Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Sera sighed, the Princess of Hell was causing trouble. She wouldn’t leave the idea of redeeming sinners alone and it was only a matter of time before she found out that the exorcists could be killed. After that, who knows what she might do to Heaven.

“Come on, Sera.” Adam said pulling her out of her thoughts “It’ll solve a lot of problems getting her out of the way. Then we can go back to killing those demons without protest.” She didn’t like it, it might cause more problems with Hell, but an uprising against Heaven could not happen. No matter the cost. “Fine.” she said, resigned. “You can bring her in. But do it quietly, the last thing we need is for Lucifer to find out and come striding into Heaven with an army on his heels.”

“Fuck yea-” Lute elbowed Adam in the side and gave him a warning look. Adam cleared his throat, “I mean, uh, thank you very much, your highness.” Sera nodded her head and said “You may leave.” Lute gave a short bow and they both left the room.

“So what’s the plan, sir?” Lute asked. “Fuck, Lute, I don’t know? Just go down there and get her. Why are you asking me for a plan?” Adam said annoyed. “Well, sir, you are the boss.”

“Okay, go to Hell, grab the bitch, and bring her here? There’s your plan now, go do it.” Adam grumbled out. “Well, sir, I just didn’t think you only wanted to take the princess and lock her up. I thought there was more to it than that?” Lute questioned. “Well obviously I want to kill that demon fucking, bitch Vaggie, and then I want to kill as many of those stupid demon bitches as possible! Now go get a squad and take her by surprise.” Lute smiled, “Yes, sir”

“And don’t question me, bitch, I’m your boss.” Lute rolled her eyes “Yes, sir” she grit out through her teeth. “And feel free to rough her up a bit if she gives you trouble. I’m leaving you in charge of this. Scare her, scare the assholes in her stupid hotel, and get Vaggie. Then like kill the princess in front of her and send her head to the hotel in a box or something I don’t really care, as long as I get Vaggie’s head.”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh” Charlie sighed. “What’s wrong?” Vaggie asked lovingly. “It’s already been 5 months and we only have 1 month left to save souls. The higher ups in Heaven wouldn’t listen and now Adam is targeting the hotel.” Charlie exclaimed stressfully while laying on her and Vaggie’s bed, head thrown over the edge and hanging upside down as she looked at Vaggie. “How am I supposed to salvage this?”

Vaggie sighed, how was she supposed to answer that? She had no clue what to do. Her plan was to prepare for the inevitable fight coming in one month. “I don’t know.” she said as she walked over to Charlie and squatted down so they were eye level. “But, I know if anyone is gonna figure this out, it’ll be you.” She gave Charlie a quick kiss. “I believe in you, and so does everyone else here.”

Charlie looked over to the side flipping onto her stomach. That wasn’t the answer she had hoped for but, Vaggie wasn’t wrong, Charlie was determined to figure this out. “I’m so lucky to have you to support me. You’re amazing.”

“I love you too, Charlie.” Vaggie said with a smile. Charlie took a deep breath, “Alright, I am going to go on a walk and clear my head. Maybe I’ll be able to think of another plan if I get some fresh air.”

“Okay, Charlie, be careful.” Vaggie said. “I will, I’ll see you in a bit with a new and amazing plan to get souls into heaven!” Charlie said with false confidence as she jumped up out of bed.

Charlie felt dejected as she left the hotel. She just needed a little time alone to think. How was she supposed to fight the exorcists? Would she be the reason all her friends died?

No, she couldn’t think like that, she could do this. She looked around as she walked. It was violent and dirty here. The people could be really terrible. But it was her home and the angels were destroying it. She knew that ending the extermination wouldn't fix everything but it would be a start.

If they would just listen to her. Heaven wouldn’t need to be worried about an uprising, they wouldn’t need to kill innocent souls. Why couldn’t they just agree and help her redeem sinners. Hell shouldn’t have to be forever because someone made mistakes in their past life!

It felt like she had tried everything. What else was she supposed to do? I mean she had a meeting with Heaven and proved that souls can change and it did nothing to help. This whole hotel was starting to feel hopeless. But she couldn’t let down her friends. She would fix this.

She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t even realize she was being followed until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around to find Sir Pentious behind her. She let out a deep breath “Oh! Hi Pentious. I didn’t notice you were there.”

“Yes, I could tell.” He sighed. “Is there something you need?” Charlie asked. “Well,” Pentious started, “You see, my Egg Bois are rather stupid. And they say many things that are most likely untrue.” “Okay..? Is there a point to this?” Charlie interjected. “Yes. You see, do you remember, when I first moved into the hotel for real and Vaggie made Alastor get rid of my Egg Bois but then I ended up getting them back?” “Yeah.” Charlie said uncertainly.

“Well, that night, one of my beloved Egg Bois said something rather unusual and I passed it off as their normal bullshit. But in case there is a chance that what they were saying was true. Apparently, one of my Egg Bois heard that Carmilla Carmine had killed an exorcist!”

“What! How?” Charlie asked, feeling a little more hopeful. “Well they didn’t say how exactly, but you could try asking Miss Carmine about it. You just have to seem confident and act like everything the Egg Bois said is true.”

“Oh my gosh! Thank you so so so much Pentious! Okay, we have to go back to the hotel and tell Vaggie. We’ll need more people than we have right now if we want to stand even the smallest chance of winning.” Finally! Something she might be able to use. If Carmilla knew how to kill the angels then Charlie and the hotel would have a fighting chance! “Yes, Ma’am.” Pentious said, saluting.

Charlie rushed into the hotel excitedly calling for Vaggie. “Woah, Charlie, what’s going on?” She took in a big gulp of air “Pentious said that there might be a way to kill the exorcists!” She spewed out. “One of the eggs said that they overheard Carmilla Carmine talking about how she killed an angel. Now all we have to do is go and ask Carmilla if it’s true and see if she will tell us how she did it.” Charlie said excitedly.

Vaggie sighed, this felt like a long shot. She was an exorcist and even she didn’t know that they could be killed, but this was for Charlie and she was willing to do anything for her. “Okay, how about I go down to the weapons district and talk to Carmilla about this. You need to find more people. Something tells me that a hotel with a couple semi-functional people won’t be able to take on an army of exorcists.” Vaggie said, starting to formulate a plan around this idea that the angels could be killed.

“Well, if you need an army I think I know exactly who we could talk to about that.” Alastor said with a sinister grin. “And who would that be?” Vaggie said aggressively. “A dear friend of mine! Why so defensive?” Alastor asked innocently. “Why don’t I take Charlie to meet my friend Rosie. She is a powerful overlord and has many souls we could use to fight for us. If anybody is going to have an army they are willing to lend it’ll be Rosie.”

“Fine” Vaggie said begrudgingly “Wonderful!” Alastor exclaimed as he took Charlie by the shoulders and led her out of the hotel. “Look” Vaggie started as she turned to the others, “This hotel’s about to become the most dangerous place in Hell, and we-” she paused, letting out a sigh. “I… can’t guarantee your safety anymore. I still believe in Charlie’s dream. I know this place can work…” she said with determination. She looked at the people she had come to know as friends as she continued, “But none of you signed up for this.” She turned and walked to the door. “I’m gonna go learn how we can fight back,but when I come home.” She paused as she looked back at them for what she thought might be the last time. “Well, I’ll understand if none of you are here.” She turned back around and marched out the door determined to help Charlie win.

Chapter Text

Lute discreetly watched in disguise as the princess left her hotel with another person. Was she ever alone? Lute asked herself, annoyed. She was alone for all of five minutes and Lute was about to strike when she noticed the snake quickly trailing behind her and tapping her on the shoulder. Now she leaves again with a weird ass red deer man thing. She quietly follows them as they walk through Hell towards Cannibal Town. 

Lute loses them again when they enter a building. She walks around waiting for them to emerge. When they finally do, they're with a woman, she’s calling all the cannibals around a gazebo. She quickly talks to the princess and then sends her to address the cannibals. 

As the princess starts talking one cannibal keeps interrupting and insulting her. It takes everything in her not to burst out laughing when the princess flips the old lady off and calls her an old bitch. The lead cannibal lady takes Charlie to the side as she announces they’ll be back after a “brief intermission”. The lead cannibal, Rosie, Lute assumed off of what she had heard from the old lady, took the princess back into the building they came from earlier. Lute waited a moment before she followed them into the little cafe. 

She could hear them talking in a room towards the back. She quietly walked down the hall to find the room they were in. As she got closer she saw the door to the room cracked open. She peeked into the room to find the princess looking longingly at her phone as Rosie said something about being great at romance.

Lute smiled to herself as she backed away from the door to head back outside into the crowd. She felt proud knowing that she and Adam had caused discourse in the princess’s relationship with the traitor. That, and she had just figured out how she was going to get the princess.

Charlie looked at her phone’s lock screen, a picture of her and Vaggie, and sighed. She looked up at Rosie feeling guilty. She gave into Rosie’s request and decided to tell her what was on her mind. “I don’t know, it’s just…” She sighed again trying to find the right words. “I understand why Vaggie didn’t tell me she was an exorcist at first but we've been together for 2 years. Why didn’t she trust me?” She questioned. “I tried to understand and accept it and pretend that everything was fine. That everything was just like it was before ‘cause this shouldn’t change anything! And I really do love her but I just don’t get why she didn’t tell me. I mean what else has she hidden from me? Has anything she’s said been true?” 

She looked towards the floor, shocked by her own words. “I- No, no I don’t actually think that. I don’t know why I said that?” She looked back up towards Rosie. She had a pitying look on her face. “You said you love this girl?” Rosie asks as she walks towards Charlie. Charlie looks up at her again, “Yes… or, well I-” She takes a moment and looks away. “Yes.” “Aw” Rosie responds as she takes a seat on the couch next to Charlie. “Have you ever once doubted that she loves you in return?” Charlie shakes her head no as she looks at Rosie. “Well, then what’s the problem and isn’t that silly hotel of yours all about redemption?” 

Charlie takes a minute hearing what Rosie is saying. “...Yes?” She responds quietly. “Perhaps this girl was trying to redeem herself too?” Rosie gently suggests. Charlie sighs, frustrated, “She knows better than anyone that I believe in second chances. Why not tell me?” Rosie takes a second and looks Charlie in the eyes. “It can be difficult to admit to things you’re not proud of, especially if those things hurt the ones you love.” She said to Charlie in a kind tone. “She fucked up, sure! She’s flawed, but hey, who down here isn’t?” Charlie smiled at that. “If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that words are cheap, but actions, they speak the truth. So, what have her actions said?”

Charlie thought to herself for a moment taking in what Rosie said, “That she believes in me and what we’re doing.” She chuckles to herself. “Right now she’s off learning how to protect everything we’ve worked for, and I can’t even pitch my hotel right.” “Well, how do you normally explain your hotel?” Charlie looks at her stressed. “By singing… but that never works.” Rosie looked at her with a mischievous grin “It will work here. Trust me.”

Finally the princess and the cannibal walked out of the cafe. The princess looked more hopeful than before. Lute decided to make her move then, putting her head down she bumped into the princess in the crowd before she got to the gazebo. She slipped her hand into the princesses’ pocket and swiftly took her phone during the commotion. She gave a quick apology as she quickly continued walking past her. Now that she had her bait all she had to do was wait for the princess to take it, then she could strike. 

Now that she finally had a plan she headed back into the cafe as the princess got everyone's attention. As she slipped in she briefly heard the princess start to sing before the door slipped shut. She scoffed to herself as she made her way to the back room that Charlie and Rosie had been in previously. 

As she waited she could hear the singing getting louder and the crowd growing more excited. She wondered how long it would take for the princess to notice her phone was missing. She wanted to get out of this disgusting place as fast as possible and this had already taken much longer than she had originally anticipated. 

Finally, the singing grew quieter as the crowd left cannibal town. Lute waited and was getting ready to leave thinking the princess wouldn’t notice her missing phone when she heard steps coming down the hall and quiet excited chatter that sounded like her target.

IT WORKED! For once Charlie’s singing worked. She was about to match off leading the rest of the cannibals back to her hotel, but when she reached into her pocket to text Vaggie the good news she realized she didn’t have her phone. She assumed she must have absent mindedly set her phone down when she was talking to Rosie and forgot to pick it back up when they left. 

Charlie made her way through the crowd to find Alastor. Once spotting him, toward the back talking with Rosie, she rushed up to him and started talking quickly, “Hey Alastor! Thanks for taking me to Rosie! I think I left my phone in Rosie’s room when we were talking so I’m gonna run back and grab it. Could you lead the cannibals back to the hotel and let Vaggie know why I’m behind?” “Why, of course!” Alastor responded with fake enthusiasm. “Don’t take too long!” He shouted as Charlie started to jog back towards the cafe in cannibal town. 

When she arrived she quickly made her way back towards Rosie’s room excitedly talking to herself about how this crazy plan worked and how they might actually have a chance at winning this thing. She stopped when she reached the room and swung the door open expecting to see her phone laying somewhere near the love seat she had been sitting on. When she walked in she didn’t see her phone anywhere. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind her, she whirled around startled and found Adam’s right hand man, Lute, holding up Charlie’s phone.

Lute glared at Charlie, “Looking for this?” She asked. Charlie gasped and took a step back, “What are you doing here?” She questioned the angel with venom. “It’s not time for the exorcism yet and angels aren’t allowed in hell except for on business?” Lute tilted her head and smiled, “Well, I am here on business. Straight from the top actually.” Charlie narrowed her eyes in question as Lute swiftly made an advance on her. Charlie barely had time to react before she felt a sudden pain in the side of her skull then her world went dark. 

She vaguely remembers feeling something warm and wet drip down the side of her face, being flown through the air, the change from the stench of Hell to a pleasant breeze, and muffled voices as she was manhandled into an uncomfortable position with her arms stuck behind her back. Whatever happened wasn’t good and it definitely wasn’t going to end well.

Chapter Text

Vaggie was starting to get a little concerned. When Alastor had come back with the cannibals Charlie was nowhere to be seen. When Alastor had told her that Charlie had forgotten her phone and was a little bit behind she had calmed down thinking Charlie would show up in 10 to 15 minutes. After 20 minutes had passed she started to grow nervous again. After 30 minutes had passed and Vaggie still hadn’t heard from Charlie she decided to call her. 

When Charlie didn’t answer Vaggie’s multiple phone calls, voicemails, and texts she started to panic. When everyone in the hotel had also attempted to contact her and got no replies Vaggie wasn’t the only one starting to panic. After an hour of absolutely nothing from Charlie, Vaggie sent out Husk, Angel, and Alastor to go look for Charlie while Vaggie called Lucifer.

The phone rang a couple times before Lucifer picked up. “Helloooo, Maggie!” Vaggie froze for a second, “It’s uh, Vaggie, actually.” “What?” Lucifer responded. “My name is Vaggie not Maggie…” She replied quietly “Oh!” Lucifer said quickly. After a short pause Lucifer began talking again, “Is that reason you called me?” Vaggie collected her thoughts. “No. Uh, have you heard from Charlie recently? She went out a while ago and she hasn’t come home yet or answered her phone and I’m starting to worry a bit. I sent out some of our friends but they can’t find her.”

There was silence on the other end. Vaggie didn’t know what else to do as she awkwardly waited for a response when she heard a knock at the front door. She looked at the door questioningly as she walked over to it. When she opened it she found Lucifer standing there looking frantic with his phone up to his ear still on a call with Vaggie. “What do you mean you can’t find Charlie?!”

When Charlie finally wakes up her head is pounding and her shoulder aches from lying on it weirdly. She slowly opens her eyes to find herself in a small dark empty room. Her arms are tied up behind her back and chained to the wall. When she tries to sit up a spike of pain rushes through her skull making her wince. She slowly moves to a sitting position and tries to remember what the hell happened and how she ended up here, wherever here is. 

She can feel dried blood caked to the left side of her face and down her neck. Well that explains the headache. She thinks to herself. She tries to work through what led up to this when the door to the tiny room opens. She looks over to see who is there but has to immediately look away when the bright light behind the person sears into her head. “Look who’s finally awake.” She hears someone say smugly. And, wait, she knows that voice. Where does she know that voice? It all comes rushing back to her. “Lute,” She says with venom. “Where the fuck am I?” 

“You can’t tell?” She questioned innocently. “You’re in Heaven of course. I wouldn’t stay in that filthy place you call home for longer than I have to. Plus we didn’t want to make it easy for daddy dearest to find you.” She spat out dropping the innocent act.

“Okay, sorry. Let me rephrase. Why the fuck did you knock me out and take me to Heaven!” Charlie asked unamused. “I told you. It was just business.” She answered with a shrug. “What kind of business?” Charlie grit out. “You’re getting a bit too bold with your little business venture and Sera can’t have you screwing up Heaven by bringing your demon filth here. You’re also harboring a traitor and Adam wants retribution.” 

“Your plan will never work. My friends will find me and get me out of here and we’re going to expose you, Sera, and the rest of your shitty exorcists to all of Heaven. And I will redeem a FUCK TON of souls.” Lute scoffed at that. “I wish them luck.” She clapped her hands together, startling Charlie. “Well now that we’ve had this lovely conversation, we need to get you ready for a photoshoot.” Charlie gave her a questioning glance. “You’re still looking a little too pretty and we need to make sure your little friends at that hotel have lots of motivation.” 

Ice shot up her spine. Lute turned around and called over some other exorcists. When she turned back around she had a menacing smile on her face. “This will teach everyone in Hell not to fuck with Heaven.” Charlie started moving back towards the wall as the exorcists got closer, her body itching with dread. One of the angels moved swiftly and hit her in the face with the flat of their spear. She flew back with the force of the hit, pain spiking through her face; blood spilling out of a small cut on her cheek. 

She wasn’t scared of what they were going to do to her, she was angry. Angry that Lute had the audacity to come to her home and kidnap her, angry that Adam wanted to hurt the girl she loved, angry that Sera thought she could get away with killing her and her people. She felt that anger bubble in her chest, she felt that anger rising to her face making her eyes red and horns grow on her head. She felt her power rise with her anger as she sat up on her knees. She went to strike at the angel that had hit her, headbutting them with as much force as possible. The exorcist fell to the the floor shouting “Ah Fuck!” as they drew their hand up to their now bleeding nose. She forgot about the chains binding her to the wall and she went to leap to attack the other angel but the chains pulled her back in a painful reminder.

The angel that was still standing took her momentary surprise as a chance to strike her in the gut with the blunt end of their spear. Pain spread through her stomach and knocked the wind out of her. She fell the rest of the way to the floor curling in on herself. The angel she had hit had regained their composure and raised their spear to stab Charlie laying on the floor heaving. “Fucking bitch!” The exorcist thrust the spear down but before the blade could touch Charlie Lute grabbed the angel's arm. “We need her alive. For now.” Lute said as she looked down at Charlie. 

Lute kneeled down next to Charlie and lifted her chin so their eyes met. “Don’t worry princess, I won’t be protecting you for very long.” She dropped her face and stood. She slowly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Charlie alone with the two exorcists.

Angel had been out looking for Charlie for about an hour. He had been asking around if anyone had seen Charlie or what might’ve happened to her, but nobody knew anything and if they did they weren’t willing to share. He was going to keep looking when he got a text from Husk telling him that everyone had already returned to the hotel to discuss a plan and figure out where Charlie went. 

He walked back to the hotel feeling defeated. Charlie had done so much for him and he couldn’t even scrounge up some information when it came time for him to help her. He walked up to the doors of the hotel pausing to take a breath before entering. He looked down at his feet and felt his heart stop. Again. 

Laying on the ground in front of the doors was a picture of Charlie. She looked terrible with multiple small cuts littering her face and blood pouring down the side of her head. There were two exorcists standing on either side of her with spears pointed at her. She was in her demon form, eyes glowing red, trying to attack the person behind the camera. Adam was standing behind her with a smug expression on the mask that covered his face. Scratched out in the empty space on the picture were the words ‘ COME AND GET HER’.

Angel picked up the photo with shaking hands and burst inside the hotel. Everyone was standing in the lobby trying to figure out what happened to her. They all startled at Angel's sudden entrance. When Vaggie saw the look on his face she walked up to him. “Angel? What happened? Did you find something out?” She questioned. Angel looked at her wordlessly and turned the picture around so she could see it. 

When she saw the image she gasped, taking it from Angel’s hands. Fear and pain flashed across her face at the sight of her girlfriend. After a moment her expression finally settled on one of anger and determination. She marched over to Lucifer and shoved the photo into his hands. “Those fuckers in Heaven took her and hurt her. I’m going to hurt them back.” She said fiercely, in a shaking voice. 

Lucifer took in the picture of Charlie, beaten and bloody. He traced a finger along her face and whispered a soft and pained “Charlie.” Lucifer looked up at Vaggie with a steeled expression. “Well, I guess we need to make a plan to invade Heaven. We are going to get her back. No matter what it takes.” 

Chapter Text

They had figured out a plan to break into Heaven. Having an ex-exorcist on the team helped out a lot. Sera didn’t want the rest of the people in Heaven to know what she had been allowing to happen in Hell so the exorcists had to be sneaky. They had a secret entrance and exit into hell so the denizens of Heaven wouldn’t see them coming and going once a year and asking questions. 

As far as Vaggie knew she should still have access to said entrance and after a quick test it was proven that she could still get in and out of Heaven. (Those angels are REALLY stupid to think nobody would ever dare to rise against them.) She drew out plans of the exorcist base and pointed out the places where Charlie would most likely be held. She also had started to train the cannibals in fighting, the angels knew that they’d be coming but they didn’t know that they’d be prepared and able to take them down. They were going to get her out of there safely no matter what it took.

Charlie trusted her friends to find her, don't get her wrong. But after hours of sitting in this room alone she felt restless. She noticed that the chains in the wall weren’t installed very well. Like they were put there in a rush. She theorized that she could probably pull the chains out of the wall if she tried hard enough. Then she would run as fast as her legs could take her and find her way to Emily and expose the exorcists. She felt like it was a solid enough plan. 

She shuffled around until she was awkwardly able to squeeze her legs through her arms to bring her arms up front. She then turned around, grabbed the chain, planted her feet on the wall and pulled with all her might until she felt the chains give. She fell on her ass once the chains had finally fully come out of the wall. 

The chains made a loud thud noise and she heard someone on the other side of the door shuffle around trying to open it. She stood up on shaky legs and grabbed the chain ready to attack the person that entered. When the door opened she flew forward and swung the chain at their head. The exorcist went down like a bag of rocks and she took off running.

After running around for what felt like forever she finally found a door that looked like the exit. She took off with renewed energy. She was only a few feet away when she heard footsteps from behind her and before she had time to react she was tackled to the ground. She twisted around to find Lute on top of her. She bucked and tried to get away but Lute delivered a blow to her head. Everything felt fuzzy and when her vision finally started to focus she looked up to see Lute standing above her spear in hand with two exorcists standing behind her. 

Lute looked annoyed at Charlie’s attempt at escape and before Charlie could think to do anything Lute stabbed Charlie in the thigh with her spear. Charlie screamed in shock at the sudden pain writhing through her leg. Lute bent down on one knee, her face in Charlie’s, she gave her a fake smile and said, “This should stop you from trying to run again.” She roughly pulled the spear out of her leg and turned to the exorcists standing guard behind her and told them to take Charlie back to her cell and teach her a lesson for trying to get out of there before they were done with her.

They picked Charlie up by her arms and dragged her back into the depths of the exorcist base. She tried to fight back and escape their grip, but everytime she moved pain shot through her from the still bleeding wound in her thigh. When they had finally returned to her cell the exorcists threw her on the ground, the one she had knocked out had been removed from where she left them. The angels approached her ready to carry out their boss's order, but right as they got near, Charlie lashed out horns growing from her head and eyes glowing red. She leapt at them and swung her chained hands, hitting one of them in the gut. The one not doubled over in pain used the dull end of their spear to hit Charlie. While she was recovering from the blow the exorcist grabbed their partner and pulled them out of the door slamming it shut right as Charlie got ready to attack again. 

They didn’t want to mess with the daughter of Hell even if she was wounded. She pounded on the door a couple of times before she gave up. She limped to the far corner in the cell and slid down to the floor completely out of energy. She tore off a part of her shirt and tied it around her leg to stop the bleeding. She made peace with the fact that she’d have to sit around and wait for her friends to come and save her. 

The plan to rescue Charlie had been made. Vaggie had made a team study her drawn out plans of the exorcist base. Lucifer would lead the attack on the exorcists while she, Husk, Nifty and Rosie searched for Charlie. Angel would be on a separate mission with Pentious to find Emily and Sera and inform them of what Adam and the exorcists had done to the princess of Hell.

The cannibals weren’t as trained as Vaggie would’ve liked, but she didn’t want to leave Charlie there for longer than they had to. The cannibals were fierce enough and the prospect of an angel buffett gave them lots of motivation. It took them a couple of days before they were fully prepared to bring Charlie back. Alastor had set up a temporary med bay in the living room in the hotel so they could immediately tend to whatever wounds Charlie and the fighters had obtained when they got back. 

Vaggie barely slept while Charlie was gone. If she wasn’t planning then she was training. She refused to step foot in her bedroom without Charlie there. When she did sleep it was on the couch in the living room. She had prepped as much as she could and she was ready. She only hoped that everyone else was also prepared for the battle and that Charlie was still ok. 

The time had come, the army of cannibals marched through Hell on their way to the entrance to Heaven, Vaggie in the lead. She would bring her princess back. She had to. She looked around her at her friends that stuck with her and felt hope. They could win this. She looked at Lucifer and gave him a small nod. Then their patchwork army left Hell to save their princess.

Chapter Text

The army arrived in Heaven ready to charge into battle, Angel and Pentious snuck off to find the seraphims, and Vaggie led her team to find Charlie. The battle had started and angels began filing out of their quarters ready to attack. Vaggie was focused on finding Charlie and wasn’t paying much attention to the battle around her. She did, however, notice the lack of Adam and Lute and proceeded with caution. 

The base was just as she had remembered it, the angels seemed to have changed nothing. She found the building where Charlie was likely being held with ease. The group walked into the pristine building and started down the hall checking every door they came across. As they wandered around Vaggie noticed a faint blood stain near a side door, Vaggie’s heart dropped to her stomach. The blood had to have been Charlie’s, which meant she probably tried to escape and the angels hurt her. Vaggie swore she would kill every single exorcist she could find once Charlie was safe. 

She called to her team telling them to be prepared for anything and ventured further down the hallway calling Charlie’s name and barging through every door. The building was eerily empty. Finally Vaggie entered the right room and found Charlie sleeping in a corner in the small dark room. Vaggie ran to her while Husk, Nifty and Rosie stayed in the doorway allowing for them to have a moment. Vaggie gently cupped Charlie’s face with shaking hands, she lifted her head and Charlie started to stir. She looked like shit, she had cuts and bruises littering her face and a fair amount of blood all over her. Charlie was still very out of it and hadn’t said anything, but Vaggie took a breath of relief knowing she was okay. 

Just as she was about to pick Charlie up and whisk her away she heard rustling in the hall and turned around to see Lute leaning against the doorway. She glanced at Charlie then stood up to look at Lute. She saw exorcists trying to hold back the rest of her team. Just as Lute was about to say something, an angel came flying through the wall. Standing outside on the other side of the hole was Alastor, his smile a little bigger than usual. 

In all the commotion Husk managed to escape the angel's hold and knock out the angel holding him and Rosie. Nifty had managed to wriggle out of the other angel’s grip and scattered out of the hole to start stabbing every angel she saw. Once the confusion cleared a bit Lute charged Vaggie. Vaggie regained her composure in time to block Lute’s attack. Vaggie used the momentum to smash the back of her spear into Lute’s face. 

Lute went down hard, when she had looked back up at Vaggie, blood was gushing out of her nose. She looked at Vaggie with venom, “So, how’s it feel to be back home?” Lute questioned, as she wiped the blood from her nose. “Adam’s been mighty eager to see you again.” Vaggie rolled her eyes at Lute’s bad guy dialog. Vaggie charged Lute, she blocked and their spears clashed together. Vaggie pushed Lute back and kicked her in the stomach. Lute flew back into the wall behind her and Vaggie ran up and held her spear to her throat. Just as she was about to kill Lute, Adam finally made his appearance. 

Charlie was tired, she could tell she had lost a lot of blood. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fight back again if the angels returned to get payback. She just hoped that Vaggie would get there before then. She didn’t know how long she’d been here for, days, maybe weeks. Hunger had been eating at her, maybe the angels forgot to feed her or they didn’t want to waste the resources, either way she hadn’t eaten since before she was taken. 

For the last couple of days she’d been cooped up in the corner of her makeshift cell drifting in and out of sleep, waiting for Vaggie to come and take her away from this place. She missed Vaggie and her friends, she missed the hotel, she even missed the rancid, rotting smell of Hell; of home. She much preferred the constant yelling, fighting, explosions, and the lewd displays of public sex to this dark, quiet, empty room. 

She was sleeping when she first heard the noises, she hadn’t heard anything like this since she was brought here. It sounded like a fight. Maybe that was Vaggie, maybe she had finally come to get her, or maybe Charlie had started to lose her mind and imagined that she was being saved. She wanted to get up and run to the door, but she couldn’t move, she had no more energy, all she could do was hope that Vaggie was real and would be able to find her. 

After a while of hearing a battle rage on outside she finally heard Vaggie calling her name. The door flew open and light flooded in. Once her vision cleared she saw Vaggie, Vaggie ran up to her, and cupped her face in her hands. She was real, she was here. Charlie wanted to say something, to do something, to curl up in her arms and cry till she had nothing left, but she barely had the energy to keep her eyes open.

She felt safe in the warmth of Vaggie’s hands, she was ready to go home and forget about all this when that warmth was taken away from her. She saw the shadow of another person and saw Vaggie standing in front of her, although she couldn’t see who this new person was. Suddenly there was a loud noise and a commotion, new light and more noises flooded the small space, Vaggie moved fast attacking the new person in the room. Charlie fought to keep her eyes open, to understand what was happening, but between the hunger, thirst, and blood loss she soon figured out she was fighting a losing battle. She felt herself drift off among the sounds of battle.

Chapter Text

During their scuffle Lute and Vaggie had moved into the hall outside of Charlie’s room. Rosie and Husk had joined the fighting outside. Vaggie was ready, she wanted to kill Lute, one swift motion and Lute would be a problem of the past. She was just about to make her move when out of the corner of her eye she saw someone swiftly move past her and into Charlie’s unguarded room. Vaggie pressed her free arm into Lute’s chest and held the spear against her throat as she looked behind her. 

Her heart plummeted to her stomach, Adam was there, he was holding a half unconscious Charlie, one arm wrapped under her armpit and the other holding a knife to her throat with the other. A small stream of blood slipped down Charlie’s neck as she weakly tried grabbing at the arm holding the knife. “Hey bitch, I’d put down that spear if I were you.” Adam said with a smug look on his face. Vaggie felt anger and fear heat up her face as she looked back at Lute. 

Lute had a huge triumphant smile on her face as the spear that had once been about to end her life clattered to the ground. She backed away from Lute slowly. Adam maneuvered him and Charlie out of the building through the hole made by Alastor. Lute picked up her spear and pointed it at Vaggie, “Go on, I want your ‘troops’ to see their leader and their princess die.” Lute said as she gestured towards the hole in the wall. Vaggie stepped outside, the battle raged on around them. 

Her eyes never left Charlie, a tear slipped down her cheek. Was she about to see the love of her life die? The first person to show her kindness in Hell, the person who healed and protected her. Who made her laugh when she felt like the world was ending and who comforted her when she cried. She couldn’t look away as Adam laughed as though he had already won. She couldn’t look away as Lute pointed her spear at Vaggie’s back. She was so focused on Charlie she barely noticed Lucifer, running up behind Adam, sword in hand. She hardly noticed until Adam let out a yell and dropped Charlie to the ground. 

She instantly started running towards her, her vision tunneling on Charlie, everything happening around her was blurred and muffled. Until, she felt Lute throw herself at Vaggie forcing her to tumble onto the ground. She turned onto her back and was face to face with Lute. Lute slammed the butt of her spear into Vaggie’s head. The world went fuzzy for a second, Lute had got up, spear in hand and started running towards Charlie’s limp form. Vaggie shook off the hit and clambered towards Lute grabbing her ankle and sending her sprawling to the floor. “You bitch!” Lute screamed as she kicked at the hand on her ankle.

Vaggie lost her grip and Lute got up and kept running at Charlie. Vaggie scrambled to her feet chasing after Lute as she made it to Charlie, spear in hand. She raised it above her head, ready to pierce Charlie’s heart. She turned her head to look at Vaggie before she took the most important thing in Vaggie’s life from her. Vaggie was so close, she just needed another second, but she wasn’t close enough. Just as Lute was about to thrust her spear into Charlie a booming voice called over the battlefield. 

If he was going to be completely honest, Lucifer was having a good time, or at least he would be if his daughter's life wasn’t at stake. Although he didn’t show it Lucifer wasn’t happy about the angels killing his people. It’s true, he didn’t much believe the people in Hell deserved Charlie’s never wavering belief in them. To be fair, he gave up everything and faced divine punishment only for them to take his gift and do absolutely terrible things with it. But, he finally saw Charlie’s dream, he realized that she was right, that not everyone in Hell deserved to be there and that some could be saved. And that they didn’t deserve to be killed a second time by angels. 

But the thing that he hated the most was the way the angels rampaged through his kingdom as if it was theirs. The angels didn’t just kill, they destroyed, and there was nothing Lucifer could do about, so he locked himself away from it all. So, it’s easy to say that Lucifer was glad to let out all his rage on the angels. It’s not that he liked killing his own kind, he was still an angel after all. But, these people hurt him a long time ago and now they were hurting his people and they were hurting Charlie and he could not forgive that. Thus, he didn’t feel bad about killing these angels. 

The fight was going well, he was slightly upset at Vaggie for not taking him with her to get Charlie, but he understood she had a plan and his part was to pull the angels away from Charlie. She had pointed out the building that she believed Charlie would be in. So, during the fighting Lucifer made his way closer to it. He wanted to see that Charlie was ok, he wanted to be there to help get her back to the portal to Hell. 

As he was fighting he noticed movement coming from the hole that Alastor made. He took down the angel he was battling and looked over to see what was happening. When he looked up he felt his world crashing down once again. Vaggie was standing there, a horrified look on her face. Behind her, Lute was standing there with her spear pointed at Vaggie. Standing in front of them was Adam, his back towards Lucifer. He couldn’t see what he was holding, but by the look on Vaggie’s face he had a pretty good idea. And it made his blood boil. 

Lucifer held his sword tight in his hand and booked it towards Adam. He could feel the rage boiling through him, pushing him forward. He would make this slimy, son of a bitch pay. Since he couldn’t tell how Adam was holding Charlie he decided to play it safe and shove the sword through Adam’s shoulder. Adam cried out in shock and pain and dropped Charlie. Lucifer saw Vaggie move towards Charlie and decided to focus on Adam. 

Adam slowly turned around to see who had stabbed him. “What the Hell! That hurt man. The fuck is your problem.” Adam said as he looked at Lucifer. Lucifer stared at him incredulously. “What’s my problem?” He asked in disbelief. “My problem is that you kidnapped my daughter!” He yelled at Adam. “You took her and hurt her! YOU PLANNED TO KILL HER!” Lucifer ran at him, eyes filled with fire. He was going to kill him.

Adam looked at him and them muttered a quiet ‘oh fuck’ when he realized Lucifer was not stoping. He scrambled to his feet attempting to get ready for a fight when a fist smacked into his face. It all happened so fast. Lucifer gave him no time to recover. He would kill him with his bare hands if he had to. He beat Adam’s head in the ground, his fists covered in the golden blood of the angels. He didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. That was, until, a loud familiar voice yelled over the battlefield. Everyone went quiet at the sudden interruption. 

Angel’s eyes hurt, everything in Heaven was so bright, white, and pristine. Vaggie had told them where the seraphims would be; a large building in the center of Heaven. He and Pentious moved quickly through the streets. They had received odd looks from the denizens of Heaven, but they just pushed passed and ignored them. They didn’t have time to address the gawking stares of the prissy souls that made it to Heaven. 

Once they reached the building they burst in shouting the names of the seraphims. After a short time and a fair amount of yelling, Emily came rushing towards them, her face painted in confusion, with Sera right behind her. Sera was quiet and looked angry, Angel had a feeling that she knew why him and Pentious were there. Emily did a short introduction and quickly asked Angel, “What are you doing here? Did you make it into Heaven? Did Charlie’s hotel work!”

She was talking fast and excitedly, Angel took a second to process what she was saying, then shook his head and responded, “What? No, Charlie was taken by Adam and his exorcist goons, we’re here to save her, but we think we’ll need your help.” Angel took out the picture of Charlie, beaten and bloody, that Adam had sent them. Emily looked at the picture; shock, hurt, and fear etched into her face, she looked back up at Angel for a moment, her mouth agape, before she turned to look at Sera. Emily’s fists clenched at the resigned look on Sera’s face. “I’m guessing you knew about this too.” Emily said to her in a low voice. She turned towards Angel and Pentious, “Show me.”

Sera grabbed her arm before she could take off with the souls from Hell, “Where are you going?” she said with concern. Emily looked at her with disappointment spread across her features, “To help save my friend; that you allowed to get hurt.” She shrugged off Sera’s arm and followed Angel and Pentious towards the exorcist camp. Sera paused for a moment in silent shock before following along with Emily. 

They rushed through the streets of Heaven making their way back to where Charlie was. The odd sight had many souls in Heaven follow along, curious to see what had their seraphims following two sinners. Once they arrived they were shocked by the view they were met with. The normally clean and glorious place had been turned into a battle ground. Bodies of angels and sinners alike were spread throughout the area. 

Towards the center of the fight, near a central building they all had a clear view of a hurt and barely conscious Charlie being held in the arms of the first man with a knife to her throat. They watched in silent shock as Lucifer, the fallen angel, leapt onto Adam stabbing him with a sword before climbing on top of him and beating him with his fists. They watched as Adam’s right hand man ran towards the fallen princess with the intent to kill. 

Everyone sat in silent shock, waiting to see what would happen next, before Sera stepped up, taking on her full seraphim form, and bellowing out a loud “ENOUGH!” that echoed across the battlefield. Everything paused, the entire place was silent, the fighting stopped. Sera slowly walked towards Adam, Lucifer still on top of him, breathing heavily. She motioned for Lucifer to move away from Adam and he reluctantly did so. Sera looked up at Lute, she immediately dropped her spear and ran over to help Adam up. 

“Care to explain?” Sera asked with fury in her tone. “We were attacked, ma’am.” Lute reported with a cold tone. Sera sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “I never should have allowed you to do something like this.” She said quietly, she looked at Adam, completely void of pity, “You are impulsive and rash. You act expecting no consequences and do not care about the ramifications your actions cause. I shouldn’t have allowed for this to go on for as long as I have.”

Adam looked at her in shock, “What?” he sputtered. Sera gazed at him and Lute once again, “My one order was to be quiet about this, no one in Heaven should have found out about this and yet here I stand, on a battleground, with an audience at my heels. Now, everyone in Heaven will know about the exorcisms in Hell and the violence that I’ve allowed to prosper under my orders.” Sera looked like she was about to say something else when Emily strode up behind her. 

“They aren’t the only ones to blame here, Sera.” She said with anger in her voice. “All this death and destruction happened from your orders and you had to have known what those orders would bring. This could have been avoided, but you had to ‘keep Heaven safe’” Emily was seething, she threw her arms at the bodies littering the ground. “Well, this is what your ‘protection’ brought. Angels and sinners alike are dead, my friend is hurt and could have been killed! And now the people of Heaven know how corrupt we are.” 

Sera sighed as she looked into Emily’s eyes, she knew what she was saying was true. She messed up. She turned back towards Adam, “You are stripped of your power in Heaven, the exorcists shall stand down and the exorcisms shall no longer continue.” She looked toward Charlie, who was sitting on the ground, her back supported by Vaggie and her head leaning against her shoulder, “You get your wish, Princess, you will be able to run your hotel and we shall see if it eventually works.” She then turned towards Lucifer, “I’m sorry for what has happened, know that Adam and his soldiers will be punished.” 

Lucifer grunted, still ready to beat Adam if he so much as looked at Charlie or Vaggie. He walked towards them helping lift Charlie into Vaggie’s arms, he looked at Charlie with a soft, sad expression on his face and clutched her hand close to his chest. They started moving towards the exit, sinners trailing behind them snarling at angels as they passed them. They had just walked past Adam when, suddenly, a small blade protruded from Adam’s chest. 

Not expecting the sudden wait Lute dropped Adam, as he fell he revealed Nifty standing there holding a blade, everyone stilled until she began stabbing him repeatedly, Angel let out a quiet ‘holy shit’ as he ran up to grab Nifty. Lute looked at Adam in a shocked horror before falling to the ground next to Adam and letting out a loud sob. The sinners walked past them, some sneered in delight at the pain the exorcist seemed to be in, while others ignored them completely, on their way back down to Hell. 

They had gotten their Princess back, that was all they needed, they couldn’t care less about the destruction and disarray in Heaven, all they cared about was getting back to Hell and taking a long collective nap in each other's company. All they cared about was getting back home.

Chapter Text

Charlie woke up with a start. The first thing she noticed was that she was warm. Her head felt like it was full of cotton and her memories of the past few days were fuzzy at best. She remembered glimpses of the fight between Vaggie and Lute, she remembered arms around her and the cold unforgiving edge of a blade against her throat, she remembered falling to the ground and yelling. The last thing she could recall before everything went black was being surrounded by warmth and a hand holding hers.
She blinked up at the ceiling in an attempt to clear her vision. When she was finally able to see more than fuzzy blobs she looked at her surroundings. She was laying on her bed, blankets thrown over her. She felt a dull full body ache. She turned her head to see Vaggie, laying next to her, her head in the crook of Charlie’s neck and her hand gripping Charlie’s upper arm. 

She also noticed that her other hand wasn’t free. She turned her head to the other side and saw her dad. He was sitting on a chair next to her bed, slumped over with his head resting on his arm on her bed. His other arm extended to hold Charlie’s hand in a death grip. 

When she looked around her room a little further she noticed Razzle, Dazzle, and Keekee all curled up on her bed by her feet. She saw that her floor was littered with cots filled with her sleeping friends. She put her head down, she finally felt warm and safe. With the knowledge that she was surrounded by her loved ones she allowed herself to drift back to sleep. 

When she awoke again it was to Vaggie running her fingers through her hair. She leaned into the touch and opened her eyes. She looked at Vaggie and smiled. “Hi” Charlie said quietly, “Hi” Vaggie responded. “You scared me.” Vaggie said, looking away. “I thought I lost you.” Charlie put her hand on Vaggie’s face bringing her gaze back to her. “I was scared, too.” She paused for a moment, taking in Vaggie’s face like it was the first time she had seen her. “But, I knew you would save me. And you did.” 

Charlie rested her forehead against Vaggie’s. She took in her warmth and her love. She was still scared, still in pain, but she knew that as long as she had Vaggie by her side she would be ok. She could feel safe. They stayed like that until they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.