The tide is changing for the angels. Gabriel has brought Michael to their brother to bring about peace, but Sammael may have other ideas…

Darkumbreon9, as always, thank you for your review. Now you get to meet one of the canon characters hiding beneath an OC name!

Tomorrow you will get to read Michael's Interlude, a bonus in-between-chapter update!

LUCIFER RISING

Michael was waiting outside the cave when Gabriel showed up. Today, his vessel was an elderly Egyptian man, wrapped in soft linens and sitting in the sun. He'd spread his wings behind him, pulling them into his lap one at a time to groom. He looked up as Gabriel landed, finishing straightening the last few feathers before tucking the wing behind him again and getting to his feet. Despite his vessel's advanced age, Michael moved easily, ignoring the physical limitations of the man. "Usually, you're the first to claim a vessel. Did something distract you?"

Gabriel didn't answer at first, just pressed up against Michael's chest, clinging to him desperately. Michael's grace was surprised, but his arms automatically folded around Gabriel's shoulders. After a moment, his wings followed, completely wrapping Gabriel in his grace and sheltering him from the world.

"Little One, what's wrong?"

"They're dead," Gabriel whispered. "My vessels. They're dead, and the surviving ones think I did it!"

"What do you mean?" Michael dipped his head to look at Gabriel's face, a little frown making the wrinkles on his own face grow deeper.

"Sorcha, my true vessel Sorcha, she started killing everyone in the village!" Gabriel squeezed his arms tighter, drawing his wings around himself. "She said she was doing it in my name, but I didn't… I don't know what happened! I didn't even know anything had happened until I got there!"

"And who is this?" Michael touched Gabriel's cheek, still frowning.

"This is Atis. I was in him, fighting the dragons, when all of this happened."

Michael sighed and folded his arms around Gabriel again. "I'm sure their souls are all in Heaven now. You can find them and apologize to each individually once we've returned."

"Not Sorcha," Gabriel mumbled against Michael's chest. No one who had killed her own child, and then her entire village, would have been allowed to find peace in Heaven.

"No," Michael murmured. "But maybe you can find her wandering spirit and put it to rest. Give her absolution." He ran his fingers through Gabriel's hair and gave him one last squeeze before slowly drawing back. "First, let's speak with Sammael. Then you can do whatever you need with your vessels."

Gabriel nodded and took a deep breath as he pulled away, straightening his wings and tucking them back. "All right, let's go. You're going to get wet."

Reaching the entrance to Sammael's realm was just as unpleasant as it had been the first time. The steaming river felt like it was trying to rip Gabriel's wings from his back. Even Michael was grimacing from the unpleasant feel when they landed, though Michael didn't mind water as much as Gabriel did. He shook his wings off, except for his broken one, which he dried with a wave of his hand. "I've been this far before. We couldn't get past his warding."

"He has it keyed to me," Gabriel said. "I'm not sure if he's added you yet or not. Let me check." Michael nodded his understanding, and Gabriel stepped through the barrier.

The overwhelming darkness slammed into Gabriel, but he was expecting it this time. It still knocked him to his knees, one hand clutching at his chest, but after a moment of just gritting his teeth, he was able to fight off the clawing emptiness.

Sammael's realm felt darker than before. Gabriel pushed himself to his feet, drawing his wings around himself as he looked around nervously. His brother was nowhere to be seen, though Gabriel could feel the tiny spark in his core that meant he wasn't completely on his own here. Prickling fingers of cold tapped along his spine, piercing through to his spirit and making him shiver. Before, this realm had been infused with a welcoming heat. Maybe Sammael had only done that when he knew Gabriel was going to be visiting. His brother always did burn cold.

Ignoring the discomfort for now, Gabriel turned to look up at the wall of sigils. His name was still etched among the other marks, but it wasn't as pristine as it had been last time. The edges of the Enochian script were corroded, and trails of that yellow pus that bled down the stone were starting to collect in the hollows of the letters. Not far below, Michael's name was scratched into the stone, shallower than Gabriel's name, sloppier, a hasty addition that could easily be removed if Sammael changed his mind.

It was enough to give Michael entrance for now. Gabriel gave his deteriorating name one last look before he stepped back to where Michael was waiting.

The flood of awareness wasn't painful this time. Gabriel hadn't been in the other realm long enough to get used to being so empty. The Host filled his mind with relief, and his Father's lingering presence soothed the discomfort. Michael was standing in exactly the same position he'd been in when Gabriel had left, looking vaguely startled.

"I expected that to take longer."

Gabriel shrugged. "The wards are carved right onto the stone on the other side. He's added your name, so it should be safe for you to pass now. He's in there, but he's deep in the bowels of the realm."

"You look unsettled." Michael stepped closer to put his hand on Gabriel's shoulder.

"I'd forgotten how the emptiness felt." Gabriel reached up to cover Michael's hand. "It's going to be like nothing you've ever experienced before, Michael. It's going to feel like you're completely hollowed out, like you're nothing, like you're dying. You're not. It's going to be okay. I'll be right there beside you. Just focus on something else until your spirit adjusts, like on your breathing."

"I understand," Michael said.

"No, you don't." Gabriel shook his head and took a deep breath to steel himself before turning back to the entrance. "But you will."

The two Archangels stepped through the gate together, hand in hand. Gabriel sucked in a breath through his teeth as the Host was ripped away from him again, and Michael's hand spasmed against his own. Gabriel managed to stay standing, but Michael crumpled immediately, grunting in pain, his free arm wrapped tightly around him.

Gabriel crouched beside his brother, remembering how Sammael had guided him through this the first time. He pulled Michael into his lap, cradled him against his chest, and wrapped his wings around them both. "Shh, it's okay, Michael. You're going to be okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Just breathe. Focus on my breathing. Match your breathing to mine." He slowed his breathing, made every breath deliberate, rubbing Michael's back and wrapping his grace as tightly around the older angel as he could, to shield him from the cold nothing.

Michael eventually calmed, his grip on Gabriel easing up. He drew back, wiping a shaky hand over his face. "Feels like the Void," he admitted quietly. "Before Sammael."

Michael rarely spoke of the time before Sammael's awakening, and he also stayed quiet on the first years of Sammael's life, when he had to have been a precocious fledgling. The earliest stories Michael would easily share involved Sammael in-between, not quite fully grown, but not the pudgy ball of grace that all angels started off as. Those were some of the earliest stories Sammael knew too. He didn't have much recollection of his time as an infant angel, which was unusual. Many angels theorized that it was because life had been too perfect for those first angels, when it was just them and God with nothing in the way. They were all envious of the time Michael had spent as the only angel in existence, the only company their Father had. Michael had to have spent all his time with God, thoroughly embraced by their Father's spirit.

Gabriel suspected otherwise. His own early memories of the Void were massive expanses of cold emptiness, only made tolerable by the presences of his brothers. God had been all around them, yes, but he was just as distant then as he was now. From what little hints Michael occasionally dropped, like this one, Gabriel suspected his oldest brother had spent his own fledgling years largely alone in that nothingness. He had never considered just how empty that Void would have been without the Host to fill his spirit.

"Sammael's here," Gabriel murmured, helping Michael back to his feet. "This emptiness is only temporary."

Michael nodded, pressing his hand over his core one last time before straightening up. He looked at the wall of sigils and shuddered. "Something in that mess is corrupted."

Gabriel nodded. "That's what I thought too, but I can't untangle Sammael's work. He covered his tracks too well to undo it."

"Don't stay down here too long," Michael warned, pointing to Gabriel's name. "It's starting to infect your name. Linger, and it'll infect your spirit."

"Sammael's been down here for months."

Michael met Gabriel's eyes and nodded solemnly. They needed to get Sammael out, today. His name was probably at the heart of the warding, poisoned long ago by whatever had gone wrong. The longer his spirit stayed here, the higher the chance of permanent damage to it.

First, they had to find Sammael. Gabriel turned toward the bone walkways and beckoned for Michael to follow him. "This way to go deeper."

"I thought you described this place as incredible," Michael muttered as he stayed close by Gabriel's side, watching where he put his feet. "It looks like we've been swallowed by something from a nightmare."

"It's gruesome," Gabriel agreed, "but if you can look past the material, the design is really quite elegant. And there's not so much bone in the lower levels."

Michael shook his head in disagreement, warily eying the ribs arching up. The woven mass of tree roots above their heads creaked and groaned as the angels passed, tendrils dripping bloody sulfur reaching between the bones for the brothers. Gabriel reached over to grab Michael's hand, shying away from the roots.

"Sammael said it was safe."

Sammael said it was safe as long as Gabriel stayed with him. Suddenly, that detail felt very important.

The cold brushed over the angels' exposed skin, like frozen breath against their faces. Michael squeezed Gabriel's hand and strode forward, the set of his shoulders defiant in the face of the vague hostility of the trees above. Gabriel hurried to stay close, pulling his wings into his vessel to keep them free from the sulfur.

The magmafall was still ahead, roaring into the darkness. Gabriel sighed in relief as they broke through the forest and felt its heated embrace. Even Michael managed a little smile. "Was this your design?"

"It was his, actually, but he put it in for me." Gabriel stepped onto the spiral walkway and stretched his hand out to catch some of the molten rock in his fingers. This part of the realm still loved him. "I worked on some of the lower levels. I can show you."

"Sammael first." Michael gently tugged Gabriel away from the magma and started down the path. "He has to know we're here."

Sammael appeared sooner than they had expected, his grace flaring from a distant spark to a sudden bright flame as he unveiled himself fully, leaning against a crystal offshoot from the path the brothers were on, still wearing the Greek vessel he'd been in the last time Gabriel was here. He threw a sword at them, which Michael automatically caught. "Present for you, Brother." There was a sneer in his voice, though his face was pleasantly neutral.

"What is it?" Gabriel asked, looking at the sword. It was wrought from a dark steel, polished until it gleamed, its blade whisper sharp. Michael hefted it in his hand, held it out and took a few practice swings with it. The blade was well-balanced, but it paled in comparison to a full Archangel's sword.

"Did you know that dragon blood solidifies if it meets the cold ocean?" Sammael asked instead of answering. "And if you gather it up before it sinks, you can work it into metal, and that metal can be turned into a weapon?" He gestured to the sword Michael held. "Dragonsbane there can kill a dragon."

Both Michael and Gabriel looked sharply at Sammael, and now the Archangel smiled at them, a serpentine stretch of his lips. "Most dragons hide in the oceans these days. I tested it."

"They can be killed with their own blood." Michael swung the sword again before materializing a sheath for it, strapping it around his waist. "That makes a certain amount of poetic sense. Thank you, Sammael, for discovering their weakness."

Sammael's face twisted into a grimace, and he stepped back, shaking his head. "Ugh, don't call me that."

"Sammael?" Gabriel asked, glancing at Michael nervously before cocking his head to the side. Was this a side effect of the corruption to the wards? Was it stealing Sammael's identity from him?

"Yes, that." Sammel shook his head again, flicking his hand as if trying to shoo away something disgusting. "I want to be called Lucifer now."

"Lucifer?" Michael repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"It means-"

"Morningstar, or… Light Bringer. I know." Michael glanced at Gabriel himself before spreading his wings slightly, shifting into a more open posture. Accepting. He was making an effort, Gabriel noted, to not upset Sammael. "Why did you pick Lucifer?"

"It was the name you gave me," Sammael answered. "I like it. Why shouldn't I choose a name given to me by my favorite brother?"

"I've never called you Light Bringer, Sammael," Gabriel pointed out, earning himself a cool glare from Sammael and a nudge to his side from Michael's elbow. "Sorry. Lucifer."

"Then it's a good time for you to start." Sammael turned away from the pair and strode off into his realm. Michael and Gabriel looked at each other one more time before Michael started off after his partner, Gabriel trailing behind.

"Lucifer is a very nice name," Michael began. "But what was wrong with Sammael?"

"It's not my name." Sammael looked over his shoulder at Michael with a frown. "It was forced upon me. Lucifer is the name I choose."

"You were named as every other angel was. Father gave you life when He named you."

"God created me as His obedient little toy when He named me, same as He did for you and Gabriel. I am not His plaything. I will not obey Him anymore, and I will not answer to His name for me."

"S-Lucifer!" Michael hurried forward to grab Sammael's arm, pulling him to a stop. "You shouldn't speak about Father like that!"

Sammael wrenched his arm free from Michael's grasp. "He can't hear us here, and you still defend Him? He is not my Father."

"Father is-"

"You raised me, Michael. If anyone deserves to be called my father, it's you. Not Him. He has done nothing to earn that respect."

"Clearly, I didn't raise you well enough!" Michael snapped back. "Father gave you life!"

"Stop it!" Gabriel shoved himself between the older angels, throwing his wings open wide to push them apart. "Just stop it! Sammael, Lucifer, you promised you'd talk if I brought Michael here. Michael, you promised the same. That the two of you would talk, and you'd listen!"

"Soon." Sammael curled his fingers around Gabriel's wing, tugging him closer. "You promised you'd return soon."

"I did!" Gabriel didn't try to fight Sammael's pull. He knew Sammael was capable of breaking his wings if he resisted too much. "I came as soon as I could!"

"You abandoned me, Gabriel." Sammael's voice was a dangerous purr as Gabriel found himself pressed up against Sammael's chest. His older brother looped his arms around him, and Gabriel felt scared in Sammael's embrace for the first time ever. "You left."

"I came back!"

"This," Sammael leaned in, his lips brushing Gabriel's ear, "isn't soon."

"Let him go, Lucifer."

Michael was standing right beside them now, his strong fingers wrapped around Sammael's arm. Sammael's grey eyes met Michael's dark ones, and the air between them crackled as their graces shoved together. Eventually, Sammael's lips curved into a smile and he opened his arms. Gabriel scurried back, unconsciously tucking himself behind one of Michael's wings. He cursed to himself once he realized what he'd done—hiding like a fledgling was no way to convince Sammael to take him seriously.

"You came back. Congratulations. Cake for you." Sammael turned away from his brothers and started walking again.

Michael touched Gabriel's face. Are you okay?

Gabriel nodded in answer to Michael's question. He's changed.

Not for the better. Michael brushed his thumb along Gabriel's cheekbone before heading after Sammael again.

The realm had grown in Gabriel's absence, new tunnels and huge chambers branching off to places he had never seen before. Eventually, Sammael led them to the deep pit Gabriel himself had carved out. The gurgling rasp of something struggling to breathe echoed against the stone. Sammael ignored it as he spread his wings and glided to the bottom of the pit.

Fire still licked along the stones, unearthly flames that had been ignited by traces of Gabriel's grace. They danced around Sammael's feet, illuminating his target. A metal rack, glowing dully from the heat, stood in the center of the pit. Strapped to it was a vaguely human-shaped creature, mewling pitifully.

"Lucifer." Michael hissed his brother's assumed name, his eyes narrowing. "What is that!?"

"A point I've been trying to make for centuries." Sammael stepped up to the creature, cupping its chin in his hand and peering into the blind, white eyes. "This, dear brothers, is a human. I call her Lilith."

"Lucifer!" Michael stepped forward as if to pull Sammael away from the human, but he recoiled at the pathetic-looking thing strapped to the rack. "What have you done!?"

"I have been proving my point," Sammael repeated, narrowing his eyes at Michael. "Humans are vile, twisted creatures. This is what remains, when they are stripped of their fleshy exteriors."

"This is a soul?" Gabriel asked, creeping closer in little spurts, trying to will himself close enough to see how much of the damage was reversible. Something seemed vaguely familiar in the curve of the soul's neck, the bow of her lips.

Her lips, because this was a female soul. Gabriel suddenly felt the coldness of this realm penetrate, piercing his soul and freezing his grace. Sorcha! A whimper escaped his throat as he surged forward, trying to free his vessel from Sammael's iron rack.

Sammael lashed out with a sharp wing, whipping it against Gabriel's hands and driving him back. "Don't touch her! She's not done yet."

"Lucifer!" Michael swept in to catch Gabriel, holding him back and wrapping a wing around him. "Stop it! Gabriel, let me see." He curled his fingers around Gabriel's hands, where Sammael's wing had cut into Gabriel's fingers, making him bleed.

"That's Sorcha!" Gabriel tugged his hands away from Michael's grasp, reaching for the tortured soul again. "Michael, that's my vessel!"

"The one who attacked her village?"

Sammael laughed, he actually laughed, leaning in close to the rack and running his fingers along Sorcha's ruined face. "It took hardly any persuasion at all, Gabriel, to get your precious little vessel to turn on her own family. I'm afraid she isn't suitable for you anymore. Lilith is my creature now."

"I promised her my protection," Gabriel whispered. "How could you?"

Sammael had done this. Sammael had… no, Lucifer. Lucifer had poisoned his Sorcha, had driven her to murder, had told her it was Gabriel's will. Gabriel's wings shivered in horror as the realization washed over him. Lucifer, once his beloved brother, had intentionally tried to destroy his vessels. The tall angel standing before them was not Sammael anymore. Whatever corruption had begun in this place had burned deep inside his brother's spirit, filling him with darkness. Gabriel's eyes stung with genuine tears as he listened to his brother and did not hear his familiar love.

"She was the perfect candidate for my experiment," Lucifer released Sorcha, letting her head sag back against her sunken chest. "The true vessel of an Archangel, a powerful, potent, good soul. If even she could become this monster, think about the rest of them. What could they become?" He dusted off his hands as he looked Sorcha over, then gave a nod and turned to his brothers. "Michael. I've always told you this is what would happen. I've always said humanity is miserable and corrupt. Can't you see it now? Can't you see that God is wrong to tell us to value them over angels?" He stepped close, reaching up to slide his hand along Michael's weathered cheek. "I love you. I know God created us to love each other, but I know I can look past that and love you for myself. You are incredible, my brother. I want to be at your side again. I want you here, at my side. Come join me. Help me stand up for our brothers. Who better to defend them from these monsters than us, the firstborn?"

"Lucifer." Michael's voice rumbled in his chest, deep with sadness and anger. "Brother. You are the monster here." He stepped back, very deliberately pulling away from Lucifer's hand. "I will have nothing to do with this scheme of yours. I will not side with you."

"Michael!"

"Gabriel." Michael turned away from Lucifer, dismissing him with the movement. "We are going to leave. I don't think we should return to this place. It is poison."

"Sorcha…" Gabriel pointed to the woman on the rack, but Michael just clasped his hand between his own.

"There's nothing we can do for her," Michael said, his voice softer now. "She is gone, Gabriel. I am sorry. We need to go now."

"I can't just leave her!"

"You must." Michael stepped close to Gabriel and folded his wings around the younger Archangel, blocking Sorcha from his view. Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut and clung to his brother. "Gabriel, we have to go home now."

"Yes, Gabriel, go home." Lucifer's voice was as frozen as his wings now, shards of ice dripping from bone. Michael and Gabriel both turned to look at the furious Archangel, barely able to react in time as he surged forward, wings and sword slashing toward them. Gabriel tumbled aside, while Michael swept up his own sword to block Lucifer's blow.

"Gabriel, run!"

Steel feathers crashed against icy ones, silver blades ringing together. The Archangels battled, leaving Sorcha undefended. Gabriel flattened his wings, slipping behind Michael to dart around the battle and to his vessel's side.

"Sorcha?" Gabriel reached for the woman, but she screamed as soon as his fingers touched her decaying skin, flinching away from him. Gabriel jerked his hand back, and Sorcha sagged limply against her bonds again. "Sorcha!" He reached again, trying to untie her, but Sorcha thrashed and howled in agony with every touch of his grace against her tortured soul.

"Gabriel!" Michael shouted again. "Get out of here!"

Lucifer lunged, trying to get past Michael so he could stop Gabriel. Michael beat his wing against his brother, stopping him with a grunt of his own pain—he'd used his broken wing. Lucifer battered his own wings against the injured limb, and Michael shouted and twisted, trying to drag Lucifer away.

Michael needed help. He was injured already, and Gabriel was his ally. Gabriel needed to draw his sword and join the fight. He needed to fight the angel who had done this to Sorcha, to all his vessels. He took a step toward the pair, pulling his sword from his grace.

But that angel was still too much like Sammael, still wore his brother's wings and grace, still spoke with his brother's voice and smiled with his brother's face. Gabriel couldn't lift a weapon against his brother.

With one last look at Sorcha's ruined soul, Gabriel turned and fled, beating his wings as hard as he could to escape the battle. Sammael was lost. He was never coming home.