Chapter Text
Emily often found herself unable to sleep.
Between the residual pain from the injuries she had sustained in her fall, the anxiety caused by her alien surroundings, and the guilt she still felt over the atrocities Sera and the other angels had committed against the population of Hell without her knowledge, more often than not, rest eluded her grasp.
So, tonight wasn’t the first time she found herself wandering the halls of the hotel in the wee hours of the morning, the useless wings on her back aching. However, this particular night, something was different. She cocked her head to the side curiously. What is that noise?
She followed the sound with ease to its source, the door to a nondescript hotel room that Emily thought she remembered belonged to Cherri Bomb. From inside, she could hear the quiet sounds of sobs and sniffles.
She bit her lip anxiously, glancing to one side. Should I get Angel Dust? The spider demon was the closest of any of them to Cherri, but he’d had a hard day at work and was probably deep asleep or dealing with his own issues. The other residents did their best to keep the truth of his situation from her, but Emily, though she may be a bit more naive than most of Hell’s residents, wasn’t stupid. So waking him up was out. It looked like it was time for Plan B.
She knocked on the door hesitantly. “Cherri? Are you alright?” she called softly.
The crying cut off abruptly, and there was silence behind the door. Emily had just about decided that the demon didn’t want company and had started to trudge away when she heard the click of a door opening.
When she turned around, she covered her mouth in surprise. Cherri Bomb had always been one of the most intimidating of the hotel’s residents to Emily, with her brash attitude and unapologetically violent tendencies, but the Cherri Emily saw didn’t look anything like that confident, raunchy woman she was used to. Her cheeks and the bridge of her nose were streaked with eyeliner and mascara, and her eyelid was an angry reddish-pink and swollen. Even if Emily hadn’t heard her, it still would’ve been evident from her appearance that she had been crying.
Emily hurried back toward her. “Oh, Cherri,” she whispered, reaching for a hug on instinct before allowing her arms to fall to her sides, remembering that the touch of an angel might be exactly what Cherri didn’t want at that moment. “Can I help?”
Cherri sniffed and swiped at her eye with the back of her hand. “Oh. Hi, Em. No, I’m okay. Don’t worry ‘bout me.”
Emily sighed softly. “Right. Look, you don’t have to tell me, but I’m not clueless. Like Charlie is always saying, talking it out can help. But if you want, we can do something to distract you. Or…I can just leave. If you want. Should I go get Angel?”
The cyclops shook her head adamantly. “Nah, don’t bother him. You can come in, I guess.”
Emily walked through the door and gave a low whistle, wincing slightly. “Rough night, huh?” The place was pretty much destroyed, bedding torn apart and scorch marks on the walls.
She felt a tug on her skirt, and when she turned, she saw one of those little egg guys she’d seen around the hotel, waving up at her with a dopey smile. “Hello, pretty lady!” he said in that cheerful, goofy voice.
Emily giggled. “Hello,” she said softly.
“That’s Frank,” Cherri said, walking through the mess casually and plopping down on the bed. “He, uh…he was one of Pent’s…minions, I guess? They seem to like me. Not sure why. But…the little guys are pretty cute, so I let ‘em hang around.”
Emily giggled. “Oh, I’ve got a pretty good idea,” she said, remembering Sir Pentious’s rambling about “Miss Bomb”. “He talks about you, you know. Kind of a lot.”
Cherri looked up from the explosive she was fidgeting with, eye wide. “Seriously?”
Emily grinned. “Seriously. He was all like, ‘Oh, how I miss you, Cherri! My heart shall never recover!’”
Her impression of the snake was actually pretty good, and Cherri gave a watery laugh. It was a far cry from her usual uproarious cackle, but Emily would definitely consider it a start. “Oh, that’s good. You ain’t bad, you know that, E?”
Emily beamed, heavenly radiance practically exuding from her. “What was he like, when he was down here?” she asked. “I didn’t get to spend much time with him before…y’know, but he seemed really nice.”
Cherri flopped onto her back, and Emily sat down next to her. The little egg reached his arms up to her, and she picked him up easily, depositing him next to them on the bed. Cherri scooped him up, stroking the top of his head gently. “He was annoying,” she admitted with a sad smile.
Emily whipped her head toward the demoness, scandalized. Whatever she had expected, it certainly wasn’t that. “Annoying?”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Cherri said. “He was kind of desperate, honestly. Always wanting to show off his newest inventions. He probably just wanted to get in my pants, but…” She sniffled, and without her seeming to realize it, tears began to make their way down her cheeks again. “We probably could’ve…made something really great together, you know? My bombs, his ships…we’d have been a real…powerhouse in battle.” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she began to sob in earnest, squeezing Frank to her chest. He squirmed slightly at the pressure, and she let him go with a quiet apology.
Emily reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on Cherri’s shoulder. She flinched at first, but quickly relaxed into the seraph’s touch, crying softly. “I’m so sorry, Cherri,” Emily said quietly, stroking the demon’s hair. “He misses you too, you know. And I’m sure that as soon as he gets a chance, he’ll get in touch. Sera was pretty against it, but…”
Her eyes widened. Idea moment! “Oh! Sera! She probably really wants to see me. What if we got Charlie and Lucifer to talk to her? Say that we’ll only have a meeting if you and Sir Pentious can both be there.”
Cherri sat up with an excited gasp. “You mean it, Emmy?”
Emily grinned. “Yeah! Heck, let’s talk to them about it tomorrow!”
Cherri squealed and giggled, sadness forgotten. She threw her arms around Emily excitedly, residual tears wiping onto the shoulder of her dress. “Thank you!”
Emily squeaked. “The wings! Watch the wings!” she choked out, air squeezed out of her lungs by the force of the sudden hug.
Cherri released her immediately. “Oops! Sorry,” she said, but her grin didn’t fade.
Emily waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”
“So,” Cherri said, flipping onto her stomach with her chin in her hands and her feet kicking idly, a small smile on her face and a slight blush on her pale cheeks. “How was he doing up there, when you saw him last?”
“Pretty good,” Emily said. “Honestly? I think he misses the hotel a lot. Not just because of you, either. He really connected with everybody here. Hell was his home for over a century. It can’t be easy for him to lose that.”
“I never thought of that,” Cherri admitted. “I can’t imagine doing anything for a century, much less being down here.”
Emily gawked down at her. “Gosh, you humans are so young.”
Cherri giggled, playfully shoving her shoulder. “Shut up, old lady.”
Emily pushed her back, then resumed her musing. “Anyway, he looks different now, too. You know how I’ve been changing?”
Cherri nodded. “Yeah. Your eyes are all purple-y. And your feathers are starting to come in darker”
“Exactly!” Emily said, nodding vigorously. “Well, Sir Pentious had something similar, except far more accelerated. He’s mostly white and gold now. Oh! And a lot of his eyes are gone. He’s got markings sort of like lipstick, and some heart accessories, like his goggles, and his bow tie…”
Cherri frowned. “Wait. Lipstick?”
Emily nodded. “Yeah, weird, right?”
Cherri groaned, a massive grin stretching across her face. “That sap! He kissed me right before he pulled that fucking stunt with the blimp!”
Emily gasped, delighted. “You’re kidding me! How romantic. You’re an awfully lucky woman, Cherri Bomb.”
Cherri smiled down at Frank, her expression seeming a million miles away. “I guess I am, huh?”
Frank smiled back up at her cluelessly. “Why are you lucky, boss lady?”
She giggled. “Because of your idiot boss, Frankie.” He looked confused, but she patted him gently on the head, and he relaxed into the touch, rolling onto his back and beginning to snore.
Emily smiled at the sweet scene and got up quietly. “I’d better go,” she whispered. “Good night, Cherri.”
Cherri grinned back, a softer, more genuine expression than the manic one she usually wore. “Night, E. Talk to you tomorrow.”
And as the two women separated, excited for the next day, both couldn’t help but feel that, despite the massive differences between them, they had each come to understand the other a little better.