Disclaimer: I own very little.
A/N: This chapter shall contain some lower angel scheming (we finally find out their rather silly names, woohoo!) and a tiny bit of Raphael/Gabriel.
BTW, myotismon13, you don't happen to go around with the same name at LiveJournal, do you? Because if not, I just stumbled over your namesake at Mad Prophets... (It's going to be fun playing Michael in a GO RPG, though it's certainly also going to be strange to play Michael/Raphael... Never mind seeing Gabriel with Beliel...)
Chapter 11:
Rumoured Results
And rumours started flying around the Heaven.
Like rumours often do, they took many shapes and forms on their way from one angel to another. Despite the fact that angels don't lie -- well, not too often, anyway -- some exaggerrated about the details involved, some added their own assumptions that must be true to the story, and some just plain misunderstood anything. In the end the first ones to tell these rumours wouldn't have recognized them.
However, the general idea was all too clear. And the idea, well, it was a little story about a demon and an angel. A Demon and an angel who loved each other, to be exact. And the demon battled a hellish beast to save his angelic lover, and then prayed to call an archangel to heal the said lover's injuries. This story was told with emotions ranging from horrified fascination to awed disgust, leaning more to fascination wherever this story was told containing the detail that they were to be left in peace as ordered by Him.
Unfortunately to everyone involved, the version that reached the ears of certain lower angels did not contain this crucial little detail. Therefore their reaction was more doubtful than anything else.
"Perhaps we should reconsider our plan?" asked one in slight hesitation. "If it is true that Raphael himself healed the angel, and that not even Michael tried to smite the demon, it might not be our place to do anything. Surely the archangels would have done something if the situation was so despicable."
"But you heard them earlier!" another exclaimed. "Uriel did certainly not approve of the situation. I do not know why Michael would tell him to allow it to continue, but it is clear that this is not acceptable. Of course Raphael healed the angel; after all, the angel Aziraphale has committed no sin in loving, the only one sinning being the demon who seduced him in such a horrendous way. Had the angel sinned, he would have Fallen. It is not our job to judge him -- but it is indeed our task to stop him from Falling because of the demon!"
"But Anael," the third one spoke, addressing the second one, "this demon slew a fullgrown Hellbeast, so he must be powerful. Are you sure we are capable of destroying him? The rumours have that he managed to set a sword on unholy fire. Only the cherubim and seraphim are able to inflict fire on a sword, and this Crowley must be a demonic equivalent of the higher angels. I do not think we should try to face a demon prince in a battle, even if there are three of us; surely we would be all slain."
"That's not a problem, Lyriel," the one called Anael responded. "After all, all demons are vulnerable to holy powers, no matter how powerful they are. Surely we'll find some holy objects to face him with, and blessing water shouldn't be too had. We'll destroy him, just you see."
"I still have a bad feeling about this," the first angel muttered. "Maybe we really shouldn't..."
"Oh, don't be chickening out on me now, Unsurel!" exclaimed Anael. "If the higher-ups don't understand what needs to be done, well, the more reason for us to do it. Our agreement still stands!"
And so, the three angels did not abandon their plans despite the rumours flying wild.
Raphael slowly opened his eyes. The headache that had started just before his falling asleep had returned, although it wasn't as intense as before. Sighing, he grimaced, knowing that he couldn't just will it away. It wasn't a physical reaction but rather a spiritual one, a result of using so much of his power at a time. He hadn't had to do such amount of healing for a long time now; the rare times angels were hurt by hellfire nowadays they were dead before he got to them almost without exception. If it hadn't been for Crowley and the demon's desperate whisper, he wouldn't have even known about Aziraphale's injuries in time, leave alone been there to heal them. But Crowley had prayed, and Raphael had heard, and now he had a headache. At the worst times he'd healed a lot more without any problems, but even though the headache was annoying, he wouldn't have for a minute exchanged this time of relative peace for being too used to healing. Although he could have taken some more sleepiness any day.
Just then he felt a cool hand gently brushing his forehead, and he forced his eyes to open. Looking up, he saw Gabriel sitting on the edge of the bed, a beaming smile on the other archangel's face.
"You're awake, I see," said Gabriel, his melodic voice soothing Raphael's headache a bit. "That is good. You've slept almost a whole day -- not that I blame you, of course. Nobody who saw Aziraphale's injuries could blame you for feeling exhausted." With a gentle smile, he added, "You did a wonderful job, love."
"Of course I did," Raphael muttered. "Whenever don't I?" He then sighed. "My head feels like it's about to explode, though. I much preferred the sleepiness as a symptom of power exhaustion."
"Oh, my poor dear." Now, the brunet archangel leant down to place a gentle kiss on his lover's forehead. Then he smiled down at Raphael. "There. Feeling any better now?"
"Actually... I do." Then, a rather mischievous smirk crossed Raphael's face, and the next thing Gabriel knew he was pulled down on top of the other archangel. Looking at his surprised lover, the red-haired celestial being continued, "You know, the headache won't go away... But perhaps between you and me we could find a way to keep me distracted enough not to notice it?"
A smile rose to Gabriel's lips once again. "Really, my dear," he murmured, "you appear to already have something in your mind." Then he used his lips for placing a kiss on those of his lover instead of smiling or speaking. Of course, Raphael wasn't about to argue.
Next chapter:
Some more C/A. Finally.