Title: Mortal to Angel

Author: Hannurdock

Film: Prophesy 3. Whilst Danyael goes to fight Pyriel, ex-archangel Gabriel is left with Maggie. This short vignette takes place during the fight scene, what happens to Gabriel whilst Danyael is fighting for mankind.

Rating: PG-13

****

Gabriel watched Danyael leave with a sadness that overwhelmed his soul. He had grown to admire the mortal, to the human spirit that illuminated his soul. Gabriel, even though his angelic powers had been stripped of him, could see this spirit still. As if he were still the Archangel he had once prided himself on being. The Angel of Death.

Maggie let out a small cry, the pain of her death worsening by the second. Gabriel watched the pains of death, once again admiring the strength of the human spirit. For Maggie was fighting death, she was fighting the inevitable.

"Are you an angel" Maggie asked softly.

"Once upon a time ....." Gabriel announced sadly.

"I don't want to die. Who are you ....?" Maggie asked, her cries of pain worsening.

"Gabriel" Gabriel answered, his voice soft and she looked upon him in amazement.

"Hold my hand, Gabriel ... please" Maggie begged shamelessly and Gabriel felt a pang of pity. He held the young woman's hand tightly to his heart, kneeling beside the dying girl. She had hardly tasted the full cup of her life, and yet she was dying here before Gabriel. It was the first mortal death he had seen since his re-birth into the mortal world as a mortal himself. He was horrified and intregued by the dignity she displayed, how this girl (once he would have called a Monkey, shamefully) tried to hold on to her living spirit. She was powerfully afraid of death, Gabriel could tell. He knew her fear keenly, even though he was aware that there was a next stage in existance.

"Oh God, I'm so afraid" Maggie confessed, tears in her eyes.

Gabriel sighed and tried to heal her almost automatically. He was horrifically surprised when he discovered once again that his powers had left him. He waved a hand over Maggie's eyes as she was slipping into oblivion and felt so very abandoned, so very alone. For, if he had only served his God, this weakness and mortal vulnerability would have never befallen him. Too late now. Besides, he had learned to drive. Something an angel had never before learned.

"Don't be afraid" Gabriel said softly, reassuringly. Even though he knew that if Danyael failed, her existance would be the very hell he had always feared, he would not make this fragile mortal heart suffer any more.

"Where is Danyael?" Maggie asked, her voice weakening. Gabriel felt the tears escape his eyes. Even in the final stages of death, her concerns were not limited to her own suffering. She was worried about Danyael, even now.

Kindly, Gabriel touched her cheek gently. "He's fighting. For you".

Gabriel watched as Maggie died before him, her spirit leaving her body as he stared at the perfect young form with a dismay he had never before imagined. If only he were the Archangel once more, the powerful being who could avert the destiny of a death with a single sweep of his arm. How terrified was he that she should die before him. He kissed his fingers and reverently touched her forehead.

Tears streaming from his eyes he once again looked upward. Trying to find his God within the sky above him. He looked at Maggie, the once beating heart of this precious mortal soul, and finally understood the reason for his trial as a mortal.

This woman, who had barely lived and yet died so gracefully had shown him the way back to heaven. He stood, gazing at her still form. Then he looked upward once more.

"I think I understand now" Gabriel said softly. "Through seeing mortal suffering and enduring spirit, I understand that they are indeed worthy of your love. That I, your Angel of Death have sinned by trying to destroy what you so carefully created" Gabriel was weeping. "The human soul, what greater gift could you have given all of us, yet we have tried to destroy these fragile yet dignified souls".

Gabriel looked into the skies once more, and saw a blinding light descend from the heavens.

"Forgive me ....." Gabriel whispered as the light surrounded him. He felt the powers of divinity caressing him once again. He felt the burning at his throat as the symbol of his Archangel ranking was once again etched into his skin. No pain, just the burning light of God's touch. He felt the soft light empower him and he stood to full height. He listened to the voice of the Lord and smiled softly.

"I learned to drive too" Gabriel announced proudly as his figure changed dramatically. Wings spread out from behind him, his angelic countenance once more restored. He leapt up onto the fallen car, his wings disappearing behind him. He watched the light disappear and smiled softly.

"I am Gabriel, Archangel of the Lord once again" He looked at his hands in amazement and awaited the return of Danyael. His posture that of the angel, he knelt upon the upturned car and looked upward once more.

He listened intently, his angelic hearing as powerful as before for Danyael's return. As Danyael approached the upturned car, Gabriel smiled a little.

"Its not a mindless indifferent blind Universe, Danyael. It never was. Get used to it" Gabriel watched as Danyael reached down and knelt before his dead love, held her face carefully in his strong hands. The hands of an nephilem. Hands that could crush life from even the strongest mortal, and yet, so tender in their intent.

Gabriel smiled at the love and devotion. He rose to his feet and felt the divine power leave his body momentarily with a singular motive. "Shhhhhhhh ....." He waved his hand towards the dead mortal and watched as Maggie opened her eyes and gazed in wonder upon him. Reborn. Her mortal cup once again filled with the divine gift of life.

Then Gabriel felt the light of God calling him home. He disappeared from Danyael and Maggie suddenly, in a shower of light with doves flocking from his angelic prescence, back to the heavens he had left so long ago. His voice still ringing in their eyes like bells. "In the end there's still the word .... everywhere. In heaven and its angels. The earth and stars. Even in the darkest part of the human soul. It was there the word burned brighest. And for a moment ..... it was blinding".

THE END