Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blitz heaved a shuddering breath, running as fast as he possibly could. He had only a vague impression of where he was going, but he didn’t stop to think. Didn’t consider what he’d do next. He just ran.

And what else could he do? Blitz could still feel the eyes on him: the hateful gaze of FizzaRolli, the disdainful stare of Asmodeus himself, the look of loathing from Verosika. But those weren’t the worst of it. The hurt, almost betrayed gazes of Millie and Moxxie, for interrupting their anniversary. But most of all, the disappointed, and yet still indifferent, eyes of Stolas.

With the weight of all those eyes, who wouldn’t run?

Eventually, Blitz had to stop running to catch his breath. Between that, and the never-ending stream of thoughts designed to keep his mental health and self-esteem in the gutter, it took Blitz a moment to realize exactly where he was. When he did, though, there was no mistaking it.

The roar of the crowd, the thud of flesh hitting the dirt, the groans of pain, and most of all, the smell of blood transported Blitz back in time by five years, right before he would have adopted Loona. In the back of his mind, he new he shouldn’t. Underneath the panic, he could hear a little voice saying, don’t do it, you know this is bad, don’t break your promise, don’t make her worry. And yet, here he was. Right back at that dark place he had been, where the only things that mattered were the high that came with a win and the money he took home.

Blitz’s hands shook as he entered the space. Against all odds, he actually saw some familiar faces. And much to his surprise, it seemed that some of the Imps and Demons remembered him. Already, the awed whispers about his thus-far unbeaten record and his brutality were following Blitz around. He was relieved when he realized that those whispers chased away the ones haunting his mind, just as they always had.

In the end, that’s all it took for Blitz to get sucked right back in, like the past five years hadn’t happened. And Blitz didn’t think of anything related to what his life had become for a long time.

Chapter Text

Let the record show that Loona never panicked. She didn’t panic in the mini-Hell that was the shelter she grew up in, and she wouldn’t panic now.

Goddamnit, though, why wasn’t Blitz answering her calls?

For most others, that would be no reason to worry. Even with the sickeningly sweet couple that was M&M, they didn’t worry if they went a couple hours without hearing from each other. But Blitz has always been different. Because of course he was. From the moment he signed Loona’s adoption paperwork, he’d been bordering on being a helicopter parent. Thankfully, as Tex had observed during the whole Spring Break fiasco, Loona could stick up for herself. She let Blitz be protective to some extent, but the worst of it she nipped right in the bud.

All this to say, Blitz always, always, answered Loona’s calls. He never even left her on read. Even if he couldn’t talk right away, he’d at least let her know. Yet, Loona has been calling and texting Blitz for an hour and a half, and every call had gone to voicemail. Not a single text had been read. And Loona was just about losing her fucking mind.

She paced around outside the front of Beelzebub’s mansion, typing away on her phone. She must have sent Blitz over 50 texts by now. If Loona had to wait any longer, she may just end up tracking him down the old-fashioned way.

Out of nowhere, Loona felt a paw – a large one – grip her shoulder. She turned around with a snarl, ready to tear into whoever had the balls to touch her without her permission.

“Woah, Loona! It’s just me!”

Vortex.

Loona sighed and schooled her expression into something more socially acceptable.

“Sorry, Tex,” she said. “I was… distracted. I didn’t hear you coming.”

Tex smiled. “Naw, it’s alright. I guess it was kinda obvious that you couldn’t tell I was coming over.”

Loona grimaced. “I… I guess. You’re fine, though.” She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Anyway, did you need me for something?”

“I just wanted to check in,” Tex explained. “You said you’d be leaving, but that was awhile ago. Do you need a ride or something?”

Loona sighed again. “If only that was it,” she said. “No, it’s fine. You can–”  A thought suddenly struck her. “Actually, after the party is over, would you be willing to help me with something?”

“Well, I certainly don’t mind helping you, but Bee’s ragers tend to last a long time. Is this more urgent than you’re letting on? ’Cause we can leave now if you need to.” Tex was giving her a look that seemed like a bizarre combination of concern and intrigue.

I’ve only met this guy twice, Loona thought. How the hell did he get such a good read on me already?!

Loona brought a paw up to her brow to try and massage away the low but persistent headache that’d been bothering her for the past half hour. “I don’t want to drag you away from the party, though,” she ground out. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m cool,” Tex said. “Bee might wanna come along, though. Is that cool?”

Aw, geez. Guess I’ll have to – wait a minute.

“If she’s willing to, her help might actually be pretty useful,” Loona admitted. “Would you mind heading out once you talk to her? I’d rather explain when I know there won’t be any eavesdroppers.”

“Sure thing. Be right back.”

For the first time that night, Loona’s mouth quirked up in a small smile. “No pun intended?”

Tex paused, then realized what he’d said. He snorted. “Would you believe me if I said yes, pun absolutely intended?”

“Maybe if you hadn’t asked me if I would,” Loona snickered.

Tex smiled. “Alright, that one was an accident. But as far as puns on my girlfriend’s name go, that could have been a lot worse, don’t you think?”

“Oh, without a doubt.”

Tex snorted one more time before walking back to the house. While he was gone, Loona went back to her phone, checking to see if Blitz had left any messages, or if he’d even seen hers. Unfortunately, Loona wasn’t that lucky. She buried her face in her paws.

Blitz is okay, she told herself. He’s fine. He’s been taking care of himself since long before signing those stupid adoption papers.

“You okay, sweetie?”

Loona jumped. Tex had come back with Bee while she was distracted, so Loona had been snuck up on. Again.

She took a breath. “I’m fine. Thanks, though.” Loona bit her lip. “D’ya mind if we head off so that I can explain?”

The other two Hellhounds nodded and started leading the way to wherever they kept their vehicles. As they walked in silence, Loona tried to come up with a way to explain the whole situation. To an outsider, it might seem like she was being clingy or childish. But Loona knew Blitz, and she knew something was wrong. Now, she just had to explain that to her crush friend and his incredibly sexy girlfriend.

No pressure.

----0----

Loona sat in the front passenger seat of Bee’s pink and yellow convertible, nose in the air. It had taken her about 15 minutes to explain her dynamic with Blitz enough for Tex and Bee to understand that she had genuine reasons to be concerned. Thankfully, she hadn’t had to go too deep into her Tragic Backstory™ for that to happen.

Once she pulled the handkerchief with Blitz’s scent that she always carried out of her purse, Loona was able to use that to attempt tracking Blitz through hell. It was tricky, but thankfully, there were two other Hellhounds in the car with her, one of whom was a Deadly Sin with a sense of smell at least a hundred times more powerful than Loona’s. So long as she kept the handkerchief in the car, even with the windows down, Blitz’s scent remained strong enough for them to track him by. While she and Bee focused on that, Tex sat in the back asking Loona questions to help figure out where Blitz could be.

“Did he mention where he’d be going?” Tex asked.

“He didn’t say anywhere specific,” Loona replied. “He just told me that he had plans and to not wait up.”

“Alright. Does he have any friends he might have gone to?”

Loona grimaced. “Outside of work, and even while he’s working, Blitz tends to have more enemies than friends, so I don’t think so.

Tex’s brow furrowed. “Yeesh. I guess process of elimination won’t be much help here, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Damn,” Tex grumbled.

Loona let out a scoff. “You got that right,” she said. “Thanks for trying, though.”

Suddenly, the car jerked to the right. Loona yelped and clutched the grab handle. Based on the thud she heard from the back, Tex wasn’t able to do the same in time.

“Um, Bee?” He asked as he sat up and rubbed his head. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bee replied, sounding distracted. “Sorry, I just finally caught a scent.”

Loona perked up. “Really? Already?”

Bee nodded. “Yeah. I’ll keep you posted, Loo.”

Despite the situation, Loona could feel herself flush under her fur. “Loo?”

“Hm?” It took Bee a moment before she realized what she said. “Oh! Yeah, sorry. I got into the habit of giving nicknames to pretty much… everyone. I won’t call you that if you don’t like it, though.”

“Um… I guess it’s fine,” Loona mumbled. “You can call me ‘Loo.’”

Pretty much everyone, huh? Why does that make me disappointed?

Bee glanced Loona’s way and smiled. “You got it, sweetie.” She even winked.

Oh, geez, Loona thought as she buried her face in her paws to hide her flush. Fucking why?

She ended up staying like that for the rest of the drive, trusting Bee to help Loona find her dad.

----0----

Despite the… unexpected turn the evening had taken when he was singing for Millie, Moxxie was satisfied with how the evening was going. He’d brought a good chunk of cash from his savings, so he was able to treat Millie like she deserved. Millie was even more frugal than he was, so Moxxie was glad for the chance to spoil her whenever he could.

Millie giggled as she sipped her wine. “There is no way that happened! Are you pullin’ my leg, Mox?”

Moxxie chuckled. “I promise, Millie, I am not bullshitting you. It was when you had to take some time off after you got stabbed that one time. Why do you think Blitz has the ‘client giving birth’ alarm under his desk?”

Millie snorted before dissolving into laughter. Moxxie was about to continue his story when he heard a sudden commotion coming from the entrance. Given what had happened earlier, Ozzie himself was there right away, ready to kick out any party-crashers. Surprisingly, he stepped back when he realized who wanted to come in.

Moxxie finally saw who was there when Ozzie stepped aside; it was a golden-colored Hellhound with hair that reminded him of lava lamps. Despite being on the other side of the room, her voice carried enough that Moxxie and Millie could hear her.

“Sorry, Oz,” she was saying. “Normally I’d appreciate it, but I’m actually doing something that’s pretty important right now.” She turned behind her to wave someone in. “C’mon in, sweetie, see if you can find him.”

When Moxxie saw who came in next, he nearly choked on his own spit. “Loona?”

Millie looked totally thrown, as well. “I didn’t think Loona would enjoy places like this,” she muttered. “If Blitz finds out she’s here, he’s gonna blow a gasket!”

As Millie finished speaking, Moxxie watched Loona’s eyes lock onto them. She – not exactly stalked up to them, per say, but she definitely needed something from him and Millie. But at the same time, she almost seemed distracted. Even as she made her way over to them, her eyes were constantly jumping from left to right. She didn’t seem to find what she was looking for, so she continued to make her way over.

By the time Loona finally reached their table, Millie was fidgeting with her silverware and Moxxie was sweating. (Loona could be pretty intense sometimes, so he didn’t like to get on her bad side, okay? Sue him!) Still, when she finally opened her mouth to speak, Moxxie was honestly surprised at what came out.

“Where’s Blitz?”

Moxxie and Millie blinked at her for a moment. “I – what?” Moxxie stuttered. “Did he not go home?”

Loona gave them both one of her deadpan stares. “If he were at home, he would have called me back on the fucking landline so that I’d know he’s fucking alive,” she growled.

“Wait a minute,” Millie interjected. “Has he… not been returning your calls?” She sounded incredibly skeptical, and Moxxie was inclined to agree with her; Blitz was pretty ornery about always calling and texting Loona back, even at inconvenient times, such as when they were being shot at by psychopaths. Not that that’s happened or anything…

Loona’s response shook Moxxie out of his thoughts. “He hasn’t even looked at my texts for the past hour and a half. Bee and Tex –” Moxxie assumed they were the hounds Lonna had come in with – “have been helping me track him, and this is where the scent led us. So. Where is he?”

Moxxie gulped. Loona did not look happy. “Well, funny story… He actually ran out of here… an hour and a half ago?”

Loona growled again. “And why exactly was he running?”

“Um…” Moxxie gulped again, tugging at his collar. “Y’see –”

Loona was keeping up a steady growl at this point, so Millie, the wonderful wife that she was, took over. She started from the beginning, how they hadn’t even known Blitz was there. Then, when Asmodeus and FizzaRolli were harassing Moxxie on stage, Blitz interrupted and ended up being the target for judgement from the entire room. Millie explained how out of nowhere, Blitz was getting targeted and humiliated by three very important figures. When pretty much the whole room was focused on Blitz and Stolas, Blitz seemed to get overwhelmed and bolted.

Moxxie and Millie had just gone on with their evening, and Stolas had gotten absolutely hammered when Blitz was gone. It seemed like the best course of action at the time, but seeing Loona now, Moxxie was strongly reconsidering that idea.

Loona’s eyes were turning red, her fangs were bared, and her growl was so strong the fucking table was vibrating. She glared at Millie and Moxxie for a moment more before swinging around to where Ozzie and FizzaRolli, and even fucking Verosika, were standing close to Loona’s companions, very obviously eavesdropping. She stomped over to them.

“Clown!” She barked.

FizzaRolli jumped at being addressed by a very visibly pissed Hellhound. “Uh, yeah?”

“This whole thing started because you started harassing Moxxie on stage. What the fuck was that, huh? He was very clearly singing directly to his wife, not for any of the perverted fuckers who think sex is the main selling point of any fucking relationship! Well, lemme tell ya, those other idiots in the audience fucking wish they had the kind of relationship M&M have!”

Asmodeus tried to interject, probably to stop Loona from wailing on his partner, but apparently, she was done with FizzaRolli, because the Deadly sin was next.

“Oh, don’t even get me started on you, you fucking douchebag! What the hell was that, huh? A big, powerful sin like you bullying a couple Imps? Moxxie was singing for his wife for their anniversary! Why the fuck would you have a problem with that? If you and the clown had left Moxxie the fuck alone, my dad might not be fucking missing right now!”

Loona’s two victims, particularly Asmodeus, looked completely stunned that a Hellhound had the nerve to tear them a new one like this. As Loona caught her breath when she was done with her tirade, Verosika coughed, as if daring Loona to say something to her, too. But what Loona did next caught the celebrity off guard.

She glanced at Verosika, scoffed, and grumbled, loud enough to be heard, “petty bitch isn’t even worth it.” The look on Verosika’s face was almost enough to make Moxxie burst out laughing.

Suddenly, he heard a soft hoot. All at once, Moxxie remembered that Stolas was still there. Loona seemed to remember that, too, because she whirled around to face the prince. Before Moxxie could think to stop her, Loona marched over to him.

"Stolas," she growled once she got close. "What the ever-loving fuck were you thinking?"

The owl hiccupped, still drunk out of his mind. "Wh- whatever do you meeeaan, my dear?"

Loona face-palmed when she realized that Stolas was completely hammered. She muttered a few choice curses under her breath about royal birds before focusing back on the owl. "Why did you not stand up for Blitz?"

That seemed to sober him up. "What?"

Loona growled. "Blitz was being treated like garbage by everyone in this fucking club. You might not be as powerful as a Sin, but you're a fucking Ars Goetia. Your word carries weight. You could have protected Blitz. So why the Hell didn't you? I know you two have that fucked-up transactional thing going on, but I thought you actually cared about him, even a little!"

If Moxxie had to guess, Stolas hadn't thought of that. It was pretty obvious, considering the way the royal was stuttering and stammering, trying to interject. Unfortunately for him, Loona wasn't letting him get a word in edgewise.

"Actions speak louder than words, asshole. Especially for Blitz. If you want me to leave you alone with my dad ever again, you'll step the fuck up and put your money where your mouth is. You will not get a second warning. You might be a powerful Ars Goetia, but I'm a fucking Hellhound. And I like to hunt."

Stolas gulped, clearly nervous that Loona would make good on that threat now, but she just turned away from him.

Loona took a breath and made her way over to the other hounds she mentioned earlier, Tex and Bee.

“Welp,” she said, “I can absolutely guarantee that Blitz’s mental health is in the gutter right now, which sucks, but since he was panicking, I’ve got an idea of where he might have gone.”

The golden hound, whom Moxxie assumed was the one named Bee, nodded. “Alright, sweetie. Let’s get out of here.”

Loona and the other hound, Tex, nodded, and the three of them started to leave the club.

“Loona, wait!” Moxxie called, surprising himself with the sudden decision.

She turned to him, raising an eyebrow for him to continue.

“I –” Moxxie paused to glance at Millie as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. When she nodded, he sat up straight and turned back to Loona. “Do you want us to help you find him?”

Shockingly, Loona’s face actually softened for a moment. “Nah,” she replied. “You two can relax. Enjoy the rest of your anniversary.”

With that, she turned around and continued walking. Moxxie sighed. As Loona left with her friends – and wasn’t that a thought – he could only hope that when she found Blitz, she would find him safe.

Chapter Text

With Loona giving directions, it didn’t take long for Bee to find the place they were looking for. She barely had to look up from her phone; she just knew when they needed to turn, or when they needed stop, or where there was a gas station coming up. It might have been shocking to Bee, but the Sin tended to stay in her own ring most of the time, and she knew Gluttony like the back of her paw.

As they continued driving, Bee glanced in her rearview mirror, wondering if she’d see it again. Sure enough, there was Ozzie’s dark blue corvette. For some reason that she could not fathom, her fellow sin had decided to accompany them to wherever Blitz was. But after hearing that lady Imp’s recount of what happened, Bee just couldn’t understand why Ozzie was interested in seeing what happened next.

“Left here,” Loona spoke up. Bee did so. She continued driving for a few moments before the silence became too stifling.

“So…” Bee began. “You figured out where your dad is, huh?”

Loona signed. “Yeah. It’s… somewhere he used to go, back when he first adopted me. I think he’d been doing it for a while before then, but he stopped a few months later. He didn’t want me to worry, I guess.”

Bee’s heart melted a little. “Aw, he did that for you?”

Loona huffed out a little laugh. “Yeah. Blitz has been a mess for a long time, but he’s always tried for me, y’know? Still, it makes sense that he’s going back. The few times he did it after adopting me, it was because something happened that triggered his fight or flight response. It just so happens that when Blitz goes into fight or flight, he tends to do both.”

Loona’s eyes widened. “Take a right at that traffic light. We’re almost there.”

Bee nodded. “You got it.” After the right turn, Loona gave Bee some rapid-fire directions, leading them through a bunch of back alleys and passages that Bee never would have seen. After about five minutes of driving through the absolute maze Loona directed her through, Loona finally told them to pull over.

“We’re really close,” she explained, “and I don’t want your car to get caught in the crossfire of where we’re going.”

That made sense to Bee, so they all got out and started following Loona. Tex, who had been quiet since they left Ozzie’s, finally seemed ready to ask Loona about whatever’s been bugging him. Bee could guess what Tex wanted to ask, but she wasn’t in the habit of speaking for her boyfriend – nor he for her – so she stayed back so that he could ask (Ozzie and FizzaRolli were following, trying to be subtle. They were failing).

“So, Loona, where exactly are we going?” He asked. “Cause I ain’t been in this part of Imp City before, so I have no clue where your dad could be.”

Loona hummed thoughtfully (huh. cute). “You remember how during that spring break job, Blitz was able to kill a shit-ton of people really efficiently?” Tex nodded. “Well, obviously he wasn’t always able to fight and kill that well. Blitz got some professional training on assassination at some point, but his fighting skills? Well, he learned those here.”

They were coming up on a dilapidated old building that, inexplicably, had a bouncer guarding the door. When they approached the door, she – a buff Hellhound, maybe a little bigger than Vortex – held up a paw to stop them.

“What is your business here?” She asked.

Loona rolled her eyes a bit before answering, “we need some help with a broken rib.”

The bouncer scanned Loona’s face before nodding and stepping aside. “Come on in,” she said.

As they made there way through the empty entrance hall, Bee distantly heard Ozzie getting the same question, and stumbling through the same answer Loona had. She huffed out a quiet laugh as they walked. After a few minutes of traversing gloomy hallways, Loona stopped in front of a door that had light shining through the cracks.

When she opened the door, it revealed a wooden staircase leading down. It was well-lit, so Bee could see just how untrustworthy those stairs were. Still, Loona started walking down with no fear, so Bee and Tex had to follow.

The deeper they went, the darker it got. Bee could also hear the distant roar of a crowd, getting louder the further they went. They couldn’t have been going down longer than two minutes, maybe three at most, but it felt like a while to Bee. She also noticed that aspects of the building they’d entered were disappearing as they continued down. It went from wallpaper, to plaster, till finally all Bee could see were bare cement blocks.

Finally, they reached the end of the staircase. The only reason the Bee could see was because she was a Deadly Sin Hellhound. She assumed it was the same for Loona and Vortex. On top of that, that roar had increased in volume so much that Bee almost wanted to plug her ears. It was so. Fucking. Loud. Despite the headache-inducing noise, Bee kept following Loona. She said she would help, so she was going to help, damnit.

Loona led them through a tunnel that twisted and turned, but thankfully didn’t branch off in any other directions. Finally, the tunnel ended, with the opening blocked off by a blood-red curtain.

Cliché, much? Bee thought. But before her thoughts could go any further off the rails, Loona was going through the opening, holding the curtain aside for Bee and Vortex.

As they went through the opening, Loona made a jokingly grand gesture towards the rest of the room. “Welcome to the Rib Cage.”

Looking around her, Bee almost wanted to facepalm at not putting it together sooner. Loona’s explanation of how Blitz learned to fight at this place before he learned to kill made it so obvious.

Loona had taken them to a fight club.

It was dark, as most fight clubs tended to be. There were a few posters on the wall featuring various Hellhounds, Imps, and Sinners. Probably fighters who’ve made a name for themselves here, Bee thought. As she continued looking around, she noticed that the ground – no flooring, Bee realized, just packed dirt – was absolutely covered with beer cans and empty bottles, along with empty baggies that came from those drug vending machines that were so popular in the Pride Ring.

The only light in the room was aimed down at the ring in the center of the room. As Loona continued leading them further in, Bee realized that the ring was shaped like a pentagon. Now that she noticed that, she was noticing other things, too: a bunch of folks who looked rich and full of themselves were sitting at five different points of the room. A bunch of other people were standing between the five seating areas. And now that Bee was looking, the room itself looked circular.

Holy fuck, she thought as the realization hit her. This fighting club is shaped like a fucking pentagram!

Tex looked kind of baffled as they made their way closer to the ring. “So, this is a fight club? Why didn’t you say so?”  

His question brought a tiny smirk to Loona’s lips. “First rule of fight club, Tex.”

Tex’s brow furrowed for a moment before his eyes lit up with recognition. He snorted. “Right. Don’t talk about fight club. Got it.”

Finally, after a few minutes of shoving through the crowd, they reached the ring. There was a fight going on, and it looked particularly brutal. A grizzly bear – probably a sinner – in a red plaid shirt was swiping at an Imp that, somehow, was able to dodge every blow. For the most part, at least; from what Bee could tell, the Imp was able to avoid a full-on blow, but occasionally got cut from the bear’s claws. Next to her, Bee heard Loona’s breath catch.

“Blitz, you fucking moron.”

Bee blinked, and then Loona’s words registered. “Wait, one of those two is your dad?”

Loona rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the Imp.”

Tex whistled. “He sure is holding his own against that bear.”

Loona nodded. “Fights between Hellborn and Sinners are always more brutal, since Sinners’ll regenerate if they get killed. Well, as long as the ban on Angelic steel holds, anyway.”

Bee hummed in curiosity as the Imp, Blitz, apparently, tucked and rolled under the bear’s legs, cutting as he went. “And the Hellborn?”

Loona’s eyes were glued to the ring, where Blitz had managed to get onto the bear’s back and stayed there by jabbing two knives into it, but she answered Bee anyway. “Anyone who kills a Hellborn ends up with a target on their back, since we can’t regenerate like the Sinners do. It’s an unspoken rule that killing Hellborn is off limits.”

Bee nodded and turned her attention back to the fight. Loona was right that the fight was brutal. The bear was covered in gashes, and Blitz was dancing around, jabbing and slicing wherever he could. As Bee watched, the Imp was able to jab the bear in the eye with one of his knives and carve gashes out of the bear’s head with his claws. The gashes on the bear’s back where Blitz had been hanging on were gushing so much blood that wherever the bear stood quickly became slippery with it. Eventually, the bear did slip on his own blood; that seemed to be what Blitz had been waiting for, because he was on the Sinner immediately.

Bee kind of wanted to turn away at this point; there were a lot of negative vibes pouring off of the fighters, and bad vibes weren’t really her thing. Even so, she couldn’t turn away.

Blitz, who now had his opponent thoroughly pinned, bent down and, in a move Bee definitely didn’t expect, bit a chunk out of the bear’s throat. The bear twitched once, twice, then went limp, and Blitz the Imp stood up, victorious. The crowd roared with approval.

As soon as Blitz was on his feet, Loona darted away. Bee and Tex jumped at the sudden motion before they followed her. They wove through the crowd fairly easily, being Hellhounds and all, but Loona had navigating this crowd down to an art form. In moments, they reached a gap in the ring, where Bee assumed the fighters entered and exited. Loona moved so quickly that by the time Blitz reached that gap, Loona was there waiting for him.

It seemed to take a moment for Blitz to register that Loona was there. Despite having never met the guy, Bee could just tell that Blitz was an Imp who had been trying his best for a long time, but who hadn’t realized he had relapsed into a very bad coping mechanism after getting overwhelmed. On top of that, the guy looked completely dead on his feet (no pun int – Oh what the Hell, pun intended. Pun very much intended).

Noticing these things, Bee realized that the clown who had kickstarted Blitz’s relapse and said clown’s companion probably wouldn’t be the best people for Blitz to be around at the moment.

She muttered to Tex, “give them some space, but try to stay close to them. I’m gonna fend of Ozzie and Fizz.”

He nodded, and Bee jerked around to see that Ozzie and Fizz had followed them this whole time and were shamelessly gawking at Blitz and Loona. They were so caught up in watching them that they didn’t notice Bee coming right up to them.

It was disappointing, really. Ozzie knew that bee would take advantage of inattentiveness to kick the shins of those taller than her. It was his own fault for forgetting. That fact made it that much more satisfying when Ozzie jumped and cursed when Bee’s clawed feet met his shins.

“What the Hell, Bee?” He grumbled.

“I could ask you the same thing, Asmodeus.” Ozzie looked nervous, now. Good. She only used his full name when she was pissed at him. “What the Hell are you doing here?”

Ozzie actually seemed to flounder for a moment. Before he could try to justify anything, though, Bee just rolled her eyes, reached up, and grabbed his ear. She relished in the yelp Ozzie let out as she dragged him and Fizz away from the ring.

Bee didn’t release them until they were in the back room of an empty, abandoned bar a couple blocks away from the Rib Cage. When she finally did, she glared at them. Ozzie had the decency to look at least a little shamefaced, but Fizz looked utterly unrepentant.

“Well?” She asked.

Ozzie had the gall to ask, “well, what?”

Bee growled. “Don’t give me that shit, Asmodeus. Why the fuck did you and Fizz decide to follow us when Loona realized where her dad was?”

The two of them looked stunned to find that Bee was genuinely angry, so stunned that they didn’t answer her question. “I’m waiting,” she snapped.

Finally, Fizz looked her in the face. He had the look of someone who knew he was about to say something really shitty but couldn’t care less about the consequences. “I assumed that Blitzo would be in a gutter somewhere, drunk off his ass. I wanted to gloat, and Ozzie came with me so I wouldn’t get into trouble.”

Bee felt her eyes start to glow with Sinful energy, she was so pissed off.

“And it didn’t occur to you that Blitz’s daughter has been close to panicking about where he’s been, and she might not want a fucking audience?”

“I didn’t think she was serious. What kid in their right mind would want to claim Blitzo as a dad?”

“Oh, fuck you, Fizz! You think you know so fucking much about this guy; have you even seen him in the last however-many years you went without speaking to him before he showed up at Ozzie’s?”

Bee saw a flash of – something, maybe guilt, maybe something else – before she suddenly heard something. She immediately stopped her tirade. Bee wasn’t normally one to care for appearances, but even she knew what a bad idea it was for the public to see Sins at each other’s throats. Once, about 3,000 years ago, Satan got into a fight with Belphegor, and the Hellborn of their respective rings went to war for six months over it! Never mind that the fight between the two Sins only lasted, like, three hours!

All this to say, even if she was still pissed at Ozzie, she didn’t need the Lust and Gluttony Hellborn going to war because she was too arrogant to think that she might get eavesdropped on.

She held up a hand for quiet. Thankfully, Oz seemed to get the picture. The three of them stayed silent as they heard the scraping sound again; probably the door, Bee thought.

A few seconds later, they heard the door closing. Then, finally, someone began to speak.

“Alright, Blitz. Let’s get you patched up.”

Loona.

Bee heard a grunt, then a questioning noise.

“Yeah, it’s me, freaky weirdo. Is your phone dead or something? I was trying to call you.”

Bee heard a small gasp, and then, a stream of words, as if Blitz didn’t even realize he was speaking out loud.

“Loona? Oh. Oh no, oh fuck. I’m so sorry, Loony, I broke my promise, I swear I didn’t mean to, I just found myself there, fucking Hell, how can you ever trust me again? What kind of father am I? Oh Loony, you deserve so much better, but I’m so grateful for you, you’re an amazing daughter, I love you so much, I am so sorry I broke my promise…”

Bee assumed that Loona was currently patching up Blitz’s injuries as her dad rambled. She winced in sympathy; it sounded like the guy was about five seconds away from an anxiety attack. After what felt like an age, though, Loona spoke again.

“Blitz, you’ve told me yourself a thousand times. Panic isn’t logical. I know you didn’t mean to, and I was able to figure out that you were panicking after Bee helped me track you to Ozzie’s.”

Blitz had stopped himself from speaking as soon as Loona started; it was as if he didn’t want to talk over her, which Bee thought was sweet. When she was done, though, his response sounded breathy, as if he was still on the verge of an anxiety attack.

“Ozzie’s? Does this mean you… met your Uncle Fizz?”

Bee’s eyes widened. She wasn’t the only one surprised, clearly; Ozzie’s feathers fluffed up, and Fizz had to clap a hand over his mouth to stop himself from making any sounds. His eyes were as big as quarters, too.

Loona was quiet for a full 30 seconds before she finally responded.

“That asshole jester is my uncle?”

Blitz started rambling again.

“You would have loved him, Loona, he was always the best of us, he would have taught you gymnastics like you wanted, you could have seen his shows, he would have spoiled you to death, almost as much as I wish I could spoil you. I’m so sorry, Loona, it’s my fault you didn’t get to have him and your Aunt Barbie in your life, it’s all my fault, and he knew it, if I had been fucking paying attention, if I had known the candles were already lit, if I hadn’t bumped into the guy carrying Fizz’s cake, the fire wouldn’t have started,  fuck, how could I be such an idiot, and he knew I messed up, he didn’t want me to see him so I could never tell him how sorry I am, and now you have to live without having the best uncle you could ever have, he would have loved you, I just know it, I’m so sorry…”

If Loona’s silence was anything to go by, Bee would guess that the Hellhound was pretty shocked by the turn Blitz’s ramblings had taken. It sounded like Blitz’s breathing was finally evening out, though, so it seemed like Loona was just letting him get all his words out. Everything Blitz said from that point on was much in the same vein. He apologized to Loona so many times that if Bee couldn’t hear just how much he meant it, she’d think he was just saying “sorry” for the Hell of it. He kept talking about how Loona would have loved her Uncle Fizz, and how “the fire” was all his fault, and he can’t blame Fizz for hating him.

“I’d hate me too… I mean, I do hate…”

Blitz’s voice trailed off, and Bee assumed he had fallen asleep. She heard Loona sigh, and stand up.

“You can come out now, Bee.”

Bee did, unable to completely hide the surprise on her face that Loona knew she was there. Loona seemed to notice the confusion on Bee’s face. She blushed lightly.

“I could smell your scent,” she mumbled. Then, her eyes shifted to something behind Bee. “And what the fuck are those to doing here? Haven’t they done enough?”

Bee glanced back to see that Ozzie and Fizz had followed her out. Fizz’s eyes were downcast, as if he didn’t want to even consider looking Loona in the eye.

When they didn’t answer, Bee did. “Fizz thought that Blitz would be drunk in a gutter or something and wanted to gloat. Ozzie came with to keep him out of trouble.”

Loona let out an aggressive combination of a growl and a scoff. “Of fucking course. Why not?”

She continued grumbling as she turned back to Blitz to finish patching him up. Now that she was looking at him closely, Bee realized that Blitz was hurt much worse than just the cuts she could see in the pit when he was fighting. There was deep bruising around his ribs, one of his shoulders was swollen, he had a bump growing on his head, which also implied that he might have a concussion. The last thing she noticed was that Blitz’s horns had a few nicks in them. She vaguely remembered a little tidbit she had learned somewhere, that horns were important for Imps. She hoped that they’d heal.

Bee made her way over to Loona and knelt down next to her.

“You okay, Loo?”

Loona sighed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Blitz has always gotten like this after fighting at the Rib Cage. The adrenaline rush makes him act like he’s drunk near the end, and the crash always sends him right to sleep. I’ve never seen it get this heavy before, but for this situation, that whole thing was pretty normal.”

“Alright,” Bee hummed, “but are you okay?”

“I –” Loona almost looked baffled for a moment. “I’m fine. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before.”

“But it’s been a while, right? You mentioned that Blitz stopped fighting shortly after he adopted you.”

Loona’s ears pulled back. “I mean, it sucks, but I know that Blitz isn’t gonna make a habit of it again. He just panicked today.”

Yeah, now was probably a good time to stop pushing. Still, Bee didn’t want to leave these two alone if Loona was overwhelmed.

“Fair enough,” she said. “Do you two need a ride home?”

Loona gave Bee a small smile. “Nah, Blitz has his keys in his coat pocket. I should go find the van.”

Bee sighed and stood up. “Alright, I guess. Are you sure you don’t want help or company? I’m sure Tex would be happy to escort you two.”

Loona shook her head. “We’ll be fine, Bee. Thank you, though.” Loona stood up as well, hefting Blitz into her arms. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

Bee smiled at her. “Hell yeah, Loo! You’ve got yourself an open invitation to any party that I have. Tex can – actually, can I put my number in your cell phone? That way, I can just tell you myself.”

Loona looked so genuinely surprised that it made Bee feel a little sad. Who wouldn’t want to exchange numbers with such a sweet hound?

“Uh, sure.” Loona handed Bee her phone. “Here you go.”

Bee added her number quickly so that the father-daughter duo could go home. Now that she was paying attention, Loona looked dead on her feet.

“Here you go, Loo. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

Loona gave a small smile, which Bee considered a win.

“Sure thing. Thanks, Bee.”

Bee could tell that Loona meant that for more than just giving her a phone number and an open party invite. She tried to make that understanding heard when she replied, “Anytime.”

Loona smiled one last time before standing up and hoisting Blitz onto her shoulder. As the young Hellhound walked out, Bee found herself wishing the father-daughter duo all the best. She hoped that whatever happened to them before she saw Loona again, it was something good. It seemed to Bee that Loona and Blitz really needed some good right now. And if they needed some outside influence to get it, well, what the heck? The Queen of Gluttony had always specialized in helping folks find some good. Especially if it was what they deserved.

Chapter Text

FizzaRolli didn’t know what to think or how to feel. He was vaguely aware of Queen Bee continuing to tear Oz a new one for having the balls to follow her, Tex, and Loona, but he could barely hear a word she was saying. All he could hear were repeats of everything Blitzo Blitz he had been saying to the Hellhound he’d apparently adopted.

Uncle Fizz…

I could never tell him how sorry I am…

Best uncle you ever could have had…

All of those were swirling around in his head, but what stuck with him the most was something he said near the end, not long before he finally crashed.

I wanted to see Fizz so badly, but I didn’t want to hurt him again, even if it meant I could never apologize.

Fifteen years, Fizz had been blaming Blitzo for what happened to him. The fire started, and Fizz was alone, and all he had seen before it was Blitzo’s glare disappearing behind the curtain. Between that and the consequences of the fire, Fizz just automatically assumed the worst of the Imp who had been his best friend their entire lives.

Even if it had been so long, Fizz still knew how Blitz Blitzo the guy operated. He had always been the most honest when he’d been coming down off a high, whether that high was from drugs or adrenaline. So as much as Fizz didn’t want to believe it, every word that came out of Blitz’s mouth before he fell asleep was the truth.

Despite all of that, Fizz was still angry.

He finally tuned back in to hear Queen Bee say, “I don’t care if Fizz has had a grudge for 15 years or 50, there are some lines you do not cross! Like, say, following a panicked young woman hoping to see her dad drunk in a gutter! And you, Asmodeus, not only crossed that line yourself, but you also fucking encouraged Fizz to cross it, too! You were always the kindest of us, Oz! I don’t understand how you could be so fucking cruel! Or encourage that kind of cruelty in Fizz!”

Bee was pacing around the bar at this point as she yelled at Ozzie, gesturing with all four of her arms and flicking her wings in irritation. Fizz almost wanted to get offended, because she was criticizing him as well as Ozzie. Still, now that he was actually listening to her, she… kinda made sense?

Not, like, about holding the grudge against Blitzo. The fucker deserved it (didn’t he?). Still, it was clear to anyone paying attention to the Hellhound girl, Loona, he thought it was, that she was genuinely worried. As if she had reason to fear for her dad’s life. If she had claimed literally anyone else as a parent when she came into Ozzie’s tonight, Fizz probably would have stepped back, let her look for her parent, silently wish her luck, and let her go on her way. But as soon as the name “Blitz” left her lips, it was like all rational thought left Fizz’s brain and he was ready to do anything to hurt her dad the way her dad had hurt him.

Queen Bee was right. FizzaRolli had been cruel.

Just like that, the weight of everything that had happened that night came crashing down on him. Fizz let out a wheeze, and Ozzie was immediately right there, with a gently hand on his shoulder. Bee clearly noticed, because she stopped talking and sighed at them.

“You two are lucky I know you well enough that I know this isn’t a regular thing,” she grumbled. Then, she focused her attention solely on Fizz. “I don’t think this thing you have about Blitz is healthy, but I’ll stay out of that from this point.” She fixed him with a glare. “However, I need you to understand that Loona is one of mine, now. I don’t care how much you hate her dad. She isn’t responsible for Blitz, so from this point on, you leave. Her. Out of it. Got it?”

Even through the practical tsunami of emotions that were knocking Fizz out right now, he could acknowledge that it was a reasonable request. He nodded his agreement.

Finally, Bee’s expression relaxed. “Then I guess I’ll leave you two alone now. Try to get some sleep, clear your heads. Maybe then you’ll both finally be reasonable people again.” Thankfully, this time, Fizz could tell she was teasing.

Bee bid them good-night, and then finally, they were alone. Fizz leaned into Ozzie.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Ozzie,” he mumbled into the feathers. “Now we’re both on Bee’s shitlist.”

Ozzie sighed and ran a hand down Fizz’s back. “You do not have to apologize for this, Froggie. I’m just as responsible as you are.”

Fizz swallowed, trying not to cry. “Yeah, I know, but… Bee was right, you know? We were – I was being cruel. If Loona’s dad was any other person, I would have left it alone. Just because it was Blitzo doesn’t make it any better.”

Fizz’s voice was audibly shaking, so he wasn’t surprised when, after humming his acknowledgment, Ozzie scooped him up so they could go back to the car and go home.

----0----

When Blitz woke up the next morning, it took a moment for him to remember why he felt like absolute garbage. He almost felt hungover, but he didn’t think he’d drank that much at Ozzie’s – Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck fuckity fuck.

He was right, Blitz hadn’t gotten drunk. He’d done something much worse.

Blitz had broken his promise to Loona.

Just acknowledging it in the privacy of his own brain made him feel sick. He rushed to the bathroom, collapsing in front of the toilet just in time for his stomach to empty itself. Blitz was kinda relieved it was happening now rather than later, but at the same time, throwing up while your ribs are at least bruised fucking sucks. The flare-up of pain each time he heaved just made Blitz feel sicker, which meant he threw up more, which made his ribs flare up again. He was caught in a vicious cycle.

Eventually, Blitz’s stomach calmed down enough that he wasn’t heaving constantly anymore. He tried to stand up, but his legs wouldn’t hold his weight, so he just fell back down. He groaned.

“Fuck my life sideways with a goddamn spoon.”

“I’d really rather not.”

Blitz just about jumped out of his skin. “Loona?”

“Nope, I’m actually a reincarnation of your great-great grandmother,” Loona said with a smirk. “Congrats, you’re actually carrying on the family legacy of assassination instead of breaking tradition for the circus.”

Blitz rolled his eyes at her sarcasm, but he couldn’t help but huff out a laugh. Really, their senses of humor were too similar. Loona rolled her eyes right back at him before holding something in front of his face. It took a minute for him to focus on it, but he eventually realized that it was a glass of water. He took the glass gratefully, and was about to start chugging it as he usually did before Loona cleared her throat pointedly. Blitz shrugged sheepishly and took small sips instead.

When he eventually finished his water, Loona helped Blitz up and they both went over to the couch. They both knew that they were about to have an unpleasant conversation, and as much as Blitz dreaded it, what he dreaded more was breaking Loona’s trust even more than he already had. Once they were settled, he decided to bite the bullet.

“Loona, I –” Blitz’s voice broke before he continued. “I am so sorry about last night.” Once the words started, it was like he couldn’t get them to stop. “I don’t know what I was thinking, I never wanted to break the promise I made you, you deserve so much better than that, I am so sorry, Loony – ”

“Blitz.” He stopped immediately. He never wanted to speak over Loona, not the way his dad had spoken over him and Barbie when they were kids.

Loona continued, “I know you didn’t mean to break your promise. Queen Bee helped me track you, and the first place we ended up at was Ozzie’s. Millie told me what happened.”

Blitz waited for a moment, but when it was clear he wouldn’t be interrupting her, he said, “I don’t want to make excuses, Loona. Me ending up at the Rib Cage was my own fault.”

Loona scoffed. “Like Hell, it was! Sure, it was kinda shitty of you to follow M and M on their anniversary, but Millie told me that you were staying quiet until that fucking Sin and his shitty-ass jester started bullying Moxxie on stage. You were defending him, and in response, everyone in that fucking room started piling on the triggers for your already shitty mental health. You panicked, Dad. You’ve told me a thousand times that panic isn’t logical. Did you expect it to be any different for you?”

Blitz sighed fondly. Just like that, Loona had poked holes in just about every argument he could have thought of to take responsibility for everything that happened during and after Ozzie’s.

“Thank you, Loony,” he said, a small smile on his face. He knew he didn’t deserve to have such a wonderful daughter, but he was still so grateful to have her, and he loved her so much. “Still, I am sorry I made you worry. I’m guessing I’ve got about 500 missed calls and texts from you from last night?”

Loona’s ears went down a bit, as if she were embarrassed. “Pfft, as if. I’m not you, Blitz.”

Blitz could tell that that part was bullshit, but his chest also felt lighter, knowing that he hadn’t completely broken his daughter’s trust in him. He just smirked and did what he usually did: he made a bad joke.

“Best be glad of that, Loona. There’s no way you could handle the experience of being this,” Blitz said as he jokingly gestured at his entire body. She snorted, which Blitz took as a win.

Her expression sobered after a moment, leading Blitz to brace himself for whatever she said next.

“I do have a question for you, Blitz. It’s about something you said last night when you were coming down from the adrenaline high.”

He nodded. Sometimes, he said concerning things when he came down from an adrenaline rush. It wasn’t uncommon for Loona to bring up something he said.

“Sure, Loony, lay it on me.”

She took a breath. “Last night, you called that jackass jester from Ozzie’s – FizzaRolli, I think his name was – my uncle.”

Blitz froze. He’d really said that?

Loona continued, “The thing is, from what Millie told me, he seems to really hate you, and you seemed to hate him right back. I know you’re always honest when you word vomit during an adrenaline crash. So, I guess I wanna know… why? Why would you still consider him family?”

Blitz blinked at her final question. He took a breath and let it out. Eventually, he was able to look his daughter in the eyes.

“The story between me and Fizz is long and complicated, Loona,” he warned.

She shrugged. “I’ve got time.”

Blitz sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t drop it this time. “Alright, I guess I’d better start at the beginning. I’ve told you that I used to be a part of a circus…”

----0----

Agent 49 was ashamed to admit, even in the privacy of their own mind, that they were in shock. One moment they were fighting the demon scum they outnumbered, then the small female demon was swinging an axe at their head, and the next thing they knew, Agent 49 was waking up to red skies, surrounded by demons on all sides.

Eventually, they realized that they had also become a demon. Agent 49 had, for some reason, manifested in Hell as a fucking star-nosed mole. As if their day couldn’t get any worse.

Thankfully, they weren’t the only D.H.O.R.K agent to end up in Hell. Already, they had found their squad mates, Agents 73 and 69 (73 was a fox demon and 69 looked mostly human, except for the horns and green skin). Even if Agent 49 couldn’t fathom why they had all ended up in Hell, they were glad to have the company.

It wasn’t long before 49 started considering that if they were in Hell, then so were the demons that had killed them. And once they realized that, 49 also realized that even though they couldn’t be useful to Agents 1 and 2 down here, they could at least kill the creatures who had messed up the entire operation.

A little known fact about Agent 49’s squad was that they were trackers. And 49 couldn’t wait to track down the demons who killed them, and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Chapter Text

The story Blitz was telling her was at least seven different kinds of awful. If Loona ever met her so-called “grandfather,” she was going to kill him. No hesitation. The more Blitz told her about him, the louder she growled.

“I mean, he’d already disowned me long before the actual fire,” he said, as if that was supposed to be reassuring.

Everything about Blitz’s past was messed up, from his dad manipulating him into stealing from the fucking Goetia family to his two closest people blaming him relentlessly for a fire that really, truly was an accident.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

Even though Loona was a grown-ass adult with a childhood just as traumatizing as Blitz’s, she could tell he was watering it down for her. Despite that, what he did tell her was horrifying.

The fire happened when Blitz was 19. The Rib Cage was his first steady stream of income. He didn’t get brought to the Rib Cage until he was 23 years old. Her dad was homeless for four fucking years. And Loona wasn’t stupid. She was well aware of the kind of things homeless people had to do to survive in Hell. Especially Imps.

The worst part about it? The guy who brought Blitz to the Rib Cage for the first time was one of his semi-regular clients. If the guy was still around, Loona was going to hunt him down and tear him to pieces.

Things got worse when Blitz told her about his job at the circus show at LooLoo Land that he managed to get when he turned 25. That dumb fucking robot had made a hobby of torturing Blitz. It would attack Blitz after his shift, when he was already beat up from fighting at the Rib Cage.

“It sucked,” he said, “but I really needed the extra income.”

He explained how he’d made the mistake of flinching when he first met the robot, thinking it was the real FizzaRolli. It had all gone downhill from there. He tried not to give the robot the satisfaction of reacting, but…

“I mean, this is me we’re talking about, Loony,” he said with a grin.

Loona realized that she couldn’t tell if he was actually trying to be funny or if he was doing the usual “use humor as a coping mechanism” bit. She wanted to bang her head against the wall. Thank fuck the office was closed today. She wouldn’t be able to perform the spell to get the others into the living world when she inevitably gave herself a concussion out of sheer frustration.

Everything Blitz was telling her made Loona want to find that clown and tear him a new one again. All those years, all that trauma, and Blitz still didn’t resent FizzaRolli, no matter how he acted when he saw him. Her dad just wanted him back.

Eventually, though, Loona learned something that made her blood boil and fueled her instincts to hunt that clown down even more. Last night, among his ramblings, Blitz mentioned something about dying alone. When she asked him about it, it was revealed that FizzaRolli was the one who put that idea in her dad’s head. That was a big part of why Blitz panicked last night.

After a while, Blitz got to the part about how he learned how to be a real assassin from a Sinner he’d met at the Rib Cage who was a KGB assassin when he was alive. The problem was that Loona was so angry that she couldn’t pay attention to his story. She didn’t want to interrupt him, though. Blitz was always so careful not to talk over her or interrupt her, and it was the least she could do to return the favor. Thankfully, Blitz was surprisingly good at reading her, and seemed to realize she was done for the day. Truth be told, he looked pretty worn out himself.

Blitz smiled at Loona and told her that they were taking the day off from IMP today. “If you have any questions for me, you know where to find me,” he said.

Loona nodded, giving her best attempt at a smile. Then, she headed back to her room. It felt like they could both use some space right now.

----0----

Fizz didn’t know why he kept thinking about him. He’d barely given Blitzo a passing thought for the past 15 years, so it made no sense that the guy was now living in his brain rent-free. It was happening at the most inconvenient times, too. He’d been trying to spend time with Ozzie on his impromptu – but much needed – day off, but every time he was starting to relax and sink into it, the events of yesterday would float to the forefront of his brain and he would tense up again.

Ozzie, bless him, was doing his best to help him. Fizz would always be grateful for everything he and Oz had, but every time they did anything that could be taken as “corny” or “disgustingly romantic,” he couldn’t help but think of that Hellhound, yelling at them both for bullying that Imp couple that had, apparently, been celebrating their one-year marriage anniversary. And then, Fizz just felt like an asshole. He loved celebrating anniversaries with Ozzie. Even if he liked to tease couples who were being corny at the club, he’d always seen anniversaries as off-limits. If someone was celebrating an anniversary with their significant other by doing something sappy, he left them alone.

One could make the argument (cough cough Ozzie cough cough) that Fizz hadn’t known the couple was celebrating their anniversary. But even at the time, Fizz had a feeling in the back of his head that the guy was trying to do something special for his wife. And all of that led to Blitzo’s daughter crashing into his life at full speed, purely for the sake of calling him and Ozzie out for being assholes.

At the moment, Fizz was laying in his and Oz’s bed, scrolling through Sinstagram and trying to relax. Ozzie was in the kitchen making lunch for them. As he was watching a video that Angel Dust posted about his pet Hellhog, Fat Nuggets, his phone started buzzing with a call from an unknown number. At first, he was just gonna let it go to voice mail. After all, Fizz got way too many spam calls from sales-demons from Greed to answer every unknown number he got a call from. For some reason, though, his gut was telling him to pick up.

Hoping he wasn’t about to deal with a spam caller talking about his “car’s extended warranty” (he didn’t even own a car, you fuckwits, they all belonged to Ozzie), he pressed the ‘accept call’ button.

After a second of silence, the caller spoke.

“Is this… FizzaRolli?”

Fizz jolted as if he’d been struck. “Yeah,” he rasped. Was that…?

The young woman on the phone cleared her throat. “Uh… This is Loona, Blitz’s daughter. You might remember me from last night.”

Fizz gulped before responding. “I remember.”

He heard Loona take a breath before she continued speaking. “Look, Blitz said that if things had ended up differently, you would have been my uncle. He doesn’t say that to just anyone. He told me a lot about his past earlier, but I wanna hear it from you. Why would Blitz say that you would have been my family, even with all the shit you gave him at Ozzie’s?”

Oh, boy. Now that was a loaded question.

Maybe I can bullshit my answer and she’ll leave me alone, he thought. I’ll try that.

He took a breath to gather his thoughts, and began, “You see –”

“Uh-Uh.” She cut him off.

“What?” he spluttered.

“I’ve spent enough time with Blitz to know when someone is trying is trying to bullshit their answer to avoid a conversation,” she said.

“I – hold on, you barely even let me speak,” Fizz snapped.

“And I could still tell you were planning on bullshitting me,” Loona growled. “Give me a straight answer now, or I’ll hunt you down at that damn club later. Your choice.”

“Why is this so important to you?” Fizz asked irritably. “Neither of us knew the other existed before yesterday.”

“Because for some reason that I cannot fathom, Blitz still fucking cares about you, you idiot!” she shouted.

“Oh, bullshit,” Fizz hissed. “After the fire, Cash told me–”

“Oh, don’t even get me started on fucking Cash,” she interrupted. “As if that fuckstain was a model parent instead of a manipulative bastard who literally rented Blitz out to a fucking Goetia? He’s the one you’re gonna trust?”

Before Fizz could retaliate, Loona sighed. “Look, I’m not asking you to come crashing back into my dad’s life. Your answer to my question is gonna influence what I do after this, but if you really can’t get over yourself about this, I’m not gonna drag you kicking and screaming. Blitz’s mental health is already in the gutter without you adding your limousine’s worth of designer baggage to his plate. Not to mention that you have him convinced that he’s gonna die alone. Just answer my fucking question.”

Jesus H. Christ, this kid was stubborn. Fizz realized that he wasn’t gonna get out of this and he sighed. “Fine.” He took a minute to think – really think – about his answer. Finally, he said, “Blitz was… my best friend. I’ve never known anyone more loyal than him.”

Loona let out an unimpressed hum. “And yet, you still believed Cash when he fed you all that bullshit about the fire being Blitz’s fault and how Blitz never wanted to see you again?”

Fizz rolled his eyes. “Well, when you put it like that – hold on,” he interrupted himself. “How did you know about that?”

“I talked to Blitz, remember?” she said. “Did you really think he wouldn’t try to go back to the only home he’d ever known after the fire?”

“I–” Fizz didn’t really have an answer for her.

Loona sighed again. “I guess you did.” She sounded disappointed, which upset Fizz for some reason. They barely knew each other; her opinion shouldn’t matter to him.

“Alright, I guess I’ll let you go. Try not to be so much of an asshole, yeah?”

The Hellhound hung up before Fizz could respond beyond indignant spluttering. He grumbled a  bit about disrespectful young people before he heard Ozzie coming in with brunch.

“I heard some yelling, Froggie,” Oz said, a concerned expression on his face. “Who was on the phone?”

Fizz sighed for what felt like the millionth time. “It was Blitzo’s daughter, that Hellhound from the club last night.”

Whatever answer Oz was expecting, it certainly wasn’t that.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “And what did she want?”

“Apparently Blitzo considers me to be Loona’s family. You remember last night?” Ozzie nodded. “When Blitzo is rambling during an adrenaline crash, he is always 100 percent honest. And he referred to me as…” He couldn’t make himself repeat the title.”

“Uncle Fizz,” Ozzie recalled. Fizz nodded. “He really meant that, huh?”

“Yeah. His daughter, Loona, wanted to know why he still considered me to be Loona’s family after all the shit we were giving him at the club.”

Ozzie hummed, considering. “And? What did you tell her?”

Fizz chuckled. “Well, at first I wasn’t going to. I was going to bullshit my answer, but I’d barely gotten two words out before Loona called me on it. Then, she called me out for taking Cash’s words at face value, despite him being a greedy manipulative fuckstain.”

Ozzie had a tiny grin on his face now. “So that’s what all the yelling was about, huh?”

Fizz rolled his eyes. “Okay, but in my defense, I couldn’t figure out why she cared. Anyway, I finally told her that Blitzo was my best friend, and that he’s the most loyal Imp I’ve ever known.”

Ozzie nodded solemnly. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from Bee, it’s that you can’t out-stubborn a Hellhound.”

Fizz snorted. “Yeah, I figured that out eventually. She said that whatever my answer was would influence what she does next, but I’ve got no idea what that could be.”

“Hmmm,” Ozzie hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about it, as long as she doesn’t try to hunt us down or anything.”

“Yeah,” Fizz agreed.

After that, Fizz tried to put the matter out of his mind. After all, whatever the Hellhound did next couldn’t possibly affect him that much, could it? Even so, he couldn’t get it out of his head. He was still angry at Blitzo. That wasn’t just going to go away. But at the same time, he was starting to feel a sliver of doubt about the anger that’d made its home in his chest for the past 15 years.

Fizz had always tried to see the best in Cash. After all, he had taken Fizz in after his birth parents abandoned him. But he couldn’t deny what Loona had said, about him being manipulative. When they were little, the guy made a hobby of making Blitzo feel guilty about things that weren’t even his fault. And it had been Cash who spoke so horribly after the fire, laying the blame solely on Blitzo’s shoulders.

Fucking hell, all it took was some moody young adult poking holes in his logic and Fizz was rapidly running out of reasons to hate Blitzo’s guts. Fizz grumbled and burrowed deeper into his blanked cocoon. He only peaked out when he felt the comforting weight of Ozzie’s hand on his head.

“This is really eating at you, isn’t it, Fizzie?” Ozzie said fondly. It had been about four hours since the call with Loona, and his thoughts were still swirling.

“Yeah,” he grumped. Then, he whined, “I just wish my brain would just shut up!”

And wasn’t that the truth?

It wasn’t until after the call had ended that Fizz remembered something Loona said, and it had been rolling around in the back of his mind ever since.

Not to mention that you have him convinced that he’s gonna die alone.

Fizz only vaguely remembered saying that, the first time he had seen Blitzo after the fire. That was about 13 years ago, now. It was still bothering him?

Ozzie spoke again, pulling Fizz back out of his head. “I have an idea, Froggie. And I think it’ll help you, but you… probably won’t like it.”

“Okay,” Fizz said, cautiously. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking,” Oz said slowly, “that you still haven’t gotten closure about Blitzo’s role in your accident, even though it’s been 15 years. I’m thinking,” Ozzie paused, took a breath, and continued, “that you should go to Blitzo yourself and talk to him.”

Fizz just about choked on his own tongue. He was ready to dismiss the idea immediately, but then he looked at Ozzie. His partner might be meddlesome at times, but it always came from a place of care. If Oz was suggesting this, it meant he really thought it would be a good idea.

FizzaRolli sighed, before smiling and looking Ozzie in the face.

“I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Text

Blitz knew that he should probably take more than a single day to recover from his unexpected night at the Rib Cage. As much as she tried to hide it, he could tell that Loona was still worried about him. On top of that, he hadn’t seen M&M since he stood up for them at Ozzie’s. Blitz didn’t feel quite ready to face them yet.

Even so, Blitz opened the office the day after he explained things to his daughter. If they didn’t work, Blitz wouldn’t be able to cover the next month’s rent, and he absolutely refused to dip into Loona’s savings. Those were hers, and the rent was his responsibility anyway. It was fine.

And besides, who needs healthy coping mechanisms when you can just get paid to kill off some humans? Certainly not Blitz, that’s for sure.

Blitz had only been set up in his office for about twenty minutes when a client came in; from the sound of it when they opened the door, M&M had made their way to work on their own. The client was a sinner who had taken on the form of a hedgehog. They didn’t introduce themselves, but they did explain that they had been bullied by someone all throughout school, all twelve grades, and then the bully had the gall to be really successful in life, while the client themself had died young.

Blitz agreed to take the job, and after a few minutes of haggling, the client agreed to pay half upfront, and pay the rest when the job was done. They explained where the target was – Arkansas – and left Blitz their number so that he could call them when the guy was dead. With that, Blitz sent the client on their merry way.

“Mox, Mills,” he called. “We’ve got a job!”

They came into his office, and for once, Blitz remained completely professional while he debriefed them. It might have made them suspicious, but after the shit show that was Ozzie’s, he didn’t want to chance starting a confrontation with Moxxie. It was honestly a shame; that was one of his main sources of entertainment during work hours.

The job didn’t take long. Loona opened the portal, they dropped into Arkansas, and they killed the target while he was taking a nap. It was honestly creepy how well everything went. Blitz had gotten used to jobs going completely off the rails at this point.

That feeling stayed with Blitz the whole day. Every job they got went off without a hitch, and he didn’t even get into any fights with Moxxie. Still, he had a gut feeling that everything was going to go insanely wrong today. And if any lesson had stuck with Blitz from his fights in the Rib Cage, it was to always trust his gut.

It was a good thing he had been on guard, in the end. It was about an hour before closing, and they had all gotten back from a job about 20 minutes ago, when Blitz heard Moxxie calling him. Mox sounded nervous, so Blitz tensed up immediately. He stood up and opened his office door, but what he saw made him slam the door shut. All he could do was focus on his breathing.

Fizz was here.

What the fuck is he doing here? Blitz thought frantically. He hates me, why is he here?

Eventually, Blitz calmed down enough to hear knocking on his door over his own panting. Alright, he told himself. He’s visiting during work hours, so I’ll just treat him like a potential client. That should work. He took a deep breath, plastered his “dealing with clients” smile on his face, and opened the door.

“Good evening, sir! Please come in!” Blitz stepped back to let the other Imp into his office, before closing the door and going back to his desk. He sat down and looked at FizzaRolli. “Now, how can I help you, sir?”

He was surprised to see that the clown actually looked kind of nervous. It took a minute, but eventually he said, “Well, first of all, can you drop the customer service voice? I’m not… I’m not here as a client.”

Well, that took the wind out of Blitz’s sails. He’d been planning to treat Fizz like a client to avoid any… outbursts, but since Fizz had outright denied being a client, there was no logical reason to continue treating him like one. Blitz sighed.

“Alright, Fizz. Go ahead, say your piece. I’ll listen until you’re done.”

Fizz froze up for a minute, before a mildly pissed-off expression took over his face. “That’s it? No argument? No denial? No being defensive?”

“Would you rather I argue with you, Fizz?” Blitz said, trying to keep calm (and probably failing). “You obviously have something to say, and I refuse to be like Cash and talk over you.”

Fizz didn’t seem to know what to do with that, and he floundered for a minute before sighing. “Better just bite the bullet,” he mumbled (he probably hadn’t meant for Blitz to hear that part, but even 15 years later, he was well able to interpret Fizz’s mumbling). He squared his shoulders, and for the first time in 15 years, Blitz was looking his best friend directly in the eye.

“When your daughter figured out where you went the other night and left the club with Queen Bee, Ozzie and I followed her.”

At first, Blitz was just mildly annoyed that Fizz had followed Loona like some kind of stalker, but then he processed the words. As soon as he made the connection, he felt like ice water was being poured over his spine and the blood drain from his face. But that means… Fizz, he – he knows…

“After you won your last fight, Bee dragged Ozzie and I out of the club and into an abandoned bar to tear us both a new one for following them. While we were there, Loona came in with you. And I… I heard what you were saying while she was patching you up.”

Blitz felt like he was drowning. He was expecting Fizz to yell at him, to blame him for the fire, or something. He definitely wasn’t expecting him to bring up what had happened the other night. Hell, he didn’t even know that Fizz had been there. And he heard him spilling his guts to Loony during the adrenaline crash? Satan, kill me now.

Fizz looked like he was gearing up to say more, but before he could continue, his door slammed open. It was Moxxie. Normally, Blitz would have given him shit for slamming a door like that, but the expression on his face was deadly serious.

“What’s going on, Mox?” He demanded.

“You remember those government agents that we dealt with last week?” Moxxie asked.

“I mean, they almost killed us, so yeah, I’d say I remember, Mox. What about them?”

Mox took a breath, and continued, “pretty much all of them ended up in Hell, and they found us. They’ve got the building surrounded.”

“Shit,” Blitz swore. He yanked the weapons locker key off of his neck and tossed it to Moxxie. “Alright, you open up the weapons locker, grab everything you think we’ll need, and then grab some extras just in case. Make sure that Millie and Loona are in the office. I’ll activate the barricade.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, Moxxie scurried off. Blitz turned to Fizz. Of all the days for some former targets to find us and fuck us over… He sighed. “I’m really sorry, Fizz, but I gotta get out there. We’ll continue this when we get the chance, but right now, I need you to stay in this office. These people were basically demon hunters when they were alive, and I really don’t want to deal with a Deadly Sin banging down my door because you ended up being collateral damage of an attack from people we’ve killed.” With that, he pressed the button to activate the barricade he had installed in their part of the building and headed out to join M&M and his daughter.

Once he had joined the others, things happened quickly. Even with the barricade, the fuckers still managed to make their way to the office. From there, it was constant fighting. The agents all seemed to be more vicious than they had been in the fight that killed them, as if they were determined to get revenge. But here’s the thing; these guys have only been Sinners for, like, a week at most. And Blitz, Loona, and M&M were Hellborn. This was their turf. And like Hell were they going to let some entitled shithead sinners kill them and destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to build.

Blitz did his best to keep track of his employees and his daughter, but they didn’t have as much space to work with as they did in the Living world, and with all the agents attacking, he couldn’t see them.

Eventually, he fell into a rhythm. Dodge. Stab. Duck. Shoot. Repeat. He just kept doing that, taking down agent after agent. Then, his gut screamed at him. He turned, just in time to see some bastard bringing his sword down on his daughter.

“LOONA!” he screamed. He ran to her, and from then on, it was all a blur.

----0----

Fizz didn’t know how long he sat in that office. All he knew was that he could hear the sound of fighting just outside the door, and he didn’t like it one bit. He was tempted to call Ozzie, but he had to consider the ramifications of a Deadly Sin swooping in to take down Sinners in the Pride Ring; knowing Ozzie, he’d want to rush up to Pride to protect him, and while Fizz appreciated it, he also knew that Ozzie would plow down anyone who got in between them. If word got out that a Deadly Sin other than Lucifer was harming Sinners in Lucifer’s ring of Hell? Well, they’d be dealing with more than just a press scandal.

With nothing else to do, Fizz curled up under Blitzo’s desk and covered his ears. Blitz had been right, after all. If Fizz went out there, he would end up being collateral damage. He had never really been in any fights. Blitzo had always done the fighting, on his behalf if necessary. So, Fizz was determined to stay put, and stay out of the way.

But the thing was, despite the way he’d been acting the night Blitz had shown up at Ozzie’s, FizzaRolli was a naturally empathetic person. He also felt the need to help people, when he was able. So, when he heard Blitzo screaming his daughter’s name, he could also hear the panic in his old friend's voice. From that point on, it wasn’t really a conscious choice. Fizz had been under the desk, then, he was up and moving.

When Fizz opened the door to Blitzo’s office, he was met with absolute carnage. There were bodies everywhere, and the fight was still going. There were still so many sinners waving weapons around that it took Fizz a few seconds to spot Blitzo. And what a sight that met his eyes when he did.

Blitzo’s eyes were glowing yellow, his tail was basically whipping anyone who got into close range, his claws were out fully, and his mouth was open in a snarl. He was the only thing standing between his daughter, who was bleeding on the ground. And even though she was down for the count, Loona was sporting a pretty impressive snarl of her own.

Despite knowing what a bad idea it was, Fizz was talking himself into making his way through the fight so that he could take Loona into Blitzo’s office. That way, she would be safer, and Blitzo wouldn’t have to worry about protecting her.

Welp, if I keep thinking about it, I’m never gonna do it, Fizz thought. So, off he went.

It was tricky, dodging all the psychotic Sinners that had invaded this place. Still, Fizz thought he was doing okay. He was steadily getting closer to Blitzo and Loona, despite the difficulties. Unfortunately, he got cocky. He had gotten close enough that he wasn’t being as careful, and the next thing he knew, Blitzo was letting out a yowl and jumping in front of him. In doing so, his body caught a bullet that definitely would have hit Fizz. He could barely process what had just happened before Blitzo was growling and pushing him back towards the office.

Despite his shock, Fizz remembered his goal of grabbing Loona and getting her to the office, too. So, as Blitz pushed him, Fizz stretched both of his arms out, managed to pick up the Hellhound, and brought her with him.

At some point while he was being pushed back to Blitzo’s office, Fizz realized that the Imp himself had gone completely feral. But even that thought felt distant from the shock of what had just happened. When they finally got back to the office, Blitzo gave a growl that clearly meant, “stay. Here,” before slamming the door shut and rushing back out to the fight. Despite, you know, having a bullet wound somewhere.

When they were locked in, Fizz dropped Loona into the guest chair and slumped to the ground. Without his permission, his lips let the words that had been echoing in his head fly loose.

“He took a bullet for me.”

Chapter Text

Let the record show that Loona was fine, and Blitz was overreacting. Honestly, he was acting as though she’d never been stabbed before.

Besides, only one of them was fighting while bleeding from a bullet wound, and it wasn’t Loona.

Loona hadn’t been expecting the clown to drag her out of the fight. She appreciated it, but at the same time, Blitz probably wouldn’t have gotten shot if FizzaRolli had just stayed put, so she had mixed feelings.

It was almost worth it, though; watching FizzaRolli pace Blitz’s office, freaking out about how Blitz took a bullet for him, was actually kinda hilarious.

Loona was content to just lean against the wall and watch, but then she sneezed.

“Bless you,” FizzaRolli said with a glance in her direction. Then he froze and turned back to look at Loona. He looked worried, which kind of made sense. Loona probably looked like she was in pain. To be fair, though, sneezing while you have an open stab wound is not fun.

“Shit, sorry, kid,” he said. “Does your dad have a first aid kit in here?”

Loona wanted to be annoyed that he called her ‘kid,’ but she decided to let it slide.

“Bottom right drawer of his desk,” she said. As he went to get it, she asked, “He did mention you were squeamish when you were a kid, though. You gonna be okay?”

FizzaRolli glanced up at her from where he’d knelt down in front of her, kit in hand.

“Why would he tell you about me when we were kids?”

Loona shrugged, and immediately regretted it. The stab wound might have been in her side, and it might not have affected any vital organs, but it still hurt like a bitch; any kind of movement made it hurt worse.

When her vision was no longer red from the pain, she replied, “he called you my uncle. I had questions.”

“Right, you mentioned on the phone that he’d told you about his past. This is gonna sting,” he said, pouring some disinfectant on a paper towel. He went about cleaning her would, then asked, “What did he tell you?”

Loona snorted. “Enough for me to know that if I ever meet Cash Buckzo, I am going to kill him.”

The clown looked affronted for all of five seconds, before he shrugged and said, “fair.”

From that point on, they didn’t really talk much. FizzaRolli just focused on patching Loona up, and Loona grit her teeth through the pain of getting her skin sewn back together. Thankfully, she was kind of used to this kind of thing. The shelter she’d lived at before was fucking rough, and she’d had to get stitched up often enough.

Just as the Imp was finishing the stitches, the door to Blitz’s office slammed open. Loona didn’t jump, but FizzaRolli did. Thankfully, the stitches were already tied off. They both had their hackles up, expecting some of those DHORK fuckers. Loona would never, in a million years, admit that she was relieved when she saw Blitz instead.

She was less relieved when she saw the bleeding bullet wound in his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, despite the clown’s spluttered protests about her moving, and walked over to Blitz. She was about to say something about getting the bullet out, but when she got closer, Loona realized that Blitz wasn’t… entirely there. There was a glazed look in his eyes, his spines were up, and he was still growling. Loona slowed her approach and raised her hands in a hopefully calming gesture.

“Blitz?” She said cautiously.

FizzaRolli took that moment to glance past her. When he saw Blitz, he practically choked on his own tongue.

“Oh my Satan,” he rasped. “Blitzo’s feral!”

Loona turned to look at him skeptically. “That’s a real thing?” She thought it was just a rumor Imps used to intimidate other Hellborn and Sinners. Not that it worked, most of the time.

“Yeah, it’s a real thing,” the clown snapped. “And there is no way he’s gonna let anyone near that bullet wound on his shoulder when he’s like this.”

That was when M&M slipped into the room.

“Like what?” Moxxie asked. Then, he focused on Blitz’s face. “Holy shit, he’s feral!”

Well, Loona thought, I guess I can take that as confirmation that the clown isn’t spouting bullshit.

“Seems like it,” she said. “So what the fuck are we supposed to do about – Hey!”

As she spoke, Blitz seemed to perk up, and he crept towards her on all fours. When he was close enough, he wrapped himself around her in a hug, similar to one of those giant snakes that living humans kept as pets for some reason. She was surprised, because Blitz usually asked permission before hugging her.

Moxxie answered her unfinished question. “Well, for starters, you’re gonna have to stick close to him until he snaps out of it. If I had to guess, he probably went feral after you got stabbed. It’d also explain why he took a bullet for FizzaRolli. He should probably stick close, too.”

“What?” the clown interjected. “I can’t stay here! I gotta get back to Lust! What, do you just expect me to help him get all comfy in a fucking nest or something?”

Millie glared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Blitz took a bullet for you. So I’d say if you don’t wanna be out on your ass, you help him make the best nest in his fucking life. Got it, Rich Boy?”

So, Millie was still pissed at FizzaRolli for bullying Moxxie. Noted.

The guy looked like he was about to protest again – as if Loona didn’t plan on dragging him away to help her dad with the nest the second she got the chance – but then Blitz made a chirping sound that Loona had never heard before. He was still hugging her, but he’d turned to look at FizzaRolli, and – well, let’s just say that Loona didn’t know Imps were capable of making their eyes look so big and adorable like that.

Obviously, FizzaRolli couldn’t resist the eyes, so he just sighed and nodded. “Fine,” he said. “Where should we set up?”

She rolled her eyes, grabbed the clown’s arm with the hand that wasn’t holding Blitz, and dragged them both over to the back corner of the office. She sat down quickly, because the stitches hurt like a bitch, before directing FizzaRolli to the bottom left drawer of Blitz’s desk. That was where he kept his emergency nesting kit.

Why would anyone need an emergency nesting kit, you ask? As if it wasn’t obvious with how often the three Imps got hurt on jobs and needed comfort at the office.

Thankfully, FizzaRolli seemed to know what he was doing in making the nest. In fact, when Blitz finally realized what was happening and started helping, the two of them seemed strangely in-sync. In what felt like no time at all, the nest had formed around Loona, and Blitz was curling around her, purring.

FizzaRolli mumbled some comment about not being needed anymore, and he was about to stand up. Then, Blitz suddenly whipped his hand out, faster than Loona could blink, and yanked the clown back into the nest. He looked comically offended, and he was obviously about to say something obnoxious, but any protests he might have made died in his throat when he was faced with Blitz’s eyes again.

Loona was so telling Bee about this later.

Chapter Text

Hey, y'all. I'm sure this isn't what you were hoping to here, but I thought I should let you know. Between homework and classes, I haven't had time to keep up with this fic. I don't have anything planned out, and at this point, I really have to prioritize my grades. So, for now, First Rule of Fight Club is on hiatus. I'll get back to it when I can, but I don't have any idea when that might be. I'm sorry about this. I have no intention of abandoning this fic, and hopefully I won't keep you waiting too long before I can finally keep the story going. I wish you all the best!