In case you missed it, there was an update yesterday, an Interlude chapter.

Now we can return to our regularly scheduled fic.

XMissxHallawayX and MeemeBear, thank you for your reviews!

THE CRACKING OF HELL

"Gabriel!"

The whole Host had gathered around the Throne Room, waiting, watching, silent and impassive. As soon as Gabriel burst forth, a flicker of movement rippled through them, like a giant intake of breath. Cariel pushed his way forward, his wings fanning the air as he hurried to his choirmaster's side. Azazel slipped through in his wake, waiting at the edge of the crowd, his ever-present smile looking uncharacteristically fake. "Gabriel, what's going on? Gabriel!"

Gabriel didn't stop for Cariel. He didn't stop for anyone in the Host. He tore over the heads of his brothers, easily able to leave Cariel behind with his stronger wings. Once out the eastern side, no angel would follow him across the Void that had eaten the Borderlands. It was too dangerous. They'd have to change direction, try north or south, if the Void hadn't spread to those gates, or go all the way west if it had. Cariel would chase, Gabriel knew by now, but he had a head start.

It took twelve seconds to cross the realms and slip into Lucifer's. Gabriel's spirit seized as soon as he stepped into the dark realm Lucifer called home. Fire and brimstone filled the air, and the acrid stench of sulfur poisoned every breath. The heat was oppressive and evil, not singing to Gabriel the way fire was meant to. Scores of Nephilim and lost angels glanced over as Gabriel stepped in, but none moved to stop him. Over the course of the war, the Messenger had become a familiar enough face that his presence was no longer seen as dangerous.

This place was safe. Safe from the devastation above. Safe from God's influence. This place was evil, yes, but evil could be purged. True safety was rare. Gabriel could be free here, free to do whatever he pleased. He could easily cut Cariel's name into the rock, and Barachiel's, pull his favorite angels down here with him and just live peacefully until the end of days. He didn't need to obey Father's orders. Father couldn't reach him here.

Gabriel leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees and forcing himself to breathe, to focus on the movement of the sickly air in and out of his vessel's lungs. The corrupted wards were whispering to him, tempting him, twisting his thoughts into something not of his own making. If he stayed down here too long, Lucifer's logic would make all too much sense, and Gabriel might become his brother's successor.

Just acknowledging that staying down here would be bad was enough for him to win control of his sanity. Gabriel took one more breath before straightening up again. He spread his wings and jumped, taking to the heavy air. The Nephilim couldn't reach him here, but the other angels were still a threat. Still, flying wasn't banned. A couple were actively watching him now, but no angel moved toward him.

Gabriel turned toward the great rock wall that held the wards. He carefully eased closer to them, reaching out, his fingers hovering inches away from the carvings of his own name. The deep lines etched into the rock were barely visible, so filled with pus and rot. Even as he held his hand near, the fleshy goo bulged outward, a bubble popping across his fingers. Gabriel jerked his hand back, watching with a horrified fascination as the specks of sickness seeped into his skin, thin greenish lines starting to pulse along his veins. He didn't feel any different, but he suspected this was a Not Good thing.

A pulse of grace down his arm burnt away the disease, returning his vessel's flesh to its usual freckled state. Gabriel curled his fingers and relaxed them. The two angels watching from the forest of root and bone were starting to approach him, their hands loosely placed on the hilts of their swords.

"I'd stay back if I were you," Gabriel remarked, surprised at how calm his voice was. He was about to break down the door to Lucifer's realm and let the Host come flooding in, and yet he talked to his doomed brothers like he was simply remarking on the weather. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

His brothers were only Angels, accustomed to obeying orders without question. Lucifer had ordered them to guard the entrance, and Gabriel was implying a threat. They rushed toward Gabriel, drawing their swords and calling out for reinforcements. Gabriel cursed under his breath, igniting his wings as he swung them around. One, two blows, and both Angels were tumbling toward the ground, falling among the sulfur in crumpled little heaps. They weren't dead, but as their feathers smoldered, Gabriel knew they wouldn't be flying again anytime soon.

The Nephilim on the ground were shouting, and some managed to pull out bows and arrows. Gabriel ignored the weapons, even when arrows slammed into his vessel's body. Wood and metal couldn't hurt him, not even—ouch!—cursed metal like some of these arrows were. They stung, but the damage was healed instantly by Gabriel's freshly recharged grace. The sound of hundreds of wingbeats filling the air, now that was more concerning. Without Lucifer, this realm had very little that could actually damage Gabriel, but Gabriel still didn't relish the thought of fighting off his brothers. He turned back to the wall, summoning up his grace, feeling the power swell around his hands.

"Haaaaaa!" Gabriel slammed both palms against the rock, shoving his grace into the sickness and stones. Fire raced through the infection, setting every last sigil aglow, brighter and brighter until even the Nephilim were crying out in pain, covering their eyes. Gabriel remained in the center of it all, feeding the entire raw power of an Archangel into Lucifer's wards, grabbing every last line and pulling.

The wall exploded. Nephilim screamed. Lucifer's angels tumbled through the air. Gabriel himself was blasted back, the force catapulting him into the arching bones of long-dead dinosaurs. Even before the stones finished falling, the Heavenly Host was flooding in, thousands upon thousands of Michael's angels, Raphael's angels, even Gabriel's angels, led by the Seraphim.

The Host was ruthless, and it outnumbered and outmatched Lucifer's armies. Battle cries filled Lucifer's realm, sung to the accompaniment of swinging swords and screams. Gabriel worked himself free of the bones he was entangled in but did not join the battle. He felt sick, sick in his heart, in the core of his spirit.

Stretched out on the stone, the two angels Gabriel had swatted out of the air were lying still. Their eyes were wide and staring, wings burned into the rock, bloody stab wounds over their cores. Neither angel had stood a chance against the force of the Host. Gabriel closed his eyes and whispered an apology. He hadn't wanted this, not any of it. All he really wanted now was to just walk away.

Grace swirled around him, some flaring stronger, some winking out. Nephilim and angels and the twisted soul creatures God had called demons struggled to escape. Gabriel didn't try to stop any of them. Until he had been given orders from Michael or God Himself, Gabriel's job here ended when the wards fell.

BOOM

The cavern shook, sulfur crystals breaking loose and raining down around Gabriel. A heavy presence was welling up within him, growing closer, battering open new portals to this realm.

BOOM

Gabriel ruffled his wings as the cavern shook again, but they were soon coated in a thin layer of yellow dust. Two more pieces of grace were slipping through the growing cracks. Lucifer had returned to his realm.

BOOM

Everything was screaming now, Host and fallen alike, and every living creature was making its way toward the exit. Gabriel shook out his wings again and turned against the flow, striding into the bowels of the underworld.

The entire structure had completely changed since Gabriel was here last. Lucifer's realm was over three times the size it had been, some space intentionally created, other new tunnels still shedding dirt and rock from the exuberance of the Host. Gabriel spread his wings and glided into the darkness, following the tug on his spirit. Lucifer was back, but Michael's grace was bigger and stronger, keeping him in check, and God Himself had accompanied the brothers. While the Host fled His direct presence, Gabriel sought it out.

God had punched straight through the entire realm, leaving a wide swath of destruction in His wake. He went deep, deeper even than the fiery Pit, into the darkness that was cold and sharp, as unloving as His wrath. Gabriel landed gently behind Michael and Lucifer, curling his burning wings around himself for protection in this hostile area.

Michael glanced back at Gabriel. For a moment, their eyes connected, and Gabriel was lost, swept away by the complete broken devastation deep within his brother's spirit. Michael took no pleasure from punishing Lucifer. Lucifer was his most beloved brother, and everything Michael was doing was hurting him, hurting them both.

Gabriel stepped forward and opened his wings to wrap them around Michael as well, pressing against his brother's back and lending him as much strength as he could. Michael looked away, but Gabriel could feel the tiniest flicker of gratitude in Michael's grace.

God burned in the darkness, Creating. A cage grew out of the shadows, with bars of pure, angelic spirit. It pulsed with a dark light of its own, sentient, alive, angry.

This will be your prison, Lucifer. The cage burst open, and Michael stepped forward, pushing Lucifer ahead of him. Gabriel stayed where he was, his wings parted as Michael moved away. The lives of all your brothers who have fallen in this war will live on here.

Lucifer struggled, but Michael shoved him in the cage. Lucifer clawed at Michael's arms, trying to escape, but Michael reached around his brother and raked his hand down Lucifer's wingless back. The younger Archangel collapsed with a scream of pain, spasming against the bars.

Michael stepped back, out of the cage, and God gestured. The door slammed shut, and the walls flared to light, hiding Lucifer from sight. Lucifer screamed again, angry this time, and threw himself against the prison. Over and over, Lucifer raged, but the cage held. Gabriel turned against Michael's side, unable to look at how the prison shook with every slam of the trapped Archangel. Michael curled a wing around Gabriel but did not look away himself.

God moved to the brothers, His own grace wrapping around both of them, blanketing them in warmth and His love. Despite His presence, Gabriel still felt cold.

Lucifer will remain here until the end days, when Michael will destroy him. Lucifer will serve out his sentence in solitude. We shall seal his cage six hundred times. He will be lost and forgotten, and all of this realm he created will serve as his guards. As it is said, so it is done

"It is done," Michael whispered back, his wing tightening around Gabriel.

"It is done," Gabriel echoed.