Barbed Wire fitted the key into the door of her apartment. Sunset stood behind her, curious as to what she will meet when she enters the flat. All she really hoped for was a place with at least a comfortable enough couch for the night. Even if it didn't meet expectations, Sunset didn't really care; she wasn't staying for long anyway.

Barb then turned the door knob, and with a click, the door opened to Barb's push. The place Sunset was met with was a black void, the only light being provided being from the dark sky out of the windows from the far end of the flat. Barb stepped inside the black hole, the darkness swallowing her whole until a light switch was flicked on. Barbed Wire was seen standing beside the wide opened door with a welcoming gesture.

"Please, come in," Barb said, holding her pose still until Sunset finally decided to move.

Sunset took a step inside of the flat, looking all around her surroundings. The place seemed to be pretty well kept, with white and pink striped wallpapers and brown wooden floors for the narrow hallway. It was a more sweet and calming atmosphere and quite a drastic contrast with everything else Sunset had seen in Hell. It wasn't what she was expecting from such a tough girl like Barbed Wire.

"You can go onto the couch. I'll just fetch you some pillows and a blanket," Barb said, disappearing into another room.

Sunset made her way through the hall and into a larger room, the kitchen taking up around a third of the space, and the living room taking up the rest of the space. The hallway aesthetic seemed to remain consistent throughout the rest of the house.

Sunset took notice of some of the paintings that hung on the walls in a black frame. One being of a mountain valley, with a luscious green scenery to be seen in the foreground and snowy mountain tops sitting the background. She was quite surprised to see a representation of such a peaceful location in a house that belonged to a maniac, let alone in Hell. She took a closer look at the bottom right corner to check the signature.

'A•Hitler 1911'

And there was the madness. Sunset just let out a sigh. 'At least he found an audience somewhere,' she thought before she had a seat on Barb's grey couch.

Sitting a few feet away from the couch, and beyond a black coffee table that was covered in bottles of alcohol and candy wrappers, was an old CRT TV. Either anything better is too expensive or Hell is well behind with the times.

This whole apartment seemed to have a very calming vibe to it, which was all Sunset could ask for at this point. However, despite how nice it felt being here, she knew she wouldn't have time to soak it all in due to her short stay.

But before she could get lost in thought about what her plan for tomorrow was, she was suddenly met with a pillow colliding with the back of her head. She quickly turned back around to see Barb standing at the exit to the hall with a cheeky smile, holding an blue blanket covered in sunflowers.

"Gotcha a pillow," Barb said, approaching Sunset's to be resting place for the night.

"Yeah, I can see that," Sunset replied, rubbing the back of her head where the pillow hit. "Ow, that was a hard pillow."

"Heh. Sorry about that." Barb handed the blanket to Sunset in a more polite manner this time. "That pillow is pretty old."

"Good to know you're very prepared for guests," Sunset sarcastically retorted.

"Hey, if you'd rather use a garbage bag then be my guest."

"Sorry! Sorry. It's fine, really... I'm just a bit frustrated and... I really need to just sleep the night away." Sunset placed the pillow against the couch's armrest and sat up against it.

"Oh! Before you do that..." Barb leaped over the couch and landed on the spot next to Sunset. "...there's a few things I should run you over about Hell. From what I saw tonight, you've not a damn chance of lasting too long here."

Sunset moaned, bringing herself up from her spot on the couch. "Fine, but please don't make this last too long. I need sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Just listen for one more moment." Barb clasped her hands together. "So, first things first, I've noticed that you're a complete pushover."

Sunset turned her head in confusion. "What?"

"Well, one thing, you trusted me to get you a good drink, well done on that, and you also pleaded for someone to not punch your face in."

"I won that fight you know," Sunset felt the need to remind her.

"No shit. It doesn't negate the fact that you were a complete fucking baby at the beginning," Barb added onto Sunset's words.

Sunset blushed with embarrassment upon hearing that. 'Did I really look that much like a baby in front of everyone?'

"Secondly, I swear at some point I heard you call someone a monster." Barb looked at Sunset with disappointment. "I'm just gonna let you know that 'monster' in Hell is a lot more offensive than up on Earth."

"Why?" Sunset asked.

"You think these guys wanted to be what they've become? If Hell decides to make a person disgustingly ugly, then they're stuck like that, and calling them something like a monster will strike a very sensitive spot. Just call ourselves lucky we got hot bods."

Sunset laid back against the armrest. "Well, what do I call the civilians in Hell?"

"Hell residents are called demons. Just remember, no calling anyone a 'monster' unless you really want to die. You're very lucky that no one heard you back at Volcano's.

Anyways, next up, as a new demon of Hell, and because you're of age, you're kinda obligated to find a job."

Sunset groaned in annoyance as her back slid down the armrest and she was looking towards the ceiling. "Are you kidding me? I thought I'd be free of jobs now!"

Barb shook her head. "Nope. We got a hell of an economy here and we gotta pay for something to make sure it's not chaos."

Sunset sat back up straight. "Well, whatever, that's not really gonna be a problem for me."

Barb raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Whatchu talking about? Too good for a job, are you?"

"No, not that. I'm just not planning on staying in one place for too long."

Barb just stared deeply into Sunset. "I'm sorry, I'm really not following you."

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to come up with the right words to say. "Look, just listen. So, there's a ruler of Hell, right?" she asked.

"If there's a God, there'll be a Satan, which there is," Barb answered.

"Right. So he must determine whether what people deserve to go to Hell or not."

Barbed Wire's confusion only grew ever stronger. "You're starting to lose me again. Wait. Are you trying to say that the big man may have been wrong about you?"

Sunset gave a nervous shrug. "Yes...?"

Barbed Wire then broke into hysterics, causing for Sunset's face to droop in annoyance. Tears began to form in the yelling hyena's eyes as she began pounding her leg. "Whoo! Now that is a good one, Sunny! What makes you think that Satan, you know, the lord of the underworld, would have been wrong about you? I'm pretty sure it's an agreement between him and God about what happens to you."

Sunset gave a hmph in return to Barb's response to her idea. "Well, I'll have you know that where I came from, I was part of a team of superheroes given power by the magic of friendship!"

"I think you were hit a little too hard. You feeling alright?" Barb began to snicker again.

"I'm telling you the truth, and what we all did was shine light on those who are doing wrong and embrace them with friendship. How does any of that grant me a ticket to the world of sinners?"

"Perhaps something you've done in the past?" Barb suggested. "I don't think a couple good deeds after kicking a dog would get you into heaven."

"Okay, yeah, sure, I may have done... a few things..." Sunset never liked looking back on her past, all those horrible misdeeds she had commited. "But I've made up for all of my wrong doings and I've faced justice for my sins. Is that not enough? This just can't be it for me, right?" She looked down at her hands which rested on her lap, balled into fists.

Barb was able to see the distress in Sunset, but she wasn't sure of what to do at the moment. All Barb could do was let out a sigh and rest her head on her hands as she looked upwards, leaning further back into the couch. "I don't think it really matters. Even if you've made up with everyone, it doesn't change the fact that you still did... well, whatever you did."

"But I don't think that's really fair. After everything I've done, I wasn't even given the benefit of a doubt? It... it just doesn't sound right." Sunset then looked in Barb's direction, staring at her with confidence. "That's why I plan on meeting him. I'll do what I can to persuade him that I am deserving of a happier ending than this!"

"But do you really think he'll listen?" Barb asked, not even looking in Sunset's direction. "Hundreds of new demons arrive everyday, many of them having their own reasons why they were sent here. What makes you so special? You died, you were sent to Hell. That should be the end of it."

"Well, why are you here?" Sunset suddenly asked, beginning to feel impatient with her roommate for the night. "Don't you feel like you've been cheated out?"

Barb hesitated to make a reply. "Rule number four: no asking about how others died. It's thought of as very rude and personal."

Sunset raised her eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not making that one up?"

"I don't make the rules." Barb turned her head away from Sunset and looked at a digital clock sitting on a shelf. It read in neon green letters, '00:13AM'. "Anywho, it's getting kinda late now. I'll let you go to sleep now." Barb pulled herself to her feet and began walking back towards the hallway to go to her own room.

Sunset sensed the feeling that Barb seemed to want to rush out, but she tried paying no attention to it, if it really is that personal to everyone. "Thanks," she just said as she cast Barb a small smile. She took off her jacket and boots, moved her pillow into a comfortable postiton and pulled the blanket over her body. "Goodnight."

Barb stopped herself before she could reach the hall, turning her head slightly back towards Sunset. "What did you say?"

"Goodnight, Barb," Sunset repeated.

Weirdly enough, a smile, a genuine smile, formed on Barb's face. She hid it to herself, but before she left, she returned a, "Goodnight," back to Sunset and switched the light off.

Kinda like this chapter, the next few chapters will be entirely dedicated to fleshing out the world a little more. But next time, not having it said moreso than things actually being done. Good ol' show don't tell kinda stuff.

Hopefully they won't all take so long to make, not that I'm expecting them to be very long in length, again, like this one. But once that I feel I've done enough, we can finally begin with the real meat of the story!

Once again, do let me know what you think and what you think I can do better, and I'll see you all for chapter 4.