(A few hours after Chapter 3)
…..
It was now daytime, and Noir woke up first. He glanced at everyone, they were still asleep, but he didn't see Twilight Sparkle. He looked around his cabin, spotting her near the fireplace, holding his journal.
*Sighs*
He got out of bed and headed over, seeing what page she was on.
'Hmm, Entry 41… must have studied and probably memorised this page… good for her.' He took the book, closing it while seeing the new asleep Twilight. He smiled softly before heading to his desk, placing the book where it belonged.
He took his sword, ready to start his day, he needed to hunt more food, which meant more meat, and probably some plants for Luna and Twilight Sparkle. He also needed to be sure no new Mimic Nest's were nearby.
As he was about to leave, someone called out his name. "Noir?" He turned to find the source and saw Twilight right behind him.
"Shhh, go back to bed Twilight." Noir told her.
"Where are you going?" Twilight asked.
"To find food. I can supply endless water, but food is necessary to survive…" He turned his back and headed out the front door, but Twilight walked after him, "wa-wait! Let me come with you!" She begged.
"Hmm?" He turned to meet her gaze, "no. It's too dangerous for new survivors." Noir said before walking away.
Twilight kept insisting she could be useful, and Noir kept saying no. After a few rounds of "please let me come" and "no", Noir finally cracked and agreed she could come, but under the condition she stayed near him, for her own safety.
Twilight agreed and they headed off…
…..
Meanwhile, the others had woken up, and Lute pointed out how Twilight and Noir were gone. Adam probably guessed they went hunting as Noir's sword was also gone. Luna was a bit worried for Twilight as the forest was filled with monsters, but Adam reassured her that as long as she stayed with Noir, she was fine….
"Ok, while he's gone, I need to say something." Adam said to the 2 girls, "Noir said he came here, but before that, he was heading to Charlie's hotel, which I remembered was called the "Hazbin Hotel", not the "Happy Hotel"."
"So what are you saying Adam? That that the time here is also fu*king weird?" Lute said.
"Language!" Luna told them, which made Lute a bit mad, but Adam ended it before it could start.
"Sorta, yeah. I thought about it while I rested, but he said he was here for 100 Years, and that brats hotel started… I guess after the first extermination, which was for 7 years… give or take a few months." Adam paused for them to take the info in.
"So, my theory is that his ratio of time from here to our hell is 100:7 or… what's 100/7 Lute?" Adam asked, to which she gave the answer. "Thanks, so it's around 14~15 Years there to 1 Year here, so a 14-15:1 Ratio" Adam finished his explanation.
Lute and Luna argued about other reasons, when Luna said something else, "if that is the case, then why does he look so young?"
"That, I can answer," Lute said, "Angels and Demons don't really age, unless you're a Heaven or Hell Born, but that ageing rule doesn't apply to Winners, Sinners, Arch-Angels, etc, do you understand Luna?" To which Luna shook her head in acknowledgement….
After more discussion, they came to a vote: Adam or Lute would tell Noir about what they found out, and in return, would ask to read his journal.
Now… all they had to do was wait for Noir Void and Twilight Sparkle to finish their food-hunting spree…
….
We see Noir and Twilight together, Noir holding his sword tightly, while Twilight carries their bags. They collected some plants, herbs, and are now looking for meat, preferably Rabbits as Noir added that they tasted great in soup.
Twilight wasn't disgusted like what Noir thought, to which she explained how Omnivores were common on Equus, to which Noir asked a series of questions about Luna's and Twilight's home world: Equus.
…
"I see. So your teacher, "Celestia", can raise the Sun? All on her own?" Noir asked Twilight. He was a bit fascinated about Twilight's world and how it works.
"Mmmhmm!" She nodded. They continued to chat until…
*SCREECH!!*
They both paused their chat. Noir told Twilight quietly to follow behind him, to which she nodded to…
After walking a bit, Noir and Twilight saw a Mimic's nest. They hid inside a large bush, so as to not be seen.
Noir looked completely blank, watching the Mimics eat a few people. Twilight was utterly disgusted and wanted to vomit. Noir told her to keep quiet, which she did without question.
"Hmm… three unlucky ones… a pointy-eared female, a male but with some animal features, and… a pony." Noir whispered.
Twilight was now both frightened and feeling weak in her stomach. "They…. Oh, that is messed up on so many levels!" She said, now more disgusted.
"Hmm, yes, I also thought that the first few times. But after a while… you tend to adapt to these kinds of things…" Noir kept looking, surveying the area.
"I-That pony… I knew him… he was a guard at Canterlot Castle! What-what is this place!" Twilight wanted to run, but Noir stopped her.
"This forest takes in random beings from across different worlds, whether you're insignificant or very important, "it" takes them all. And I'm sorry for your loss there… he seemed like a good…. Is Stallion the word?" Noir tried to comfort Twilight Sparkle.
"Mmhmm…" she nodded slowly… she hugged Noir, crying after seeing one of her own kind get eaten… and their corpse being messed with.
*Shing!*
Noir slowly took out his sword, to which Twilight asked what he planned to do!
"Simple: gotta kill'em." Noir said bluntly before starting to leave the bush.
"But-" Noir already left, slowly making his way towards the Mimics….
"2…4….8….10 Mimics… quite a small group… gotta draw more out after this." He said to himself. Noir made his way more quicker, which the monsters heard.
*SCREECHED!!!!*
They saw him… and Noir stood where he was… ready for a blood bath….
*Snap!*
Noir snapped his fingers and summoned a few fireballs, ice-spears and thunderbolts behind him. He pointed at the Mimics and the attacks went towards them, piercing some, burning some, and turning some into burnt meat.
Noir counted 6 were killed instantly, and the rest rushed towards him. He didn't waver and pointed his sword.
The first one tried to slit his throat, to which Noir effortlessly sliced the Mimic in half. The other 3 Mimics tried to make a run for it, but Noir summoned a large Light-Spear, which he sent towards them, piercing their heads one by one…
He walked towards each corpse and held his word out, "Absorb" to which the sword shines. It absorbed the surrounding souls in the area, he held his head, like he was in pain for a second before letting go and sighing.
*Sighs*
"An Elf huh? A Beast-Men and the Pony… a Unicorn who worked for Princess Celestia… turns out, this pony was the one who greeted her every time she entered the castle… sad to see him go…" Noir sighed again before burning the corpses, "hmm… Elf's… Beast-Men… can't remember seeing one before, maybe my memory is starting to slow down… oh well."
Noir made his way towards Twilight, who asked what he just did.
"I just absorbed the souls of the dead, that's all little pony." Noir said before sheathing his sword….
The duo continued their journey, but not before hearing more screeches in the background. Twilight closed her ears, hoping to not hear those awful noises.
"You gotta get used to it, also, can you ponies eat meat?" Noir asked. He could find vegetables for them, but they were rare to come by.
"Normally, no. We ponies prefer plants as our main source of energy… but desperately, when there is nothing else… meat is the option we go for…." She sighed before continuing their walk.
"I see… we can still-" Twilight cuts him off.
"Why did you burn all those bodies? You could've, I don't know, bury them? Respect the dead?" She snapped at him.
Noir looked at her and stopped, "look, I don't know why I should. If I bury them, monsters would come and dig them up minutes later, and feast on them once more. Better to stare those fu*kers whenever I can. Plus, I need to leave a warning." Noir sternly said.
"A… warning?" She was not confused. Noir replied, saying how whenever he goes out, he always checks his local area for any nests, and when he finds some, he destroys them, killing them and burning the bodies. The older ones know not to come near… but the younger ones don't. So, he repeats this process, over… and over…. And over…
Twilight looked down, hearing Noir's explanation and understanding what he meant. "I didn't know you did all that… and, everyday?" She asked, more curiosity.
"…." Noir paused before saying, "every being here reproduces fast… I don't write it down, it's just something to remember.
Twilight looked confused, "but, you did write it down. Entry 135, it's mentioned briefly there. You-you can't remember, can you?" She looked a bit sad at Noir. 100 years can change anyone… even affect their memory by a large margin… especially in a place like this…
"Oh… I see, thanks for reminding me, Twilight." He walked a bit faster, "now come on, let's get our food and head back before the sun goes down. We shouldn't be out here by then.
Twilight agreed and walked at Noir's pace, going to gather food…
….
It was almost nighttime, and the duo had returned. Noir was seen holding a few rabbits, while Twilight was seen levitating some more rabbits. They arrived at the cabin and Noir opened the door, only to see Adam, Lute and Luna waiting by their bed-sides.
They heard them enter, and before anyone could say anything, Adam spoke up.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr Purple himself. Tell me, why were you both gone until near Night?" Adam asked.
"Oh," she showed the rabbits, "hunting for food. I heard from Twilight here that ponies can eat meat as well, but not commonly. Plants are rare to come by here, edible ones at least…" Noir said, placing the dead Rabbits on his table.
Everyone except Twilight and Noir looked disgusted a bit…
Noir prepared the rabbits with ease, mainly so everyone could watch, and he made rabbit soup. Adding his herbs and spices to make it taste better.
Surprisingly, no one complained, except Luna, who said she wouldn't eat, but Twilight convinced her otherwise.
After their meal, Adam asked Noir, "hey man? Could… could we tell you something we learned?"
Noir looked at him with confusion and asked him to say it.
"Well… turns out, every 14-15 or so years, was one year back in hell… remember the "Happy Hotel" you told me?" Adam said.
Noir connected the dots instantly and realised that only a few years had passed back in hell, to which Lite corrected him, saying it was 7 years back there. Noir paused for a minute, letting the information sink into his mind…
After what felt like hours, which was 5 minutes, Noir thanked them and headed to his desk, but Luna stopped him.
"Noir… I hate to ask, but could we-" Noir cuts Luna off. He holds his journal and hands it to her.
"Here, read however much you want. Just don't tear the pages and lose the book… That's all I have to remember…" Noir couldn't finish his sentence and left his desk. Everyone watched him go to bed and sleep.
Noir pulled in his blankets that covered his face so that no one could see him cry in his sleep…
"So… shall we get to readin'?" Adam proposed. They all agreed and Twilight opened a Journal Entry….
*Ahem!*
Twilight started, "Entry 60: "It has been 2 Years since I got stranded in this place. I learned, I survived, I suffered, I lost, I gained, I almost died a few times… but overall… I want out. I want to escape this place, I want to leave! I WANNA GO BACK! HELL! I WOULD RATHER GO BACK TO HELL THEN TO THIS DUMP!! I CAN'T SLEEP PROPERLY AT NIGHT WITHOUT ALWAYS WORRYING ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HARM ME WHILE I REST! I WOULD DO ANYTHING TO LEAVE! I WOULD SELL MY VERY SOUL TO LEAVE!!"" Everyone paused, Luna and Twilight shared a few tears, Lute commented how desperate one can be to even suggest giving up their soul. But Adam said, "if I were him… I would do the same. Being stuck in this… forest, being surrounded by creatures that I can't kill without going all out, and Noir there," they all turned to face him, still covered by his blankets, "was able to last a very long time without… completely going insane. If I had to say anything, he might be the only sinner… I would ever respect. Hell! I would even go as far as to make an exception to the extermination, just for him! If… we get out of this place that is…" The whole room went quiet…
"Alright, shall I continue? This entry is about Noir's encounter with a group of people, people who got stranded here." Twilight suggested. They all agreed and she began to read.
"Entry 75: "I met more travellers here, they only stopped, talking around a fire. I greeted them, and they were pretty friendly to me. We chatted for a bit, the female's name was Mary Silk, she was 17 Years old, the first male was Zonk Tank, he was 18 years old, the other male was Mox Wood, around 17 Years old. They all told me how they got here, Mary said she blinked for a second and appeared here. She was scared at first until Mox and Zonk found her, and decided to team up together. Zonk and Mox were old school mates and were on a trip to CampEverfree, the boys were from Canterlot High School, and they told me some tales of a group of girls, seven of them, who could use magic, defeated She-Demons, world ending threats, some students who used magic carelessly, and overall, these girls were best friends.
We laughed over our experiences, and realised there that my previous theory was right. Mary never heard of Canterlot High School, as I heard, the kids were from the same country, same states, but never saw each other and the city names were different. People From Other Worlds, Getting Sent Here Out Of Sheer Bar Luck, Or From Pure Curiosity.
I asked the two boys how they got here, and they both said they saw a snow-like forest and decided to enter it, leaving the camp group for what they thought was for a few minutes… and now, they couldn't get home.
I offered to let them stay with me, but to my surprise, they rejected the offer and wanted to survive on their own, Zonk was…. A bit rude, saying "They Shouldn't Sleep Near A Demon", to which Mary bonked him on the head, made me laugh for a bit. We parted ways… I never saw them again…"
Twilight finished reading.
"HAH! ZONK! WHAT A DUMBA*S NAME!" Adam laughed, but everyone told him to shut up, so as to not wake Noir.
Twilight also mentioned how she knew Canterlot High School, as she went there on a mission to retry her crown, an element of harmony which were artefacts that could repel all known evil she knew. Adam and Lute were shocked but kept quiet.
Luna mentioned how Noir wrote that they never met, that his theory about different worlds is both correct and incomplete. "Different worlds exist, but also parallel worlds." Adam was confused before Lute asked, "so this place can not only take beings from other worlds… but from parallel ones as well? GREAT! FAN-FU*KING-TASTIC!" Lute exclaimed, "THIS FOREST MAKES ME MORE AND MORE PISSED BY THE SECOND!" Adam tried to calm Lute down but failed.
"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO FEEL PITY FOR A DEMON?? DO YOU?! THAT'S HOW FU*KED UP THIS PLACE IS! IT MAKES EVEN ME! FEEL BAD FOR HIM!" Lute pointed at Noir…
To avoid more noise, Twilight asked softly what the extermination was about, mostly to change the subject.
"Oh that? Every year, one specific day, me and my girls go down and kill sinners for 3 hours before going back up to heaven. It's to mainly stop an uprising, and to make sure overpopulation doesn't happen. But me and Lute were about to make it every 6 months when…" he paused.
Luna was about ask when Lute said, "before we saw that fu*king white door!"
They all went silent again, taking in the info about Adam and Lute's world.
"So… you just go and… kill? Sinners as in, Noir's kind?" Luna asked.
"Correct. Sinner-Filth doesn't deserve to live. They had their chance to be good, to enter heaven's gates, but decided to waste their life and sin, so they received the ultimate punishment… Hell. But it wasn't enough, somehow, they acted worse down there, more free will, and more acts of sin~" Lute finished, before turning to Noir.
"But him… he doesn't deserve that. I don't know why I think this, but…" Lute couldn't find the words to express how… nice, how good Noir is.
"You think he's different?" Twilight suggested.
"Right! He is different… different in a good way. He acts good, helps those in need, that entry you just read is also proof of that. I don't know what he did to end up in hell, but from what he told us when we first met… maybe-just maybe ...." Lute didn't want any to admit that heaven was wrong… so Adam did.
"We think that Heaven made a mistake on him… he said he wanted to change and he just got to hell when he mentioned his backstory. Literally, arriving in a realm where all crime is legal… and his first thought was "hmm, maybe the Princess can help me be better? Help me get into heaven!" That dude is a fu*king Angel, and THAT'S coming from me!" Adam spoke up.
They all nodded in agreement, but now had another question; what did Noir do to end up in eternal damnation?
….
They continued to talk, Twilight kept the book after the second entry, and spoke about their worlds.
"So let me get this straight? Your version of Hell is a prison for the most dangerous beings to walk the face of your planet?" Adam asked.
"Correct. Like Tirek, or King Sombra, they were villains we couldn't reform… so eternal prison was the only choice. Either that or full-on chaos in Equestria, and we can't have that, now can we?" Twilight it jokingly.
They all laughed a bit before they died down the laughter…
Before anyone spoke, again, Adam spoke up.
"Alright, we need a place to escape this damn place. I don't wanna be like Mr CooKoo over there, no offence, but I wanna head back home! Talk to Sera about this place, come back and destroy this place for good!" Adam said proudly!
"Ok? How are you supposed to do that? Noir was here for decades and couldn't escape. How are we supposed to find an exit, when a near-Arch-Angel ranked Demon couldn't?" Lute asked Adam.
"Umm…. Ok, I haven't thought that far, BUT STILL!!" Adam kept insisting that there had to be an exit. Everyone kept arguing about their theories, but got nowhere…
After the argument died down, Luna yawned and suggested they all sleep.
"I could take a snore." Adam said, yawning.
"I'll rest, after all," *Yawning* "I barely had any yesterday…" Twilight said.
"I'll stay awake today, gotta keep watch, making sure those… things don't enter, and eat us in our sleep." Lute mentioned.
They all shivered at the thought and agreed to Lute's proposal…
After getting into bed, they all said their good nights and dozed off, leaving Lute alone with a running-fire to keep her warm, and a door to watch…
….
After a few hours, Lute began to feel tired. She tried to stay awake, but couldn't. She was about to pass out when…
*Sniff!*
She heard a sniff. She turned around and saw the noise coming from Noir.
She walked closer to check up on him and… saw him crying.
'Is he… crying? What would he be dreaming about?' Lute wondered.
*Sniff*
Noir sniffed again, tears falling from his face. Lute continued to watch and feel bad for Noir.
'I shouldn't be feeling awful for a Demon, a Sinner no less! But…' she continued to watch Noir sleep, 'you're the one exception… Demon-No… Mr Noir.'
Lute went to the chair near the fireplace and sat in it. Dozing off slowly to the warmth of the heat…
…
Chapter 5: A Week Later~