AN: honestly, I fangirl over you guys too lol! I'm happy you liked the Nisroc and Paul fluff! 3
Song listened to: 'Youre gonna make it' by KJ-52 Ft. Blanca Reyes.
They were silent for a long while, the Prince and Morningstar had bent over on themselves, hands pressed over their faces. The Messenger was staring at the stone table, at no spot in particular, lost in thought. And the Healer looked sad, he looked sadder then they'd ever seen from him, it had been him, after all, that had taught the Mindbreaker what she knew.
He'd raised a monster.
She had told him it was to alleviate the pain of loss and he had shown her. He had been so distracted by his own emotions, his own anger, to see what had been happening to his little brothers and sister at the hand of a monster. And to think that she had used it, nearly used it, against fledglings made him feel much more worse then he already felt, it broke his heart that his teachings had been used in such a vile manner, and it made him want to bury his face in his hands and cry.
Their brokenness was on him.
Their terror, despair, night terrors, it was all on him.
Michael spoke again, before he could, something of which he was thankful for. He had looked back up to the young ones sitting across from him, the Morningstar's shoulders were shaking, and the little fledgling in his lap could do nothing more then stare down at her own hands.
"There are no words I can express to tell you how sorry I am that this has happened."
Gabriel nodded mutely, finally lifting his eyes from the table, and they met those of his young protégé. Zaveriel met his gaze for a moment before looking down again, averting his eyes from his masters, opting in staring down at his lap instead.
"Jezaniah, little one, you were held prisoner there?"
The fledgling nodded silently, his eyes peering into the archangels, not having looked away from him once he started speaking. It broke the Prince's heart, the little fledgling was so small, he was innocent, and had been locked in a cage as though he was some sort of animal.
"Me and 'Keela. We was kept together."
He spared the fledgling on his younger brothers knee a look, one that she returned, and it was the only confirmation he needed when she looked back down at her hands. Nisroc was looking up at them, his eyes the only thing visible from behind his hands, the compassionate Captain was breaking at the seams hearing this from those so young.
"Did she say why she kept you?"
Jezaniah shook his head, having said all he wanted to say, and turned to hide in Jeremiah's shoulder instead. Akeelah clenched her fingers, unclenched, and tightened them into little fists again before reaching out to tug on the oldest archangels sleeve in order to gain his attention.
"I know. I heard her talkin'", they all turned to look at her, the fledgling was quite when she needed to be, and they often wondered just how much she knew that they didn't, "She said she was gonna get rid of our weakness. Make us better. Make us follow orders so we could fight."
Child soldiers. Naomi had attempted to create mindless child soldiers and it had been allowed to happen right under their noses. The blame for the suffering that these young ones suffered was theirs to bare, and theirs alone.
Paul curled his arms around himself, "She did it to a lot of us. She'd strap you to the cold beds, you couldn't move, and then she'd drill into your head. I can't…I can't remember a lot of things. I remember dragging those she experimented on back to their rooms. But everything is really fuzzy.", he looked up to meet the eyes of his commander "She took everything and broke it." Nisroc finally sat up, silent as he was, and curled an arm around his young charges shoulders, pulling him deep into his side, perhaps more so for his own comfort than that of the youngling's.
Gabriel continued on staring at his second despite him averting his eyes, and felt his throat begin to close, "Zaves? Please don't tell me…."
The young messenger shut his eyes, folding in on himself, and they turned to peer over at his unusually subdued form.
"She tried to take you away from us, Gabe, she tried to take the memories of you away from us.", the young messenger looked up at him sadly, before turning to look at the young choir angel curled into the Morningstar "It was Akeelah who helped me get out. But others weren't so lucky. Dad fixed them, when He sentenced Naomi, that's why He locked Himself up in the Throne Room." His face screwed up into disgust "I would have locked her up in the cage. Let her feel the taste of her own prisons. Or killed her. Sometimes I think Dad is too merciful. He loves all His kids too much."
"The others are scared." Paul piped up from where he had hidden himself in the Power's shoulder, Nisroc made him feel better, safer, and he liked that he was with him "Scared that you'll see how broken they are and that you'll let the Mindbreaker free again. You wouldn't…Right?"
Lucifer finally looked up, his eyes red, he'd been crying silently in his hands and they all knew it. He shook his head firmly, wrapping his arms around the fledgling that sat perched lightly on his knee, and pulled her back completely against his chest. As though he would protect her from it all. Perhaps a bit too late but the gesture was appreciated.
"Never. She will never see the light of the day again. And you will never suffer at her hands again. I will see to that personally."
"Raphael?" the Healer turned to look at his older brother, Michael gazed at him imploringly, "I trust you know how to remedy this." And he nodded once, looking down at the table for a moment, before returning his gaze upwards "I do. Father has returned what was once lost, but some are hurt more physically, I will see to them myself and see to Rahael being available for any who wish to talk to him about their trauma, as it is his area of expertise."
The Prince nodded, smiling sadly at the young ones that sat before him, "My heart breaks at your suffering. But no more. With this knowledge we can begin to heal from the pain. All things can be made new again, given time, and time is what shall be given."