Angel started to come out of his slumber hearing voices around him and a hand stroking his hair. His first instinct was to tense as stroking his hair was sometimes something Val did, especially after a rape session. A mockery of appreciating and caring for that which he saw as his property.
"You were as enjoyable as always, Angie Baby. " The moth would say soothingly. "Though I wouldn't have to punish you if you don't resist me as much as you do. Do you honestly believe I enjoy hurting you this way? I only do this because you force me to do this to you."
As he became more aware he began to realize none of the voices around him were Val's, they were all female voices. And the hand stroking his hair was caring, gentle, almost motherly in its action.
"Do you know when he had taken anything last?" A stern sounding female voice said.
"Sorry no," A concerned sounding voice said. "I don't, I think he has been limiting his drug use to prevent you from catching him while he's high or shit like that so he might not be this way for too long. But all I truly know for sure is his narcotics use is a means of dealing with and escaping what that bastard was doing to him. He is from a time that was roughly forty-years before my death...and from what he's told me they didn't really deal with mental and emotional problems back then. It was just something that wasn't talked about or diagnosed."
"I see," A familiar voice said from where she sat on the mattress next to him. She wasn't angry, but there was an unmistakable disappointed tone. "I guess I never thought any of this through when I came up with the concept of my hotel. If I had...maybe I would have noticed he wasn't getting better or that something more was going on."
"He's been doing this for seventy-three years and he said that he wasn't with Valentino all that time." The stern voice pointed out "As far as we know, Valentino may not even be the root of all the problems that are holding him back. Remember when we first approached him he was mostly skeptical about our cause and why we wanted him to be the first candidate. It's only when you gave him that money I don't know...that he became...more cautious...more suspicious...more…"
"Afraid," The voice sitting on the bed said. "In my personal experience, I've been taught that people who assist you in some way are compensated or they become part of a project they are given an investment. But I guess the Hell he experienced is that people don't just give you anything unless they do intend to hurt you. Remember after I told him the money was as thanks for helping us, he immediately said 'This is a trick'.
"Knowing Val, most of that is lining his pockets." The concerned voice said. Angel let out a small groan as he felt himself begin to stir. His body felt leaden and his whole body ached like he had been jumped in a bar brawl.
"Angel…" The voice sitting on the bed said, the tone a cross between relief and worry. Angel blearily opened his eyes to the blurry but concerned faces of his companions. Vaggie was standing closest to the door. Her expression was unreadable, though concerned.
"You had us all worried bud," Cherri said. Her single-eye became saddened at the sight of him. He started to sit up, but Charlie put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down against the pillows.
"Lie back," She said soothingly. "You're running a temperature."
"What happened?" Angel said groggily even his brain felt like a bowl of cioppino.
"You tell us," Vaggie her voice starting to become angry. "Cherri found you having a seizure. And don't say you are caught a cold or something, you have been knowingly violating your contract...how many times are you going to do this?"
"Vaggie, that is enough!" Charlie said firmly before turning back to Angel. "How are you feeling right now?"
"Like I've been run through a pasta press." Angel groaned as he rubbed at his eyes.
"Okay," Charlie said as her voice took on a serious tone. "Angel, listen to me...we, the three of us, believe you are undergoing withdrawal symptoms at this time. You are likely feeling really sick and probably desire drugs, right now. I know narcotics have been something you've turned to as a means of escaping and dealing with all the stuff that Valentino and other people have been doing to hurt you in the past. I understand your reasons for doing that, so I am going to overlook all this...this time. But I can't keep making excuses for you. I need you to understand that all this ends here and now.
Vaggie and I want to help you get away from Valentino and anyone else like him, and we want to help you reach redemption. But we can't do that if you are going to turn to drugs to solve your problems or act out in ways that could make our project look like it's not worth anyone's time. You have people in this room who do care about you, and others back at the hotel who are only just beginning to know you...the real you. Not the person that Valentino or anyone else has made you into. What I saw in the car on our way here were some of the first glimpses of the real you that I've seen. And I want to see more of that...no matter what anyone has told you, Angel. You aren't just some two-bit whore...and there is more to you than whatever ties you may have to the Mafia. Whoever has told you that or made you believe any of that bullshit is wrong and they need to have their eyes checked. Because I know...I know there is more to you than even you realize. I know in my heart that you are a good person who doesn't deserve any of the things you've gone through in life and in Hell. And *I* want to help you find the true parts of yourself, but that can only happen if you let me."
The room was silent for a few moments as they waited to see how Angel would respond. Charlie was ready for anything, if Angel chose to listen to her that would mean he was making the step to get better. If he responded by hiding behind his cracked mask of flippancy and acted like her words didn't matter. She would be disappointed, but she would know he wasn't ready to receive her help. She wouldn't give up on him, she would still make herself someone he could turn to if he realized he needed her. But she couldn't allow him to stay at the hotel, he'd have to try and make a living and survive on his own, And even when he was ready he would have to prove to her that he was going to take her offer seriously not just use her generosity for his own selfish needs
After what felt like an eternity Angel rolled into his side burying his face in the pillows to muffle what sounded like a sob. He was just so...tired. That was how to best describe it, he was tired of being in fear, tired of the pain, tired of offering his body to some nobody he wasn't going to remember or even care enough to just make Val rich. Even now, as much as he wanted drugs...craved them. The drugs themselves didn't make the pain and suffering go away. It only offered a short moment of detached relief that only masked the pain and the memories. If this crash down into withdrawal was enough to make him feel like shit on ciabatta, then how did that make being high worth it? After all...all he was doing when he bought dust and shit like it was give more of his earnings to Valentino. And here Charlie was laying things down on the line...while she hadn't said she was giving up on him, she was saying she was not going to be responsible for him. She had chosen *him* for her project, and she certainly had given him more chances than he deserved in the last few weeks. All he had done since was to spit what she offered him and take advantage of her generosity. Any normal demon would have tossed him out on his can the first sign of trouble. Thanks to her he was free of Val...at least so long as he was a part of this redemption program he was free of him. It was so close it was in his grasp, he had broken ties, he had escaped. Now it was just a matter of making sure Val knew that Angel was no longer his to control. Otherwise...he'd be back where he started...working for and being tortured by Val or some asshole like him. And just baring it all alone...suffering through it...alone... as he had since manifesting in Hell over seven decades ago.
In that instant, Charlie knew his mask was gone, shattered forever. Tears came to her own eyes as she gathered him into her arms and cradled him against her.
Angel cringed in fright as he felt arms enfold him. But the arms holding him were being gentle, not demanding anything from him, or seeking to hurt him. One of the arms wrapped around him moved so three gentle fingers lightly brushed their way into the soft, short, downy hairs at the back of his head and began to lightly knead light circles into the back of his neck. He leaned his head against the shoulder of a familiar red jacket. His breath coming out hitches as he tried to fight back his tears.
"It's alright," Charlie softly said, making no secret she was crying for him. Crying because he was in so much pain and he carried it...all of it alone for years..decades...for over seventy years. And beyond that...what had the time he had actually been alive been like as his words of " I guess I chose that name to remind myself of a bad memory" came to her mind. She didn't know what his living existence had been like, but it couldn't have been a happy one. At least not completely happy if he wound up in Hell.
"We're all here with you…" Charlie soothed. "Just let it out. Let it all go…*he* can't hurt you anymore. No one...I swear to you that no one will hurt you again. I know you're in pain...and it will hurt for a long time. But Cherri, Vaggie, and I are with you every step of the way." Angel couldn't fight the tears he had been holding back as he gave in and heaved a sob into the shoulder of Charlie's coat.
Cherri instinctively climbed onto the bed, burying her face into her best friend's shoulder tears falling from her single eye. Her arms wrapping around Angel's shoulders, one arm extending out to include Charlie so the effeminate male spider was sandwiched between the two girls. His closest and dearest friend and the only girl who saw him and knew him for who he truly was.
Vaggie didn't share in the hug the two girls were giving the spider, but she did place a hand on his arm to add her strength and compassion into the circle enfolding him. None of them knew how much time had passed as the four of them mourned for Angel and all he had suffered through. Eventually, though Angel's cries came to an end as he fell back into an exhausted slumber. Carefully laying him back down among the pillows it was clear that exhaustion had taken a toll on the spider. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and tossed his head side to side in his fevered delirium as the pain of withdrawal continued to ravage his frame.
"You rest," Charlie softly said. "You've cleared this hurdle, but there is still a long way to the other side. But I'll be with you every step of the way."
The days passed by slowly as the three girls watched over Angel as he went through the stages of his withdrawal. Charlie adamantly stayed by his side tending to him as he fell in and out of unconsciousness. Cherri also stayed by her friend's bedside and helped where she could, but useless in her efforts to help him. This wasn't like a turf war where the two of them had each other's backs. This was a battle only Angel could fight, all the rest of them could do is wait until he came out on the other side.
Vaggie had used the cabin's phone line to contact Husk and let him know they would be longer at the cabin than expected. Informing the cat demon that Angel had fallen ill not long after they arrived and they were tending to him until he was better.
"Keep me informed," Husk said in concern, at least what counted as concerned for the normally surly demon cat. "I don't like the guy, but at least he's one of the things that make this place tolerable."
Charlie would softly talk to Angel while he slept, telling him stories about her life growing up as the Princess of Hell. Stories she had never even told Vaggie.
"My dad has never really been what you have called," Charlie said softly. "A fatherly person. To be honest, I think he always hoped I'd have been born a boy. He cared for me well enough, but he just really wasn't there when I needed him. I often hoped I'd get a brother or a sister over the centuries I've lived. But mom was often busy and dad also had his connections to attend to, so that never happened. I just wish for once he'd see me and what I have to offer as the heir to the Throne of Hell. I guess I thought of the Hotel as a place to create a family, not just Vaggie. But I've come to think of you as a brother and Cherri as a sister. Even Alastor is kinda like family...if you don't mind family members who are sociopathic and don't let you know what they're thinking much of the time." The blond-haired girl lightly dabbed at Angel's forehead with a damp washcloth. All the while debating whether they should make the choice on giving Angel a shower to help cool his body temperature. It would certainly give some time for the sheet of his sickbed to be changed up.
But that would mean...Charlie blushed at the thought of stripping Angel out of his clothes. Not out of physical attraction, but more of the awkwardness of it all. After all, despite his effeminate appearance and his preference to dress in women style clothing. Angel was still a male, he'd no more appreciate being stripped and bathed like a helpless infant while was barely conscious then she would appreciate anyone doing that to her. Cherri could be up to the task since Angel knew her and trusted her to a deeper extent than anyone else. But somehow she had the feeling he wouldn't make things less awkward. Perhaps it would be better for him to be over his withdrawal first or at least waited for the next time he was lucidly awake so that way he would at least be able to consent to them being able to give him a bath and fresh clothes.
"Val ," Angel softy said a fearful tone in his voice, catching Charlie off guard. "I...I...know I messed up. I...I wasn't tryin' ta. Ah...I'm sorry...I'll make it up to ya." The frightened tone in his voice made Charlie's heartbreak. What sort of things did Valentino do to make him feel this level of fear and anxiety. Whatever happened it must have been indescribable.
"Shhhh," Charlie soothed as she lightly dabbed at his sweat-soaked forehead. "It's all right...Val's not here...you're safe Angel."
"No…" Angel let out a moan as tears filled his eyes. Frightened tears. "Not the room...please...I'll be good...I...promise I won't fight ya, I'll do what ya say...No...No."
"Angel!" Charlie called out as Angel started to make a strangled noise that sounded like he was trying to choke back a scream as he started to thrash about as though fighting off an invisible attacker.
"What's up?" Cherri asked in concern as she rushed into the room.
"I think he's having a nightmare," Charlie said her eyes wide with horror. Cherri immediately grabbed Charlie and pulled her away in time as Angel reached out in his delirious state delivering a strike that would have landed a direct hit to the princess's nose.
"No…" His voice became a whimper for a second before it became an anguished cry of "NOOOOO!"