The Hotel doors open, and so would a Hellhound of Hellborn (obviously) descent would leave through the doors. She stretches her arms and lets out a small yawn before letting them back to her sides. The air feels oddly... heavy tonight, but it's probably nothing. Either way, she sticks her hands into her pockets and begins her trek.

It was just a normal day in hell as any other. Sin all around the corner. Drug vending machines and even some were next to drug stores. Thieves, robbers, murderers and all of the like. It almost gets oh so dull after a while of living here. Perhaps that is the point of hell, maybe. But there was nothing unusual of this day. As the hellhound progressed more and more out of the city, the liveliness and hyperactivity of the city slowly fade away. Never fully, yes but it lessens and lessens the more you stray away from it. After a while, Cry would find herself somewhere in the outskirts. If she continued to walk, she'd come across a small clearing of a forest, almost as an entrance.

Nothing more than a typical day in Hell, of course. Indulgence is all everyone does, nowadays... But why expect anything else in the land of sin? Not that it matters, because Cry's used to it all. Born into it. So why think of it as anything different? No matter, that's not why Crymini is out here. She passes by it all like it's nothing, but life seems to be guiding her somewhere specific. She doesn't know it, but she'd begin to walk out of the city itself, towards the outer forests, and comes across this botanical path. It looks like it could be somewhere to go, so... why not head there?

The forests and nature was strangely beautiful for hell. The plants, trees... everything about it was so diverse, unique, strange but importantly: Beautiful. But as cry continues on and on, the air gets colder and almost moisty. The area would become a little mistier. It wasn't significant but it was a subtle change. Something feels off about this particular path... It doesn't feel like it's one of hell's strange hazards either.

Seems like there's gonna be a light fog in the area. No matter, that just makes things feel a little cooler, right? It's like a neat atmosphere for some cool adventure! Still, the air feels oddly heavy, and this is only complimenting that. There may be danger around the corner, so maybe trying to keep safe might be the best option. How so? Well, that axe guitar Cry hasn't used in so long is gonna come out. A bunch of embers from seemingly nowhere would appear, converging together near Cry's hand before a fiery boom emits as the axe appears in her hand, glowing yellow for a moment before the aura fades. Her axe isn't so special that it always glows, but at least bringing it into existence is cool.

...Nothing is there. Nothing reacts to the axe being summoned into the hellhound's hand. A gust of wind pushes the embers away, the trees and grass. It felt... desolate. Lonely. And cry would notice, as she moved forwards and forwards, the vegetation was dull almost as if it was approaching it's death. The wood of the trees looked like it has been aging for centuries. On a rare few, the branches looked like they were going to break off in a decade or so. But the other trees had lost it's color. It felt bleak, off, for a place like hell. One for it's never-ending sinning, dangerous hazards and even life... Almost felt absent in this place.
As Cry neared the exit of this forest, The old and dead trees became more frequent. And calls of scavenger birds could be heard as she neared a field of tall yellow grass. And scavenger birds flying over to some place in the distance which seemed to be a lonely tree... It looked somewhat old but nothing compared to the ones back there. It had some color in it but the color of the leaves was dull and muted, seeming almost bleak and dead.

Cry steps over the twisting branches and roots, almost like they're there to tell her to turn back, but she's determined to continue now. She grabs a branch to help pull her up over one of the large roots, but it's dead and dry, and snaps as soon as she grabs it. She loses balance and falls over, landing face first on the ground with a small grunt, and slowly pushes herself back up, quietly cursing to herself as she does so. She pushes onward, and continues forward into the large field of dry, yellow grass and trees spread apart at least a kilometer apart from each other. The circle of birds above one of the trees marks its significance, but it's probably nothing too important. Either way, she sees something over there, but can't quite make out what it is. Either way, that's her new intended location, and that's where she begins to drag herself.

When the hellhound begins to ruffle through the grass, a familiar smell would sneak it's way to her. It was faint but the more and more she approached, the more stronger the smell would become stronger, slowly but progressively. The scavenger birds circled around the tree in a chaotic manner... As cry continued to near it, the scavenger birds, one by one, began to fly down to the tree and perch themselves onto the branches, staring down at something... While only one flew down to the ground. Some were left circling above, most were perched and only one was not with the group of birds. As the sense of familiarity got stronger, it was quickly overwhelmed by a deathly one... One that might have made someone scrunch up their noses. But the sense of familiarity blended with the said horrible smell.

As the hellhound walked nearer and nearer to the tree, the scavenger birds... payed no attention to her. As if she never existed in the first place. The wind of gust passed by again, bending the tall grass over and making the tree sway slightly. Something about this place was no like the other... It feels almost like a dream of sorts.

The familiarity is faint, almost unnoticeable, and even then, she can't quite put her tongue on it. Either way, the sight of the birds coming down is a somewhat suspicious one, as they must have a reason. A noise hits her ears as well. Flies. There must be a corpse under the tree. What a visual, right? A dead body in a dead field... Depressing. Cry continues to step towards it, but that scent of death hits her nose and makes her gag. She's smelled rotting flesh many, many times before, but it's been a long time. Guess now has to be the time for her to be reminded of said smell.

She coughs a few times and shakes her head, then wipes her nose with the back of her hand and keeps it against her snout as she chooses to approach a little more. What is it that these birds are eating?

More and more steps towards the tree, it seems... The air is as heavy as it can be at the moment and moisty. A few of scavenger birds begin to craw and croak.

Once Cry gets close enough to the tree, she'd see a rather tall man, sitting up against a tree. His hands, were white as ash and his right hand was clutching something. His left hand was palm up. His hat was a very familiar sight... as well as antlers. The scavenger bird that flew down was pecking at the man's face... But it was not a face. Just a cracked skull. The man's body was just starting to decompose it seems. The corpse has been untouched for a while now.
The only scavenger bird then gives up on pecking the skull and slowly hops down to his left hand, as it begins pecking the corpse's right hand... It was the corpse of Buckley Reed. A forgotten sinner. It was almost bleak and depressing but there was only one wound in his chest, one from a spear. Even with how depressing this was, He still looked like he died in peace, resting. One of the kinder things the afterlife gave him compared to the deaths of many others from the exterminations.

No... No, this isn't-... It can't be.
Cry stops where she stands and stares at the body. Initially, she's not sure what or who it is, but denial is what comes soon after. It doesn't hit her quite yet, but she grips her axe and swings it in the air near the birds, frowning as the whoosh of the axe comes near them before they fly off.
"Fuck OFF, dumbass birds! Fucking hell..."

She grunts and shakes her head dismissively before dropping her axe on the ground unceremoniously and stepping up to the corpse. She frowns at it, but slowly reaches forward to take the hat off from his head, gingerly lifting it off of the skull and examining it in her hands. She looks over it slowly, then brings it close to her face and takes a small whiff of the hat's scent. Half decomposing corpse, half... Buck. She slowly lets the hat down, holding it with both hands over her midsection as she tries to process what's before her.

She doesn't waste too much time with this, spotting the note in his cold, dry hand, and snatches it out from the old man's grasp. She lifts the hat up and puts it on her own head, having to move some of her hair out of the way for it to fit right. She takes a seat on one of the tree's large roots, and begins to look over the note.

The old man's hand slowly falls limp as soon as the note is grabbed, softly hitting the ground. The scavenger birds were still watching but the few slowly began to part as soon as the hat was picked up and so was the note. But most stayed. Some of them were still in their original spots but a few moved their branches to overlook the young hellhound who had sat herself down.

The note crymini had picked up was old and stained with dry blood. Buck's handwriting wasn't exactly the most refined but it was easy on the eyes and simple to read.
"This is it, i guess... No recordings, nothing of the like. Just a pen and some paper i tore off from a old journal of mine. Wanted to make sure the page was big as possible so i could write more of my thoughts, feelings and what i want to say. But who am i kidding... I'm doubting that someone would ever find my rotting corpse. But that's okay, since i still have a shimmer of hope that someone might get to read my last words. My life was horribly cruel to me. It gave me only brief moments of peace and happiness before ripping it away from me. Thought that would be the last time i ever felt... human. Most of the times i just felt less than a human being. My time down in hell wasn't as painful and non-stop as my life was but... That just made it worse. There was nothing for me to distract my mind from the past. Never loved myself really. Didn't have any love for anyone else. Was just a sad, grumpy and bitter mess. Felt like i'd be better off dead again. No one knows this and if someone is still reading this... Well, i shot myself when i was still alive. Didn't die from age or natural cause. Didn't die at anyone's hands besides mine. Just felt like my life was hopeless... and that's how i felt with my afterlife in 2020."

"But i did Hear about some hotel with the princes saying demons could get redeemed. Was watching on one of those televisions through a glass of a Television store that had it on. All of the demons laughed at, knowing how stupid it sounded and was. Me? Just stayed silent.... Because i was thinking to myself if it could work or not. I missed my son so much... I regret that i could have done nothing when he died in front of me. Just waking up to his hanging corpse is something that has haunted me through out my entire existence. Maybe i could finally see him again... Just maybe. I wanted to give this hotel a chance, i really did. That was my shimmer of hope and i instantly clinged onto it the moment it appeared. I'm glad that i did... I met so many people that had improved my afterlife, even for a short-duration. And one of them was... very important to me. Just didn't know it when i first met her. Her name was Crymini. A rebellious and angsty kid. She did a lot of dumb things. I know i first remember meeting her when she broke her foot because she kicked it against a wall. I came across her. Didn't feel like i could leave her there really so i helped her out... I'd probably be miserable if i didn't. Kid was a bit against me helping her at first but she warmed up to me for it. I remember one of the moments with her like it was yesterday... I was at her home where she had been living for the most of her life since she was a small kid. Before the hotel, that is. It was trapped. I was honestly really impressed with how well she could handle herself. But, the most important part was, she ran away from the hotel because she was feeling just horrible. I still remember talking to her through the door very clearly as if it was moments ago... She felt so vulnerable. It broke my heart and i felt at the moment i was given a chance to give whatever love i had left to someone. Cry was that someone. I almost felt like a father again and she felt like the daughter i never had."

"Rebellious, rude, angry and angsty... But She just felt so lovable really. When i saw her after that, she seemed really happy when i came in her presence. It really warmed my heart... made me feel after so many centuries of just feeling dead inside. It felt like the pain and torment had stopped. I started to meet more and more folks and people. I actually met my wife down here again... I was so happy to see her and so guilty at the same time. I blamed myself for her death because i was the one who got her pregnant. But, at least me and her could have get redeemed to see our son. But... Ah, lord. Everything just began to tumble because of my paranoia. It all started with an argument with Lil and i just... Snapped. Yelled at her. She told me i wasn't the man who she met when she was still alive. I was pathetic... I'm a fool for loving in love with a conwoman, huh? Didn't even see anything wrong with it at first until it was being pointed it out for me. And that was when i started to fear that i might lose cry. So i made a deal with rosie for protection for cry. Only cry... And the part of the deal was for me to go kill her friend. Didn't know what to do... Just tried to explain that to cry's friend that i was sent there to kill her. Didn't want to... tried to save her out of it. But cry walked in and she didn't take it so lightly... Pretty sure i broke her trust and her heart. I felt horrible... Everyone else started to hate me. Even when i tried to make things right, i got a bullet into my knee, got my leg amputated. At least i broke that stupid protection for cry and the hit on her friend was over. Still felt like nothing was fixed. And cry's friend? Somehow managed to burn that one remaining bridge down. After that, i just became forgotten. Every other time i saw her was just bitter. Trying to make up to her felt wrong and impossible. I somehow managed to but yet... things still felt tense between us. I broke my last chance."

"Life gave and life took away... no different with the afterlife. Still even after all of that, i still love her even though that wasn't given back. I can't bring myself to hate the kid, i guess. We've been through too much. I don't have many reasons to hate the kid... Afterall, it was me who had messed everything up for her, right? I don't know what to say much about the others. Lily conned me of my love and the rest of my friends, while they were there for me a few times, just forgot me. That's okay. All of that is okay. I at least had something nice to experience in the afterlife. I'm glad i did. I realized i could never get up there in heaven again. So thank you, all of you, who gave me some nice moments to reflect upon... Especially you, cry. If anyone is reading this who knows me, please, don't show cry this. Just don't bring my name up, bury my corpse so she can't find it. I don't want her to experience any of the pain from this... but... If you do tell her. Just let her know i'm deeply sorry for everything and i love her with all my heart. I've never been her parental figure for the longest, never did know her for very long. But even then, i felt fulfilled with purpose in my life thanks to her.
And if you do ever read this, cry which... i doubt.
I wish you the best, kiddo. I hope we can see each other in a afterlife beyond hell if there even is one... And... One last thing. Don't blame yourself for any of this. None of you do. I've seen everything i had to see. This was just the end of my journey. I'm not doing this because i feel horrible about myself and hate myself and blame all of you for all of it.
This is just the end of my story.
Farewell."
-Buck


She gets herself comfortable on the root, looking down at the note as she straightens the cowboy hat on her head and clears her throat as she gets ready to read. Looks like a lot of words... Too bad she isn't gonna read them. Knowing her last feelings on him, the first paragraph or two doesn't really hit her all too much. Just general things about him and his thoughts about everything else. If anything, she's a little deadpan about it, reading it with an emotionless expression on her face as she continues to go over what was written on the old parchment.

Even the second half of the note wasn't much to her. Something so trivial that she doesn't see the need to find any significance through the whole thing, but this doesn't deter her. She wants to know what it all says. All of it. Then she's brought up, and her eyes widen slightly as she reads about herself. She didn't expect herself to be written in this note, and especially not in the light that Buck wrote her in. The topic of her broken foot when she kicked the wall in anger gets a dry, empty chuckle from the hound, continuing to read on.

Back when Cry ran away after her alcohol addiction and Alastor turned the drink into bleach, destroying her esophagus and ability to speak for weeks. Back when he treated her like a child, just because he wanted to feel like he had one again, but she didn't understand. Mention of his wife... brings back memories. She was nice to talk to. Cry liked her. She liked her a lot. She probably isn't even around anymore...
He and Cry never got to make up, and that's going to weigh on her.

A tear falls from her eye as she reads the last of it, then lifts a hand up to wipe it off as a sniffle escapes her and she tries to keep her composure as she stands up and takes a deep breath. She sets the note on Buck's lap and stands up straight as she looks down at his deceased corpse. She crosses her arms as she watches him, and her bottom lip begins to quiver as she has one last realization.

"I didn't get to say goodbye..."
And the weight becomes too great.

And as soon as the note is set on his lap, The scavenger birds begin to croak and caw again as they flap their wings and leap off of their branches, flying up to the rest of the ones that were still circling the tree. The one that was pecking at the Old cowboy's corpse was now staring at it far away, still weary of cry. It only twists it's head to look at the hound for a brief moment before beginning to fly off and catch up to it's group. The wind had calmed, letting the grass idly stand and more importantly the tree.
Buck's wish was answered even though he may never know... He won't be forgotten. That's all that mattered to him. He had came through a long tough journey. He finally got to rest, maybe in doubt that he'll be remembered but... at least he a slight shimmer of hope. A small experience of life again before this happened.

His soul can finally rest now.

Cry would remain where she is, curled up beside the root she had sat on, head in her hands as her palms become wet with her salty tears. This continues for multiple minutes before she finally calms herself down enough to wipe her face and slowly stand up. She grips the hat on her head and pulls it down a little more, making sure it's fastened on her head. He'd want her to keep it, as something to remember him by, and that's what she'll do. She clears her throat, wipes her sniffly nose, and begins the trek back home, knowing that she never got the chance to give a true goodbye to someone who cared for her when she only thought the opposite.

How could she be so careless?

---

This here's a little non-canon story involving Crymini and a friend's OC, Buck. In all honesty, I'm not sure what context this story does or doesn't provide, but I do want to state that I, nor my friend, are authors in the slightest. I literally just copied and pasted our responses to an RP and put it as the description of this artpiece, because it means a helluva lot to us, heh.
It'll probably get washed away behind all of my other submissions, if I end up posting a lot more, because I'm not sure what kind of folder or category I'd put this into, but oh well!

Art by - Unipandapus on Twitter, as usual."
I do not own Crymini, and this story is entirely non-canon and something simply done for fun with a friend.