A blip before the Freelings
Before the Freelings there were countless other owners of the Undervale. One of them to stay the longest was you.
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Fall- 1971
Really, it wasn't so bad. Taking care of and running the Undervale was no easy task, and maybe that's why you enjoyed what you did so much. You never cared for easy.
And easy it was not. Lately you've noticed a new presence at the Undervale. Dead squirrels in the vents, Dear God the vents, you swore you heard something in them at night. You've also noticed a new smell in the hotel. One that reeks of mud, copper and sulfur. It made your nose sting and your flight sense run screaming.
At first you tried asking the ghosts, you had built a trust with them. Keeping the television on for them, treating them like people. They in turn had started to trust you. Your more than decent treatment of them, your willingness to work with them had made them more than content with helping you in what little ways they could. However, whatever was running a muck in your hotel had spooked them so bad they even refused to talk to you about it.
So you adapted. Maybe this new, thing was more akin to Jessica and needed to be sated with food based items. So you started leaving what you could. First it was your leftovers. Then it became sandwiches. You noticed the creature had a fondness for pb&j. The crust would be peeled away you noticed. So you would prepare a PB&J with no crust, feeding the scraps to the dwindling squirrel population.
---
Abaddon for his part had simply began hiding in the Undervale because the weather was getting cooler. He had no issue with falling asleep in whatever hole he could find but you were stupid enough to leave the door opened while you hung mums from the Hotel's porch. With you distracted he had quickly made his way inside and hid in the vents. It was nicer anyways. More areas for him to hide and more places to store his bones and trinkets that he deemed important.
He had also taken to watching you. It was interesting. You weren't too upset by the dead squirrels. Maybe disgusted, but that was a normal human reaction he had found out. What wasn't a normal human reaction was how you took it all in stride. You even began leaving him offerings! He ate his crustless pb&j as he watched from a window. You were feeding the accursed crusts to the squirrels. He licked the remenats of peanut butter from his hand as he thought.
---
Some nights you barely slept. Other nights you slept so soundly one might assume you had died. Maybe that's what had happened. Abaddon had seen you work tirelessly into the night most of this week. Small naps in the lobby was your peace but it seems your feeble human body had finally dropped.
Abaddon watched from the floor vent as you lay motionless in bed. In a way he was disappointed as this would be the last of his PB&J's. With a heavy sigh, he pulled his small body from the vent and walked silently to your side of the bed. He stared. Then reached into his pocket only to dispense two pennies in your mouth. You had been respectful of him in this domain. The least he could do was give you the fair for the ferry.
A ferry that either left without you or Abaddon had been too eager to pronounce you dead as your eyes snapped opened when a small hand tried to pry your mouth open wider.
----
Of course you screamed, backing away from the pair of glowing blue eyes as you quickly turned on the lights only to be met with a little boy.
"Sweet Jesus," you breathed, hands shaking from the unexpected wake up call. You and the boy stared at eachother before you scooted to the edge of the bed, running a hand over your head.
"Hey there kid, how'd you get in here?" You tried to smile but the kid just stared. You bit your cheek as you stood up, "Alright, C'mon little dude. Let's get you back to mom and dad." You tried using your gentle voice but it just made the kid glare at you as you held his hand.
Walking through the hall with the boy, your mind began to clear. Surely the boy's parents would be around here somewhere. Looking at the room numbers you tried to think, then thinking became a realization.
No one had checked in today.
And you couldn't touch ghosts.
"Release me!" He had demanded in a deep voice and you immediately dropped his hand. Staring at the definitely not human child with wide eyes.
You stopped. Slowly looking down at the little hand in your own, for the first time noticing the claw like nails. Following the boy's arm, you had finally gotten a look at him. Messy hair, dark circles under his eyes, his eyes which were now red, and his remaining hand balled into a fist.
----
Abaddon. You had learned the boy's name was Abaddon. You sat across from him at your small dining table. You had to pull out an old stool for the demon-child to sit in since there was only one chair. You sat and watched as he devoured a pb&j, leaving the crusts to gather crumbs on the corelle plate.
You blink.
"You're the one who'se been in the vents."
The demon child only looks at you as he finishes off his sandwich, nodding his head.
---
"I am."
It was alot but this hotel rarely surprised you anymore.
You were becoming used to Abaddon's presence. He was an odd demon, but one you let lurk in your vents whenever he pleased. This seemed like the right move as he also seems to have taken care of the rat problem. You were now enjoying an easy, rat free night in, with most of the small number of guests now being in their rooms and you in your own. Shuffling your feet across the shag, burnt orange carpet you turned on the TV. Turning the knob as you tried finding a channel. You had turned the knob to the left and found, 'The Twilight Zone' playing. You nodded to yourself before you sat down in the recliner not too far off. After tucking yourself in with a show to watch, you felt yourself began dozing in the chair. At least you would have dozed off if not for the familiar scratching you heard in the vents.
"Abaddon," you called, eyes still closed, "Come on out here little dude."
The vent opened and you heard shuffling of carpet and you opened your eye to look at the boy-demon now standing in front of you.
"Your majesty." you say bowing your head slightly, and Abaddon nodded his head back, "Monarch." He responded then looked at the CRT TV a few feet away, "What are you doing with the magic box?"
"Just settling in with a show," you yawn as you lift the patterned blanket on your lap, "C'mere." You encouraged with a tired smile, "You can watch too."
Abaddon seemed to hesitate before crawling onto the recliner, it squeaked loudly with the extra weight but he settled against your side. Your arm wrapped securely around him as your hand unconsciously started running through his hair. His eyes widened before drooping, and he leaned closer in.
He tried paying attention to the story on screen, but the pig nosed humans he saw on the box barely intrigued him. Not when he was so relaxed by a simple head massage.
The black and white pictures on screen became a blur as he fell asleep, leaning himself fully in your lap. You too felt your eyelids grow heavy as the Twilight Zone guided you into restful slumber.
