Gabe stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands. He had spent the day repairing Heaven with his siblings. He sighed when he saw how much they still had left to do. The collapsed buildings, the destroyed nests, the torn up streets. His eyes wandered lazily over the angels in front of him until they fell on his two charges, sitting tiredly on a pile of rubble. Gabe saw the miserable, tired expressions on their faces and decided that they needed some cheering up. Gabe thought about what he could do and realised where they should go. He knew Cas and Balthazar had never been to the garden and Gabe knew that it was the one place in Heaven left undamaged. After all, their father would not be too happy if the place which started everything was destroyed.
Cas and Balthazar looked up as they saw their older brother coming over to them. Gabe knelt down and asked them, "Would you two like to go somewhere that you've never been before?".
Cas and Balthazar looked up, excitement igniting in their eyes. "Where are we going Gabby? Where haven't we been?" Cas asked excitedly.
Gabe answered, "It's a special place Cassie. Only a few angels have been there. It's called Eden."
Balthazar asked quickly, "Are we really going there Gabe? I didn't think that we were allowed to!"
In response Gabe raised his eyebrows and said, "Well... You're with me now and I say we can go. So... You guys ready?" Balthazar and Cas scrambled to their feet and followed their older brother quickly, all semblances of tiredness disappearing from them. Gabe laughed quietly to himself at how much energy Cas and Balthazar still seemed to have after a day of hard work.
The sounds slowly faded behind the three angels as they walked away. Cas and Balthazar were bubbling with excited chatter, but fell silent as Eden came into view. Even Gabe, who had often sought refuge there, was amazed by its beauty. The three angels reverently entered the garden and took in its breathtaking beauty. The sight of the vibrant, luscious and whole plants was a welcome relief to the angels who had only seen broken piles of white rubble for ages now.
Out of nowhere an older looking angel appeared. "Hello Gabriel," the angel said, "I see that you have bought some more angels here."
"Hello Joshua," Gabriel replied, "This is Cas and Balthazar, my two charges. I thought that they could use a break from what has happened out there, so I brought them to see this."
Joshua looked thoughtfully at the young angels and said, "I have heard a lot about you two. You must be very special to Gabriel for him to bring you in here. This is usually where he comes alone to relax and to get away from everyone." The two younger angels looked up curiously at Joshua, never having seen him before.
Turning to Gabe he said, "I shall let you go. If you need me, you know how to find me." With that Joshua disappeared leaving the angels alone again.
Gabe turned to face Cas and Balthazar and said, "Are you ready to keep going?" The two angels nodded and together they set off again.
Balthazar looked up at Gabe, "Gabe, who is Joshua?" he asked.
"The angel who just spoke to you, obviously," Gabe replied with a grin.
Balthazar groaned and rolled his eyes, "I know that, but what does he do? Why have we never seen him before?"
Gabe glanced down at Balthazar, "well," he started, "Joshua is special. He looks after the garden. But not only that, he also talks to Father. From what I hear, the two are quite close. But," he said hurriedly, trying to answer Balthazar's next question, "that's all I know about him and I don't know how true the whole talking to Dad thing is."
Balthazar closed his mouth and nodded, his interest already turning away from the conversation and towards the delights which surrounded them in the garden. Gabriel simply smiled, amused at how quickly their interest in topics jumped.
Before long the angels had reached the centre of Eden and their eyes fell upon a giant tree which rose up in front of them. The tree was a beautiful contrast with luscious green stemming off a deep chocolate brown. Gabriel's face relaxed into a soft smile as he sunk to the ground in his favourite spot. A soft, springy, mossy spot under the shade of the thick leaves. Cas and Balthazar, however decided to play around the base of the tree flying through the low-lying branches. Gabe watched for a while, making sure they weren't going to hurt themselves – especially Cas who couldn't fly well – before he shut his eyes and allowed himself to relax, the worries of the day fading into the back of his mind, the only sounds being the occasional giggles of his young angels and the soft sounds of leaves blowing in the breeze.
Cas and Balthazar, upon wearing themselves out, flew back to the ground and nestled into Gabe's side, spreading their wings over him. Gabe's eyes slowly opened and seeing the two exhausted angels he stood up and said, "Well, I guess I better get you two home to bed." Cas and Balthazar climbed tiredly onto Gabe's shoulders and held on tightly as he flew them back to the nest, both of them now being too tired to fly back on their own.
Not long later, Gabe landed and laid his two brother's down, smiling as they curled around each other, their wings looking like ying and yang, one black wing curled around one silvery wing. He suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over him and instead of going back out to his other siblings he laid down beside his brothers and closed his eyes, draping a golden wing over the two fledglings. Stretching out, to get comfortable, Gabe comforted himself by thinking that the other angels would do fine without him and with that worry gone he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Author's note: Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with this story. I hope you're enjoying it and as always, let me know what you think!