[Tovi and Guri have always had a special bond. They were named seconds apart, after all, and stuck together through everything. Until the binding magic and the humans tore them apart. For centuries, until Ben Lockwood found his binding ring in a pawnshop and set him free to go Home.
But he's always felt as if a part of him was missing, without Guri there, and his little brother's prayers and grief have reached Heaven. And it's the most natural thing in the world to go back down, although he's not especially sanguine about his own safety, to offer aid and comfort to his best friend.
Ben's sleeping, and Tovi finds Guri in the darkened library.]
[Guriel's curled up in a chair by the french doors that open out onto the balcony, staring out into the darkened yard at nothing. He's worn down and weary in body and mind -- he can't remember the last time he slept, or really the last time he even rested. Even still and silent like this he doesn't really relax, holding himself tight as a coiled spring, and it wears on him.]
[Tovi's heart cracks right in half to see Guri sitting like that. Three steps across the room, and he's got arms and wings wrapped around him in a tight, tight hug.] Guri.
[Guriel freezes, going impossibly more tense in his brother's arms, not even breathing, because he knows these wings and that voice and they can't be here, they can't.
[Shaky fingers reach out and just barely brush a feather, and Guriel trembles, shaking his head.] No, no, it isn't safe . . .
[Doesn't matter that this is their house, his and Ben's, the closest to Home he has on earth. Earth isn't safe, not like Home, not safe enough for Toviel to be here where Guriel can't protect him (protect anyone).]
[Arms and wings get impossibly tighter, and he sits down next to Guri and cradles him, closing his eyes and swallowing. "Like they took you" is the elephant in the room they can never speak of, even though Tovi doesn't blame his little brother for that and hasn't ever.] But you found him again. And if I know you, and I do, you made those who took him pay dearly for that.
[Guriel curls into his brother's embrace while somehow managing not to relax even minutely, burying his face in Toviel's chest.] Dead. They're all dead. Everyone's dead.
[And he's a monster, a murderer, someone who can't protect the ones he loves, who can't ever go Home because of the blight on his soul. Again, still, always.]
[Tovi closes his eyes and tries to hide his flinch. This isn't what they were Named for, but it's what they've been twisted into by centuries of abuse, and it's become the only way they can protect their Charges -- or those they've taken as their Charges.] Hsh. None blame you. You did what you had to. It's a horrible, fallen, broken world. I'm just sorry you seem to get cut open again and again on its sharp edges, little brother.
[Guriel shakes his head against Toviel, because it isn't an excuse, because he let his rage and his fear twist him away from the angel he was supposed to be, his Father's son, Toviel's brother, and no amount of hurt or exhaustion justifies that. Not to him.]
You have to go, Tovi. You have to. It's not safe, and I can't . . .
The only thing I have to do right now is hold my hurting little brother. I've got my ring, Guri. Heaven help any who try to take it from me. I'm in no danger, but it seems all manner of badness has happened to you in my absence.
[Guriel flinches bodily, although he doesn't pull away, because he's missed Toviel, oh, how he's missed him, like a missing limb all these years . . .] Because I did all manner of it, Toviel, because I did wrong, slaughtered and hated and terrorized them until it drove all the light out of my heart.
[He's put thought into this. Into what he did, and how, and the attitude of his heart.
He's convinced the only reason he's not Fallen is that ringbound angels can't Fall. No other explanation makes sense.]
No. [Fierce protectiveness goes here.] Had it driven all the light from your heart, you wouldn't be reacting like this. And you love Ben, and Zev. Have you done awful things? Yes. We all of us have.
That doesn't mean that you are awful. I refuse to believe it.
You didn't see. [Nobody saw. Nobody's left alive who saw.
Except the Father. Guriel's sure He saw everything. He can't bring himself to think about how He must have reacted. He can't bring himself to ask about Him, about Home, for all that he aches to hear that it's still there.
He wraps his arms around Toviel and buries his face against his brother, inhaling. He doesn't have Ben's werewolf senses, but some scents still carry just as much meaning for him as they would for Ben, and Toviel is one of them.]
But he's always felt as if a part of him was missing, without Guri there, and his little brother's prayers and grief have reached Heaven. And it's the most natural thing in the world to go back down, although he's not especially sanguine about his own safety, to offer aid and comfort to his best friend.
Ben's sleeping, and Tovi finds Guri in the darkened library.]
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Guri sent him Home, so he'd be safe.]
Tovi?
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[Doesn't matter that this is their house, his and Ben's, the closest to Home he has on earth. Earth isn't safe, not like Home, not safe enough for Toviel to be here where Guriel can't protect him (protect anyone).]
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[Like they took you, he doesn't say, can't ever say, even though it's true.]
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[And he's a monster, a murderer, someone who can't protect the ones he loves, who can't ever go Home because of the blight on his soul. Again, still, always.]
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You have to go, Tovi. You have to. It's not safe, and I can't . . .
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[He's put thought into this. Into what he did, and how, and the attitude of his heart.
He's convinced the only reason he's not Fallen is that ringbound angels can't Fall. No other explanation makes sense.]
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That doesn't mean that you are awful. I refuse to believe it.
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Except the Father. Guriel's sure He saw everything. He can't bring himself to think about how He must have reacted. He can't bring himself to ask about Him, about Home, for all that he aches to hear that it's still there.
He wraps his arms around Toviel and buries his face against his brother, inhaling. He doesn't have Ben's werewolf senses, but some scents still carry just as much meaning for him as they would for Ben, and Toviel is one of them.]
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