I love how when I post a new chapter, it has two views almost immediately. It makes me all fizzy inside to think that there are a couple readers who dive for the new chapters as soon as they appear. I know I do that myself with a handful of fics! Hello, people who read my story as soon as it's posted! Thank you!

Lita12576, thank you specifically for your review! It's always nice to have a new reviewer show up!

THERE WILL BE AN UPDATE TOMORROW! Gasp, right? It's a Saturday!? But yes! Yes, the last Interlude, Raphael's Interlude, will go live tomorrow, maybe around 9:30 EST or so. I hope you enjoy it!

In other news… there may be a third story. The angels Gabriel leaves behind in Heaven are insisting that I explain what happened inbetween this story and the sequel. It's already three chapters long and still growing. Anael wants a chance to talk, and Ion's asking for a role too, and Naomi's elbowing her way in, and… and it's just a crowded mess in my head! Arrrgh!

CALMING DOWN

Gabriel was interrupted from his self-pity by a soft tap on the door. There was a Seraph's grace just outside, but it was all bubbly curves and light, not Cariel's sharper edges at all. Barachiel's. Gabriel debated ignoring him, curling his knees up tighter against his chest. He had tucked his chin against them and wrapped himself in his wings. If he pretended hard enough, he could just about imagine his older brothers sitting behind him, wrapping him in their soft feathers and singing gently into his mind.

"Gabriel? I know you're in there."

Barachiel wasn't good at being ignored. Gabriel sighed and flicked his hand at the door, letting it swing open. Barachiel crept in, and Gabriel closed the door with another brush of two fingers through the air.

"Car-ah, I heard you'd been hurt." Barachiel smiled gently as he approached Gabriel's desk. "I figured sending for one of Raphael's healers would be fairly stupid, not to mention unfairly cruel to the unfortunate one who came here, so I thought I might lend some grace. It's amazing what one can pick up when recovering in Raphael's tower without ever needing to swear allegiance to that little prick."

Prick. That was about as foul-mouthed as Barachiel ever got. Gabriel huffed a laugh against his knees. "Don't insult him, Barach. It doesn't suit you."

"If he upset you, he deserves it." Barachiel's conviction rang through his words, his loyalty to Gabriel a brilliant gleam in his grace. "If he hurt you, he doesn't deserve clean epithets."

"Why do you assume Raphael was the one who hurt me?"

"Because only your partner can truly hurt your heart." Barachiel rocked onto his toes, his hands tucked neatly behind his back. Six thin wings, still too fragile to bear his spirit, fluttered gently from the movement. He looked delicate and uncertain, ready to fly if Gabriel got mad at him. "Cariel is my best friend. I can forgive him nearly any hurtful thing he says, because I know he doesn't truly mean it. But Zachariah is my partner, and when he says something horrible, I just shrivel inside, because I know he does mean it." Barachiel took several tiny steps closer to Gabriel. "You love Michael, and you will forgive him anything, but you know when Raphael lashes out at you, he speaks truthfully."

"Why are you the wisest one in my choir?" Gabriel asked quietly, closing his eyes.

"Because no one else wanted the job?" Barachiel's fingers brushed gently across Gabriel's head. "Let me see your injury, Gabriel. Did Raphael hurt you?"

"Of course he did," Gabriel finally admitted, lifting his head and turning his scratched cheek toward the Seraph. "To be fair, I got him worse with a fireball first."

"Good for you." Barachiel smiled at Gabriel, murmuring a spell as he drew his fingers down the first cut. Gabriel could feel a tingle as Barachiel used his own grace to regrow Gabriel's torn spirit. "But why a fireball first?"

Gabriel sighed. "He said things about Cariel. About me. Things that were," the Archangel sighed a little, smiling bitterly, "too true."

"Ah." Barachiel's fingers moved to the next scratch and he repeated the incantation, drawing his fingers down the injury. "Things that happened while you were on Earth?"

"Yes." Gabriel's face felt better already, but his heart was still heavy. "Cariel was obeying his orders, all of them."

"They were mostly Michael's orders," Barachiel commented lightly. "And mostly because we were discouraged from visiting Earth."

"Discouraged?"

Barachiel nodded solemnly. "Raphael believes the frequency of our trips through the Borderlands between Heaven and Earth is weakening its fabric. He's concerned that if it's destroyed again, it won't be repairable next time."

"But… we did fix it." Gabriel remembered the endless days of weaving the stuff of the Borderlands across the Void with Raphael, filling in the gap with the essence of substance.

"Where did you get the thread you fixed it with?" Barachiel asked quietly, lifting his fingers and moving to the last cut. "From the rest of the Borderlands. You had to thin areas already existing to repair the hole."

Gabriel hadn't bothered to ask Raphael how he had known to fix the Borderlands, or where he had drawn the raw material from. He winced, remembering how many times he had callously torn open gates instead of properly flying between the realms. How many times had Raphael patched over the damage he had caused?

"I'm sorry," Barachiel said, hastily lifting his fingers at Gabriel's wince. "I guess that one must be deeper than the others…"

"No, you're doing a fine job, Barach. I'm just… but Cariel visited me frequently! He could have said something!"

"He was forbidden."

"Forbidding Cariel never actually stopped him from doing something before."

"Forbidding him from seeing you?" Barachiel touched his fingers back to the last cut on Gabriel's cheek. "Raphael said the only way he would allow Cariel to pass between the realms as often as he did was if Cariel kept you from erupting by not telling you we'd been turning to Raphael and Michael in your absence. He said if Cariel ever disobeyed, he'd consider it an act of treason and have Cariel hunted down and executed."

Gabriel closed his fingers around Barachiel's wrist, opening his eyes slowly. "Raphael threatened to kill Cariel?" he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"I don't think he actually would." Barachiel wasn't smiling as he met Gabriel's eyes. "I think he only said it to impress the seriousness of his command on Cariel. You do have a tendency to erupt, like the volcanoes that mimic your core."

Gabriel shoved Barachiel's arm away, pushing to his feet and storming over to the eastern window in his office. From here, he could make out Raphael's tower just on the horizon, and he slammed his fist against the glass. "He oversteps his bounds."

"Raphael was showing extreme lenience and understanding," Barachiel argued quietly. "He did allow Cariel to visit you, in the end. I haven't been to Earth in centuries, Gabriel, and my garrisons are the most active there. The angels on Earth now haven't seen Heaven in half a century. Cariel was the only one allowed to fly freely between the realms, because Raphael knew he was important to you."

"Still-"

"Still, if the Borderlands truly are being eroded by our trips, perhaps you should be grateful Raphael and Michael took steps to not cut you off entirely while still doing everything they could to preserve the passage in the event of emergencies." Barachiel ducked his head, his delicate wings pressed tight against his back. "I'm sorry, Gabriel. I just… understood their logic, so I didn't complain. I-"

"It's all right, Barachiel." Gabriel let his arm drop, his own wings drooping. "You have a point. They had a point." But Raphael knew. He knew I wanted to leave. He knew I wanted to leave with Cariel. And Michael didn't seem surprised. Somehow, Raphael had once again learned things, private things, that had been shared between Gabriel and Cariel alone. Raphael had all but admitted he had spies in Gabriel's choir once… but still! Only Cariel would have known! Only Cariel could have told! Gabriel leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the warm glass. He was trapped here, caged in by walls and rules, by his brothers, by mistrust. Gabriel yearned for the days long ago when he could fly freely through the universe, going wherever he pleased, with no responsibilities to anyone, no duties to fulfill.

"Cariel was filling your role while you were away." Barachiel crept closer to Gabriel, his fingers brushing the outermost edge of the Archangel's wing. "He had to put the choir first, above even you. Please don't be mad at him. He loves you more than any other angel."

"It's not that easy, Barachiel." Gabriel turned, catching the younger angel in the curve of one wing and drawing him close. Barachiel came easily, tucking against Gabriel's chest to return his choirmaster's embrace. "But thank you. Cariel is lucky to have you as a friend."

The air rippled as a third angel materialized in Gabriel's office. Michael. The Archangel appeared facing Gabriel, a shadow still darkening his grace. He didn't even spare Barachiel a glance. "Are you calm?"

Gabriel pushed Barachiel behind him, covering the Seraph with his wings just in case. "Calmer."

Michael huffed impatiently. "Best we can hope for. Let's try this again. We are still at war. Join us in Raphael's tower."

Michael vanished just as abruptly as he appeared, and Gabriel relaxed, glancing back at Barachiel. "Round two," he muttered. "Please thank Cariel for giving me some space."

"Try not to fireball Raphael again," Barachiel replied with a little smile. "Or, if you do, make sure he's started things this time."