Fic: A History of Heaven (Gabriel/Various Angels, PG-13 for this chapter) 39/59
For full notes and other chapters, please see the Masterpost.
Notes: Sammael = Lucifer
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 2,003
Chapter Summary: Gabriel may be the only Archangel active in Heaven right now, but he’s not the only Archangel IN Heaven right now. And he didn’t tell the others what he was up to.
CHAPTER 39:
Raphael’s Belief
As soon as Gabriel spread his wings in the open air just outside the crumbling southern tower, the Seraph Marmoniel materialized in front of him. Her pale eyes slid over Cariel (still showing signs of his head wound, though the hole was now more of an indentation) and then Alastair’s unconscious form thrown over Gabriel’s shoulder, before settling on the Archangel. To her credit, the expression on her face didn’t waver. She inclined her head slightly to Gabriel. “Raphael requests your presence.”
“Requests?” Gabriel asked, exchanging a glance with Cariel.
Marmoniel smiled thinly at the pair. “If you choose not to answer his request, he will demand.”
“Figured as much.” Gabriel shoved Alastair at Marmoniel before dragging his sword out of Alastair’s head. “Alastair’s angels are suspected traitors. Please assign a garrison or two to going through his floor and containing them. They’re unconscious at the moment. I’m holding them all under. Do the same for the angels being interrogated today. Until we have a chance to investigate properly, I want them all contained separately. Can you do that?”
Raphael’s second did not have to answer to Gabriel, but since Gabriel was the most functional Archangel, Marmoniel had taken to deferring to his judgment lately. She hesitated a moment before giving a nod. “I shall begin immediately, Archangel. You will go to Raphael?” Her fingers smoothed over the hole in Alastair’s head, the healer in her automatically tending to the gash in his spirit.
“Immediately,” Gabriel assured her. “Cariel, please return to my tower and relieve Barachiel, if you feel up to resuming your duties.”
“Barachiel’s back?” Cariel brightened a little at the name of his brother. “His wings?”
“He’s still healing, but Raphael did deign to let him return to us today,” Gabriel answered with a grin. “I left him in charge, maybe a bit unfairly. I’ll return soon, depending on what Raphael needs me for.”
“Yes sir.” Cariel gave Marmoniel a nod before flying northwest, toward Gabriel’s tower.
Marmoniel’s eyes were glazed over, distant. She was communicating with her choir, summoning angels to attend to the arrest of Alastair’s angels. Gabriel touched his grace to hers to feel for any trace of deceit. Finding none, he spread his own wings and flew.
Raphael was sitting at the peak of his tower, a widespread plume resembling a cloud in the sky, from which his tower descended like a whirling tornado frozen in place. He had his eyes closed, leaning against a decorative curl, lightning arcing through the glass floor from where his wingtips brushed against it.
Gabriel landed carefully, folding his wings in and keeping them held high so as not to drag them over Raphael’s sparks. Raphael’s electricity wasn’t strong enough to do anything more than tingle against Gabriel’s spirit, but Gabriel would be cautious anyway. His twin was still fragile, with most of his energy dedicated to rebuilding the hole Lucifer had ripped through his chest. Gabriel’s own grace still pulsed within the Archangel of the Air, keeping him alive. “I’ve uncovered some traitors within Heaven. I’ve set Marmoniel to the task of cleaning them up. My apologies for stealing your second, but she was the only one at hand.”
“She already told me.” Raphael didn’t bother looking at his brother. “Where have you been? We tried calling for you. Samandiriel said you left Earth hours ago.”
“I was in Sammael’s tower,” Gabriel answered. “Alastair’s floor.” The level was strongly warded to keep angels from folding themselves in and out. Gabriel hadn’t realized it muffled communication too. Had it been Lucifer’s first attempt at keeping God out? A practice run for his underground realm? “Alastair kidnapped Cariel and was attempting to find him guilty of treason.”
Now Raphael cracked his eyes open, looking up at Gabriel. Only when the other Archangel was seated could Gabriel tower over him. “Big accusations from a little angel.”
Gabriel bristled, his feathers ruffling, but he didn’t rise to Raphael’s bait. Much. He folded his arms, canting his head to the side. “I have proof. Alastair and Azazel have been following Lucifer this entire time. They’ve been disrupting Heaven, trying to avenge him.”
“Azazel?” Gabriel had Raphael’s full attention now. The injured Archangel straightened up, frowning at his brother. “Michael found Azazel mentally massacred in his office. We were worried there was something dangerous in our midst.”
“So you sat out here in the open?” Gabriel looked around the tower with a frown of his own. The sky was empty, but Raphael was still vulnerable sitting alone and injured. “There is no threat-I was the one who attacked Azazel-but still. Stupid much?”
Raphael flicked his hand at Gabriel, buffeting the smaller angel with a gust of wind. The breeze, small even by Raphael’s weakened standards, was still enough to rock Gabriel. “There is no angel who can ambush me by air. I was searching for the culprit, spreading my grace through Heaven. Why did you attack Azazel?”
“He took Cariel.”
“It really is that simple for you,” Raphael remarked with a shake of his head. “Only you, Gabriel, would wreck everything for a subordinate. Even Michael’s second.”
“He’s not a subordinate!”
“But he is. Useful, yes, but ultimately replaceable.”
“As if you wouldn’t go after Marmoniel if she were in danger!”
“I wouldn’t tear half of Heaven upside-down for her, no.” Raphael pushed himself to his feet slowly, wincing a little and pressing one hand over his chest as he moved. “I would attempt to recover her, but if a reasonable show of strength and intelligence wasn’t enough…” He shrugged. “We are not individuals, Gabriel. We are the Host. All of us move as one for the Glory of God. We don’t move for a lesser brother. We don’t even move for a greater brother.”
Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but Raphael silenced him with one lifted hand. “What did you do to pull Sammael back to us? Not nearly enough. None of us did. He malfunctioned, and we removed him. That is how the Host needs to work. None of this,” Raphael fluttered a wing in Gabriel’s direction, “passion.”
“Only you can make passion a dirty word.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Raphael. “Is that what you honestly think? If it doesn’t directly help the greater good, it shouldn’t be done?”
“I don’t think we need to get emotionally involved. Logic. Wasn’t that your pet idea? Think logically, Gabriel. You destroyed Azazel’s mind and handicapped an entire garrison, all for one angel. Was it really worth it?”
“I rescued Cariel from attempted murder and uncovered a cabal of traitors!”
“You left a trail of destruction in your wake and spread panic throughout the Host by not informing us of your actions beforehand.” Raphael sighed, rubbing two fingers against his temple. “I’m not saying you did bad. I’m just saying there were better ways of handling the situation.”
“There wasn’t time!”
“There’s always time.” Raphael gestured at his injured chest. “This, Gabriel, this is a direct result of my abandoning logic to react with passion, without thought. Michael’s current grief is very much the same-too much passion and emotion resulted in too much loss when things didn’t go the way he wanted. He’s broken now because he cared too much.” Raphael stepped closer to Gabriel, resting his hand lightly on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I worry about you, Gabriel. You’re following too closely in Lucifer’s footsteps.”
Gabriel drew back from Raphael, pointedly pulling his shoulder away from his brother’s touch. “You cannot honestly be comparing me with Lucifer because I refused to let my innocent lieutenant be executed.”
“We lost him because he became enraged by perceived injustice. You become enraged by perceived injustice.”
“It wasn’t perceived! It was real!”
“Cariel is one of the Host! He is replaceable! We are all replaceable!”
Gabriel backed up further, shaking his head. “None of us are replaceable. The Host suffers for every loss it incurs. Even the smallest Cherub enriches the Host simply by existing.” Raphael stayed where he was, looking solemnly at Gabriel, his arms loose at his sides.
“You truly are Lucifer’s disciple.”
Gabriel wanted to run from his brother. His wings stretched wide for flight, but where would he go? Once upon a time, Sammael would have offered Gabriel shelter from his twin’s accusations, tucking soft wings around his little brother and whispering teasing observations about their brothers until he had Gabriel laughing again. Sammael was gone now.
In the past, Gabriel could have run to Michael when he was upset. Michael would have sat beside Gabriel and listened, a gentleness to his grace that slowly leeched into Gabriel’s own and calmed him down. Michael was broken now, drowning in his own grief and unable to soothe another.
Gabriel might have even run to God if he were desperate enough, slipping into the Garden and letting his Father’s love crowd out his anger. It was unlikely that his Father would actually be present these days. Even if God were in the Garden, he would be accompanied by the Cherub Metatron, and Gabriel wanted nothing to do with the little silver-winged angel.
Cariel was the only other brother Gabriel regularly sought comfort from. Cariel’s utter devotion to Gabriel and his choir never failed to help Gabriel find his own center, relaxing in the Seraph’s presence like he did with no one else. But Cariel was still injured, still weak and shaken from his ordeal. Gabriel couldn’t ask Cariel to calm him over mere words from Raphael, not now.
Gabriel’s wings shivered as he refolded them against his back, tight and compact. He narrowed his eyes at his twin, forcing himself to rise above the words. “I didn’t come here to take your abuse, Raphael. You summoned me here. Why?”
“Azazel was attacked.” Raphael was just as calm as if he hadn’t accused Gabriel of following the fallen Archangel. His head was canted slightly to the side, eyes bright as he watched his brother.
“Yes. I already told you I did that.”
“And we did not have that information when I sent for you.” Raphael’s wings fluttered in a tiny shrug. “Now we do. I have no need for you, but you should go to Michael and explain yourself to him. It was his second you ripped open, after all. He’ll need a new lieutenant.”
Gabriel couldn’t even feel guilty for effectively ending the life of another of Michael’s seconds. No other Archangel had lost as many as the oldest had, but Gabriel felt that Filiel had been the only decent one. Michael had loved and trusted the oldest Seraph in a way he hadn’t done with any of the rest. The loss of Filiel still echoed through his entire choir. Azazel had been a poor replacement and entirely Gabriel’s fault.
“I haven’t seen Michael in years,” Gabriel admitted, dropping his gaze to his feet. “Is he… how is he?”
“He’s empty.” Raphael touched his fingers lightly over his core. “Here. It’s… unnerving. He moves as if he has no time to waste. He looks through you now, and shows nothing of himself.” The Healer turned his head, his dark gaze seeking out the northern tower before sliding away. “I feel like we are losing him too, and I am powerless to pull him back from the abyss within him.”
Gabriel looked up at his brother, curling his fingers around his own arms, hugging himself. “I haven’t seen Michael in years,” he repeated. “I’ll go speak to him now. Maybe… maybe I can help?”
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to hurt him worse.” The Healer never had been big on tact. “Go. Try to pull him back.”
Gabriel nodded firmly and turned away, stepping up to the edge of Raphael’s tower.
“Gabriel.”
Raphael called his name just as Gabriel spread his wings, about to take flight. The smaller Archangel twisted to look over his shoulder, his brother framed by the span of feathers. Raphael met his gaze.
“Thank you.”
Next...
Notes: Sammael = Lucifer
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 2,003
Chapter Summary: Gabriel may be the only Archangel active in Heaven right now, but he’s not the only Archangel IN Heaven right now. And he didn’t tell the others what he was up to.
CHAPTER 39:
Raphael’s Belief
As soon as Gabriel spread his wings in the open air just outside the crumbling southern tower, the Seraph Marmoniel materialized in front of him. Her pale eyes slid over Cariel (still showing signs of his head wound, though the hole was now more of an indentation) and then Alastair’s unconscious form thrown over Gabriel’s shoulder, before settling on the Archangel. To her credit, the expression on her face didn’t waver. She inclined her head slightly to Gabriel. “Raphael requests your presence.”
“Requests?” Gabriel asked, exchanging a glance with Cariel.
Marmoniel smiled thinly at the pair. “If you choose not to answer his request, he will demand.”
“Figured as much.” Gabriel shoved Alastair at Marmoniel before dragging his sword out of Alastair’s head. “Alastair’s angels are suspected traitors. Please assign a garrison or two to going through his floor and containing them. They’re unconscious at the moment. I’m holding them all under. Do the same for the angels being interrogated today. Until we have a chance to investigate properly, I want them all contained separately. Can you do that?”
Raphael’s second did not have to answer to Gabriel, but since Gabriel was the most functional Archangel, Marmoniel had taken to deferring to his judgment lately. She hesitated a moment before giving a nod. “I shall begin immediately, Archangel. You will go to Raphael?” Her fingers smoothed over the hole in Alastair’s head, the healer in her automatically tending to the gash in his spirit.
“Immediately,” Gabriel assured her. “Cariel, please return to my tower and relieve Barachiel, if you feel up to resuming your duties.”
“Barachiel’s back?” Cariel brightened a little at the name of his brother. “His wings?”
“He’s still healing, but Raphael did deign to let him return to us today,” Gabriel answered with a grin. “I left him in charge, maybe a bit unfairly. I’ll return soon, depending on what Raphael needs me for.”
“Yes sir.” Cariel gave Marmoniel a nod before flying northwest, toward Gabriel’s tower.
Marmoniel’s eyes were glazed over, distant. She was communicating with her choir, summoning angels to attend to the arrest of Alastair’s angels. Gabriel touched his grace to hers to feel for any trace of deceit. Finding none, he spread his own wings and flew.
Raphael was sitting at the peak of his tower, a widespread plume resembling a cloud in the sky, from which his tower descended like a whirling tornado frozen in place. He had his eyes closed, leaning against a decorative curl, lightning arcing through the glass floor from where his wingtips brushed against it.
Gabriel landed carefully, folding his wings in and keeping them held high so as not to drag them over Raphael’s sparks. Raphael’s electricity wasn’t strong enough to do anything more than tingle against Gabriel’s spirit, but Gabriel would be cautious anyway. His twin was still fragile, with most of his energy dedicated to rebuilding the hole Lucifer had ripped through his chest. Gabriel’s own grace still pulsed within the Archangel of the Air, keeping him alive. “I’ve uncovered some traitors within Heaven. I’ve set Marmoniel to the task of cleaning them up. My apologies for stealing your second, but she was the only one at hand.”
“She already told me.” Raphael didn’t bother looking at his brother. “Where have you been? We tried calling for you. Samandiriel said you left Earth hours ago.”
“I was in Sammael’s tower,” Gabriel answered. “Alastair’s floor.” The level was strongly warded to keep angels from folding themselves in and out. Gabriel hadn’t realized it muffled communication too. Had it been Lucifer’s first attempt at keeping God out? A practice run for his underground realm? “Alastair kidnapped Cariel and was attempting to find him guilty of treason.”
Now Raphael cracked his eyes open, looking up at Gabriel. Only when the other Archangel was seated could Gabriel tower over him. “Big accusations from a little angel.”
Gabriel bristled, his feathers ruffling, but he didn’t rise to Raphael’s bait. Much. He folded his arms, canting his head to the side. “I have proof. Alastair and Azazel have been following Lucifer this entire time. They’ve been disrupting Heaven, trying to avenge him.”
“Azazel?” Gabriel had Raphael’s full attention now. The injured Archangel straightened up, frowning at his brother. “Michael found Azazel mentally massacred in his office. We were worried there was something dangerous in our midst.”
“So you sat out here in the open?” Gabriel looked around the tower with a frown of his own. The sky was empty, but Raphael was still vulnerable sitting alone and injured. “There is no threat-I was the one who attacked Azazel-but still. Stupid much?”
Raphael flicked his hand at Gabriel, buffeting the smaller angel with a gust of wind. The breeze, small even by Raphael’s weakened standards, was still enough to rock Gabriel. “There is no angel who can ambush me by air. I was searching for the culprit, spreading my grace through Heaven. Why did you attack Azazel?”
“He took Cariel.”
“It really is that simple for you,” Raphael remarked with a shake of his head. “Only you, Gabriel, would wreck everything for a subordinate. Even Michael’s second.”
“He’s not a subordinate!”
“But he is. Useful, yes, but ultimately replaceable.”
“As if you wouldn’t go after Marmoniel if she were in danger!”
“I wouldn’t tear half of Heaven upside-down for her, no.” Raphael pushed himself to his feet slowly, wincing a little and pressing one hand over his chest as he moved. “I would attempt to recover her, but if a reasonable show of strength and intelligence wasn’t enough…” He shrugged. “We are not individuals, Gabriel. We are the Host. All of us move as one for the Glory of God. We don’t move for a lesser brother. We don’t even move for a greater brother.”
Gabriel opened his mouth to protest, but Raphael silenced him with one lifted hand. “What did you do to pull Sammael back to us? Not nearly enough. None of us did. He malfunctioned, and we removed him. That is how the Host needs to work. None of this,” Raphael fluttered a wing in Gabriel’s direction, “passion.”
“Only you can make passion a dirty word.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Raphael. “Is that what you honestly think? If it doesn’t directly help the greater good, it shouldn’t be done?”
“I don’t think we need to get emotionally involved. Logic. Wasn’t that your pet idea? Think logically, Gabriel. You destroyed Azazel’s mind and handicapped an entire garrison, all for one angel. Was it really worth it?”
“I rescued Cariel from attempted murder and uncovered a cabal of traitors!”
“You left a trail of destruction in your wake and spread panic throughout the Host by not informing us of your actions beforehand.” Raphael sighed, rubbing two fingers against his temple. “I’m not saying you did bad. I’m just saying there were better ways of handling the situation.”
“There wasn’t time!”
“There’s always time.” Raphael gestured at his injured chest. “This, Gabriel, this is a direct result of my abandoning logic to react with passion, without thought. Michael’s current grief is very much the same-too much passion and emotion resulted in too much loss when things didn’t go the way he wanted. He’s broken now because he cared too much.” Raphael stepped closer to Gabriel, resting his hand lightly on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I worry about you, Gabriel. You’re following too closely in Lucifer’s footsteps.”
Gabriel drew back from Raphael, pointedly pulling his shoulder away from his brother’s touch. “You cannot honestly be comparing me with Lucifer because I refused to let my innocent lieutenant be executed.”
“We lost him because he became enraged by perceived injustice. You become enraged by perceived injustice.”
“It wasn’t perceived! It was real!”
“Cariel is one of the Host! He is replaceable! We are all replaceable!”
Gabriel backed up further, shaking his head. “None of us are replaceable. The Host suffers for every loss it incurs. Even the smallest Cherub enriches the Host simply by existing.” Raphael stayed where he was, looking solemnly at Gabriel, his arms loose at his sides.
“You truly are Lucifer’s disciple.”
Gabriel wanted to run from his brother. His wings stretched wide for flight, but where would he go? Once upon a time, Sammael would have offered Gabriel shelter from his twin’s accusations, tucking soft wings around his little brother and whispering teasing observations about their brothers until he had Gabriel laughing again. Sammael was gone now.
In the past, Gabriel could have run to Michael when he was upset. Michael would have sat beside Gabriel and listened, a gentleness to his grace that slowly leeched into Gabriel’s own and calmed him down. Michael was broken now, drowning in his own grief and unable to soothe another.
Gabriel might have even run to God if he were desperate enough, slipping into the Garden and letting his Father’s love crowd out his anger. It was unlikely that his Father would actually be present these days. Even if God were in the Garden, he would be accompanied by the Cherub Metatron, and Gabriel wanted nothing to do with the little silver-winged angel.
Cariel was the only other brother Gabriel regularly sought comfort from. Cariel’s utter devotion to Gabriel and his choir never failed to help Gabriel find his own center, relaxing in the Seraph’s presence like he did with no one else. But Cariel was still injured, still weak and shaken from his ordeal. Gabriel couldn’t ask Cariel to calm him over mere words from Raphael, not now.
Gabriel’s wings shivered as he refolded them against his back, tight and compact. He narrowed his eyes at his twin, forcing himself to rise above the words. “I didn’t come here to take your abuse, Raphael. You summoned me here. Why?”
“Azazel was attacked.” Raphael was just as calm as if he hadn’t accused Gabriel of following the fallen Archangel. His head was canted slightly to the side, eyes bright as he watched his brother.
“Yes. I already told you I did that.”
“And we did not have that information when I sent for you.” Raphael’s wings fluttered in a tiny shrug. “Now we do. I have no need for you, but you should go to Michael and explain yourself to him. It was his second you ripped open, after all. He’ll need a new lieutenant.”
Gabriel couldn’t even feel guilty for effectively ending the life of another of Michael’s seconds. No other Archangel had lost as many as the oldest had, but Gabriel felt that Filiel had been the only decent one. Michael had loved and trusted the oldest Seraph in a way he hadn’t done with any of the rest. The loss of Filiel still echoed through his entire choir. Azazel had been a poor replacement and entirely Gabriel’s fault.
“I haven’t seen Michael in years,” Gabriel admitted, dropping his gaze to his feet. “Is he… how is he?”
“He’s empty.” Raphael touched his fingers lightly over his core. “Here. It’s… unnerving. He moves as if he has no time to waste. He looks through you now, and shows nothing of himself.” The Healer turned his head, his dark gaze seeking out the northern tower before sliding away. “I feel like we are losing him too, and I am powerless to pull him back from the abyss within him.”
Gabriel looked up at his brother, curling his fingers around his own arms, hugging himself. “I haven’t seen Michael in years,” he repeated. “I’ll go speak to him now. Maybe… maybe I can help?”
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to hurt him worse.” The Healer never had been big on tact. “Go. Try to pull him back.”
Gabriel nodded firmly and turned away, stepping up to the edge of Raphael’s tower.
“Gabriel.”
Raphael called his name just as Gabriel spread his wings, about to take flight. The smaller Archangel twisted to look over his shoulder, his brother framed by the span of feathers. Raphael met his gaze.
“Thank you.”
Next...