Betting on Black au
Hey all! Mod Rosie here with a new au that I’ve had bubbling away in the back of my head for ages now and have finally shared with everyone! I’ve spent a ton of time ruminating over it, and I’m excited to have finally written it down for everybody to see.
There’s still some stuff I haven’t figured out, but I’m sure my fellow mods (and anyone who sends asks) can help me find an answer for it. Also, this is very long, so there’s a Read More for folks on mobile.
First off: This fic starts with Henry being dead!
Henry died by accident, with a curse placed on him by Joey being partially to blame for causing it. He’d laid a minor Bad Luck curse on Henry that hit/triggered at a terrible time.
(Stumbling or tripping him at the worst possible moment and him getting hit by something lethal. Joey had just wanted to inconvenience Henry for quitting/leaving the studio, but he'd had no idea that the curse could potentially cost Henry his life.)
He ends up wandering/following after his still-living family and trying to look out for them as best he can. When his sister falls deathly ill, he's desperate to find some way to help her. By pure chance, a demon happens to be nearby and senses the terrified/frantic ghost calling for help and appears before him.
The demon is, in fact, a super high-ranking guy (like, King/”Royal Court” type). He's “retired” from tormenting humans, because he's realized that he just- doesn't care about the whole “Heaven Vs Hell” thing anymore. He's been doing it for so long and sustaining the rage/hate for it for so long that he just doesn't have the energy for it anymore. So he's been looking to do something new, that isn't dragging souls into hell. And he's settled on a casino that he’s called the “Preening Aces Casino”, that's run based on karma instead of being rigged, to let his fellow demons unwind and occasionally see how humans do if they actually have the chance to win for once. (And how humans who are terrible can lose it all).
(Basically, he's decided that the only side he wants to play for is his own. Just because he didn't feel like torturing humans anymore didn't mean he wanted to get all buddy-buddy with angels.)
Anyways, he picks up on Henry being desperate enough to make Deal and shows up to make it (and to test run some of his stuff).
He's surprised/impressed that Henry isn't trying to make a deal for himself, and decides he kinda likes the guy. (Since Henry stays polite, and doesn't turn demanding when he shows up.) It's not often he's faced with a ghost trying to save their still-living family and not trying to get revenge or be brought back to life. It's a nice change of pace.
He brings Henry in and learns that Henry's got really good Karma. Like, way too good for how early he's died.
So he checks, sees the remains of the curse, and decides “Hey, maybe I can do something with this.”
He makes Henry an offer, going “Look, you died young. You had a lot of good stuff ahead of you, and now it's gone. I'm feeling generous, so let me cut you a deal. Keeping your family safe while dead ain't easy, so how about I make you... Less dead? I'll make it so you mess around in the living world again, even make it so people won't think to question how you're around. But. You work for me. I got a bit of a project going on, and it would be easier if I had some extra hands to keep it running smoothly. Do the job for long enough and clear your debt with me, and I'll even cut you loose to do whatever you want without being one of mine. What do you think?”
Henry hesitates, thinking it over, then he finally accepts.
The Demon, who tells Henry to just call him “Boss”, then makes Henry into a demon. (Or a Nephelim? Basically a half-demon, half-angel.)
Henry gets wings and horns and has tattoos that look like thorn-chains appear on his arms. His wings have piano-key patterns on the primary flight feathers and his horns form a halo shape. (Because his Deal was to benefit someone else.)
The chains show that he's contracted/serving a demon, and lets Boss have a certain level of power/”control” over him and reminds him that he can't just take off or try to skip out on his end of the Deal. They can turn into actual chains if the demon chooses/needs to.
Boss doesn't do that, but the reminder/threat is there.
Henry normally works in the food areas (and occasionally some of the tables) of the casino in the levels reserved for ghosts/humans, and usually keeps away from the “Demon Only” areas of the place.
Boss has him do that since he's the least terrifying/unsettling to them. He doesn't need to administer anything but food and conversation, though he does occasionally need to kick people out/remind them of WHERE they are. Some of the human-neutral/friendly demons that stop by like chatting with him or having him draw stuff for them.
(The Casino is mostly run by “puppets” brought to life by Boss. He's willing to cater to his fellow demons but doesn't feel like employing any. Most demons know to not cause trouble for someone like him.)
Henry finds the job isn't as bad as he'd thought it would be (though he suddenly had a ton of info about his new position/boss get dumped in his head) and he has a lot more freedom of movement than he'd expected. It's surprisingly tolerable. It's not his ideal job, but it's not a bad one either.
Then, somehow, Joey gets a letter to Henry's PO Box, despite them not having spoken to each other in years. Henry waffles on what to do for a bit, then finally goes to the Boss and asks for a couple days off to look into whatever his old pal has for him. Boss lets him, and Henry heads off to the old studio.
(Henry, due to his new not-human nature, automatically has an illusion/glamour that appears that makes him look his “proper” age. It only comes off if he actively removes it/reveals himself.)
Henry gets to the studio and he instantly knows something is wrong but has no idea what. Thanks to being around demons/being a demon for so long, he's gained a sense for when something demonic is present/working in a place. He goes in and plays along for a while, then the machine turns one and everything goes sideways.
Things stay closer to script for the game, though Henry keeps using his powers in small amounts to try and make things easier/less dangerous for him. Upon meeting the wolf, and getting to the safe house, he confirms that Joey is in the studio with Boris. Though the wolf tells him that Joey is deep in the studio. Henry resolves that he's going to speak with Joey before this is over. And by “talk” he means some thing much more frightening/violent for his old “pal”.
But, around chapter 4, Henry goes “F*ck this Noise” and starts openly using his powers to steamroll his way through to rescue Boris. And also scare the shit out of Malice while he's at it. (This change in tactics also alerts Boss that something is wrong through the chain-connection, because he can feel Henry using his powers in larger/more active amounts than before.)
Not sure how the stuff with Malice goes right now, but at the end, Henry is so peeved off that he decides he's not going to keep delaying anymore.
He's going to hunt Joey down, NOW, and they are going to talk.
When he finds him (Admin offices, no village or river. Those get skipped, or at least glazed over.) Henry is pissed, and ready to take a chunk out of Joey.
(His eyes might be glowing a bit from rage, and anyone with him is able to see his horns and wings from the corner of their eyes.)
Joey tries to butter Henry up (he is unaware of the havoc Henry wroth on his way down) and convince him of how wonderful/amazing what he's achieved is. He was trading the souls of his workers for fame and fortune and bringing the toons to life. He needed EVERYONE from the studio to complete the deal, which was why he needed Henry to come back. But Henry shuts him down, telling him that he DOESN'T CARE what Joey was trying to do. Just that it was ruining the people he SHOULD have been trying to help. So Joey brings in the demon he made a Deal with to try to force Henry to their side.
Henry feels something try to latch on to him, but it fails horribly.
Because the chains from Henry’s contract/Deal blaze to life (bringing him to his knees because holy shit that's a lot of power being shoved through him) and Boss materializes there, royally pissed that someone tried to poach HIS servant and ready to open a can whoop-ass on the one responsible.
(Demons can sense if a person is already bound/contracted to another demon, especially if that demon is more powerful than them. And Boss is WAY more powerful than Joey's demon. Also, Boss is a Pride demon, while Joey's is a Greed demon. It's partially a personal trait, partially what they're most commonly summoned for.)
Henry is spooked because Boss is also flexing his power to tell the Greed Demon just how badly they've fucked up, but he's also relieved to have the demon there to help.
GD tries to regain control, but quickly figures out they've screwed up and now their Deal can't be finished. Which also means they're going to lose all the souls they'd gotten thus far. (Also, they've pissed off someone that outranks them and that's gonna be a problem.)
And now it’s also going to lose its thrall over Joey to make him gather souls for it.
(It's similar to the Vamp Henry scenario, where Joey came from a well-meaning place at the start but then the magic and demon intentionally twisted him/his mind so it could use him to do horrible-shit.)
Boss, pissed off and able to sense how unhappy Henry is about all this, decides he's gonna twist the knife a bit on this guy before his deal implodes and tells him just how late he is grab Henry. And how shoddy/stupid his deal was to be tied to having ALL the souls before it could be completed. Because now he can't complete it since HE'S the one who's got the last soul instead. (Also, the deal would have also fallen through if Henry had been straight-up dead too.)
The demon vanishes, and Joey finally comes back to his senses. And promptly freaks out about what he's done. Boss lets him for a few minutes, then steps up to make his own Deal.
He sends Henry back to the casino telling him to clean up and make something. (And to keep him from being there to know/influence the Deal. He cares about the people involved, which means he could accidentally skew the choices that get made.)
Boss basically gets Joey to gamble his chances at fixing everything. Since, if they let everything that happened go unchanged, everyone in the studio would be dead and Joey would be serving SEVERAL life sentences. But, if he's willing to put his possibilities/future on the line, Boss could mend as much as he could. (Joey doesn't have much else to give for it.)
Joey agrees.
(Boss also goes to the other souls and gives them the chance to play for their lives/freedom back, if they're willing to risk it.)
Everyone (or at least most employees) gets a scenario similar to Henry at the end, they're alive again but now they work at the casino to pay off being brought back and (to those it applies to) to clear up their bad karma from anything they may have done/been doing while trapped at the studio.
Henry shifts from being just the restaurant/bar guy to being the employee-manager on top of that. It's definitely an unexpected promotion, but he's also strong enough to keep all of them in line so he's not opposed to it. (Since Boss' idea of an employee bonus was a boost in power/expanding abilities.) Also, it's nice to have his old friends around again.
And that's as far as I thought about the whole thing.
Well-
Aside from envisioning/fantasizing about either Boss or Henry having a go at Malice about how she's a shit angel, but an exemplary demon.
No plans for Real/living Toons in this au, but it could be something that gets talked about later by us later.