Chapter Text
Cherri had been having both the time of her life and the worst day of her afterlife. Explosions, gunfire, and the hum of blades sang through the air like music. An orchestra of death and determination, a battle of survival.
The residents of the Hazbin Hotel were locked in a war with the soldiers of heaven. The Extermination had come, and Adam was determined to wipe out the hotel. But the denizens were not alone; they had a small army of people to help them. Hundreds of cannibals ran forward, slicing and flaying apart any angel they could get their hands on. But the devastation they wrought didn't even hold a candle to the queen of demolition.
Cherri's eye was wide and gleeful as her mouth let off a cackle. She watched the once unkillable Exorcists be blown to bits by her bombs. She delighted in the carnage, the arson, and the explosions. Her breath heaved with exertion as she ran around, tossing bombs this way and that, all the while dodging the angelic steal of the heavenly soldiers who had come to kill her. It was a rush she lived for, but it was still a war.
The thrill of a good scrap couldn't drown out the knotting of her stomach every time she looked over to see Angel Dust fighting for his very existence. The sight caused a cold tingle of dread to run up her spine. She couldn't stand to lose her friend.
There were very few people in Hell that she cared about, and Angel Dust was one of them. Cherri Bomb was very protective of her things, including her friends. It was why she was able to control so much territory despite not being an overlord. And that protectiveness was overriding all of her other senses. It didn't matter how tired she felt or how badly her body screamed for an opportunity to catch her breath. All that mattered was that she fought with all she had.
She felt her heart thunder in her chest as her heart kept pace with her fighting. She embraced the beat, using it as a metronome to time the detonations of her bombs. She danced upon the red ground beneath her, pushing forward, retreating, and holding her ground as the battle occurred around her. A chaotic dance of blastwaves and bullets. Death surrounded her on all sides, but she wouldn't let it claim her friend.
When she learned about the battle that would be taking place, she looked over to Angel. She saw the fear hiding in his eyes at the thought of losing his life. She couldn't lose him. Cherri never handled death well, so in her mind, her decision was made. She would stay for the coming conflict, and she would keep him safe.
When the day had finally come, and the exorcists descended from the sky, she came to defend her friend.
She had most certainly not come for Sir Pentoius. The idiotic snake had clashed with her for years over territory. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes, loading ammunition into the cannons he built and firing one of them, taking two angels out with the round. She could always pick his form out in a crowd; she had known him for too long not to immediately recognize him, even in the din of battle.
She knew him from her nearly endless clashes with him. It was always the same cycle between them. The Extermination would come, or some other cataclysm would leave a power vacuum, and she and Sir Pentious would duke it out. It had been comfortable in a way, but it didn't make it any less annoying. Her annoyance with him was not helped by how much of a dork the snake was.
Cherri may have held a small love for science, using her knowledge of chemistry to mix up her own special batches of explosives, but Pentious was on a different level. He would spend most of their battles monologuing about his latest inventions or trying to boast about how clever he was. Even when he started staying at the Hazbin Hotel, he remained just as much of a nerd as before.
If anything, his dorkiness had evolved since he had been staying at the hotel. She still finds herself chuckling at times from the memory of him trying to ask her for a fuck in the most awkward way she has ever seen. Yet that dorkiness was strangely endearing to her.
Angel Dust did say that he had two dicks, and Angel knew good dick when he saw it. If he was encouraging her to give Sir Pentious a try, then she should probably listen. He might be fun for a while once the battle was all said and done. It's not like Sir Pentious would be the worst man she had picked for a night in the sack with or even dated.
Cherri had a bit of a soft spot for nerds, all the ones she had dated before were why she hadn't failed middle school and even excelled in her classes at high school. It was as she was thinking about the prospects of getting to know the man that her thought process was interrupted.
It was as she had been climbing up the hotel, trying to get higher to more effectively lob her bombs into the air, that she felt a hand grab her waist. She felt herself be dipped downwards, and looking up she noticed the face of Sir Pentious looking at her with a determined gaze.
She couldn't help it as her heart rate picked up seeing the look in his eye. She had always had a thing for men who looked so resolute in the heat of the moment. But she had a job to do, so she shoved the thought down and spoke.
"I'm trying to fight here! You out of your fucking mind?" she asked him with an angry glare.
"Yes," he replied before closing his eyes and kissing her.
It was at that moment she knew she wanted to give him a shot.
Being dipped in his arms and kissed so lovingly caught her off guard at first, but then she leaned into the kiss, embracing the emotions of the moment. The kiss was both the calm in the eye of the storm and a whirlwind of passion all at once. She felt her heart rate skyrocket at this moment, soaring above the battle with a yearning for more. The noise of the outside world faded away, not even the detonation of the bomb she dropped was able to pull her out. It was different than any other kiss she had before, more genuine, vulnerable, and tender than any other time she could think of. It lasted for an eternity and not enough time at all.
After only a second or two of real-time, the kiss ended, and she was back on her feet.
"Miss Cherri Bomb, I love you," Said Sir Pentious, his words filled with adoration as he placed his hands over his heart. He then turned and slithered away.
"Remember MEEEEEE!" He called, before turning around the corner of the building and disappearing.
She was still stunned for a moment. The gall to come out of the gate and just say that he loved her already. Still, she couldn't help but admire his gusto. It turned her on a bit to see him be so forward with it.
"That was kind of hot," she admitted, her heart still beating a million miles a minute. She was DEFINITELY going to give him a try after this.
Yet, a knot of dread formed in her belly. What did he mean by asking her to remember him?