Author's Note: Hello! Thank you for reading! This is a one shot set after Gideon leaves the Lightwood home towards the end of Clockwork Prince, and focuses on Gabriel and Benedict. Please note: I own none of these characters. All characters belong to Cassandra Clare. No money is being made on this work. This is a work of fiction and should be treated as such. Please enjoy and review!
Pitiful Soul
The moment the door slammed closed behind Gideon, it seemed as though all the air was sucked out of the room. All that remained after Gideon had gone were a father and son both staring at a silver ring left on the edge of a mahogany desk.
"It's time for tea," Benedict announced. Gabriel turned to him, open mouthed, questioning. Gideon had gone, the plan to take over the Institute had failed, and Benedict wanted tea? "The oolong. What do the Chinese call that sort of tea?" Gabriel stared at the ring. His whole life had been one thing to learn after another. He thought back to hours spent hunched over a book, bathed in candle light, reading until well past midnight.
"Dragon's tail tea," Gabriel said, not even sure where the answer had come from.
"Dragon's tail tea," Benedict exalted. "Fetch a servant and have them prepare us a pot at once." He snapped his fingers.
This had been going on for nearly a week now, not that Benedict had noticed. The servants had packed up and left one day, and every task in the house had fallen to Gabriel. Gabriel made the tea. Gabriel struggled to do the laundry. Gabriel ran when Benedict called for him, knowing it was his duty as Benedict's son to wait on his father, hand and foot. No one else would.
Benedict was the most demanding of souls, and more so when he felt shamed by something. The six months Gideon had spent in Spain were some of the most difficult Gabriel had ever endured in his father's home, because for the first time in 18 years, Gabriel was the only son at home. Whereas Gideon was the one who had always sat by before, saying yes whenever Benedict needed to hear affirmation, Gabriel was now the one to tell his father what he wanted to hear.
Gabriel stood behind his father and imagined, just for once, saying no. He didn't want to fill the kettle and boil water, he wanted to go to his room at the very top of the house, throw battle axes at a target, and try to figure out how his father, the very man who raised him, who forced into his mind every bit of knowledge he knew, had been lying all along.
"Gabriel Elijah. Did you hear what I said?" Benedict asked. "I said, it is time for tea." Gabriel clenched his fist, a smart comment rising in the back of his throat. He imagined slapping his father across the back of the head and slamming out of the library door, then taking off down the street and chasing down the carriage from the London Institute, leaving this house and all of the lies it held behind.
But how would that look? Someone had to stay for Benedict. Especially now.
"Gabriel," Benedict growled. A drop of sweat tickled down Gabriel's spine, startling him back into reality. He unclenched his fist and hastened to the kitchen to start the kettle, hands shaking with fear and anger. He was just about to bring the silver tea service back to the library when Benedict appeared in the doorway.
Benedict was leaning heavily on the frame of the door, and as he stepped into the kitchen, his balance wavered. He reached out for the countertop to keep from falling, but Gabriel was there, one hand at his father's elbow, steadying him.
"I don't need your help," Benedict mumbled. He shuffled over to the kitchen table and sat in a chair, then gestured to the chair beside him, causing the cuff of his shirt to rise up. Gabriel stepped back, feeling his stomach twist as warmth rose into his face. Benedict looked down at his arm, then pulled his sleeve down, but not before Gabriel saw the deep cracks in his father's graying skin and caught a glimpse of dark, red blood mixing with egg yolk colored pus.
"So what Charlotte said is true," Gabriel said. "You have demon pox and you are going to die."
"That isn't true," Benedict scoffed.
"Then tell me the truth!" Gabriel exclaimed. He never dared to raise his voice to his father, but that was before he found that everything he once believed was a lie.
"It's just a silly rash. Something I ate. I'll be fine in a day or two. Charlotte will do whatever it takes to keep the Institute. That includes listening to that worthless Herondale boy," Benedict said. "Remember what he did to your sister? How humiliated she was? And how he spends his nights- traipsing all over town, drunk as a fool… William Herondale's word is worthless. He is worthless."
"And yet he speaks the truth," Gabriel said. He leaned closer, catching the smell of rot coming from Benedict's skin. It turned his stomach. "Pitiful soul, look at yourself. You're the worthless one."
Benedict drew a quick breath and looked over at Gabriel, his voice cracking as he spoke. "Come now, Gabriel, see reason. How could I have demon pox?"
"You did have inappropriate relations with demons," Gabriel said, growing bolder. "You cheated on our mother. She killed herself-"
"She was miserable," Benedict said. "So was I. You can't always make people happy, Gabriel. Some people just want to be miserable."
"That isn't true," Gabriel said, stepping backwards.
"And what do you know of life, son? You're hardly an adult," Benedict said. "Come and sit, have some tea. Ring for the cook. I want an early dinner this evening." Gabriel stared at his father.
"The cook is gone," Gabriel said. "Gideon is gone. Tatiana is gone. Mother is gone. Everyone has left us."
"Then I suppose you'll go to?" Benedict asked. "You'll leave me here, all alone? I have no one, my son. You'll leave your father to die alone in this house?" Benedict looked up at Gabriel, his eyes taking on a pleading look. Gabriel closed his eyes, his resolve cracking, and without response, he poured the tea and went to the ice box to contemplate dinner. He would stay in this house only a little longer, until his father breathed his last. Gabriel would stay, but in the end, everyone leaves.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Please review!