Chapter Text
Vox, in a rage, had aimed the canon at Alastor without a second thought. Not like he needed to, he knew he wanted the foolish deer dead. He knew that as clearly as he knew his name.
The laser hit the deer straight-on, Charlie screamed. Emily was right beside her, looking up at the carnage of a real war. She couldn't move. None of them could. The battlefield went silent for a moment as the crumpled body of the radio demon fell down onto the ground in a lifeless heap.
The silence was broken after almost a minute as Charlie let out a muffled cry. Her knees gave out. Vox just...stared. Like a "deer in headlights", he just stared at Alastor's body, expression unreadable. Which was weird, since he wasn't the deer here.
Vox teleported beside the body, telling himself that he needed to check if he really was dead — he couldn't rejoice without knowing if the radio demon was actually dead, right? Afterall, he could just be pretending — only to get a rise out of the TV demon, like he always did. Vox bent down, right beside alastor, hands shaky. He told himself it was because of the adrenaline. Because he had finally won. Yet, he doubted even himself at this point. He didn't feel victorious. He felt...scared. Absolutely terrified.
"A...alastor?" Vox called out, voice low. The cries of the princess of hell mixed into the background of his consciousness, but he was tuning them out entirely. Vox put two fingers on his pulse. Nothing. His screen glitched, everything around him blurred. He pressed harder, desperate to find something. He didn't know why he was so panicked. He did this, and he wanted it. So why...
The deer demon let out a squeal. Like a deer. It was low, barely audible, but Vox's system picked it up nice and clear. Vox went rigid for a nano second, before hurriedly gathering the deer up in his arms and teleporting out of the godforsaken place. He heard someone call out his name right before it, but he tuned it out. It didn't matter. There was one thing clear to him now — all these years, he hadn't been thinking of the deer demon because he hated him. Vox had simply wanted to be at Alastor's side. But maybe...maybe it was too late for that now. The deer would never forgive him even if he survived this — which he absolutely would survive, no doubt. He would.
Vox had teleported them to the Vee tower's medical room. The radio demon let out a pained bleat as the static around his body faded, obviously uncomfortable at being teleported. Vox ignored it, not wasting a single second as he gently laid the wounded deer on the gatch bed, almost sprinting to the medicines section in order to fix up the deer. He knew he was short on time. That angelic beam had hit the deer head on, it was actually a wonder that Alastor had not simply disintegrated right after. The thought sent a chill down Vox's spine — to lose him without getting a chance to...fuck, now was not the damn time for this.
Vox returned to the bed, lifting the upper portion of the bed to have better access. The deer let out a distressed bleat — low, almost scared, Vox would say, if he didn't know better.
Vox didn't linger on it for more than a second as he immediately got to action. Alastor was burnt all over. But it would be alright. Vox knew how to fix up angelic wounds, he wouldn't be the face of VoxTek if he didn't know everything.
He treats Alastor gently, dabbing a solution of diluted angelic blood on his burns using some cotton pads before leaving them to let it cool down. He shifted his attention to Alastor's chest — on the wound that the radio demon had been suffering from for a long time. Vox can't help but feel bad for not fixing it up before — his ego had gotten in the way of accepting just how much he cared for the demon. He gently dabs some more angelic blood solution onto the wound, deft hands re-sewing it up. He didn't know what happened to the sutures from before — he guessed they evaporated from the beam. He bandaged up the burns next, making sure to choose the softest bandage he could find for them.
The deer demon slightly shifted under him. Vox's head snapped up to the movement, watching as the radio demon slowly opened his eyes, discomfort written onto his features.
Vox instantly put on his front — "Back to hell, Alastor." Vox said teasingly as he put all the equipment back to their places. He felt less shaken up, now that he knew the deer would be alright. Ofcourse he wouldn't die from just that. Alastor was tougher than that.
Vox turned back after putting the materials to their rightful places, looking at the disoriented deer demon propped up on the bed. Vox sighed, sitting beside the bed as he gently and slowly brought the upper part of the bed down — he could guess how uncomfortable that position would be for the radio demon.
Vox frowned. Alastor's eyes looked glazed, not there. Well, he couldn't blame the deer, could he? The blame was with him and his stupid emotions. Just thinking about losing Alastor made him tense unlike anything else. Even losing his whole empire, his company, felt less significant than losing him. He couldn't believe how much he had tried to mask up because of some goddamn ego. He almost lost the deer today because of some hurt ego. Fuck. He couldn't...
A distressed bleat. Vox looked up with a start. Alastor was trying to sit up. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Vox said, standing up as he wrapped two claws around the wounded demon's shoulders, supporting him. Alastor flinced at the touch, eyes going black as his antlers started to grow.
Vox immediately withdrew his hands, holding them up in surrender. "Woah, woah woah, calm down you idiot! You're gonna hurt yourself more. Look, look. I'm not touching you, okay? Calm down, geez."
Alastor looked at him, clutching his chest as he panted, still on-guard. His skin was soaked with sweat, and Vox couldn't help the guilt creeping up his throat. Before it could take his voice away, Vox stammered "D-do you want some water...?" he asked. "Who am I kidding, ofcourse you do, hold on. I'll get some." Vox said as he went out of sight for a moment. Alastor grunted in pain as soon as he went out of sight, which Vox heard, but didn't address. The radio demon, being on guard, just stared at the door for the whole minute he was gone.
Vox came in after a moment, a jug of water and a glass in hand. Alastor flinched again as Vox entered in a hurry. Vox paid it no mind, knowing that now wasn't the time for teasing. He placed the jug and glass beside the bed, filling up the glass before handing it out to Alastor.
The radio demon only stared at him, not taking the glass offered. Vox sighed, placing it back onto the counter and covering it with a small plate. "H-how do you feel?" Vox let out as he placed his screen onto both on his hands, looking defeated, somehow.
"Why am I here?" The radio demon said, answering Vox with a question of his own. Vox didn't mind — he knew he deserved every bit of that malice. "Haah. Uh, well, um...I brought you here, obviously..." Vox chimed, earning a deer-like snort from the red demon. "Obviously." Alastor repeated.
Vox looked up at the deer. He sighed before getting up, which made the deer glare before the expression morphed into surprise.
Vox let his knees hit the floor of the tiled room, looking up at the wounded radio demon. "I'm sorry. For everything." Vox started, voice hoarse and real, not the perfectly put together facade he stuck to like glue. It was genuine. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I really am, I-I know that apologising won't make you hate me less or take any of that pain away, heck, you probably hate me with all your soul, and I won't try to change your mind on that. My ego got in the way of my emotions, and I interpreted my obsession with you as hatred, because I refused to care for someone who didn't care back for me. And I got too extreme — though, you didn't 'love' me like I loved you back then, you would have never laid a finger on me until I did that to you, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, I'll do anything. Please. I'll..." Vox stopped, biting down on his lower lip in frustration. Alastor was frozen in place, caught off guard by the speech.
"...I don't...I don't hate you. I never did." Alastor said after a while, voice soft. Vox looked up, puzzled, for he was sure that the radio demon abhorred him from the past 70 years. Alastor sighed. "Though I do not owe you an explanation, I guess I could tell you now that I don't have a soul contract hanging over me." Vox suddenly remembered the scene of Alastor breaking chains on himself, right after the princess of hell had declared Vox the strongest. And he suddenly, although vaguely, understood the situation. Alastor noticed his expression, but didn't remark on it. "Look, as much as I would've liked to be continue spending time with you, my actions weren't mine alone. My...soul owner had different plans for me. And you were getting too...well, involved. So I broke us off. That's it. And back then, it did seem to me like you just wanted to use me to climb up the ladder."
"Oh." Vox said, looking down. "I...I see.." Vox said as he got up, sitting on the chair beside the bed again. "You actually wanted to join, then...?" Vox said, voice low. "I'm not sure." Alastor says, making the TV demon even more puzzled as he looked at Alastor. "...I never thought to consider it before, since I knew it wasn't my choice to make." Oh. That made sense...somewhat, Vox thought, nodding.
Alastor coughs, his entire body tensing due to the pain. "Woah, there." Vox says as he puts an arm behind the other demon's back, supporting him. Vox laid him down. "You should rest. We can continue this later." Alastor only nodded, apparently too tired to refute the offer. His eyes fall shut as he drifts off to an uncomfortable sleep.