A/N: Hey, I'm back! It's sequel time to 'Red Smoke and Pouring Rain', so please read that first before you read this (but if you don't want to, all you really need to know going into this one is that Angel has broken free from Valentino and the other Hazbins are aware of some of the stuff Val did to Angel). This one might not be as long as the previous, but I hope you enjoy!

Funny story, I realised after the fact that the title sounds similar to a comic one of the animators made, which was just called 'Red Smoke'. There's a really good sound dub of it on YouTube, the VA does Val's voice excellently. I hope he sounds similar to that in the show.

Anyways, on with the story!

Chapter 1: Life at the Hotel

Who knew relative safety could be so boring and so incredible at the same time?

For a few weeks now, Angel had been free of Val and managing to stay under his radar. They had done everything they could to make Angel's clean break work – kept him cloistered in the hotel so Val wouldn't find him, even destroyed his old phone and given him a burner to use, courtesy of Charlie. They'd even – after some arguments between Charlie and Vaggie – let him get clean little by little, instead of all at once.

That had happened after one or two nasty relapses. Angel had had a stash kept in his room with the thought of using it in emergencies – namely, if Val had taken his frustrations out on him and the only way to deal with it was to get totally off his face.

But now he was free – free – of Val. The hammer was sure to come down on him any day now, but in the meantime, Angel was left with...nothing. Just the total, mind-numbing quiet of the hotel.

And while being woken in the morning by Charlie and having an almost cordial breakfast with the others filled him a feeling so odd he couldn't describe it, only knew it left him sometimes wanting to cry...often the rest of the day was quiet.

And there was only so many times he could give himself something menial and distracting to do, or call Cherri, before it happened.

He started to think.

He started to remember.

Everything Val had done. Everything clients had done that had hurt him, and he'd just numbed it behind PCP or turf wars or drink or going out dancing.

Everything he hadn't believed mattered all that much before. They were just things that happened sometimes in his day to day life, and that was that.

But now here was Charlie, acting like that wasn't true. And as much as he wanted to snap at her – and sometimes did – that she didn't really think he was worth anything, it was all for her project...he knew it wasn't the case.

But that didn't make it easier.

And worse, now she was basically all he had. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, now he didn't have to turn tricks or work anymore.

He wasn't exactly 'Angel Dust', now. But he wasn't his old self, either. So he went by Angel, and tried day after day to figure out what he should be.

The oddest thing about that was that Vaggie seemed most invested in seeing what new direction he would pick. She kept making little comments here and there that made him think twice about things he never questioned before.

Like one morning, he was getting breakfast when she said, "We don't have a shortage on cereal, y'know, Angel."

"What's that, toots?" he said, half-asleep. Another luxury the hotel gave him was the ability to lie in occasionally, something that was practically unheard of when he worked for Val. Jumping off the party lifestyle seemed to be catching up with him; all he wanted to do lately was sleep.

"You always put so little in the bowl. You don't have to. We aren't hurting for money."

"Oh, well…" He looked down. "I'm on a...diet."

She raised her eyebrows as he trailed off. Of course, he'd only been watching what he ate because Val told him to. Val had been so hot and cold with Angel about his looks – some days he praised him, called him the most gorgeous thing in the studio, other days he told him his eyes looked puffy, he was getting too soft in the middle, he should really switch to alcohol that wasn't full of sugar…

He tipped more cereal into the bowl and hastily sat down and started crunching.

"We aren't short of milk either," she said, smiling a little.

"I like it like this," he said, through crunches.

Charlie breezed into the room, already dressed. She was like that; an early riser who seemed to give Vaggie more energy, too, though Angel was sure she'd love to sleep in every once in a while, too. "Mornin'! How is everyone?"

"Well, Husk isn't up yet, I have no idea where Alastor is and I'm pretty sure Nifty was cleaning out more rooms already…"

"Not a status report, Vaggie," Charlie said, draping her arms around her girlfriend and squeezing her tight. "I meant generally."

"Good. Except Angel's eating cereal without milk and it's freaking me out."

He flipped her off, but she just grinned back at him.

"Pretty open itinerary today," Charlie said, sliding into her seat. "Any plans, Angel?"

Plans. He paused mid-crunch, thinking hard. "Uh…"

Vaggie raised an eyebrow, watching him closely.

His mind went to Fat Nuggets. He longed to walk his pig, but he couldn't go far from the hotel, not until he knew Val had given up trying to find him…and all he'd been able to do was let the poor creature roam around out back.

A sudden lightbulb went off in his mind. He swallowed his mouthful of dry cereal. "Actually, yeah. I was thinking, Charlie – that, uh, space out back? It's a bit...sad, right now."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I been walking Nuggs there, and it just occurred to me – maybe I could turn it into a garden or something?"

Charlie smiled so widely he was amazed her face could contain it. "Really?" Even Vaggie looked pleased.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, if I made it nicer, it might attract people to the hotel and all that...once peeps know ya got a better offer going here, why would they refuse, right? And Nuggs'd really love some grass to roll around on and shit."

She nearly launched herself over the table and grabbed him in a hug. "I love it! It's a great idea, Angel! In fact, why don't we get Nifty to help you out?"

"I will, too," Vaggie said softly. "With the design I mean. I'll help you draw up some ideas…"

"Neat." He winked at her. "It's a date then, toots." She was still squeezing hard; he had to pat her arm to get her to let go. "Princess, ya gotta let me breathe sometime."

Charlie swung back, beaming. "This is amazing! I'm gonna go find Nifty and see if Alastor wants to help! D'you wanna see how much space you think it'll take out back."

"Uh, sure. I gotta let Nuggs out for his morning business, anyways."

Vaggie was still smiling when he went off to get dressed, and it was spooking him out a little. It occurred to Angel he'd never really asked why she was down here, or why she was part of the hotel staff instead of a patron like he was. She was oddly forgiving of some things and not others, too. She hated the studio and Val, it seemed, but she never seemed to expect him to go celibate, either. Though it was obvious she and Charlie wanted him to settle down with someone like lovey-dovey newly-weds. Angel couldn't really picture that, but one thing at a time, he supposed…

He gathered up Fat Nuggets in his arms and headed for the back of the hotel, humming to himself.

A garden. Yeah, that'd do the trick and keep him busy. And if Nifty was there, too, he'd have all the conversation he needed to stop his thoughts drifting.

He stepped outside, shut the door behind him, and stopped dead.

A long, familiar limo was parked a few feet away.

And Val was leant up against it, watching him.