Chapter Text
Gabriel had never felt more useless in his entire existence than he did the morning he was cast out of heaven.
It wasn't a particularly remarkable day. The sun shone, the sky was the same glorious blue, but the air in the halls of the palace had been heavy despite the newly found peace.
Raphael had been fretting the entire time Phanuel assisted Gabriel in putting his armor on. The three brothers stood in the small square that technically counted as Gabriel’s bedroom. Raphael paced ten steps up, and then ten more back down over and over in a furious blur of pink. Phanuel was silent, contemplative, as he slowly secured the ornate layers of armor that Gabriel wore like a second skin.
On any other occasion this would be normal, their usual routine of helping one another as the war on Hell raged on. Raphael worried, Phanuel listened, and Gabriel readied for battle, only now there was no war for Gabriel to fight. Now they had peace.
Terrible.
Horrible.
Cowardly.
Circumstantial.
Peace.
“But why not one of us? You’ve suffered enough Gabriel! I’ll go, I’m strong enough for whatever torture he has!” Raphael has worked himself up into a fervor by the time Phanuel was fixing the proud pauldrons to Gabriel’s shoulders.
“Raphael, King Minos has insisted upon Gabriel, so Gabriel he will get.” Phanuel speaks for the first time in minutes from behind his green veils. His voice is as tight as Gabriel’s sick stomach. If only his brother's knew just what that meant.
The terms the kingdom of Lust handed the council had been small enough to fit onto one page. The first paragraph had insisted upon the gateway between Heaven and Lust being closed. That made enough sense, and Gabriel had a feeling the council had already started thinking about it. After Minos had escaped their supposedly unbreakable prison the threat of a Prime Soul only grew more dire by the hour.
The second request was a cruel joke. It’d only been two sentences. “Heaven shall surrender its Superior Angel, Gabriel, to the Kingdom of Lust. This shall occur within three days of these demands being agreed upon.”
Gabriel had sat and read those twenty four words more times than he’d like to admit. He couldn’t say no. Even if he wanted to, the council would throw him from heaven with his wings broken if it meant an end to their disastrous war.
His brothers were upset, to say the least. Gabriel was furious, or that was what he told himself to cover up the fear that grew in his stomach.
“And we’re just going to let this happen? Gabe please, he’ll torture you.” Raphael surges forward in his light pink robes to wrap his arms around Gabriel’s armored waist. “We can convince the council.” He insists. “I-”
“Let go.” Gabriel speaks in a cold, biting tone. They're his first words of the day. He sets his eyes on the door in front of him to force away the pain bubbling in his aching chest. Torture, he wishes he’d be tortured, he deserved it for failing his brothers. No, Minos wanted something far more bodily than Gabriel’s blood staining his ornate tile floors. But he can’t explain to them why Minos didn’t choose Raphael or Micheal in his place. It’s far too shameful to admit in their final moments together. Better they think he was dead than being whored off to the king of Lust itself.
“The council has spoken, please don’t make this any harder Raphael.” Phanuel states solemnly, seeming to sense Gabriel’s cold exterior was cracking. Gabriel is eternally thankful as his taller brother comes to gently grip Raphael’s shoulders as he clings to Gabriel’s waist. His halo rings in determination.
“But-“
“Please, Raph,” Gabriel lurches away from his blubbering pink brother and moves to the other end of his bare room where his helmet sits expectantly. “This is the way it has to be. There is no better way, there is no you in my place. Minos would’ve asked for all of us if he wanted all of us.” he states firmly as he shoves his helmet on.
“Thank God he hadn’t asked for anything but me,” Gabriel thinks despite dreading what Minos will do. “Thank God.”
The barren room grows silent as Gabriel stares down at the floor with scattered breath. Humiliation was draped heavily along his shoulders. For over a year he’d been fighting to right his wrongs, and now the council had surrendered to the very man Gabriel wanted dead.
“I-I know you have to,” Raphael’s delicate floral wings droop in shameful surrender. I-I just don’t know what we’ll do.”
“Have faith, that’s what you’ll do.” Gabriel responds. He’s proud of how even his voice sounds. Raphael worries his hands together and blinks heavily at Gabriel with his half dozen cherry red eyes.
“O-of course.” he wavers. As smart as he was, Gabriel’s smallest brother never took well to loss, whether it be a dead species, or a brother.
“Be good to one another.” Gabriel says, the finality of the words sitting heavy against his tongue as he exits the room.
Neither of them say anything. Phanuel is always quiet, and Raphael is clearly holding back more teary protest.
The short venture to find the council is a blur. Each vaulted marble hallway he turns into seems eerily empty. Days ago they had bustled with angels ready to make their advances down towards Lust. They rest emptily beside him now.
Gabriel hears the dreaded voices of the council far before he lays eyes on them draped in golden stained-glass light.
Micheal stands sourly with the council at the entrance to the great hall. The various members remind Gabriel of candles lit around a church. They dress in varying robes of white and yellow, glittering gold shining around their masks. Micheal stands a head above them all in a magnificent red. His proud orange halo gleams with the last bits of sunlight Gabriel might ever lay his eyes on. He’s a comforting sight among the council members who so often found reasons to discipline him.
Gabriel thinks, not for the first time, what they will do once they begin to miss inflicting their frustrations on his body.
It’s out of his hands, but he hopes it doesn’t fall into his gentler brothers. Micheal could surely take it but Raphael was too sweet for such brutal punishment.
“You’ve kept us waiting, Gabriel,” council member Justice huffs as he nears within a few yards of where they cluster in their golden robes. “The hour of your surrender draws nearer than I’d like.”
“You’re a heretical coward who should’ve fought to the last man.” Gabriel thinks dreamily of killing him.
“I was saying my goodbyes.” he says shortly
“The time for that is done, come.”
The council waits for him to begin walking before they follow, as though trying to make sure he will actually walk towards his demise. Gabriel nearly turns back to assure them he’ll be their good little lamb, but decides against it.
The gateway to Hell was actually rather pretty. It was locked behind several golden doorways that each council member had to open slowly. Along the walls towards the shining blue seal were stained glass windows of Heaven’s triumphs. It felt awfully ironic to stare at his own triumphant visage while being delivered to the enemy.
“I wonder if they’ll add one for our loss.” Gabriel wonders as he makes his way down the hall.
The final door opens with a resounding boom that displays to all of them a yawning blue hole in the floor. Gabriel had been in and out of it several times before, never thinking he wouldn't return. He spends a quiet moment staring into the shining blue light as the council shuffles in behind him. Even they seem apprehensive.
“Your sword, Gabe.” Micheal’s heavy baritone washes over Gabriel for what was to be the last time. He turns to find his brother waiting with an outstretched hand. An immediate protest bubbles up inside his throat. He'd been with his sword for ages now, to give it up was like losing a limb.
"Now, Gabriel." Justice threatens.
The angel relents the blade to his brother, knowing somewhere that he was correct. A sword and Minos shouldn't be in the same room as him. They wanted this peace to last. He winces and reverently removes the familiar blade from its place on his waist.
“Keep her polished.” He almost jokes, glancing up to find his brother’s face a grim smile behind the gleaming gold hood.
Gabriel turns back to the seal feeling less confident than moments prior. The glimmering blue door will be shut for good once he cascades down to his fate. Heaven will be trapped in its glided hallways, and Hell left to its own terrible devices. The angel waits a moment longer and turns to face Micheal one more time. He’d hate for the last image his brother had of him to be one of knee knocking fear as he loomed over the edge.
So.
Gabriel jumps and soars downwards towards whatever twisted fate awaits him. Anything to keep his brothers safe, he was God’s Will after all.
------------
The flight down into Lust is far too fast.
Gabriel roars down into the lazy purple sky as wind whistles across his body. The cold clouds surrounding him glow teal as they reflect his wings. Out of their deep purple darkness appears the sprawling expanse of Lust in a rush of air. Metropolitan lights glimmer as far as the eye can see along rows of thick boulevards. Just weeks ago Gabriel had been fighting his way through those same streets. Now, they were repaired, and he was plummeting towards defeat. Minos's palace sits at the very center of the city. The circular complex stood as the focal point so that every street leads back to it. When one was flying this gave the impression of a bullseye at the center of a target.
Gabriel sails down towards the lush green gardens and plaster walls, aiming for the massive circular pavilion that rested in front of the villa. With a flap of his wings he slows, and touches down, drifting his eyes upwards to find the bane of his existence waiting next to the massive doorway draped in grape vines.
He’s still unsettled by Minos in his new form. Today the king has decided to adorn himself in an impossibly purple chiton that draped around his broad shoulders like a curtain. A ring of yellow flowers crowned the looming white stalks that jutted up from the Prime Soul’s head. The snakes along his arms adjust to turn their ivory heads his way. To Gabriel, the king appears like some twisted marble pillar.
“Thou hast arrived,”Minos’s voice is a pleasant rumble. Gabriel closes his wings and touches down onto the finely cut stone underneath his boots. “I was uncertain that thou would truly surrender.”
Gabriel can’t help but roll his eyes, all eight of them, underneath his helmet. Minos had enough flair for the dramatic to fill a theater.
“And why is that?” he questions. His voice is terse. Minos waves one hand casually as though they were having a pleasant debate.
“Hast thee ever heard the story of The Great Ajax?”
Ah, a story, Minos loved those. Gabriel had enjoyed them once too, before he commanded his legions to throw this same man into eternal imprisonment.
“Enlighten me, pagan.” Gabriel spits the last word out like a slur for good measure. His nerves are already starting to grate watching Minos casually stand in his finery. He should be dead, he should be locked away, he shouldn’t be allowed in a palace surrounded by a blooming garden. Minos either takes no notice or doesn’t care to discipline the tone.
“Much like thee, he was strong, noble, beloved by his men. It was not until he lost a battle of wits did he turn mad and inflict his sword upon his own chest in shame.”
“Would you have preferred I’d done that?” Gabriel says in annoyance. It keeps the shaking anticipation at bay.
“No, but I worried the shame of defeat might inflict some madness upon thy mind. Keep thee locked up in heaven despite my terms.”
Gabriel wonders, not for the first time, if Minos had sent those terms looking for a reason to invade heaven.
“I’m here, and I’m perfectly sane.” the angel says evenly.
“Oh, I am aware, Dove.”
He speaks the demeaning pet name with an invisible smile that causes Gabriel to tense. Their nights of friendly conversation and ill advised closeness were gone. This Minos would have to battle every kind word from between Gabriel’s lips going forward.
“I’ll kill him,” Gabriel thinks to himself. “With every ounce of my divinity I’ll rip him piece for wretched piece.”
“Would thou like to enter?” Minos speaks after a quiet moment and gestures inside the gaping maw of his wonderful home.
His words drip with disgusting friendliness, but Gabriel doesn’t see what choice he has. There was no going back to heaven, all he could do was make his presence displeasureable to Minos. The angel picks up his feet and follows the newly formed Prime Soul into his expansive villa.
The structure bustles with activity that pauses respectfully when the king passes by. Gabriel stops counting the glares after he reaches a few dozen from the triumphant denizens of Lust. He didn't want to see them or their king either.
The hallways are just as pleasant as Gabriel remembers them, walls of white plaster filled with beautiful mosaic scenes of green lands and blue seas. Massive open windows with thick red frames that look out towards the recovering city of Lust and the lavish gardens. Wealth bursts from every crevice of the place. Fruits laid in tasteful displays on stray tables, the walls glittered with gold, and the marble floor shone. Even the air was rich with the scent of vanilla and lavender as Gabriel tries to control the torrent of shame that bubbles angrily inside his chest.
"I'll kill them," he promises himself. "I will burn this palace down."
Minos led him quietly into the deep maze of hallways. The king was unusually tongue tied. It wasn’t until he began to recognize the mosaics of fruit on the walls that he knew they were heading for Minos’s own wing of the palace. The king keeps a careful pace next to Gabriel, not quite behind him but a half step behind. He’s aware of the king’s ever small shuffle as he’s guided into a room that he’s never been in before.
When Gabriel had previously come to oversee Minos’s duties in Lust the king had always taken him to the same ornate sitting room. This chamber was different. The high plaster ceilings were strung with sheer strips of blue fabric that almost mimicked the sky. Violet light poured in from a large balcony door that was framed with fluttering curtains. A luxurious four poster bed draped with more blue fabric was off to the left and was nearly enough to make Gabriel turn heel.
"Would thou like to sit?" the rumble of Minos's voice behind him spurs the angel forward and he notices that to his right there is a sitting area not unlike the one they used to meet in. Marble fireplace, marble table, and white velvet couches. The table is set with the same opulent displays of fruit Gabriel had seen earlier.
"I will stand."
"Whatever thy wants." Minos hums. Gabriel wonders if the King is mocking him. What Gabriel wanted was him dead.
Minos takes the far couch and Gabriel stands with his arms crossed next to the other.
“Remove thy helm, I wish to speak face to face.” Minos insists after he gets comfortable.
Gabriel is very glad Micheal had taken away his sword because he was certain he’d drive it through Minos’s wide chest and end him. He was not this man’s servant who followed orders.
“No.”
“I wish to see thee, Gabriel.” Minos says with a gentle sigh. “Thou is not here to simply stand and glare.”
Gabriel can't help but glance cautiously at the bed on the far side of the room.
“No.”
The curtains flutter sweetly as Minos tilts his head.
“Thou art upset.” he says gently.
"Ohhh, ohh how DARE he sound remorseful." Gabriel tightens his clenched fist where his sword should be.
“Of course I am.”
“Gabriel, dove. I know thou hast been pained by this war, but I promise thou, my affections art true.” Minos's says in a tone that he must think is reassuring, it makes Gabriel sick.
"I'm disgusted by your affection," Gabriel snarls. "I thought I made it clear your sin has no place with me."
"Is it such a sin to pick up where thou left me?" Minos takes one large hand and points at Gabriel's armored chest. "To let thee settle into something far better suited of thy beauty than what the council inflicts upon thee? I could not rest knowing thou was locked in heaven, not when I knew what a wonder thou was.”
The scars along his back itch at Minos’s words. It’s a wonderful distraction from the flush that rises across his face.
He knew it was coming but it didn't stop the pain all the same. Gabriel briefly thinks back to a memory repeated so many times he’s not sure what is real or fake now. It’d been his last trip down to Lust before Minos was put inside the prison he was supposed to die in. The last visit before he'd gone to the council with all of Minos's misgivings, determined to fix things. The king, his skin still flesh and flowers around his eyes, kissed Gabriel slowly and warm till the angel couldn’t breathe. He’d been pressed softly against the purple velvet couch in the foolish haze of ungodly love. They’d stayed like that, warm hands and gentle kisses till Gabriel finally came to his senses and fled. No amount of repenting could absolve him from the fact that he’d enjoyed it.
“Fuck, just kill me, Minos.” he laughs despite himself.
“Thou knows I shall never do such a thing.”
“So what then? You expected me to fly down here and warm your bed?"
Minos waves the comment away with a broad hand, but his tone gives him away.
"No-"
"Of course you did you fucking-"
“Close thy lips and listen to me. Do not paint me the cruel tyrant Gabriel. That council in thy heaven brought war to my city, destroyed my body, wrought pain onto thy own skin! Having thee safe here is greater than any spoil of war-"
“Do you hear yourself, you selfish, ugly, heretic? I left my brothers for your whims! I abandoned my only purpose all so you could have me here! Tell me how that is for my sake!”
“Gabriel” Minos tries, but the thought of his brothers nearly makes Gabriel unable to see from behind his rage.
“FUCK YOU!”
“Dove-“
"He will kill him."
“DON’T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!” Gabriel reaches instinctively for a blade that is absent from his hip. He quickly realizes it's gone as he lurches forward. What was he doing? An angel was only a minor annoyance for a Prime Soul. Gabriel was weaker, smaller, and most importantly slower.
They stare at one another across the lavish parlor. The heavily perfumed air masks the scent of violence that Gabriel was accustomed to in Lust. Covered in his armor he still feels naked under Minos’s gaze. The king stands slowly, carefully, and begins a slow trip towards the doorway. About halfway there, he stops, and turns the horrible void of his face towards Gabriel.
"I-shall leave thee to be settled. This shall be thy room going forward."
"Leave."
He doesn't even watch as Minos exits and shuts the tall wooden door with a thud.
It feels like doom.