding with glee as he said, Yeah, yeah, of course! I'm honestly just glad you're not murdering me for daring to even use your territory while you were stuck here.”

Alastor simply rolled his eyes as he replied, “Oh, don't be dramatic. It's not like I could defend it while I was here. And it's not like I was mentoring you for nothing either. As I said, you've done well.”

Rosie couldn't help but hide her snickering as she watched Vox’s screen brighten again at the praise and his face looked like Alastor had hung the stars.

Poor sap was still crushing hard for someone that would never reciprocate.

Alastor then hummed as he said, “I can also sense that your power level has also increased. Very well done indeed.”

Rosie couldn't hold it back anymore. She laughed before she said, “Alastor, quit teasing him. He's going to explode at this rate.”

Alastor's brow rose as he observed Vox’s screen and said, “Ah, yes. I forgot how flustered he would become whenever I complemented a job well done. Eh, he'll cool off soon. And it's not teasing if it's true, Rosie!”

Rosie snickered as Vox slowly regained his composure though the blush remained.

Alastor then questioned, “Aside from my territory, how has the state of Hell fared without my constant presence to keep the scum in line?”

Rosie grimaced as she responded, “Ugh. There's more leeches out there than before! Oh, and guess what, only a week ago, a fairly new overlord targeted Mimzy’s bar because he wanted it and nearly destroyed it and it took her two days to regenerate the parts she lost.”

Rosie grinned as she watched the fury grow in Alastor's eyes.

His grin sharpened and his eyes turned to radio dials as his antlers grew and he said, “And what might her antagonists look like?”

Rosie answered with their appearance as well as telling him the territory location.

She watched as he glanced between Charlie and the exit. 

She softly said, “Go. We'll watch over her.  You've been cooped up for way too long, dear. It's time to show hell again how you are still the most powerful sinner even though you've been missing.”

His grin sharpened even more before he nodded and left.

Rosie grinned at Vox as she said, “Oh, how grand it will be to watch him make his comeback!”