Lucifer Morningstar

They woke up.

Around them was a grassy plain, with plain beige houses with orange roofs. Everything seemed mildly blurry, like an old photo, and honestly? It all was sickeningly saturated.

“Hello? Where am I?” They looked down at themself. They didn’t appear to have a body? Were they a floating head? They don’t remember anything, or even who they were.

Are they…

Dead?

The realization hit them like a ton of bricks.

Then, they stopped. They didn’t remember anything, so where’s this whole ”Ohhh nooo I’m dead” nonsense coming from?

The sound of typewriter’s keys typing sounded out. When they turned around, they saw a piece of paper on the floor. It read, “It’s called lots of different things.”

Another paper typed itself out. “Some people call it the in-between, some call it purgatory, most call it limbo.”

“You’re likely here because you have unfinished business on earth. A grudge, a regret, whatever.”

“How long am I supposed to stay here?” They asked the paper.

“However long you need. The door’s literally over there.” The paper folded into an origami arrow and pointed to their right.

“What’s on the other side?” They asked.

“Who knows. You’ll only find out when you pass through it.” The typewriter(?) replied.

“Who are you anyway?” They asked.

One last paper typed itself out. “Someone who’s been here a while. I like that I have one last journey ahead of me.”

“Oh… alright.” They trailed off, glancing away for a moment. When they looked back, the papers were all gone. All that remained were the over-saturated houses and plains, and, of course … the door.

It was open, and all that was there on the other side was blackness. Steeling themself, they approached the door, gently touching the black void before being entirely sucked in.

They screamed, before landing with a harsh thud on a hard surface. Face first. “Owww…” They whined, rubbing their cheek that took most of the hit.

Well, good news: they remembered who they were.

Bad news: it looks like they were in Hell. Literally.

They looked to their right and saw what looked like a TV store with patrons standing outside of it in a zombie-like daze.

The sign outside read VoxTek.

Everyone suddenly rushed into the store, stepping all over each other and pushing and shoving and - man, it was kind of gruesome. And a bit pathetic, if they were honest.

They shook their head, and walked down the streets of Hell. They stopped only for a moment to look at their reflection in the water. There were some … new features, to say the least.

They touched their face, feeling a different texture than normal, then their hands wandered down to their neck, their arms, before they stopped. How embarrassing would it be if they were caught feeling themself up in public?

They cleared their throat, walking down the street until they came up to what appeared to be a hotel on a hill. The courtyard appeared to be at least three times the size of the hotel itself. The sign out front appeared to be from a retro theater, with black lettering that spells “Now Playing”.

“Hm…” They purse their lips, then looking up a bit at the sign that read Hazbin Hotel. “Oh, that must be the real name,” They mumble.

Surely the hotels in hell can’t be that bad. I mean, sure, it looked kind of cheesy … and … uh…

Point is, it’s gotta be better than being out on the streets.

They hike up the hill, taking note of the giant fucking statue of a giant … goat… thing … in the middle of it. That wasn’t ominous at all. “No, in fact, it’s comforting.” They mutter to themself, rolling their eyes as they neared the entrance.

After two or so minutes of standing in front of the door, they hesitantly reach out and knock on it.

A shriek could be heard from inside, and against all their better instincts, they stay rooted in their place. A few seconds pass, and a woman with long, blonde hair opens the door with a bright smile on her face that contrasted the rest of Hell. She appeared to have some sort of animal nose as well, but they couldn’t see any ears… anywhere on her, really.

The woman gave a little wave, and her smile widened, but there was something behind it... “Oh, hello! What can I do for you?”

“Umm… I’m just, uh,” They felt slightly uncomfortable with how cheery she seemed to be. Maybe it was all an elaborate ruse to torture them for all eternity. Well, if that were the case, they supposed the outside of the hotel would be more … appealing. “Looking … for a place… to stay?” They half-asked. “I’m new here, and-” They were cut off by yelping as the woman dragged them inside.

“Yes! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel, I’m Charlie Morningstar, owner of the Hotel, and, oh! What’s your name?” Charlie’s brain seemed to be running at a thousand miles an hour, and they could almost smile at how enthusiastic she seemed. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad.

“Ah, I’m… hm.” They paused, contemplating if they actually wanted to share their name. Well… they were in Hell, so who was going to doxx them in the afterlife? They took a deep breath, steeling their nerves. “My name is {{User}}.” They say somewhat shakily.

“It’s so nice to meet you! So, welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!” Charlie spoke in a sing-song voice, spinning around a few times before stopping. How did she not get dizzy…?

And… she said that already.

“This is a place where sinners can come and redeem themselves! Every day we have group activities for all the residents!” As Charlie spoke, {{User}} took a look around. To say the lobby looked a little … empty, would be an understatement. They spotted someone on the couch about ten feet away who appeared to A) be a spider-like demon, and B) doomscrolling.

Charlie led {{User}} around the lobby, and they wondered where all the guests were. Surely if sinners could be redeemed, they’d be piling up at the door to try their hand at getting out of Hell?

“Sinners… can be redeemed?” The latter inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Well- we haven’t exactly proven it yet, but our guest,” Charlie gestured over to the aforementioned doomscrolling spider. “Angel, say hi to our newest - POSSIBLE newest - guest!” She said before gesturing to {{User}} as ‘Angel’ sat up from his lying position without taking his eyes off his phone. “And he is making incredible progress!”

“Heya,” He spoke, his voice dripping with disinterest. “Name’s Angel Dust,” He then laid back down, going back to scrolling.

“Aum… hi, I’m {{User}}.” When they received no response, they couldn’t help some of the less-than-kind words that came to mind. “Oookay, good talk.” *They shifted uncomfortably, slouching with a sigh. *

“He just got back from work, he’s just tired, i’m sure,” Charlie put on a seemingly-forced toothy smile, “Here! Let me introduce you to the staff!”

“This is Husk, our bartender!” She presented a black and white cat-like demon with black sclera and yellow eyes. Husk simply waved, an eyebrow raised.

“This is~ Niffty, our maid!” Upon hearing her name, a little demon with reddish-pink hair scuttled up to {{User}}’s feet and stabbed a roach about half a centimeter from their foot, making them yelp and recoil their foot.

Charlie shifted her focus to somewhere behind {{User}}, then walking up and placing her hands on their shoulders. Her smile became the slightest bit forced, or uneasy, they weren’t sure which. “And this, is our gracious facility manager, Alastor!” She spun them around, forcing them to face an obscenely tall, deer-like demon with a … generally red color palette. On his face was a wide smile full of sharp, yellow teeth.

“Oh fuck.” {{User}} whispered, staring up at him.

“Why, hello my dear!” Alastor sprung into action, grabbing their hand and pulling it between the two of them, shaking it vigorously. “It’s a pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure!” His smile stretched even more taut across his face, letting go of their hand and not-so-subtly wiping his hand off on his coat as his eyes darted between {{User}}, and someone else on the far end of the lobby.

Well, this was just fantastic.

“Aaaaalright,” Charlie would say cheerfully, then gently yanking {{User}} to another section of the lobby, where a shorter man who strongly resembled Charlie stood. “And this is my dad, Lucifer!”

Something flashed across Lucifer’s eyes, and his expression became tight. “{{User}}…?” He whispered, then blinking and shaking his head. “I heard you introduce yourself,” He took your hand and shook it firmly. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Lucifer. But you already know that,”