Chapter Text
Lucifer was tinkering away in his workshop. He had decided to try a little more for his appearance today and was wearing his more formal outfit, even if he wasn’t going outside today.
Or any other day soon, not that anyone really cared.
Things were a bit tough after Lilith left. It’s already been seven years already but he still feels the loneliness constantly pushing down on him and furthering his depression.
Charlie- the sweet girl, had no clue. And if Lucifer had his way, wouldn’t ever learn about how truly bad things had been for a while even before Lilith left.
Looking back, Lilith was never really that great- but she was at least someone to lean on.
Father, how the mighty have fallen. From the most powerful of angels- the light bringer— The Morning Star.. to just some guy who can hardly make it out of bed on a good day.
Maybe Lilith was right to leave him.
He felt a slight tickle on his finger and his mind paused in its drifting to notice he had scabbed his finger with the scalpel.
Whoops.
Lucifer sighed and removed his white glove- now stained with a single drop of golden blood, and ignored the burn scars along his finger tips as he replaced the glove with another identical one.
He returned his attention to his latest project, cleaning off the end of the scalpel and carving the last few details into the wooden duck.
Finally time to get to painting it.
As he retrieved his paints, he thought back to when Charlie was younger, how they would spend a few hours a day together painting and building things. It was unfortunate how they grew apart in recent years, only talking whenever Lucifer called her.
Charlie always seemed annoyed whenever he called her, so he decided to give her some space in between calls. She’s grown up now- she needs her own space.
He had always been a little too distant with her than to his liking. But Lilith always insisted whenever they spent time that Charlie needed to spend more time with her mother since they were both girls. That Charlie shouldn’t have to spend a bunch of time with a father who couldn’t even bother to reveal the entirety of his face to his daughter.
Maybe Lilith said it a little meaner than that, but he knew that she was right. Maybe it was his pride, but he had long ago decided that Charlie didn't need to see what his face looked like under his veil and mask.
It was better to leave her ignorant to the true cruelty of heaven, in this instance; he had decided when she was a few months old.
Besides, no one in hell other than Lilith knew the true extent of his scarring. And he didn’t make much public appearances anyways so it didn’t matter that he kept his face hidden.
“That’s it…” Lucifer muttered to himself as he added the final details to the duck, trying to force his mind from wandering about things that didn't matter, “Almost there..”
“Now presenting…” His eyes smiled back at the other piles of duck toys in his room, “The magic-tastical backflipping wooden duck!”, Lucifer said with excitement, holding the duck high into the sky.
“And guess what?” He whispered conspiratorially to the other ducky toys, “It spits FIRE!”
He gazed happily down at the ducks, “hold the applause- please, okay.” He looked back at the duck in his hand, pulling it back close to him before he let out an angry sigh.
“Oh who am I kidding- This sucks!” Lucifer said tiredly, tossing it off to the side. It made a small thump as it hit the side of a family portrait of Him, Charlie, and Lilith.
Lucifer frowned, his face underneath it’s shadowy veil frowning.
Then, he heard his ringtone begin. Charlie had made him get a cellphone a few years back and he hardly used it- but he did like how in new phones it showed who was calling you-
“Daughter calling? Daughter calling!” He exclaimed, his eyes wide. “Daughter, daughter calling- Oh um.. uh”
He nervously fidgeted with the phone, looking back and forth frantically as he went along how to answer her call.
“Hey Charlie- oh hey char-char. No- No! That’s not good… You can do this Lucifer- It’s just the first time she’s called you in years! It just, has to be perfect”
He internally hyped himself up, before he pressed the button to accept the call.
“Heya kiddo!” He said enthusiastically, before internally cringing. She was too old for her to be called ‘kiddo’, would she get upset?
“Hi dad” He heard her voice say over the phone. She sounded a bit annoyed.
“Well, how are ya? And uh- where are you- these days..?” He asked, his tone shifting from energetic to a bit nervous.
“You know where I am dad- I told you before.” Oh shit. In his defense, the last time he called her, he had been.. doing important stuff.
Totally.
“Yeah uh well- uhm-“
“I told you when you called me five months ago- or did you not listen?”
He began to pace nervously. “No no! Just you know, just forgot- I’ve just been really busy. You know with uhm-“ Quick! Come up with an excuse. “-the recent stuff with that one Goetia prince- Stolas or something.” Lucifer said weakly, kicking a duck away from his path.
“Well! I’m actually running a hotel to rehabilitate sinners-“ That sounds like a train wreck. “-Maybe you saw our commercial?”
“Oh.. sadly I missed it.” Lucifer said apologetically. “Heh, uh, haven’t been watching too much television lately- scrambles the brain.”
He destroyed the TV during an… episode.. a few months- or years ago and hadn’t found the time to replace it yet.
“But hey! A hotel… sounds fun.” He said with an encouraging tone, that intentionally sounded a little condescending.
“Listen dad- I’ve got kinda a big ask.”
Oh? Whatever his baby girl wants she’s gonna get it!
“Well what do you need sweetheart?”
“I need to speak to heaven. Well- whoever is in charge up there that’s above Adam, above anybody- I need to go to the top!”
“Oh, uh…” How do you say ‘no’ without sounding like a dick? “Look Charlie, I don’t know if that’s really in the cards…”
“Look, dad. I don’t really ask you for much” She never talks to him much anyways so he supposed that’s true, “I never have- but this is really important to me. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done. And, I need you.. I need your help.”
“I don’t know, Charlie…” Lucifer trailed off.
“Please, just come see what I’m trying to do! You’ll see that it’s a really good idea and heaven is bound to agree if I get the chance to talk to them.”
“Please dad”
Wait, she was inviting him over? She’s never done that! Ever! Fuck yeah he’s coming!
Wait- don’t sound so desperate.
Lucifer forced himself to sound like he was barely agreeing, “fine, I’ll be there in an hour.” He said before he hung up on her.
The moment the phone was off, he started bounding in excitement.
“My daughter wants to see me!” He whispered excitedly to the ducks. His eyes wide and happy. He kicked over the small black duck he made a few weeks ago.
“Take that depression!” The duck was named ‘depression’. He read in a book somewhere that art was a good way to express your emotions.
Fuck, he needs to actually get ready. Where was his mask at?
___
Lucifer paced back and forth as he stood outside the hotel. He was a few minutes early and could hear the residents chatting amongst themselves as they got the hotel ready.
He was wearing the outfit he usually wore during outings- a century or so ago but still, he hoped the fashion hadn’t changed too much in that time.
Lucifer also was using a magical veil made of shadows which obscured his face in darkness other than his eyes. But just in case that failed somehow, he also had his half-faced mask on the right side of his face.
Charlie had seen his face without the veil when she was younger, but he always had a mask or a bandage over the other side, but as she got older he took to wearing the veil more often around her.
He heard the sound of Charlie walking up to the door and he schooled his expression and ceased his pacing. You got this Lucifer. It’s just the first time you’ve been invited over to your daughter's place of residence.
No big deal.
“Okay everyone. It’s ShOWTIME!” He heard Charlie’s voice say through the door before she opened it.
“Hey Charlie! It’s great to see you!” Lucifer said with excitement, walking up and hugging her tightly, lifting her in the air for a moment.
“H-hey dad. Great to see you too.” Oops, she sounded a bit strangled.
Lucifer released her with a sheepish smile conveyed through his veiled eyes and the mouth of the porcelain mask.
“Sorry, just happy to see you.” Or anyone.
“Anyways,” Charlie backed up to gesture dramatically, “Welcome, to the Hazbin Hotel!”
Huh, that’s an… odd name choice.
Then he felt the brushing of a cat against his legs and he crouched down to lift her up, gently scratch behind her ears. “Awww hello Keekee.” He murmured with a soft smile before he set the cat back down.
He looked over and saw Razzle and Dazzle and walked up to them. He let out a soft amused snort at them circling him with excitement while they flew.
“Awww you two haven’t grown a bit either.” He said with a fond voice.
Lucifer’s voice shifted to a more threatening tone as he crouched near them, more eyes appearing from under his shadowy veil as he murmured. “You two better be taking good care of Charlie.” His eyes retreated and as did his horns back into his skull.
He pulled away from the two goats and walked a bit more forward into the hotel. “Well, the decor is certainly.. interesting. Lots of character-“, He paused as he noticed a new looking green bar.
“Oh! I see you did some uh, renovations…” Lucifer trailed off hesitantly.
A tall red guy appeared behind him and spoke with a loud, grating voice. He assumed it was filtered by something but his angelic nature allowed him to hear his real voice. It sounded so.. fake.
“It adds some colour, don’t you think?” The red beanpole said.
“And you are?” Lucifer asked with apprehension, his visible eyes narrowing slightly.
“Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure!” The red guy- Alastor apparently said quickly, shaking Lucifer’s cane with a grin that seemed a bit tight.
“It’s nice to finally put a face, or mask, to the name! You are much shorter in real life!” Lucifer was not going to like this guy, was he?
“Yes well, thank almighty Charlie didn’t get those genetics, yeah?” Lucifer said with a fake polite smile, pretending to be wholly unoffended. This seemed to annoy Alastor more however, his smile turning tight when he didn’t take the bait.
“Well regardless, I am the host of his hotel. You may have heard of me from my Radio broadcast?” The deer guy continued, seeming to try and draw in a compliment or start a fight.
“Uh no, unfortunately, I can't say I have. Don’t really use much technology so…” Lucifer said politely.
The last time he used a radio was a few decades ago when he was just trying to listen to some music while he tinkered, and every channel just had screaming so he got rid of the thing.
“Anyway,” Lucifer said, turning to Charlie, “Hazbin Hotel! Very interesting naming choice..” He trailed off hesitantly.
“Actually, the name was my idea.” Alastor cut in again with a falsely sweet smile.
“As I said, an interesting choice.” Lucifer doubled down with a shrug and turned back to Charlie who looked as though she wanted to talk.
“Okay! Okay, anyway. Dad, look at this lovely parlor where people can get to know each other and share secrets and stories and intimate feelings! Without Alastor, we wouldn't have been able to pretty it up this much.”
“Charlie has a very unique vision. I am happy to fulfill her bizarre requests.”
Lucifer turned between the two, Charlie seeming to not realize that Alastor was trying to rile him up. He sighed and smiled up at the red deer man.
“I suppose I should thank you for helping my daughter then, yeah? How about some lava straight from the Wrath ring? Great for cooking, or decoration. Whatever you’re into.” Lucifer said, summoning a small bottle of obsidian glass which had the glowing orange liquid.
He sat it down on a nearby table before turning back to Charlie.
“Anyways, how about you introduce me to some of your other friends?” Lucifer said with a polite voice, looking up towards his daughter with fond eyes.
He walked back towards the rest of the sinners in the hotel and Charlie walked up and pulled another girl with her. “Oh! Yes! This is Vaggie, she’s my girlfriend!” Charlie introduced.
Lucifer nodded politely and held his hand out to shake Vaggie’s. “Lovely to meet you Vaggie. You treating my daughter good-?” He cut himself off a bit early as she grabbed his hand and they shook.
“I sure hope so! It’s great to meet you, uh, sir.” Vaggie said with a nervous smile.
No one seemed to notice the stilted ending luckily as a thousand thoughts raced through his head.
One of his abilities that remained ever present since his fall was his ability to sense divine energy. He had hoped Charlie would develop the ability as well but it seemed that she hadn’t.
As such however, he knew immediately that this was no sinner, or a hellborn- she was an exorcist. She seemed to realize he noticed as well as her smile tightened slightly.
“We’ll talk later, yeah?” He whispered to her, pulling her near him for a second before he released her grip.
Charlie cut in with a smile, gesturing to a snake guy behind her. “And this is Sir Pentious and Angeldust! They’re our guests!”
The snake guy- Sir Pentious, snapped out of whatever he was doing and saluted Lucifer, “Your majesty!” before falling flat onto his face.
“Heya short king~” Angeldust said with a smirk.
Charlie made a coughing sound to draw the attention back to her before gesturing to a cat guy with wings, and a short little red headed cyclops. “And this is Husk! He’s our bartender. And Niffty is our housekeeper!”
“Nice to meet you-“ Husk begins before cutting himself off at the sight of Niffty scurrying over to Lucifer.
She climbed up Lucifer’s coat and smiled up at him, “Hello! I clean,” She began before her eyes widened and one of her hands reached forward towards his face, “Ooo! What’s under this mask-“
“-Okayit’slovelytomeetyouall!” Lucifer said quickly, grabbing Niffty around the waist and setting her back down on the floor. Alastor narrowed his eyes at Lucifer behind his back, seemingly intrigued.
Suddenly, the chandelier above him fell down and nearly hit Lucifer, the fallen Angel shifting into a snake and reforming back into his humanoid form a few feet away from the fallen lighting arrangement, coughing at the dust.
“Well! It looks like you fellows could use some help around here with repairs, yeah?” Lucifer said with a roll of his eyes that seemed a bit fond.
___
After an hour or so, Lucifer had used his magic to repair all of the parts of the hotel that hadn’t quite been fixed yet. He was tempted to fix the bar to be a normal colour as well, but he didn’t want to upset Charlie or rile up Alastor.
Alastor, however, was set on trying to anger the king. He went from backhanded insults to straight up insults to trying to make him jealous of his close relationship with Charlie.
Which, it did sting a little at being replaced. But if his daughter liked this guy, he would be civil as well.
Lucifer still was confused though. He’d never even interacted with the guy before- why did he seem to be infuriated with Lucifer in every interaction? Regardless, Lucifer did his best to ignore him.
But then, as they were finishing up fixing the chandelier, Alastor finally found the sore spot. His mask.
“You know, it is awfully draft in here, why don’t you take off that mask of yours?” Alastor said with a smirk, to which Lucifer flinched.
“Oh uh, you see, I don’t really do that… revealing my face could uh,” quick, come up with an excuse, “My real face melts the minds of mortals.. it’s not really meant for you lot to see, so…”
“Yes well, we’re not really mortal anymore, are we your highness?” Alastor said with a smirk, leaning down his face close to Lucifer’s.
“Regardless I-“ Lucifer was cut off as Alastor grabbed his mask from his face, before frowning at the sight of the shadowy veil covering all of his face aside from his eyes. Which there was several more spread along the side of Lucifer’s face which had the mask.
The lights all flickered off in the room before turning back on with a more ominous lighting, the king having grown in size and his wings spread out, his horns large and flaming above his head.
“丨 山ㄖㄩㄥᗪ Ꮆ丨ᐯ乇 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ 乃卂匚Ҝ 丨千 ㄚㄖㄩ 山卂几ㄒ ㄒㄖ ㄥ丨ᐯ乇” Lucifer said with a threatening voice, sending a fearful shiver down the red sinner’s spine.
Alastor quickly dropped the mask, a nervous smile twisting onto his face. “Of course, my apologies, your majesty.”
Lucifer took the mask back and placed it back upon the right side of his face, letting out a sigh as he shifted back to his smaller, less threatening form.
“Glad we understand eachother.” Lucifer said with a polite voice, before turning back to the rest of the hotel residents-
Who were staring in a bit of shock, and Charlie with nervousness. Vaggie looked like she was turning into a stone statue with how frozen in fear she was.
“What? I’m the king of hell- what did you expect?” Lucifer asked with a slightly confused tilt of his head.
“Nothing dad, I’ve just never seen you get that angry before.” Charlie trailed off nervously.
Lucifer froze, a nervous look entering his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that Char-Char-“ He begun before-
“iT’s mE! iT’s mE!” A shrill feminine voice sing-shouted as the front doors to the hotel burst open. “I’M sUrE yOu wErE aLl WaItInG fOr Me!”
“I’m hErE, wHaT a GaS, tOoK aWhIlE bUt I’m PrEsEnT aT lAsT! iT’s mE! iT’s mE! MimzyyYyyYYyy!”
Father almighty, aid him in this dire moment.