An Angel in Demon's Clothing (Hazbin Hotel x Angel! Reader Series)

Behind the Scenes? Some Insight (A/N)

Man, guys, this fic (from my perspective, at least) really blew up!  Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in this fanfic!

I didn't really want to write this in a chapter, mostly because I feel like it breaks the flow of the story, but Wattpad doesn't really have much of a function for long posts outside of stories?  Yeah, we'll go with that.

I have a ton of ideas for this fic that I'm really excited about that you'll get to see later on, but this chapter is going to discuss some ideas I had for this fic that didn't end up really getting used, but that I think would kind of be a waste if I didn't at least share them; who knows, maybe if someone/enough someones ask, I might write some short alternate storylines using those ideas.

I had the idea to write about an angel volunteering to help with Charlie's hotel very soon after the first couple of times I watched the pilot; I had the idea turning around in my head for quite a while before I actually started writing it, for a few different reasons.

One of the first decisions I had to make when I started writing was the identity of the angel, or the reader.  I had three main ideas for who the angel could be:

The first idea was that the angel was a relatively good human who died and went to heaven and felt like they hadn't contributed enough good to the world before they died, and so jumped at the opportunity to make a difference in Hell by helping to redeem sinners.  This is the idea I ended up using because it was the friendliest, least "controversial" idea that would make the most sense to the most people.  I felt that this would be the most relatable of the possible identities for the angel, which I've considered giving the placeholder name "Arrow" to (Let me know if you like that name, or if you think something else would be more suitable, sometimes I get self-conscious about naming characters), to have.  With this identity, "Arrow" would be a curious soul who had regrets about letting anxiety or fear outweigh their curiosity in life, and as a result lets their curiosity guide them more in the afterlife.  After all, "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

The second idea was to make "Arrow" to be one of Alastor's murder victims.  This was, of course, before we got what we have of the Alastor prequel comic, and without knowing what kind of victims Alastor preyed on when he was alive, a role that could easily become something easily derailed when we get more canon content.  Still, even though it's not the "safest" of roles or subjects, I really liked the idea of time spent in Heaven making one forget any pain one endured during life.  This role would have allowed me to explore the concept of forgiveness when it doesn't make sense and giving it freely even when it's not at all deserved being a rather saintly trait.  If I had used this idea, the angel would have held no ill will towards Alastor and wouldn't even bring up that he was the one who killed them unless for some reason it became necessary. They would have been a very patient and forgiving soul who would have chosen to volunteer to help Charlie because they felt the sinners in Hell may need the help of someone who knows what it's like to have been greatly wronged.

The third idea, and perhaps the most controversial, was for the angel to have been a serial killer who somehow managed to redeem themselves in life before they died.  With this identity, I would have been able to explore the idea of someone believing that even the most terrible of people can change if they try, because they've experienced it themselves.  This version of the angel would have been more sly, using the skills they'd developed in life for the purpose of good, and occasionally giving off rather terrifying vibes to the other characters.  They would have absolute faith that the redemption of the sinners in Hell is possible, because they themselves had experienced redemption, even if it was in the living world.  This would, of course, be fairly difficult to write believably, because it's very difficult to reform a serial killer.  Still, I liked the idea of the angel volunteering to help Charlie knowing both exactly what kinds of terrible things a sinner may have done, as well as how difficult it is to change an evil person's behavior, while still having faith that redemption is possible.

In case anyone is interested, I have a few ideas of what "Arrow's" demon disguise looks like, and have drawn a few of them:

This first design is based off a yellow orchid mantis.

This one is a sea dragon-hippocampus.

And this one is a kelpie. (The outfit is not final, i just wanted to put them in something)

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Expect updates to this chapter as I continue writing!  It's really fun to share my ideas!