Chapter Text
The earth tore itself apart beneath her feet.
One moment, Nora stood inside the chalk circle, sigils burning too bright to read. The next, the air itself split open, and she was falling.
She reacted on instinct.
"Whoa whoa whoa" Nora said while flailing her arms around her to try to control the gravity around her and before she I was about to slam on the ground, she focused her power, slowing her descent until she drifted down the ground instead of plummeting towards it. She touched down lightly on cracked pavement, knees bending to absorb the last of the motion.
She straightened and looked around.
The streets were jagged and broken, glowing faintly red beneath her boots. The air smelled of brimstone and iron, thick and oppressive. She didn’t know where she was—but she knew, with cold certainty, that this wasn’t Earth.
She quickly duck into an alleyway before looking back out to see her surroundings.
And the creatures around her confirmed it.
They weren’t corrupted Gems or failed experiments. These were sentient beings—walking, talking, dressed like people, shouting, laughing, fighting. Human-shaped, but unmistakably not human.
Nora’s chest tightened.
I need answers. Now.
Standing still felt dangerous, so she didn’t. Power flooded her limbs, and she took off.
The world blurred.
Boots skimming red stone, she vaulted over rubble, slid under twisted beams, weaving through fire-lit shapes that barely registered her before she vanished again. Hell stretched endlessly—chaotic, hostile, alive.
But Nora’s focus was absolute: move, survive, understand.
“What…? No. That can’t be right,” she muttered between breaths. “Where the heck am I? how do I even get here...”
Someone did this to me.
But who? And why?
Sparks scattered beneath her feet as she pushed harder. Demons dove aside in fear or stared in confusion—but she didn’t slow.
“OK Focus,” she hissed. “ did you fill through the craters and probably find yourself in the bad place?” She paused for a moment before looking back out from the alley. “Probably. But the best thing I think I can do now is keep moving forward.”
Nora started to concentrate on her surroundings to control the center of her powers to activate her powers and started glowing before she started running at the speed of light.
Because of this she didn't notice that she shot past a familiar figure dressed in red.
Alastor had been mid-stride when the world twitched. A bright blur—pink and electric—tore through the street. Gone almost instantly.
His grin faltered.
“That speed…” he murmured. “How… intriguing.”
Something in his memory stirred—but refused to surface. He tapped his cane once, the air warping faintly where she’d passed.
As she starts to slow down and ducking into another alleyway before any of these creatures can see her she starts panting when against the wall and start thinking out loud as her panic simmered beneath forced control.
“OK there's no Warp Pad. So that was not what triggered it. Did someone just dump me here—without a trace?. This doesn’t make sense.”
She finally slowed near a looming building plastered with massive screens and saw another building with a giant neon sign saying ‘WELCOME TO HELL.’
Oh Ohhhhh this is bad…. this is really bad
Nora paled at the realization of where she was, then shook her head back and forth to come to her senses and focus.
Come on, Nora, you’ve been through many dangerous obstacles in your life. You’ve been through space, and you challenged the Diamond authority with nothing but the determination and force of will to change the most stubborn of minds in the galaxy. You can do it again
Everyone blared the same broadcast: a blonde woman who was bright-eyed, hopeful, painfully earnest—being interviewed by a news anchor who looked like she ate hope for breakfast. The chyron read:
PRINCESS OF HELL CLAIMS “REDEMPTION” POSSIBLE FOR SINNERS
The interviewer looked bored out of her mind. The princess—Charlie—stood her ground about her passion project.
Nora froze, taking all the information she was seeing right in front of her.
“hell has a… monarchy,” she muttered. “Hell has a monarchy. Of course it does.”
Charlie spoke with desperate determination—about change, rehabilitation, helping the damned find peace. Even sang a song about it. Laughter erupted from the news anchor and studio audience, cruel and dismissive.
But Nora barely registered them.
Her gaze had zeroed in on one thing:
The Hazbin Hotel.
Nora turned. It stood just visible down the avenue.
“…A hotel for redemption?” she breathed. “That’s… something, but it looks like she's also the only person here trying to be helpful.”
She swallowed, nerves buzzing.
“Alright. Princess of Hell,” she whispered, bracing herself. “Let’s see if you’ve got room for one more lost soul.”
She started toward it—unaware that the Radio Demon was no longer watching from afar.
He was following.
Curiosity sharpened into something hungrier.
And their paths were set to collide.