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Normally, Angel woke to the sound of his alarm screaming. The noise growing louder with every failed attempt to silence it. As if the threat of turning him deaf would get him to drag himself out of bed any faster. It didn't. But even the worst of those days had nothing on the screaming now.
"Angel! Everyone! Oh my gosh you have to see this! Look outside!"
He groaned and shoved a pillow over his face. Maybe he could still fall back asleep…except the yelling continued coming from the hallway. Even muffled, Charlie sounded intent on waking up the entire hotel. Sleep wasn't gonna happen. He blindly grabbed his phone to check the time. Fricken 6 a.m. "…Fuck this."
Still barely awake, he rolled out of bed, managing to somehow land on his feet. Maybe I should've been a gymnast. At least then he'd have a reason for being awake at this hour. Instead of having to stagger his way over to his window to see what the hell Charlie had been so excited about. "This betta be fucking important."
Except...he couldn't see a single damn thing. Maybe cause his eyes were still closed, but even after rubbing the crud out. Nothing. Nothing but a thin layer of fog that coated the glass and completely blocked the view. He could just give up and go back to bed. The screaming had stopped, there wasn't anything else stopping him, except for this damn window—at this point, he'd break it if he had to. With some effort he forced it open, and immediately blasted by a cold gust of air. Then…he froze.
Snow. Actual snow covered every inch of the ground for as far as he could see. Like Satan himself had jizzed all over the landscape.
Holy shit. Hell actually froze over.
This can't be real. It couldn't be. Either he was still dreaming, or he had died, cause otherwise…what? Had Valentino suddenly decided to be less of an asshole and Hell had lost its collective shit? But if it was real… Part of him still doubted what he saw, but the other part was already throwing on clothes and running out the door. Running down the hall, the stairs, not stopping, not able to stop, not until he made it outside and stepped in a pile of fresh snow.
He felt the cold seeping through his boots, knew it had to be real. Still he stared in belief at the flurries floating through the air, reaching out to catch one. It's real. A smile spread across his face, he couldn't help it. It felt like he was a kid again, like the last years of his life had never happened, like before everything he touched turned turned to shit.
"Hey Angel! Oh, are you ok?" Charlie's voice held a note of concern.
He sniffed, hurriedly wiping his eyes. "Oh! Yeah I'm fine. Just got a bit of that good old white stuff in my eye, you know how it is."
"Um, I don't, but I'm glad you're okay. And isn't this amazing!?" She clapped her hands together. "I've been doing a bit of research on this 'snow' and I already have so many bonding activities planned! Why don't you get started while I'll go grab the others?" She shoved a carrot into his hand and ran off.
Yeah, no way. He stowed the carrot in a pocket, saving it for a more appropriate, or inappropriate time. Much as he missed the snow, he wasn't a kid anymore. The others started to filter out of the hotel in scattered waves. Pentious got one foot (scale?) in the snow, shouted, "Too cold!" and promptly slithered back inside. Niffty dove head first into a snow pile, giggling manically the whole time. Occasionally, he saw a red head of hair pop up in the distance, but then she was gone—burrowing under the banks like a mole. Charlie somehow convinced Husk into joining her and Vaggie in making the base of a snowman. That left everyone accounted for except for…one Radio Demon.
Angel spotted him standing off to the side, "Hey there Smiles, just gonna stand there looking pretty?"
"Of course. It's just so entertaining watching you all make fools of yourselves." As if to prove his point, Niffty sprung up from the ground to launch a surprise snowball assault on Charlie.
"Well, not today. Come on and join me for a bit." He clasped Al's hand. Who knew if they'd ever have a chance to experience this again, and he wanted Al to see it with him. Yet he barely took a step before he was forced to a sudden halt.
What the— "Al?" He looked back, receiving only a toothy grin in response. Outwardly, nothing seemed amiss. Alastor wore the same smile as always, like he was both bored with the world while also endlessly amused by its antics. Everything conveyed things were perfectly normal, except for the fact that his feet were firmly planted into the ground.
Amusement bubbled up in Angel's chest. "Don't tell me yer scared?"He meant it as a gentle tease, but he saw a minute twitch of annoyance.
"Of course not," Alastor replied, and this time when Angel pulled, he followed.
What the heck had that been about? Couldn't be a dislike of the cold, not like Pentious' reaction. Maybe he had just been messing with him. Whatever, if he decided to tolerate this, it was good enough.
Their walk lapsed into a brief silence, till Angel spoke up, "Ya know, I haven't gotten to do this since I was a kid." he bent to gather up some snow, packing it into a solid ball. "Me and my sis used to do this all the time. The usual stuff. Snowball fights, racing down the hills and just seeing who could get to the bottom faster. Sometimes we even ate it!" He laughed, before continuing, "It was pretty good times, at least it was before…" he trailed off, quietly making a pile of snowballs, setting each new one to the side. Gosh what was he even saying?
Alastor picked up a snowball. "Hmm. Shall I take a guess that you tended to win those fights?"
Angel blinked. He hadn't expected Al was even listening, let alone guess show any interest in the conversation. "Hell yeah I did!"
They continued chatting about some of Angel's fonder memories, and it actually felt…ok. Being able to remember some of the few good times, without any of the uncomfortable questions about what happened later, or the false apologies or the condolences that always followed. Yeah, it was kinda nice. Hearing Al just hum along in response, or occasionally adding a word here and there.
"Mhmm. I've never seen real snow before, not more than a dusting."
Angel did a double take. Holy heck, Alastor opening up to share something personal about himself!? Hell really had frozen over.
But he wasn't going to question it. Sure, at some point a snowball found its way through the head of a snowman that looked suspiciously like Vox. And somehow it ended up with a carrot placed in an inappropriate spot. But overall, being able to enjoy the first snow day in hell with a partner by his side? It was the best day of his afterlife.