Title: Turnabout
Fandom: Angel Sanctuary
Characters: Gabriel/Uriel, Raphael, Michael.
Genre: Romance, angst.
Rating: G
Summary: For every sacrifice, there is a gift. Sequel to Façades.

For a long time only silence reigned in Etenamenki. Manors were left abandoned as their owners walked aimlessly through empty hallways. Puppets without a puppeteer, without meaning or purpose for their existence. The once joyous Eden – or the façade behind which the true Heaven had it hid itself – was no more, fallen like a castle of cards.

That had been the Lord's last gift to His creations. Confronted with His true nature, they had shied themselves from reality, from humanity, even from themselves. It was easier to forget their sins in such way.

Few were the ones that had continued their lives indifferently to the tragedy drowning Etenamenki. Even fewer were able to see it with cold eyes and no emotions. Only two, in fact. It was easier to bear something when the knowledge wasn't exactly new.

Both men had already been warned, been present when the sky literally fell upon their bodies and minds. Detachment had been born then, dry amusement had come years after. Once in the front line of the different events, the two angels simply watched, counting with the other's presence even if none would ever admit that fact.

In a way, they were the only family the other had left, companions of Fate no matter how different their souls were.

The balcony they occupied had once brimmed with life, the empty play displayed by the higher classes. Now, only those two could be seen, watching silently, more alive that any of its previous occupants. By their feet, Etenamenki forced itself up from the ashes, a young child a careless mother had abandoned.

"He will join us soon." The tone hadn't been loud, hardly audible if not for the deafening silence. It would be useless to raise it, after all.

The same thing, however, couldn't be applied to the voice which sounded in reply. "About time." Distinctively annoyed, a façade like any other. "For the Angel of Healing, he sure takes his sweet time."

Uriel paid no mind to either the words, or tone, of his younger companion. Fire needed Air to live and Michael was no exception. The bond lost with one brother had been renewed with another; no matter how many times both grumbled and denied such fact. It was interesting how their elements had brought them together in such fashion. Never mind the fact he was Earth, nothing like that had ever happened between himself and the other three elementals.

Once upon a time Earth had chosen to play Dead and hide. And Death was only attracted to Life. It had taken another pawn of that woman to show him another path, a whole new war, new players and people crossing his path to show that he was Earth, he would always be Earth. When his voice returned, he knew he wished to be nothing else.

And he needed nothing bar his counterpart.

His mind chose to forget the path of thought it had found itself in.

"Any sequels, you think?" Worried. It was rare to see Michael showing emotions like that. Uriel couldn't remember the last time he had seen it. Maybe in the last war, when his brother was still alive and he had hoped for some other relationship than the one Lucifel's actions had driven them to. But those times were long gone as well as the dark angel and everything that had connected them. Alexiel, Lucifel, God, Adam Kadamon…how few they were right now.

Would the humanity still follow them, if informed of their real story? Uriel doubted that.

"Oi. Wake up, old man." Michael had jumped from the wall he had been perched on; completely disregarding the fact the balcony oversaw one of the highest peaks of the city, a hand carelessly moving in front of his companion's eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you? Shouldn't you be happy or something? That idiot is conscious."

Yes, he was happy. Raphael was one of them and seeing him awake, on the road to full recovery after the rather stupid move – or maybe the smartest action any of them had ever taken – he had made, was a gesture of hope their kin sorely needed.

"Uriel, you're beginning to annoy me." In the angel of Fire's dialect, that sentence would mean he was apprehensive. No reason to do that, even if Uriel couldn't explain why nostalgia was attacking him so strongly in that day.

"I'm no specialist." He was used to deal with dead souls, never live ones and especially not live angels. "But I believe he will be fine, the worst has passed in the last years." Fifty years, a simple whisper of time in their long lives.

Michael stared at his friend for a long moment, probably displeased with the short answer and long silence he was being confronted with. He couldn't understand him, that was easy to see. But Uriel couldn't understand himself most of the times, how could he request that same understanding from others?

She would.

Another thought killed before it could see daylight. Years had passed and he had managed to suppress them. Gardens had been left closed, tended carefully by the same sisters who had served her, visited by the small angel who was still his Great Seraphim. Metatron would be the last one to believe, bar himself.

But why in that day, of all others, did she persist to visit his mind, take over his thoughts after he had believed her to be deeply buried, if not forgotten?

Because I am still living.

That answer was the most truthful that would ever leave his lips. If he bothered to speak it.

Pain exploded in his arm, the not so careful hit from the ever agitated Michael more than enough to snap him from his reverie. "You aren't your usual idiotic self today." His tone expressed nothing remotely close to concern and yet, Uriel could feel it. If he tried hard enough. "Get home, some rest and then visit the pervert. It won't do any good…"

The angel of Earth wasn't sure when he stopped listening to the words said towards him. It was slowly, almost impossible to ignore, something pushing his attention away, ever so gentle and too powerful. It was familiar and needed, more needed than many things he had missed in his life.

That was the warning the Earth around him screamed, yelled at him to listen, called him to another world, another plane of understanding.

Come home.

His hand grasped Michael's, the one that had been about to hit him once more. Even if he couldn't understand why, Hades was requesting his presence, demanding his Lord with painful clarity. "I'm going home."

The red-haired man raised an eyebrow, staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Hadn't he been saying that same thing merely moments before? Maybe Uriel was indeed losing his mind, as he listened to the Earth beneath his feet and seemed to ignore his companion.

Come home.

But She was screaming in his mind, almost hopeful. Ever so joyful and caring. It had been so long since his element had called him with such urgency. He had missed that voice.

Come home.

"I'm going home," he repeated, almost silently. Dark wings opened to meet the winds, body reacted as quickly to depart, following its master's orders without second thoughts or fear.

Uriel didn't look back. Michael didn't expect that action. A smirk was curving his lips, arms crossed over his chest and an expression almost too old for his body overtaking his features. Amused, one would say.

"I wonder how long will it take for the two idiots to understand."

Fire saw more than one would think. And listened to others if He so wished. And what others ignored, he could understand. That was the reason for his amusement, as Earth ran to learn what he could feel without problems.

"Screw up again and I'll be the one ripping your vocal cords, ya moron." The manor was the only to hear his words before Michael left its halls. It was time to see what Air was up to. Knowing Raphael, it would be something interesting enough to watch.

Etenamenki was coming back to life, it seemed. And Michael wouldn't miss a moment of that revival.

---xXx---

"She has left." Doll was still smiling despite his confused expression. It had been quite a while since something had happened to leave him like that, unable to act or move. But his servant – friend, confident, creation, angel - didn't seem to notice. Three words had been said, as if they alone were enough to enlighten him.

They weren't.

Her smile was joyous, like she knew far more than him. Bright eyes, black locks framing the features of a human who had passed through his halls many years before. It was the caricature of an angel who had fallen and, as the imperfect image that it was, could only remind him of her.

"She has left," Doll repeated. He had listened the first time, the second had brought little more understanding.

The former angel sighed, like a mother faced with a particularly stubborn child. Her gentle hands grasped his face, so small, so weak. She had never looked so much with her model as in that moment.

"He has come for her, master. He will give her life again." A caring smile. For a moment, black became blue, the hold on his face akin to the same who had pushed him away. Who was he? Who was she? "She has left. You know who, master."

Smiling again, Doll turned away from him, almost dancing away in her haste to prepare tea. "Go meet her. She'll be waiting. He will do his best to make that happen."

Uriel was frozen in his place, as strongly as if he had gained roots in that very place. The Earth had called him with little warning, his servant seemed to have made a vow to be as confusing as humanly and inhumanly possible. Had the world turned upside down and someone had failed to explain that to him?

It took a long time until he forced himself from his thoughts. A long time in which the sound of the rain couldn't even register in his mind. But once it did, his eyes widened in surprise. Rain fell from the skies, meeting Hades for the first time in centuries. It gave life to a place which had almost lost hope of ever harbouring it once more.

The answer was so simple.

Doll was still smiling as she set the table, singing underneath her breath a children's lullaby as her hands moved. "See the rain outside, dear child? There is no need to fear it. Angels are crying for you, wings open to the skies, shielding all harm. Angels are crying, dear child. Never fear again."

Two tea cups rested on the wooden table.

---xXx---

It was slow. Eyelids seemed to weight more than it was virtually possible, arms and legs so heavy, trapping a spirit in a flesh form. It was a frightening experience.

But there was no hurry. She had waited so much time, what were more minutes, hours, days? She had all the time in the world.

"Slowly now. Don't push yourself." She knew that voice. It was familiar, belonging to one of the souls she would trust her life, her soul to. How odd that she couldn't understand why he was there. Wherever there was.

There was no way to ask him.

"It has been a long time." He sounded almost amused, something she had always connected with his soul. Amusement was a decent façade, powerful if one didn't know how to ignore it. Her mind asked how long it had passed, her lips didn't manage to open to allow such question to be made.

A hand touched her cheek, caressed her hair almost lovingly. Had she been missed? After all, she had done her best to avoid that feeling. Dearest Seraphita, why didn't her body obey her?

"That's enough, Raphael."

A new presence had invaded her Garden – because it had to be her Gardens. She had not felt safe anywhere else, had not felt welcome in any other place as in those ground. Forceful, strong as the mountains, everlasting and so very dear to her heart, despite her previous thoughts against it.

Water will always need Earth. The Lord has decided it that way.

Steps resounded in the silence, allowing her senses to pick up his approach. The hand on her hair was pushed away harshly, her hair pushed carelessly away with the motion. What in the world was happening?

"She isn't Sara." It was Uriel's hand now resting on her shoulder, the same strength he had showed her in that last night present in the simple gesture. "She will never be her again. She is Gabriel, Water, nothing more, nothing less."

Those had been her words, hadn't they?

No, she hadn't spoken them then.

Sara?

"Don't you think I know that?" It had been a while since she had heard Raphael's angry voice. Now that she thought about it, Uriel's tone had carried no less anger. Had they argued while she slept? Dear Lord, if she could only open her eyes. "Gabriel was never Sara. But Sara was her once."

I am not Sara. I am Gabriel.

"Never again." Fingers tightened, almost as if to make sure she wouldn't leave. Almost as if he had missed her, the woman and not the archangel. Because the archangel had never left, the flowing water had been enough proof of that fact. "She is waiting for you, Raphael. Don't search for a mirage."

"Shouldn't you listen to your own damned advice for once, Angel of Death?" Stand up. She had to stand up and stop them. They were companions, friends, family, they couldn't argue like that. But Air and Earth were so stubborn in their own way.

Stop mistaking me for others. Stop searching for others in my soul. I am Water. Just that, nothing more.

"I have." His hold hurt now, just like that one night when she had spoken more than needed. Feeling that pain meant something else. Her body was responding. Carefully, little by little, Gabriel opened her eyes to the world only to see darkness.

"I…" can't talk, can't see. "…an..."

There was a rush of movement around her. Uriel's hand let go to be replaced by another, Raphael's touch now in her eyes, as if his touch could make miracles. "The same happened with Sara once she woke."

I am not Sara!

"No need to frown, lady of water. I know fully well what you are thinking." The female angel highly doubted it. If he did, he wouldn't have left already. "You will regain your sight soon enough. Come and see me once you do. We have stories to exchange."

A moment of silence seemed to force itself on all of them. Gabriel didn't speak as she tried to understand. Uriel couldn't speak as he forced himself not to interrupt. And who knew what Raphael was thinking?

The gentle touch disappeared from her closed eyes, warmth vanishing gently with it. "See that you don't screw up again, Uriel."

The blue haired woman didn't open her eyes. In a way, she was afraid the darkness would be there once she did, despite her trust in whatever the angel of Air had done. Angels never dealt well with loss or deficiency. Weren't the lower levels of Etenamenki a proof of that same fact?

"Gabriel."

It was cowardice, it seemed. But, even as she tried with all her might, the cherubim remained silent, eyes closed and rigid posture. Almost as if she had never woken at all. A part of her knew that, once she opened her eyes to the outside world, reality would be waiting. War and pain, life and death, those things weren't easy to face.

Nevertheless she was Gabriel, the Great Cherubim, water itself. Running away had never been her way of living.

Tentatively, blue eyes met sunlight, opened themselves to the outside world for the first time in years. Her Gardens hadn't changed at all, blooming freely in the beginning of spring. There was the shine of water in every leaf, touching every petal of every flower, glistening as it met the fresh earth.

No vision was more welcome to her eyes.

"Gabriel."

And in front of her eyes was Uriel, Lord of Death and Judgment, the Earth to her Water. Kneeling down like a commoner, taking her hands in his own as if he had all the right to do so. It was a complex mix of attitudes and an even more confusing jumble of thoughts breeding in her mind.

Gabriel couldn't read his eyes. Dark as the earth beneath their feet, just as enigmatic and confusing. Once she had been able to understand every emotion flickering behind them. Now, they eluded her, fleeing the second she seemed to grasp their meaning.

"How long as it been?"

Hands were so much stronger than hers. He had always been stronger than her. Water had failed but Earth had persevered, as she knew he would. Faith would never be in vain, if one knew exactly where to place it.

"A long time." For angels, she knew. Gabriel had expected so, that her absence would be enough to be noticed even in her long existence. "Too long. I have been waiting."

What…?

"Why did you persist on walking this path by yourself? Why did you leave us behind? Why did you leave me behind?"

Slowly but surely, his fingers tightened around her wrists, shaking her form in a movement that was all but his. Gabriel didn't answer. There were questions that shouldn't be answered.

Earth doesn't need water.

Those were the words she would have said had she had the courage. But, as she didn't, Gabriel merely stared at his gentle face, now fierce as a beast, a pet who had remember it had been wild one day.

"Have we won?" Uriel's answer was laughter. Bitter and hurt, a horrible parody of his warm laughter, one she had heard countless times in the past. The hold on her wrists faded into nothing, her face taken by a gentle hold and, suddenly, Gabriel could read the pain in his eyes as clearly as if they were nothing more than an open book.

"I know I deserve this," Uriel whispered, careful eyes searching each inch of her skin, each sign on her face, each reaction and movement. "For ignoring you when I shouldn't, for not offering my aid when you needed it. For searching for life when all I needed was my counterpart."

How little sense those words made to her. "…do not despise me, Gabriel. Do not hate me so." Baffled, confused.

Warm, protected, loved.

Her mind didn't understand, her body merely reacted. Warm arms had pushed her against a harsh body, shielding her from the same reality she had feared moments before. Gentle lips had touched her forehead, chastely, carefully, moving ever so slowly as if to taste her skin, memorize every curve and inch by touch alone.

God had forbidden such things. He had claimed Love to be wrong, a dirty feeling, bellow the perfect race angels were supposed to be. Dear Lord, she had never been perfect, only her mask had. She had tried, tried and forced herself to be better than her pairs only to fall. It was wrong to accept what would be one more downfall.

But it was so right. So very right. To be embraced by other, to feel caring and warmth she didn't feel worthy of receiving.

"Earth is little without Water." His whisper hit her strongly, rocking her thoughts and previous beliefs. Gabriel knew he needed her not. The Cherubim had been certain of that. "Earth cannot live without water." That had been her forbidden dream, her unfinished sin. Even with his flesh so close to hers, her fingers slowly clawing his clothing, ever so solid beneath her skin. What had she done to deserve such blessing? The betrayer who had been betrayed?

It wasn't a dream. Her heart hurt and rejoiced, her skin was chilled in the cold air, burning underneath his touch. Gabriel was living once again, maybe for the first time since a child. What other victory could mean so?

Not even Sevontharte's presence would steal her of such. No war beneath Heaven, no death in front of her gates, no horror in the skies above.

The war was over.

"Water is little without Earth."

And Uriel's smile was what she remembered. Calm and gentle, at odds with the strength he could show so easily. Questions and answers were silenced between pressed lips and laughing eyes, Gabriel's mind falling silent for once. The future would wait.

"I do not plan to allow it otherwise."

---xXx---

"You did that on purpose, you bastard."

Harsh words were met with laughter, free and untamed, everything Air was and he represented. He did not lie, not anymore. He did not passed through life, She had taught him to live. And he had his counterpart now. Water, the one he had loved and his Sister, those were dear to his heart now. Not lovers. But he knew them well. He knew her and him and him too, even though they denied it. They would deny themselves until Death took them.

Michael's gaze could have been accusing had it not carried laughter. His friend merely stared him down, a corner of his lips turning gently in the faintest smile.

"I have no idea what you mean," Raphael commented blandly.

A loud scoff was his only reply.