.-~*~-.
Gadreel was waiting for him, and while it should have annoyed him that The Squib of God had known exactly where he was going to come through, he hadn't been lying when he told Hela that Metatron was feeding off God power. Unlike his brothers -and once sister due to Luci- who could do base level omnipotence on Earth, Metatron was feeding off of God energy and with the right spellwork could more than likely do so much more. Gabriel was already well aware of the angel's ability-
"-to read your mind." The scene around him shifted to reveal a small impractical office with Metatron sitting at a desk, wearing an ugly as all hell robe.
"Among other things." Gabriel responded with a glower. "So, what's with the call to arms?"
"I have an issue that needs to be dealt with."
"What's that got to do with me? We had a deal, Metatron."
"Ah, yes. Your freedom for playing out my trick on Castiel. Except you screwed it up."
"I screwed it up?" Gabriel scowled, eyes narrowing.
"Continuity errors are your flair, Gabriel. Your means to an end. I've read your greatest hits, remember? I let it go because you got my message across."
"Oh really? So, what am I doing here, then? If I did what I was told- albeit with perfectly reasonable reluctance and more than predictable defiance- then our deal was held up. There's no reason for me to be here, Metatron. Unless you're the kind of god that lies."
"I'd watch your tongue, Gabriel."
"Or what? You'll kill me? Lock me back up? You know you can't keep me in either of those places. I don't go down easy. Luci's proof enough of that."
"I don't need to do either of those things when I have these." Metatron waved his hand and four rings appeared on his desk. None of the dramatic flair they deserved. The four rings that Gabriel had singlehandedly lead the hunters to all those years ago and horror clawed at his gut as the implications dawned with him.
Metatron was a dick, but he wasn't that sadistic- right?
There was no point in running, no point in trying to steal the rings when apparently Metatron himself had Death's, Death who so rarely intervened it was a miracle he'd shown for the Apocalypse at all.
"What do you want?"
"I need your horn."
"You've got it already." Gabriel scowled, stepping back.
"Not that one. You know exactly what I'm talking about, Gabriel. I've got your 'party trick'. I want the horn."
"Why in the ever-living hell would I give you that? You're bold, but you're not suicidal."
"I'm not stupid enough to open The Cage with that thing, but I think you are if you decide your brothers are the safer alternative to me. Which I can promise you, isn't the case."
"Lucifer tried to kill me." Gabriel responded bitterly. "Well, he did kill me. You expect me to pop him from the box just because I don't like you ruling Heaven?"
"Michael didn't."
"Yeah well Michael didn't take The Cage well. Last update from Luci said he was a whimpering ball of tears."
"You believe him?"
"Say what you will about him. Luci doesn't lie. Granted his truth isn't always our truth but if he says Mikey's lost his mind, he's lost it. So I'm not- wait, why the fuck am I explaining this to you? I'm not giving you my damned horn. It's in a safe spot and I'm not stupid enough to use it. Now if that's all you-"
All at once his blood ran cold, ice shooting down his spine and rage igniting in him as a prayer pierced his Grace, a cry for help. "You bastard."
The scribe's eyes lit and Gabriel launched himself from Heaven in a desperate flurry, diving through dimensional walls and coming out in the Norse realm.
"Time flows in realms based on its ruler. Five minutes here can be ten years on Earth." Raphael had once told him what felt like a millennium ago. Maybe it was. God, he didn't know anymore, all he knew was that when he arrived in the Norse realm it looked like they had been at war for years. The problem was the reality. This wasn't a war, this was a slaughter. The first angel that saw him panicked and disappeared through the realm walls, and each and every other angel that saw him froze for a fraction of a second before doing the same.
He didn't care.
Angels were drones at their roots, and Metatron was their leader. No. That didn't matter. What mattered was the prayer he'd received a week too late. A prayer that had sounded from the deepest corners of Helheim.
The only thing that mattered. The doors flung open as he stormed in, energy crackling around him as his wings threatened against the edge of the veil where he kept them. More angels were here, Valkyrie bodies lay strewn about and he noticed Thor at the foot of Hela's throne, three dead angels laying and blood-soaked hammer still gripped firmly, even in death. It was a wonder anyone had managed to steal the thing from him before.
For a fraction of a moment he let himself grieve the asshole, then he was storming through the Halls of his daughter's castle, snapping a noose around the only angel stupid enough to attack him's neck and finding his way into his daughter's heavily warded room.
The scene inside was bloody, horrible. There were three Valkyrie dead on the floor, two standing just inside the door armed with angel blades in tortured expressions.
"Loki-" One started and he gave her a hard look that shut her mouth. Váli was curled on her feet, shaking violently with his paw covering his face.
"Hela." Loki breathed, joining his children's side and staring at the wound in her side poisoned. If this was Metatron… Gabriel pressed his hand against her side, eyes burning when his grace didn't touch her.
'The angel said we would all die. Not just her but me, Narfi, and Jormun too. We're his final targets.' Váli's quiet telepathic voice came from the wolf and his teeth clenched.
"Your sister isn't dead yet." Gabriel snapped at his son who flinched away, hiding his face under his paw again. "He already killed Narfi to throw the angels from Heaven. Jormun's dead. You're still here, though. And your sister is too. I'm not losing all of you. I won't."
"Dad." Hela's voice broke the air and Gabriel's gaze snapped to her. "You can't… I was wrong."
"You'll get through this. I'll get-"
"It's over for me." She interrupted him and his eyes burned with tears as he shook his head, gripping her hand tightly. "Get Váli and go."
"No. I'm not leaving you."
"Yes, you are. It's your best skill. Get him and get the fuck out of here before they find him. Run."
"Hela-"
"Listen to me. I know you don't want to, but you need to. He's after all of us. The only reason Váli's alive is the angels don't know he's a wolf. Once they figure it out… Stay out of it. Whatever you do. Stay out of it. No revenge. Just-" Hela gasped sharply, back arching off the bed and he stared in horror as her form shimmered and dissipated into nothingness, leaving his hand grasping at air.
Hela.
'Dad.'
"I shouldn't have left."
'Dad.'
"Gather the other Valkyrie, Einar. All of them. We're getting Váli the fuck out of here."
"Loki…" Einar responded uneasily, meeting his gaze.
"What?"
"We're the last. It's only us." A sob threatened to escape him, the rawest purest emotion he'd felt in decades, and he couldn't dare show it. Not here, not now. He had to be strong, even when he was fucking scared to his rawest form. Scared and angry. But he had to focus. Get Váli out. Get him out."
"I can't fly us out. I'm grounded in Helheim and my only way out is a one person ticket."
"I can't fight angels." A snap of his fingers and the spears the two Valkyrie were wielding were coated in angel steel.
"Now you stand a chance." Gabriel looked at his son who was watching him from the bed, the eternal wolf pup watching him with tired, sad eyes.
"I know you hate being treated like a puppy but I need you with me."
'I can't leave.'
"What the hell are you talking about?"
'It was never a problem. My curse, dad. Your punishment. I can't leave the Norse realm, if I do I lose all of my sentience. I become a common beast.'
In other words, he was gone. Just as good as Hela. In one, single, stupid move he was alone. His secondary family, the ones that took him in when he fled from Heaven, they were gone.
It was over.
So, he did what any father would do for a son they loved. He sat down on the edge of the bed and lifted his protesting child into his arms, hugging him close. His flesh and grace, distributed among two children…
"Here, or Earth. I can't break your curse, so it's your choice."
'I love you, Dad but… I want to die with my mind. I want to be me.'
"I wish we'd done more together."
'We did enough. You faked Narfi's death. You found me a place with Hela. I could never ask you for more. You did the best you could. You hid us from Heaven- your mistake divided into two, and you took them in. You gave me siblings.'
Gabriel held his son close, kissing a furry cheek. "I never did. I was a coward. I should have fought harder for you."
'You did your best in our crazy world. Run, Dad. I don't want you to see this.'
"Váli…"
'You watched Hela. You don't deserve this. Run.'
"No."
'Now.' His son ordered and with one final pained look his son squirmed out of his arms and onto his sister's bed, shaking his coat out and meeting his gaze with pain and fear etched into his expression.
"I'm sorry." Then he did what no father ever should do. He turned his attention to the two remaining Valkyrie. "Protect him." He ordered quietly before stepping back, feet touching down on the Earth as the first tears fell.
Gabriel walked through the empty halls of Helheim. So far he had found Jörmungandr and -to his silent anguish- Sleipnir's corpses. Which left the final two. The ones he'd been avoiding.
Hela's room was near the front, nowhere near far enough away for him to prolong the waiting sight.
I left him. It was hard to decide whether that had been a bad choice or not. It was the most difficult decision he had made in his entire life. Except in reality he hadn't made a choice. He'd just acted, and there hadn't been time to think it out. It had just been a matter of move.
So when he stepped outside her room, he froze, staring at the blood-spattered door.
There was no way… He wasn't that close… There were more hallways. There was more time.
Except the door was soaked in blood and he knew his son's corpse was on the other side. A fact. Something he knew as well as he knew breathing. Just like he'd known the moment the others were killed. Something as basic as breathing for humans. The knowledge of the lifelines of his children -adopted or not- was embedded in his very Grace.
Finish it. Easier thought than done, but he did what he had to. Slowly, so damned slowly, he pulled open the door and stepped inside. It wasn't a bloodbath- well not exactly. There were six dead angels in various positions, one still had the Valkyrie's spear protruding from its chest and another had the distinct imprint of wolf teeth on its throat.
At first, Gabriel didn't see him. Honestly, he probably was avoiding the sight. It wasn't just a matter of another dead body. It wasn't going to be just any dead body. Not Sleipnir or Jörmun. Hela didn't have a corpse for him to get, but Váli was another story. Váli was one of his two children, one of his nephillim, and he was part of Gabriel's grace. Unlike the other three, Váli had been half of his nephillim child, divided into two to protect him. One of two.
His child.
His stomach lurched at the sight of Váli on the bed, the only blessing being that the angel that killed him? He'd made it quick. There was no doubt in his mind that they'd just gotten it over quickly. No one wanted to kill a kid, not angels and not even if they were Pagans. Eternally cursed to look as a young wolf, his curse became a blessing in the last moment.
Father, thank you. Yeah, he knew it didn't have a damned thing to do with God, but he couldn't help but pray. It was still ingrained in him, just as natural as everything else. Angels prayed. It was their roots, hell even Lucifer prayed.
Of course, it irritated the hell out of him. Especially here. God had no standing here. Not in Helheim. Not in the Norse realm. Not in any of them. Not- His thoughts skidded to a stop when he spotted a VHS tape sitting on the end table. Normally in this place, here and now, he wouldn't have given it two thoughts. This was a graveyard. Yet, he knew for a fact that the tape hadn't been there before, and it was cloaked to the brim in angel warding- not Archangel. Where the hell had it come from?
"Váli? Was this you?" He asked quietly, swallowing heavily as he snapped a TV with a VCR into existence on the dresser, forcing his gaze from the blood-soaked bed. Later. He could do this later. For now… This had to be important. It had to be. That was the only reason it would be there.
A click of his fingers and the tape was flying across the room, pressing into the VCR with a metallic sound. Please be good.
"Hey, Dad." Hela's voice chimed from the TV as a fuzzy image came into view. It was Hela on her bed with Váli curled up in her lap. "I want to start with an apology. See I didn't think about it sooner. I've prayed now, but I know it's too late." A scream sounded in the background and she flinched, Váli pressing his face against her chest. "I guess I get my best cues from you, better late than never. I'm telling Váli to bring this out when the inevitable happens, but not before. If it's before, you won't listen. I love you, and I'm sorry. But I have to beg you. Here and now, I have to give you my last dying wish. Not just mine, but Váli's too. You can't… Don't do something stupid. Let us fall. Don't get yourself killed by going back. You're Loki. You're our father. Prove that. Abandon Heaven. Hold onto your legacy as Loki, pagan god. Please, Father. Do this for us. Do this for me. I don't want you to die and you've made it clear that this Metatron is capable of killing you."
"Hela."
"I love you. We love you. I just-"
"Hela, Norse Goddess of the dead." A voice broke the air on the video, angelic without any doubt, and the image went dead. All he could do was stare at the screen, heart breaking at the impossible, final request of his daughter. God.
How could she ask him that? Let Metatron slaughter them all? No revenge?
Damn it.
How could he refuse her? With a shaky breath he turned his attention to where Váli was laid out on the bed, throat slit.
The final body of his final child. Then… what? Did he do what she asked or did he go on a rampage in Heaven until Metadick killed him?
Damn.
~-.-~