"WHY IS THIS SO DELICIOUS?!" Gabriel shouted in question as he quite viciously tore away at his food.
Even though they had just eaten during their meeting, due to all of the sudden excitement everyone found their appetites were still unsated. This applied especially to Gabriel who had never felt hunger before, yes he had eaten a few times and had drank wine over the course of his life, but due to his ethereal form he never knew what it was like to calm a desperate stomach. Hence why as of right now he tore away at hearty helping of steak that was made for him by the hotel's kitchen staff, it also explained why everyone for a few moments looked at him in awe while in their minds they compared him to a starved animal.
"Gabriel please slow down!" Lucifer exclaimed though with a smile and small laugh, as this was a side of his normally stoic brother he never thought he'd see.
"I'm sorry..." He apologized thought it was a bit muffled due to the food in his mouth, "But this feels so good, is this what it is always like to fill one's stomach?" He asked.
"You should try it while you're baked out of your mind." Angel Dust suggested with a smirk.
"Baked?" He inquired as he wasn't sure the spider demon was using that in the way he thought.
"NO, you are NOT getting my brother high!" Lucifer told him firmly with the most disapproving fatherly look he could muster.
"Okay daddy~" Angel Dust replied as a counter, which caused Cherri and Blitzo both to burst into laughter.
Feeling his blood begin to boil as this horny tarantula was ruining his reunion with his brother, before Lucifer could say or do anything else his wife put a hand on his shoulder to help keep him calm.
"Don't let him get a rise out of you dear." She whispered to him as he let out a sigh.
"You're right..." He replied as he refocused on the conversation, "So Gabriel, now that you've got some food in your new stomach do you feel ready to continue answering our questions?" He asked.
"Yes, but to be honest I don't know how much more I can provide, as I said only recent did the Dark One use me again to try and defeat the Slayer, and I've already shared with you the most important details I can think of." Gabriel answered.
"Anything at all will help us, or at the very least just give us a greater picture of what's going on." He told him before looking to the others, "Now then, does anyone have any specific questions they'd like answered?" He asked.
In response to this Velvet shot up from her seat with her hand raised, combined with the intense look on her face it was clear that this was important.
"Yes Velvet?" He called on her to give her the go ahead.
"Is Sir Pentious there?!" She asked in a frantic worry as she brought her hand back down to her
side, "Vega says that he's there after he...well...exploded...but I want to be sure!" She exclaimed.
"So that's the snake demon's name." Gabriel said which caused a smile to spread across her face.
"SO HE IS THERE! THAT MEANS WILL CAN SAVE HIM TOO!" She shouted in joy and
relief.
"That...might be a bit difficult unfortunately." He told her.
"Why's that?" Vox inquired joining in on the conversation, as this was just as important to him.
"From what I could tell he seems to have been made the head of their demon production, besides adding what they called improvements to the body that served as my prison, he also created an entirely new demon to try and kill the Slayer." He revealed.
"Does...that mean he's joined them?..." Cherri asked with surprising concern.
"Not at all, if anything I think his torture is even worse than mine, be rest assured that he did not betray all of you willingly nor is he allies with the Dark One, just as I was made to serve so to is he, bound in a sickening abomination of flesh and metal that makes him a
puppet." He answered.
Though hearing he was suffering wasn't good news, Vox, Velvet, and Cherri of all people were still relieved to know where he was exactly, and that he wasn't suddenly in cahoots with Doom's ruler.
"Who's next?" Lucifer asked to keep things moving, the first hand being raised in response belong to Moxxie, "Go ahead." He told him.
"Thank you sir." He replied before clearing his throat to make sure he wouldn't screw up, "I don't mean to be rude or insult you in any way when with my question, but I've been thinking and something doesn't really make sense." He said.
"Oh?" Gabriel inquired curious as to what he was referring to.
"You say that your soul was in a limbo, sort of like you were in a coma up until now right?" He asked.
"Correct, I do not know how or where it was housed, but it must have been somewhere close by this Sir Pentious as even in this state I could hear somethings, though I wouldn't really begin to understand my surroundings nor have a full grasp of anything until they gave me a new body." Gabriel clarified.
"Okay, well if that's all true then how come you didn't react at all just now to Vega? Did Pentious or the Dark One or someone else say something about him being back?" He asked.
Hearing that everyone's eyes all widened as they hadn't realized that themselves, as Vega had revealed his identity AFTER Gabriel was captured. This caused all of them to look to the archangel with a shared silent demand for answers, which was so jarring that it managed to unsettle him, but only by a small bit.
"Oh yes, that does seem rather odd doesn't it?" He asked them receiving nods from them in
response, "Well, the truth is I didn't appear here in the hotel's lobby when Abaddon opened the portal, which made sense given I doubt they open many portals if any at all and they've never been here, so where I came out after I had gone through was a completely random location." He explained.
"And that answers Moxxie's question how?..." Loona questioned.
"It doesn't, but the rest of my story will." He assured as he recounted his arrival.
About An Hour Ago...
Stepping out of the portal and watching it close behind him, Gabriel took a look at his surroundings to try and determine where Abaddon had placed him in Lucifer's circle. And while to his benefit it appeared as though he was in some kind of lobby, it wasn't that of the hotel's or any other place he recognized. However, as he continued to look he soon looked towards the ceiling, where he found hanging from it was a banner with a surprising message written on it.
"Welcome patrons to the Slayer Museum..." He read aloud with a look of confusion, "They made a museum for him?" He questioned.
Though he was curious of what that truly entailed there were far greater matters he needed to focus on, so he turned around and located a set of twin doors nearby. In doing so he walked over to them and tried to pull or push them open, only to find that they were locked.
"Oh no..." He muttered to himself as he shook the doors a bit, "Of all the places I was to be sent it HAD to be somewhere that is locked!" He exclaimed as he began shaking them more violently.
Now one would assume that Gabriel could just break the doors, after all even with his soul currently housed in a body he WAS still an Archangel. Unfortunately the repairs and construction work Lucifer's circle received after the invasion were handled by the Maykrs and Sentinels, who among all their accolades were well accomplished engineers. This in turn meant that instead of making everything like it was on earth, such as the materials used and the same methods of making things like doors, walls, and other such objects for buildings, they used their own which were superior in everyway. So even if Gabriel were to hulk out in a sense and go ballistic on these doors, all he would accomplish is exhausting himself.
"Why...do things...like this...keep happening..." He said as he began to lightly bang his head against them, accepting that this approach was entirely futile.
Letting out a frustrated sigh he released the doors' handles and turned back around, his mind now trying to figure a way passed this new obstacle.
"It's alright...it's alright...this is a FAR less daunting task than getting the Slayer out of Doom..." He said as he put a hand to his chin, "Now, my knowledge of mortal societies which Lucifer's is based around is quite limited, however it would make sense that the keys to these doors must be nearby." He reasoned just as a rather bleak thought came to mind, "Though...it is also possible that whoever runs this place has the keys with them...and if they aren't here...then I'm stuck..." He realized followed by a groan, "Slayer...I am forever grateful to you for all that you have done then and now...but I swear I am going to strangle you when we
meet again..." He promised.
Deciding his best option was to walk around to try and find the museum's curator, on the plus side it meant that he could satiate his curiosity for this place. Picking up a pamphlet from the information desk as it had a map on it, while unfortunately not telling him where the curator's office might be it gave him some kind of direction. Walking out of the lobby and passed the desk, he decided if he was going to be here for some time just aimlessly wandering around, he may as well check out the most interesting of the exhibits. One in particular already grabbed his interest, as on the map it was labeled as "The Slayer's Story".
Even though he had done his own research into him during the whole heavenly meetings fiasco, he did wonder how his official museum might portray his life. Thankfully it was of the closer ones near the lobby, which made sense as guests would more than likely want to know how he became what he was. Needing only to walk a short distance before reaching it, he discovered it was actually a long hallway filled with a variety of different specific exhibits, each all portraying a scene from his life.
"Hm, how fun." He joked as he started walking passed them, having to look to both his left and his right as they were on both sides.
Seeming to start on the left and go to the right was the order of how his story was being told, as the very first display showed an impressively detailed statue of him fighting off demons on Mars.
From there each display showed something he already knew from his own research, and whole there was some kind of device in front of each which he assumed would tell you about the display if you interacted with it, he didn't bother as he knew the context himself. But that changed as he neared the end of the hall, for soon he saw displays depicting the far more recent events of his life, such as when he first arrived in Lucifer's circle or when Angel beat the ever loving shit out of Valentino.
"That...does not seem appropriate for children..." He commented as the pimp demon's statue was scarily detailed in its destruction.
Continuing on he saw more displays like this, they even had one of when the invasion happened where both he and the Slayer fought off the Cyber Demon so everyone could escape. Admittedly this was the first one that made him want to know more, as he wondered how described this event.
"When the demons of Doom appeared the Slayer fought them with all his might, despite their numbers and the intimidating size of the Cyber Demon he as always was not harmed or hindered by their assault, however the fiendish titan attempted to take aim at those who fled the area, this is when the archangel of justice summoned his spear and gave his aid, together both the Slayer and the archangel ensure everyone escaped to Urdak safely." The device in front of the display told him in a woman's voice, after he pressed the button that was attached to it.
Feeling a smile both at the credit and that they didn't include the part where he was struck down, Gabriel savored this moment for a few seconds before resuming his walk. This is when however his knowledge came to an end, and as the next few displays came into full view he was brought to a stop. Near the very end there were two displays that stuck out in particular, for besides the Slayer standing in them there as another figure, one he thought he'd never seen again.
"F...Father?..." He questioned in a low whisper.
Slowly approaching the first display that had a statue of his parent's visage, he pressed the button its connected device to hear what it had to say.
"After arriving in the heavenly realm of Urdak, the Slayer along with Lord Lucifer, the realm's ruler the Khan Maykr, and her attending seraphim Samur set themselves to figuring out a solution to the invasion, that is when the creator himself appeared before them and revealed that a plan had been made in anticipation of this outcome, which involved the creation of a brand new suit for the Slayer to wear, one powered solely by his own soul and was miraculously better than his current suit in every conceivable way." The voice said.
"What?...No...that can't be it!" He exclaimed as he looked at the device, "That doesn't explain anything! The creator...my father hadn't appeared in countless ages! And only after I was captured he decided to show up?! That doesn't make sense!" He shouted.
"HEY!" Another voice called out nearby, followed by the sounds of running footsteps.
Looking to his left at the end of the hallway, soon he would see a woman appear in the entryway dressed in armor. This armor he knew the moment he saw it was made by Sentinel hands, however its design made it resemble what the Exterminators had worn. As for the woman herself she actually looked human in the face, though it wasn't just the armor she wore that gave away she was anything but, as she had horns growing from her head and bovine like ears.
"Who the hell do you think you are being-" She was shouting until she stopped mid sentence, as she saw who was standing in the hallway.
"Oh, I'm sorry miss." Gabriel apologized as he realized how disruptive he had just been, "I didn't mean to shout as I did, I was just surprised by what this device told me is all." He explained.
"You...you're...you're Gabriel..." She muttered in disbelief, her eyes as wide as plates and her body lightly shaking from the shock.
"Ah, so you know who I am?" He inquired.
"O-Of course!" She exclaimed as she hurried over to him, "You helped everyone escaped when the demons attacked! You're Lucifer's brother! AND you're supposed to be trapped in Doom!" She listed while making fists with her hands, "So how are you here? How is that possible? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!" She shouted as she was overcome by her emotions.
"As do I, perhaps we can offer each other some clarity?" He suggested which caused her to nod her head rapidly in response.
Over the next few minutes they answered each other's questions, and by the end both were blown away by what they heard. For Gabriel he learned that Vega was actually his father, why it didn't say this in the display is because it would take WAY too long to explain it to any of the patrons. Also they didn't want to pull the attention away from the Slayer, since this museum was meant to focus on him and him alone. As for the woman, who he learned was named Gretta, she was told everything that happened after the invasion from his perspective, including the fact that Valentino was still alive.
"HE'S FUCKING WHAT?!" Angel Dust shouted out angrily as he stood up from his seat.
Being caught off guard by this especially since his chair was pushed to the ground, though everyone was startled by his interruption of Gabriel's story they weren't surprised by his reaction.
"Oh, right, you had apparent history with him from what I could gather from the
display." The archangel recalled.
"Oh yeah, HISTORY is ONE WAY to fucking put it!" He exclaimed as his hands balled into fists, "Let me guess, that Dark One was so impressed by how badly his bitch ass got beat?! Cause if so I'll be more than happy to give him a fucking encore!" He told him.
"Angel." Katie spoke up while rising from her seat, "I know that you're probably burning on the inside and you have every right to be, but right now we need to stay calm okay?" She said while putting a hand on his shoulder.
Even though he knew she was right, there was a part of him that wanted to scream at her to shut the hell up. Of course he would NEVER do that to her or anyone else, but the rage he felt in his soul was just so passionate, it was hard for him to calm down after hearing that. But as said he knew she was right, plus he didn't want to make things weird or to concern the others with how mad he was, so with a deep breath that he honestly struggled to get out to help calm him down, he sat back down after Cherri helped put his chair back into place.
"Sorry guys..." He apologized once he was seated, both Katie and Cherri doing their best to comfort him.
"You have no reason to be sorry Angel." Vagatha told him as she too wasn't happy to hear this, "Can't believe out of every fucking bastard to still be around he is." She said.
"Sadly we can't be too surprised, he was kept in the Soul Harvester alongside me and Pentious, so it makes sense when they broke out he went with them." Vox explained.
"True, but as Katie said we have more important things to be focusing on, speaking of which as you were Gabriel." Lucifer told them while urging his brother to continue.
"To be honest there isn't much after that." He admitted as he put a hand to the back of his head, "We continued to talk to each other and fill in what gaps we could, then I told her I needed to find all of you but I could because the doors were locked, that is uh...well...when she reminded me that I could easily just open a portal to the hotel..." He said while averting his gaze.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blitzo burst into laughter once he heard that, which only worsened the archangel's embarrassment.
"Blitzo!" Stolas said in a scolding manner.
"Oh come on that's fucking FUNNY!" The Imp replied as he continued to laugh. "Why didn't you think to do that in the first place Gabriel?" Lilith questioned.
"Because I had tried to open a portal to Doom back in Abaddon's circle, but when it didn't work I assumed it was due to my new body or because my powers hadn't fully returned, but I know now it is because father separated it from the rest of creation, even going so far as to add a barrier not long after for additional insurance." He explained.
"That's fair." Moxxie said before looking to his still laughing boss with an angry expression, "And will you knock it off already?" He requested.
"Allow me!" Alastor offered just before his shadow moved from the floor to Blitzo, where it then wrapped around his mouth like a snake.
"MMMPH!" He sounded as it startled him followed by him trying his best to remove it. "Ah, thank you." Moxxie said with a smile as the silence was music to his ears.
For the next few seconds everyone stayed quiet and just watched Blitzo try to remove the shadow from his face, which besides being one of the funniest things they'd ever seen, was also very educational. How that was is the shadow wasn't like what you'd expect from say a cartoon, it wasn't a tangible object that he could actually grab onto in any way, it was no different from their own shadows apart from being a great deal darker.
"Anyway." Lucifer spoke again after they shared that nice little break together, "Now that Moxxie's question has been answered and then some, does anyone else have a specific question for Gabriel before we move on?" He asked.
Taking another moment to stay silent as they all thought about it, while they did have questions they wanted answered by this point Gabriel had shared all he could, so if they did ask anything else it'd just send them in circles.
"So that's a no then?" Lucifer asked a little after.
"Seems like it, pretty much what I think we're all wondering is where do we go from here? As well as how do we find Will's friend?" Angel Dust asked accompanied by a few yeses and yeahs.
"Our best bet would be to start with Abaddon, after all they may have very well been the last person to see them, I didn't ask them then since my mind was a bit frazzled." Gabriel answered.
"Agreed, Abaddon right now knows more than us regarding this mysterious demon, me and Gabriel will try and get them to speak with us though it will be next to impossible." Lucifer said.
"So what do we do then while you two go catch up with your sibling?" Loona asked.
"I know this may sound absurd, but as it stands we really can't do all that much, hopefully father won't be much longer in Urdak and when he comes back we'll have more we can do, but until then besides speaking with Abaddon we just have to wait." He answered.
Even though they all hated it they knew he was right, which really fucking sucked because they now had a chance at getting Will back, and they didn't want to waste any time hopefully achieving that. But now it all relied on what the Maykrs and Vega could do to help, so in the meantime they decided to finish eating and catching up with Gabriel, all the while Blitzo continued to "fight" against the shadow for their amusement.
"...Well...this is awkward..." The Wretch said while sitting down, having done so quite a while ago.
True to his word as he and the Khans continued to ask each other questions to learn more about themselves, they progressively grew sadder with each of his answers. To be fair even if he didn't warn them what REALLY did they expect? Everything about him defied both expectation and logic, what was once a mindless servant to the most evil entity in creation now tortured himself in every possible sense, as he hated what he was and what he had done. Then you combine this with everything he had never experienced such as dreams, tasty confections, simple comforts like smelling a nice fragrance or resting in a comfortable bed, in short his life was nearly as tragic as the Slayer's, possibly even more so.
For while yes the Slayer had endured so much loss there WAS a period where his life was normal and he was as happy as he could be, but for the Wretch the moment his life truly began when his sentience came to be, it was nothing but isolation and survival. This eventually wore down the Khans, to the point their forms dissipated and they fell silent, leaving him alone in the matrix. But they didn't do this because they didn't want to speak to him anymore or something else as equally ridiculous, they just didn't want to make him say anything more as they feared he was uncomfortable. Ironically though that is what made him feel uncomfortable, for now all he could do was sit there patiently until he was removed from the soul sphere.
"...I wonder if it just feels like it's been a fair amount of time...or if something came up and they just left me standing there..." He continued trying his best to pass the time in some way.
Letting out a sigh while lightly tapping his claws against his armor, as he looked to his feet he noticed that they were suddenly disappearing at a rapid rate.
"Finally." He breathed out in relief as more of him faded away.
.
.
.
"I wonder if he's angry with us?" The Khan asked to no one in particular, as Vega slowly helped remove the Wretch from the sphere.
Given that this was his first time doing something like this, in addition to how long he'd been connected, Vega wanted to be absolutely certain nothing went wrong as he disconnected. This is why Samur also was lending his aid, each of them grabbing onto one of the demon's arms and pulling them off as carefully as they could. Thankfully nothing did go wrong, which was confirmed when they saw the light of the Wretch's visor come on showing his soul was fully back in his body.
"I am so sorry." Vega apologized once it was done, both he and Samur standing nearby just in case he felt weak in the knees.
Taking a few seconds to stretch his muscles as they had gotten somewhat stiff, after he made sure himself that nothing was out of order the Wretch looked to him.
"You have no reason to be sorry creator, I should have told you I've never done something like this before." He said.
"You did." Samur told him.
"I did?" The Wretch questioned as he put a hand to his head, "Huh, perhaps being connected for long has messed with my head a bit, or it could be from how much I and the Khans spoke with each other." He suggested.
"On that matter how did it go? Were you able to establish a relationship with each other?" The Khan asked.
"Well...it's rather complicated..." He answered confusing them greatly.
"How could it be complicated? What did kind of conversation did you have?" Samur questioned.
"It started off as I expected and we did become friendly with one another, but since I couldn't remove myself from the sphere we were then forced to find something else to talk about, which led to them asking things about my life which then devolved into figuring out how many pleasures I've never felt, and for what I assume has been about ten or so minutes I sat in silence for they were so distraught by what I told them they fell silent." He explained.
In response to this for the second time today Vega let out a long drawn out groan, which caught him by surprise as just like with Maykrs he didn't expect that.
"Everything is on fire..." He said slowly as he put his hands on his face, "My family and friends are getting involved...the Khans are upset...Will's still in Doom...things were so much simpler when I was a computer program who didn't know so much..." He carried on.
"Should...should we say something?" The Wretch asked the Maykrs in a whisper. "Honestly we're just as dumbfounded as you are." Samur answered.
"Father, may I make a suggestion?" The Khan requested. "Of course..." He replied.
"It's clear that you are feeling burdened by stress, why don't you go relax in the garden for a while as we continue working? Then when you feel ready you can rejoin us?" She said.
"...That...sounds really nice..." He admitted as he removed his hands from his face, "Thank you, I'm sorry I am such a mess right now." He apologized.
"Pay no mind to that right now father, you just go and have a nice break from all of this insanity." She urged.
Listening to her they all watched him slowly leave the room and head for the garden, still amazed that he of all people could be affected so severely by stress.
"And that is why there will be no more Khans after you." Samur told her with a smile.
"Oh no, don't go bringing that up right now." She replied while giving him a stern glare, "We need to focus on making sure when father rejoins us that everything is under complete control, we shall do this by deciding what jobs we all should have at this time." She explained.
"I'll go back to the creator's chamber and begin work on the Soul Cube." The Wretch said. "That's what the device will be called?" Samur asked earning a nod for confirmation.
"Yes, however we will need the aid of his child Azrael, she is just as essential to its success as the Khans are." He informed.
"Then I shall go and see her, admittedly she has been rather reclusive for some time now, as the saying goes the apple does not fall far from the tree" Samur said referring to when Vega did the same after the war happened.
"Very good, as for myself I will attend to Lucifer and the others, ensure that father's wish for them to be kept at distance as much as possible is maintained." The Khan told them.
With their roles decided they all went their separate ways, with Samur making his exit via a portal to Azrael's realm.