Eternal
Heaven was a place of beauty. Fields of paradise where flowers bloomed from small buds to perfect, graceful flowers resided there. Small rivers trickled through the fields, nurturing the ground. A garden sat in the core of Heaven. Plants of all kinds resided there, growing healthily in the light of heaven. In the center of the garden sat a great tree grown by God himself. Plump fruit grew from each branch except for one. On one simple brown branch there hung no fruit. There had been a time when it did, but that was before the deception of the serpent and the fall of mankind.
Yes, Heaven has great beauty, but every lovely rose has its thorns. Deep within Heaven where the light of God's grace can't peek through was a place of darkness. This place was Heaven's prison. Cells stacked down a long corridor. Some were empty, but some were not. In one dark cell there sat an angel. He wore the skin of the same vessel he had before being caged like the barbaric and disgraceful animal his brethren saw him as. It was torn and frayed, beaten and broken from endless tortures. The angel within was just as battered. Its grace failed to shine with the same beauty his brothers' did. Instead it glowed weakly in the dark cell like the dying embers of a suffocated fire.
Footsteps tapped from down the hall. The sound bounced off the concrete walls and floors. The angel within his cell cowered in the corner, hugging himself with his grimy hands. He sent a pleading prayer to his father, knowing it would be ignored, but hoping nonetheless.
The door to his cell swung open and with blue eyes the angel looked up. An angel stood between the threshold of the cell and the dark hall. His cobalt eyes glittered cruelly in the dark. He wore white robes with a long red sash. Gold armbands sat on the biceps of his left and right arm while jeweled bracelets decorated his wrists and ankles.
"Gadreel," the angel greeted his prisoner.
"Thaddeus," Gadreel whimpered back. Thaddeus' eyes glowed and his body shivered, clearly enjoying the fear in the other angel's voice at his presence. He stepped farther into the cell, dragging something from behind. Gadreel tried to see it, but the darkness in the room was too much for his worn eyes and grace to cut through.
"I've returned your boyfriend," Thaddeus taunted. He threw the thing he'd been dragging to the center of the cell and it landed with a sickening crunch against the hard floor. Gadreel flinched, turning his gaze from the broken heap. "He cried so pretty for me," Thaddeus hummed. Something appeared in his hand and Gadreel whined deep in his throat at its presence. It was a long silver whip. Its true form was that of a blade, but Thaddeus was able to manipulate it into any form he decided fit for torturing the celled angels. "Would you like to hear?" Thaddeus asked, licking his lips hungrily. Gadreel shook his head and Thaddeus turned his head to the side curiously. "Is that so? Maybe if I give you a little sample you'll reconsider!"
The whip slashed out and Gadreel screamed as it came down on the crumpled heap in the center of the cell. The whip made a cracking noise as it sliced through air, sounding almost identical to the sound it made when it sliced through the flesh of the tortured angel's back. The angel on the ground screeched in pain, curling up in a ball in attempt to protect himself. Thaddeus flashed a sick grin and brought his whip down again and again.
"Isn't it lovely, Gadreel! Listen! Listen! It's so sweet!" Thaddeus paused in his hits and looked to his brother. "So...I'll repeat my question. Would you like to hear, Gadreel?"
It was silent then. Gadreel kept his eyes squeezed shut, body shaking as sobs wracked his body. Thaddeus called out to him again and Gadreel finally looked up.
"N...no," Gadreel whimpered. Thaddeus' eyes darkened and his hand tightened around his bloody whip.
"No?" he cooed.
"No," Gadreel repeated. Thaddeus nodded, averting his gaze from Gadreel's and looking back to the quivering angel on the ground. He twirled his whip between the fingers of his right hand and then tossed it to the left. He brought the whip up once again, this time cracking Gadreel against the cheek. Gadreel shrieked as he felt the flesh of his vessel's cheek rip open and his grace tear. He fell to his stomach, quivering on the cold concrete.
"No he says!" Thaddeus cackled madly. He calmed his laughter quickly and cracked his whip against the air. "It's a good thing I'm not supposed to listen to prisoners." With that he struck again, hitting the angel curled against the floor. The clothes on the angel's back tore, blood and grace gushing out plentifully. Gadreel watched the angel wither and scream with tear filled eyes.
"Abner!" Gadreel called. "Abner!" Gadreel watched as the angel looked up from where he had buried his head. Blood streamed down his face and his eyes shone with tears. Abner reached for his brother with one sliced up hand. Gadreel reached out a hand as well. He summoned up all the strength he could muster and pushed himself along the floor, unable to stand by as his brother was abused by their guard. His hands and feet sloshed through the pool of blood building around Abner's scarred body and with one last push Gadreel threw himself over his brother, enveloping the other angel in his arms.
Thaddeus cackled and hit harder, blows striking hard and fast. Skin sliced beneath his whip, forcing out strangled screams and sobs from the angels he abused. Still, no matter how hard he hit the angels clung onto each other like their lives depended on it.
Blood dripped from the whip. It no longer looked silver. Its color had been swallowed by the red of Gadreel and Abner's vessels. Thaddeus cracked it a few times, shaking most of the blood off and onto the grimy wall. Content, Thaddeus rolled it back up and slung it around the red sash decorating his waist. He turned his back on the cell then, stepping outside and locking the door tight behind him.
Gadreel slowly lift his head from the dip between Abner's neck and shoulder. He let out a trembled sigh when he heard no more footsteps and rolled off Abner. He brushed a hand against his brother's cheek and weary baby blue eyes stare into his own. Gadreel searched the other's eyes carefully before looking down the length of Abner's body. The whip and torture session with Thaddeus beforehand had completely tore off the angel's clothes, leaving him bare. His vessel's skin was littered with long jagged cuts and dark burns that were no doubt from holy fire. His finger and toenails had been torn out ruthlessly, taking away skin and flesh also. Gadreel's roaming eyes traveled to Abner's back. Bile threatened to spill from his throat at the sight of what was waiting for him there. Besides the thick slashes from the whip, there were several intricate cuts lining Abner's back. Thaddeus had carved spells into Abner's flesh, taking away his ability to heal. Their guard meant for Abner to feel this pain until he returned or maybe even longer.
"Oh, Abner," Gadreel whispered, hand snaking up from the other angel's cheek and to the back of his head. He pushed their foreheads together and reached out with his weakened grace in a form of comfort. "What has he done to you?" Abner let out a shaky sob.
"Gadreel," he whimpered. "Gadreel, it hurts. Make it stop. Please make it stop." Gadreel hushed his brother— his friend. He wanted nothing more than to stop Abner's hurting, but he was too weak. All he could do was be by the angel's side.
His muscles screamed at the effort, but Gadreel managed to pull himself and Abner to the back of the cell to the corner Gadreel had been previously curled up in. He pulled Abner's shaking body flush against his own. His arms enveloped Abner and he swayed, rocking Abner in an attempt to calm him.
"I'm here, Abner. You will be alright, my friend," Gadreel cooed. "I'm right here."
He would always be there— forever and always. For Abner he would go through anything. Though he knew Abner would disagree, Gadreel promised to one day end Thaddeus. He would put the angel down for his constant abuse. Most of all, he promised to somehow bring order back to heaven and restore happiness in his and Abner's lives. Until then he would continue what he did now. He would keep his focus on putting the one thing keeping him going back together even if it was for eternity.
Thanks to my friend Zabrina for helping me come up with a title. Please feel free to favorite, follow, and review.