"You want your medicine Gabriel? Hmm?" Julian taunted, dangling the syringe in front of Gabriel's slitted eyes. Even through his drug hazed eyes Gabriel stared at the syringe eagerly, his head lolling to the side as his mouth worked, trying to form words.

Julian smirked, delighted to see Gabriel in such a state. They had spent days torturing him with the drug, bending his mind, hoping to break him, but Gabriel hadn't given in yet, hadn't abandoned his body.

Gabriel swallowed hard and worked to open his eyes further, glaring at Julian, "F-f-fuck you…"he stammered, his voice fading into a sigh of exhaustion, his eyes sliding shut as he slumped back against the chair he was shackled to.

Julian lifted a brow, surprised by Gabriel's defiance. For the past four days the archangel had practically begged for the serum, weeping softly when it had entered his system.

Julian studied him for a moment and nodded, "Very well, we'll try something else," he murmured thoughtfully before tucking the syringe away and strolling out of the room, leaving Gabriel slumped in his chair.

Julian strode to his office and unlocked his safe, lifting the amphora out carefully before shutting it once more. Tucking it into the crook of his arm, he walked back to the room Gabriel was restrained in and slammed the door shut behind him, grinning as the archangel jumped, startled.

Setting the amphora down on the table nearby he gently lifted the lid off and inserted a syringe inside, drawing out a small amount of the darkness within, carrying the needle gently over to Gabriel before shoving him back in the chair, his head flopping around uselessly.

Julian grabbed his chin and tilted his head back, grinning malevolently at Gabriel before spreading his eye open further and sliding the needle into his socket, depressing the plunger in one swift move.

Gabriel's eyes widened in shock and agony as the blackness flowed into him, a strangled cry escaping him. When Julian slid the needle from his eye he collapsed back against the chair, blood seeping from his eye, boneless with pain.

Julian smirked and nudged his foot, "Not so strong and mighty now, are you, archangel?" he taunted.

She was in the desert, sitting on the mountainside watching the sunset, when she heard footsteps approaching from behind her. A moment later a pair of nondescript legs appeared in her peripheral vision and after a moment the person sat next to her in a puff of red dust, crossing their legs and leaning back on their hands.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon," a neutral voice commented, sounding surprised.

She looked up and frowned softly at the person beside her, unable to identify gender, race, ethnicity…anything. Yet somehow, she recognized them.

"What do you mean?" she asked softly, brushing her hair back from her face as the wind buffeted them gently.

"You died. Again. I hadn't expected it to happen again so soon," they commented, sounding disgruntled. Brushing back hair from their eyes, they shook their head, "You really need to consider the consequences of doing that next time," they suggested.

"What consequences? I don't understand you," she muttered, annoyed.

"You do understand, you've already faced them from seeing my true face. This is just one of many." God smiled benignly and nodded at the realization that crossed her face, "You are a child of Lazarus. There have been very few throughout the ages, but those that have lived, have lived very long lives."

She gaped at God, confused. "Child of Lazarus? B-but I don't know who my father is…" she trailed off, staring at God. She swallowed hard and then murmured, "What will happen to me if I keep dying?"

"Your life span will shorten and eventually you will die, just as a normal human would. Should you use your powers to heal others, especially an angel, it will also shorten your lifespan." God smiled serenely and reached out to brush her hair back from her face, "You've only died twice dear one; you have thousands of years of life left."

She gawked at God, shocked. "Thousands? Thousands…wow."

God nodded and smiled, standing and wiping their pants off, "Just be careful. Your father used all his powers up saving everyone else and never got to see his own child grow up. I would hate to see something terrible happen to you, you're one of my better works," God commented proudly.

"You're going to be free of the possession that Julian placed you under when you come back to life, but you must know that he has poisoned Gabriel with my wrath. You'll be too late to stop my son from flying to Vega, he's already on his way, but you can help stop him from committing a terrible murder if you hurry."

Shaking her head in disbelief she frowned at God, "Why won't you help Gabriel? He wants your love and approval more than anything! Why do you speak with me?" she demanded.

God sighed and frowned, "Because, he needs to grow. He has sinned and made terrible decisions, and I cannot fix them for him. He needs to learn to change, grow and fix his own problems. He is learning from you, and he is growing. Surely you see that?" God asked.

She nodded slowly and frowned deeply, "What do I do to help him?" she asked softly.

God smiled widely, an inhuman brilliance shining forth, "Love him."

Devery's dark eyes popped open as she inhaled raggedly, her heart racing. Twice now she had died. Twice she had been in that barren place, speaking with God, and this time she had come away with more information about who she was.

A Child of Lazarus, with thousands of years of life ahead of her if she was careful. She still had no idea who her father was, but more important at this moment was Gabriel and his plans for Vega.

Julian had poisoned Gabriel with something God had called his wrath, which, truth be told, didn't sound good at all. Taking a deep breath she tilted her head and tried to look around, but the darkness was so complete she couldn't tell where she was.

There was something hard all along her back, and she could immediately tell she was lying down. Lifting her hands she reached out in front of her, trying to penetrate the complete and utter blackness and find some sign of where she was.

Six inches in front of her face her fingers bumped into solid wood. Dragging her hands downwards she cursed as she felt the wood continue in front of her stomach, down to her thighs, and when she bent her knees and kicked her feet, realized fully where she was.

A coffin.

She was in a motherfucking coffin.

Panic flooded her, and she began to breathe rapidly as her heart pounded, her stomach tightened as bile rose in her throat, threatening to choke her. Clenching her eyes shut she fought to take slow breaths, demanding that her mind think of ways to escape instead of the fact that she was trapped underground.

Long minutes passed as her heart slowed and her breathing evened out, her fingers clenched into fists as her sides. Finally, she let out a soft huff of breath and reached up to run a hand over her face, swearing faintly.

She had no idea how long she had been underground, or how long she had actually been alive, breathing in the limited amount of air in the coffin. She needed to get out, and soon.

Her hands crept to the sides of her thighs, bumping into her gun holsters, surprise and relief running through her when she felt them still in the straps. Wrapping her hand around the grip she pulled the gun out and pointed it toward the lid of the coffin, taking a deep breath to prepare herself.

In quick succession she fired off four shots, the blasts deafening her, the empty shell casings burning as they landed on her. She writhed and swore, trying to avoid them, coughing as sandy dirt trickled into the coffin.

Holstering her gun and grabbing the other, she grabbed the gun by the barrel and began pounding on the wood, smashing it until a hole began to form, digging desperately at the dirt that began to flow into the coffin.

She coughed and choked, more dirt flowing in by the second. Slowing, she opened her mind to her powers, focusing on pushing the dirt and wood surrounding her away. A moment later there was an explosion of air sending wood shrapnel for hundreds of feet, the dust billowing in the desert air.

Devery crawled from the grave, shaking her head, trying to clear the pounding, ringing noise that was deafening her. Stumbling away she examined herself, amazed to find she was mostly unharmed. Glancing around she finally spotted the compound that housed New Delphi in the distance, the sun setting behind it.

Brushing the dust from her hair, she leaned down into the grave and grabbed her fallen gun, gripping it tight. She was going to get her swords, kill Julian, and stop Gabriel.

She damned well wasn't going to let anything stop her.

Gabriel clutched the amphora tightly as he flew to Vega, darkness raging through him, his eyes pools of blackness. He was going to release the wrath of God on Vega and destroy it, destroy his brother for everything he had done.

His heart burned at the thought of Michael, at all the injustices he had suffered at the hands of his so called brother. He growled and shook his head, rage pulsing in his veins. Very soon Michael and all of Vega would feel the Wrath of God and Gabriel rain down on them.

The city grew closer on the horizon, calling to him, begging to be burned and cleansed. He hated the sight of it.

He flew harder, eager to destroy everything within its walls.

Devery blasted open the doors to New Delphi, sending the huge steel doors clanging across the floor as though they were nothing more than toys, ignoring the panicked screams of the inhabitants, noting the bodies scattered about. Gabriel had obviously killed those who had gotten in his way as he had broken free.

Striding to Julian's office she went to the large safe and melted the lock off, wrenching the door open and grabbing her swords from within, strapping them on as she hauled ass out of the room and through the large building, searching for Julian.

Humans and 8-balls alike gave her a wide berth as she cut a path through the hallways, searching for the dyad, her hands on her swords, anger making her knuckles white. The scent of blood made her pause at a doorway and she turned in, grimacing at the sight of Julian, impaled on a large piece of metal rebar hanging from the wall, his face a mask of agony.

Walking slowly over to his corpse she glared up at him for a long moment, anger roiling within her. Her sword moved like a flash of lighting, beheading his corpse, his limp limbs twitching. She wiped the blood from her sword on his jacket and turned away; she was going to steal car keys and drive as fast as she could to Vega.

She had an archangel to stop.

Gabriel watched as the darkness rolled through the city streets, the sound of screams music to his ears. A delirious grin spread across his lips as he watched the citizens of Vega run through the streets, murdering and pillaging, madness erupting within its walls.

The darkness within him called out for release.

It was time to find Michael.

Devery sped up to the walls of Vega, the motorcycle she had stolen thrumming beneath her. The cannons on the wall remained unresponsive and none of the guards responded to her calls to open the gates.

Peering upwards she frowned at the sight of black smoke rising from the city. Turning her bike off, her frown deepened at the sound of screams within the walls.

Something was very wrong within Vega, and she was willing to bet it was Gabriel.

She had to find a way within the walls. Frowning, she hopped off the motorcycle and approached the walls, searching for a way in, some weakness she could exploit. To her surprise, a hatch in the gate opened and a guard leaned out, staring down at her with wide black eyes.

Unease rippled through her as he continued to stare, remaining mute. She waved hesitantly, "Excuse me? Can you let me in?" she called up, hoping he could hear her. After a moment he nodded and his head disappeared, replaced by a rope ladder.

"What the hell?" she muttered; peering up to see if the guard was still at the hatch. There was no sign of him watching her, so she reached for the ladder hesitantly and began to climb, moving quickly in case he changed his mind.

Pulling herself through the hatch, she looked around, searching for the guard and frowned when she failed to find him anywhere nearby. What she did see in the streets below her was chaos; people were running by attacking each other or killing themselves, the streets were awash with blood and air smelled like smoke and far worse things.

Unholstering her gun and gripping it tightly she jumped to the street and began to make her way to Michael's tower, it being the only place she knew to find him, and the most logical place that Gabriel would go.

As she dodged attackers and screaming madmen, her heart pounded, adrenaline making her jumpy. Turning a corner towards the large building where the city leaders lived, she flinched as something solid ran into her leg.

Without thinking she turned her gun downwards and barely avoided pulling the trigger when she found a toddler, no more than three, shrieking up at her. "Oh shit," she gasped, holstering her gun with fumbling fingers before crouching down to try and soothe the little boy.

Wrapping him in her arms she hushed him and lifted him off the ground, searching for his mother or father, but saw only madness surrounding them. In a split second decision she shifted him to her hip, her heart breaking when she felt him desperately wrapping his arms around her like she was a life preserver.

Unholstering her gun again she held it low and tight, moving quickly towards Michael's tower, eager to find a safe place for this little boy. The boy's cries quieted to soft sobs, soaking her shirt as he buried his face in her shoulder, his fingers clenching onto her tightly.

She grimaced as a couple nearby hacked at each other with kitchen knives, their shrieks horrifying. Turning down a street to avoid them, she shivered and hurried onward, praying that this wasn't scarring the boy forever. Her own life had been destroyed at a young age, not nearly as young as him though.

The tower lay just ahead as she stepped out of the alley, her pace speeding up in anticipation. As she approached, a nearby building shuddered and the windows exploded outward as debris shot out, the roof collapsing in places.

From within she could hear shouts of rage, and pleas for mercy, voices she recognized. Michael and Gabriel. Without a second thought she ran to the building, hoisting the boy higher in her arms, barely breathing heavily from the added weight.

Devastation and ruin lay before her upon entering the building. Walls were knocked over, the roof was falling in, and in the distance she could hear the angels trading blows, shouting and swearing.

She went to the corner of the room that remained standing and crouched, setting the boy down gently, prying his fingers from her shirt, trying to ignore his tears as she did. "Stay here sweetie. It's not safe in there." She smiled at him briefly, "I'll be back" she murmured, hoping she was right.

Turning away, she ignored his cries as they grew louder and ran into the ruins, heading for the battling angels.

"Gabriel, please listen to me!" Michael pled, swaying on his feet, barely able to see out of his bruised and swollen face. "Our brother is alive."

Gabriel stared at him in suspicion, the darkness and wrath making it nearly impossible to believe his brother's words. "What did you say?"

"The Son of Morning, he lives," Michael repeated.

"Lucifer?"

"There's a town called Mallory untouched by the war, and the people there, they hear a voice, and they think it's God, but it's not Father," Michael insisted, "I think Lucifer's the one responsible, but I don't know how."

"No." Gabriel shook his head vehemently, trying to deny his words.

"Gabriel, I met a man who claims to work for him, and Alex has a new marking."

Gabriel scoffed, "A marking of what? Tell me."

Michael nodded eagerly, "It's the Morning Star."

Gabriel shook his head derisively, "Impossible."

"We annihilated him, you, me, Raphael, and Uriel. We did as Father commanded, but I think he survived, and now I fear he wants Alex."

Gabriel frowned, "Alex? Why?"

"I don't know, but if I'm right and this is Lucifer, he's gonna remember what you and I did to him. He was our first, the most powerful of us. If he lives, there's no telling what shape his vengeance will take."

Devery stepped into the room; her gun gripped in her hand and stepped cautiously toward Gabriel, his back still turned toward her. "Gabriel, please stop trying to kill Michael," she cajoled softly.

At her voice his shoulders stiffened and he turned slowly, shock making his face pale and lined like a craggy mountain. Confusion stumbled over his face, followed by relief and then pleasure. "You're alive" he breathed.

Devery nodded and stepped closer, sliding her gun into her holster, hoping desperately she wouldn't need it. "Apparently it's a thing I do," she joked softly as she moved to stand in front of him, smiling faintly.

Her smile faltered when he lifted a trembling hand to her cheek, his fingers hesitating a breath above her skin for a moment, his eyes meeting hers, asking permission. She nodded, and a moment later his fingers brushed against her skin, rough against smooth.

She inhaled sharply as an unexpected shiver of pleasure ran through her. She realized she had been worried about Gabriel, not just about what he might do to the people of Vega, but about him. God's words flashed in her mind; love him, and she stared up into Gabriel's eyes, wondering if that was possible.

She felt like she was in over her head, unable to catch her breath, losing control of the situation…of everything. Nothing Miles had taught her had prepared her for this. Clearing her throat, she gave him a weak smile and took a small step back, running her hand reflexively over her cheek where he had just touched.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked softly, waving a hand to indicate not just Michael, but the whole city. She watched as his eyes flashed darkly, the blackness threatening to overtake them completely.

"Because this is all meant to happen," Gabriel replied belligerently, frowning down at her.

Devery sighed and shook her head, "No, it's not. You're an archangel, the right hand of God. You're meant to protect humanity, not turn the wrath of God against them without his permission. Don't do this."

She laid a hand on his breastplate and her face softened from a look of chastisement to one of pleading, "Please Gabriel, don't." His bright blue eyes captured hers, wavering as the blackness fought against his soul, the internal battle fierce.

He shuddered under her hand and shook his head, stepping away. "I have to do this. It must be done. I must." His jaw was firm as he turned to face Michael, his face stony, his eyes blackening.

"You can't defeat Lucifer alone, Gabriel," Michael murmured, his voice weary. "We must face him together!"

"I don't believe you, Michael. I dare not. But if there is even a chance that Lucifer is alive, best I go to this town you speak of and find out for myself." He glanced back at Devery and she swore he looked almost regretful before he lunged out and grabbed a hold of Michael, spreading his enormous black wings.

"But I won't be going alone."

With a strained flap of his wings, he lifted Michael into the air and towards the hole in the roof. "Protect Alex and Vega!" Michael cried out to her, his hand outstretched in supplication as they disappeared into the darkening sky.

Devery stared in numb shock at the receding figures, the screams of the city ringing in her ears.

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

AN: hello again my dearest readers! seems as though this story is just rolling along for me, so i'm updating as much as possible! I hope you enjoy this chapter, i wasn't sure about the gender neutral pronouns for God, so I hope that wasn't awkward to read. We're headed to the last episode of season 2 and from here on out it's just me, writing! I do hope to get some more reviews from you all on what you think, so please do, I love to hear from you all! Enjoy!