There are two chapters today! Please make sure to go back and read the previous chapter before reading this one!

SHOWDOWN

Sand whipped through the air, biting sharply into Gabriel's exposed face and arms, spinning around his insubstantial wings and singing off through the air. It coated his open mouth, sticking to the back of his throat and cutting into his eyes. Little sparks of grace touched each injury, healing as soon as the damage was dealt, before Gabriel could even register the pain. He raced across the desert, heart stopped, lungs heaving in time with the pull of his muscles. There was no way his human vessel could endure the three-day-long run through this forsaken landscape, so Gabriel had shut it down.

Ahead, a darker shape amidst the sandstorm, a single Nephilim barely managed to keep ahead of the Archangel. His raspy breathing was music to Gabriel's ears, a sure sign that he was waning. Nephilim had no grace to propel a failing body forward. They were superhuman creatures, but they were still limited by mortal bodies and mortal needs. This one, mightier than the rest, had been evading Gabriel for three full days now, but the distance between them was closing. By sunset, Gabriel would catch his prey. That thought alone made a grin pull his mouth wider, and he prayed a dedication to Barachiel for this hunt.

Screaming, howling wind streaked past Gabriel, snatching at his wings and shoving them back, sending him stumbling in the sudden gale. He shouted several obscenities at Raphael, words caught up in the storm and snatched away from him. Only his twin could make wind snarl his wings when they weren't physically manifested.

The wind hit the Nephilim too, knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling down a dune. Gabriel folded his wings in against the force of the air and leapt after him, drawing his sword. The Nephilim shrieked, rolling away through the sand. Gabriel scrambled after him, slashing at his unprotected sides.

Two feet slammed into Gabriel's face, knocking him back. A new angel flapped his wings against the storm, slipping and sprawling in the sand. The Nephilim scrambled to his feet, running to the angel's side, while Gabriel sprung back upright himself, spinning furiously on the intruder. The angel was injured, grace-infused blood dripping from a slash across his neck and chest, but he held out his wings defensively between Gabriel and the Nephilim. One of Lucifer's, then. That would explain why Raphael was near, his windstorm screwing up both sides of the fight.

Even as Gabriel thought that, a lightning bolt scorched the air, barely deflected by a hasty shield of grace thrown up by the angel. The sand dancing around them parted, blasted to the sides and falling to the ground. Across from Gabriel, trapping the Nephilim and angel in the middle, Raphael stood lightly on the desert, his electric wings lazily stirring up little eddies of dust and melting trails of glass in the sand.

"You have no place to run."

The angel hissed angrily at Raphael but didn't turn his back on Gabriel. He curled his wings behind him, sheltering the Nephilim, obviously trying to keep an eye on both Archangels even as he cowered from their overwhelming power.

This was overkill, really. An injured Angel and exhausted Nephilim were no match for a single Seraph, much less a pair of pissed off Archangels. Still, a victory for Heaven was a victory for Heaven. Gabriel swiped his arm over his face to brush off some of the encrusted sand, still grinning viciously at the trapped pair. "Pray for mercy."

"Mercy!" the Nephilim screamed from within the cradle of angel wings. "Mercy!" As he shouted, the angel started to laugh, throwing his head back and howling his mirth to the sun above.

Almost instantly, that sun went dark, blotted out by hundreds of massive wings. A shadow fell over the Archangels, slipping into the cracks of their armor, whispering into their minds, veiled grace revealed.

Lucifer.

The fallen Archangel swept one huge wing between the twins, brushing away the Nephilim and angel. Both were instantly gone, sent somewhere out of reach. Raphael beat his wings against the air, lightning crackling around him in warning. Gabriel spread his own wings, twisting the knife-sharp edges of his feathers out, sending fire racing along the shafts. Michael! he called, on the Archangel-only channel. Help us!

Gabriel wasn't an idiot. Lucifer was stronger than either Raphael or Gabriel. He was almost certainly stronger than the twins combined, though they would have an advantage in being able to separate and attack from two sides at once. They might be able to hold him off for a bit, but any extended fight between Lucifer and them would end in a sound defeat for Heaven.

"Hello, brothers," Lucifer purred, lightly stepping onto the sand in front of the Archangels. "Did you miss me?"

"Miss you?" Raphael sneered, spitting on the sand at Lucifer's feet. "We haven't finished celebrating your absence!"

Don't antagonize him! Gabriel remained silent, shifting his hold on his sword, his body automatically adjusting to the new threat, sliding into a defensive stance.

"Oh Raphael. You always did prefer sucking Michael's dick." Lucifer lifted one hand, swatting through the air as if batting away a pesky fly. Raphael was thrown back by the casual show of grace, tumbling head over wings through the sand.

Lucifer turned his pale eyes to Gabriel. The Archangel narrowed his eyes and dug his feet in as his brother scrutinized him, studying the fallen one just as intensely.

Lucifer simultaneously looked horrible and more beautiful than ever before. His vessel was obviously dead, skin boiled through in places, burnt away to reveal the pull of muscle beneath. Lucifer's grace radiated through the holes, searing the human flesh that tried to contain him. If anything, Lucifer was stronger now than he ever had been in Heaven. His spirit was taller, his perfect face glowing beneath the human skin he wore. Just standing in his presence was making Gabriel's vessel's eyes water and sting, his whole skin prickling from the power crackling through the dry air. Was this what it felt like for a normal human experiencing an unfiltered angel?

With his head cocked to the side, Lucifer smiled at Gabriel. The simple gesture was calm and pure, the promise of peace singing over Gabriel's grace. It whispered along his fingers, tugging at his hold on his sword. Just drop it. Drop it, and it will all be over…

Raphael shouted, surging back to his feet and charging toward Lucifer. The older Archangel turned away from Gabriel. As soon as he broke eye contact, the spell shattered, awareness crashing back over the younger angel. Gabriel's sword hung limply between his fingers, the tip touching the ground. Gabriel hastily grabbed it tighter, shoving off against the sand to charge with his brother.

Silver swords rang against icy wings as Lucifer held the twins off without drawing his own weapon. He retreated from the pair, smirking as they swung at him with all the strength they could muster. Raphael attacked more fiercely than Gabriel, his sword sparking against Lucifer's wings. Gabriel fought doubt with every blow, attempting to ignore the whisper in the back of his mind that this was wrong; he shouldn't be attacking his brother.

In the circle of his wings, Lucifer raised a hand to his mouth, covering a yawn. A yawn! The angel couldn't possibly be tired. He was yawning on purpose. Gabriel cringed as Raphael snarled in fury at the show of boredom, lashing forward with all his wings. He shoved the tips between Lucifer's and threw them apart, spreading open Lucifer's defense enough to dart in, sword whistling through the air.

Lucifer punched out, just once. His fist slammed into Raphael's chest, bursting through the other side in a spray of blood and grace.

Time froze. Gabriel could see every last red droplet hanging in the air behind Raphael, blood and bone and chunks of flesh, all coated with his twin's iridescent grace. Raphael himself looked surprised, almost confused, his dark eyes wide, his mouth parted in a soft little O. For one startlingly clear moment, Gabriel realized he had never seen his brother look so gentle.

Raphael's sword fell from nerveless fingers, restarting the world. His whole body collapsed around the arm punched through him. Lucifer just looked at him, his head cocking to the side, pale eyes surprised. "Huh. I was expecting a bit more of a resistance."

"Raphael…" Gabriel whispered his brother's name, his sword arm falling as he stared at the mess in front of him. Glowing rivulets of grace ran down Raphael's body and pooled at his feet. Who healed the Healer? Would Marmoniel even know where to begin, if Gabriel could get Raphael to her now? He felt familiar, frustrating manic laughter pressing at his throat and clamped his mouth shut, refusing to laugh as his twin hung from his brother's arm.

Lucifer opened his fingers, shaking off the shreds of flesh that clung to them. Raphael gasped in pain, weakly lifting one hand and curling his own fingers around Lucifer's arm, still shoved through his chest.

Michael dropped out of the sky with a scream, slamming into Lucifer's chest and ripping him away from Raphael. The two Archangels tumbled across the desert, wings and swords clashing together. Their grace arced around them, raging against the other, destroying anything that got in their path. Reality itself was bending around the massive destructive force as the laws of physics twisted and distorted, drawing rivers of sand toward the battle. The fire in Gabriel's wings flickered, burning brighter, little tongues of flame reaching for the two Archangels.

Raphael fell forward, his damaged body slumping toward Michael and Lucifer. The sand turned to glass beneath his wings before the lightning bled away, leaving only crumpled feathers behind. Gabriel took a shaky step toward him, and another, fighting the urge to turn his feet toward the clashing Archangels. He had no practice fighting at Michael's side, and no luck fighting Lucifer. To enter that battle now would only put a handicap on his oldest brother, and with Lucifer as extremely radiant as he was, Michael needed all the advantages he could get.

He could help Raphael. A third step brought him to his brother's side, and he dropped to his knees by the injured angel. He could see the desert floor through Raphael's chest, where the vessel's heart should have been. There was nothing there, not even a web of grace that should have been infusing the human body. Gabriel reached out with one finger, poking the empty space. Nothing. Sand. Blood. Too much air.

Raphael wheezed near Gabriel's knee, and Gabriel jerked his hand back. Poking the gaping hole in Raphael's chest would not help his brother! "Can I move you?" he asked, looking down at the angel's face. "Can I… will that make things worse? I don't know!" The only Healer present was bleeding out in the middle of the Sahara. Where were Raphael's angels? Why wasn't a garrison here? "Raphael, what do I do?"

"Grace," Raphael grunted, crawling a hand through the sand to grab one of Gabriel's wings. "Grace!"

"Right, grace, of course!" Gabriel covered the injury with both hands and shoved. His own grace flowed into the hole, crudely plugging it to keep Raphael from draining out as quickly. Once the makeshift bandage was in place, Gabriel rolled Raphael onto his side and leaned in close. "Hold on if you can. Where is Marmoniel?"

"Tower…" Raphael's voice was already weaker, but he managed to grip as Gabriel pulled his brother's arms around him. Gabriel eased his own arms under Raphael's spirit, lifting him free of the destroyed vessel. He debated for a moment before wrapping his grace tighter around his own. This man had taken a solid month of convincing before he had allowed Gabriel in, after the disaster with Sorcha. He was still alive, his soul cradled within Gabriel's spirit. If Gabriel left him here, even with a dose of grace to keep him unconscious and alive until Gabriel could return, chances were very good that Michael and Lucifer would destroy him in their battle. Gabriel couldn't afford that risk.

As soon as Gabriel spread his wings, the singularity growing between the battling Archangels grabbed at him, yanking him back against the sand. He struggled to his feet, trying to fight the pull. He had to; he had to!

With a roar of effort, Gabriel shoved at his brothers with his grace, using that push to propel himself up, bursting loose from their grip. He tumbled through the air, hugging Raphael against him, and flew toward the nearest border. All hands alert! he shouted over the Host-wide frequencies, opening his mind to all of his brothers, no matter what plane they were in. We have a situation!

A gate to the Borderlands pulled open in front of him, and when Gabriel blew through, he saw Raphael's angels clustered on the other side, their eyes wide, grace vibrating in barely-concealed fear. The edge of the Borderlands closest to Earth was darker, thick tentacles of shadow reaching through the usual pale greyness of this non-space. Even darker streaks shot through the growing blackness in time with the ringing of the Archangels' blades on Earth, like the after-image of lightning, sucking in all light instead of emitting it.

Raphael's angels scrambled to escape the shadows, fleeing to Gabriel's side. They were too proud to beg for help, but Gabriel could feel their terror pressing around him. In his arms, Raphael cringed against his chest, groaning weakly.

"Move!" Gabriel snapped at Raphael's choir, fighting their fear to keep it from infecting his own grace. "Open Heaven! I need to get in!" The eastern gate was pulling open in front of him. It was barely cracked before Gabriel zipped through, yanking in his wings and thinning his grace to slip through the gap in Heaven's barrier.

The celestial realm was a hive of activity as angels of every rank scrambled toward the walls, forming into their garrisons and readying their grace as armor. Gabriel was the only angel flying inward, ripping past his younger brothers. Raphael's tower was the only thing he could see right now. Marmoniel had to be there. She had to!

Inside Heaven, the cacophony of the Host was almost impossible to tune out. The angels shouted inside Gabriel's head: Dominions barking orders, Seraphim commanding their garrisons, Cherubim fretting about the danger. Raphael's name was cried through the entire plane as the angels who saw Gabriel passing relayed their witness to the rest of the realm.

Marmoniel met Gabriel at the base of Raphael's tower, whisking him inside without any question. Her grace was pale but strong as she directed Gabriel to lie Raphael down in a sterile, white room. Raphael's arms slipped easily from Gabriel's neck, limp and wrung out. The Archangel had barely any grace of his own left. Most of it was left to soak into the Saharan sands.

"Can you help him?" Gabriel asked, pressing his hands together in prayer. Raphael was the only angel Gabriel had ever actively wished would die, but he had never actually meant it! For all their mutual loathing, Raphael was his brother, his twin, his partner, and Gabriel did love him. It wasn't always easyto love the glowering angel of the wind, but as Gabriel watched Raphael's spirit bleeding into his dry grace, he knew he'd give anything to keep him alive.

"We'll do what we can," Marmoniel murmured, summoning more angels with a snap, her fingers flying over Raphael's form as she began to work her magic. "Gabriel, please. Your stress is distracting. Go away?"

It wasn't an order—Raphael's angels knew better than to order an Archangel around (Gabriel's didn't)—but Gabriel obeyed anyway. He reached out to squeeze Raphael's fingers gently, murmuring "Don't die," before spreading his wings and flying out of the tower.

Heaven's walls were ringed with angels, inside, outside, and on top. Raphael's Seraphim glanced over at Gabriel before turning their attention back to the Borderlands. All the younger angels remained motionless, focused, their weapons drawn.

Behind Gabriel, an angel cleared his throat to catch the Archangel's attention. Gabriel turned, finding Cariel and Azazel standing together. Cariel looked annoyed, but Azazel just smiled, like always.

"The Northern and Western quadrants are fully guarded," Azazel reported, with a small bow to Gabriel. "The Southern quadrant is less protected, but we pulled as many spare defenders as we could from the rest of Heaven."

"The Southern quadrant is protected by his angels," Cariel said, jerking his head at Azazel. The golden-eyed angel cocked his head to the side in innocent confusion. "Ex-Sammael's."

"Then we need to keep the fighters away from the south." Gabriel didn't bother to hide his suspicion of Azazel's loyalties. Michael's second still had been on his best behavior, but Gabriel just couldn't trust him. There was something wrong about someone who smiled all the time.

"Is Raphael dead?" Azazel asked, proving Gabriel's point. He was smiling even as he asked that! "We felt his grace drain away."

"He's not dead!" Gabriel snapped back. "I got him to Marmoniel in time." I hope. "She'll heal him."

"Good." Smile. Gabriel wanted to punch Azazel in the face.

Cariel twitched a wing and caught Gabriel's eye, giving him a little knowing smile. Bless his second, for understanding.

Before Gabriel could decide what to do with the angels, something slammed into the eastern wall with a muffled boom. The impact shook the foundations of Heaven, throwing them all off balance. Raphael's tower swayed. Frightened cries erupted through the connection between the angels. Heaven had never been hit like that before. Gabriel managed to keep his footing by spreading his wings for balance. Cariel grabbed Gabriel's arm to stay upright himself. Azazel rode out the shock effortlessly, smiling through it all.

"What on Earth!?" Gabriel looked around, trying to find a source of the attack.

Azazel nodded. "I think that's exactly it. Something on Earth."

Gabriel stared at the golden-eyed angel for a moment before taking off, racing back toward the eastern gate. It hung open, its defenders all thrown to the ground, struggling to climb back to their feet. Gabriel shot past them, followed closely by Cariel and Azazel.

The Borderlands were black around Earth, save for the clusters of Raphael's angels pressed tightly together, swords out, wings spread, trying to hold off the darkness with their combined grace. A handful of angels were scattered in the blackness itself, sprawled out, drained entirely of grace, their dying spirits crumbling into ash. It looked like the Void of old. It felt like the Void, a sucking nothingness that tugged at Gabriel's wings and limbs. In all of Gabriel's years living in the Void, no angel had ever been killed by it. It was an empty vacuum, but not a deadly one.

None of the Angels had ever experienced the Void, though. No Seraphim either. The Void was already diluted into the Borderlands by the time the first Seraphim were created. Now it was growing in concentration again, every last bit of substance being sucked out of the Borderlands, funneling to Earth.

The fight. The fight! Michael and Lucifer were clashing together, the two most powerful beings in the universe, beneath only God Himself, and they were destroying everything in their path, including reality itself.

Gabriel barely braked in time, throwing his wings wide to catch Cariel (and reluctantly, Azazel) before the Seraphim could hurtle into the unexpected Void.

"This is new," Azazel commented lightly, as if the Void climbing against the walls of Heaven was nothing more than an unusual color of flower.

"I think 'bad' is what you actually meant," Cariel retorted. "Gabriel?"

"Stay there." Gabriel held a hand behind him to stop the Seraphim from following him into the darkness. He stepped forward, feeling for the ground. Nothing. As expected.

There was just darkness, and you could fall and fall and fall forever…

Gabriel spread his wings, fighting down a shiver. He was the only available Archangel; he couldn't afford to show fear. The Borderland garrisons were looking to him for help, their faces silently begging him to save them. But how? They couldn't step into the Void themselves. It was too much nothing. It would kill them.

They needed a path, a path to the gate. Gabriel looked at the closest cluster, six Angels and a Dominion. The Dominion had his wings wrapped around the Angels, responsible for their protection to the very end. Gabriel looked back at the gate, where Azazel stood smiling and Cariel had his hands pressed together in prayer, his eyes fixed on Gabriel and full of worry.

Worry, because he loved Gabriel, above all other angels. Love. Sammael had loved Gabriel in the Void, and the warmth of his affection could chase away the darkness. Michael had loved Sammael, and when they were together, the Void felt full and safe. Father had loved them all, and whenever they were near him, nothing could harm them.

"Cariel." Gabriel pressed a hand to his throat, gathering a handful of his grace straight from his core. "Catch." He pulled it away from him and threw it at his second, a ball of grace unraveling into a glittering thread through the Void.

Cariel caught the grace, holding it gently in both hands. He looked at Gabriel, then wrapped it around his waist, anchoring it to himself. Gabriel smiled thinly and turned back toward the nearest trapped angels. "Stay calm," he called to them, flying toward them carefully, easing out his grace to keep a strong cord between himself and Cariel. "It'll be okay." He landed in front of the Dominion and curled his largest wings around all seven of them. The angels relaxed immediately, their wings sagging in relief.

Gabriel pulled the cord of his grace thin and concentrated on it, snapping it away from himself, a trick he had figured out from studying how Sammael had parted his own grace in the ocean all those years ago. He handed the loose end to the Dominion. "Can you hold that?"

The Dominion looped the grace around his wrist and nodded.

Please let this work, Gabriel prayed, stepping out of the way. "Hold the cord, don't let go. Fly to the gate and get inside. Hurry!"

The Angels glanced to their Dominion and to each other. The smallest one reached out, curling his fingers around Gabriel's grace. He looked at the Archangel, and Gabriel knew his name. Isriel. The Angel tucked his wings in tight and stepped out into the Void.

Nothing happened. Isriel took another step, held up by the Archangel's powerful grace. The Void was pushed away from each footstep, curling back in to fill the gaps as Isriel moved forward. The Angel himself was uninjured, moving faster now, spreading his wings to help him fly back to the gate. Back at the cluster of angels, the Dominion was hurrying the other five along the cord.

"Don't let go!" Gabriel called, before flying off to another cluster, throwing Cariel a new ball of grace.

Instead of returning to the gate himself, once the last Angel was safe, the Dominion turned to another group of stranded angels, flying there with the cord of grace still looped around his wrist. Gabriel's grace stretched over the distance, keeping a thin path of love open so the younger angels could move through the Void without being obliterated.

Heaven shook again, another wave of emptiness surging through the Borderlands to slam against the walls. Cariel braced himself against the eastern gate as Gabriel zipped along the edges, shouting for all of Raphael's guards to retreat to the safety of Heaven while they still could. The walls were holding up against the nothingness, but the Borderlands were rapidly draining away into the clash of Michael and Lucifer.

"Gabriel!" Azazel called, throwing out a loop of his own grace to catch the Archangel's attention. "We have to close the gate!"

The western side was still grey, and Raphael's angels were fleeing through the western gate manned by Gabriel's angels. The eastern gate was completely surrounded by the Void, and tendrils of darkness kept creeping toward the open doors. Cariel was managing to beat them back with a gathered handful of Gabriel's grace, but the black nothingness was tireless. Gabriel landed in front of the Seraphim, balancing precariously on the very edge of Heaven.

"Do it," he ordered. "You two, stay here. I'm going to Earth."

"What good would that do?" Azazel asked. "You can't interrupt their fight!"

"Look at what they're doing to the Borderlands!" Gabriel threw out his arms, gesturing to the shadows that surrounded him. "They're not even in this realm! Imagine what damage they're doing to Earth! I have to protect the planet."

"You'll get yourself killed!" Cariel stepped toward Gabriel, grabbing the Archangel's arm.

"If I can get them off Earth, it'll be worth it." Gabriel fought back another shiver, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before he grabbed Cariel's shoulders, meeting his gaze directly. "Cariel, if this… if it doesn't go well, I want you to be in charge. Here." He reached into his wings, drawing forth one gold-edged feather and presenting it to his second. "Until Raphael can assume control, you lead Heaven."

"I believe, as Michael's second-" Azazel began, holding up one finger, but Gabriel turned a glare on the Seraph.

"I believe Michael isn't here right now, so as the most senior angel, I get to pick who's next in line."

Azazel's eyes narrowed, and for the briefest moment, his smile flickered. Just as soon as it was gone, it was back, and the Seraph gave a little bow, backing away. "Have it your way."

"Gabriel, I can't accept this!" Cariel pushed at Gabriel's hand holding the feather, shaking his head. "I'm not an Archangel!"

You are the cleverest Seraph in the entire Host, Gabriel whispered privately to Cariel, mind to mind. You'll find some way to make this work. Please, Cariel. For me. He held out the feather again, watching Cariel's resolve crumble.

Only if you promise to come back. Cariel reached up and slowly took the feather from Gabriel.

I promise.