The Stag's Bambi

The residents of the Hazbin Hotel were currently scattered about the lobby when suddenly Charlie went stock-still, the normally cheerfully demoness' face twisted into an unease frown. To everyone but her lover, Vaggie, this was confusing. Even the Radio Demon Alastor's ever-present smile wavered for a moment.

"Charlie?" Vaggie asked hesitantly.

"We have a problem..." Charlie said softly. The sensation that had just washed over her was one she had rarely felt. The pull of human magic calling out in desperation.

And the soul felt young. Young enough that their magic was in self-preservation mode. In normal circumstances, when a child's magic was doing this, they were calling out to the angels in heaven, and Charlie only felt it because her father was a Fallen Angel. This soul, this child was calling upon Hell. Not Heaven.

So the question was, did she answer? Feeling another desperate, more persistent pull, Charlie decided yes, she would. 

"I'll be right back. Vaggie, get a doctor ready..." Charlie warned, to everyone's confusion before disappearing in a flash of flames.

When Charlie opened her eyes, she was in a cookie-cutter neighborhood. The pull guiding her to #4 Private Dr.

Stepping inside the house without a care, the Princess was greeted with a horrific sight.

A massive whale of a man, a Sinner from the Greed and Wrath staining his soul, was wailing on a young child curled up in a ball on the floor. The man's face was practically purple as he spit venom at the child. 

Charlie wasn't as naive as everyone tended to think. She knew some souls were, without question, irredeemable.

This man was one such soul. The soul that had called her was the little girl sobbing on the floor, desperately trying to protect her face from his blows. 

Did she even know about her magic? 

No, that wasn't important.

With a wave of her hand, Charlie sent the Sinner flying, as she wasn't allowed to harm the living, no matter how tempted she was at the moment, standing over the child protectively.

For once, Charlie is not hiding her horns, her eyes a deep shade of crimson. She ignores the screaming of the adult female and her son, two more Sinners, though the child makes her momentarily sad that such a young soul was already marked for Hell. 

This was why she started her hotel, for the Sinners who made mistakes and could learn. 

But that wasn't important right now. The little girl trembling beneath her is. So Charlie takes a deep breath to calm herself and kneels, making noise to attract the child's attention. 

Large doe-like green eyes so vivid Charlie doesn't have the words to describe look up at her, the child's face laced with fear.

A scar in the shape of the sowilo rune mars the child's brow, a dark, black aura radiating from it that is clearly not the child's. She'll have to investigate it later.

The child is tiny and clearly malnourished. If Charlie wasn't able to read souls due to being the Princess of Hell, she'd probably mistake the child for three or four, not the six she is.

"Hello, little one, I'm Charlie, what's your name?" Charlie asks the child, making her face as calm and welcoming as possible. 

"Fweak" the child responds with a slight lisp that would be cute in any other situation. 

It takes Hell's Princess everything she has not to let her anger show. 

"Well, that's not a very nice name. What if I give you one?" Charlie replies kindly.

"Fweaks don't need names"

The way the child says this with such certainty tests Charlie's self-control. But she channels Alastor's never-wavering smile and says, "I see no freaks here, only an adorable little girl who needs my help. So I am going to call you...Aconite"

Charlie says as she cautiously reaches down to pick the child up. She may have cheated just a bit, as she read the child's soul for her actual name.

Acnoite stares at her, very akin to a cat in the way she doesn't blink. Not once. 

"Acwonite?" 

"Yes, you look like an Aconite to me,"

"Pwetty"

"Very, it's the name of a flower. The flower is also called Monkshood or it's common name of Wolfsbane. It's a purple flower."

Charlie explains as she turns to leave with Aconite. Above the child's head, Charlie is once more displaying her demonic features, daring the Sinners before her to try and stop her. She may dislike violence, but it didn't mean she was incapable of it. Not harming mortals beside the point.

"Where we go?" 

"Away from this place of pain. My home may be a bit scary, but I'll protect you." 

"Why?"

"Because you need me." Charlie answers simply.

The Laws of Magic were complicated. Magic decreed Charlie as Aconite's new guardian. She could not deny Magic's call. And having studied little Aconite's soul, she knew why. Alastor was this little girl's maternal great-grandfather. Magic had wanted to call upon him but instead pulled Charlie as, like it or not, she was Alastor's sovereign after her father Lucifer.

Thus Magic called upon Charlie to act as the child's protector. Meaning that Blood Magic had been used to cast protections upon Aconite by someone, most likely by her mother.

"Why hewlp? No one else." Aconite mutters into Charlie's chest as she carries the child down the street, and Charlie is a bit bewildered by the child's speech. 

Aside from the lisp on some words, Aconite spoke a bit more developed than others her age at times, then less so at others.

"...What do you know about Magic, little one?" Charlie poses after a moment. 

"Magic not rweal, bad word. Fweak get punished." 

Charlie takes a deep breath at this; do not turn around and kill the mortals.

"Magic is very real, little one. Magic is the Sister to God, Death, and Time. Death and Time are God's brothers. And sometimes, Magic blesses mortals with her gift. Like you, little one, and your magic called to me for help."

"Fweak is fweak?" 

"No, Aconite, you are a completely normal, sweet little girl who was blessed with magic." 

"Chawlie magic?" 

"No, I am...well, I am special. I am a Princess of a very scary place. You know of God, right? And His angels?"

Charlie asked as she carried Aconite to the nearest naturally appearing rift.

"Uhuh, Aunt Tuny says fweaks go to Hell and burn because God hates them."

"Well, she's very wrong. God loves his sisters blessed, for they are his children, too. I would know because Lucifer is my father." 

"Lucifwer? The devwil?"

"Yes, but he isn't mean. Let me tell you a story, Aconite." Charlie says as she searches for the rift.

"Once upon a time, there was a glowing city protected by golden gates known as Heaven. It was ruled by beings of pure light. Angels that worshiped good and shielded all from evil. Lucifer was one of these angels. He was a dreamer with fantastical ideas for all of creation. But he was seen as a troublemaker by the elders of Heaven. For they felt his way of thinking was dangerous to the order of their world. So he watched as the angels began to expand the universe in their ways. From the dust of the Earth, they created Adam and Lilith. Equals as the first of mankind, but despite this, Adam demanded control and Lilith refused to submit to his will. She fled the garden. Drawn in by her fierce independence, Lucifer found her, and the two rebellious dreamers fell deeply in love."

Charlie says softly, seeing Aconite's eyes go wide with wonder as they reach the rift; with a wave of her hand, Charlie opens a portal, continuing her story.

"Together, they wished to share the magic of free will with humanity, offering the fruit of knowledge to Adam's new bride, Eve, who gladly accepted. But this gift came with a curse. For with this single act of disobedience, evil finally found its way into Earth. With it, a new realm of darkness and sin. And the order Heaven had worked to maintain was shattered. As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity, only the cruel and the wicked. Ashamed, Lucifer lost his will to dream. But Lilith thrived, empowering demon-kind with her voice and her songs. And as the numbers of Hell grew, so did its power." 

Charlie says, deciding not to continue the story. Aconite didn't need to know about the Extermination Days, not yet.

"Lucifwer is good?" 

"He can be; everyone has both good and bad in them, little one. But Dad loved humans so very much. Neither he nor my mother Lilith intended to hurt anyone with their act." 

"Why did magic call you?" Aconite asked as they stood before the open rift.

"Magic was calling to your closest maternal relative that would protect you because your aunt failed to and even inflicted pain upon you. Before she died, your mother cast powerful protection magic upon you. So when your aunt failed you, it started reaching out, not caring if the one it called upon was human or not. It reached into Hell, looking for your great-grandfather, a Sinner in Hell. Because he's been a resident of Hell since his death decades ago, the magic turned its attention to his closest sovereign, me. Normally, it would have called upon my father, but your great-grandfather works with me, and so I was considered the proper protector."

"gweat-gwandfathwer?" 

"Yes, his name is Alastor, though he is more known by the title he made for himself since his arrival in Hell, the Radio Demon. I will be honest with you, little one. He's probably going to be a terrible parental figure, not that he'd hurt you, but because of how he is. But he will protect you because you are his, and that alone is worthy of his protection. I've worked with him for some time now, and while he is a bit strange if he considers you important, there is very little he will not do for you."

Charlie says as they step through the rift, appearing before the Hotel. For her part, Aconite seems not to mind Hell, but Charlie is willing to bet that it's more along the lines that Aconite doesn't think anything could be much worse.

"And remember, you do not belong in Hell, little one, but it will protect you," Charlie says as they step inside the lobby, everyone's eyes snapping to the child in the Princess' arms, who buried her face into Charlie's chest.

Charlie is mildly surprised to see her father instead of a doctor, but also not. Lucifer would have felt the same pull she did. Her father's face is currently twisted in rage at the soul scars Aconite already possesses so young.

"Bring her here; who is she?" Lucifer orders softly, pointing to Husk's bar. Charlie gently sets Aconite down, holding her hand for comfort. 

"This is Aconite; she's Alastor's great-granddaughter," Charlie informs as Lucifer examines Aconite, pulling a rubber ducky out of nowhere to the child's surprised delight, a little giggle leaving her as Lucifer focuses on the radiating dark aura coming from her forehead scar.

A record scratch sounds through the air as Alastor's head snaps to Charlie, his humming stopped mid-verse.

"What?" Alastor intones, his voice shocked out of his static.

"She's your descendant, Alastor...it's why I was pulled to her by magic. You couldn't answer the call yourself, so magic pulled me." Charlie said as Lucifer let out a small hiss.

"She needs a cleansing ritual. She has a Horcrux in her scar. Along with a bunch of other issues." Lucifer says grimly, rage filling him. No one other than Charlie, who gasps, understands just what a Horcrux is. But if Lucifer gets his hands on the soul who dared to splinter itself, he'd show them the true meaning of Hell.

Actually, for all he dislikes Alastor, Lucifer is going to toss the fool to the Radio Demon; his specific brand of torture was perfect for such a thing. Not to mention, from the anger radiated from the Radio Demon behind him, who understood the importance of Magic calling to a demon for protection, he'd likely not even get a chance to lay a finger on the soul.

"She'll be okay, right, Dad?" Charlie asks, warily eyeing Alastor, whose smile has gone from fake pleasantness to feral.

"Yes, Alastor, would you be able to perform a cleansing ritual?" Lucifer asked, turning his gaze to the Radio Demon, who tones his smile back to its normal state.

"It would be my absolute pleasure. Please, give me a few moments to prepare." Alastor purred, disappearing into his shadow. 

"That was Alwastor?" Aconite asks, and everyone has to resist the urge to coo at her lisp.

"Yes, it was," Charlie smiles

"Swafe..." Aconite mumbles sleepily as the events of the day finally catching up to the child, leaning into Charlie and falling asleep.

"Is it bad that the kid finds being in a hotel full of demons safe enough to fall asleep?" Angel Dust questions from the couch, careful not to curse around the tiny child.

"If you had seen what I did upon entering that house, you'd know why," Charlie mutters, her voice a growl as her horns show themselves for a moment. 

Everyone quiets down at her words as she picks Aconite up, moving to one of the couches to let Aconite sleep in her lap as they wait for Alastor.