Disclaimers: John Constantine and Gabriel belong to Vertigo/DC Comics.
Gabriel watches.
He sees past the weakness of the flesh, and the man is so very weak. Even in sleep he is tired, used, bent beneath a halo of nicotine, breath thick with labor and liquor. Sheets tangle through limbs, white on white, and Gabriel remembers a gurney, and a boy.
I knew your heart then, John Constantine; before earthly vices and artful delusions. The fear was pure, son. The fear was of Him.
Twenty years of deeds exploited as bargaining chips has changed nothing. The price of salvation is simple faith and Gabriel created in perfection, without flaw or free will marvels at how one can know God and yet be so far from His love.
Arrogant creature. Opportunist mage. Man.
They frustrate him endlessly, these children, the chosen of God. But he, with heart of salt and glass, so bitter and brittle, frustrates him most of all.
I know you, John.
The winter wears too long. He will force this seed to break, and bloom. He will spark potential to realization, to righteousness.
Gabriel chooses.