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It should have gotten easier for Husk with every year. The wail of the sirens from then and now. The screams of the sinners. The screams of long gone battlefields. The destruction and explosions that followed. The explosions on beaches that lingered in his mind. He should have gotten used to it after nearly fifty goddamn years.
But he hadn’t.
And it wasn’t ever easier.
Every year the noise would come. And every year he did his best to chase it away. He tried to muffle the noise with the sound of slot machines in the casino. He tried to black out the memories burned on his eyelids with copious amounts of alcohol. But it just kept getting louder, and louder, and louder.
He was always alone. Never needed anyone to see him like this. Never needing any help regardless of the damage he caused his body. He could always patch himself up when he calmed down, or not. Demons healed quickly. Sometimes it was easier to just sit with the pain until the injuries went away on their own. It distracted him.
Husk always told himself that it could be worse. He could be out on the streets, having to fight and claw his way to survival. He’d done it only twice before and each year barely escaped with his afterlife. It had only made things worse in the long run, remembering being face to face with an Angel’s blade.
But unfortunately this year was different.
This year, on Extermination Day, he was trapped inside the Happy Hotel. The Princess had thoroughly barricaded the front doors. And the back. Each balcony and bedroom window had it’s curtains drawn so as not to draw any sort of attention. And each resident was safely tucked inside their own rooms. Being under the watch of The Princess of Hell and, by proxy, Lucifer himself should have put Husk’s mind at ease.
But it didn’t.
The cat demon sat on the floor of his hotel room, back pressed to the bed frame with wings up to shield himself as best he could. His sensitive ears picking up each crash of a window or frightful scream. The howl of the siren continued on in the far distance, striking him to his core with every wail. A demon shrieked in a nearby alley, the sound cut into a water downed choke.
His mind provided even more noise. A hail of bullets that sounded like the loudest rain. Crashing waves that seemed strong enough to knock down buildings. He dug his claws into his ears, keeping them pinned to his head as much as he could, but even that didn’t seem to help. He was vaguely aware of the pricking sensation as his claws dug too deeply. Another banging noise caused him to jump.
There was that familiar, high whining sound. The kind that came from being too close to an explosion. Too close to death. Husk could barely make out someone calling his name. Why was someone calling his name?
A gentle hand against the outside of his wings caused him to jump back. Hands braced against the bed frame, bending a few feathers uncomfortably. It took a few moments for his panicked eyes to focus on the soft, pink frame of Angel Dust kneeling on his floor in front of him, looking nearly as frightened as he felt.
“Husk?”
The spider’s lower hands were clenched into tight, frightened fists on his lap. The top hand that had reached out was now held closely to his chest. Husk could feel his heart sink all the more. He grit his teeth and looked away from Angel, still feeling his heart hammering uncomfortably. Angel shouldn’t see him like this. No one in the hotel should. He could hurt Angel accidentally. Could scare him away.
They had just been getting a bit more serious. He would spend a night or two a week in the spider’s room, tangled up in him. But Husk didn’t want to be around him during… all of this. Angel didn’t need to see this side of him.
Husk tried to open his mouth to say something, but his brain wouldn’t let any words come out. Instead he sat there with his mouth gaping like some fucking fish. He closed his mouth and put his head back to stare up at the ceiling, hoping to any higher power that he could speak. Could tell Angel to go away and leave him alone. No words came out.
“It’s loud in here,” Angel said, moving closer to Husk. He held one of his hands out, “Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”
Husk swallowed, looking at Angel’s hand. Another scream that seemed too close for his liking startled him again, his hand flying forward to grab Angel’s tightly. The spider pulled him up, shifting Husk’s hands to another one of his own for a moment before leading him out of the darkness of his room into the well lit hallway.
Husk preferred a dark room. Usually being in the dark helped. The lights always made things worse. It made his head spin uncomfortably like it did when he’d had too much tequila; nauseous and unable to stand up correctly. He could already feel the strain on his eyes as he followed Angel down the hall. His grip on his hand tightened as he felt the room shift and roll underneath his feet, as if it were sand that shifted with any bit of movement.
His brain started conjuring images. Husk could smell salt air in his nose and feel cold rain on his face. His feet stumbled, reaching out to Angel to steady himself. The feeling of Angel’s arm even seemed to fade and Husk found himself clinging to the coarse material of a uniform. His ears were ringing unpleasantly again and flattened to his head.
The spider stopped for a moment, helping Husk steady himself.
“I gotcha,” His voice was gentle, comforting. Husk didn’t look up at the spider as Angel put an arm over his shoulder, holding him just a bit closer. The old cat let himself be led through the hotel. Bangs and screams caused Husk to freeze occasionally, but Angel always got him moving again; moving away from the noise and the fear. He was vaguely aware of a large wooden door opening and closing behind them, making the noise seem so much further away. The darkness of the room allowed him to relax just a bit more.
Husk looked up at the room. Bookshelves. A few plush sitting chairs. A fireplace, unlit. The library. He’d heard Charlie discuss the library before, going on and on about how it would be the perfect place for group therapy, but had never been there himself. Until now. The packed shelves seemed to muffle the noise from outside all the more. The few windows that were in the room had thick curtains drawn across the glass. He figured they must face inwards, to the small courtyard that the hotel had, judging by the lack of sound.
It was strange. The quiet. After so much noise both in his head and around him, to be somewhere so serene felt almost jarring. It reminded him of when he was younger, finding the quiet places when outside became too loud. Small sanctuaries.
“There,” Angel said, walking Husk over to one of the plush chairs. He sat the cat down, gently removing the claws from his arm, placing them on the arms of the chair. Husk saw pink droplets bubbling to the surface of Angel’s fur and flinched away. He’d hurt him. He’d fucking hurt him and now there was no way that the spider would stay. No way he’d stick around after all this shit was over. Husk wouldn’t blame him if he left right at that very moment.
But Angel Dust was always full of surprises. The spider sat down in front of Husk, resting his head against the older demon’s knee. He rubbed up and down the cat’s shin comfortingly, listening closely.
“Better, right? It’s more quiet in here. I think Charlie soundproofed the room a bit. We could make use a’ that some other time,” Angel laughed half heartedly, “Sun should be coming up soon. It’s alright.”
Husk blinked at him. He was aware of Angel touching his leg. Vaguely. Husk mostly watched Angel’s hand moving up and down. It didn’t feel real. It felt like watching some kind of movie. The buzzing in his head seemed to move downwards to his teeth. Were those his teeth? Husk’s claws dug into the fabric of the chair just a bit, trying in some futile way to cling to reality.
Angel’s head turned around at the noise of fabric slightly ripping. He caught the unfocused look in Husk’s eyes as he stared down at the ground and shifted to kneel in front of the demon. The spider took both of Husk’s hands off the chair arms, holding them tightly.
“Husky?” He asked, cupping the demon’s cheek with another hand, “Husk, look at me.”
Angel’s voice seemed to bring him back to reality. A life line of sorts. Husk swallowed, forcing himself to look at Angel, no matter how much work it took. He slightly leaned into the pink demon’s hand, breath picking up as panic bubbled in his chest. He wanted to run and hide, even if he wasn’t exactly sure what from.
“Yer alright… Yer safe okay?” Angel paused, thinking for a moment before he stood. Husk’s grip tightened on his hands immediately, “Shhh, it’s okay. I ain’t goin anywhere. I’m right here.” He crawled onto the demon’s lap, pulling his head close. He pressed one of Husk’s ears to his chest. Beyond the buzzing in his skull, the cat could make out the steady thrum of Angel’s heart, “Husky, can ya talk to me? Can ya tell me a few things you can see?” He asked, a hand brushing through Husk’s fur comfortingly. The cat dug his claws into Angel’s hips a bit more tightly.
Husk swallowed and nodded. His tongue felt slightly less like lead in his mouth.
“Books,” He muttered, “Fireplace… Chair… You.” He could feel his breathing falling in synch with Angel’s.
“Good, kitty,” He whispered, “How bout touch?”
Husk sat up more, releasing Angel’s hips for a moment.
“I hurt you…”
“Husky that’s not what I asked,” Angel pressed down on Husk’s hands, letting them hold him tightly again, pulling his head close once, “Whaddya feel?”
“Your shirt,” He ran his paw pads over the texture of Angel’s soft tshirt, letting his head relax against the other’s chest, “Your fur… the chair. The carpet.”
“Perfect,” Angel kissed the top of his head, “What about smell?”
Husk took a deep breath through his nose.
“Your perfume,” He let out a small huff of a laugh. Of course Angel would still wear perfume at a time like this. Husk felt the spider smiling against his head.
“Good, yer nose still works,” Angel rubbed the back of Husk’s neck, smile fading to a concerned frown, “What about sound?”
Husk closed his eyes, giving the spider a small squeeze.
“Your heart.”
“Cuore mio…” Angel muttered, sitting back on Husk’s lap enough to tilt the cat’s face up to look at him, “How you feeling?”
“My head hurts,” Husk muttered, looking at Angel’s arms, seeing small pinpricks of dried blood, “I hurt you.”
“It’s fine. Ya barely pricked me,” Angel waved off. He rubbed at the base of one of Husk’s ears, grinning when the cat relaxed completely into his touch, “We’ll getcha some water soon. I don’t want ya to move for a bit.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I’m comfy,” Angel grinned, wiggling his hips just a bit as he settled in Husk’s lap.
"That so?” Husk asked, he sounded so tired.
"Yeah,” Angel moved to kiss his forehead,“Sun’s still a few hours away, but I ain’t gonna leave you okay? No matter how many times you and I gotta sit through this shit… not gonna leave you.”
Husk looked up at Angel fully, searching his face for any sign that he was just saying what Husk wanted to hear. Instead, the pornstar offered him a bright, sincere smile. The cat pulled him down into a gentle kiss, pressing his forehead against Angel’s.
“Okay,” He whispered.
Husk didn’t know when he had fallen asleep. He had been so tired after everything that had happened that it was difficult to keep his eyes open. At some point in the night Angel had managed to get him to lay down on one of the couches. Said it wasn’t a good idea to move him back to his hotel room. It was too loud there.
Angel had moved one of the arm chairs closer to the couch and promised Husk that he’d watch over him. Not a thing was gonna happen on his watch. And Husk believed him.
Husk only opened his eyes when the sound of the all clear siren echoed through Hell. He blinked awake, lifting his head off of the pillow. The first thing his eyes blearily made out was Angel’s form, curled up on the chair, asleep. One hand was loosely curled around a poker he’d clearly taken from the fireplace as a makeshift weapon
Husk had to laugh to himself. So many times he had told Angel that he’d keep him safe, that he’d protect him if necessary. It was almost strange to be on the other end of the argument. It was strange to let Angel protect him for once, even if it was from his own brain. And for the first time in a long time, Husk did feel safe
For the first time in a long time, the all clear siren didn’t seem so loud.