Fanfic / Newest Pup in the Family

Artwork by @VBJ_Marble

Newest Pup In The Family is a Helluva Boss fanfiction, written by FaroeKing on Archive of Our Own.

Blitzo was not expecting to find a young Hellhound girl digging through his trash. Nor did he expect to adopt the kid, Cyra, making her the newest member of his family. For the first time in ages, Cyra feels loved and welcomed by her newfound family. But as she grows closer to them, Loona starts feeling left out. Can the older Hellhound open her heart to the family that’s been waiting for her? And what fun adventures and challenges will this new family face together?

---

This fanfic provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Chelsea Goodlock trained her daughter to sing, dance, and act from a very young age, acting more like her manager than her mother. She controlled every aspect of her daughter's life while profiting off her daughter's career, even after her daughter's death. She then adopted a new kid to start the process all over again.
• Acceptable Breaks from Canon:
  • Blitzo is given his own room, rather than simply sleeping on the couch in his one-room apartment. This was being written shortly after "Harvest Moon Festival" was released and before we had been given a proper look at his living quarters.
  • The same can be said for its depiction of Greed, it is considerably less crime-ridden and mafia-filled than in canon. Though one might assume Plutus Plaza is just in a "nicer" neighborhood than the ones we've seen.
• Afraid of Needles: Cyra starts out a little spooked over her first Hellbies shot, after what she learned about it from the kids. After it's over though, she's more discomforted by the harsh treatment the nurse put her through, than the shot itself.
• All-Loving Hero: Cyra's an incredibly loving and forgiving child, despite all the hardship she has been through. Notably, she is quick to forgive Millie for her constant dismissal of hellhounds as pets and specist language when she can tell she's genuine in her apology. She even lets Loona's dismissive and cold demeanor towards her slide, because she sees there's good in her and wants a good relationship with her new adopted sister.
• Ambiguous Situation: The Exorcist that killed Cyra's parents decides to spare her at the last minute, and leave her be. The reason for this, being it the Extermination had ended, the angel took pity on the child or it considered Cyra Not Worth Killing, aren't revealed and left open.
• Animal Lover: Cyra absolutely adores animals, especially stripped ones like tigers, and loves visiting zoos with her family to see them.
• Animal Motifs: Cyra's favorite animal is the Tiger, and fittingly sports a heavy theme around the big cat. She is rarely seen without her tiger hoodie and has a number of tiger plushies at home, including the stuffed body of a tiger that she won in a claw machine. It is implied this love of animals came from her mother giving her a tiger-themed onesie as a birthday present.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Millie demies her bigotted views and remarks towards hellhounds, Loona counters by asking the imp when was the last time she addressed her by name (rather than her usually calling her the 'Hellhound'). Millie is unable to think of an instant of this, causing her to realizes she is, even if unknonwingly, biggoted towards hellhounds.
• Beach Episode: "Beach Day in Hell" has the characters spending a day at the beach in Envy.
• Badass Teacher: Mrs. Mayberry resumes teaching in Hell after having Martha killed, still having her mostly loving and sweet demeanor, though with much lower patience, and is not above threatening her students with violence if they don't behave or slack off.
• Big Damn Reunion: One happens in Chapter 14 between Cyra and Blitzo. While they were only really seperated for a few hours, after Blitzo's whole affaird with D.H.O.R.K.S. and Cyra's traumatic nightmare, it feels a lot longer for them and makes their emotional hug in the end very cathartic.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Cyra refers to Blitzo as "Mr. Blitz" rather than as Dad or other similar titles.
• Catapult Nightmare: After her traumatic, terrifying, and long nightmare in Chapter 14, Cyra wakes up like this near the end, though still in a hysterical and shaken mess, needing Abigale and her moms to call her down.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Abigale starts feeling bad and worthless after losing the Pain Games Junior Divison, Cyra attempts to cheer her best friend up, by telling her that losing doesn't mean she's weak, citing Moxxie as an example as he competed in the Games and finished last. This causes the young imp to cheer up immediately…because she starts thinking it means she's stronger than Moxxie, due to coming in higher than him.
• Commonality Connection: While on their playdate in the Plutus Plaza, Loona & Octavia bond over their annoying dads, similar tastes in music, and love of the store Stylish Occult. Similarly Cyra and Octavia bond over a shared love of animals (Via mostly for taxidermical reasons).
• Cool Big Sis: How Cyra sees and describes Loona, though the older Hellhound is extremely reluctant to be this at first she soon warms up to the idea.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Cyra's parents are implied to have been killed by the Exorcists during one of the annual Exterminations, leaving her orphaned. This is then confirmed in Chapter 14, where she watched her parents being brutally killed by the angel, that gave Cyra her bald mark and then left her..
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Friends Fighting For Fun" and to a lesser extent "Warm Welcome to Wrath", focuses on Cyra's relationship with her best friend Abigale, her family, their friendship and the imp wants and dreams.
  • "Training From Hell" focuses on Millie and her relationships with Loona and Cyra.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Cyra's parents, Ellie and Ansur, are mentioned by Cyra to have been very loving and caring from what she could remember, noting that her Dad would often play with her even after a hard day at work and that her Mom would read and sing to her at night. They were even implied to have been the reason Cyra loves tigers, having given her a Tiger-themed onesie on her birthday. During the flashback sequences, we see more of this, as they play with her, share dinner together, and when things looked bad would frequently try to reassure Cyra that everything's going to be okay. Even during the Extermination, when people are constantly dying and things seem helpless.
• Department of Child Disservices: Played with. After Cyra's parents were killed, services were professional enough to honor her dad's insurance that would see her be put into a proper orphanage, rather than the abusive hellhound foundation, even after multiple declines. But, not only is the agent in charge of Cyra uncaring about the state of Carmilla's orphanage, he is also rather unsympathetic towards her even after all she's lost and after seeing her in clear fear of the place.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Blitzo manages to divert Loona's attention during a Volleyball match by claiming to see Vortex in a Speedo, the flustered hellhound falling for it easily.
• Dumpster Dive: Blitzo first finds Cyra going through his garbage looking for food.
• Every Scar Has a Story: The origin of Cyra's bald mark on her forehead is revealed in Chapter 14. She got it after being burned by the burning sword belonging to the Exorcist angel that killed her parents.
• Faint in Shock: This is Cyra's reaction upon learning that Blitzo & Moxxie have been captured by D.H.O.R.K.S.
• First Day of School Episode: "School's In" focuses on Cyra's first days at her new school and her struggle to fit in amongst her imp classmates. While she gets along well with her teacher, she's initially heavily bullied by the imp children there and spends most of her free time hiding from them, leading to some very poor first days. It's not until she befriends Abigale, that things start improving as the other kids back off and she starts becoming a little more confident.
• Foreshadowing: Vortex confides in Cyra over the phone that his girlfriend is Beelzebub, way before the Sin appears in the story. After the call, Cyra informs Loona of this but the older sister just thinks her friend is trying to sound cool to the kid.
• Happily Adopted: Cyra almost immediately takes to her new adopted family, becoming very close with Blitzo, even if she has yet to call him dad, and idolizing Loona. She even forms bonds with the rest of I.M.P. including Moxxie, Millie, and even Stolas.
• Hate Sink: Chelsea Goodlock is a controlling and abusive mother who ruined her daughter's life while profiting off her career, then adopted a new kid so that she could start leeching off her. Nobody mourns her death, not even her newly adopted daughter Alice who is instead overjoyed to be free.
• Heartfelt Apology: Millie gives one to both Loona and Cyra at the end of Chapter 9, apologizing for her racist remarks and treatment of them both, having realized how much this has hurt the both of them and promising to be better from now on.
• Honorary Aunt: Millie likes to see herself as one for Cyra outright telling her to call her "Aunt", however while Cyra likes Millie and sees her as family no title as been used.
• Human Disguise: Thanks to some teaching from Loona, Cyra is able to get a human disguise in "Cyra's First Mission" appearing as a young Latin/American girl. Though due to her inexperience, she hasn't fully mastered it yet, causing her ears and tail to pop out whenever she gets too nervous or excited.
• Human Mail: Blitzo, wanting to spy on Cyra's visit to Abigale's home out of paranoia that something might happen, hides in a parcel and has himself mailed to their address. Unfortunately, he got the address wrong and spent most of the day trying to find the right house.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Upon meeting Abigale, Blitzo quietly and coldly threatens to disembowel her, with her horns if she ever hurts Cyra in any way.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Cyra breaks into a fit of confused tears upon receiving her new room, previously belonging to Blitzo, crying confused about why the imp is being so nice to her, after having only just met her. Blitzo simply gives her a hug and says it is because they're family.
• Infant Sibling Jealousy: Loona does NOT care much for Cyra during most of the story. Understandably, having been abandoned by her birth parents, picked on by most of Hell, and never adopted once in her life, the hellhound feels threatened by the younger, sweeter, cuter hellpup, especially when she starts getting along with Blitzo and the others, viewing her as her inevitable replacement. This often causes her to either ignore, demean or resent Cyra throughout most of the story, only starting to open up to her thanks to encouragement from Vortex & Octavia.
• Innocent Bigot: While Millie is hinted at being one in canon, she is confirmed to be one in this fic, frequently calling Loona as by her species, along with several hellhound slurs, rather than by her actual name. Something that greatly upsets Cyra. Upon realizing what she's been saying, Millie apologizes to both Cyra & Loona, promising to be better from then on. In later chapters, she keeps to this to point of catching herself.
• Intergenerational Friendship: During their playdate together, the 7-year-old Cyra befriends Octavia who is 10 years older than her.
• It's All My Fault: Cyra starts blaming herself for not reacting to Blitzo's whistle, when he and Moxxie were fighting Striker, thus allowing them to get hurt. Even though Loona tries to convince Cyra it wasn't her fault and there was little the hell pup could do, her fear of losing Blitzo and blaming herself for their hurt carries over, long after the Harvest Moon Festival.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As typical, Loona is often depicted as apathetic, grumpy and rude towards others, especially Cyra whom she starts viewing as her replacement. However, over the course of the story, she displays a few moments of caring, such as helping Cyra brush her hair, giving her small advice and over time, comes to care for her new little sister.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Loona is the first to admit that she is an asshole, but she is right that her being horrible to others doesn't give Millie a free pass on being racist, especially when Cyra has to hear the derogatory insults that Millie says to Loona.
  • While Loona is mad that Cyra is coming along with them during one of her only missions to the Living World, she is absolutely right that they could just steal the doll Blitzo wants instead of dragging Cyra into the beauty pageant just to win the doll in an unnecessary scheme.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • When Millie tries to argue that she's not prejudiced against hellhounds and she sees them as people, Loona asks her when was the last time she called her name. Unable to remember a time when she called Loona by name, even during their first introduction and before she started disliking her, Millie is forced to realize that Loona is right.
  • When seeing how uncomfortable and terrified Cyra is during the beauty pageant he entered her into to win a rare pony doll, Blitzo realizes that he's no better than his dad, who selfishly used him to further his own goals, and asks Cyra if she wants to pull out and promises to never put her through something like that again.
  • When tasked with watching a sick Cyra all day, Loona almost leaves her alone so she can go enjoy herself before she sees how awful Cyra really is, which reminds her of her time in her orphanages and causes her to question what the Hell was wrong with her.
• Kids Are Cruel: Aside from Abigale, most of the children in this fic are incredibly mean and often cruel towards Cyra, bullying her, harrassing her, throwing out racist remarks and taunting her to fight them.
• Knight Templar Parent: Blitzo becomes VERY protective of Cyra upon adopting her, especially after learning about how she was bullied as a child. He is quick to threaten any child whom he suspects of hurting her, including her best friend Abigale; even attempting to try and eavesdrop on Cyra's first visit to her friend out of worry for her. He even killed one of her bullies, after making him dig up his own grave.
• Lethal Chef: Blitzo is described as being a monstrously horrible cook, his food being so bad it makes anyone who eats it sick. The only exception is Cyra, who loves it.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to the show it's based on. Sure there's plenty of swearing, drinking, violence, and references to sex, but nothing as major or graphic as the series. We have yet to see a fully bloody fight, and overall the fanfic has a much more Slice of Life feel to it, with chapters focusing on Cyra bonding with her family and them getting along, rather than the regular assassinations of I.M.P.
• The Mall: The Plutus Plaza, wherein Blitzo, Loona, and Cyra spend their playdate with Stolas & Octavia. It is described as the largest shopping mall in all of Greed, boasting eight stores selling whatever one can imagine, along food courts, cinemas, arcades, an aquarium, escape rooms & even a mini-theme park.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Millie has this reaction upon realizing her bigotted treatment of both Loona and Cyra, and seeing her her words have hurt the young child, who's already suffered similar treatment from others.
• Nervous Tics: Whenever Cyra is nervous or afraid, her stammer worsens and she hides behind her tiger hoodie for comfort.
• Nightmare Sequence: Chapter 14 is one big Nightmare, as Cyra dreams about her old life at Lady Carmilla’s Home for Children, remembering the cruel staff and children there and the mistreatment she suffered. This is right before she's treated to a terrifying scene where all the abusive figures from her past torment and mock the child together, calling her unworthy of love and that she'll also be alone. Then after a brief respite where she remembers a happy day with her parents, she dreams of the traumatic Extermination Night, where she witnessed death and destruction at a young age, and had to watch her parents die in front of her, before being scarred and left by the Exorcist angel responsible. As she cries, she is treated to one final scare, as the corpses of her new friends and family are scattered amongst her old ones, after which she finally wakes up.
• Orphanage of Fear: Cyra's old orphanage, Lady Carmilla’s Home for Children, is built up to be a nightmarish place based on the hellpup's recounts of it. She describes it as being very cold with little room for everyone. All the staff and children there were rude, abusive, and cruel, particularly toward her. As if that wasn't bad enough, they are then willing to throw children out if they didn't get adopted before a certain age (in Cyra's case, as low as 10).
• Oh, Crap!: Blitzo has this reaction after realizing he forgot about Cyra near the end of Chapter 14, immediately rushing over to pick her up.
• Parental Abandonment: It is heavily implied that Loona's mother abandoned her when she was very young, leaving her at an orphanage without so much as a goodbye.
• Parents as People: Blitzo is clearly trying to be a good father and loves his children, but he has many faults. He struggles to open up to Loona or even talk to her, causing him to unintentionally neglect her in favor of the more open and loving Cyra. Speaking of, he can be quite protective of his new daughter, disliking her friend Abigale and believing she intends to hurt his youngest child, despite the imp showing no intentions to do so. In addition, he briefly picks up from his father, when he tries to get Cyra to audition in a beauty pageant for a rare pony doll, not realizing what he is doing, before he's already signed her on.
• Pet the Dog: Loona performs a few for Cyra to show her warming up to the pup.
  • Despite initially refusing to help, during Cyra's first night Loona helps her brush her hair.
  • When Loona sees how upset Cyra is after she picks her up from her first day of school she gives her advice on avoiding bullies.
  • Cyra has a panic attack after learning the whistle she heard was Blitzo calling for help while he and Moxxie were fighting Striker and runs off into barn of Millie's family farm Loona is the one who tracks her down and offers her some comfort.
  • When She and Millie are teaching Cyra how to shoot a gun, at Blitzo's request, and she makes it clear she doesn't feel comfortable with the weapon, Loona sees how much she means it and agrees to call it quits.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Cyra begs this out of Blitzo, after her traumatic nightmare in Chapter 14. After being reminded of the death of her parents, seeing her new family die and her own fears of being alone, the hellpup is desperate not to lose her new dad, tearfully begging him to never leave her again.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Abigale & Cyra's relationship is built around this trope. The imp is the Red Onim due to being hotheaded, passionate, reckless, and violent at times, and Cyra is more shy, cautious, nervous, and not much of a fighter.
• Shrinking Violet: Cyra is incredibly shy and socially awkward towards others, especially during first introductions. She often stammers when she is nervous, hates being in the spotlight, and lacks confidence in herself in the opening chapters.
• Sick Episode: "Sick As A Dog" fittingly has Cyra being bedridden due to a bad fever, with Loona being stuck at home taking care of her.
• Sore Loser: Abigale is not a graceful loser. She throws a small fit after losing an FPS game and becomes moody and sad after only ranking 12th in the Junior Pain Games, spending most of "Warm Welcome To Wrath" believing she's a loser for not winning.
• Sucky School: Played with. The school itself isn't awful, nor are its teachers, but the students there, in particular Draco, treat Cyra like crap and bully her constantly due to being the only hellhound there. While things die down significantly after she befriends Abigale, Cyra is still picked on on occasion.
• Technicolor Eyes: Cyra's eyes are purple, compared to the usual red eyes of hellhounds. It is hinted this is due to a minor genetic mutation in Cyra's DNA.
• Trauma Button: Hearing about how Blitzo & Moxxie were almost killed by Striker, causes Cyra to have a panic attack and flashback to her parent's deaths, out of fear of losing her new family.
• The Voice: Loona talks to Vortex several times on the phone, but he has yet to make a physical appearance.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Played with. While Blitzo is mostly serious, he has his moments of being a bit childish, over-protective, and reckless with his ideas. This compared to the more mature Loona and cautious Cyra can sometimes lead to a bit of trouble.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 11. It is here we're finally given a hint at what happened to Cyra's birth family, along with what happened to them. They were killed by the Exorcists in an Extermination.
  • Chapter 14. We learn more of Cyra's past, in particular we meet her parents, find out about their tragic fates and see how Cyra got her bald mark.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Chapter 14 serves as this, as it's centered around Cyra's nightmares as the pup dreams of her abusive, troubled past and the fate of her old family.
• Would Hurt a Child: Blitzo is implied to have killed a kid named Draco who was one of Cyra's bullies.
• You Can't Go Home Again: The Baphomet agent tells Cyra this when she begs to be returned home, telling her she can't go back as her old home is gone and her parents are dead.

---