Meanwhile…elsewhere
Velvet clenched her fist, her eyes twitching rapidly with rage as they arrived back at the Studio. Val dropped her off, telling her that he had an errand to run and that he'd be back sometime tomorrow, leaving her alone.
"By Val…" She sighed as she saw him limbo drive off,"Great…Back by myself again." The doll demoness stomped inside, slamming the door open carelessly and collapsing onto the nearest couch and bawling her eyes out, sobbing into the heart themed pillow.
As she was crying, Vark suddenly appeared in the doorway, hearing her wails. The large hammerhead 'walked' over, nudging her.
"What do you want? Can't ya see I'm CRYING!? Leave me alone!" She growled, the shark immediately backing away at the harsh tone in the usually chipper doll's voice.
Vark whined. Despite being a shark, he behaved more like a domesticated dog. A 10 ft tall domesticated dog to be exact.
Velvet paused, realizing her error,"Shit! Vark...sorry...I didn't mean it. I was just….a little angry…I know you wont understand, I mean you're a shark, you probably don't even understand a word I'm saying…"
Vark nudged her, his way of asking her to explain.
"Alright fine...Look something happened. You know that stupid hotel that blonde bitch owns? You know, hell's princess? That girl in the crazy ad?"
The shark nodded his head.
"Well if turns out that Vox helped her and he's been staying at that crappy hotel for the past three months…"
Vark looked up upon hearing Vox's name, looking around as if expecting Vox to come through the door.
"No Varky. You don't understand, Vox isn't coming back. He told me himself."
Vark blinked, looking confused and upset. He tilted his head, as if to ask 'Why' to her.
"Because that stupid princess got into his head about her redemption crap. She's got him wrapped around her finger, I'm sure this all part of some plan of hers to make this idea not be a complete utter failure. I have no idea what she said to Vox to get him on board, but she must've said something in order for him to actually believe her."
Vark made a face and whined, looking at the photo of Vox and carrying it in his mouth.
"Vark, I told you, he's not coming back. He told me that you're my responsibility now and that it's 'for the best' so to speak. Bunch of bs! That Charlie girl ruined everything, thanks to her crappy hotel, Vox doesn't wanna be a part of our family! She took him away from us and now she's got him hooked up to her beck and call!"
Vark looked down, whimpering. Despite being a pet, he understood that Vox is not returning and looked disheartened. His owner was off somewhere with someone he didn't even know and Vark didn't even get the chance to say goodbye.
Velvet sighed as she got up from the fridge, deciding to get some cake. That always made her feel better whenever she cried and it was basically a comfort food for her. She saw a box of shark food and asked,"Vark, want one?"
Vark shook his head,motioning to the photo of Vox of what he truly wanted.
"Vark, he isn't coming back. Time to get used to it."
Vark didn't seem like he was going to. Velvet took the cake with her to the couch. She knew Val would whine at her for getting food on the couch, but she was too upset to care. He wouldn't be back for a while anyhow. As she was eating, Velvet heard something from her pocket, it was her ring for notifications.
BEEP!
"Hm? What's this?"
She swiped her phone, seeing it was an update on Vox-stagram. Normally, in her current mood she'd dismiss it, but then she noticed that it was from Vox. Vox had updated his Vox-stagram account, which had been inactive for months. She had still followed him up to this point, and despite her grievances with him, she did wonder why the hell he NOW decided to update his account.
"Looks like Vox decided to update his account. Wonder why…" She said suspiciously. Vark, at the mention of Vox's name peered over her shoulder."You wanna see too, huh?"
He nodded.
"Alright fine. Since you're so insistent." Velvet hit the notification, only for her jaw to drop. She saw Vox had taken a photo in a place she didn't recognize, but from the looks of it, it belonged to that damned hotel.
In the photo, she saw Angel Dust, Charlie, Husk and Vox in the photo. Vox was carrying Angel's pet pig, who was licking him on the side of his face.
The caption read : Been staying at this hotel for a while! Angel let me hold his pet pig! He's pretty cute isn't he? Kinda wish I could keep him as a pet. Hoping this redemption thing works out for me in the long-run!
Velvet clutched the phone tightly, her tone filled with hatred and betrayal,"He...He...did it. He actually did it. He FUCKING replaced us with those Hazbin REJECTS!" Velvet suddenly grabbed the photo that fell and said,"Don't you get it now, Vark? He doesn't love us! He doesn't care about us! That stupid hotel took him away from us! I bet this is just what she wanted!"
Vark blinked.
"Think about it! That stupid little princess knew she wouldn't get taken seriously, so she got Vox, brainwashed him into their stupid redemption program and now he's completely forgotten all about us!"
Vark shook his head, trying to cling to the hope Vox hadn't forgotten about them, looking at the photo.
Velvet then pulled her phone up to him,"Use your head, Vark! He doesn't care about us anymore! He'd much rather spend time with his NEW and 'BETTER' friends and ditch us! He even said he'd like to have that pig as a pet! He's replaced me, he's replaced Val, he's replaced YOU!"
Vark looked at the photo, now focusing more, seeing Vox was holding Fat Nuggets in his hand. The shark's eyes turned to pinpounts as jealousy,resentment and sadness grew. Vox was happier than Vark had ever seen him around the Studio.
Vark looked utterly devastated. All the hopes for Vox's return had collapsed and replaced with the feeling of hopelessness, the crushing realization that Vox had moved on without him, leaving him behind in favor of a new pair of friends and a new life.
"Now you see? He doesn't care about us! And it's all her FAULT! She took my daddy away! She took Vox away from us and brainwashed him! And on the near nonexistent chance her hotel fucking works, we'll never see him again! You wanna know why?"
Vark nodded slowly.
"I'll tell you why, cause little Miss princess decided to make some stupid hotel about 'redeeming' sinners and yadda yadda. It's bs and it ain't gonna work. I hope it fucking fails and burns into flames, probably would do us all a favor. But if it did work, Vox would be free to fucking dance and sing with those prissy little angels up there and we'd NEVER see him ever again cause we're in hell!" Velvet cringed at the idea of Vox going to heaven, knowing that they'd never see him again."Which still ain't gonna happen since it wont work, but it seems like Vox ain't ever coming back…"
Vark whined before sighing, lowering his head in defeat. The truth was obvious and it became clear Vox wanted nothing to do with the Studio, let alone anyone inside.
Vark took the photo of Vox, a part of him wanting to throw it out the window, but at the last moment relented and instead took it to his bed and placed it near him before going to sleep, sadly closing his eyes.
At least Vox couldn't leave him in his dreams…They'd play fetch, eat, swim, do all sorts of things… without a care in the world, happy as a camper.
Until he woke up that is. At least Dream Vox would stay with him….though his touch never felt the same in his dream was the closest Vark was going to get to seeing his real owner again, so Vark took a nap, hoping to not wake up from it anytime soon.
