My Atlantis

summary: Cherri's tried to take Valentino down alone, but her secret's out. He knows, and he wants revenge. Cherri's only chance at survival is to go under the protection of the Princess of Hell and the Radio Demon—with a catch. Now working as a security guard for the Happy Hotel, Cherri discovers she may have a chance at redemption, but is she willing to leave her life of sin behind? Her co-worker Husk is not making the decision any easier.

A/N: So this is what happens when you watch Addict on repeat for two weeks. Cherri has always been my favourite girl, and my love for her only grew after watching Addict. And this idea was born.
As a note, I started working on this fanfiction before I realised that Husk is meant to be, like, sixty years old. I ship Cherri and Husk, and they are both adults [Cherri is in her twenties, according to the Wikia page]. As a result of this, Cherri will be portrayed as twenty-five years old, and Husk will be portrayed as fifty-years-old. Again: Cherri and Husk are both adults by the Wikia page, and so that's what I'm going with for this fanfic. It is legal and consensual (and I mean, it's basically the same age difference as Angel Dust and Husk, and that's a really popular ship). I'm also not too sure if Alastor himself can travel via his portals-the Wikia says he can, so for now I'm going with that. If canon says otherwise, I'll come back and edit the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Hazbin Hotel", nor do I make any money from this fanfiction.

Just a warning, there will be swearing in this fanfic. It's Hazbin Hotel, what do you expect?

If someone told Cherri that she'd spend her day running away from three demon Overlords, she wouldn't have believed them.

Yes, she was after Valentino, but she was careful with her attacks. An adrenaline junkie she may be, but Cherri wasn't stupid: if Valentino found out it was her who had trashed his billboards and caused collateral damage to his territories, he would torture her. She knew just how dangerous Valentino was—Angel told her everything about his boss, his cruel ways and what exactly he did to demons who defied him.

And so, she had been careful. She only ever destroyed his turf when he wasn't there, she destroyed his billboards whenever he was watching one of Angel's shows, she made sure that her bombs couldn't be traced back to her. She made sure that nobody ratted her out: she didn't even tell Angel about her plan to topple the Overlord. If Angel knew and Valentino found out about his involvement, Valentino would definitely take his anger out on the spider—and that's exactly what Cherri wanted to avoid.

As far as Valentino was convinced, it was just some cowardly demon, maybe someone he had upset or someone who was trying to show dominance to the Overlord. He wanted to catch the criminal, but there was no evidence to who it was, and he had better things to do than look for some little punk who thought they were brave.

Everything had been fine until Velvet caught her setting up some explosives near one of his billboard signs.

"So you're the little bitch who's been messing with my Val."

And now, Cherri had no choice but to flee as the pimp's car chased her through the streets of Hell. She would never admit it, but a part of her was scared—Valentino had a reputation for a reason, and she didn't want to be on the other end of his wrath. Couple him with two other Overlords, one who was just a crazy psycho bitch, and the other who rivalled the Radio Demon of all demons, and it was perfectly justifiable for Cherri to be scared right now.

It didn't help that Velvet kept sticking her head out the window and shouting insults at Cherri, with a few threats sprinkled here and there too.

"Yeah, you better fucking run, bitch! Just you wait until Val catches you!"

"I wanna help you torture her, Val! Can I use the handcuffs and rope on her?!"

A sudden pang of fear attacked Cherri's body and made her want to curl up and die on the spot. Instead, she kept running, using the rooftops to try and avoid being caught by the hell car below her.

She didn't know exactly where she was running too, but she had to go somewhere. Her apartment was off-limits: she didn't want these Overlords knowing where she lived. Angel had moved out of his apartment a month ago, and she didn't want to lead Valentino to Angel's apartment anyway. She didn't have many other friends in Hell, and the few she did have, she didn't want to drag them into her shit with her. Her best bet was to find a bar, where she would hide and pray to Lucifer that nobody would rat her out.

In the distance, a flashing sign caught her eye. Cherri jumped for joy as her eyes landed on the distant hotel.

Cherri didn't have high hopes for the Happy Hotel. She had missed the Princess's interview—she had been involved in a turf war which was much more fun than watching some princess prattle about some dumbass project—but one of the barmaids at her local bar had told her all about the disastrous interview and the Princess's dreams for the hotel. Cherri thought it was a ridiculous idea…at least she did until the hotel was the only thing that could genuinely save her from being tortured.

'If this hotel is meant to save people, please let it save me right now!'

With a new rush of adrenaline pulsing through her already dead veins, Cherri leapt from rooftop to rooftop. The only sounds she could hear were the car that was currently chasing her—and seemed to be getting closer—and the pounding of her own dead heart inside her.

The Hotel was closer now. Before she could only make out the flashing lights; now she could read the letters that were lighting up, the words that were leading her to safety.

Hazbin Hotel.

Cherri ignored the voice in her mind that told her she would be a 'has-been' if she continued on this journey towards the hotel.

The sound of the car engine had died down now, but only slightly. Maybe they were getting bored of looking for her now? The hotel was just minutes away; she was sure she could make it if she just sped up slightly…

"Get her!"

The sound of the car engine revving behind her once again gave her the last push of adrenaline she needed—Cherri launched herself through the air, landing unceremoniously at the doors of the hotel in a hump on the floor.

The doors of the hotel loomed over her, the dark shadows cascading over Cherri's figure as she stared up in wonder at the architect. She'd always had a fascination of architects and structures…and was even more fascinated with blowing them up. The thrill of destroying a building…

Cherri was pulled from her thoughts of mass destruction as she heard the engine. She didn't even bother to check if it was Valentino's car—Cherri pushed the doors of the hotel open, sprinted towards the lobby, and slammed the doors behind her, pressing herself against them as if she was a barrier.

Valentino may be an Overlord, but even he had to follow Lucifer's rules and regulations (not that the King had many). He, Vox and Velvet wouldn't be able to enter the hotel unless invited by the owner.

Rule seventeen of Hell: Overlords can only enter private establishments if invited by the owner, or if a prior agreement has been made by the Overlord and owner. Not like many demons followed the rules, but it between following them or facing Lucifer's wrath, it was an easy decision to make.

Cherri finally caught her breath, the adrenaline slowly leaving her body and the panic starting to fade. She was safe.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Cherri was caught off guard for a moment before realisation hit. Hotel meant hotel staff…which meant some random stranger had just witnessed Cherri's glorious and overdramatic entrance into their workplace and had no idea of what was going on.

Cherri turned to glance at the person who spoke to her and raised an eyebrow at the person who stared back at her. Sat behind a reception desk, with a bottle of Cheap Booze in one hand, was a cat demon.

Cherri didn't have much of an opinion on cats, but they weren't one of her favourite animals. They were okay.

The cat's taupe-coloured fur looked ruffled as if someone had just been messing with it. His long red eyebrows were raised in Cherri's general direction, along with a look that screamed 'the hell is going on?' The thing that caught Cherri's attention, however, was his large, red wings. She'd never seen a cat with wings before.

Cherri knew she should be sweet and polite, and just ask where the Princess was so she could go and get protection from the creeps outside—but that wasn't Cherri's style.

Sweet and polite? That attitude got her killed.

Cherri crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eye at the cat demon.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Husk was bored.

That wasn't new—this hotel was so fucking boring. Weren't hotels meant to be fun; packed bars, fun entertainment, live bands, all that jazz? Charlie may have only opened her hotel a month ago, but it's no wonder she had no patrons. The place was a travesty.

The only entertainment he got was watching his crazy colleagues and their wild antics. Vaggie constantly fighting with Angel or pulling out a spear on Alastor (honestly, he admired that about her), Angel trying—and failing miserably—to convince Charlie to attend one of his shows, Nifty chasing demons twice her size around with a brush because they didn't clean up properly…his co-workers should have their own comedy act.

Today, however, the princess and her girlfriend had dragged Angel off to some 'redemption activity' they had planned, Nifty was cleaning the rooms to try and get them up to scratch for any patrons and Alastor was…somewhere. And as such, Husk was bored.

That was until some girl practically crashed through the doors of the hotel, slammed the doors shut behind her, used herself as a barricade, and gave him a sassy remark to his question.

Well, it was entertainment.

At her catty remark, Husk simple scoffed. "Didn't your parents teach you basic manners?"

"I don't have time for that right now," the cyclops whined, crossing her arms over her chest. "I gotta find the Princess in charge of this little operation. Care to tell me where she is?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

The girl's one eye narrowed. "I don't have time to deal with this bullshit!" She cursed, stepping towards Husk angrily. "I need to see the Princess right now—are you telling me she's too busy for one of her subjects?!"

Husk merely shrugged his shoulders. "She's doing some group shit with a client, so really I wouldn't bother her right now—"

Husk's sentence drawled off as an unlit bomb appeared on his desk, just inches away from his face.

"You gonna tell me where she is now, pussy cat?"

The bomb couldn't really do anything—Husk was already dead, and a simple bomb wouldn't kill him, only leave him with a couple of injuries and maybe throw him through a wall. Regardless, he didn't really want to be threatened or even have the bomb go off—Alastor would be on his ass about letting some unsupervised chick with a bomb in the building.

"She's on the first floor," Husk said, pointing in the general direction of where Charlie was. "Up the first set off stairs, and first door on your left."

"Thank you!" The cyclops grinned wolfishly before sprinting in the direction he had pointed too.

Husk merely watched him leave with a slightly irritated look, before turning to the bottle of booze in his hand. He had been planning on keeping it for later tonight, but after what he'd just witnessed and engaged in, he deserved a drink.

Husk unscrewed the cap off the bottle and lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a heavenly sniff as he prepared to drink…

…when a resounding knock came from the front door of the hotel.

Husk groaned in annoyance and slowly (and painfully) screwed the lid back on his bottle. All he wanted was to drink the beverage now, but Alastor and Charlie would get mad if he ignored a customer, and Husk didn't want to deal with either of them at the moment.

With a loud sigh, Husk moved from his desk and headed towards the front doors, opening them with a disgruntled sigh.

"Welcome to the Happy Hotel, where—"

"Hiii—"

Husk promptly slammed the door shut, eyes widening as he did so. Did his eyes deceive him, or was that Velvet at the door?

Husk opened the door again, and the colour drained from his face.

"—yaaaa!"

Now there wasn't only Velvet, but Vox and Valentino too?!

Husk slammed the door once again.

Fuck.

What the Hell had that girl done to bring them here?

Cherri didn't realise she could run this fast.

At first, she hadn't been too quick, but then she'd heard Velvet's voice at the front door, and she sprinted towards the door that the cat had told her to go to.

Cherri's eye landed on the door that held the key to her survival. Without a moment of hesitation, Cherri launched herself towards the door, using all of her force to kick the door open.

Cherri ignored the screams of whoever was in the room with her, landing on the floor in a heap—and the next thing she knew there was a spear pointed at her face.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Cherri?"

Cherri's ears perked up slightly as she heard that familiar voice, and a grin that reached from ear to ear made its way onto her face. "Angie!"

Angel Dust grinned, pushing himself from the chair he was sat in and made his way over to Cherri. One of his hands gently pushed the spear out of his friend's face—ignoring the grumbling of the girl who held it—and another held his hand out for Cherri to take.

"You okay, Sugar—oof!"

Angel was promptly tackled to the ground as Cherri wrapped her arms around him in a giant hug. Honestly, she should've realised that this was the Hotel that Angel was staying at, but in her blind attempt to get away from the Overlords, that little fact had momentarily disappeared from her mind.

From the corner of her eye, Cherri noticed the other two girls exchange confused looks.

The blonde girl stepped forward, and Cherri immediately realised that the girl in front of her was the Princess she'd been so desperate to see.

"Uh, hi. I'm Charlie, and you are?"

Cherri pushed herself away from Angel, ignoring his put as she did.

"Cherri Bomb," Cherri said with a grin, giving a small bow to the Princess. "Thanks for meeting with me, Princess!"

"I don't really think we had much of a choice," the other girl—a moth demon, much to Cherri's dismay—muttered, her grip on the spear loosening only slightly.

Charlie chuckled nervously and glanced at Cherri with an apologetic glance. Her eyes flashed with a realisation for a moment. "You look familiar…"

Angel stepped towards Cherri and rested one of his arms on Cherri's shoulder. "This, toots, is my girl buddy Cherri Bomb. You know, the one I helped in a turf war?"

Charlie's eyes flittered for a moment, and Cherri felt slightly bad. Only slightly.

"Ah." Charlie took a deep breath, then plastered her ever-present smile on her face. "So, Miss Cherri—"

"No need to be so formal, Princess."

Charlie blushed slightly. "Okay, Cherri. What brings you to my hotel?" Her eyes lit up with joy for a second. "Are you interested in our cause of redemption too? Cause we'd love to have you—"

Cherri really did try not to laugh, but she just couldn't help it, and let out the loudest laugh she was capable of. Minutes later, Angel joined in too.

"Cherri, redemption?" Angel snorted, "Yeah, good luck with that, Charlie. Cherri here taught me everything I know." As he spoke, he nudged Cherri in the side with his elbow.

"Angel was a travesty before he met me," Cherri said with a grin. "If you think redeeming him is hard, it would be impossible to redeem me."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Then, what are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be honest here, Princess, I need your family's…protection." Cherri said, biting on her tongue slightly as the word 'protection' left her lips. It felt so shameful to admit she needed help from the princess, but it was better than being dead.

"…protection? What for?"

"I'm with Charlie here," Angel said, raising an eyebrow. "What could you need protection from? You're strong enough to take care of yourself, and if you need any backup, you know where I am."

Cherri ignored the glare Angel got from the moth demon and the princess.

"Usually I tend to handle my shit alone," Cherri said, swallowing her pride once again. "But, I've landed myself in some trouble that I can't handle alone."

"What trouble?"

"…let's just say I've spent my days running from three Overlords who want me dead."

Silence filled the air.

"…say what now?"

Cherri almost wanted to stab the princess with her friend's spear, but she needed the princess to help her, so that was out of the question. "I've been fleeing from Vox, Velvet and Valentino all day."

Cherri noticed how Angel stiffened slightly at the mention of 'Valentino', and she comfortingly placed a hand on her friend's back.

"You got involved with Vox?" The moth girl finally spoke up. "The other two are bad enough, but throw him into the mix…what did you do to get their attention?"

"Velvet caught me about to blow one of Valentino's billboards up," Cherri said—hopefully, the news of her mass destruction on his pimp's property would cheer Angel up slightly. "Apparently, Overlords don't take kindly to having their property destroyed."

"No shit."

"Angel, your sarcasm never fails to help the situation," Cherri groaned sarcastically, ignoring Angel's retort of sticking his tongue out at her. She turned her attention back to the Princess. "So, Princess, whattaya say? Care to help a girl out?"

Charlie scratched the back of her neck nervously. "I mean, I could put you under our family's protection—"

Cherri let out a cheer and high fived Angel in celebration.

"—but I would have to talk it through with my father, and I might take a while to contact him."

Cherri's face fell. "What? So you can't help me!"

"I want to!" Charlie insisted, placing two hands on Cherri's shoulders—only to wince when Cherri stepped back, moving her hands. "And I can, just once I contact my parents."

"Perhaps I can help."

Cherri had not been expecting to hear the voice of Alastor, the Radio Demon at this hotel, but she couldn't stop herself from giving an undignified squeak as she turned to face the demon…and yet she couldn't find him.

That was, until, he stepped out of a portal, staring at her with those large eyes and his ever creepy smile.

"Pleasure to meet you, darlin'!" He grinned at Cherri, stepping towards her excitedly. "I saw your fiasco with Angel here on the picture show—"

"I keep telling ya," Angel called, "it's called a television!"

Alastor seemed to ignore Angel's remark. "—you're definitely a force to be reckoned with, my dear! So, what can I do for you today?"

Cherri opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her mouth just opened like a fish.

Alastor stepped closer to her. "Cat got your tongue?"

A large staff suddenly materialized in front of Cherri. Cherri almost launched the thing through a wall when it spoke. "Testing, testing, can you hear me?"

"You're the Radio Demon…" Cherri finally managed to sputter out, unusually quiet for once.

She had heard stories about the Radio Demon. Unlike Angel, who didn't care about politics, Cherri made sure she was caught up to all the politics in Hell so that she had an idea of who to mess with.

Taking Valentino down was okay. Taking Alastor on? She'd rather let an Angel kill her.

Alastor either didn't notice her nerves, or he just ignored them. "I heard about your little problem with those three brutes out there—what a daring little gal you are to take on three Overlords!"

"…I didn't take on three," Cherri said, but her point was ignored by the Radio Demon.

"Charlie here might not be able to offer you her family's protection just yet, but I would love to help you out!" His eyes darkened for a moment. "I'd love to see Vox try to hurt you when he finds out you're under my protection." Alastor gave a small, dark chuckle; one that made Cherri shiver in fear.

Angel glanced at his friend warily. He'd never see Cherri like this. Placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder, he spoke up. "Cherri, listen, babe, you don't gotta do this. I'll talk to Valentino, get him to back off."

Angel's words scared Cherri. She could imagine how that particular situation would go—Valentino yelling at Angel, grabbing onto his wrists and not letting go, punishing Angel for her actions. More days seeing Angel crumble under Valentino's hold…

Cherri suddenly made her mind up. She could not let Angel suffer for her actions.

Do it for Angel.

"Don't worry Angie," Cherri said, taking a deep breath to calm her fears. "I got this all under control."

With new bravery rushing through her, Cherri stepped towards Alastor with determined eyes, watching as his own eyes glinted—he was obviously very entertained by this whole situation.

"Okay, Alastor," Cheri cleared her throat. "Tell me what's in it for you if I take this deal."

Alastor's grin widened. Cherri didn't even know it was possible.

"Well, you are a smart one, aren't you?" He chuckled with glee. "I'll offer you my protection from those Overlords, and all of Hell's other dangerous degenerates—"

"Hey!" Charlie interjected but was promptly ignored.

"—as long as you work at the Hazbin Hotel."

Alastor's words had confused every other demon in the room, as they all let out a unanimous "What?"

Alastor grinned and turned to Charlie as he spoke. "Charlie, you saw Cherri's skills in her recent battle, didn't you? She's a competent fighter with destructive weapons at her disposal—she would make a fine security guard for the hotel!"

Charlie took the thought into consideration for a few moments. "I mean, you're right but—"

"But," the moth girl interjected—Cherri really didn't like this girl—"we've seen what she's capable of when she's working with Angel! Angel's meant to be working on bettering himself, is having her here going to be a good influence on him?"

Angel scoffed, giving Cherri a small glance that said 'look what I have to deal with'. Cherri just snickered slightly.

"Vaggie," the princess began, placing her hands on the moth's shoulders tenderly. "Maybe this is what Angel needs; a friend at the Hotel with him. It might encourage him to stay here...and not get involved with turf wars."

"Whatever you say, toots." Angel Dust muttered, grinning as Cherri elbowed him slightly.

"I don't know, Charlie." Vaggie glanced towards Cherri with clear distrust.

"I won't do anything to ruin your hotel's reputation," Cherri offered, causing both girls to look at her in disbelief.

"Really?" came their unanimous reply.

Cherri nodded. "As long as I can board with Angie, we won't cause any trouble. Right, Angel?"

Angel grinned. "You know it, babe."

"Well, Charlie?" Alastor asked, turning to his business partner with a grin. "What do you say?"

Charlie looked at Vaggie for reassurance.

Vaggie nodded in response. "I'll do whatever you say is right, Charlie."

Charlie gave a small smile towards Vaggie—and Cherri had to admit, even she was touched by the sweetness between the two.

It reminded her of…him.

Cherri shook those thoughts out of her head. There were other things to worry about now.

"I'd love for you to be part of our team," Charlie grinned, bouncing excitedly on the spot. "Okay, Al, work your magic!"

Alastor grinned directly at Cherri. Cherri felt herself shiver again; but this time, not just in fear. There was some admiration for his power. "Well, Cherri, what do you say? In exchange for my protection, you'll work for the Hazbin Hotel as a security guard. You can back out of the deal at any time you want, but you'll lose the protection."

Cherri glanced at his outstretched hand, watching as the aura around his hand seemingly taunted and teased her with its power alone. "If I agree, they can't touch me?"

"Nobody will ever want to touch you," Alastor chuckled. "So, it's a deal then?"

A green aura seemingly exploded from Alastor's hand, causing Cherri to have to take a few steps back just due to the force of the aura. Just how powerful was this demon?!

She took a deep breath, grinding her feet into the floor to stabilize herself. There was no going back once she made this deal. With a brave, forceful step forward, Cherri took Alastor's hand in hers.

"It's a deal."

The green aura dispersed, and Cherri felt a slight burning sensation in her hand as Alastor tightened his grasp. After a few minutes, he finally let go, and Cherri immediately checked over her hand to make sure it wasn't burned.

As if nothing had happened, Alastor turned on his foot and headed downstairs. "Now let's go tell Vox the good news!"

Cherri and Angel looked at each other, sharing the same thought as their eyes met.

Oh shit.

By the time Cherri had convinced herself to go downstairs—after insisting Vaggie and Charlie go down first—Alastor was already at the door, speaking to the three Overlords who were just trying to kill her.

"You think we're just gonna let this shit slide, Alastor?" Vox snarled at the Radio Demon. Alastor didn't let the action scare him however, just smiling down at Vox with that creepy, creepy smile.

"My associate made a mistake," Alastor spoke casually—as if he was just talking about Cherri losing one of their belongings and not as if she actually tried to destroy Valentino's livelihood. "Rest assured, Voxy—"

Vox snarled at the nickname but was ignored by Alastor.

"The mistakes won't be made again. Cherri has agreed to leave you three alone. Isn't that right, Cherri?"

Cherri merely nodded her head and remained silent.

Alastor laughed. "There we go! All sorted! Now if you'll excuse me, fellows—"

Velvet gave an offended squeak at that, and Cherri almost wanted to laugh in her face. Almost.

"My associates and I are very busy, so if you are happy action has been taken…you can kindly leave now."

Alastor spoke with such kind words, and yet the Vodou symbols around him and sinister smile told a very different story.

Velvet was the first to leave, turning on her heel and muttering a quick "she isn't worth it, guys."

Vox followed soon after, but not without a heated staring contest with Alastor—luckily for Cherri, Alastor had definitely won.

Valentino was the last one to leave, and his eyes lingered on Cherri for a moment before he left.

"This isn't over, cyclops."

Cherri tried her hardest to look brave, but she couldn't help but falter slightly. An action that was seen by Valentino, and he sent a sickening grin her way, before turning to follow his friends.

Once she was sure the three Overlords were gone, Cherri slumped against the stairs and let out a deep breath. "Holy fucking shit. That was genuinely terrifying."

"Welcome to my world." Angel Dust muttered beside her.

Cherri felt all eyes on her; Alastor looking at her with that creepy grin and just as creepy eyes, Charlie looking at her sympathetically, Vaggie looking like she wanted to kick Cherri out and Angel looking like…well, Angel. She gave a slight groan and glanced up at the mismatched group of demons with a glare. the cat from before—Husker, she remembered his ID—gave her an amused grin, as if watching her be tormented by stares alone was hilarious.

"Anybody gonna say something, or are you just gonna stare at me like I'm a fucking ticking bomb?"

Of course, the fucking cat spoke up. "Welcome to the Happy Hotel."

"…fuck my life."

So the reason I like CherrixHusk so much is because it genuinely reminds me off me and my boyfriend.