Title: Tongues of Men and Angels
Rating: TA for implied?romance.
Summary: Glimpses of grace: the story of one brother and two sisters. Through the grace of God, all things are made new.A series of drabbles. Ish. Gabriel/OC. Ish.
Disclaimer: *obligatory insert*

Chapter XXXVIII: Joseph, Reuben
What are brothers for if not to share troubles?
Proverbs 17:17

"It is not so bad, is it, brother?" Michael asked. His voice rang out just as Gabriel was preparing to descend, and the stoic archangel froze on the edge of Heaven, waiting. "It is not so bad—living among them. Like them. Living with them."

"Not so bad," Gabriel echoed only, but his mind was on Bethany's tremulous smile, her shining penny-bright eyes. Not so bad at all, but far more terrible and far more beautiful than he'd ever imagined.

He paused on the edge of Heaven, preparing to leap, and looked into his brother's eyes. He had expected mercy, a painful and undeserved sort of love. What he hadn't expected was this:

wry understanding, and a wistful sort of pleasure, and the kind of soft sorrow he had seen on Bethany's face a hundred times while she touched her sister's face and thought of how she'd almost lost her. For a moment, they were silent, and then Michael said quietly, "I missed you, brother."

And somehow Gabriel understood that Michael did not mean I missed you since the Gates were closed to you, or even, I missed you since I Fell. Instead, he was saying—I've missed you, brother, ever since Sammael left us.

His own throat closed as he considered how the rift between them had grown over the centuries: subtly, disguised at first as something else until it had seemed far too late to ever go back. And indeed, they hadn't gone back, had they? They'd both gone forward, and ended up side-by-side in the end.

Michael must have seen something in his own eyes, because he held his brother's gaze evenly. "I am sorry, Gabriel."

Well, he certainly hadn't been expecting that, either. The rustling of his wings betrayed his confusion, a faint chiming hidden between the whispery sounds of feathers-on-feathers.

Michael didn't so much as blink. "I am sorry," he repeated, "that I left you to fight your heart-wound alone. I did not know how—" He broke off and swallowed thickly, for a moment more vulnerable than Gabriel had perhaps ever seen him. Michael's eyes sharpened with poignancy, with meaning, in that deeply intimate way that he alone seemed to have inherited from their Father. "It was not brotherly of me, Gabriel."

Deep inside himself, Gabriel stilled. Every roiling thought became crisp and beautiful with clarity, as though the edges of the world had suddenly reconvened into some semblance of sense and meaning. The chasm in his heart no longer seemed so wide and deep and far. His hand reached out across it, and Michael met it halfway, clasping forearms in a half-salute that managed, somehow, to transform itself midway into a half-embrace. "I am no stranger to wronging a brother," Gabriel said after a moment, and was surprised at the hoarseness of his own low voice. "I do regret, Michael, striking you down in the desert."

"We have both executed each other," Michael responded, his voice muffled in the larger angel's shoulder. "I simply took longer to do it."

Reluctantly, Gabriel released him—but oddly, he felt fullness rather than loss. Once, he might've chosen to stay: with his Father, with Michael, with Joy. But eternity was so long, and human lives were so short, and the bright beacons of Bethany's eyes were calling him back. Calling him home.

He was only too eager to go.

"Visit soon, Gabriel," the other archangel said suddenly, his voice suddenly lighter and more laughing than Gabriel had heard in centuries. "You may have missed my homecoming feast, but I hear tell of a fatted calf with your name on it."

Gabriel snorted inelegantly. "Your humor ever leaves something to be desired, brother."

Michael laughed then, and slapped him on the back—hard, as brothers sometimes do—and watched with a grin as Gabriel staggered over the edge.

Word Count: 641
Completed: June 5th, 2011
I am sure someone somewhere was hoping for more of a reunion, both for Gabriel/Joy and Gabriel/Michael. But I wanted to keep them short and sweet or, perhaps more accurately, they wanted to be kept short and sweet. It was difficult, because there were very specific things I wanted to accomplish in each of these bookend-reunions. In Saint Peter at the Gates, the goal was to catch a glimpse of Joy's complete freedom from her ghosts, here in heaven—and also to reflect on a level of hopeful fear, or fearful hope, in Gabriel himself, at the culmination of their tearful reunion. In this installment—Joseph, Reuben—I wanted to show a gesture of brotherly camaraderie branching the rift between these two brothers. It might seem "too easy," but I wanted it to be easy. Gabriel has already gone through the process of forgiving both his brother and himself, and Michael is too remarkably similar to Bethany to hold it against him. Also, personally, I have a tendency to believe that a sibling bond is far too strong a thing to be easily undone by something as simple as death.

The previous installment, complete with THE VOICE OF GOD, received mixed responses. That's okay. :) Before I began writing, I felt like everyone and their dog in the Legion fandom was angry at God. I was too, when I watched the movie...less because of the people-massacre and more because I felt so bad for Gabriel, haha. But my greatest downfall/awesomeness in movie-watching (and the thing that often prevents me from responding to films in the way I am "supposed" to) is a desire to figure out why. And my question here wasn't, Why did God kill want to kill everyone? but Why does God turn away his most obedient child? (which I felt like was almost implicit at the end of the movie). In Legion fanfiction, especially when we write about Gabriel, we are trying to spin the socialized response to "villain" on its head. I felt like that role reversal should be available for all characters-including God himself. A different perspective, if you will. And it doesn't mean you have to like God's reasoning, or agree with it, or say, "Oh, well then, that's just peachy." It doesn't mean it's okay. It's just another version of the story.

In summary, I guess, I didn't want to write the story everyone else was writing...but even more importantly, the story didn't want to be written that way. And if it wasn't your cup of tea-if you were expecting something different, something a little more...gloating, perhaps?...that's not what this piece was meant for. But I hope that you find things within the story to enjoy anyway, things that bring hope.

Last two installments coming soon, my friends. I believe they shall be uploaded at the same time. I only hope you find in them a fitting conclusion, one that satisfies the heart.
XXXIX: The Stone is Rolled Away. Gabriel comes home.
Epilogue: Seventh Day. A couple enjoys each others' company in a Garden.

***The title Joseph, Reuben refers to the story of Joseph (of technicolored dream-coat fame) being betrayed and sold into slavery by his older brothers. Only Reuben tried to protect him, and it is thanks to Reuben that Joseph was not killed at the hands of his other siblings. [c. Genesis 37]