"He'll be alright, hun," Vaggie whispered reassuringly to the distressed Hellborn Princess. Charlie stood steadfast by Angel's bedside, gently holding one of his limp hands in both of her own. Following the latest seizure, Dr. Abaddon had administered a heavy sedative so that the Spider would sleep. The locust demon had provided his assurance that it would alleviate the medical episodes Angel had been enduring, before strongly recommending that they move the Spider to the clinic on the other side of the lake for continued treatment and observation.
Charlie, though concerned, had insisted on accompanying Angel to the clinic, and Vaggie stood her ground, insisting on being by her side throughout this challenging journey. This left Cherri, albeit reluctantly, back at the cabin to watch over Fat Nuggets. The Cyclops didn't voice her discontent, sensing the gravity of the situation, and recognized the importance of the chosen course of action.
"I should have been aware," Charlie sighed, her gaze fixed on Angel's tranquil expression, though she understood it was a sleep brought on by the effects of the sedative. "Why didn't I notice this sooner?"
"Angel has always harbored his secrets," the moth demon chimed in. "And this was evidently one he believed he could hide from both of us. It doesn't reflect poorly on you, but even if you had been aware of the drug use... would it have changed things?"
"I could've made a difference," Charlie asserted. "I could've ensured he got the help he needed. I should've been ready for something like this. My drive to prove redemption in Hell, to my parents, and to all, blinded me to the genuine needs of my subjects. I need to refocus, to truly understand and meet their needs."
"Isn't that precisely why we sought a test subject?" Vaggie inquired. "We needed to demonstrate that we could guide a soul to Heaven, to provide tangible proof that it's achievable."
"Angel and I had a conversation earlier," Charlie explained. "It was before...before all of this occurred. During our talk, he admitted that he didn't believe in our cause."
"You're just finding out now?" Vaggie sighed, a hint of non-surprise in her tone. "I warned you he wouldn't take any of this seriously."
"But unlike everyone else we approached," Charlie pointed out, "he had actually listened to us about this project before he agreed to be a part of it."
"He still joined for his own motives," Vaggie emphasized.
"Perhaps," Charlie conceded, accepting the truth of Vaggie's point. "But...if you were in his shoes, wouldn't you have made the same choice?" Vaggie remained silent, her face reflecting a mix of inner conflict, as if there were something she wanted to convey but couldn't quite put into words.
"Vaggie," Charlie inquired with concern. "What's wrong?"
"It's..." Vaggie began, struggling to find the right words to explain her feelings.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Dr. Abaddon announced as he entered the room. "But I believe it's time to let my patient rest. I have a car waiting to take you back to the cabin."
"If you don't mind," Vaggie firmly stated, "I believe one of us should stay with him. Angel was unconscious when he was brought here, and it's crucial for him to have someone familiar by his side when he regains consciousness, rather than waking up alone in an unfamiliar place."
"I'm not sure," Abaddon responded, thoughtfully considering the request. "The sedatives I administered should keep him asleep until noon, and this room faces the royal family's cabin. It should be alright for him to stay here until he wakes up."
"I disagree," Vaggie stated with determination. "It's in Angel's best interest to have someone familiar with him. The last place he remembers is his guest room at the cabin. Even if he doesn't wake up before noon, I'm concerned about how he'll react to waking up in an unfamiliar environment. Please, let me stay with him just for tonight."
"I'll see if we can find a cot for you," Dr. Abaddon said as he turned to leave. "Although I must admit, this is quite irregular."
"It's just for tonight," Vaggie insisted. "Once he wakes up and acknowledges where he is, he won't be in any sort of danger, and he'll be fine on his own."
"Vaggie," Charlie remarked, surprised by her partner's willingness. "You're willing to do this...for Angel, even though the two of you don't exactly get along."
"I'm not exactly fond of him," Vaggie admitted, "but I'm willing to stay with him until he wakes up. There's also the issue with Cherri at the cabin – she's more likely to respond to you than to me."
"Some of the guards have a spare cot in their barracks," Doctor Abaddon announced as he returned to the room. "They'll be delivering it here in a moment. Are you certain this will be a one-time occurrence?"
"I'm positive it will only be this once," Vaggie insisted. "He needs to feel safe and given his current state, it's best achieved by having someone familiar with him. This way, if he does wake up, he'll have some understanding of why he's here." The female moth demon turned to Charlie reassuringly. "I'll be alright, hun. I know what I'm doing."
"Alright," Charlie said, giving Vaggie a warm hug. "Take care, Cherri, and I'll be here tomorrow as soon as I can."
Charlie wasn't sure what she would find when she returned to the cabin. Cherri was clearly unhappy about being left behind, and she seemed affected by the events of the evening. However, as long as she wasn't blowing anything up, things must be alright, right? The Hellborn princess discovered the punky cyclops sitting on the couch, scrolling through the messages on Angel's work phone. An aura of anger and tension emanated from her with every text she read. It was remarkable that the couch hadn't burst into flames given the intensity of her temper at that moment.
"How's Angie?" Cherri asked flatly, not bothering to look up from the text messages she was scrolling through.
"He's resting," Charlie replied. "Vaggie is staying with him tonight, so the two of us can visit the clinic tomorrow morning."
"So, I'm allowed to actually do something for once?" Cherri inquired, her voice flat and emotionless, concealing the brewing turmoil beneath the surface. Charlie let out a sigh, feeling the weight of Cherri's frustration and isolation. She understood the anger Cherri felt, especially considering Angel was her best friend. The events of the day had left her feeling pushed aside, as if she had no place in what was happening. However, Cherri's impulsive nature and strong reactions had necessitated her exclusion. They had to prioritize the situation's stability, and Cherri's reaction at the table had inadvertently demonstrated the need for caution, both for her own sake and for Angel's.
"I'm going to get some ice cream," Charlie offered. "Want to join me? My dad usually has quite a few flavors in the freezer."
"You can keep your damn ice cream," Cherri growled under her breath. "You just don't get it, princess. Angel and I were fine before you decided to stick your nose into our business with this brainless redemption idea. The two of us were fine... the only reason any of this mess is happening is because you couldn't leave well enough alone. You think we can all just play nice, and suddenly Heaven will embrace us. You're the Crowned Princess of Hell, what do you even know about sinners anyway? You claim to care about your people, but you don't truly understand. If you cared, you would've been learning about what got us here, not assuming people will magically change because you say so. That's not how reality works, and while we're on the topic... maybe Heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be. Have you ever considered that? Maybe it's even worse than Hell, just disguised by their fancy façade to hide the corruption. What do you really know about anything, anyway?! You're just some sheltered, sanctimonious rich bimbo who's clueless about what life in Hell is actually like!"
Charlie didn't respond or retaliate to Cherri's furious words. She absorbed them silently, even though they cut deep. Cherri had a point; if she hadn't approached Angel, none of the recent events would have unfolded. He wouldn't be confined to the private estate clinic, battling illness. But then again, what if she hadn't reached out to the spider demon? He would still be selling himself on street corners, subject to the cruel whims of Johns, with Valentino looming as a constant shadow of torment.
Yet, was she truly making things better, or was she just pursuing this to prove a point to her father and all the doubters in Hell? The ice cream, which she initially thought would ease her anxiety, lost its appeal entirely. With a heavy heart, Charlie turned towards her room, lost in her thoughts.
"Angel was right..." She sighed in dismay. "It seems like nobody wants to see the potential in what I'm trying to achieve, because it sounds like such a crazy idea."
"You're only realizing that now," Cherri dismissed. "Back when Angie and I were alive, there were places doing exactly what you're trying to create. They were called psychiatric hospitals, but Angel and I knew them as the Loony Bin, the funny farm, and the Happy Hotel."
"I..." Charlie replied despondently. "I had no idea..."
"Funny," Cherri responded flippantly. "I would've thought Angie would've mentioned it, considering he seems to open up to you more than he ever did with me." This statement caused Charlie to pause. It was something she hadn't heard before, and the way Cherri said it seemed to carry a mix of resentment and jealousy.
"You..." Charlie admitted, "You probably know more about him than I do."
"Oh, come on," Cherri retorted. "I overheard you two talking earlier; you sound like you've been best mates for years. Why wouldn't you know about that?"
"He was just asking me about why I wanted to start the hotel," Charlie explained. "He wanted to understand my motives and why I believed it was feasible. I used to think I had it all figured out, but now... now I'm not so sure I had a solid plan from the start. Like you pointed out, if I truly cared about my subjects as much as I thought, I would've done a lot more. Maybe, instead of needing a test subject for redemption, I needed someone from the sinner classes to show me who my subjects really are."
"But you knew what was happening to Angie, right?" Cherri said. "He never told me about any of that until the night we left the city."
"Angel didn't tell Vaggie and me about the sexual assaults," Charlie explained. "He only mentioned he was being abused, and we pieced some of it together ourselves. The way he reacted to you when you tried to touch him after he returned to the hotel, his injuries, the vulnerability and distress he displayed after regaining consciousness – those were reactions Vaggie and I recognized from our own experiences. It all just seemed to confirm things, especially considering that the night before, Alastor had questioned you about the possibility of this. I'm not defending Angel's decision not to inform you, but he had good reasons for keeping it from you."
"Did he tell you about a place called the 'Special Room'?" Cherri inquired.
"What's..." Charlie paused, taken aback by the question. "What's the 'Special Room'?"
"Don't really know," Cherri admitted. "It's a place Val mentions in these text messages he's been sending to Angie. Stuff like, 'Remember that "Special Room" I keep aside just for you...'"
"In that context, it sounds like it might be a..." Charlie said, growing more alarmed, before turning to Cherri. Approaching the other girl, she held out her hand for the phone. Cherri handed it over to the princess before hugging her knees to her chest. Her anger had mostly dissipated, leaving her feeling numb. Charlie began to read through the various messages, which started off mildly threatening. She slowly sat down on the couch next to Cherri as Val's messages became increasingly more sinister as they progressed. As Charlie read the most recent texts, tears streamed down her face, and she felt as though a hand was crushing her heart.
"Val gives Angel threats about harming you in some of these..." Charlie responded, her voice heavy with pain, as she set down the phone.
"I'm not scared of Val," Cherri waved her hand dismissively. "I mean, sure, the guy's dangerous being an Overlord and all, but I don't really..."
"Overlords are incredibly dangerous," Charlie said, feeling aghast at Cherri's apparent nonchalance. "My dad has some of the most powerful Overlords as part of his inner circle. I don't know much about Valentino or his power, but Angel... he probably knows what Valentino is capable of. He cares about you, Cherri, and that's likely why he's worried for your safety."
"I never asked him to," Cherri groused. "I can take care of myself; I don't need him or anyone else... I just keep him around because we're partners, and we do rely on one another. Sometimes I wonder if that's really true, considering Angie has no problem dropping me when shit comes up. Like when I first started being friends with him, there were times he'd be open to seeing me and stuff, like when we were planning to hit the clubs. But other times, he'd... he'd say he couldn't meet and give some excuse about his boss being on his case, and it wasn't the right time for us to see each other. If I did see him while he was on the job at all, he'd just act like he didn't know me or would pull me aside and tell me he didn't want to hang out."
"He wasn't being heartless," Charlie explained. "I know it may feel that way, but he was trying to make sure you weren't someone Valentino or any one connected to him would take interest in. He's mentioned that even Fat Nuggets has been threatened before. The hotel itself could have been at risk as far as we know. Maybe he was pushing you away to ensure you weren't being targeted. Take, for example, that interview I did on Channel 666 news after the last Cleanse. They were doing a report about the turf war you were involved in; I didn't pay any attention to it because it seemed unrelated to the hotel. But when Angel got involved, it suddenly affected our image across Hell. On the ride back to the hotel, he told Vaggie and me that you were his friend, and that's why he'd gotten involved in the turf war to begin with."
"You know," Cherri confessed, "Angie... he stopped talking to me a few weeks before the cleanse happened. He didn't call, he didn't text... I went to his apartment building only for his sleazy landlord to tell me he had just up and moved out. I thought maybe Val had done something, like forcing him to move to the studio, or he had been erased or something. I was really worried when I never heard from him, and I never got any confirmation that he was even picking up my messages. Then, when I was defending my turf against that Edgelord Snake, he just showed up. That was when he told me he had moved to the hotel. You have no idea how relieved I was to see that he was alright. I just don't understand why he couldn't tell me what he was doing."
"I think I have some idea as to why he distanced himself from you," Charlie explained. "Vox is associated with Valentino, right? The day Angel told Vaggie and me about what was happening, Vox had shown up at the hotel. During the conversation, he noticed Angel had entered the foyer, and something about the way Vox addressed Angel seemed off. Since Vox does run a number of electronics companies, it's possible that Angel could have been under surveillance. Keeping you in the dark about what he was up to meant that you wouldn't know what he was involved in, so the Vee's wouldn't connect you as someone who was aware of his activities."
"I guess that makes sense," Cherri said. "So, Angie's in that clinic, huh?"
"Yeah," Charlie nodded. "He was given a sedative that Dr. Abaddon said will help with the seizures, so he's asleep. Vaggie offered to stay with him, so he doesn't wake up and find himself somewhere he doesn't know."
"Good plan," Cherri smiled softly. "He doesn't react well to the unfamiliar, especially when he feels vulnerable. You mentioned you and Vag's could understand what happened to Angie by how he reacted back at the hotel?"
"Yes," Charlie sighed softly. "Vaggie has her own experiences that leave her distrustful towards people of the male gender. Part of that has to do with when she was alive, she hasn't spoken to me about it, and I don't want to force her to share until she's ready. Part of it is also about protecting me from potential threats; both of my parents know her and trust her to keep me safe. I get the impression that they believe I'll outgrow her in time and move on to someone they see as more suitable, at least that's the impression my dad gives me. I've never been assaulted, not sexually anyway... that prom photo I have back at the hotel. The man I'm with in that photo is Seviathon Von Eldritch, and he was my boyfriend at that time
"I take it he was abusive," Cherri inquired?
"He was toxic, yes," Charlie confirmed, her voice carrying the weight of painful memories. "His parents were on friendly terms with my mom and dad. He was friendly and civil at first. I never got along with his sister Helsa, and he would at times berate her for how she treated me. But as our relationship developed, he started telling me that he knew how to train me to be a proper Queen of Hell."
"Ah, so one of those shitty 'I'll teach you how to be a proper woman' sort of guys," Cherri commented. "The 'I'm a '10' so it should be illegal to reject me.' When in reality, they like the smell of their own farts due to how far their heads are up their own asses."
"Something like that," Charlie agreed. "When Sev and I were intimate, it was consensual between us, but it always left me feeling vulnerable and used. It took me a while to realize how bad the relationship really was. Sev never truly loved me; he only saw me as an object... a means to get his family line on Hell's throne. When I broke things off, he wasn't pleased, and he insisted that I was meant to be his, that I just didn't see it, and he'd make sure I realized what a mistake I was making."
"I think you're better off without that Seviathon creep," Cherri said with a smirk. "When men say they can teach you how to be... well, anything, they tend to be sexist jerks and just think women can't do anything right aside from cooking, cleaning, and producing babies. Or in your case, it would be he'll handle the difficult political matters; you just worry about looking nice."
"What about you?" Charlie asked. "Did you have a guy you had feelings for?"
"I did," Cherri said, her voice filled with reflection as her single eye seemed to gaze into the distance. "I believed he was the one for me, but love can blind us, make us believe anything we want."
"You see, my mother had me when she was just a teenager. My dad abandoned her and didn't take responsibility, and her family kicked her out when they found out she was pregnant. She worked tirelessly, holding two, sometimes three jobs to keep a roof over our heads. But for me, it felt like she was never there. I practically raised myself or bounced between my school friends' houses. She wanted me safe while she worked, but it often felt like she wanted to escape from me. When she was home, she'd be tired, drunk, always smoking. She'd call me her 'biggest mistake,' tell me I was a burden, that I stole her previous life. I'd do odd jobs for neighbors, hiding the money I earned because she'd take it, saying it was a fee for my existence. As I grew older, I stayed away more, sometimes she didn't care, other times she'd demand I return because she didn't want to lose that bit of control she had over me. Eventually, I ended up with a group of street thugs, learned about creating explosives, and got into trouble.
The day I turned 18, my mother just told me I had twenty minutes to pack up because I was legally an adult and could find my own living. I left with what little I could carry. I stayed wherever I could, as long as it wasn't on the streets, and paid the price in other ways. That's when I met Isaac, the leader of a gang called 'The Fearless Order.' I was infatuated because he made me feel special. I ignored the fact that he's sleep around with the other girls in our gang, or shared me with the other guys, because he'd tell me I was his 'best girl.' We'd rob and attack places and he saw my skills in explosives as useful. He even gave me the name 'Cherri Bomb,' as part of our ragtag group. I was so consumed by his vision of a new society that I didn't question it and couldn't escape.
Then came a warehouse job, when we found ourselves surrounded by police, we made our escape through the window we used to enter. I was one of the smaller members of our group and my size made it hard for me to get out of the building. In desperation I called for help, but Isaac... he didn't save me. He shot me, a bullet piercing my heart. I felt the pain, then darkness as I fell. When I woke up, I was in Pentagram City."
"So, you weren't a bad person," Charlie mused, taking a thoughtful pause. "It seems you never truly had anyone who genuinely cared for you. And during the moments when there were people who did care, you were ensnared by manipulation, forced to believe whatever they wanted you to believe."
"Pretty much," Cherri replied. "Angie's the only one who's truly given a damn about me."
"You are someone who means something to him," Charlie pointed out gently. "As you mentioned when you first wanted to join the hotel, he's been mistreated and manipulated in the past. His hesitation with you wasn't because he didn't care, it was more about not knowing if he could fully trust you. Beyond his family matters, there's a fear of sharing too much, leaving vulnerabilities that might be exploited if you were to betray that trust."
"I guess I can understand that," Cherri sighed, her tone reflective. "Maybe I shouldn't hold a grudge against Angie for keeping the assaults from me. There are women in the living world who struggle to talk about such traumatic experiences without panicking, so maybe it's not surprising a guy might feel the same way. What really gets to me is how I missed the hints he was dropping, the things he wasn't saying. It's why I felt hurt that you and Vaggie knew what was happening... and I didn't. I thought we were friends, but I failed at being there for him when he needed it."
"If you had known," Charlie asked, "would that have made you feel any better?"
"I guess not," Cherri sighed in frustration, her thoughts heavy with the past. "It would bring back memories of how Isaac used me, how he'd call me his 'best girl' but then hand me over to others, share me like I meant nothing, and eventually discard me like trash. That's the fear I have with Angel. As long as he's making money, that scumbag Val is satisfied with him. But Angel's popularity won't last forever, and I'm scared Val might try to brainwash him or worse, erase him so you won't have him either."
"I'm worried about that too," Charlie admitted, a note of concern in her voice. "Maybe it's best to pause this conversation for now. Obsessing over potential future problems won't change what we're doing to help him right now. In this estate, Angel is shielded from those who might harm him, he's recovering from his past struggles, and he has the space to discover his true self. Once this trip is over, we'll have a clearer picture of the steps we can take to support him going forward."
"Cherri inquired, 'How many varieties of chocolate ice cream do you have?' I believe I'm craving the 'Chocolate Homicide Sundae.'"
"That's my dad's go-to choice," Charlie smiled, and the two girls promptly headed to the kitchen to raid the freezer.