Broken Twisted Lullabies: Your awesome! Thanks for reviewing the entire time! EEEK I have no words! LOL :D I feel as if *When* Azrael does forgive his brothers, him and Anubis (and Alex?) are going to cause nothing but trouble! Thank you so much, sorry it took so long!
Robin0203: OMG Thank you so much! That literally makes my day to see you say that! I'm so thrilled that you love it, you have no idea lol! Second Chances is deff going to be coming back around, I had a bit of a writers block for that one but I now have like three separate chapters half way done and I am so excited!
Comments, reviews, critiques are all loved and accepted, however, Flames are hurtful!
"Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful then the wound we suffered, to forgive the one who inflicted it. And, yet, there is no peace without forgiveness"
~~Marianne Williamson
Azrael reached for his weapon, fingering the fine intricate etchings on the staff, his eyes were hard as he gazed out around the room. The tensity in the air was almost tangible. The Hounds were at his side as they always were, his protectors, his weapons. They gazed up at him as if requesting the order to attack, clearly the pain and memories of the binding ritual was still haunting their minds as well.
Sam took a step back from the doorway as the teenager turned around to gaze out at everyone, his eyes were darker then he'd ever seen them. Azrael turned in his spot, gazing slowly at everyone, his head inclining at Anubis whom nodded back silently, his gaze lingering on Alex whom Sam had almost forgotten was still here and who smiled in return, before he finally rested on Sam himself.
"What happened?"
That sent him for a loop, "You don't remember?"
"No that's not what I meant, what I mean is why is there so many wandering souls, what are my traitorous bastard brothers doing here, and what is going on?"
Sam cleared his throat, then cleared it again, unsure as to what to say. Azrael rolled his eyes in annoyance, dismissing the Hunter without a single word, turning his gaze towards the Archangels in the corner. They had made no moves to try and get any closer now that he had his Hounds at his call once more and it was clear that it aggravated them to no extents, he smiled darkly.
"Why are you here?"
"You were fading, I just appeared here and you were fading! What happened to you Baby Brother?"
Azrael growled much like his Hounds did, his scythe glimmering in the light as he swung it around with a sort of practiced ease coming to hold the edge under Lucifer's neck. The Morning Star gulped as he went cross-eyed staring at the blade. His brothers were pulling at his arms at the same moment they too staring down at the gleaming metal.
"Don't call me that! We are not brothers, we stopped being family the day you betrayed me! We are not family!"
He tried to leave but he was still too weak to do much of anything. He tossed the scythe away, into the air, and the rooms occupants watched in mild awe as it slowly shimmered into blue flame and disappeared right before their eyes. He made a face as he massaged at his chest, heading from the kitchen, passed Sam in the doorway, and collapsed on the couch with a low moan of pain.
The Hounds snarled once more at everyone in the room before trotting after their master, silently curling up on the floor in front of him. Anubis followed after a moment, plopping down next to his friend, the room covered in a blanket of eerie silence. Osiris stepped forward, as did the three Archangels, Alex, and Sam. They gathered in the center of the room and everyone pretended not to see the looks that the angels kept sending their (ex?) sibling in the next room.
"I believe it best to leave Anubis here for a little while longer, do not trouble yourself he is well-behaved and very responsible when the need arises."
The others nodded along, the Egyptian clearly had a calming affect and a say in with Azrael. They would take anything at this point.
Anything.
Alex sighed as she plopped down on the couch on Lucifer's other side. She felt like a messenger and every time she thought it over Gabriel kept sending her looks of amusement. They, minus Lucifer of course, looked over at the human teenager sitting on the opposite side of Lucifer of all people. The fallen angel spared her a look.
"Hey kiddo"
Their attention turned to their brother at his semi friendly greeting. She nodded back, following his gaze in the direction the television that they all knew they weren't really watching.
Azrael and Anubis were on the other couch whispering back and forth to one another, the Hounds sleeping peacefully stretched out in front of the couch.
"Anything?"
Alex looked up at the Archangel in silence for a while. There wasn't much to say, Azrael's resentment for his brothers and what they did ran deep. She shook her head and told him what she had been telling him for the last hour.
"Give him time."
Anubis argued his point hard, Azrael disagreeing with just as much power, but it was clear he was starting to get through to him at least a bit.
"Az, you don't have to forgive them, yet, just..."
"I know I know, give them a chance"
Anubis elbowed him, following his gaze to the movie that he knew his friend wasn't really watching. His gaze jumping over to the couch his brothers were sitting on.
"How long has it been?"
Azrael looked over at him for a moment, "6 decades, give or take"
"And you don't miss them at least a little?"
He glared at his Egyptian counterpart but made no move to disagree with his question in the slightest. He merely turned his head back around to look at his older brothers once more.
"You know, when I was younger, Gabriel would sneak up behind me and lift me up above his head, let me sit on his shoulders, and together the five of us would go walking through the shopping district, Lucifer and Michael would get me all sorts of sweets and Raphael would always complain about it being unhealthy and how I should be snacking on fruits or veggies even as he was wiping the stuff off my face and offering another spoon full in the next moment..."
He trailed off, but seeing as they were broaching the subject Anubis wasn't about to let it drop.
"So you were basically the baby everyone doted on?"
Another look, that look, "Oh yah!"
Anubis fist bumped his best friend, him and Alex had been at this for hours and they may be making a break through here.
"Az, as much as I know it pains you to admit, you need them just as much as they need you"
"I don't know what to do...We don't know what to do..."
"He'll come around"
The way Alex said it almost made him believe it, but they knew better, if there was one thing Azrael could do it was hold a grudge. Gabriel shook his head in uncharacteristic sadness, gaining Alex's attention at the sudden movement almost immediately.
"I hope your right bucko, we really hope you are, but Azrael...He has a lot to dislike us for..."
Raphael snorted, "That's putting it lightly, We betrayed every ounce of trust he had in us...In Father...We were all naive...Even Father was blinded for a long while, our youngest brother was wronged and in fighting back his wrong doers he was punished most severely...Father found out about the cruel joke Naomi and Zachariah had played on the youngest, taking his Hounds from him just to see him suffer day in and day out, Father had been furious, the only other time I can ever remember Father being that angry was when Lucifer snuck into Eden and seduced Eve."
He spared a look at his youngest brother across the way, Alex peaking out at him from Lucifer's other side. If he felt a small hand lightly touching his arm as she did he never said anything about it.
"He sent us to try and locate Azrael, to bring him home, when we returned empty handed Father himself went in search for our youngest brother, he left shortly after and hasn't returned since, we think he's guilty for what had happened in regards to Azrael. Death had been furious when he found out about their son's banishment, swore revenge for any hair missing on his child's head."
"And if there's one person you don't want to piss off, its Death, never usually ends well."
Alex was silent for a moment as she absorbed this information, so they had realized their wrong doings and went in search of Azrael only to be unable to find him to apologize in time.
"Does he know?"
That question gained their attention, all three Archangel's turned to look at her, she shuffled a bit and swallowed twice before continuing.
"Does he know you looked for him?"
There was silence, and for a moment she was sure she had finally asked one question too much.
"Don't know.."
That was it, "Maybe you should tell him-"
"You saw what happened when we got-"
"No," She cut him off and Gabriel looked over at her in alarm as no human had ever had the nerve to cut him off before (he was starting to like her, she had spunk), "Let him come to you, when he's ready, because I know he'll come because even if he never admits it, he needs you guys just as much as you guys need him."
"They don't deserve my time! My forgiveness!"
Anubis nodded, still not ready to give up on his argument just yet.
"Maybe not, but-"
"They never even bothered to find out if I was ok after...They never came to find me!"
He was well aware his best friend was staring at him now, but he was not going to give him the satisfaction of looking over.
"How do you know?"
That sent to Death Angel for a loop, his gaze snapping to his friends in confusion, "How do I know what?"
"How do you know that they never looked for you, Az I know you well enough to know that when your angry, if you don't want to be found you won't be...But just because they never found you doesn't mean they never looked for you"
Azrael was silent but Anubis continued on.
"I understand that your angry at them, all of them, and you have every right to be don't get me wrong, but its just...They regret what they had done, why else would they all be here still? As much as you hate admitting it, your still a kid who wants their older brothers, I know you Aztec, its written on your face like scripture in a book, I can see the way you look over at them I'm not blind, you need them just as much as they need you"
The angel looked at his friend, sighed, and looked over at his older brothers. He hated it when Anubis was right.
"I know you were wronged, but do you think that having to do all those things to you was easy for them?"
He turned his gaze towards his brothers on the other couch, watching them carefully, well aware that at this point they had to know that he was watching them.
"Why can't you be the one who makes to first move?"
Azrael was out of his seat after the next moment, crossing the floor lightly. His Hounds huffed slightly but remained where they were as he slowly stepped over them, Anubis looked smug, fist bumping Alex when she plopped down next to him.
They all looked up in complete shock as Azrael came to a stop in front of them, he kicked at the carpet with his foot.
"Can I...Ummmm...We need to talk..."
There was silence after that, and unknowingly to all four of them, each wished it would swallow them whole.
Eight days of work nonstop, 8-9 freaking hours! OMG AND I STILL HAVE TO GO IN TODAY TOO! But I finally got this chapter done!
So Anubis is staying with the guys for a while! Him, Alex, and Azrael together, can anyone smell trouble brewing? Azrael's finally confronting his brothers (Minus Michael, I have plans for him!) Will they make up? So God disappeared whilst trying to find Azrael? What are the others going to do to the Leviathans? Where is Michael in all of this? And Death for that matter? What was on that cane that it was able to harm Azrael so much?
Next chapter: We get some inside looks into the inner workings of the Heavenly Family, Azrael gets some things off his chest, tears might be shed, and new alarming information is brought to light. Oh, And Jody returns from work to find Azrael awake and one archangel magically transformed into three!