Chapter 12

Withered Flowers

🔥🌹✨🔥✨🌹🔥

The soft and beautiful eerie sound of the violin could be heard throughout the room. The person playing the violin professionally move their hand that is holding the stick of the instrument on the strings of the violin that is leaning against their neck. Suddenly a knock on the door could be heard as they stops and carefully set down their instrument against a chair.

"Come in." They reply as the door opens up, revealing a beautiful woman. Her long light hair decorated her beautiful body and the halo on top of her head, "Mary!" They squeak, happy to see the lady.

"Marcy, I see you're doing well?" Mary smiles down at the short girl as she nods.

"Of course I am, Mary. I was just practicing my violin." She smiles, her golden eyes glimmering up at the woman. Mary chuckles,

"Weren't you practicing piano yesterday?" She asks, Marcy nodded.

"I've mastered piano too, it is my favourite instrument before violin after all." Marcy giggles, her voice sound like angels singing. "May I ask why you're here, Mary?" She asks, Mary smiles sadly as she walks up to the little girl and sits down on one of the chairs. Marcy did the same as she awaited the woman's answer.

"Darling, we found where she is." Mary smiles, a sad one. Marcy couldn't help but shot up from her seat as she stands on her tippy toes in happiness with the biggest and purest smile on her face.

"Really?!" She excitedly asks. Mary nods, not showing any sign of happiness or excitement for the shorter girl. Marcy's excitement quickly die down as she frowns a little, "Is.. Is there something wrong?" She asks, innocently.

"Dear - yes, there is something wrong." Mary says, as Marcy sits back down on her chair with a worried look on her face. "She's in hell, dear." She smiles sadly to the little girl, Marcy turned speechless.

"T-That couldn't be true! She never done anything wrong-!" Marcy cuts herself off as she looks at Virgin Mary. "Has she..?" Marcy trails off, a frown deeply craved on her lips. Mary slowly nodded.

"When you were busy with your work in your human life, she was in danger. Everyone wanted to take her life, it was like she was a gemstone that could bring it's holder anything they wished for. Humans are greedy, my dear." Mary slowly frown, Marcy bite down on her bottom lip as her head hangs low, she stare down on her heels. Her sky blue and dark blue ombre hair covering her face. "I'm sorry, dear." Mary says, as she holds out her hand and rubs the girl's shoulder reassuringly.

"I want to see her." Marcy suddenly blurt out, Mary widens her eyes.

"W-What?" She choked out. Marcy looks up as she stands up from her chair.

"I. Want. To. See. Her." Marcy repeats herself as she presses her tone on every word. Mary was too shocked as she turned speechless, Marcy quickly picked up her violin as she walks towards the door.

"Dear, however are you going to go down there?" Mary asks in panic.

"Heaven holds an extermination every year for hell, I'm going down there and I'm going there." Marcy makes herself clear as she walks out the door and leaves Mary in the room on her own. Silence enflunged the woman, Mary couldn't do anything but sigh and chuckles.

"Stubborn as always, that's why you're one of god's golden angels." Mary whispers to herself as she breathes in and out, the woman stands up from the chair as she follows Marcy out of the room - making sure that she doesn't do anything she may regret later on.     

"Who are they?" Alastor asks as the two sits on the old benches in the abandoned park. In his hand is the photograph from before, Melody sigh as she pulls her jacket close to her body.

"It's my friends and me." She reply as she looks off into the distance, seeing a brown set of swings nearby a giant old oak tree. "I miss them." She whispers out as she slouches over and hang her head low.

"Are they anyone that I may know about?" Alastor asks, Melody sits upright as she leans closer to him and points towards the tall girl on the right.

"That's Sin. She's one of my childhood friends, it's crazy how she'd end up in hell and meet me, too." Melody explain as she slightly smile but it seemed forced. Alastor chuckles,

"And who might this one be?" Alastor asks as he gestures to the short girl on the left with flowers in her hair. Melody instantly frown as she leans away and her eyes drop to the ground. Seemed like Alastor hit a soft spot,

"That's... Her. The one Lucifer been tormenting me about." Melody reply after a moment of silence. She suddenly pulls her legs up on the bench as she hugs her legs close to herself. "She's in heaven and I'll never meet her, it's better for her to be up there anyways. I'd never want to see her down there in hell." Melody mumble out from her burying her face into her knees. Alastor only watch the girl in silence as his hands suddenly feels cold as ice.

Melody suddenly jumps up from the bench as she sighs, Alastor stands up also as she turns away from him.

"We're going to the cemetery next." She spoke out as she walks off, leaving Alastor to walk on his own. The demon watch the girl for a moment as he looks down at the photograph in his hand, he puts it inside his pocket as he walks to catch up to her.

The walk to the cemetery were minutes of silence, the intensity was so thick that nothing could cut through it. For some reason, Alastor feels cold all of the sudden. His hands feels ice cold as he rubs them behind his back, Melody is tugging on her dark green jacket closer to her body as she continue to walk. A few more steps and a cemetery came into view, its very old too. The woman walks in through the old rusty gate as she walks up to the left side of the cemetery, she stops in front of two tombstones.

'John Anderson' and 'Katzuna Katzuki' are the names craved into the tombstone. Melody breathes out as she slowly inhale with her eyes closed. Alastor watch the girl from her side, this must be her parents' graves. It's still silent as all you could hear is the wind against the leaves on the trees. Melody did nothing as she stares down on the graves, her eyes sharp and Alastor could see disgust and hatred in her green emerald eyes as she glare down on the graves.

Alastor looks around as he sees an interesting grave, he walks over to it and looks at it. It's a grave with gates around it, looking like a cage for the grave as it have chains and padlocks all over the metal bars. His smile widens as he looks at the name,

'Kana Katzuki; Karma.' Alastor finds it interesting that the word 'Karma' is on the gravestone. Melody walks over to Alastor as she looks at him then the grave, her face turning blank.

"Is this you, dear?" Alastor asks, glancing down at the shorter girl. Melody nods, "Why do they call you Karma?" He asks again. Melody stays quiet for a second as she stuffs her hands into her jacket.

"My parents accused me of being a demon in hopes of money for exchange, I died and of course it was a lie. Karma got back to my parents as they die being slaughtered in their jail cells in a mysterious way. There's claws marks all over their corpses and their guts had spilled out." Melody explains with no emotion displayed on her face.

She stood still before turning to the side, looking off into the other gravestones. The girl suddenly walk off as Alastor took one last glance towards the grave that is in front of him before following close behind. Melody stops in front of a grave with withered flowers decorating all around it, seems like it's been there for some time now. Melody stares down at the grave. Alastor glances at her then at the name craved on the stone,

'Marcy White' is the name on it. Alastor looks at Melody as she already got the signal,

"It's her. She died because some stupid bitch shot her with a damn magnum. Jealousy is blind." Melody spat out the cuss word as she crouch down in front of the grave, she held out her right hand as a red puff of smoke appears - summoning a red rose. Melody sets it down on the grave as she stands back up, "Let's go back, the time on Earth moves slower than in hell. It's probably been a few hours." She says as she walks pass Alastor and off into the trees of the forest nearby.

Alastor watch as she walks away, not looking back at him as he rubs his hands that are now becoming a bit warmer now that she had walked away. Is it just him or does he feels physically cold when she is upset? Perhaps. And, is it just him or he sometimes just couldn't find the right words to talk to her. She's something like a puzzle that is impossible to decipher and figure out. The demon could feel like.. she's still hiding something within her. Something she's holding back so hard and not to let it out.

You could say, Alastor can see the fear in her blank eyes.

     Angel laughs as he throws another one of Cherri Bomb's explosives towards an enemy. Angel and Sin had joined Cherri in another turf war for fun, there wasn't much to do back in the hotel after all. On top of that, Melody isn't around to lecture the hell out of the two. But it doesn't mean she won't found out, that is if they can be careful about it.

Sin laughs like crazy as she could hear the demon they're fighting with, screaming in fear from the explosive. The three laughs along themselves as Sin stands up from the spot they're hiding behind as she summons magic from the skies and targeting down to the ground inside of a pentagram circle of it's target. She watch as her enemy jumps around trying to avoid it, they looked like they're dancing.

The space buns girl burst out laughing as she mentioned Angel and Cherri to take a look at it as the two of them laugh along too. After all of that chaos, they won and walk back to the hotel after parting ways with Cherri Bomb that said she wanted to cause more chaos in some other place. The two troublemakers wanted to join too but something tells them that Melody would be back soon so they had to go back.

"Damn, now I can't even go out without feelin' like I'm bouta' get eaten alive!" Angel Dust exclaims as the top of his arms crosses and the bottom holds his hips. Sin only chuckles,

"Mel just wants what's good for us." She says, remembering that Melody actually used to give a lot of advice to her back when they were still alive. Angel scoffs but then stops when he sees a guy standing nearby the hotel. Sin looks towards what Angel is looking at she sees a tall guy. His white hair glimmering from the red sky, rich red horns stuck out from his forehead upwards, his skin is grey and his eyes are black and red.

What he's wearing is a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, black jeans and there's a chain on the side of his jeans as a decoration. Angel whistles as he looks at him, the two walks up to the guy who's looking up at the hotel building in confusion.

"Hey babe, you lookin' for something?~" Angel Dust asks in a flirty way towards the male. The guy turns to him, his eyes are sharp and empty. It kind of reminded Sin of Melody. Sin would think this guy is Melody's sibling or something but as far as she knew, Melody was an only child in her family.

"I'm looking for someone. Is this the Happy Hotel that the princess of Hell is managing?" He asks, his eyebrows slightly raised. Sin nods, Angel chuckles as he moves closer to the male.

"You're lookin' for Charlie? Ya sure, you're not looking for me?~" He flirts again, only for the guy to just look at him in a bit of disgust. Sin presses her lips together in a flat line as she pulls Angel away from the other male.

"Yes, this is the Happy Hotel. Are you here to give a shot on redeeming yourself?" Sin asks, holding Angel who's a bit struggling to get out of her grips - which wasn't even that tough because she's not holding him too hard. The male quietly hummed for a moment, thinking.

"I guess I'd give it a try. Also, do you by any chance knows someone by the title 'Miss Karma'?" He asks, his red eyes flickering up to Sin's lilac one. Sin blinks for a second as she slowly nod,

"Yes I do, why are you asking?" She asks back in reply, his face looked relieved as he smile slightly.

"I been wanting to talk to her in such a long time, don't worry, I'm someone she knows about." He reassures, the male widens his eyes in shock as he remembers something. "Where are my manners, my apologies. My name is Akira, nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand, Sin take his hand in hers that feels ice cold against hers.

"Sin, nice to meet you too. And this is my friend, Angel Dust." Sin introduce herself and Angel who's giving the male a wink.

"I'm always open for a service for such a hot guy like you~" He adds in but Akira ignores.

"Here, I'll help you get in the hotel." Sin offers as Akira nods appreciatively.

"Many thank you's." He reply as the three walks up to the hotel and pushing the door open.

"Charlie! We have someone that's willing to rehabilitate!" Sin shouts, loud shuffling could be heard as the blonde haired girl runs out from the office room right into the lobby room and in front of the three. Charlie smiles widely as she holds out her hand,

"Oh my gosh, welcome to the Happy Hotel! You'll love it here!" She cheerfully greets, "My name is Charlie, nice to meet you!" Akira smiles down at the girl, taking her hand in his.

"Nice to meet you too, Charlie. My name is Akira, pleasured to be here." He greets back, Charlie smiles as the two shake hands.

"Please, come in! Make yourself at home!" Charlie says as Akira walks in and Sin closes the door behind her.

"Wait, may I ask you a question?" Akira asks, Charlie nods repeatedly. Still full of happiness. "Is someone here that is titled 'Miss Karma' works here?" He asks, Charlie thought for a second of who that is. Vaggie walks out with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Why should we tell you that?" She barks, Akira blinks in confusion for a moment. Suddenly feeling attacked.

"I'm an acquaintance of hers, just need to catch up with her on some things." He explains but Vaggie glares at him, still not convinced. Charlie walks up to her girlfriend as she rubs the girl's shoulder, reassuringly. Vaggie couldn't do much as she softens on Charlie's touch and puppy eyes.

"Fine. Yes, she does work here." Vaggie finally gave in, Charlie smiles widely.

"Please, tell us more about yourself!" Charlie says as she invites him to sit on the couches where Slither is sitting on and reading a book in his hand. Niffty quickly ran off into the kitchen and back out with teacups and teapots contains tea and coffee and setting them on the coffee table in the middle of the couches. Akira smiles as he slightly bow,

"ありがとうございました。(Arigatōgozaimashita / thank you (politely))" Akira accidentally blurt out as he sits down. Charlie gasps,

"You're Japanese too?" She squeaks out, Sin walks over to the couches as she joins in with Charlie, Vaggie and Slither on the couch. Angel is behind the couch Akira is sitting as he looks at him from behind.

"Ah, yes. I am." Akira clears his throat, getting his Japanese accent away. Charlie beams,

"Gosh, you're just like Mel!" She smiles, Akira raises his eyebrows on the mentioning of the name.

"Mel?" He repeated, Charlie nods towards him.

"Its what we call 'Miss Karma', we actually don't call her Miss Karma here." Charlie chuckles, "Oh, tell me about you and Mel. What kind of relationship are you with her or are you really just an acquaintance?" Charlie seems to be a bit carried away as Akira thank Niffty who poured coffee into his cup.

"Well.." He trails off. 

 

"I don't think I'm going to be used to that." Melody says as she stumbled a little from exiting the portal and back into the room in her house. Alastor walks out from behind her as he chuckles, seeing Melody getting a bit nauseous from the portal. "Ugh I'm gonna throw up what I just ate." Melody says as she leans against the wall. Before the two went back, Melody decided to drop by a café to treat her sweet tooth, Alastor couldn't do much as he tagged along.

Not like he can eat (not that he even wants to), due to him being dead/invisible and not liking sweets.

"Then, dear, you shouldn't have eaten that cheesecake." He commented as he smiles at her. Melody rolls her eyes,

"It was tempting, I haven't had cheesecake so let me live even if I'm dead." She says as she gets up from the wall and walks out of the room. Alastor shrugs as he follows her to her living room, "Wanna go back to the hotel and rest a bit?" She suggests as she opens the front door and looking at Alastor. The male hums,

"Sounds like a plan to me, dear." He nods, Melody nods back as she steps out and opens the umbrella to cover herself. Alastor walks out too but before he could close the door behind him - it closes on it's own and he can hear a faint sound of the door locking itself from inside. He quietly chuckle at how interesting it is as he walks down the porch and walks back to the hotel by the shorter girl's side.

   

"It was all just a big misunderstanding.." Akira mumbled out as he holds his empty cup of coffee in his hands. Charlie wipes away a tear from her eyes as she sniffs, having Vaggie rub her back in comfort.

"That is so sad.. You couldn't even say sorry to her." Charlie chokes out from her tears. Sin honestly still have no clue of who he actually is even if he had explained, but he looked like he's still hiding something.

Her thoughts are cut off when the front door opens, followed by two voices.

"Why did the mug filed a police report?" Alastor cracks a Dad joke, a female voice reply.

"Why?" She sound like she been chuckling a bit from minutes ago.

"Because it got mugged!" Alastor reply as he laughs, his radio static voice filling the room. Sin stands up as she sees Melody who's smiling slightly as she chuckles.

"Get that outta my face." Melody chuckles as she walks towards the backroom but paused when Akira stood up and looks at her. She stops as she looks at him, he looks at her back in return.

"Ka-" Melody holds up her hand as she looks away, not looking at his face.

"Don't." She says, everyone watch as the intensity in the room grew. Alastor looks at the white haired male with lidded eyes as he smile wider. "Just, don't even breathe my name." She breathes out as her shoulders tenses up. Melody finally turn to look at him but her eyes are sharp and one emotion is clearly displayed on her face and eyes,

Hatred.