"... and that's about it." Jane Doe spoke as she and Lincoln walked down the dirt road.
"So, what you're telling me is this place... is a some kind of, I don't know; a metaverse?" Lincoln tried his best understand.
"No, a metaverse would imply this is a digital simulated environment." She corrected, kicking a rock down the road. "This area is a metaphysical representation of a collective mass of living existence."
The boy pondered, not understanding.
"How can I make this easier to say?" Jane thought for a moment. "In the story you read when you first got to Hell, the one my book used to be, it said that evil made it's way into humanity. Well, this place is the 'evil' that exists inside the three humans about to kill you."
Lincoln muttered something under his breath before speaking aloud. "I think I understand. That family had a deep evil in their hearts. When I said, 'Dunjon Link', it must have sent me 'inside' their hearts where that evil can take a physical form." Lincoln inferred.
"More or less. Think of what you did as instigate a dungeon crawl like in those old video games." Jane gave a blasé regard. "Gotta say, this place has been pretty underwhelming. We haven't seen a single threat since we entered."
The devil-tailed boy looked around. "Wait, I think we've passed by this spot before."
"Oh, we have, we go about twenty feet then get sent back to the beginning." Jane kicked the rock really hard the time, but as it's flying through the air it disappears and hits Lincoln in the back of the head.
He turned around. "How do I get out?"
"You've spent almost of a fifth of your life playing games." She lifted her glasses and raised an eyebrow. "How do you get to the finish?"
Lincoln looked ahead down the road. "You have to play." He took a deep breath, then started walking down the road. "Wish me luck."
"Good Luck!" Jane Doe called, only seeing the back of Lincoln's head. "Oh, and when you see glowing teal, remember: 'Thwip' not 'Bang'" She flicked her wrist then made the finger pistol sign.
"What!?" He turned back to look, but saw that she was gone. "Thwip? Bang?" Lincoln knew the gestures, but wasn't sure what all it meant.
He continued down the road, hearing rustling in the distance but nothing happened. Cautious, he drew his his knife in his left hand. Lincoln continued at a slower pace to stay on the look out for anything dangerous. A minute later, something popped out in front of him from the trees; it looked like a hunched over child wearing tattered clothes, but on it's head was rabbit mascot's mask, and in it's hand was a girthy stick held like a club.
"Hello?" Lincoln spoke. "Are you friend, or something trying to kill me?" In a second, the creature ran towards Link flailing it's club. "I'll take that as trying to kill me."
Although this situation was peculiar, Lincoln readily fell back on his training. When it got close enough to striking distance, Lincoln took a step back and thrusted his knife into it's chest. The creature paused, and then disintegrated into a pile of ash. The little fight over, the winner checked his weapon; still clean.
"That was easy." Lincoln looked at the ground and saw the creature left something behind, an iron coin with a pentagram on it. "Left a drop? Must have been a mob. Which means..." Lincoln looked further down the road, this time three mobs like the one before appeared. "I got to fight more."
There was no clock, sunlight, or even weather where Lincoln was. But if he needed to put a number on how much time he felt passed, it be between one to two hours. Further he went down the road, the creatures he went up against increased in difficulty. At the start, they were the size of children using sticks; now, there are full grown adults using metal weapons. Each mob left a coin drop depending on how difficult they were; most were iron, but a few were bronze and copper, and even one was silver.
After much walking, Lincoln was now in front of a giant gate. It was like two front doors mirrored each other, and barricaded with giant planks of wood. The area was dark with only one torch mounted on the door overhead. Lincoln looked around but the door was unguarded, at least he thought. He felt it go off like a flash of lightning in his head; ducking to the left, Lincoln narrowly avoided the giant meat cleaver about to slice him in two.
Tumbling to a stop on his feet, he saw the gatekeeper. It was a behemoth of a man wearing blood splattered overalls a bear mascot head; in his hands were two giant meat cleavers that he handled with great proficiency. The mob rushed towards Lincoln at blitzing speed and began wildly brandishing his knives. Lincoln dodged a couple of times using the bobbing and weaving motions he learned from Millie
The boy saw his opportunity and went for a strike, but found it wasn't so simple. Going after the mob's side, Lincoln discovered that even if his blade can pierce its flesh, his body wasn't strong enough to leave meaningful impact. Caught off guard, Lincoln didn't notice the cleaver make an impact; leaving a deep, gashing slash right across the area below his clavicle.
He knew it was impossible to avoid being cut, but he knew he could weaken the impact by going with the blow and landing a good distance from the mob. Blood was rushing down his clothing, but he was more focused on how he'd survive this. His knife was sent another direction, leaving him unarmed. Not sure what to do, Lincoln closed his eyes and focused on his breath.
As if by second nature, Lincoln began picturing his surroundings in his mind, just like he did with his instincts training. It was different some how, now he could see the subtle differences in his surroundings; he could even see the mob coming at him. His magic was stronger, and this gave him an idea.
"Thwip' not 'Bang"
Jane made the finger gun gesture. Trusting his instincts, he did the same in the moment.
"Now, keep your back straight and both hands steady."
Moxxie's advice from before echoed in his mind. He imagined his hand was a pistol and he was getting ready to fire. Instead of only using his magic like a radar, he concentrated it to the tip of his finger.
"Don't aim for the target, aim for the smallest point you can see."
Lincoln waited for the mob to get closure, until it was only a few feet in front him. He focused on one precise spot on the body, the creature's solar plexus.
"And be ready, it'll try to push you down."
It was this moment or death. Lincoln opened his eyes at the moment of action and spoke one word. "Bang."
A beam of orange light shot from the boy's finger, going straight through his opponent's chest. After it went through, the mob collapsed on the floor and began turning into ash. Feeling the fatigue of using the undeveloped move, Lincoln dropped to his knees and panted. At the gate, the boards began to fade, signifying that Link was done for the moment.
"Finally." Having a second to relax, Lincoln got back to his feet.
Where the gatekeeper fell, Lincoln found three large silver coins and a silver bracelet. Taking the bracelet in his bloody hand, Lincoln felt his black blood react to the bracelet and his clothing. After the light show that came with his blood, Lincoln looked down and saw that his clothing was now completely white. Not only that, but the bracelet had integrated itself into the thigh holster and gloves. This led to the addition of a red band on his left glove.
"I hope Millie won't be too upset about this." Lincoln lamented.
"I think she'll be fine with it." Another voice, not Jane Doe this time, spoke. This time it came from the bracelet. "You feel me?"
Materializing from light pixels beaming from the red band, a tiny imp appeared. It's skin was like a carrot with horns that curled like a sheep; instead of the typical male and female imp horn stripes, this one had an argyle pattern. The imp was dressed in blue jeans with a white dress shirt under a red vest, around it's neck was a cow skull bolo-tie, and it was barefoot. From the imp's head was a pony tail of hair that was black on the right side and white on the left.
"Ya-hooo!" The imp, no bigger than two inches, cheered before cracking their joints. "Ah, it feels good to finally move!"
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Lincoln asked, watching as the tiny imp stood on Link's wrist.
"Hi, Champ!" They spoke. "I am... hmm, I want to say a name, but haven't got one." The imp pondered a moment. "I know! Call me... Mac!"
Lincoln stared, perplexed. "Mac? If you say so, butwho are you?"
"I'm your advisor." Mac saluted. "I'm here to help make your role as a King more easier."
"King?" The white-haired boy questioned. "I admit I was a Duke for a while, but never a King."
"I'm not surprised you don't know." The tiny imp walked up Lincoln's arm like a hiking trail. "You remember the chess piece lost the other night? The one you infused with your blood?"
Lincoln thought back. "I did. Wait, my piece didn't disappear?"
"No, when it came into contact with your free soul, your piece became one with you." Mac explained. "Oh, before we forget, say, 'Display Screen', this is gonna be fun."
"Display Screen?" Appearing to his side, a orange pop-up screen appeared.
"Ta da!" Using the boy's finger as a diving board, Mac jumped into the screen. "Check it out! Now I'm an AI!" Mac moved through the pop-up to the tabs at the top. "Looks like you got the standard. You have Inventory, Archives, Bank."
Following the sprite's instructions, Lincoln tapped each of the three tabs and saw the functions. Inventory was as expected, Lincoln could put objects into the screen and select them at will. The Archives was a record of spells the boy had seen, researched, or experienced; however, although he knew the spell, it didn't mean he could cast them as he is. Finally, Bank is where the coins Lincoln collected from the mobs became a currency called 'DC', and allowed him to withdraw funds after being converted into another currency. He deposited the three large silver coins he got from the gatekeeper, and they raised his total by over 120,000 DC.
"Safer than a regular back, am I right?" Mac was out the screen, now levitating closely.
The boy picked up his knife and threw it into inventory. "How does having the King piece make this happen?" Lincoln still found it a lot to absorb.
"Well, when playing chess, you kinda already the King." The imp guessed. "If the King is taken out, you lose. It's just that now, you went from being an outside observer to a player in the game itself."
Lincoln giggled. "Jane better have an explanation for all this." Knowing he'd have to continue to leave, Lincoln put his hand on the door, and it slowly opened. On the inside was a recreation of the room he found Moxxie in, only now the room was five times as big and the table was gone.
He walked to the center of the room, waiting for something to happen. His instincts went off and he knew something was about to drop from above. Retreating, the gate had closed shut, and in the center of the room was a two headed giant as big as a school bus. The larger head was a fox mascot while the smaller one was a beaver. In one hand was a proportionally big knife, and in the other was a revolver. And the monster wore a giant table cloth wrapped around its body like a toga, along with a pair of mismatched boots.
"Oh... crumps." Lincoln was not excited to see this. "I don't suppose you're willing to talk!?" He called out.
Angered, the monster pointed the gun at Lincoln.
"I should have saw that comin'."
This was a much,much more troubling fight than the one with the gatekeeper. For example, despite its size, the giant was incredibly agile. If Lincoln tried to attack a blind spot of one head, the other would react and go on the offense. Although he felt it was easier to move around compared to before, his attacks weren't making any dents.
"How am I gonna take this down!?" Lincoln retreated to a small hiding spot. "My knife isn't making a scratch, and if I used that 'finger gun' thing again it's all... over?" He turned to see the giant, and got an idea. "My weapons can't do anything, but those might."
Getting in the zone, Link left his hiding spot and darted towards the giant. He jumped high into the air and landed on the giant's boot, using knife as an anchor. From there, the boy climbed up the giant's leg until he was now clinging for life on its toga. Little by little, Lincoln climbed until he was directly between the two heads.
"Wait for it." He waited, then when each head got its weapon to ready to kill, he jumped. "NOW!"
At the moment it was time to act, Lincoln jumped off and crashed hard on the floor. Painful, but it was worth it when he caught sight of his plan unfolding perfectly. The devil-tailed boy knew he couldn't kill the giant with his own weapons, so he had the giant us theirs. If each head had the opportunity to kill the boy, they would take it; so Lincoln got right between them and let the two heads kill each other. The fox stabbed the beaver in the neck, and the latter shot the former in the brain. In no time, the giant now collapsed backwards on the ground.
"Haha, I'm glad that paid off." Lincoln weakly stood up, resetting his he could celebrate, the giant rose to its feet again but now with a two glowing, teal ovals on its chest. "Teal? Is that the heart, core?"
The boy recalled Jane Doe's advice. Trusting her, he did the 'thwip' gesture, snapping his wrist towards the ovals. To his surprise, he shot out a string of magic that made contact. With all his might, Lincoln pulled the core towards him; and after a brief struggle, he dislodged the core from the giant. As soon as it did, the giant turned into a pile of ash like all the mobs before.
Free from the giant, the ovals began growing until they took the forms of children. To Lincoln's shock, they were the target and her husband's kids. Once they were finished transforming, the kids rubbed their heads and staggered to their feet.
"Ah... wh-where are we?" The daughter spoke first. "Dash, weren't we... oh, God." Suddenly, she fell to her knees and began crying. "We did... all those people!"
The boy, Dash, made a similar expression. "Dinner... a-and furniture... Mama! Daddy!" He began sobbing as well.
Lincoln watched the two children break down, confused by their sudden change in personality. "What happened to them?"
Mac made an appearance. "I think, because this place is a representation of the evil in their hearts, or sometin' like it, what you did was kill the evil and left them with what's left."
"All the horrible things they did..." Lincoln watched the other children with sympathy. "That's not them any more, those are just scared children." Understanding the situation better, Link walks up to them and offers them both a hand. "Hi, we've met earlier. I'm Lincoln."
The brother and sister recognize the devil-tailed boy. Hesitant at first, Dash was the first one to respond.
"You saved ma sis." He spoke, recalling the fight. "Ya saved both of us."
"You?" The girl asked, hardly able to speak. "Why? Wh-why help us? We'd been so awful to ya."
They were right, and Lincoln knew it. "People make mistakes. The children who were trying to kill me and my team... the ones who did all that horrible stuff. That's not you two now."
Still sad and afraid, the girl accepted his assistance. "Thank you. I'm Julie, by the way; and this is my kid brother, Dash."
Lincoln gave them both a kind smile, then turned his attention to what the giant left behind. It was a small, plain treasure chest; he opened it and found his reward for freeing the children. Inside was a gold coin, a small glass bottle with mysterious liquid inside, and a piece of paper that had an interesting symbol on it. To him, Lincoln thought it looked very similar to the kind of symbols Alastor manifested. He collected the coin and bottle, placing them in his inventory; but when he touched the paper, it combusted into flames and they traveled up Lincoln's arm before dying.
Before he could question what happened, a sound came from across the room, showing a door. Curious, Lincoln and the other kids rushed towards the door, hoping it would be an exit. They weren't so fortunate, on the other side was another woods like the one before, but it was more ominous with eye symbols decorating the trees and burning stakes instead of torches. The children turned back for a second when the door closed then vanished; next, a trio of zombie like mobs appeared. Unfortunately, these mobs were adult sized with sinister farm tools and firearms.
While Julie and Dash gulped and cowered at the sight of these monsters, Lincoln sighed and shook his head. "It can never be easy, can it?"
It was a long journey for the kids. Good news, neither Dash or Julie could get hurt in this place. Bad news, Lincoln was not having an easy time surviving the mobs he was facing. More good news, that paper Lincoln found in the treasure chest awakened a new power in him.
Running towards a single mob, a zombie woman with an axe, Lincoln did the finger gun, or "Radio Pistol", which he figured out was done using sound waves to create blasts of force. Tuning down the output to a caliber that would do the job and not exhaust the boy, Link shot her arm off. With the mob 'disarmed', Lincoln made use of his new skill. Presenting the back of his forearm, Lincoln used his blood to summon a metallic chain that wrapped around the zombie. Pulling her in closure, Lincoln used his knife to take her head off. When the mob died, it left behind a bronze coin.
"I still don't understand how you do it." Julie inquired, tossing Lincoln the coin.
"I told you, I can create metallic objects with my blood." The devil-tailed boy explained.
"Do it hurt?" Dash asked, playing in a tree.
"Oh, it does." Lincoln admitted, rubbing his arm. "Every. Time. I. Do it."
"We've been walkin' a while." The tree boy said, falling down. "Where are we even goin'."
"If I had to guess, your father." The white-haired boy inferred, walking. "The more I see of this place, the more clues I collect. Compared to the trail to your souls, this is much harder. I think it's due to you age."
"Age?" Both brother and sister asked.
"This place is a reflection of the sins your family has committed in the real world. You two are younger, so compared to your father, you haven't accumulated as much." Finished talking, the kids approached a large clearing. "This must be where he is?"
"Lincoln..." Dash grabbed his sleeve. "Our Ma, is... she here?"
He looked away. "If your father did run back alone, I would say she isn't."
They both understood what that meant; they cried, but with their new found clarity, the kids understood their mother had to be stopped.
"Promise us." Julie spoke next. "If you can save our Pa, please. If you can't... we'll accept." She got a nod from her brother to confirm they were in agreement.
No further words were said, and Lincoln walked into the clearing alone. From the center, a giant fire arose and from the flames, a giant version of Ralphie walked out. Accept this one had more demonic features with red skin, horns, a tail, and a cow skull over his head. This boss had a giant rifle as his weapon.
Lincoln turned towards the reader for a moment. "Wanna bet I can beat this guy in record time?"
This time, the devil-tailed boy sprinted toward the boss. It was tricky, dodging the rifle blasts, but it was possible by a hair's width. Reaching the monster's feet, Lincoln used his radio pistol to take out the knee; and as mob Ralphie collapsed, Link used his new blood powers to make a pike that impaled the giant's head. Once that blow was dealt, Lincoln saw another soul appear, this one was red. Using the same trick he did with Julie and Dash, Lincoln connected to Ralphie's soul, and dislodged it from the boss' chest.
The fight over, the other children ran towards Lincoln as their father manifested. On his own feet, Ralphie looked around scared of where he was, but the sight of children shifted his attention.
"Dad!" They both hugged their father. "We were so scared!" Julie cried into her father's side.
Ralphie saw Lincoln, tears in his eyes. "I'm... I don't have the words." He looked down in shame.
Calmly approaching, the boy grabbed the man's hand. "Come on, I think it's about time to leave."
Lincoln went to the treasure chest left behind. To his amazement, it was packed full of gold coins; along with a strange, giant metal ring.
"That look's like a jailer's key ring." Ralphie commented. "Used to see um' all the time in westerns."
"If I have the key ring, then where is the key?" With his words, massive cracks of light appeared in the world that ran from the sky across the ground.
Lincoln approached the cracks, and orange light accumulated before him, forming a key. The key looked just like something from a western, only it was dark red, the teeth were peculiar, and the head was in the shape of a bird skull. The boy grabbed the key, and then fastened the ring through it. Unsure, Lincoln inserted the key into the open air and turned to unlock, a door formed that opened to the grey colored world Lincoln was before.
"I found our way out." The boy smiled. With no further words, the group left.
Lincoln opened his eyes, finding himself exactly where he was before. Before him, the family of three and looked at each other in shock, then again at the boy. Realizing what happened, the humans dropped their guns.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Moxxie ran in, his rifle ready to fire.
"MOXXIE, NO!" Lincoln got between them and his teammate. "It's okay." He then faced the humans. "They aren't are enemies anymore."
Breathing easier, Ralphie was the first to speak. "Boy, you mind explainin' what happened. I'll go make us some tea."
Lincoln shared a look with Moxxie, waiting for the imp to say if it was alright. "Yeah, I could use a cup." Moxxie allowed.
"Satan Dammit!" Blitz was bored from waiting on the hill. "How long can it take to check to see if the kid's dead or not?"
"I'm worried too." Millie added, pacing. "Maybe I should go down to see."
"Nah, if Lincoln's dead, Moxxie will have those inbred assholes six feet under. If the boy's alive, then the same thing." The boss of IMP got his phone out. "Loona, open the portal. Yeah, the target's dead as fuck, call the client after we get back. Also, Mox and the kid will be staying a while."
The portal opened and Blitz hopped in. "You comin' Mills?"
Millie looked back at the house. "Nah, I'll wait out here." She shrugged, taking a seat while the gate to Hell closed. "I got faith in your boys."
At the red house by the lake, Lincoln and Moxxie were having some tea with Ralphie, Julie, and Dash. Link explained how he freed the human souls from their sins, and now they were able to understand reality of their actions. The grown ups knew that things had changed now, but both Ralphie and Moxxie understood that responsibility needed to be taken. The dad sent the kids to go play outside while the imp helped him make a call, to the police.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Moxxie asked. "You could just say demons forced your family. Humans already don't like us."
"No." Ralphie refused, washing the dishes. "This is about more than truth, or justice, or anythin' like that. It's about taking responsibility for my crimes, so I can teach good character to my little ones."
Moxxie shed a tear. "You are a brave man, Ralph. I'll get the phone." Moxxie picked a device up and pushed a button, but it turned on the TV.
"Universal remote." The human father got his cellphone out and made the call. "I got it for the kids."
"Oh, well that's thoughtful."
Outside, the kids were playing catch with a baseball that Dash found on the lake shore. While they played, Lincoln and Dash found common ground in a shared interests that led to a heated debate.
"You actually think David Steele would lose against Rip Hardcore!?" The white-haired boy questioned.
"Do doubt!" Dash said, frankly. "Rip is the master of environment control!"
"David Steele was trained by the most skilled experts in the world! Granted, Rip could win say... 1 out of 10 fights."
"Exactly, ONE, because after one fight, there is no more."
As the children continued playing, Moxxie called out. "Okay, time to come in!"
When Dash and Julie made their way inside, Lincoln saw police lights in the distance. To keep the peace with the authorities, the boy turned back into a human. Inside, Ralphie bent down and hugged his kids; the father then spoke something softly to them, and by the brother and sister's reactions, it was not pleasant. The two siblings then gave their father a big hug and the family of three turned to face the two members of IMP.
"You two should get movin'." Ralphie advised. "Some real hell will be raised if the cops get whiff of demons."
Moxxie left out first, but before he left, Lincoln offered a handshake that the man accepted. "I am truly thankful, I got to meet your family."
Heading out the back door, the boy gives a small wave to them. Julie hugs her teddy bear while returning the gesture, Dash tosses Lincoln the ball they were playing with, and Ralphie gives a big, somber smile as he takes his kids in his arms. Before their guest leaves, they give him a small wave; then the explosion came.
He wasn't sure how long it had been before Lincoln came to. When he awoke, he was at the edge of the lake and there was an intense ringing in his ears. To alleviate that pain, he turned into his demon form before standing up. To his horror, when he looked back at the house, it was nothing more than smoldering remains.
"No." He softly spoke.
Running to find survivors, the boy lifted up a burning beam and found Dash and Julie; that is, he found the charred remains of the brother and sister. Close by, he hears their father coughing and goes to the man's aid. Lincoln pulls him from the debris, onto the sand outside.
"Ralphie? Sir, are you alright?" Link knew it was a foolish question. He looked down and saw the man was nearly burned to death.
"Ah..." He opens his eyes to the boy. "Ma, ma kin?"
"Julie and Dash, they're..." The devil-tailed boy didn't answer. "It's okay, you'll be alright."
Ralphie wasn't fooled, he looked into the sheer terror in Lincoln's eyes. "No, I'm a goner." Using all the strength he had left, the man cleared his throat and face the boy. "Don't cry over us, Boy. Be... better than... a killer."
He held the man's body for a while, until Moxxie and Millie found him and picked the frightened child up. "Lincoln? LINCOLN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" The first one to check on the boy was Millie, then she got her phone and called the boss. "Blitz, we need a portal!"
At the IMP Office, Blitz had organized a small party to celebrate both the target's death, and Lincoln's joining the company. While the man in charge got the cake ready, Loona opened a portal for the rest of the team to return while Mrs. Mayberry sat on the waiting couch, smoking. A minute later, M walked in with a downcast Lincoln.
"There they are!" Blitz sauntered over and hugged his team. "The two sexiest imps who aren't me, and our new assistant! Tell me, did you tie up loose ends?"
"We did, Sir." Moxxie answered. "The target is definitely dead... as well as any witnesses."
"Good!" Mrs. Mayberry stood up. "I'm glad that BITCH got what she had coming! She ruins my life, and made out like-"
Cutting the client off, Lincoln walked up and punched her in the face. "You..." The animal was let out of his cage, and now the young boy was whaling on the former teacher like it was a gang brawl. "You're responsible for all this!"
Once Blitz got the boy off Mrs. Mayberry, the teacher angrily stood up and yelled. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THIS CHILD!?"
"Me?" Lincoln asked rhetorically. "I CAUSED THOSE DEATHS! NO, YOU DID!" He accused the teacher.
"Woah! Easy now, Link!" Blitz tried to reign him in. "So a family lost a mom... THEY'LL GET OVER IT!" He sounded remorseful for a moment, then Blitz doubled down on his anger.
"NO, THEY'RE DEAD!" The boy revealed. "Martha! Ralphie! JULIE AND DASH! THEY DIED BECAUSE THIS...BITCH HAD TO KILL SOMEONE!" Lincoln walked up to Mrs. Mayberry. "I overheard your 'tragic' story. Yes, you caught your husband with another woman; BUT THAT WAS THE ONLY THING THEY DID TO YOU!"
Seeing a child so angry at her, left the Sinner woman speechless. "I... they..."
"It was you who ruined your life." Pointing an accusing finger. "You hurt a student who tried to reason with you. You killed your husband. You traumatized your own students. And when you couldn't live with the realization of what you did... you killed yourself. Instead of facing the consequences of what you did LIKE AN ADULT... you ran away. Now, targeting a woman whose only crime against you was adultery and surviving, you hired us to kill her. She was a horrible woman, I know that; but the reason you sent us was to kill a wife and loving mother of two, is because you couldn't stand thatshe was happier than you." Furious, Lincoln pulled out anything he hand in his pocket and threw it at her. "You aren't a teacher, a victim, or even a person... you're weak."
The rest of party watched as the fully white child left the headquarters. Awkward, nobody said a word until Blitz ate a bit of the cake. "You know... I think this is stale."
Needing a place to cool down, Lincoln went upstairs and sat on the ledge of the roof. He knew it was foolish, growing attached to those people. They tried to kill him and the rest of IMP, but that was before he went to the dungeon. He convinced them what they did was wrong, and they were ready to accept responsibility for those actions. Lincoln understood them now, that they were people. Sitting on that ledge, he finally understood why Charlie was adamant about redeeming Sinners; because people can be redeemed when given the chance.
"Hi, Lincoln." Walking up next to the boy, Moxxie greeted. "Are you... I was about to ask if you were okay. Isn't that stupid?"
Lincoln giggled. "A little." He looked at the sky. "Do you think I was stupid? Helping that family, mourning their deaths, going off at the client?"
"No." Moxxie didn't know where his courage was coming from. "Having empathy doesn't mean you're weak, it means you have enough strength you think of someone besides yourself. I wished I learned that lesson at your age."
The boy turned to face his coworker. "When did you?"
Moxxie thought back. "I'd say, in the last few days. It began when a lost little boy found his way into Hell, and he chose to forgive me and my friends for getting him killed. And my lesson ended today, when I saw that same boy choose to save a man and his children, instead of killing them."
Walking up and taking a seat next to Lincoln, Millie joined the conversation. "I'd say there was two lessons learned today. Lesson one: Killin' people is fine, so long as they try to kill you first."
This time, both the boys joined Millie in a laugh. "What's the second?" Link asked.
"Lesson two: You could search through all Hell, and never meet another kid as special as you." Millie tussled the boy's hair.
"Hey, can I get in on this!?" Blitz appeared, draping an arm over Lincoln's shoulder. "Consider yourself lucky, Partner. You're little outburst encouraged Hot for Teacher to give us a bigger payout."
The tallest imp's choice of word didn't go unnoticed by Lincoln. "After everything that happened today, you're big take away is you got paid?"
"Abso-FUCKING-lutely!" He declared. "Be proud, today you become the official business partner of BLITZ, founder of IMP!"
Lincoln held back his chuckling. "That reminds me... Boss. I happened to make a little extra money during the mission." Lincoln went to the bank feature, and pulled out the value of one gold coin in Hell's currency. "I'm still new here, how much is this worth?"
In the boy's hand was a stack of souls, Hell's currency, in the hundred denomination. Excited, Blitz swiped the money and ran his fingers through it. When the others saw him, the boss pocketed the money and acted nonchalantly.
"Hm, I guess it's a little something." Blitz backed away as Loona walked up, then ran away.
"Here." The hellhound handed the boy a piece of cake. "Figured you would be hungry, and we don't need a social worker finding your body in the breakroom."
Famished, Lincoln scarfed the cake down in one sitting. "Thank you, Loona."
"... Whatever." The young woman left.
When the IMP receptionist left, the final visitor was a forlorn Mrs. Mayberry. "Hello... am I interrupting?"
"No." Lincoln got up and walked towards her.
Both them exhaled and spoke the same thing. "I'm sorry."
The two of them looked at each other confused, but Lincoln was the first to speak. "I didn't have a right to say all that. I was just angry about what happened with Dash, Julie, and their dad."
"No, no, you didn't say anything wrong." Mrs. Mayberry admitted. "I did ruin my own life." She began to softly cry. "You demons can go to Earth. I could have sent a message to my class, I could... I was just so angry, I didn't care who I hurt just as long as they were as miserable as me in the end."
Moving in closure, Lincoln offered a hug that the former accepted. "It's funny, Martha and Ralphie's kids, their names were Julie and Dashiell; I think if you had them in your class, they would have loved you."
"You're right." She laughed a little. "It is funny. Before I leave, I want you to..." Mrs. Mayberry checked her pockets but couldn't find it. "I picked up what you threw at me but... forget it, just promise me you'll stay safe."
"Thank you... What is your name again?"
She laughed. "It's Jill, stay safe, Lincoln."
"You too, and remember, if you ever want to better, the Hazbin Hotel is always open."
Jill smiled, considering the possibility of redemption.
After a long day, Lincoln could finally unwind, and ended up collapsing on the roof. Concerned, the imp couple ran up check on the boy; to their relief, Lincoln was just exhausted. Unsure of how to handle it, M decided it would be best to bring the tired child home with them instead of risking portal travel to the hotel. Having Blitz drive them home, Moxxie piggybacked the tired Sinner up the stairs to their apartment. Overtaxed from his day, Lincoln was barely conscious from it all.
"How am I tired?" Lincoln asked, drooling a little. "I've been up for only three days... I can..." His mind was coming and going.
"Three days?" Millie spoke softy as Moxxie placed the boy on the couch, removing some of the nearby weapons. "Looks like this worker bee needs to rest."
Helping the boy, Moxxie removed Lincoln's shoes and uniform. Having only one bedroom, Millie got the spare blanket they keep in the closet and some spare pillows. Tenderly, the couple set their young guest on the makeshift bed that is their couch. The dark-haired imp tucked him in while her husband looked for something to add, deciding on giving the boy a stuffed animal from the closet. Millie saw Moxxie chose the hellhound plushie and gave him the thumps up.
Semi-conscious, Lincoln caught the couple's silhouettes as he fell asleep. "Thanks, Mom and Dad."
Those words said, both Moxxie and Millie had different reactions to being called that. Millie went star-eyed as she quietly jumped for joy; meanwhile, Moxxie went petrified as he recalled his own childhood, especially the moments with his father. Not wanting to disturbed the child's sleep, Millie hastily pulled her husband out the room.
It was nearly sunrise, and the white-haired boy was still passed out on his coworkers' couch. Turning on the couch, Lincoln's hand began glowing intense orange light, waking the boy from his sleep. His eyes went to the back of his hand, seeing an orange symbol of a king's crown. Curious, he clenches his hand into a fist, causing two orange masses of light to appear overhead. When they finished forming, the unidentified masses fall on the ground behind the couch.
"WHO THE FUCK IS IN MA HOME!?" Breaking down the bedroom door, carrying a battle axe.
Lincoln saw the two intruders; one of them was Jill, and the other was a sinner woman with red skin and pitch black hands, grayish-purple hair with red highlights, and her right eye was missing. Although he never saw this Sinner before, her features looked similar to someone he saw earlier today.
"Wait... MARTHA!" He now understood, this other woman was Martha as a Sinner.
"You!" The formerly living woman got to her cloven feet.
"YOU!" The former Mrs. Mayberry, seeing the woman she paid to have killed, attacked her. "YOU HUSBAND FUCKING WHORE!"
The two women got into a fight that nearly wrecked the imp couple's apartment. Angry, Lincoln yelled at them. "Stop!"
Instantly, the two were paralyzed. When the boy and his friends moved in to get a closure look, Lincoln saw they had similar marks on their hands; accept while his was a King, theirs's was a Pawn.
"How the Satan did these two know where we live!?" Moxxie panicked.
"I don't know, but breaking in will be THE LAST MISTAKE THEY MAKE!" Millie was ready to kill the Sinners, but Lincoln got between them.
"Wait! I think... I summoned them here." Lincoln faced Jill and Martha "Proceed." Like nothing happened, the two were able to move again. "Wait, did either of you pick up a chess piece. White with bits of orange, specifically a Pawn?"
Anxious, the two women could only nod their heads.
"Oh no... I think this is my fault."