Chapter Text
A swirl. A haze. Colors of red and feelings of falling. A poof.
And then here. What seemed like some large and fancy building, behind some storage. The atmosphere smelling of old and nice wood, the air warm and comfortable. Frantically looking around at my new surroundings, wondering where I was. It worked.. well kinda. It worked in some way, I didn’t think it would actually work. Cause wherever I was wasn’t that old house.
Trying to get a good look of where they exactly were. Looked like some old timey hotel. One of this fancy ones people paid a lot to stay at either cause it was haunted or for historical reasons. But the anxiety slowly settled in. I had no idea where I was. And I had nothing but whatever was in my pockets. Never got to grab what I had packed. Standing up to look around even more, but more frantic about it. Tensing and going rigid as I heard voices from the other side of the boxes. People . Arguing almost. Some loud. Some rude. Some just trying to settle things. I knew I should probably go out and ask for help but the arguing just didn’t help.
I didn’t even know if I could speak right now. My mouth just wouldn’t open to say anything, not even a whisper! What a horrible time to go nonverbal!
Backing up a bit towards the corner of the towering boxes. Wanting to feel hidden. Safe and alone from whoever these people may be, making sure to be quiet in my footsteps; I was good at that. Letting myself take a small and shaky breath as I neared the corner more.
But the sound of foot steps nearing got my heart beating fast. Holding my breath as to not be heard, hoping they would pass.
Though my wishes and hopes were not answered, as the sight of a tall man in red made himself clear. A large grin painting his face with razor sharp teeth, tilting his head slightly, almost curiosily. And most importantly… not human . Guess the demon part of the spell was fulfilled. Or what I assumed was a demon.
Struck with fear, not being able to move. Until he reached out his arm to grab mine, not able to react as he yanked me out from behind the boxes. Feeling my anxiety and panic rise even more as I was revealed to the group of demons.
“Haha! Look what I found hiding behind the boxes! Little darlin’ hiding from us! Though it seems they weren’t there before, how curious!” The man declared, his voice sounding like some sorta radio. But that wasn’t the most important thing on my mind right now.
Seeing the demons who were originally fighting stop and look wide eyed at me. Making me feel even more anxious with the attention on me. I wanted to fucking cry. Gaining some confused and shocked expressions from them. The man’s hand still gripping my arm. I felt to scared to pull away.
“..what the HELL?! Is that a child?! What the actual fuck did you do to-“ the yelling woman paused, glancing back over to me. Taking a step closer and narrowing her eyes. Gasping upon some sorta realization. “A human… a human cHILD?! WHAT. THE. FUCK?!” She directed her anger towards the man once more. “What did you do?” Her voice lowered to a growl, somehow having grabbed a spear that was nearby I guess. From somewhere. I didn’t know. It was getting hard to pay attention. My anxiety was rising and so was my panic. There was to much going on .
“Vaggie I don’t think you should-“ a softer voice I heard. One of the other lady trying to to put her hand on the angry one’s arm. Only for it to be swatted away.
The yelling and anger all just swirled into background noise. All drowning in favor of dizziness and numbness. The unforgiving heat and pain of a panic attack. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe! Is this how I die? Am I gonna die? Oh god, I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna I don’t wann-
“Hey ya doin’ okay, kiddo? Ya ain’t lookin’ so hot.” A soft voice said.
Snapping out of the haze to see another man bending down to my eye level. Inhuman, very spider like. His expression soft and concerned, one of his pair of arms resting on his legs since he was in some awkward squatting position. And despite his somewhat scary appearance, he was the most comforting thing at the moment.
Glancing around a bit, eyes teary. Seeing that the other man wasn’t holding my arm anymore. He was off a bit away being yelled at by the lady. Then back to the spider man. Feeling my eyes sting with that familiar feeling as I started to cry even more.
He seemed panicked for a second, reaching out his arms to place on my shoulders.
“Hey hey, it’s okay! No need to cry, I’m here it’s okay.” He tried to reassure, hearing his Boston accent come out even in his soft tone. His hands felt warm on my shoulders, his fingers long and claw like.
But that still didn’t help. The tears just kept coming back. And I don’t think that helped with his panic. “What’s wrong? Can ya tell me? Everythin’s gonna be okay uh-“ he paused for a second, glancing back over to the arguing group, then back to me. “How bout we try to move a bit away, yeah? Where it’ll be quieter, away from those bozos, yeah?” He gave a soft and reassuring smile, seeming to try his best. I nodded, still sniffling and letting out a few small sobs. He brought his hands up to wipe my tears, behind careful with this sharp claws of his.
Then getting up, standing at his full height. Wow, he sure was tall. I was like half his size. Though he leaned a bit in his stance, looking down at me, placing one of his lower hands on the small of my back. About to lead me away to somewhere quiet before the yelling was directed at him.
“And where do you think you’re going?” The woman with the assumed name of Vaggie directed towards him. Causing him to turn to the woman, his arm moving to be around my shoulder. Well, his other warm. He had like 4 arms, that’s a lot of arms.
“What? I’m just takin’ the kid away for ya! Not my fault that you fucks won’t shut up!” He rolled his eyes, letting out a scoff. One hand on his hip, making hand gestures as he spoke. “Can’t ya seen em? Poor thing’s shakin and you really expect me to keep em around your loud ass? Not on my watch, sweetheart.”
As upset and anxious as I still was, the spider man was kinda comforting. Maybe it was cause he was the only one here so far that actually tried to comfort and help me. And also who wasn’t yelling. I noticed he smelled faintly of perfume, smelled like some fancy one. I looked up at him, and then back to this Vaggie lady.
“What?! What do you mean what?! There’s a living, human child in the hotel! How can you be so calm?!” Her volume just increased my anxiety, flinching a bit and leaning more into the spider’s touch. He seemed to pull me a bit closer as I did.
“Cause the kid needs it! Ain’t nobody round here doin’ anything bout it!” He raised his voice a bit, giving me an apologetic glance for a quick second before looking back to Vaggie.
That of who seemed quite stressed and just trying to process the whole thing. Shouldn’t I be the most freaked out one here? Why was
she
stressed out about this? Seeing her give what seemed like a sorry look towards me, though quickly changing back to her annoyed expression towards the spider.
“Well, ugh, look-- We can’t just sit around here doing nothing while a human child is here, we need to figure out how they got here and what to do about it. Do you realize how dangerous this could be? For us
and
the child.” She said in a quieter voice, though it was still stern and sharp. Her eyes narrowed and glaring at him. She really didn’t seem happy about this whole thing, I wondered what her problem was.
“And just leave em sittin’ round here all by themselves and anxious? Yeah, no, that ain’t happenin’ babe. Ya really think that’s gonna turn out well?” Gaining another anger fueled reaction in response- well, what seemed to almost be one until the blonde lady gently touched her arm.
“Hey.. maybe Angel’s right, they don’t look that good.” she gave me a quick glance, then back to Vaggie. “We’ll figure it all out! I promise, but in the meantime let’s just let everyone calm down..okay?” Her hand was on her shoulder and her voice soft. A look of hope and concern in her eyes. And then she sighed, seeming to give in to the other.
“Alright.. But
you
--” She turned to the spider once again, who presumed the name of Angel apparently. “ I don’t trust you, don’t do anything weird or whatever to the kid,
or else
.” She threatened, pointing at him accusingly. To which he rolled his eyes and made a disgusted sound in response.
“Oh god, whaddya think I’m gonna do?! I’ma a prostitute not some creepy ol geezer. I swear if ya hadn’t-”
“Aaalright howabout we get you a room!” The blonde lady interrupted, clapping her hands and stepping up in between us and the other lady. “Uuuh, Angel, how about you take them up to your room while I get our new guest’s room ready!” She chirped, directing a smile at me. Her expression soft and welcoming. At least she seemed to be nice and comforting about this whole ordeal.
“Eh, yeah sure. Howabout it, kiddo? Sound good?” He looked back down at me with a slight comforting smile.
But I hesitated, all the attention on me making me even more nervous. Hands close to my chest as if I was trying to huddle up. Glancing from him, to the other ladies, and back. I gave a small nod, to which he seemed to like.
“Alright kiddo, just follow me.” He told me, hand still on the small of my back as he started to lead me towards a staircase.
____________________________________________________________________________
“Alright, there we go! Ya comfy?” He patted the bed, brushing off and throwing some of the clothes that dirtied the bed. Having been sat down on his bed with the help of him lifting me up onto it. Wasn’t my fault the bed was so big and I hadn’t grown much yet.
I stared at him for a few seconds, seeing how he still had to kneel down to meet my eye level. The expression on his face trying to not look worried in anyway. I nodded in response, watching as relief washed over his face. Then glancing around the room a bit. Despite the ultra messiness of what I supposed was his room, it was oddly… comforting in a way. Maybe it was because it was quiter here. Or maybe it was because it was a more closed in space. Either way I wasn’t crying anymore. My eyes just felt puffy and I felt gross from crying. Tired.
“Well uh, you can call me Angel. Mind tellin’ me your name, kiddo? It’d make it much easier to address ya.” He gave a small laugh, almost as if he was trying to lighten the mood. But I didn’t answer. I couldn’t speak. To hard right now. Only glancing down at my lap for a few seconds before back to him. Feeling kind of awkward and guilty for not being able to talk properly at the moment. “Not much in the mood for talkin’, eh?” Oh no, was that bad? “Not, not that that’s a bad thing! Don’t stress yaself just talk when ya ready, okay kiddo?” He tried to reassure me once again.
Though I still felt guilty. I wanted to be able to communicate with him since that usually helped situations. Well maybe..
I raised my hands, still a bit shaky. Though managing to sign to him my name. But all I got was a confused look in response, not seeming to understand. Well… it was worth a try I guess.
“Uuuh, whatcha doin’ kiddo? Tryin’ to throw some weird gang signs at me?” He let out another small laugh, trying to joke once again. Though his laugh fading as he saw my disappointed expression. “Hey hey, don’t worry kiddo. You’ll be able to speak soon, just do it when ya ready.” he told me. “How about in the meantime we go and help ya wash up? Splash some cold water on ya so you eyes aren’t all red and puffy no more.”
I nodded, sliding off the bed and placing my feet on the ground of the plush carpet. Leading him to get up to. His hand once again on the small of my back to lead me to the bathroom that was attached to his room.