AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was written for the Gabriel-Monthly-Challenge on Tumblr. Thanks to nathyfaith for being my wonderful beta!
Prompt-From underneath the thin layer of snow, the first bloom of springtime emerged. He resisted the temptation to crush it beneath his heel.
Enochian in bold.
THEN:
Gabriel slumped in the grass, lost to boredom.
Raphael insisted on studying the flower for its entire life-cycle. The most exciting part was when they'd followed the drifting seed as it danced through the wind to plant itself in fresh earth. But that had been weeks ago! There was only so much staring he could take.
The need for movement built in the younger angel, making his wings twitch. "For the love of Dad…Raphael, it is a flower! It grows from a seed, blooms, has whatever passes as sex for plants, and DIES! Sniff it so we can move on already! I need to get back to that southern island." He flitted about in agitation. "I may have started some creatures down an experimental path a while ago...and then I may have kinda forgotten about them."
Raphael just smiled and wrestled his brother back to the ground, stilling the restlessness with gentle motions. "Patience, brother. We are almost done." Gabriel settled, relishing in Raphael's grooming, and granting the Healer a few more days of peaceful contemplation.
Finally, Raphael nudged Gabriel from his stupor. "Gabriel. Look there," he whispered.
Gabriel followed his gaze to find a tiny blur of color darting around the flower. The thing flew to hover between the archangels, eyeing them curiously. "What is it?"
"I call it a hummingbird," Raphael said fondly. "They remind me of you—bright, inquisitive, constantly moving. And they have a love of sweet things."
Gabriel smiled and watched in fascination as the brilliant little bird exploded into motion. It spun around them on wings that beat effortlessly fast. He secretly loves these moments—when Raphael has purposefully driven him mad with boredom because it was worth it for that one second of discovery.
"Come along, my little hummingbird," Raphael pulls them to their feet, "We shall check on your creatures before Michael and Lucifer find them. They never appreciated your creativity..."
NOW:
Gabriel flew from Heaven in a whirlwind of rage and pain.
Cries of alarm sounded from behind him and several seraphs gave chase. He blasted through time and space, pushing his wings to their limit until they could no longer follow. Their voices tore at him, staying present no matter how fast he moved.
The archangel remained in his true-form, choosing to burn off his fury in flight. Countless galaxies separated him from Earth before he finally stopped. It was quiet now, his siblings stretched to a thin whisper in the back of his mind.
He felt gutted, gripped by loss. Lucifer was gone. Fallen! The word itself sliced through his grace like an angel blade. The Morningstar had fallen, cast into a cage in the center of Hell by Michael himself. All at their Father's command.
This is Your fault, Father! Gabriel screamed, pulverizing a passing planet. Do You hear me? This is Your fault! You gave him the Mark, You saw it change him, and You did nothing!
Despair drove him beyond speech when he heard no reply.
Lucifer was gone. Michael was gone, replaced by an empty shell after the betrayal. Father had left them silently, slinking out of Heaven without a word. But it was the change in Raphael that had been Gabriel's breaking point.
The Healer had always been the grounding force between the four archangels. Michael and Lucifer were fire and ice, opposites orbiting one another in total sync. Their extreme natures had served as a fearsome reminder of the need for balance. Raphael had nurtured that balance with patience and wisdom.
But Lucifer was gone, and Michael's fire soon burnt out.
In their absence, Raphael's steadiness hardened into something unyielding. It turned him inward, as though it were possible to hibernate through Heaven's destruction. He burrowed until finally Gabriel's brother was gone. His teacher, mentor and confidante was gone.
Everyone was gone.
Gabriel took his time returning to Earth. He pushed his grace down, shielding his mind from the rest of the Host as much as possible. It was time to follow the contingency plans he'd created when things first started to go wrong.
He flew to a small cabin in the mountain where there lived a hunter-Gabriel's vessel. They'd shared many adventures during the archangel's numerous visits to Earth. The man was already waiting with his "yes" when Gabriel arrived.
Grace poured into flesh until his true-self was completely embodied. Gabriel opened golden eyes and felt them burn in the cold air. Winter was leaving the mountains, soon to fade in the growing sun. He took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of white.
He felt adrift, like a seed ripped from his roots and set loose in the wind. But there was no one left to follow him. No one who cared to see where he landed.
Everyone was gone.
A burst of color shimmered bright in the morning light. From underneath the thin layer of snow, the first bloom of springtime emerged. He resisted the temptation to crush it beneath his heel.
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