Archive of Our Own

When Vox saw Alastor for the first time,  he saw a white and black figure standing in front of him, with fluffy ears and a stripey coat. 

Vox had fallen in love at first sight. 

He had always known, despite the time he had been born in, that he also liked men. But Alastor was not only a man. 

No, he was beautiful, with long lashes, and though Vox couldn't see any colour, he just knew that Alastor would be some kind of pastel colours. He was never really going to ask, but the man resembled a deer, so he must be all brown and cute, right? 

Oh, how much Vox loved to sneak in a touch or two, how much he loved to notice small flecks of shade change on his skin. 

Alastor was also full of scars on his body. He had been so lucky that he trusted him enough to see him shirtless, and Vox had made sure to memorise every single detail of his back. For as much as he could.

They had been walking when rain had poured down, which was why he was able to be granted such a view. 

"Shouldn't you change too, picture box? You are glitching" Alastor whispered as he took a towel to dry himself off. 

Vox was definitely not compatible with water now; he hated that. When he was a child, he adored swimming, but now... he was deadly afraid of water because enough of it and his brain would malfunction. He still didn't know he could upgrade his head or get detached from his body. 

He would usually be scared to death at the idea that water got on him, but right now, he was too preoccupied to save the image of Alastor with a towel in his hair and another towards him, completely shirtless. He looked so pretty. 

Vox finally registered the words "Oh right... Yeah... I should" he said, and found his voice weird... oh fuck did water penetrate his voice box.

Alastor seemed to notice and moved closer to Vox, starting to dry off the hardware slowly. 

Vox couldn't smell at all, but he could feel the hum and vibration of Alastor's body so close to him. 

It was intoxicating, or maybe Vox was just experiencing a malfunction due to water infiltration. 

"Get closer to the fire, you silly picture box" Alastor said sweetly and took Vox's hand in his, bringing him to a couch. 

He put some music on and a blanket on Vox. 

Vox would have sworn he was in heaven right now. Everything felt right. And Alastor was close to him, drying him with the towel before sitting on the ground, his back resting on the armchair next to Vox's legs "Don't get sick" he murmured, letting the fire permeate his skin as well.

Their electricity combined together in a sweet static sound that only the two of them could hear. 

It had been one of the sweetest memories for Vox. 

Then Vox discovered he could change his TV head. He didn't need to be stuck with a wooden one that was so easy to damaged with water and fire. 

He had been enthusiastic about it... Alastor didn't seem to agree.

But he needed to get better, he needed to get stronger, to advance, updated. He so desperately wanted to see in colour again; he so desperately wanted to see how Alastor looked. 

And yes, he could have just asked, but... he was so terrified of looking pathetic in his eyes, weak, outdated. 

Alastor was so strong, independent and was clearly not so interested in new technology, so if he knew how much Vox was lacking because of the technology he was stuck in... then what was the point? He would only prove Alastor right: Vox was really weak and new technology was not that impressive. 

 He couldn't deal with that. Technology WAS moving fast, so... he was sure at some point he would be able to see Alastor, in all of his glory. 

 He wondered what Alastor looked like in life. Maybe he was similar to his current form? 

 Fluffy straight hair to the shoulders, enough to put in a bun, cute doe eyes with long eyelashes, lanky but strong build, cunning smile.

 Vox could only fantasise.

 The climb kept on going. He needed to go faster if he wanted to be smarter, sharper, brighter, newer. 

 There was no time to wait. Anyone and everyone could be used if it meant that Vox was going to get to the top and stand alongside Alastor. 

 However, he forgot to look back at Alastor and realise that Vox was climbing the wrong stair and Alastor was still on the ground, looking at him condescendingly, while Vox had no way to go back. 

 All he could do was ask Al to join him in his climb. 

 That had failed. Miserably. 

 He never noticed how dark Alastor's eyes were, how disturbing his dials were when they were spinning that fast, how bright his teeth were when he was speaking through radio filters. 

 He didn't realise how big his antlers could get. He didn't realise how wild his hair could get when fighting. He didn't realise how perfectly blood matched his clothes, how it was basically invisible on him except on his face. 

 He didn't realise how much he loved Alastor and how desperate he had been for death when Alastor had turned him down. 

 "There are no friends in hell, Vincent, I thought that was something you understood" 

 But if that was the case, then... what had they had? 

 Why had Alastor showered him in reassuring static when Vox was stressed?

 Why had he taken care of him when he got sick because of the rain?

 Why had Alastor helped him in finding weak overlords to kill? 

 Why had Alastor come to rescue him when he was getting his ass beaten by a fountain-looking sinner? 

 Why did Alastor spend time with him if they weren't friends? 

 Why? 

 Vox had felt defeated. Alastor didn't even give him the mercy of killing him. 

 He had said that he tasted awful, and with blood stuck to his fingers and dripping out of his mouth, he had left Vox on the ground, a mess of electricity around him. 

 He had been more emotionally hurt than physically, and he had realised that... Alastor was red. 

 He had never been the soft man that Vox thought he was, no... he had always been the colour of blood. 

 Vox had to live with the knowledge of having broken off one of the only good things he had had in hell. 

 He had been a destroyed man. 

 Thankfully, because he was still seeing in black and white, he soon found a replacement for Alastor. 

 Not in his heart, of course, just a replacement for his silly little eyes that always looked around for fluffy years and spots. 

 Valentino had been that. The two had very little in common, but, through his defective eyes, he could see stripes and something that resembled ears enough to pass. 

 Moreover, Valentino had been himself an eye candy and a good sex partner. 

 And Vox had been satisfied with that. 

 He had to find a way to crawl his way back to Alastor; however, the only thing he could think of was to keep climbing, keep updating... when that's done, he will regret his decision. 

 Finally, TV got an upgrade, and it trickled down to hell. 

 Vox had rushed to get a new head installed. 

 And for the first time in decades, he finally saw colour again. 

 Everything had been so bright, so hard to look at that he had to continually switch between colours and black and white just not to fry his processors. 

 But he could see colour now! 

 However... Alastor was nowhere near him.

 No matter. He didn't care how pathetic he looked or sounded; he was going to find Alastor and see him properly. 

 So he went to Alastor's radio tower, knocking incessantly till Alastor's shadow manifested. 

 Then Alastor was in front of him "Vox?" he asked, and Vox felt a sob leave him.

 He never tried too hard control his emotions because those made him feel more real and less limited by the hardware he was attached to, but that time, he really had to, so he blocked the formation of tears as he just stared at Alastor. 

 He had indeed been red. Everything about him was shades of red, and Vox just fell harder for this man who was staring as if he was about to bite Vox's head off right then and there. 

 Vox took a breath, fuck, there were so many details to memorise... he needed to upgrade, he needed to be able to capture the image in his memory... if only...

 Alastor had cute little black antlers, though they had looked ferocious when Alastor had stabbed him with them. 

 He had red hair, and his ears were kind of part of it, with the tips black. He looked like he had been dipped in black paint, and Vox adored it. 

 Even his eyes were red, though he was sure they had looked more menacing when Alastor was proving to them how much they were not friends. 

 His clothes were red, and Vox really wondered how many times there had been blood stains and Vox simply hadn't seen them. 

 He wondered if Alastor cleaned the coat of the blood stains painfully by hand or if he always just got a new coat. Either way, Vox couldn't see any imperfections. 

 His pants and undershirt had some black on them for a change, and... his shoes were, of course, red and black. 

 Though he bet that sometimes Alastor had hoofs, and he bet he had seen the prints underneath the soles of his feet. 

 "Sorry... I just needed to see you" 

 Vox got blessed seeing Alastor's antlers grow "See me? and whatever may be the reason?" he asked, dangerously. 

 Vox blinked... he loved this man... There was no denying it. Even like that, even if he didn't look as soft as Vox imagined him... Alastor was still the most handsome man he had ever laid eyes upon. 

 He didn't mind getting killed by him now. He saw him in colour, and he could regenerate, so who cared? 

 "No particular reason except... I missed you" Vox decided to be sincere. Maybe that will grant him some more time with Alastor, more time to admire him and take every detail, finally in colour. 

 Alastor rolled his eyes "There is not much to miss, is there?" he asked and then scrunched his nose "You changed your head, again" 

 Vox smiled. Alastor noticed these details even after all that time apart? It was not a big change; he had gotten a bit slimmer, and his case was black instead of grey. 

 "Yeah... I can see better now" he explained. 

 Alastor cocked an eyebrow in response "So what now?" he asked with a smirk. 

 Vox didn't want to fight, though he was curious about how blood looked on Alastor. Did it make him hotter? Was that even possible? 

 "Nothing... I..." he stalled. What did he expect to happen? "I probably should go now' 

 Alastor didn't seem intended to stop him, though Vox would swear he had wanted to say something. 

 Nonetheless, Vox left, back in electricity he went, back to V tower.

 When he saw Valentino in colour, he... laughed. The two were definitely different, but he seemed to have something for people who loved dressing in red. 

 And so... Vox climbed higher, and at every new technology shift, he wanted more. 

 He was never going to stop; there was no way he would be satisfied. 

 He made most of his space blue, so that red would contrast better. If he saw a shift of colours or something out of place, his electricity would jump with the thought that Alastor was around, finally recognising him as someone worthy to have around, someone worthy of being called his friend and partner with him.

 However, it was never him.

 He was scared of forgetting, of filling his storage with useless crap and forgetting what was important: his memories of Alastor. 

 So he started to draw him; he sucked at drawing, but it was good enough, at least he thought it was. 

 If not drawing, then he could remember by simply copying him.

 And so he commissioned a suit very similar to the one Alastor wore, just in blue, with a few additions for comfort. 

 It had not been enough. 

 Cameras were already used to film his shows, so why not make use of them by install them throughout all of hell. 

 So he did. 

 The cameras started in black and white, and Vox felt a sense of dread at the realisation. 

 He was not going to fully appreciate Alastor's beauty because of them, but it was better than nothing.

 Gladly, the black and white didn't last long. As soon as the colourful camera came around, Vox made sure to replace every single one of them.

 His TV was upgrading as well. 

 The cameras were now in colour, though the quality was not perfect. 

 Still, he enjoyed it much more like that, and he could stare at them for hours just to get a glimpse of that red figure that invaded every waking moment of his being. 

 It made him finally feel something. Just looking at Alastor, he felt his legs like jelly and his heart thumping so loud that he could hear it. 

 He loved that man, anything about him. Just absolutely anything.

 And then the tragedy. 

 Vox had gotten hurt badly enough that part of his storage got damaged. 

 Vox didn't care about his bleeding body; he could remake it if he wanted to, and he didn't even care about his smashed screen. 

 He just needed to make sure none of the memories with Alastor had been deleted. 

 He needed it to be safe. 

 Valentino took care of the damned overlord that had dared to damage him before cradling Vox in his arms and bringing him away with his wings. 

 Vox had been full-on sobbing as he sorted through what remained of his memories. 

 Of course, they were not recordings as such; they were just data, but that data contained so much information.

 It contained the feelings and processes that had been active when Vox had first met Alastor, it contained the way his body reacted to his touch, it contained detail information of all of the processes going on in Vox's body when Alastor had been close, the fact that his heart was thumbing when Alastor had flicked his antenna, the fact that Vox had blushed and retained the outdated device just because Alastor adored them, the exact amount of frequency he had felt when Alastor had fallen asleep next to him. 

 He couldn't lose any of it... he just couldn't... Alastor was not coming back... if he lost it, it would be gone forever, and Vox couldn't make new memories... 

 Alas, he had lost some of them.

 What did Alastor say when Vox had called him inspiring? How did Alastor sound when he was worried? What was the frequency that Al used when relaxed? How did it feel to touch Alastor's hair? 

 It was all gone. 

 Vox had never felt an amount of pain comparable to that. Not even his own death had felt like this. It was stupid, he knew it was. He knew he still had plenty of other memories... but the thought of having lost something made him sick. 

 He would have never made those memories anymore... 

 Valentino had hugged him, kissed him, consoled him, but Vox couldn't remember how any of those felt from Alastor.

 What if he had experienced a kiss with him, and now it was gone? How could he be sure he hadn't lost any memories that were that important? 

 How could he know what exactly what  he had lost? He knew which day, he knew the hour, even the location of the corrupted files, but anything inside was gone. 

 He still kept them, in hopes that one day he could have fixed them.

 He forgot about that, too.

Technology, though, kept upgrading, and so did his head. 

 What he didn't expect was for Alastor to also upgrade himself in the worst possible way. 

 One day, as Vox looked through the camera for the glimpse of red that he was so used to searching for in his growing camera feed, he saw Alastor... but he was completely glitching. 

 The man who had always been just red in his eyes was now covered in colours and static that rendered the view basically impossible. Vox stared at the feed in horror. 

 Why... 

 He had noticed Alastor being more aware of the cameras looking directly at him, almost following, and Alastor had even started to give them pointed looks and cocky smiles. 

 He didn't expect that it would turn to annoyance and avoidance so quickly.

 Why did Alastor hate him so much?

 Why did he keep negating everything that made Vox minimally happy? 

 Why couldn't he have just one scrap of Alastor?

 Why was he destined to not see him fully?

 Vox felt pathetic. His screen blurring with static as anger, betrayal and hurt danced around him in the form of electric currents. 

 He wanted to confront him, give him a piece of his mind. 

 However, he was also terrified. Going to Alastor and demanding explanations on why he was glitching was like admitting that Vox had been stalking Alastor all of this time.

 Humiliating. 

 Not above him, though.

 He just needed a valid excuse... 

 Which presented itself as the overlords meeting inducted by Carmilla Carmine. 

 Valentino had offered to come along, and Vox had accepted, just so he could keep himself more grounded when he would eventually see Alastor. 

 He sat down around the table, nervous, though he would have never shown it, looking for a glimpse of red. 

 And then, the red presented himself.

 Vox felt relief and excitement at seeing his figure, normal, beautiful. 

 Alastor took a seat in front of Vox, with a smirk, as if he knew exactly what was going through Vox's mind. 

 And maybe he did.

 "Ah, you are still alive, old man?" Vox started, trying to get Alastor to talk to him; it had been far too long since he had heard his frequencies and voice. 

 He hated the silence. 

 "As if you don't know that" Alastor retorted.

 Vox felt a quick buffer that he hoped Alastor didn't catch (he did) and rolled his eyes "I don't know what you are talking about" he said  "Did you finally start to experience signs of decay in your brain?" 

 Alastor tilted his head and hummed, "You sure you want me to say what I'm talking about out loud?" he asked "You have no shame" 

 Vox was about to talk, but Valentino beat him to it.

 "You are one to talk" he said "You strut around hell purposefully putting on a show for our camera" which said that way could have sounded fairly incriminating.

 Alastor gave Valentino a deadly look. His eyes turning into dials "Why don't I put on a show now and slit your throat in front of everyone here?" he asked. 

 "As if you would be able to" 

 Vox felt fear rise in him. If a fight broke out, he had to be on Valentino's side, which was fine and all, but he was nervous about actually being able to win against Alastor, even with Valentino at his side.

 "Val, shut up" he said in a low voice "this is not the time" 

 Valentino looked at him, offended "What do you mean it's not the time?"

 "It's just not, shut up and be good" he sighed. 

 Alastor gave him a look that Vox was not able to interpret. He looked...smug? 

 The meeting had been fairly boring and useless; the only reason he had been there was Alastor. 

 At the exit, he followed him, leaving Val behind "Alastor!"

 Al turned around to give him a questioning look "You want to fight?" he asked immediately, shadows flickering around him and frequency growing in loudness. 

 Vox rolled his eyes "No" he said, and Al's frequency died down "Why are you glitching on camera?" he asked, straightforward. Alastor already knew, so what was the point in hiding?

 Alastor smirked "So you are watching, creep" he said "it's fairly simple, this face was made for radio, sweetheart" 

 Vox felt his heart jump at the endearing term, his whole body being zapped with a current. 

 Fuck he missed Alastor so badly. 

 "You are not showing up in the video because you are a radio host?" he asked instead. 

 Alastor shrugged his shoulders, "Essentially" 

 Vox gulped "Well, can you stop?" he asked. 

 "Can I? Of course! Will I? No... Do I enjoy making in your life a nightmare? Most definitely" he said ominously.

 Vox stared, anger building up, "Why?" he asked. 

 "For the entertainment, of course! If I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be here looking so hot and bothered" 

 Vox blinked, anger and pain washing over him "Fuck you, Alastor" 

 "You can get more inventive than that, I'm sure" 

 Vox simply left. He didn't want to fight; he didn't want to taint the memory of Alastor's figure and frequencies with a fight. Not now at the very least. 

 So he zapped back to V tower and tried to find a way, anyway, to fix the glitching on his side.

 There wasn't.

Even if he manually tried to reconstruct the video by using old footage of Alastor, it just didn't look right. The red was always slightly wrong, the smile was never quite the one that Vox wanted to see, and the glow of his magic was slightly too bright. 

It was just wrong. 

Vox wanted to upgrade. More, even more. Till he was finally able to see him, completely, the way he ought to. 

He just needed to see him... He had to.

He looked back at the black and white photo they had once taken. 

Alastor looked more like him there than he did now in his cameras. 

Maybe it was because at the time Alastor actually cared for him, actually wanted to be seen by Vox, wanted him around. 

Vox couldn't bear it. It was so painful to look back at those memories; they always felt more distant, less vivid. 

All that Vox could see at the time was black and white, yet... now, he missed those times more than anything.

What was the point in upgrading if he still wasn't close to Alastor?

Was there any way to reach him sooner...?

Was Vox actually capable of reaching Alastor? 

Vox couldn't bear the thought of failing, so he stopped thinking about that and focused on upgrading. 

His company was booming, and everything was going just perfectly. 

Valentino's shows were... great for the public, they loved them. Everyone knew them. 

And in recent years, they also met Velvette. Social media was a new thing, and Velvette took the monopoly as soon as she landed in hell. 

Vox was enthusiastic. 

He upgraded once more. His TV was now completely flat, and he was now a "Smart TV" (he absolutely despised the term, but he extra capabilities were great).

 
He could literally connect to the internet and navigate the social and... he could install a camera on himself.

 
Most TVs, of course, didn't have one, but why shouldn't he? he wasn't just a normal TV; he was a demon, and his memories could turn vivid, impossible to contradict; they wouldn't be just pointless sensations and data, they would be actual videotapes or everything. 

Sure, for that, he needed to massively upgrade his memory, but he was not going to save everything automatically. 

He could have a 24-hour log, and what was actually relevant, he could save, and the rest just kept the usual metadata that helped him to have actual memories. 

That made Vox a tiny bit anxious about what would happen if his memories got corrupted, but it's not like he could do much about it apart from making hard copies of all of them. 

There was just one tiny thing he hadn't considered. 

The person that he most wanted to record... he just couldn't. 

After the upgrade, he had immediately made a note of finding Alastor and, casually, pretended that he had something to do in the same place that he was. 

In that moment, just strolling around toward Cannibal Town. 

So Vox manifested just a few metres from where Alastor was going, pretending to be staring at the... flowers? someone was selling.

Why was there a florist here? 

He didn't even have time to process that he looked like a moron just staring closely at a bunch of red roses in the shop when he felt Alastor's familiar buzz. 

He turned around and... glitching. 

He was seeing Alastor glitched. 

Not the deep, rich red that he was expecting, not the soft ears and smile. Just a bunch of glitches. 

Fuck. 

"Oh, if it isn't Vox" Alastor said with a smirk that Vox could barely make out... was he smiling? Was he angry? Happy?
Vox couldn't tell.

"Al..." he whispered, clearly shaken, disturbed. He felt sick. He couldn't see him. 

He could barely make out his face. 

He couldn't see him!

Alastor tilted his head "You look like you have seen a ghost, old pal" he said, not realising the internal turmoil that Vox was going through.

 
Vox took his head; he wanted to scratch his eyes off. 

It was not only a security cameras, it was all cameras. And Vox couldn't fucking see him now. He just had to make his sight connected to a fucking camera. He just had to. 

Vox took some breaths, taking a few steps back, the glitching figure sending him in a spiral... 

He needed to change his head, he needed to remove the camera, he just needed to. 

The glitching became more intense, and suddenly Alastor was in front of him, tapping his screen, and he only knew because the glitching was that bad, and he felt a shift in frequencies, close, loud, overwhelming. 

His processor didn't even register the touch, nails on screen; he couldn't feel it because he was overheating. 

"Are you about to bust a fuse?" Alastor's voice came as he kept tapping him.

Vox disappeared in electricity. Shutting down all of his non-essential systems before he was going to melt his own head. 

He needed to dismantle this head; he needed to remove the system. He needed to see Alastor; he just needed to. 

When he got back, he immediately went to his office, his past TV on display. He pushed the button to open the display and immediately reached for the oldest model, the black and white one, the one that Alastor had cared for, had caressed gently, had played with the antennas of, the one that he had when everything felt colourful though it was just black and white. 

He usually didn't dismantle himself alone, as it was easier to shut himself down and for someone else, usually Val, to help him. Especially in a situation in which he was crying his eyes out and making the whole tower glitch in pulses. 

Val and Vel noticed and knew something was wrong, so they reached the office. 

The scene had been nightmarish. 

Vox was standing in front of a mirror, cutting wires while blood and tears mixed together in a pool at his feet. He seemed in excruciating pain, the hand movements unsteady as he was struggling to actually control them. 

He had wires surrounding him, but those were almost completely still, sometimes buzzing with electricity. 

Vox himself was a mess of electricity buzzing around him to the point his skin glowed underneath the soaked clothes.

"Voxy... what are you doing?" Valentino asked, getting closer as Velvette stayed still, horrified. 

Vox stilled, looking back, "I need to change my head," he whispered, his eye spiralling. 

Valentino got closer "Oh, amorcito, you could have asked. I always help you" he said, noticing the old case outside of the display "Which... one are you planning on installing?" 

Vox looked back at the TV head on the ground, and Val looked confused "But isn't that a very old model? It's outdated..." 

Vox trembled, "I can't see him..." he whispered, "I need to change it- I can't see him!" 

"Who...?" Val asked, getting closer to Vox; he couldn't touch him if he didn't want to get electrocuted. 

Vox cried out "Al..." 

Val stilled "You are doing all of this for that stupid deer... again?" he asked, anger bubbling up in his chest. 

Vox cried louder, "YES!" he said "I need to! I can't see him!" 

"When are you going to realise that he doesn't want you! That he will never take you back! He literally despises you!" 

Vox put his hands on his head "Stop it!" his whole face glitched in and out, black screening.

Velvette got closer "This is not the time, Val" she whispered and pointed at Val to stay back. 

She was not immune to currents, but she definitely felt them less than Valentino did.

"Vee, calm down, we are going to help you" she said sweetly "If you want the old head, we are going to help you install it, just put the tools down for now" she begged.

Vox took a breath and slowly put the pliers on the ground. His hands were trembling, not certain whether it was because he was panicking or if he had cut any of the nerves connected to his hands. 

Velvette slowly reached for his hand and dragged him away from the little pool of water and blood at his feet, and despite the charge, she hugged him "It's okay, love" she whispered, "you will be fine, we are here for you" 

Valentino felt his own chest clench and he got closer, hugging Vox himself, despite his antennas vibrating uncontrollably from the currents. 

Vox cried in their hold for a while, and then, when he was finally a bit calmer, he instructed Val on how to fix him. 

Val and Vel were able to talk him out of the outdated screen, mostly because they literally wouldn't work anymore. They didn't even have the correct connections to accommodate all of Vox's powers, and especially, they didn't have the parts necessary to even work properly and connect everything. 

Vox felt defeated. He would have tried the next day, but for today, he let Val and Vel take care of him, clean him from the blood and peel those clothes away from him; they fixed all of his connections and put him to bed, hugging him close. 

Vox was grateful that he had the Vees. He didn't know where he would be at this point. Maybe he would have sold his soul to Al just to be close to him, and instead of upgrading, he would have stayed in his old model, seeing in black and white and still thinking Alastor was shades of browns and pastels. 

But of course, one is always down on your luck when the worst strikes. 

Vox tried to take out his video functionality, but it was hard to do now because it meant corrupting all of his memories.

So he went back to the cameras. Maybe he could live with just seeing the glitching mess on the screen, maybe he could get used to it. 

He stared at the cameras for the whole day but...

Alastor wasn't there. One day was not surprising. 

Then a week passed. That's fine, he could just be in areas where there were no cameras yet or maybe sick at home. Did Alastor even get sick?

Then a month. Vox heard of an exorcism that happen, the exorcist were able to kill sinners permanently...could it be that? 

Vox checked all the camera footage of the past month again, but the last record he had of Alastor was the day Vox had panicked. 

Alastor had walked to Cannibal Town and vanished... 

It was not unlikely for him to disappear for a while, but...

 
This felt different. Alastor was not even broadcasting on his radio, and it had been a month. 

Maybe he got badly hurt from the extermination? 

But Vox couldn't find any record that Alastor was there during the extermination... 

Did Alastor somehow know that an extermination was going to happen, that angelic weapons were fatal and therefore escape before anything could happen? 

Could Alastor be... dead?

No, it couldn't be. 

Alastor would come back. 

Then another month passed, and Vox felt like he was about to go insane; his brain was buzzing, and he couldn't stop looking at the cameras. 

Where the fuck was Alastor? 

That was it. He was going to find him, no other way around it. He was going to dismantle the radio tower piece by piece to find him if he had to. 

And so Vox zapped into the power grid to the radio tower and knocked on the door. 

Alastor appeared out of the shadows "Hello" 

Vox blinked. No, Alastor didn't appear. He was imagining it. 

Vox felt a chill. What if... he was the only one to not see him. What if Alastor got completely tired of Vox following him through the cameras and therefore found a way to be completely invisible to the camera and therefore to him? 

There was no way, was there? 

Vox felt a sense of dread as he knocked again, so strongly that it almost broke the hinges. 

But nothing... There was absolutely nothing.

Vox broke the door with a kick and entered, climbing the stairs to Alastor's office. 

It was empty, nothing left. 

Vox felt sick. 

"Alastor... please... give me a sign, you must be here, somewhere" he begged. Maybe Alastor just disappeared from his view; at the very least, Vox could feel him through the interference? 

"Al... I'm sorry... I know you are here" He didn't know he just hoped.

Vox felt a frequency; it was just in his head.

"It's okay if you don't want me to see you, it's okay... just please... I need to know you are okay... can you let me know?" he asked as tears started to stream down his face. 

He felt another frequency, steady, calm. Vox sobbed. He knew it wasn't real because none of his receptors were recording it, it was just his head. 

"Please... Al, I'm begging you, don't disappear, not like this. I don't even have an image of you saved. Please, Al, please come back," he begged to the nothingness of the place. 

He moved to the seat where Alastor usually would broadcast and sat down, defeated.

"Why do you hurt me so much... why do you hate me this much?" he asked "Fuck- I wish I could turn back time."

He remembered a time Alastor got so drunk that Vox had to bring him back, but since he didn't know where Al lived at the time, he went to the radio tower and discovered that Alastor didn't sleep at all. Unlessed passed out. 

And for those occasions, he had a little blanket on the seat of his office where Alastor would lie curled up. 

Vox had seen that, still in black and white at that time, and imagine a doe-like blanket covering both of them on a sofa instead of the uncomfortable seat. 

Vox today discovered that, actually, his chair was incredibly comfortable and he could definitely see himself falling asleep like this. 

His banged forehead against the mixing board.

He remembered a time when he had asked Alastor how he made his sound effects and if he shared them. Alastor laughed and said that it was just memories of when he was alive; they were the same sounds that he had in his radio station when he was alive. 

He didn't own them, so if Vox wanted to use them, he could. 

Vox made a note of all of them and absolutely started to use the fuck out of them. 

Vox gulped; he felt the coldness of the board on his fingers. 

He remembered a time when Alastor had taken his hand to verify if Vox was cold like tech that was not often used or hot like an overheated computer. 

Vox had been cold and then had definitely overheated at the feel of Alastor's hand in his. It had been amazing, he was blushing very hard, and his fans started to work overtime. 

Alastor had marvelled about how Vox was both "fascinating", he had called him, and Vox had lost connection for a few seconds. 

When he had reopened his eyes, Alastor was grinning, a few centimetres from his face. 

Vox felt as if his processor was going to melt. 

Vox wanted to smash his head against the board. He couldn't deal with all of the memories. 

He remembered the first time he smashed his screen, Alastor had been there and, angry, he had killed the sinners that had hurt Vox. 

Vox had felt an incomparable amount of pride; he felt like he had just fallen in love once again.

Then Alastor had gotten closer, tracing his screen and marvelling at how clever his body was, how there was no actual head inside, just chips and metallic parts. 

And Vox felt his pain disappear as he let Alastor just study him. 

Vox missed Alastor. He missed his touch, he missed his frequencies, the sound of his voice without the filters, he missed the way his ears would flop with enough alcohol in the system, he missed having the privilege of seeing his hoofs a few times, he missed seeing him. 

He missed Alastor. 

It took him a full day before he even dared to leave the radio tower, and then he dismantled it , piece by piece, searching for any scrap that Alastor had left behind. 

He found nothing. 

Alastor had completely vanished. 

Vox felt like he had lost a part of his metallic heart. The only things he had left were a picture of him in black and white and many glitching and low-quality videos. 

Vox couldn't live. 

A year passed, and he had to pull the plug. 

His head was becoming smarter by the day, and he was able to program it now. He was basically a glorified iPad at this point. So he created a file for Alastor. 

It was a simple line of code that would prevent him from remembering anything to do with Alastor till Alastor was back. 

He couldn't live in the past, remembering all of the moments that he wished he could see and instead was cursed to just feel. 

So he stored them all away. Every time something reminded him of Alastor, it was blocked. 

The rain didn't remind him of Alastor anymore, the buzzing was not similar to Al anymore, fluffy ears were not associated with him, the sound of heels clicking, sound effects, Sazerac, Gin, late evening nights at bars listening to jazz, wide grins, long striped coats. 

Most things that brought Vox some joy because they reminded him of Alastor lost their spark. 

And so he started to hate. If he couldn't remember, it didn't exist. That's all he needed to know. 

Alastor wasn't the demon he remembered; Alastor was not the person he loved anymore. 

He was the person who abandoned him. 

He hated that even though he was trying he knew that he loved Alastor because at the mere mention of his name, Vox felt the buzzing, the buffering. 

It didn't seem that anything could stop him from loving Alastor, not even hard code. 

Year after year, he had to deal with the fact that Alastor could have really died. 

On particularly rainy days, he imagined Alastor's body, somewhere hidden, abandoned and rotten after all of these years. He regretted not having been able to see him, remember, yet he still fantasised of seeing his body, even if dead; it was better than the complete nothiness he knew now.

 
7 whole years passed, and Vox's hopes had died. Sometimes he still felt like he could find Alastor's dress, maybe his staff. Something to remind him of him. 

And then Valentino had said that Alastor was back. 

Vox felt his heart plummet. He felt the buffering, the static, the pain. 

He went back to watch the camera, and sure enough, Alastor had been there. Alive, still soft, still red. 

He was laughing as if nothing had happened while kicking a nobody's ass. 

Why was he so okay? Where the hell has he been? 

Why did he disappear? Where ??? Vox had cameras everywhere, but not one of them had picked up even one small glitch effect. 

Why had he reappeared? At the princess's hotel, specifically. Wasn't that place all about redemption and whatnot? 

Alastor didn't believe in redemption, of course not, he was a serial killer who killed those who wronged him. 

Yet there he was, undoubtedly staying at the hotel. Calling it his project, calling himself the host of the hotel. 
 
Vox was mad. He was going to show that Vox's project, his company, was so much more interesting than that hotel. 

"Things have changed a lot since he left town" Yes, things have changed. Mostly, Vox had changed; the way he thought of Alastor changed. 

He was going to show him. 

And then he heard his voice. 

"What a dated voice" Fuck, how much he had missed that voice. He hadn't changed; it was still the voice that Vox remembered. 

"He would be powerless without the other Vees" Alastor sung. 

"Oh, please" He would be. Not because Vox was not powerful, he was, he knew he was. But if he hadn't had Valentino and Velvette, he would have probably abandoned his company to find Alastor, or killed himself with an angelic weapon, hoping that double hell existed so he could meet Alastor again. 

"And here's the sugar on the cream, he asked me to join his team. I said no, and he got pissy, that's the tea" 

"You old timey prick- I'll show you suffering" 

"Oh, oh, the TV is buffering" 

He was. Because how dare Alastor use that OF ALL THINGS against him. Knowing how much it had hurt, knowing how sincere and vulnerable Vox had been. Why was he such a fucking prick? 

"I'll destroy you-" Vox felt the code he had installed completely malfunction. The program is shutting off. Gone. 

And so the soft memories came rushing back. Vox had a full blackout. 

"Fuuuuck" Vox made it in time to see his cameras be taken over momentarily by Alastor, his demonic form all over them. 

Vox felt an immeasurable pain... 

Alastor was back, and Vox felt pain and relief. 

 Alastor wasn't dead; he was still there. He existed, and he still remembered him.

 He was back on the air. 

 Vox had missed him.

Finally, the air he breathed felt more real, felt more like Alastor. Felt actually worth breathing.

 Vox wasn't even sure he had the guts to see Alastor; the pain of seeing him glitching was still so real in his mind... could he bear to see him?

 Probably not. 

 He banged his screen against the controls. Almost breaking it. 

 Now what? 

 Vox had spent the past 7 years thinking about Alastor's death, and not only was he alive, but he was acting as if nothing had changed. And sure, one could argue that 7 years in a demon's life is nothing, but it was still 7 years! 

 Vox was speechless... at the very least, he could go back to stalk Alastor in every move he made...

 Vox was definitely obsessed, definitely crazy for Alastor. He would drop everything if Alastor did as much as calling his name... 

 Yet, he was still not able to actually see Alastor, not without the glitching, which was annoying... he wished Alastor would stop it, but that was wishful thinking, wasn't it? 

 Oh well... this was so much better than the complete disappearance of Alastor. He probably couldn't deal with losing him again.

 Fuck he hoped Alastor didn't plan to drop from the face of the earth again. 

 How much he wanted to own Alastor... if he could just have him tethered to him, he wouldn't have to live in fear of him disappearing... to be fair, all he needed to do was potentially hypnotise him and have him sell his soul or something. 

 Well, Vox did definitely gain a lot of power in these past years, so maybe now he was at Alastor's level?

 He didn't really want to fight him, though... 

 He had to think of another way to get Alastor close to hypnotise him... he needed to. 

 Exterminations continued, and Vox was obsessively staring at the screens to get glimpses of Alastor. 

 Then he had an idea, since he had no cameras inside the hotel, he needed someone inside... like Angel Dust. 

 Valentino had been particularly disposed to it, Vox didn't care. He hated Angel, firstly because he was taking Valentino's attention, and Vox had seen that behaviour... Valentino was getting obsessed, but it was worse than Vox because Valentino had more power than Angel in every single way and also owned him.

 He couldn't lie that, partially, that would have been his dream with Alastor, yet he respected Alastor way too much to treat him like Valentino did with Angel. 

 And second, Angel was living with HIS Alastor.

 Fuck him. 

 So Vox started to hypnotise him and get information on the hotel, and on Alastor's whereabouts.

 When he discovered the little fight between Alastor and Lucifer, Vox felt pissed. 

 How did that useless king get Alastor that worked up as Angel described it? 

 Why not with him? Why was Lucifer able to elicit some emotions from Alastor, while Vox only had silence and barely concealed condescension?

 Alastor hadn't even yet tried to go for his network and his channel, he just simply couldn't care less, and that was worse than the hate and anger. 

 He wanted Alastor to see him, consider him a worthy rival.

 But no. He wasn't worth that. Well then, Vox was going to up his game. His goals. He was going to become God and have Alastor bow at him on his knees. 

 Then he would have made him his favourite bitch. Okay, maybe not like that. Whatever. He could do whatever. (He had no intention of hurting Alastor too much...) 

 Then Charlie had declared war against the exorcist. That girl was absolutely crazy... 

 Vox had made it into a little watch session; he would have seen the battle alone either way, and Valentino and Velvette were interested (kinda), so might as well. 

 They had also started to tease Vox about his renowned obsession with Alastor, though it was more similar to hate than anything now. Vox mentally patted himself on the back because that's what he wanted: pretend that he hated Alastor's guts, especially in front of him, so that maybe, MAYBE Alastor would see him. 

 Alastor was a fucking moron. 

 He had decided to fight against an archangel without angelic weapons...

 He was fucking going to kill himself! 

 What the fuck was wrong with him??

 Vox had to force himself to be as vocal as possible about his "hate" for Alastor because otherwise he would have sobbed at the idea that Alastor was going to get killed in front of him. 

 Maybe if he were alone, Vox would have run to Alastor to help him, give him a punch for the worry, too and maybe everything would have been fine after that. He would have saved his life, and Alastor would have been grateful and would have called him "his dear picture box" again.

 He had to admit, Alastor was standing his ground. 

 Vox was hard. Fuck, Alastor being strong was one of the best things ever. He was so pretty, yet so strong, so beautiful yet so dangerous. He was absolutely perfect. 

 Some people might find his demonic form scary, but not Vox... Vox loved it. 

 Though there was not one thing that Vox didn't love about Alastor.

 Then Alastor's staff broke, and Alastor swore. 

 He had rarely heard him swear. 

 "Oh fuck. You need me to join your team," a little voice supplied him with the last time he heard Al swear. 

 He felt a sharp pain and worry creep over him.

 Alastor's staff was clearly important, essential for his magic, and now it was broken, and Alastor looked a bit down on his luck. 

 It was then that he very clearly saw Adam attack him.

 Vox felt sick. 

 He couldn't see it! He couldn't see the damage; he couldn't see what was exactly happening to Alastor because he was glitching too much- was he alive? 

 Was he dead? Oh fuck did he see Alastor get killed? Just like that? 

 Did all of his asking come through? Fuck him! Why did he wish all of that? 

 Vox hugged himself, laughing though he wanted to die inside.

 "Radio is not dead, but it is ending this broadcast",  Vox heard Alastor say... fuck okay... he was alive.

 Vox finally sat down, yes fucking run away moron! You shouldn't have been there! Not without an angel weapon, you absolute fucker! 

 Vox felt a bit calmer, though he didn't really know the damage that Alastor had received. 

 The fight ended with Adam being killed. Honestly, good riddance. That guy was about to kill his Alastor. Vox would have wanted to kill himself if it weren't for that cleaner. 

 Valentino and Velvette had wanted to release the video of Alastor getting his ass beaten, but Vox had refused. 

 He justified saying that there was a better scoop with saying that a cleaner killed an angel and that Heaven was bound to be mad. 

 In reality, he didn't want it released because it would have made Alastor a very easy target. 

 If people knew Alastor was hurt, on the chest, people would start to go for it, and though Vox couldn't see it, others definitely could. 

 Vox wondered if Alastor was really okay... that had been the wound of an angelic weapon, not just a normal one... surely it must have hurt. Not many sinners could survive a wound of that sort, and he wasn't sure if there was any cure for it except just living with an open wound... 

 Well, in the meantime, Vox started to work on his big plans. There was a moment to seize, and Vox was going to make use of everything he could to finally reach Heaven and become a god. Then, finally, Alastor would have to look at him.

 "And where is Alastor?" Vox had finally reached the hotel; of course, he went in person; he wanted to talk, interview Alastor, but of course, he was not there, so Vox had to just listen to the princess talk and talk and talk. 

 At the very least, he had found ways to entertain himself by tormenting them, especially Angel Dust. 

 And as everything was going perfectly, finally, a voice. 

 "I know you are listening, come out, Vox" 

 Vox was doing other... things when he heard that, but he didn't hesitate one second before zapping away to where Alastor was. 

 Did his plan work?? 

 He has finally got his attention. 

 And of course, now they had to fight. 

 Vox followed the glitching mess and, of course, went for his chest. He was not going to play nice, not when Alastor was picking a fight with him; he needed to show he was worthy. 

 Finally, he was able to get a glitched glimpse at Alastor's wound, but more importantly, he could touch it and understand exactly what was going on. 

 He was holding Alastor against a wall, and he used a nail to dig into the wound. Fuck, it was deep and open.

 "Someone should put this thing out of his misery!" he said, ripping out the stitches. It was pretty big... fuck Alastor, how are you even alive with that thing on your chest...?

 The maid and the drunkard had come to help him. Vox was fairly unbothered. He had Alastor in front of him, and he could kinda make out his face through the glitch, maybe he could work on reconstructing a complete image if he kept him still for long enough... he probably would have had all of his face unglitched, no? 

 Alastor pleaded and offered him a deal right after. 

 Vox thought he was about to go insane, but he could have Alastor at his mercy just... without hurting Charlie? 

 Who the fuck cared about her? She wasn't important, Alastor was! 

 He had won- 

 Fuck, Alastor was his. He was in his hands, his prisoner- he could do anything. Oh God.

 This was the best day of his life. 

 He put a mask on Alastor; the mask, being made by Vox himself, didn't glitch. He wanted to cover Alastor's body in garments made by himself. 

 He loved the man. He still remembered everything. What he liked, what he didn't. 

 He even declared that Alastor didn't have a tail because, hey, no one else needed to know or try to find Alastor's tail except for him. 

 He even brought him to a smoothie place. Alastor didn't like smoothies, and he had done that just to piss Alastor off. 

 It was when they were back in Vox's office that things got a bit... heated. 

 Yes, Vox had fucked Valentino, yes, he stared at Alastor, but Alastor had simply ignored them and rolled away in his chair. Vox could only see his back glitching. 

 He had finished quite quickly; it was definitely not because he had been too excited since that morning because of Alastor. 

 At the very least, he had given him a comfortable chair; he knew Alastor liked chairs, so... 

 Vox had brought Alastor back close to him when he was done. He looked at him. Before finally getting back up and taking the mask off. He needed Alastor to talk to him. 

 His static was back, and he was there, still glitched but there.

 Now he just needed Alastor to talk to him. 

 And of course, Alastor was being a brat. He enjoyed that though.

 "I prefer the silence" No bigger lie had ever been said. 

 And then Alastor had to go there and remind him of that faithful night when everything had changed. 

 The night Vox opened his arms to greet Alastor inside his heart, Alastor had ripped it out of his chest instead. 

 Vox wanted to be mad; he wanted to cry, but he was not going to be pathetic in front of Al again. 

"You think your little mockery is gonna make me cry? That I'm bawling about the past we could have had?" Oh, if Alastor just knew how much Vox regretted everything. 

 How much Vox had cried for Alastor, how many nights he woke up from nightmares of him dead or killing him. 

 How much Vox dreaded remembering the good memories because they hurt so much. Because Vox had lost Alastor in every single way. 

 "You are so obsessed with me. I know you need me here to be your unwilling audience when you lose your marbles in act three" 

 Vox had rolled his eyes. Alastor would have never given him a compliment, not even when he deserved it. He was going to prove him wrong. He needed to. 

 "You still need me as you did before" 

 Vox knew Alastor was right. But it was not for the plan; no Vox could reach his goal alone. It was because Vox needed Alastor in his life to have a goal. 

 If Alastor wasn't there, then Vox simply didn't have anything to look forward to; he didn't have a goal that mattered because his biggest objective was to impress Alastor. He was doing all of this for him. 

 Vox needed him, needed to see him, hold him, hear him, and Alastor needed to see him. 

 "So cute you think I care! " He laughed, Alastor at the very least still thought about him, still thought about him, otherwise why would he be here! 

 "Now I'm the master, and you are my bottomest bitch, no more Al the high and mighty now that I flipped the switch" 

 Vox was able to touch his hair. It was as soft as he imagined them to be all of these years ago. Maybe it wasn't brown and silky, but it was soft. It was everything Vox wanted to feel. 
 And then Alastor had looked at him with an almost scared gaze, and Vox had lost it. 

 "Though radio is dead, you know, the show must go on! By the time I had my fun, you'd wish you stayed gone" He was so close to him. 

 He could feel his breath; he could feel him against him. It was addictive. Oh fuck- he was hopeless. 

 Then Valentino spoke, "Ay, you two should just fuck already. What? Am I wrong? And can I film it?"

 Vox felt a blush creeping on him. Alastor looked displeased. 

 Fuck he would have wanted that, but he knew Alastor didn't like sex; they had talked about that once upon a time. 

 Though Alastor didn't know the term, it was obvious that he was Ace. 

 Vox took a breath. He didn't want to, he really didn't want to, but Vox was not going to get many opportunities like this. "Val, can you leave?" he asked as he stared at the glitching mess in front of him. Alastor looked pretty even with the glitches covering his face. 

 Val huffed, "bummer", he said, but got up "Tell me how it feels. If it's good enough, we can make freaky porn with him" 

 Vox gave Val a very sour look "out"

 Alastor's frequency was spiking up and down like crazy, clearly nervous. 

 Vox let his eyes spin; he could barely locate eyes with Alastor, but he used his cables to force Al to look at him, insisting on hypnotising. 

 He wasn't sure how effective this was going to be, but there was no harm in trying. 

 After a few minutes, he spoke, "Stop glitching" he demanded, praying this would work.

 Slowly, hesitantly, the glitching started to clear. 

 Vox felt his heart jump as a clearer version of the radio demon appeared. 

 Fuck... it had been so long that he was able to see him, to see his face so clearly. He missed him so much. 

 Yet it looked wrong. Alastor's eyes were spirals, his smile stretched impossibly. He let the cables fall as he reached a hand to caress his cheek. 

 He missed it.

 This was not exactly what he wanted, but it was so much better than the years of glitchy images and silence. 

 Vox took a breath "Get up" he commanded, removing the cables that kept Alastor to the chair. 

 He gave him some space for Alastor to stand. Vox took him in, recording him for his own benefit. 

 The red of his clothes finally looked right. He reached out to take his hand. 

 He was not going to have a second chance; it would be a miracle if Alastor didn't try to murder him after it was done.

 He reached to touch his hair and pet his ear. Of course, Alastor was not really reacting, but this was enough... he would have found a way to change the way Al's eyes looked, and then he finally would have had a real recording of him to keep forever. 

 That's all he needed; he never wanted more than to see Alastor and to be seen by him.

 That had always been it. It was so simple, and Alastor had just refused all of this time...

 Vox reached down. Not surprisingly, he was actually never able to touch Alastor's tail. He shouldn't get too greedy, but... fuck it! 

 He found Al's pants and lightly reached in, staring into Al's eyes to make sure the hypnosis didn't stop. Finally, he felt the tail, trimmed, small, and played with it for literally 2 seconds before feeling bad and leaving it be. He went back to the ears... 

 Why couldn't Alastor love him back? Why couldn't they be friends if he couldn't have him? Why did Alastor have to... hurt him like that? 

 Vox took a breath "I love you" he whispered. He had never said it to Al.

 He felt his eyes prickle. 

 "I love you" he repeated, louder.

 The spell broke. Alastor suddenly woke up, probably because the spiralling in Vox's eye got a bit cloudy. 

 And as he did, Vox was able to see his eyes normally for the first time. 

 His processor had no time to think that Alastor's eyes turned to dials and shadow tendrils surrounded him and launched at Vox. 

 As one stabbed him in the chest, Vox closed his eyes, "Remember the deal!"

 Alastor stopped. He was mad out of his mind "Fuck the deal" he growled, launching at him. Chains suddenly came around him to stop him from breaking their deal. Alastor could decide to either break it or stop.

 Vox looked at him; the glitching was not there. He was speechless "So pretty" he whispered. 

 Alastor stopped staring at Vox in confusion and anger "What...?" 

 Vox smiled, he didn't care that his chest throbbed "You... are not glitching... I can finally... see you, properly..." he said "You look so pretty..."

 Alastor furrowed his brows "You couldn't see me?' he asked. 

 Vox was now surprised "I thought you did that on purpose, so I couldn't see you"

 "I didn't want your cameras to record me" 

 "My eyes and memories work like cameras" 

 Alastor stared at him in thought "Is that so...?" 

 Vox nodded. He felt his screen buffering and error messages pop up "I don't think I ever saw you normally... till now"

 "That's not true, when we met..."

 Vox interrupted before his systems could shut off, "I was seeing in black and white"

 He didn't hear what Alastor said next as his system shut off to work on repairing the gash on his chest. 

 Would Alastor still be there when Vox wake up?

 He had been. 

 When Vox got up, dry blood under him, it had been a few hours. Alastor was sleeping in the chair, seemingly calm. 

 Vox touched his chest; there were stitches on the wound, from Alastor. Vox smiled softly and looked back at Al. He quickly retrieved a blanket, planning on putting it on him, but as he got closer, Alastor opened his eyes. He didn't say anything, simply watched. Vox blinked "Do you... want to sleep on a bed instead?" he asked. 

 Alastor rolled his eyes "I'm fine, go to sleep, Vox" he said softly. 

 Vox still put the blanket on him, as he was about to walk away, Alastor spoke, "Why are you doing all of this?" he asked.

 Vox turned around "because I want to get to the top, of course" 

 "And then?" 

 "then... I will be God" 

 "How do you plan on taking all of the archangels? You haven't even proven you are the strongest in hell"

 Vox would usually get annoyed at that, but not this time: "I have plans, Al" 

 "You will never fill your cup, you are broken from the start, no victory will ever be enough. You had also said you will come back to..."  Alastor whispered the last part, Vox barely heard him.

 Vox smiled. Alastor was right. He knew it, but, at the same time, Vox had just gotten the biggest victory ever. Alastor was caring for him, was not glitching... They were finally able to see each other. 

 "Just watch me, Al" he said, walking back to the bed "Good night " he turned off the lights. 

 Things were going surprisingly well. 

 Vox was able to publicly shame Lucifer, scare off the angels, declare war, get Carmilla Carmine to build a weapon and also get Lucifer as the battery. 

 Everything was perfect... till it wasn't. 

 Alastor was still a little shit; he should have guessed it. 

 "Stroke my friend's ego, he needs it" 

 Charlie had admitted Vox was the strongest in hell. Vox felt ecstatic; he had Alastor and the princess's approval. 

 But not for long...

 "You absolute idiot!" 

 "Fucking Wordplay?" 

 "Baby, I'm a demon in hell, that's kind of our thing" 

 Alastor had used wordplay against him and broken off their deal... what was the point of reaching heaven if he didn't have Alastor? 

 "I will just beat your ass back into submission" 

 A fight had broken out.

 Why was Alastor still so strong... why could he never win! 

 Alastor also started glitching again.

 Fucking prick! 

 "Shock.Wav!"

 
Thank fuck he was not alone or Alastor would have killed him... for sure. 

 For a stroke of luck, he found himself in front of the weapon.

 He struck once towards Alastor, then he felt his heart plummet. 

 Alastor seemed terrified. Shock.Wav was having the better of him, and Vox didn't want to kill him; he just wanted him!

 So instead of targeting Alastor, Vox turned around towards Heaven and struck it again. 

 And again.

 "It's going to implode!" Carmilla screamed, and Vox took a breath. He did a fair lot of damage to Heaven; he could stop and wait before going again... he was still in control, he could still take over Heaven. 

 Charlie and Emily were behind him "Stop it, Vox! Heaven doesn't even want a war!" They were trying to contact Heaven or something like that. He didn't care. 

 Alastor was finally there, too. Shock.Wav had stopped attacking, seeing that Vox was now on top of a weapon ready to implode, in danger. 

 Vox rolled his eyes and pointed it towards them. He was not going to shoot "Three for the price of one. I will get to Heaven, princess, whether you like it or not" 

 He didn't hear a portal forming behind him, nor did he feel someone launching towards him. 

 He briefly saw a very worried Charlie, Emily screaming and Valentino and Velevette on the side launching towards him.

 Then a sword pierced his head. 

 An angelic weapon. 

 Lute started laughing. Vox's auditory system stopped working immediately as he fell to the ground.

 He saw most of the presents going toward him to fight Lute. 

 And then he felt hands on him. Valentino was holding him.

 His vision turned back to black and white momentarily as his processor tried to find a solution.

 Then a notification: "corrupted files have been fixed. Open?"

 Vox had nothing to lose, so he agreed. What corrupt files were they?

 It was an old memory.

 There was a black and white Alastor, drunk, with an equally drunk Vox.

 "Al, do you consider me a worthy rival?" he asked. They were at Alastor's place.

 Al giggled, "Not yet, but soon" he teased. 

 
 Vox pretended to be offended "Then you hang out with me because you like me!" 

 "Perhaps..." 

 Vox's heart skipped a beat "Will you ever collaborate with me?" he asked instead. 

 Alastor smiled, getting closer "Maybe one day", he whispered, "When you will have a good plan that will make you stronger, I will be your friend" he said 

 Vox bit his lips "Will you ever consider being something... more?" he asked

 Alastor got even closer and took his screen "Something more like... this?" he asked and kissed his screen.

 Vox blushed deeply, his antennas sparkling "Yes" he breathed out. 

 Alastor looked at the top of his screen and flicked one of the antennas "I will consider it" he said "Come back to me when you finally make it big, I will say yes" he whispered. 

 Vox hugged him "Can you do it one more time?" he asked, reaching to pet his ears.

 Alastor closed his eyes, relaxing ever so slightly "Just one more" he whispered, "and remember to not talk about it" he said and kissed him again, this time a tiny bit longer. 

 Vox smiled "I love you" 

 Alastor laughed, "Wait till you get up there" he said "then you can say it" 

 "I promise I will get there as soon as possible" 

 Then the memory ended, and as his consciousness came back to reality, he finally felt wetness on his screen. Valentino was crying, so was Velvette. He couldn't hear them.

 He looked around and saw Alastor not too far, his expression horrified. How had Vox forgotten about that memory... He would have done things differently if he had remembered. He could feel Alastor's frequencies grating against him, and he calmed his own ones, trying to comfort him.

 Alastor noticed and trembled; he looked so close to frowning. Vox loved him... so much... he had always loved him... and Alastor had perhaps loved him all of this time... He just needed to ask...

 "I love you" he mouthed toward him, and Alastor understood. He seemed to take a breath and then mouthed back, "Me too, you silly picture-box" 

If only he had known before... if only he had told him before how he couldn't see him. How he missed him... maybe they could have been together, maybe they would have taken over heaven together. Instead, Vox was dying... killed by a fucking angel. 

 How could he have been so stupid... at the very least, the last thing he was seeing was Alastor, no more glitching... only him, in black and white, Vox knew that Alastor was in reality red. He saw Alastor frown, for a second. He still looked so pretty with a frown on, Vox wanted to kiss it away. 

Thank you, Alastor.

 Finally, he closed his eyes. He felt Alastor's frequencies spike but he kept his own steady.

He lost all of his sense, his processor was shutting down. Too much damage.

 And it was radio silence.