Lose Those Chains is a Hazbin Hotel Angsty Alternate Universe Fic by MaskedParkers.
It can be read here.
After successfully defending the hotel from the last extermination, Charlie encounters Adam after he's been cast out of Heaven and sent to Hell and learns there's more to the story she was told growing up. Adam isn't the complete villain he was portrayed as and her parents aren't the heroes.
Has an on-going sequel titled If Theres A Heaven It Can Wait, which can be read here.
Note: The author is a fan of Paradise Lost, so expect references from this work there.
Lose Those Chains contains examples of:
- Adaptational Context Change:
- In the show, Sera states that Adam was the first human soul to end up in Heaven. In this fic, it's actually Abel, but he forfeits his place after he learns that his mother ended up in Hell to keep her company.
- Lilith never planned to raise a revolution and battle Heaven. It was all a lie spread by Adam to initiate the yearly Exterminations to take his revenge on Lucifer and Lilith for ruining his life.
- Eve and Cain's fate is different from the one stated in the Bible, with them turning into Chaos and Death respectively, after Eve gave a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Lucifer and Lilith.
- Adaptational Villainy: A variation with Lilith, given that she doesn't have a proper introduction in the show (except from appearing briefly in the finale, relaxing at a beach in Heaven), but the fic turned her into a Psycho Ex-Girlfriend, who wants to take revenge on Adam and Eve after being kicked out of Eden.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Downplayed with Current Timeline!Adam, who is still the same jerk as in the show, only that he swears less.
- Lucifer is written as the stereotypical trickster and manipulator he's most commonly portrayed in media, instead of being an awkward dork with innocent ideas.
- Adapted Out: Seth and the various children Adam and Eve had after Abel's death and Cain's exile are left out from the story.
Word of God stated they went with this route so they wouldn't have to focus on too many characters. - All Love Is Unrequited: Sera was in love with Lucifer, but him choosing Lilith over her broke her heart and led her to punish him.
- Always Someone Better: Adam is designed by the angels to fit into the criteria of the ideal human body, but can't help but compare himself to Lucifer and thinking that the angel is more beautiful than him.
- Ambiguously Bi: Adam is smitten by both Lilith and Eve, but he finds Lucifer one of the most beautiful beings he has ever witnessed, and he enjoys spending time with him in a more-than-what-is-considered-friendly manner.
- Asshole Victim: The Sinners in Hell who are the targets of the annual Exterminations. Sure, they have committed terrible crimes to be here, but they had absolutely nothing to do Lucifer and Adam's feud and Adam kills them solely to get back at Lucifer for messing with his life.
- Badass Boast: After witnessing Adam zapping the cemetery of his and Lilith's dead children, Lucifer manages to come back with one.Adam: [...] The student has become the master. I wanted to be like you and now I am! Or maybe I should say I'm the new and improved version!Lucifer: Don't flatter yourself. You're nothing but a cheap copy. Just like your wife was of mine.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Adam, at least in the flashbacks of the Garden of Eden, who has a genuine but flawed Nice Guy with Poor Communication Kills. The angels deliberately created him to fit the criteria of the ideal human body. Averted in the current timeline, where he's still described as being hot, but he's a Jerkass.
- Born as an Adult: Adam, Lilith and Eve.
- Bullying a Dragon: Eve delivers a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Lucifer and Lilith for messing with her and her family's life during and after Eden. Problem is these two are the King and Queen of Hell and Lucifer gets so enraged that he grabs Eve and Abel shoves them inside a portal, turning them into Chaos and Death.
- The Exile:
- After witnessing them having sex, the Angels banish Lucifer and Lilith from the Garden of Eden.
- Happens to Adam and Eve after tasting the Forbidden Fruit.
- Cain is punished to roam the Earth all alone, unable to take his life, after killing his brother.
- Extremely Protective Child: Once Abel finds out that his mother ended up in Hell, he forfeits his place in Heaven so he can go down there and keep her company.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Cain spent most of his life being negatively compared to his younger brother by his father and Heaven. When he makes a sacrifice to the angels, who however refused it but accept that of Abel's, he gets so mad that he kills him.
- Fallen Angel:
- Lucifer after the angels punished him for sleeping with Lilith.
- Adam in this Alternate Universe Fic, after Heaven casts him out of Heaven for his shitty behavior.
- Fallen Hero: By the end of the fic, Adam has turned into this. He started out as a Nice Guy back in the Garden of Eden (albeit with No Social Skills, though that should be expected given he was Born as an Adult) but as more and more misfortunes befell him as the years passed (him and Eve being banished from Eden, struggling to survive, him eldest son killing the youngest, being the sole member of his family to ascend to Heaven), all caused by Lucifer and Lilith, he turned into a villain who wanted to take revenge and hurt them in the similar way they hurt him by leading the annual Exterminations.
- Fate Worse than Death: The angels punish Cain to roam the Earth all alone, unable to take his own life, after he kills his younger brother.
- Foil:
- Adam to Lucifer. Adam is tanned, brunette and all around handsome, but can't compete Lucifer, a literal angel, who is blonde, pale and seemingly "made of star dust". They also differ in regards of how they wreaked revenge on each other, with Lucifer acting under Lilith's guidance and eventually regretting his actions, whereas Adam having the whole Extermination idea on his own and taking joy in it.
- Eve to Lilith. Eve is the Light Feminine to Lilith's Dark Feminine, but Eve is brunette, tanned, slightly short and submits to Adam almost instantly, whereas Lilith is tall, blonde and more spirited and lively than replacement.
- Forbidden Fruit: The titular fruit (in the shape of an apple, as tradition requires) makes its appearance with the expected result.
- Hypocrite: Charlie, just like in the show, believes in everyone deserving second chances, despite what they have done. However, she's initially not accepting of helping Adam, after he attacked her hotel and killed some of her people and attempts to leave him alone in Hell to his fate. Even Adam calls her out for this.
- Hypocritical Humor: Adam constantly complains about Cain being a Sir Swears-a-Lot and behaving childish, even though in the actual show he's an even worse case than his son.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Adam's mindset after his first wife and closest angelic friend were casted out of Heaven from their disobedience, since until the Eve's birth, he spent a great amount of time alone. These feelings arouse again after Eve's death, where Adam spends another 100 years all alone before he dies and ascends to Heaven, only to find out that his second wife and son ended up in Hell. Him suggesting to go down there to say one last goodbye to them is actually him attempting to bring them to Heaven, so he wouldn't be alone.
- In-Series Nickname: Adam and Lilith call Lucifer "Luci".
- Killed Off for Real: Adam may have survived the finale's extermination, the same can't be said for Lute though...
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Eve and Lilith respectively, even though their outer appearances don't match. Lilith has fair skin and long beautiful blonde hair, befitting "light feminine", but she's more aggressive and stubborn and disobeyed Heaven by rejecting Adam and sleeping with Lucifer, whereas Eve is tanned and has curly brunette hair, but she's more submissive and soft-spoken.
- Like Father, Like Son:
- Cain is as childish and a Sir Swears-a-Lot as canon!Adam.
- On the other hand, Abel has taken after his mother's gentle nature.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Both Lilith and Eve are described with having long hair.
- Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Adam's attempts to sexually satisfy Lilith end badly. It's one of the many reasons Lilith chose Lucifer over him.
- Meaningful Echo: After discovering that his son Cain murdered Abel, Adam calls him an "utter failure". Years later, after Adam is the one on the receiving end from the angels, after the last Extermination ends up with more dead Exorcists and Adam committing a list of unforgivable sins.
- Nice Guy: Out of the entire cast, Abel is the one who fits the criteria most. He's the golden child of the family, whom even the angels shower him with love and has no real flaw that affects the progress of the entire (unlike his father or older brother). He even chooses to forfeit his place in Heaven so he can keep his mother company after he finds out she ended up on Hell. And then he unintentionally becomes Death.
- Out of Character Is Serious Business: Charlie is a sweet Anti Anti Christ who believes that everyone deserves a second chance, but even she doesn't wish to redeem Adam after everything he has done to her and her people.
- Original Man: The story is about Adam. The Adam.
- Parental Favoritism: Adam clearly prefers Abel over Cain and constantly compares them, so Eve tries to make out by showering Cain with the affection his father doesn't grant him.
- Parental Substitute: Adam, being made of dirt, has no real parents, so he views Sera as a motherly figure. Helps that she's the angel he feels closest too, after Lucifer.
- Poor Communication Kills: Due to never having interacted with other humans before, Adam tends to misjudge some of Lilith's thoughts and make statements that unintentionally hurt Lilith, even though he doesn't intend to do that. It's all these that make Lilith believe that Adam doesn't love her or truly value her presence.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Cain is a 250-years-old (which is the equivalent of being in 25 years old) adult who constantly whines and behaves like Bratty Half-Pint. He also kills his younger brother out of jealousy.
- Say My Name: Adam yells Eve's name multiple times when she dies.
- Shout-Out:
- When Adam meets Lilith for the first time, he asks her if "She wants to do an activity together?".
- Adam and Eve's argument after they had sex was heavily influenced by Epic Rap Battles of History's episode featuring them.
- Some of the fic's chapters' titles are named after Olivia Rodrigo's songs.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: By the end of the fic, Adam and Eve have turned into one. After learning that both his wife and son ended up in Hell, Adam traveled down there to retrieve them, only to discover that Lucifer and Lilith sent them to the mortal realm, turning them in the process into Chaos and Death after a fit of rage, and now them reconciling is utterly impossible.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Abel inherited his mother's auburn hair and amber eyes, whereas Cain inherited his father's wavy hair and height.
- Talking Animal: Eve claims that "a talking serpent" convinced her to try the Forbidden Fruit. This revelation freaks Adam even more, since animals don't talk.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The current!Adam is shaped like this, after all the traumatic events he faced in his life, with him finding out that his first wife cheating on him with his best friend, him and Eve been casted out of the Garden of Eden and the list goes on and on.
- Unholy Matrimony: Lucifer and Lilith, who are the King and Queen of Hell. They also messed with Adam and Eve's lives in more than one ways.
- Unreliable Narrator: The whole point of the fic is to paint Charlie's parents at this and reject the narrative that they have been feeding her all these years about the creation of humanity and giving humankind "free will".
- Winged Humanoid: How the angels are described. Adam also gets a pair of wings after he ascends to Heaven.
