The Fall

One-Shot

Summary: This couldn't be happening. There was no way this was happening, Gabriel thought. No matter how much he wanted to believe it, it was. Lucifer was going to be expelled from Heaven. There was nothing he could do.

You think your dreams are the same as mine.

Oh, I don't love you, but I always will.

~The Civil Wars "Poison and Wine"

"Brother! Brother, please! Listen to me!"

Gabriel listened to his brother's desperate cry as he pushed his way to the front. A crowd of angels had gathered around to watch. They were watching with fascination, with fear, with contempt, and even some with admiration. Gabriel didn't really care that they were watching at all. He just needed to see, to get there.

Lucifer was on his knees before Michael, tears running unashamedly down his face. Michael stood impassive, rigid, but his face was hidden from view.

"You have rebelled, Lucifer. There is nothing you can say that will help you now. You must receive your punishment," he said, his tone suggesting no emotion.

"Michael will you please just listen to me! You need to understand!" When he didn't respond, Lucifer continued. "Aren't you tired of blindly following the orders of an absent father? Join me, and we can have something new: freedom, the ability to choose. Doesn't that sound good? Listen to me, not as a loyal son and soldier, but as my brother. Trust me, please. Look at me!" The choked desperation in his voice was impossible to miss and his voice cracked at the last line.

"Your reasoning doesn't matter, nor does it excuse what you did. You shall be expelled from Heaven, and made the king of fallen humanity."

Michael's voice didn't waver, as though he didn't care. The words, however, struck Gabriel to his core. He felt as though he'd been iced over. Lucifer couldn't be cast out, he couldn't. Gabriel didn't stand by what he had done, not by a long shot, but he was still his older brother, the one he looked up to, whom he loved so damned much. He couldn't be cast out.

Lucifer's eyes went wide, like he had only just understood what Michael had told him. He began to sob harder, his whole body shaking, and he let his head fall to rest on his chest.

Before he could even think about it, Gabriel was moving toward them. Every instinct he had was telling him that this was a bad idea; that he should stay out of it, but he couldn't. He stepped up to Michael, and put a hand on his shoulder. Lucifer looked up at him, surprise clear, but he didn't say anything. Michael still did not turn his face to Gabriel, but stiffened under his touch.

"Michael, think about this. He's our brother. You can't just cast him down to Hell. There has to be some other way," Gabriel pleaded. "Any other way.."

"No. Our father commands it, so that is what will happen," Michael ordered, but his voice broke. So he did care.

Gabriel gripped his shoulder harder. "Michael, don't do this. You'll regret it, I promise. I know it is what our father says, but think about it. He's your little brother. Surely you can make some kind of exception."

"So then you stand by him? You wish to fall for this cause as well?"

As he said these words, he finally turned to face to Gabriel. And Gabriel could see it. There was a pain in his expression, like nothing Gabriel had ever seen before. It broke his heart.. Michael did know his choices here. Follow father's orders, or trust and care for his brother. And he was following the orders of his father. That didn't mean it didn't absolutely kill him to do so. Lucifer was still his little brother, no matter what he'd done.

"I..I…Of course not. Let him serve his punishment, but not like this. I don't stand by what he did, but please, please Michael, don't cast him out."

"Why not, Gabriel? Why won't you stand with me? Am I wrong, for thinking that we should have some freedom? The humans, they don't have to follow our father's every command, so why should we? Stand with me, please. Surely, you don't want to keep blindly following the orders cast on us, when our father can't even be bothered to see us," Lucifer begged, his voice almost a whisper.

Gabriel looked at Lucifer, met his eyes with his own. His expression asked for a trust and understanding that Gabriel couldn't give. There was a point to what he was saying, no doubt about it. If their own father could not be bothered to see them as he gave orders, why should they follow? But that didn't excuse what he'd done, not at all. And this wasn't a rebellion, just Lucifer crying for daddy's attention. He just simply couldn't handle their father loving a new creation more than him.

But he didn't really believe in Michael's way either. The fact that he was going to drive his own little brother out, someone he had practically raised, just because father said so. There was something wrong with that too.

He didn't want to choose sides here. Couldn't, because there was no right side. All he really wanted was for them to stop fighting.

"Gabriel? Is that your decision here? Are you going to fall with him? Will I have to cast you down as well?" Michael asked softly.

Gabriel looked at Michael again. There was even more pain in his eyes than before, if that was possible. Because of him, Gabriel realized. Michael already had to cast out one brother. And now he thought he was going to have to do it again. But he would, if that was what had to be. It was always their father's orders, before everything. That didn't mean he didn't love his brothers dearly, though. And everyone be damned if it didn't hurt him at his core that he had to do this.

Gabriel shook his head. "I don't want to choose sides here. You're both my brothers, and I love you both. But I can't say either of you are right here. Just don't fight. And don't cast him out. That's all I want."

Somehow, they both looked betrayed. Michael's eyes hardened, and he shook Gabriel's hand off his shoulder.

"Then go. If you aren't going to choose a side, you have no place here, not really.

He turned toward Lucifer and thrust his hand inside his brother's chest. Gabriel stepped back, his jaw slack. He couldn't respond. There was nothing he could say. He was really doing it, really taking Lucifer's grace from him, really casting him out. He wanted desperately to run, to get out of there, but he couldn't move. It was as though he were rooted to the spot.

Lucifer screamed, his face twisted in agony. Finally, when Michael brought his hand back out, the grace settled in his palm, Gabriel turned. He ran, pushing through the crowd of angels. He had to get away, had to get somewhere else, anywhere else. As he ran, the tears began to fall, for Lucifer, for Michael, just for the whole fucked up mess that this was. This isn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

It was later, when he made his decision. He wasn't going to stay in Heaven. He couldn't when his brother so blindly followed the orders of their father, enough to throw them aside, despite how much he loved them. Not when his brother was trapped in the cage, for thinking differently, and for betraying them. He would go down to earth and stay there, never to return. The fight couldn't reach him there. He could pretend like it wasn't happening, like it had never happened to begin with. He'd just cause mayhem, and be content.

And that's exactly what he did, until two brothers, a fallen angel, and an old drunk began to poke at the cage.

End.

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