Fic: Rogue (Gabriel/M, Gabriel/F, PG-13) 2/36
For full notes and other chapters, please see the Masterpost.
Notes: This is the third part of the Missing an Angel series. It is recommended that you read the first two before reading this one.
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 1,559
Chapter Summary: Fergus wants to see a barometz, but he’s not the only curious child in town.
CHAPTER 2:
The Children of Canisbay
“But they’re powerful.”
Fergus’ voice restarted Gabriel’s mind, but the angel’s thoughts still skipped and stuttered over the fact that Cariel, his lieutenant, had been reborn into this small child. “Excuse me?” Gabriel managed to say weakly, the thread of conversation already lost.
“Demons.” Fergus rocked forward onto his toes and then back onto his heels, reaching up to shove his hair out of his face. “They’re powerful. Demons can do everything, and they live forever. That’s why I wanna be a demon.”
Right. Demons. Gabriel was already recovering his conversational balance. He shook his head at Fergus, trying to remember that this boy, for all his angelic soul, was still just a human child all of five or six years old. He was hardly old enough to care about logic. “But they’re mean, and they eat babies.”
“Mam says that’s just old wives tales. Mam says demons don’t really eat babies. Mam says demons are our friends, especially Mistress.”
“Mistress?”
“She’s Mam’s demon. Only I’m not apposed to talk about her. Only not with humans. And you’re not human. So I can talk about her with you.” Fergus stepped forward, shaking a finger up at Gabriel. “You’d better not talk about Mistress to humans!”
Gabriel had to grin, drawing an X over his chest with one finger. “Cross my heart and hope to die. I promise I won’t talk about Mistress with humans.”
“Good.” Fergus nodded, satisfied with that answer. “Mam says if you get a demon to make an oath, they have to keep it, and they can’t lie to you. Can you lie?”
“I can lie,” Gabriel said, still grinning at the child. “I’m not a demon. But I’m not lying to you. You can trust me.”
Fergus squinted skeptically at Gabriel, his eyes scrunched narrowly along with the rest of his face. This made his lower lip stick out comically, but Gabriel heroically resisted the urge to laugh.
“Maybe,” Fergus finally declared, and that was good enough for the boy. “Hey. Hey. You know what I heard?”
“What did you hear?”
“Farmer Skinner found a barometz!” Fergus grinned up at Gabriel, all his skepticism gone. “Mam said barometz are only way far away, but this one was right here! I’m gonna go see it! Wanna come?”
Nothing flew faster than the gossip of children. Gabriel swore a rumor could outpace an angel. The barometz he had created was already gone, replaced with a tuft of wool, but Fergus was running past Gabriel to climb the rough stone wall surrounding Skinner’s field. Gabriel turned to follow, though he had to pause to give Fergus enough of a boost on his bottom to heave him over the top of the stones. Fergus giggled from the other side, clapping his hands as Gabriel easily hopped onto the wall and jumped off on the other side. “C’mon, c’mon, it’s around here somewhere!”
Gabriel chased Fergus over the field, pulling the boy’s soul back into focus. Cariel’s spirit, muted and thinned into a human soul, was still so brilliant and loved. Gabriel’s grace ached to wrap around it again, to fold himself into the familiarity of his favorite brother. He could almost pretend, almost, that Fergus was just a vessel for Cariel, and that the two of them were racing each other over the ancient fields of Earth, back before humans, before Lucifer’s fall, before Heaven rotted into despair. He caught Fergus up in his arms, swinging him around, and Fergus squealed in laughter.
“No fair!”
“I’m a god!” Gabriel declared, spinning around one last time before depositing the dizzy boy safely on the ground. “I don’t have to play fair!”
Fergus giggled and took a step, promptly swaying sideways and falling on his butt. He continued to laugh, his whole soul sparkling. “That was fun! Hey! I think I see it!” Fergus pointed and rolled over, crawling on hands and knees to a nearby bush. “Shh, we don’t want to scare it!” He pressed his finger to his lips before leaning forward and carefully pulling the branches aside.
“Fergus, I…” Gabriel took a step closer to Fergus, wondering if it wasn’t too late to snap his fingers and change the wool back into a genuine barometz.
“It’s not here.” Fergus’ disappointment weighed heavily in every word. The boy sat back on his calves, pouting up at Gabriel. “It’s just a bunch of wool on a stick. It’s not a real barometz.”
“Did you find it?”
“Is it there?”
“Move it!”
A pack of bare-footed children came running across the field, descending on Fergus and Gabriel. The angel stepped aside easily, but the children shoved Fergus out of the way, delving into the bush themselves.
“Is that it?”
“That’s not a barometz.”
“It’s gone!”
The biggest boy in the group, standing a full head over the others, with the crooked nose of a child who’d already broken it several times, turned on Fergus with his hands clenched into fists. “You broke it!”
“I didn’t!” Fergus protested, scrambling back on his hands and feet and bumping into Gabriel’s legs. “It was never there!”
“You magicked it away!” The bigger boy pointed accusingly at Fergus, and then up at Gabriel. “He’s your demon pet, and you made him magic it away!”
“He’s not a demon, he’s a god,” Fergus snapped back, jumping back to his feet and curling his own hands into fists. “And we didn’t do nothing to it!”
“Gaaaavin…” A pretty blonde girl grabbed the larger boy’s arm, tugging at it. “Gavin, c’mon. It’s not here. Let’s go back.”
“Not until I make the little twerp tell us what he did to it!”
The blonde girl stamped her foot and tugged on Gavin’s arm again. “He’s just Fergy the Freak, Gav, and there’s a growned-up here.” She frowned suspiciously up at Gabriel, who tried to smile as innocently as he could manage. “C’mon. Maybe he really is a demon, and he’ll curse us.”
“Is that how you talk to grown-ups you don’t know?” Gabriel asked, cocking his head to the side. “You’re awfully rude children.” The big boy was definitely the village bully, someone for Gabriel to watch, but the little blonde was going to grow up to be a troublemaker herself. Gabriel could already see a heartbreaking beauty developing in her young face, and he could tell by the way she tossed her long hair that she knew it too.
“You’re rude!” Fergus echoed from about three feet lower down. “And he’s not a demon, but he’s a god, and gods smite people!”
“Gods don’t exist, freak!” Gavin shouted back at Fergus. “He’s just a crazy guy!”
“Gaaaaaaaviiiiin!”
One more tug from the blonde, and Gavin turned away from Fergus, stomping off down the field. The pack of children followed their leader, sticking out their tongues and pulling faces at Fergus as they left. Gabriel stayed where he was, watching as Fergus deflated, his little shoulders slumping after the other children had left. “I hate them.”
Gabriel dropped down to one knee, reaching out to put his hand on Fergus’ shoulder. “Kids suck. I should know. I have six.” Technically, they were all Loki’s children, but so far, Gabriel had them all convinced that he was still their father. He considered them his children by adoption and did try to look after them (at least the ones still alive). They were also all fully grown, but their petty dramas and in-fighting reminded him of nothing more than his brothers at the end of his time in Heaven.
Fergus scrubbed his arm under his nose and dug his toes into the ground. “They don’t like me.”
“Then they’re fools,” Gabriel declared, sliding his hand down to Fergus’ arm and pulling him closer for a hug. “I like you. I can already tell that you’re better than all of them together.”
“Really?” Fergus looked skeptically over at Gabriel, his eyes suspiciously wet, but no tears had fallen.
“Really really,” Gabriel answered, ruffling Fergus’ hair. “I want to be your friend. May I?”
Fergus’ face broke into a huge grin, and he nodded enthusiastically at Gabriel. “Yes! I’ve never had a friend before! Can we be best friends? That would be awesome! I’ve never been friends with a god before! Even Mam and Uncle Brody aren’t friends with gods! I can show you all my favorite places, and you can show me all of yours, and how you flewed into the tree, and maybe you can teach me how to fly too? And we can go on ventures and yes! I wanna be your friend!”
Gabriel laughed and picked Fergus up, settling the boy on his shoulders. “Then we’re friends, and we’re the best friends, better than Gavin or any of those stupid people.”
“Yeah!” Fergus drummed his feet against Gabriel’s chest and twisted around to thumb his nose in the direction Gavin and his posse had gone. “Better than all those stupidheads!”
Gabriel laughed, curling his hands lightly around Fergus’ shins to hold him steady. This close to what was left of Cariel’s spirit, Gabriel’s grace thrummed happily around him for the first time in centuries. Fergus wasn’t an angel, but Gabriel’s grace didn’t care. He was a friend, and he was here, and Gabriel was no longer alone. “Where do you want to go first?”
Next...
Notes: This is the third part of the Missing an Angel series. It is recommended that you read the first two before reading this one.
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 1,559
Chapter Summary: Fergus wants to see a barometz, but he’s not the only curious child in town.
CHAPTER 2:
The Children of Canisbay
“But they’re powerful.”
Fergus’ voice restarted Gabriel’s mind, but the angel’s thoughts still skipped and stuttered over the fact that Cariel, his lieutenant, had been reborn into this small child. “Excuse me?” Gabriel managed to say weakly, the thread of conversation already lost.
“Demons.” Fergus rocked forward onto his toes and then back onto his heels, reaching up to shove his hair out of his face. “They’re powerful. Demons can do everything, and they live forever. That’s why I wanna be a demon.”
Right. Demons. Gabriel was already recovering his conversational balance. He shook his head at Fergus, trying to remember that this boy, for all his angelic soul, was still just a human child all of five or six years old. He was hardly old enough to care about logic. “But they’re mean, and they eat babies.”
“Mam says that’s just old wives tales. Mam says demons don’t really eat babies. Mam says demons are our friends, especially Mistress.”
“Mistress?”
“She’s Mam’s demon. Only I’m not apposed to talk about her. Only not with humans. And you’re not human. So I can talk about her with you.” Fergus stepped forward, shaking a finger up at Gabriel. “You’d better not talk about Mistress to humans!”
Gabriel had to grin, drawing an X over his chest with one finger. “Cross my heart and hope to die. I promise I won’t talk about Mistress with humans.”
“Good.” Fergus nodded, satisfied with that answer. “Mam says if you get a demon to make an oath, they have to keep it, and they can’t lie to you. Can you lie?”
“I can lie,” Gabriel said, still grinning at the child. “I’m not a demon. But I’m not lying to you. You can trust me.”
Fergus squinted skeptically at Gabriel, his eyes scrunched narrowly along with the rest of his face. This made his lower lip stick out comically, but Gabriel heroically resisted the urge to laugh.
“Maybe,” Fergus finally declared, and that was good enough for the boy. “Hey. Hey. You know what I heard?”
“What did you hear?”
“Farmer Skinner found a barometz!” Fergus grinned up at Gabriel, all his skepticism gone. “Mam said barometz are only way far away, but this one was right here! I’m gonna go see it! Wanna come?”
Nothing flew faster than the gossip of children. Gabriel swore a rumor could outpace an angel. The barometz he had created was already gone, replaced with a tuft of wool, but Fergus was running past Gabriel to climb the rough stone wall surrounding Skinner’s field. Gabriel turned to follow, though he had to pause to give Fergus enough of a boost on his bottom to heave him over the top of the stones. Fergus giggled from the other side, clapping his hands as Gabriel easily hopped onto the wall and jumped off on the other side. “C’mon, c’mon, it’s around here somewhere!”
Gabriel chased Fergus over the field, pulling the boy’s soul back into focus. Cariel’s spirit, muted and thinned into a human soul, was still so brilliant and loved. Gabriel’s grace ached to wrap around it again, to fold himself into the familiarity of his favorite brother. He could almost pretend, almost, that Fergus was just a vessel for Cariel, and that the two of them were racing each other over the ancient fields of Earth, back before humans, before Lucifer’s fall, before Heaven rotted into despair. He caught Fergus up in his arms, swinging him around, and Fergus squealed in laughter.
“No fair!”
“I’m a god!” Gabriel declared, spinning around one last time before depositing the dizzy boy safely on the ground. “I don’t have to play fair!”
Fergus giggled and took a step, promptly swaying sideways and falling on his butt. He continued to laugh, his whole soul sparkling. “That was fun! Hey! I think I see it!” Fergus pointed and rolled over, crawling on hands and knees to a nearby bush. “Shh, we don’t want to scare it!” He pressed his finger to his lips before leaning forward and carefully pulling the branches aside.
“Fergus, I…” Gabriel took a step closer to Fergus, wondering if it wasn’t too late to snap his fingers and change the wool back into a genuine barometz.
“It’s not here.” Fergus’ disappointment weighed heavily in every word. The boy sat back on his calves, pouting up at Gabriel. “It’s just a bunch of wool on a stick. It’s not a real barometz.”
“Did you find it?”
“Is it there?”
“Move it!”
A pack of bare-footed children came running across the field, descending on Fergus and Gabriel. The angel stepped aside easily, but the children shoved Fergus out of the way, delving into the bush themselves.
“Is that it?”
“That’s not a barometz.”
“It’s gone!”
The biggest boy in the group, standing a full head over the others, with the crooked nose of a child who’d already broken it several times, turned on Fergus with his hands clenched into fists. “You broke it!”
“I didn’t!” Fergus protested, scrambling back on his hands and feet and bumping into Gabriel’s legs. “It was never there!”
“You magicked it away!” The bigger boy pointed accusingly at Fergus, and then up at Gabriel. “He’s your demon pet, and you made him magic it away!”
“He’s not a demon, he’s a god,” Fergus snapped back, jumping back to his feet and curling his own hands into fists. “And we didn’t do nothing to it!”
“Gaaaavin…” A pretty blonde girl grabbed the larger boy’s arm, tugging at it. “Gavin, c’mon. It’s not here. Let’s go back.”
“Not until I make the little twerp tell us what he did to it!”
The blonde girl stamped her foot and tugged on Gavin’s arm again. “He’s just Fergy the Freak, Gav, and there’s a growned-up here.” She frowned suspiciously up at Gabriel, who tried to smile as innocently as he could manage. “C’mon. Maybe he really is a demon, and he’ll curse us.”
“Is that how you talk to grown-ups you don’t know?” Gabriel asked, cocking his head to the side. “You’re awfully rude children.” The big boy was definitely the village bully, someone for Gabriel to watch, but the little blonde was going to grow up to be a troublemaker herself. Gabriel could already see a heartbreaking beauty developing in her young face, and he could tell by the way she tossed her long hair that she knew it too.
“You’re rude!” Fergus echoed from about three feet lower down. “And he’s not a demon, but he’s a god, and gods smite people!”
“Gods don’t exist, freak!” Gavin shouted back at Fergus. “He’s just a crazy guy!”
“Gaaaaaaaviiiiin!”
One more tug from the blonde, and Gavin turned away from Fergus, stomping off down the field. The pack of children followed their leader, sticking out their tongues and pulling faces at Fergus as they left. Gabriel stayed where he was, watching as Fergus deflated, his little shoulders slumping after the other children had left. “I hate them.”
Gabriel dropped down to one knee, reaching out to put his hand on Fergus’ shoulder. “Kids suck. I should know. I have six.” Technically, they were all Loki’s children, but so far, Gabriel had them all convinced that he was still their father. He considered them his children by adoption and did try to look after them (at least the ones still alive). They were also all fully grown, but their petty dramas and in-fighting reminded him of nothing more than his brothers at the end of his time in Heaven.
Fergus scrubbed his arm under his nose and dug his toes into the ground. “They don’t like me.”
“Then they’re fools,” Gabriel declared, sliding his hand down to Fergus’ arm and pulling him closer for a hug. “I like you. I can already tell that you’re better than all of them together.”
“Really?” Fergus looked skeptically over at Gabriel, his eyes suspiciously wet, but no tears had fallen.
“Really really,” Gabriel answered, ruffling Fergus’ hair. “I want to be your friend. May I?”
Fergus’ face broke into a huge grin, and he nodded enthusiastically at Gabriel. “Yes! I’ve never had a friend before! Can we be best friends? That would be awesome! I’ve never been friends with a god before! Even Mam and Uncle Brody aren’t friends with gods! I can show you all my favorite places, and you can show me all of yours, and how you flewed into the tree, and maybe you can teach me how to fly too? And we can go on ventures and yes! I wanna be your friend!”
Gabriel laughed and picked Fergus up, settling the boy on his shoulders. “Then we’re friends, and we’re the best friends, better than Gavin or any of those stupid people.”
“Yeah!” Fergus drummed his feet against Gabriel’s chest and twisted around to thumb his nose in the direction Gavin and his posse had gone. “Better than all those stupidheads!”
Gabriel laughed, curling his hands lightly around Fergus’ shins to hold him steady. This close to what was left of Cariel’s spirit, Gabriel’s grace thrummed happily around him for the first time in centuries. Fergus wasn’t an angel, but Gabriel’s grace didn’t care. He was a friend, and he was here, and Gabriel was no longer alone. “Where do you want to go first?”
Next...