Radio Prince °alastorXreader °

° Existence is Pain °

My body ached. It was a dull ache at first, as soon as I regained a bit of consciousness. Yet it quickly traveled through my bones, through every fiber in every muscle, spreading through my skin like wildfire. I couldn't will my eyes to open, I screamed over and over for help yet none came.

The pain subsided almost slower than it came, at least that's how it felt. A red-orange hue was dull on the other side of my eyelids. I slowly cracked my right eye open, trying to only peek at whatever laid before me. As soon as I caught a glimpse, I shot straight up, eyes wide with fear.

There was no fire, yet the red ember glow surrounded everything as if it was sunlight. Tall, dark building surrounded me, engulfing me in what seemed like a city yet at the same time it was grim and not full of life as you'd expect. I slowly stood up, taking in everything in front of me. What the hell happened?

"H-hello?" I spoke. No reply. I repeated myself again, this time a bit louder.

"Hellooooo!"

I nearly jumped from my skin, my heart jumping around my chest like a lost ping pong ball. "You fell pretty hard. Are you alright?" The voice spoke again. I turned to face the speaker, her face full of worry. Long blonde hair framed a cute, feminine face. Her cheeks were bright red, big eyes framed with thick lashes anyone would die for. Her slim frame was taller than mine, putting me at about her shoulders.

"I think so," I replied, taking another glance around. "Where am I?" She looked around and clasped her hands behind her back before rocking onto her heels. "Welll," she chuckled nervously, her bright white fangs catching my eye.

"You're kiiinda, sorta.. in.. hell."

•~•~•~•

"So, let me get this straight," I said, still having to speed walk to keep up with my newfound acquaintance. "I'm dead.. I'm dead.."

"Yea.. unfortunately you died. But that's okay!" The blonde demon grinned before clasping her hands together in front of her.

"Hopefully you won't be here long!" she continued.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, pulling me from my thoughts. "I'm Charlie by the way," she grinned. Those fangs caught my eye again. "Y/n," I replied, trying to match the intensity of her smile, yet I felt like it was more of a creepy and demented serial killer smile on me.

We made our way to the hotel, which was enormous. The entire way here, Charlie kept referring to it as the Happy Hotel, yet the sign on the roof said Hazbin Hotel.. strange. This was still a new thing from all of the information she'd told me that I slowly pieced together. With her being so excited, I'm sure she missed a few small details.

We entered and I was nearly blown away with how much bigger it looked on the inside. The overall theme was very ornate, yet it was very obvious that the building itself was run down & old. Charlie led me to a counter where a strange figure was leaned against. Their head was down on the counter and a bottle of booze in their clawed hand.

"Um.. heh.." Charlie said nervously, quickly smacking the counter with a closed fist. The creature shot it's head up, a dazed look on it's face. "A clerk shouldn't be sleeping on the job, Husk," Charlie said with a smile, yet this time it looked forced. "We have a guest."

The cat-like creature.. Husk, looked me up and down with an unimpressed expression before snorting. "A guest? She looks like she's been through hell and back," a sneer spread across his face. "Literally."

"A room, Husk! And let her sign in!" Charlie insisted, trying to quickly change the subject. Husk slid a clipboard over the counter to me, a pen clattered quickly behind it before he snatched his bottle back and took a sip.

I skimmed the paper. It asked for basic things like name and date of birth.. but it also asked for date of death, reason for death.. and I wasn't sure. "Um.. Charlie?" I said, biting my lip. "I'm not sure how to answer a lot of these."

"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "I mean, I.. I don't know how I died. Or when. I don't really remember much. Bits and pieces, really... Still not fully convinced I'm even dead to be honest."

"Oh you're dead, alright." Husk grinned.

"Oh, well.. that's okay" She smiled brightly. "We'll get you settled in anyway. It isn't uncommon for people to not remember."

Husk was leaned against the counter, his back to us. Charlie went behind and grabbed a key from one of the many hangers, all neatly organized with numbers and letters. She came back and handed it to me across the counter. "Your room will be right down the hall from one of our other guests," she smiled. "He's umm.." her smile wavered while she thought of the right words. "Also on his path to redemption?"  It sounded more like a question than an answer, but I didn't think much of it.

She came back around the counter and smiled fully this time. "I can take you there so you don't get lost."

Charlie led me up the stairs and down the hallway, after a few turns and passing many, many doors, we eventually arrived. "Well, here it is!" She chimed, the excitement back in her voice.

"Go ahead and settle in a bit, you need to rest since you've been through quite a lot. You can worry about meeting everyone later. I'll have Vaggie bring up a few sets of clothes and when you're ready we can try to piece together everything." She smiled again and I wondered how she could be so happy in literal hell.. and why someone like her wasn't already redeemed and in heaven by now. She was so nice to me, nothing but pure kindness to a complete stranger. The way she spoke to me felt like she saw something in me that no one else could see and it made me think of her as such a motherly figure.

I thanked her and unlocked the large door, pushing it open with a creak. In the middle of the room against one of the walls was a bed with a dark red blanket, intricate black designs stitched into it and pillows to match. A large, see through canopy enveloped it, giving it a spider web look. A deep brown dresser to the left of the bed, a window with ornate red and black curtains to match the bed set. Two doors that I assumed were a closet and bathroom, yet I was too exhausted to explore. It looked like a normal hotel room from the life I'd known before, yet with a twist of goth.. demon.. hellish-ness. It was actually beautiful in an odd.. hell-like way.

I shut the door behind me and gave the room another glance over before crawling on the bed and making myself comfortable under the thick blanket before trying to fall asleep, yet my mind raced. I was literally in hell. HELL. I just.. couldn't wrap my mind around it. What could I have possibly done to end up here? What if my past was absolutely awful and Charlie hated me after she found out? My mind plagued itself with negative thoughts.

No. I would not be here in hell and also be a victim to my own mind. I needed to keep it together, I needed to make it out of here.

I will make it out of here, regardless of what it takes.