Chapter Text
A splash of cold water hits his face, startling him from his slumber. Sleepily, pale light grey eyelids flutter open, pupils dilating underneath the light. He groans, throwing his arms atop his head and rolling over to shove his head further into the fluffy hot pink pillow he slumbers on.
“Ozzie,” the young prince groans, his voice muffled by the pillow. “I’s too early…”
Above him, the Sin of Lust, Asmodeus, huffs an aggravated sound as he peers down at him, placing both hands on his cocked hips. “Hon, we live in an eternal night. There is no such thing as early and late,” he sasses. When the small bundle of blankets doesn’t move, Asmodeus rolls his eyes — the faces in his blue mane mimicking him — and reaches down, pinching two large fingers to pry the sheets off the Prince of Hell. “Come on, up and at ‘em, kiddo!”
The young prince begrudgingly sits up, glaring fiercely up at the Sin, who in turn does not look the least bit apologetic as he smiles smugly down at him. “There! Was that so hard?” He asks.
“I despise you,” the prince grumbles.
“Oh, I’m shivering.” Asmodeus feigns a tremor of fear, shaking his shoulders before folding his arms across his toned dark blue chest, straight-faced.
“I’m your prince,” the smaller figure grumbles petulantly.
“And as your most humble servant, my Prince,” Asmodeus bends down to sweep into a mocking dramatic bow, “it should be my duty to wake you up before you spend the next century slumbering away. Your darling citizens might begin to miss that pretty little face of yours,” he coos while reaching out to pinch the prince’s cheek in two of his fingers.
He bats away the fingers, flush in the cheek. Lavender-pink irises adjust to the light, and he rubs them sleepily, steadily waking up and losing some of that early-wake-up attitude. “They barely even know my face,” he snorts with a crooked tilt of the lips.
Asmodeus smiles at him, a tad softer this time. “Maybe if you quit hiding and show them it, they’ll start loving you just as much as we do.”
“Doubtful,” grumbles the prince.
Asmodeus chuckles, standing straight and nodding towards the door of the guest chamber. “Come on, my Prince. Fizzy’s already left for work, and there’s some breakfast left for you.”
“...What’s out there?” asks a suddenly hopeful voice.
The Sin of Lust smirks knowingly. “Waffles,” he sings. Lavender eyes brighten up. “Aaand, if a certain grumpy little prince is nice enough…a milkshake?”
All at once, the blankets are blown back by the force of six midnight black wings bursting from the back of the young prince, the insides coated in a deep lavender, as he flies up to beam at Asmodeus and hold the Sin’s face between his two smaller hands.
“Ozzie, have I ever said you’re my favourite Sin?” The prince asks.
Asmodeus smirks, the picture of smugness. “I’d say “No”, except you have before. If only your favourites didn’t switch out every couple decades,” he muses.
The young prince settles on the Deadly Sin’s shoulder, his wings folding back into him. “Well, you are for the next century, now.”
“Oh! Well, joy for me,” Asmodeus hums, and preens all the way as he walks them into the kitchen.
The young demon prince basks in a deliciously hellish breakfast, listening as Asmodeus gossips about the latest hot topics in Hell to fill the time it takes him to finish his waffles and chocolate milkshake, made specially for him. But it doesn’t take long for Asmodeus to bring up the topic each Deadly Sin eventually does.
“You know…” the Sin of Lust murmurs with feigned mellow, eyeing the prince, “...your sister asks about you.”
All at once, he slows in his breakfast, his fork freezing halfway to his mouth with a cut up piece of waffle pierced through it. He gazes mutely at his plate.
“...Oh?” He makes a neutral noise.
Asmodeus taps his fingers rhythmically on the surface of the breakfast table, glancing around the room. “I hear she’s recently started up a new little pet project. Something she’s taking quite seriously, to be honest,” he continues. “Some…eh, rehabilitation center for Sinners or whatnot. Her and that sweet little girlfriend of hers are running it!”
“Mhm?”
“And…she may really enjoy it should a certain someone stop by..?”
“Oh, yeah? Who?” He mumbles distractedly.
Asmodeus sighs, turning fully to the young prince. “You, Orion,” he states bluntly. “You.”
Orion chews at his bottom lip, mind churning in his seat as he sets his fork down, his stomach too conflicted to eat now.
Prince Orion Morningstar, second child of Lucifer and Lilith, brother to Charlie. He was born not long after his older twin sister; twin stars, they were called. Only one shone far brighter than the other.
Charlie was meant to be the face of Hell. The future of their people. And she did well in the spotlight. Far better than he performed. Charlie inherited their mother’s power in song…in fact, she inherited almost everything from their mother, save for her looks and her sway over Sinners — but even that was just something she would grow into eventually.
Orion had inherited his looks from their mother, looking near identical to her. He had her eyes, her hair color, her skin tone…but he couldn’t be more different from her besides that.
In every other sense, he was like his father.
He wanted to hide himself in a little solitary world to try and not dream of the greater universe outside of the realm of fire and darkness that stretched before him. He wished for solitude, for a space where he need not have duties to demons and hellspawn that would prefer chaos to order.
He and Charlie were stark contrasts of one another and their parents, but growing up, you couldn’t find two souls closer to one another. Where you found one Morningstar twin, you would find the other right at their side, and their parents never far behind. They magnetized to one another like a positive and a negative.
Charlie spoke for Orion when he couldn’t.
Orion was the steady and silent presence at Charlie’s shoulder when she needed someone to support her.
At one time, Hell saw them as the future. A future Queen and her right-hand, her equal.
Then…tragedy struck.
Their mother, Lilith, disappeared off the face of the realm.
And Heaven, far crueler than any had thought, set upon the Ring of Pride yearly Exterminations.
The only upside was that hellborn were not affected by such slaughter, Lucifer having bargained for them. But who cared enough about Sinners, the failures of humanity, to bargain for them?
Well…that was their mother. But in her disappearance, Hell became fractured.
Orion looked too much like Lilith that people thought he could fill her shoes. That he could lead Sinners against Heaven, for goodness sake!
He had fled from Pride to the Lower Rings to hide. Hide from duty, hide from the Exterminations…everything. He hid from everything.
Charlie has reached out dozens of times, but each time Orion — too cowardly to return to his family in Pride with the face of their father’s missing wife and his sister’s missing mother — ignored her calls for his return.
He’s spent the last seven years transitioning from home to home of each Deadly Sin. First he’d hidden at Bee’s, who sheltered him for a good while, until her constant partying became too much for him. He went to Mammon’s next, but left there rather quickly for various reasons. He’d spent quite a bit of time lazing around Belphegor’s place — the two of them got along swimmingly when it came to being too lazy to do their duty — until he spent some time with Levi (formally known as Leviathan), then ventured down to Satan’s place to bat his eyelashes and gain a place of residence with the Sin of Wrath, who was a surprising softie when it came to the Morningstar children. But even still, his anger issues came out for many things, even if none of them pertained to Orion himself, and he left to stay somewhere with more peace and quiet…
…and that’s what led him here to the Ring of Lust. Not his most favourite Ring (that would very much be Sloth), but Asmodeus was his most entertaining and caring host, taking special care to tend to Orion in his place of refuge. His partner, Fizzarolli, liked to host mini clown shows just to get Orion to let out even a smidgen of laughter. Only Bee had tried to cheer him up similarly, except Orion didn’t think parties and honey and cotton candy were his cup of tea…let alone every. Single. Night.
But he always finds himself with a hole in his chest where Charlie should be. No matter how much this was his wish; to hide away from responsibilities and problems, Orion craves the presence of his twin like a dying flame craves wood to keep it burning and alive.
“...I can’t,” he whispers to Asmodeus, though. His expression twists bitterly. “I can’t return to Pride. Not…not if…”
Asmodeus bends down beside him, his expression empathetic as he cups a hand around his back. “Hey,” he soothes, “listen to me, kiddo.”
Orion hesitantly flicks his lavender gaze towards the Sin of Lust.
Asmodeus offers him a supportive smile. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I won’t force you. Fizzy and I really like having you here,” he assures. “But you know your sister won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do, either. All she wants is for you to see her dream. You love dreams! Especially hers.”
Orion’s lips flick up. “Because they’re always so crazy,” he murmurs fondly.
“Exactly,” Asmodeus huffs a chuckle. He lightly pats his back. “This one’s the craziest of ‘em all, let me tell you. She’s trying to redeem Sinners.”
Orion’s eyes blow open as he fixes Asmodeus with a dubiously shocked look. “Huh?!”
Asmodeus laughs. “Aha! I knew you’d be just as shocked as I was,” he says. Orion rolls his eyes with a begrudging smile. “But I know, right? Craziest idea since dinosaurs, in my opinion. But, I mean, hey,” he shrugs, “she believes it’s possible! Can’t deny that lovely little princess for staying true to herself.”
Orion stares back down at his plate, smiling to himself as he remembers how big of a dreamer Charlie could be — far bigger than he was, anyways. She got that from their father.
But…redeeming Sinners? How ever did she get such an idea into her head? Hell was eternal damnation. A punishment from Heaven to Lucifer for unleashing evil in the Garden of Eden and allowing it to seep into the earth. And the humans that allowed that evil to corrupt them, that sinned, were sent down here to be punished for their sins for the rest of eternity.
“Redemption…” Orion murmurs disbelievingly to himself, “insane.”
Just like his sister.
Asmodeus leans in close, his expression knowing, as if he already predicts what Orion will do now that he knows this information. “Who knows? Maybe it’s one of those things you gotta see to believe,” he muses.
And Orion…he’s on the fence. Something in him, in that empty abyss where his sister should be, claws at his ribcage to go up to Pride to see Charlie and quell his insatiable curiosity now that he knows she’s trying to redeem the unredeemable.
But, on the other hand…
“What if…” He chews his bottom lip, the pearly whites of his fangs threatening to pierce skin and bleed ichor-flaked blood.
Asmodeus leans in closer, rubbing his back supportively. “Yes, little prince?”
“...What if all she sees is Mom?”
“Oh, dear prince,” sighs Asmodeus. “Alright, come on up here.” He picks up Orion from his chair and presses him into the crook of his neck. Orion curls up against his royal blue skin, wrapping his arms around the thin neck of the Sin of Lust. The little face in Asmodeus’ mane closest to Orion leans close to him, frowning mournfully.
“You are not your mother, just as Charlie isn’t your father. You may look like her, but neither you nor her are just like them. What you are is the product of their passionate love for one another. Something truly admirable,” Asmodeus soothes. “That’s what children are. Little bundles of joy that are the embodiments of the passionate love two souls share for one another. You each share aspects of your parents, sure, but you aren’t their carbon copies! Seven Hells, no!” Asmodeus laughs at the ridiculous notion.
Orion curls further up against him, frowning. “They always see her, though,” he murmurs. “The other Sins did. The Sinners themselves…they all see Mom and think ‘Why, he’s the perfect replacement!’” Orion mimics. “Like I share anything with her besides a face. Charlie’s the voice. And I just…stand there awkwardly.”
Asmodeus snorts. “An aspect you share with your old man, kid,” he jokes. But Orion doesn’t laugh. Asmodeus clears his throat. “Listen- you won’t know for sure how they react unless you try. Until you’re standing in front of them and letting them see your darling little face.”
“And if they react exactly as I expect them to?” mutters Orion.
Asmodeus shrugs the shoulder not holding Orion. “Well! Then you come running back to your Cool Uncle Ozzie. How ‘bout that?” He draws Orion away, meeting his eye with a fond smile.
Orion relaxes at the shoulders, nodding up at him. “That sounds great,” he sighs. He smiles up at Asmodeus. “Thanks, Ozzie.”
Asmodeus hums, sweeping back Orion’s honey blonde hair soothingly with his claws before cupping the side of the prince’s face. Orion leans into the touch.
The Sins have always been like an extended family to him. If he had aunts and uncles like humans did, the Sins would be that. Or even cousins, in some sense or another. There was no real general term to describe them — just that they were family. They were as close to him as his parents and sister were…though in recent years, the latter three have grown farther and farther away.
“Anytime, my Prince,” says Asmodeus smoothly. “Now! How about you finally get up off your ass and call your sister?” He exclaims.
Orion hesitates. “Er- well, I…” his eyes flicker down to the table before he smiles nervously up at Asmodeus, “...can I finish breakfast first?” He asks hopefully.
Asmodeus laughs delightfully, patting Orion’s cheek affectionately, then stops all at once.
“No.”
——————————————————————
Orion’s thumb hovers over Charlie’s contact, her icon beaming at him.
It was one half of a selfie they’d taken a number of years ago, when Charlie took him out to a circus in the Greed Ring. He can still see the backdrop of the tent behind her head, and remembers Charlie’s ever bright smile as clear as one can see Heaven shining in the skies above Hell.
Though Asmodeus left him alone in the peaceful walls of his guest bedroom, Orion still senses the Sin of Lust lurking just outside the door, waiting to see if Orion follows through on his promise to call Charlie.
And (ever begrudgingly so) Orion has never broken a promise with family.
Heaving a sigh, Orion squeezes his eyes shut and presses down on his thumb with his other hand, forcing it to make contact with the call button.
The phone begins to vibrate and ring, and Orion slowly raises it to his ear.
It’s picked up rather quickly, and Orion feels his heart warm. Did Charlie miss him that mu-
“MOM!?”
His heart drops.
Orion chuckles nervously. “Um…no,” he still says.
Charlie gasps on the other end, before her voice softens considerably, disbelief leaking through the line. “Orion..?”
“Yeeeaaaah,” he drawls, voice strained. Orion shuffles on his feet, shifting anxiously. “Sorry to, uh, disappoint?”
“Oh! No! Nono!” Charlie rapidly says. “Oh, my gosh, Orion, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to call you that- just I- I had just ended another voicemail for Mom when you called and your icons kinda look sorta similar so I thought- but I don’t-” she groans, “Iamsosorry..!!”
Despite himself, Orion laughs, however weak it is. “You haven’t changed, Chars,” he murmurs.
Charlie chuckles, too. “I should hope not!” She retorts.
Orion smiles against the phone before frowning. “Wait…did you say you were…calling Mom?”
Silence.
Orion sighs. “Charlie-”
“She might pick up anytime! You don’t know!” Charlie says defensively.
Orion turns and walks towards the grand glass window in his room, overlooking the Lust Ring. He cringes when he sees a phallic light-up sign in the distance and turns his back to it. Why does he keep looking out the window when the view will never change? “It’s been seven years,” he murmurs to Charlie. “Whatever business she’s on…if it’s important enough for her to leave her family behind for seven years, I don’t think she’s picking up any calls.”
Charlie’s quiet on the other end, and Orion purses his lips. “I- I’m sorry, Charlie. I don’t mean to bring you down. I didn’t even call you for that purpose. I just-”
“Wait…why did you call?” Charlie asks. “Who are you to tell me about Mom when you’ve been gone for the same amount of time!?”
“Well,” Orion stammers, “I’ve been gone about…two months less, so-”
“Oh, don’t you try and math your way out of this, Orion!” Charlie huffs. “You just up and left!”
“I- I couldn’t stay in Pride anymore, Charlie!” Orion cries.
“Why!?”
“You know why!”
“Orion, you know you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to! Dad would-” she cuts herself off.
Orion smiles bitterly. “We both know he doesn’t glance twice at anything in Pride,” he sighs.
“Including us” goes unsaid between the twins.
Charlie falls quiet. He hears her shuffling somewhere, a door shutting, before she speaks up again, her voice soft and more gentle, “...I’ve missed you, ‘Rion.”
Orion leans against the window, smiling sadly. “I’ve missed you, too, Char,” he murmurs.
“What have you been doing this entire time?”
“Uh…” he chuckles nervously, “...running away from my problems?”
Charlie sighs, but it’s an exasperatedly fond noise. “Have the Sins been treating you well, at least?” She asks.
Orion chuckles a bit more surely this time. “You know they are. I’ve been…hopping from Ring to Ring the last few years. I’m staying at Ozzie’s right now.”
“Oh, yeah? How is he?”
“Good. He’s the only Sin who actually managed to convince me to face my problems and talk to you.”
“Well, good on him,” chuckles Charlie. “Ozzie’s always been surprisingly good at talking about feelings.”
“I mean- he is kind of the Sin of Feelings, in a sense,” jests Orion.
Charlie laughs, a bright and lively noise, and it makes Orion’s heart swell to hear again. He slumps against the window in relief, leaning into the phone as if to try and absorb the noise more.
Stars, has he missed his sister. His other half. His twin spark.
He decides to parrot Charlie’s question back at her. “So…what are you up to? Ozzie said something about a…hotel?”
And that’s how Charlie immediately dove into explaining her Hazbin (formerly Happy) Hotel. A rehabilitation center for Sinners wishing to make it to the pearly gates of Heaven. Orion listens with an open ear, longing to hear Charlie’s voice after being apart longer than they ever have before. Even when their parents began living separately were he and Charlie never apart for longer than a few months.
It’s ironic. He’s the one who’s been dodging her for all these years and yet he’s the one who’s missed her more than anything.
“...and Vaggie and I are slowly finding every one of Angel’s drug stashes. We keep trying to get Niffty to join in, since she cleans the entire hotel from top to bottom and probably knows where they all are! But she seems to like us searching everywhere over and over again. I swear Angel keeps moving them, too! At least Husk is pretty dependable. He mans the bar.”
“You have a bar in your rehabilitation center?” Orion asks with a small, disbelieving laugh.
Charlie sighs. “I know, I know,” she says fondly. “Alastor is the one who added it.”
“Who?”
“Alastor! The, uh…” Charlie lowers her voice to a whisper, “...the Radio Demon.”
Orion shoots up. “You have who there!?” He shouts.
"He helps manage the hotel!”
“Yeah, no doubt prepping his next Thanksgiving dinner!”
“He hasn’t eaten anyone!” She exclaims enthusiastically. “...Yet.”
Orion drags his free hand down his face. “Charlie,” he wheezes incredulously.
“It’s fine!” Charlie assures him. “Really, it is! He’s been a great help around the hotel! And while he’s…not as enthusiastic on the idea of redemption as I am, he still helps out!”
Orion was speechless. Was his sister seriously vouching for the Radio Demon? The rabid beast of a demon that had the entirety of Pride in a grip of fear for decades? His disappearance had been a relief, had it not coincided with their mother’s departure. Now he was back — and as if that wasn’t worse enough than it already was — and living it up in his sister’s hotel? Planning stars’ knows what!?
“I’m coming up there immediately,” he groans.
Charlie gasps. “Really!?” She exclaims. And goodness, he can practically see the tiny stars of hope glittering in her eyes.
He smiles begrudgingly. “Yes,” he says. He frowns. “I’m going to make sure that demon isn’t planning anything sinister.”
“Orion!” Charlie whines.
Orion reaches out a hand, his several suitcases snapping open as his clothes and utilities float and fold into them. If there’s one thing he’s been practicing in his boring alone time the last seven years with the Sins, it’s been his magic. Asmodeus and Satan were both the greatest help with that. While he’s nowhere near as powerful as his parents, where Charlie’s power lay in her voice, Orion’s could, at the very least, be with the immense magical power gifted to him.
“Charlie,” he retorts. Orion purses his lips. “I just- I need to…get up off my ass, you know?”
Charlie pauses. “...Ozzie?” She asks.
“Ozzie,” he sighs. Orion turns away from his packing luggage, cradling his phone with both hands against his ear. “But it isn’t just that. It’s…seeing you. And making sure you’re okay! I should meet your friends, see your hotel…I can’t just hide down here until Mom returns,” he says.
‘If she returns,’ the darkest part of his mind whispers to him.
“I’ll wrap things up here at Ozzie’s. Give me…a week?” He offers the date hopefully.
“Yes!” Charlie exclaims. “Yes, Orion! Of course! Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone!” She squeals. “Razzle and Dazzle and KeeKee miss you so much! And you can meet Fat Nuggets, too!”
“Fat what?”
“Oooh, you’ll know when you get here!” Charlie giggles. “I’ll make sure everything is ready for you by then! The hotel will be decked out in full glam!”
“Charlie that really isn’t necessary-”
However Charlie, worked up as she gets herself, doesn’t hear him. “See you in a week!” She sing-songs before hanging up. Orion sighs and draws the phone away from his ear, looking down at her contact with a fond smile.
His chest hasn’t felt this light in years.
The door to his bedroom creaks open after a knock. Orion looks over as Asmodeus bends down to peer inside, his face openly curious. He takes in Orion’s smile and his lips curl up into one of their own.
“So?” Asmodeus asks knowingly.
Orion beams.
“I’m going home.”