-o-O-o-O-o- 2: Blood and Water -o-O-o-O-o-

My life closed twice before its close—

It yet remains to see

If Immortality unveil

A third event to me

--

So huge, so hopeless to conceive

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of Heaven,

And all we need of Hell.

-"My life closed twice before its close", Emily Dickinson

-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-

You...you are unable to help me anymore, my Prince. I have failed you so many times, and now I have flown and fled so far...how is it that still, even now, you can reach me? Even...in death?

...awaken...

Please...do not strain yourself for me...I am lost, I am hopeless, all I have left is Israfel. Allow me my penance, allow me my justice, allow me my suffering!

...awaken...

...Why must you be so merciful?...surely...I am deserving of nothingness! Please...let me have eternal peace!

...Awaken, dear one. It is not yet your time to pass...

I do not want to open my eyes to the possibility of another precious corpse...please...please...I lack the strength...I...simply lack the strength...not Israfel...It is not possible for me to live when he might be dead...please...My Prince, please be merciful in this way...Please!

...Awaken Gabriel!

Awaken Angel of Mercy!

Not this...oh my Lord, not this!

AWAKEN!

There was a something cold and wet on his lips, on his body...the sweet copper of blood...and...pain!

Incredible pain!

Yes, and a strangely and achingly blinding light as he returned from the brink of something unbearably chilling, with a numbness that made him ache with it's hollow vibrations holding his body stiff as the corpse it sought to make him...pain and light and the sounds of whirring engines and the winds that had ravaged his body on the way down...

Down to Earth...And his body.

Then he gave a reflexive intake of breath, feeling the cold air bite past his chapped lips. There was an amazing agony with every gasp. He gave a moan that he regretted. His tongue tasted of sweet, thick eraser blood, and it was throbbing, his whole body, his every fiberwas throbbing with a pain so intense that he wanted to die! And the fire...oh the fire!…Ah...yes...He'd probably smashed his ribs with the impact...

Impact...

He didn't remember it, just a rush of buildings. He'd probably even been looking the other way when his body smashed into the concrete, shattering bones and bringing his insides into such a catastrophic state that he had blacked out. Had he been a human, he would have likely been nothing but gory pulp at the velocity he had fallen. Luckily Eraser's bodies were more accustomed to hardship than humans--even under the curse put into effect at the fall from Eden, Humanity was still God's precious "pet" race...Nonetheless, even with his otherwise potent body, this angel in particular was quite aware of how close to death he was.

'Why? Why? WHY?' He thought to himself unhappily, wanting to weep, indeed, tears had already leaked from his eyes at the potent little firecrackers embedded and exploding in his torso from the slightest pressure or movement.

But...for now at least...he was alive. No matter how much the pain made him foolishly, reflexively wish otherwise, he was alive. There was little hope he would remain that way for long. The pinpricks of cold still periodically gracing his aching skin had likely bestowed upon him that strange gift--a few last conscious minutes of life. There was another pinprick of cold on his cheek, but he just assumed that it was the feeling returning to his screaming body, perhaps some sort of life instinct released by his body to awaken him.

Even now, I watch you. But now, I must leave you, alone.

Gabriel's heart wrenched. 'No! I watched you struck down! How is it that you speak to me? Why do you do this to me?'

I do this to you, because I trust you. You of all I know are certain to obey without hesitation. I call you to live on, no matter the circumstance, Gabriel, angel of mercy.

Gabriel nearly choked. 'How can you do this to me...? And...how can you speak to me...I saw you-!'

I hope in time you will forgive the hardship and discomfort I have put upon you. You are more essential than you realize, dear child, Gabriel. When we meet again, perhaps I may speak of such things. Until then, Gabriel...farewell. I wish you the Father's pleasure.

"No!" He choked out in a gasp, pain exploding throughout him as he did so, nearly blacking out once more, but the radient presence left him nonetheless. Nonetheless the oppressive hopelessness lingered, and fresh tears escaped the angel's eyes.

Marooned...

Also unfortunate--while an angel's body was stronger than a human's, humans at least had a better tolerance to pain, considering aeons of time without the ability to heal had allowed their bodies some time to compensate to yet another aspect of the curse of Eden.

Yes, it was amazing how well all of creation had adapted to something as unfortunate and unnatural as Death...

For the moment, Gabriel wished that the angels had adapted a little more humanistically to the flow of time, in such a way as to either smash him into a pulp or at least dampen his pain slightly. 'Ohhh…!' he wanted to moan but held it in his throat for fear of more pain. He forced himself to swallow the blood that was thick in his mouth, nearly screamed for the agonizing experience of the mouthful going down his throat, with its exceptional knots and strain.

He sucked in another cold breath.

He gasped in that unbearably painful oxygen shakily, holding his breath all too often just to try to stop the overwhelming and utter pain. All that he could think of were his ribs. Oh the agony! The fire of it! Every bone's cacophony of screams were another series of mocking jabs that threw in his bloodied face the fact that he was alive.

...Or he was in Hell...though this would have made a rather anti-climatic Hell...He had literally seen Hell before, and his skin--if possible--felt all the more icy at the memory.

No...this was not Hell...

How Israfel had wept unceasingly at the sight of Hell...at any sort of suffering--especially of that sort...

He felt another cold droplet on his face.

Dimly through the sensation of his injuries, he managed to wonder what was striking his cheek? Wet…and cold He opened his eyes and felt nearly blinded by the brightness all around him. He gasped in another breath, dizzing and still unable to think of anything other than his burning, screaming ribs, squinting up at the gray sky.

More droplets were coming now...cold and wet...but so beautiful...this strange water from heaven...were these the tears of God?

This couldn't be Hell...not with such a gentleness to this...rain! It was rain! Real rain! Not the artificial variety used for cleaning...real...natural...rain...

No...this was Earth...the broken, forsaken, cursed once-paradise created for the Human race...

Which meant...

...he had survived the fall from grace...

The rain--though the archangel was feeling it for the first time ever--seemed to wash his wounds clean. It hurt, but it was delicious. It seemed to turn his solid hurt all into cold clean liquid that seemed almost machoistically enjoyable in comparison. For a moment, the pain seemed to dim slightly. Oh! To be free! The scraps of his once magnificent robes were stained pink with rain and blood mingled together, but Gabriel didn't notice his ruined robes, managing to open his aching jaw to try to catch the droplets on his bloodied tongue. It was never enough, just little pinpricks of coldness, but it seemed to help a miniscule amount at least.

Yes...even humanity couldn't seem to ruin all the kind touches and ingenuity of God...

Gabriel felt a vague satisfaction but the desire to laugh faded as soon as he remembered he was still unable to catch more than a quarter of a breath at a time from the pain wracking his entire torso. Again he swallowed the thick, nauseating blood in his mouth, so he could open it to try to breathe again--agony though it was.

Free...free from the madness that had seized his paltry corner of the mock-heavens...

A nervous smile stretched his face into a rictus. He had done it...He had done it...

He gave an excruciating exhale. It was at this point that his body chose to cough up the flecks of blood he accidentally breathed in, and the increasingly large amount beginning to pool in his lungs. Even for an eraser, the lungs were the means for oxygen to the rest of the body--he knew that this certainly was not a sign pointing to possible recovery insofar as his grevious injuries were concerned. The pain was enough to make his head spin and body seize with every uncontrollable deep breath required to clean his lungs... His stomach churned, he was bordering on blacking out again, such was the agony of coughing. Knives seemed to be hacking at each of his bones in turn... He scrunched his eyes shut, his head ringing from the force of the sledgehammer pain in his ribs, and willed himself to endure.

But the blood he spat had never seemed more miraculous, more welcome in his life, despite his distinct longing to scream--though he knew that would only waste precious oxygen.

He twisted his neck around, unable to wipe the streams of blond hair from his vision. A dizzying pain in his hip told him that he might have smashed that as well with his fall onto this...

He squinted again through his doubling vision.

This ...rooftop?

He paused squinting again. he could feel rubble around him...had he shattered the rooftop with his impact?

He shivered suddenly, the motion sending spasms of pain through his body as he noticed another thing that sent a terrible coldness through his body:

He was absolutely alone...

"Is...Isra...fel..." He managed to gasp through the blood and the injuries slurring his speech. Where was Israfel? Israfel! 'This cannot...possibly be...' Tears suddenly filled his eyes, his sobs were agonized wheezes.

He couldn't feel him...this pain was clouding his vision...or…

Israfel was...Israfel had...

'NO! I will not accept it! It is not POSSIBLE for him to be dead!' Not...Israfel...

"Israfel!" He shouted, though the very act of doing so brought spots to his vision. He tried to still the swimming of his head as the rooftop seemed to buck and sway beneath him. He laid his head on the cold, wet concrete to still it's pounding. The cold seemed to ever so faintly numb the pain there, though it was still all too fresh and vivd each time he took another tortured breath.

His heart ached unbearably at the thought of that young angel's body broken on some other rooftop, and his eyes burned. 'Could it be? Could it really be… Oh no…Oh NO…Not little Israfel...not him...' "Isra...fel..." He whispered through the pain of his broken ribs. One of his white hands lay on the concrete before his eyes. 'If I could only find you...and heal your wounds...I could die in peace!' Grief shook his slender, injured frame as he sobbed in the merciful rain now pounding down thick and painful on his wounded body. The water ran pink around him, staining his robes, his pale hair, his skin. His sobs were pitiful for the careful breathing that his crushed ribs demanded. 'you MUST be alive! You can't be...'

Weak…powerless…alone…

And Marooned...Marooned...alone?

'What is there left for me if I do not have Israfel by my side…?'

The rooftop bucked beneath him like a wild beast. Gabriel reeled and clung to the wet concrete. Flashes and sparks danced before his tightly closed eyelids.

'I am helpless...it is impossible for me to look for him as I am now...he could be unconscious...he could be in more pain than I am! He would be alone and frightened...' Tears burned his eyes. 'Israfel...Oh my dear friend, Israfel...'

He quieted suddenly…what was…?

His eyes were disfocused. He forced them shut to better listen and to still his dizziness.

He nearly laughed aloud at what he was hearing...hallucinations? Whispers? No...it couldn't be...not when he was so close to death...

"She just fell here...I left to get you..."

"Shh...what faction is she? She could have run from the battle...you know what we'd have to do then."

"Feh... Like I care what E.G.O. says, and she's not moving. I'm going to go check it out. Watch my back! "

"Hey! You idiot! wait!"

Footsteps...The slosh of this water around them...

He couldn't seem to turn his eyes to look, they seemed sheathed in lead. A blurred figure...dark hair...DARK hair? Who was...?

Gabriel painfully managed to turn his head, his gasps for breath terribly obvious. He managed to bare his teeth in a pain wracked smile, teeth pink with blood. It really was more of a grimace, but certainly a sign of life if that was what this creature was looking for. 'How strange...to find mercy...' he weakly felt his eyelids slipping down again. The angel of mercy being shown the same...it was irony that seemed in such unbearable bad taste...perhaps the Angel of Death had sent a final token of hatred with him...

"Hey! She's a guy!"...A young voice, male...it sounded surprised beyond belief.

Gabriel, wounded as he was, fought down a bitter laugh. A woman…they had thought that he was a woman…Well that was insulting…In his eraser form he perhaps would have understood, but he was trapped in his human form, and lacked the energy or the focus to change back, as it was he was reasonably sure (he had never really understood humans too well on this sort of subject) that he was male--that said, there really was no need for the creature before him to be so rude.

Gabriel grimaced again. He was dying and was worried about ettiquite and gender?

There was another splash as suddenly there was a set of knees beside Gabriel's head. "Wow…Look at him…he's so pretty…scary pretty. And pretty messed up too...Who do you think he is?" Came the hushed whisper. The angel tried not to move, tried not to groan at the pain. Every inch of his skin ached, his bones felt as though they would splinter if he so much as twitched.

But he was alive… for now…

Those voices vaguely hurt his ears...

"You sure that's a man?" Came a responding whisper. A different voice, this one almost mocking the other. The second voice laughed. "Yeah…The prettiest man I've ever seen…still the chest is flat he HAS to be a man you perv." Gabriel's eyes couldn't seem to open again, after the effort of trying to blink the water from his rain-logged eyes.

" Who you calling a perv? You're the one who's checking the chest."

"Shut up."

"Oooh, Heaven help you survive my bitter caustic barbs." Spoke the other voice with even sarcasm. "Careful, even if he's wounded he might attack us. I'd back up if I were you. Besides, it'll be really hard for me to explain why you're out if you get injured." The voice had gone flat, practical, and stiff.

The lighter of the two voices(...the...younger?) went on as though he had never heard the other."Oh man...He looks pretty beat...hey...can you hear me?" Gabriel couldn't answer with more than a groan… but it was enough. He felt warm fingers tilting up his head and wiping the damp clinging strands of blond from his bloodied, bruised and windburnt face. The warmth... He shut his eyes more tightly, wincing painfully at the shout that echoed out."MIZU! Mizu, He's alive!"

"Yeah, I can see that. Usually the breathing's a dead giveaway."

Gabriel accidentally moved. He gave a hiss of pain gasping in a breath that hurt all the more. Sparks danced over his closed eyelids. There was a shifting close by that had to be his finders. "Oh…I think he's waking up." There was an excited shuffling sound of someone getting up and backing away. "He's already awake too." Said the harder edged voice, sounding uneasy.

The angel managed to open his seemingly lead enclosed eyes again to gaze upon the creatures he had glimpsed. His vision was blurry still . Two dark headed blurs before him. He tried to focus. The blurs gained fuzzy features. "He's alive!" Exclaimed an excited sounding voice once again. "Yes...as I said before--the breathing gives it away, now quiet, moron, you'll scare him. He still might attack, even if he looks like crap."

The first boy swept his hair out of his eyes, and rolled his eyes. "Ha, like I could scare him. I won't scare him. Tch, you're always so pessimistic. Besides, I'm the cute one, remember, people LIKE me." The second--holding back a distance gazed at Gabriel frowning "…Broken ribs...his shoulder's messed up too from what I can see...hips might be smashed...looks like blood in a lung...Doesn't look good...like an impact or something, what on earth...?"

"look at his clothes...you think he's one of the experiments?" The younger asked with barely contained eagerness.

"Shh!" The cautious one hissed, striking the first quickly. "He can still hear you, even if he looks like crap...pretty crap at that." He leaned closer. Gabriel wrinkled his nose. There was a strange smell around him. Some kind of smoke--very strong. The creature eyed him critically, mouth unsmiling. "Of course if he wasn't so screwed up, he'd be a dish…" The tone as he said it was matter-of-fact. Gabriel squinted, trying to sort out his tripling vision. The two looked rather similar, with light complexions and dark hair…brothers perhaps? They seemed to be teenagers, one around seventeen or so--not quite child, not quite adult--and the other one a few years older though it was hard to say how many...he could have been around...nineteen? No...The second was definitely holding himself as an adult: Probably older...early twenties...something like that... Gabriel had to guess as far as age went along with humans. It made him a little nervous being around creatures that so strongly identified with the curse of death.

Humans...poor things...they begin to die the instant they're born...I've never felt anything less than unhappiness--which I have never denied--about sending them into the arms of The Curse before their time may have passed...they have so little time already...I wish I could let them enjoy it at least... Yes...Israfel had once put it that way. He had loved humans dearly and had often wept to see the effects of God's curse upon them...even when he himself lived among the cursed angels...

Poor litle Israfel...

Gabriel shifted experimentally, nearly blacking out from the pain. His vision swam as he was forced to stay motionless again. He was in no shape to battle these strange people. Should they choose to eliminate them, he would be at their mercy, helpless.

He grimaced, closing his eyes again…His ribs were broken since the pain burned all the more intensely when he gasped in surprise. Maybe more was broken… possibly a shoulder as the human had said--that would explain more of the splinters of pian, though perhaps it was just him imagination, but he was sure that his shoulder pained him less than his ribs, maybe even some problems with his hip or perhaps his leg…Not just a minor bruise on his hip for sure….there was a grating pain all through the bone whenever he moved it…fractured? Maybe not completely broken...The ribs were the main problem, and who knew what internal injuries he had since his ribs were gone. His lungs were still slowly filling with blood. That in and of itself was certainly not a good sign...There had to be more...It was almost impossible for there not to be...He'd landed hard. He might never be the same ever again…possibly even unable to walk—he could have spinal injuries…He couldn't feel his legs at all, only the pain in his hip…that numbess couldn't be good...

'Good. I came here to die after all.' he thought with strange morbid humor.

Sudden fear filled him. Israfel…where was he? What if he had survived? What if just...somehow...? What would happen to him? Would these humans find him too? What did they have in store for them? Would they kill him too if he was injured? Though Gabriel wasn't expecting to live, he had intended to protect Israfel from anything… 'perhaps...just perhaps...if he survived...'

He'd vowed to Israfel...vowed to protect him, cursing himself for his former apathy…and now…There was a harsh pang in his chest unrelated to his broken bones.

Gabriel closed his eyes. He would not show such emotion in front of these strangers…he already seemed weak...

The younger suddenly removed his hand from Gabriel, a strange expression to his face. Gabriel's eyes couldn't focus long enough to try to read or decipher it.

The older looking of the two young men crossed his arms and frowned at the younger. "Oh no, I know that look…I put up with your strays long enough, I don't need you to adopt some brainless ditz of a blond to keep as a pet. We don't have time for this. Put him out of his misery and lets get out of here. Even if he is one of the experiments, we can bring in a corpse, and he doesn't look like he's going to make it without a good deal of work...might not even make it anyway." The first boy looked uneasy. His hands fidgeted, but he kept them to himself. "He might survive though…"He mumured, the strange, self conscious expression still upon his face. "And he's upset..." He murmured. Gabriel felt himself swallowing instinctively, then remembered why he had neglected to do so before. Pain burned his throat once again.

"Not if we leave him."

The younger of the two glared at the other--whose face was now mostly-hidden under a black hood in an attempt to keep the thing he was affixing in his mouth out of the rain. There was a glow of flame beneath the darkness of the hood; the embered end of a cigarette between the man's lips… The reek of the smoke was the same as the stench surrounding the man. Gabriel would have gagged had he been a little less conscious of his every breath and how little of it he could waste.

"We could save his life...And if he IS one of the experiments, they'd be pissed at us if we didn't try as hard as we could to save him anyway...feel his aura...isn't that kinda weird? Isn't that worth taking a chance on? Besides..."

There was a pause. The cigarette's end glowed brighter with an intake of breath. Gabriel's eyes were only half open, glazed with pain. Even with that light he couldn't discern the features of the other man. "Yeah...his aura's kinda fishy...And...I know that look of yours..."

"Please…" The angel's cracked lips managed to hoarsely whisper. Both boys jerked and turned to stare. The first looked at him with surprise, but bent close as though to carry out his needs. The other looked at him with more distance to his gaze, stepping back a little, startled, a frown on his face as he seemed to eye the fallen angel, looking for possibility of a threat.

'as though I could be a threat like this…' Gabriel struggled with his burned, parched throat, struggling to speak above as rasping whisper. "Please…kill me if you must…but….at least tell me…where is…Israfel? Have you seen him?" His every breath was all the more cumulative agony to take in. His once elaborate garments torn to tatters over him, left his most concealing 'garment' as his long, now wet and wind tangled, pale blond hair. Tears threatened his eyes as he thought of that small broken body lying dead somewhere. He cared so little for anything at this moment of grief, that he would be glad to die in the wake of this disgrace if only he could learn that Israfel was safe. "Test him." The older brother muttered, too softly for the angel to hear.

The younger man knelt beside Gabriel, hesitantly touching his shoulder. Gabriel couldn't help jerking away as a pain blossomed under the touch, bringing fresh pain to himself as he took too sharp a breath and his vision swam again. The child sighed out the words as though they were a sort of excuse."…He's badly hurt Mizunagi. He can barely even breathe! …He's probably broken some bones--I don't know exactly what, I'm not you." The youth's eyes chanced upon the ragged crimson-lined cloak pulled free of Gabriel's body and twisted around a leg. He gently extracted it, causing an agonized hiss from Gabriel. The human almost reflexively shushed the angel, his voice soothing.

The archangel gazed in half lucid, muzzy surprise as the damp cloak was thrown over his shoulders covering him, yielding pain, but also some protection from the now-freezing rain—the human's eyes were dark, a strange almost olive color, golden and green, with striking dark rings in the iris. They glowed with ardent sympathy and strange power. Intriguing eyes…unlike any he had ever seen before, far too muddy a color to belong to an angel….

His vision clouded over slightly as one of the fingers accidentally nudged a painful fragmented bone. He flinched. The weight of the cloak...it...hurt...and the now pounding rain was becoming agonizing.

The human boy turned to his smoking companion. "We've got to help him. He can survive this…" The older boy raised an eyebrow. He paused a moment, his hands coming up to the cigarette. "He's talking to you. You want to keep him and you won't even answer his questions, poor sap looks like he's about to explode into tears or die on the spot and all you can do is tell me that he's hurt?" He said finally.

The angel couldn't answer any questions anyway. Doubling up, he coughed out blood onto the pavement once more, turning some of his now tangled blond hair speckled red. He gasped for breath. "I cannot fight you…I am at your mercy. There is…no reason…for you to try to…save me…" He managed to say anguishedly, gritting his teeth. His face was ashen white, drawn in intense pain and grief. 'Oh Israfel…Oh….dear Israfel…forgive me for failing you!' Tears spilled from his eyes. He doubled up again, spitting blood onto the concrete, and hissing in pain from his many injuries. He could barely breathe... "My life is fading…" He whispered. "Do...what you...must..."

The boy shook his head violently. "You can't just DIE." 'Mizu' made a sound of disdain. "He's probably too far gone already, Kuro, sometimes those little lost baby birds you like to rescue are just going to die…there's nothing we can do about it." the man turned his head so Gabriel could only vaguely see his expression as his eyes flickered distastefully over the wounded man. Gabriel turned his face away slowly, in intense pain. He was weeping silently, but with such an expression of anguish that he could have been screaming in agony. Kuro opened his mouth to protest. "When's the last time I've been wrong?" The younger boy said especially quietly.

There was a pause. Mizunagi drew his companion aside, speaking more quietly. "Leave him, Kuro, he could die anyway. We don't know anything about him. Use your head, this isn't some fairytale where you can play cinderella and dance and sing with the birds and the mice or something-" He was cut off by the younger man's eyes narrowing, and his voice rising. "saving someone's life isn't just 'dancing with the birds and mice', Mizunagi! I know he can live!"

The older man's black eyes narrowed as he stared over his cigarette. "You...know? Hmm...In that case, remember that we are part of a war…He could be our enemy." He replied after taking a drag. He looked pointedly at Gabriel. Gabriel weakly tilted up his chin from the concrete, his eyes glazed with pain and tears both, yet he tried to pull dignity into his gaze.

He gave the impression of being far older than he looked...Even Mizunagi seemed to notice the sad wizdom to the wounded angel's green eyes. He paused.

The younger boy glared hotly at the older. "I don't give a damn about this bloody war! You know that! He could be the devil himself for all I care. E.G.O. be damned to Hell, I'm NOT leaving him Mizunagi! We can save him! And you know it!" He gently pulled Gabriel's hair free of his own jacket he was now busy draping over him.

The injured angel's head fell back bonelessly. His face was nearly white. His mouth was open, panting in shallow breaths to stop the searing pain of his ribs. His eyes were the only thing that seemed to have the energy to move in his entire body, they looked at him wearily. Wide and green, and utterly helpless and delirious. "He's going into shock, look how pale he is. His body systems are shutting down." Mizunagi said stiffly. "And that blood he keeps coughing up--the breathlessness--that looks like a lung injury of some kind...Possibly punctured. Those ribs look pretty bad. There's blood on the torso, at least one's probably breaking the skin. He'd need a surgery quickly. You'll have to channel energy into him to give me enough time, you up for it? He's your little pet at this point." The younger man whispered to the half-conscious fallen angel, half nodding, half listening to his companions grim assessments. "We're going to help you. Hold on. Just hold on a bit longer."

Gabriel's body gave a set of shuddering convulsions as he was pulled off his chest onto his back. "Israfel…" He whispered between his whimpers.

Gabriel shifted slightly under the two pairs of hands "Isra...fel..." He whispered. "Don't worry, just focus on keeping yourself alive a bit longer." Kuro murmured.

"That's really nasty looking...Damn...wish we had a stretcher or something..." Mizunagi said, scowling.

Gabriel's eyes watered once again, a faint sob escaping his lips with the agony ridden movements of the young men.The features of the younger human seemed to warp and change...that blond hair...those eyes..."Israfel..." He whispered again. It was agony to lift his hands, agony to focus his eyes, but he managed to lay a hand on the vision's cheek. 'my beloved Israfel!'

Israfel seemed to flinch. Gabriel smiled a delirious smile "Take this. A last gift...the last...of my strength. Go..." He said in a faint, thin whisper, and with that he channeled the last dregs of his energy up into his healing powers. He let them wash over Israfel's form. The boy seemed to jump, his eyes widening.

Gabriel collapsed just as he heard the scream from the younger boy. "MIZU HURRY!" Hands clasped his head in a last gesture as the world went dark.

-o-O-o- 2 end -o-O-o-

Whatever...(That's the first word you say to a group of readers who have waited countless months for you to update? 'whatever'? What is WRONG with you? (beats self))

Um...yeah. Hi people. Here's where I rant and rave about all the hard work and brand apnking new weirdness I put into every fine, handcrafted chapter:

One small note in particular for the wonders about Hell. I did a LOT of research about the angels specifically and about religion in general. (I didn't just look up stuff for Israfel and leave it at that--I went through gnostic texts, Islamic background stuff, dictionaries of angels: the works!) The big thing the people liked to point out about Israfel was his kindness--specifically about how he looks down into Hell like six times or so each day and is so overcome by weeping, that God himself must stop the flow, lest it flood the earth. (Thus the angel Israfel became an emo little lond boy(shrug)) That's a pretty basic bit of info about Israfel that can be found just about everywhere you can get information on him, but Gabriel just barely glosses over it. The assumption is something like that. I might not go back to it, but I DO want to set a tone for Israfel straight off. Heh. Those of you who think Israfel's going to be fluffy and sugary like Tsukasa--you have another thing coming. I have a bit of a twist to him. 'Kind' doesn't mean sappy--at least not necessarily. I don't want to say TOO much, because I want it to be a little bit of a surprise (or possibly NOT a big surprise) but...well...I at least want it to be a little bit unexpected and...um...zesty? (Is that a good word for it?)

Well...alright. I at least don't want to have a static, basic 'I'm a carbon copy of Tsuka-chan!' personality. Israfel seems to have a slightly different air about him (at least to me he does--that might just be the research talking though and not the manga. Oh Horrors!) Though, one doesn't use words like 'my pride' unless one is either incredibly ignorant about the extent that pride can go to (and being an angel living in the shadow of the whole Lucifer thing, I think any angel would be especially conscious of the 'sin of pride', so that probably doesn't work) Or is either truly humble (er, I think that's more Gabriel), or is making a very definite point.

Perhaps what he does is sin, but he does it anyway, because it is what he beleives in...that sort of thing? (oh dear, I've almost given it all away...oh well...I still have a bit of personality held back--three cheers for the character-oriented NF!) Yeah...sure...

Um...for the record, the Gabriel-centered storyline is complete and total tripe thought up from my own mind. So to take care of the second big glaring questionmark over people's heads--the first being whether there is shounan-ai in this (That's answered later in this little rant, so you might want to keep reading)--I have no proof for that major AU where Kuro and Mizunagi are both there and happen to be related…I just noticed that they look insanely similar in the series, also (wait for it and this will make sense) Itsuki is an EGO, and it's marked for him that "he has the potential to become a strong mindbreaker"…so….do EGO's have a stronger connection to the mindbreakers than most other factions? Mizunagi's an EGO, why can't Kuro be the same but have his powers? (grin) I know it's pretty farfetched, but I thought it would be interesting. (ahh…excuses excuses)

By my storyline, Kuro hasn't awakened as a mindbreaker yet though, so I'll get into that later. He simply has strange powers and is kept underground (much like Haruna except he's not hooked to a machine), Every once in a while Mizunagi sneaks him into the open air--that's why he's out when they find Gabriel. As to what his powers are, I'll get into that later in the story. Um...and Mizunagi's apparent medical knowledge...er...You notice that everything in the fandom that has a Mizunagi/Lafayel interaction at least has him playing barbie nurse to the little featherduster? (even mine do that) I've given him a background as a researcher for EGO. More on that later too. He's rather ambitious, and a little different from the J.O. version, but he's younger, and he's still in his faction. Gabriel's about to seriously screw up his life, but he doesn't know that yet.

Yeah, um. Now that I look back on them with more mature and reasonable eyes (I started this story as a plotbunny like a year ago or something horrible like that--a lot of maturing takes place in that amount of time, especially at my tender age) They don't look QUITE as similar as they could...but at this point I've built so much on that little (okay, kind of BIG) thing, that I can't change it. And don't worry. I think they should interact like natural siblings while still staying as IC as I could make them(Fans: um...how can we NOT worry?) (sigh) Just...please...have mercy on me...I hate to come up with a personal opinion out of nowhere here, but I think once they get going a little more smoothly in their strangely interconnected way, nobody's really going to try to kill me over it--Though I'll probably get some shock NOW...Okay guys, I'm a little embarassed by it as it is! I can't BELIVE I thought this completely seamless before..argh...I'm such an idiot! (rages) but like I said, I built upon that assumed relationship too much to distance the two of them now. I could have them NOT be brothers, but...well...it wouldn't work as well, okay? ...it's possible, yes! But it would probably cause yet more delays while I rewrote the...oh...seven upcoming chapters I have typed up in first draft at least, PLUS the several seperately classified bits of things that tie into the storyline later. (Yes, my stories seem to get fairly complicated fairly quickly insofar as characters are concerned--or at least they seem to be doing that quite a bit lately...)

At any rate, it's not like it's the gospel truth all of a sudden…it's just an interesting (Really loony) idea of mine—It's still farfetched, but it has potential…And it's completely out of nowhere to most people becaue I'm usually quite the canonist about my storyline jumps, and I probably still WILL be after this...I'm sorry for putting you such a nasty flaming hoop for expectations (Yes, I wouldn't mind several rant and rave flames about how terrible I am--just be creative in your word choices and use some decent grammar, my dears. And try not to hold it against me so much that you don't read onward to see if I improve. Please? You don't even have to review after that, I just hate to end on a bad note in a person's mind.)

I think I said before that this is AU-ish and yet vaguely canon, and it really is in things like this. I suppose...I have to admit, I really am just having some fun. It would be a very very very similar universe, but still different if it matters to you that it takes "so many liberties". Forgive me. There's very little for me to work on, mind you. And if you can come up with a better idea I would be absolutely delighted if every single one of my readers spat in my eye (ouch--note to self, wear glasses in the future) and went off to read yours--and I would follow them in the utmost eagerness. This fandom's small. Any contribution, as long as you put all you can into it, is something I generally look forward to. So if I happen to suck, I would love if everyone, filled with righteous fury and passion, worked extra hard to upstage me and smite me with utter and complete ruin. Heh. Call me an altrustic catalyst. Oh, and if it really bothers you, don't hold back in how you talk to me about it. Critisism does me a lot more good than just a 'well I guess you did your best'. Yes, kindness is wonderful insofar as a personality goes (and admittedly, I try not to be critical in my reviews, when sometimes I think I really should be, so I apparently have some portion of it hidden away somewhere--I'm such a sap.) but kindness doesn't help me improve as much as honesty does. Of course, I might not do everything anyone tells me to (I'm subject to my own opinions) but I seriously will consider anything someone tells me is a problem or could be improved...even personal preferences--though I'm a little careful with those, especially in the realm of pairings. Sorry, but there isn't going to be a fluff-filled makeout session anytime soon in this fic--though I hesitate to say it has no possibility at all. Thus far, this fic is pairing neutral, though it has some suggestiveness occasionally, but that MIGHT change. Of course, even if it doesn't show up in THIS fic, I'm always looking for more ideas (ahem. Plot bunnies.), so who knows what I'm capable of! (yeah seriously, my summer oneshots are really starting to freak me out)

Oh...now that I'm done requesting bits of people's lifetimes in the form of reviews, All comment replies for this chapter (replies to previous chapter reviews) are thrown in at the end of the next, since these two chapters came out at once. I know come up with a new system for replying at the review page, but my internet time is strained enough as it is, so I'm unfortunately still going to follow my old regime of an end-of-chapter reply occasionally mixed in with a parody. Eventually I might pull it onto my Livejournal or something as seems to be a trend, but that's a lot of trouble to you guys just to read my words back, so I probably won't unless the situation becomes dire. (which it probably won't unless the fandom population explodes, because by 'dire' I mean roughly that the review responses delay my putting-up of a new chapter, signifigantly. Usually it doesn't.)

I apologize for any inconvenience. Please continue to enjoy my works, and go on to the next chapter--

Yes! Go on! Be free! Indulge yourselves! You know you want to!...or...um...if you don't have time...print out a copy! hint hint: next chapter feature's everyone's favorite blond bishie with wings ploofing from his ears, and that should more than cover for the loss of money to pay for toner and paper and screaming parents/siblings telling you to get off the computer. (I feel for you, by the way.)

-NF

PS: Autumn Seasons greetings to my favorite marqueeing onion squad representative, KS-sama, and the newly formed G.E.E.K. faction! (flies frilly apron in salute) You guys get a discount on my word count for responses if you review! (Offer not valid for those suffering from itchy ears or born in the arctic and raised by wild yaks.)