It is early evening near Adelaide. A nice and empty beach in the sunset, just a few seagulls flying around or resting peacefully on the shore. Everything is quiet and…
… a cursing archangel appears.
The seagulls aren´t impressed at all, cawing and giving their opinion very loudly and unamused as they fly away. Gabriel ignores them altogether, letting himself drop into the sand, trying to laugh away what just happened and not succeeding at all.
Thousands of years of perfecting the cover-up for his angel powers. Turning off angel radio, staying low.
Centuries of not seeing an other angel.
(Well, there was that regrettable incident with Balthazar, that kid can be rather persistent. Gabriel didn´t like to drop him into that enchanted well, which just happened to be the real deal and powerful enough to hold an angel, to safe himself escape time and he had to fake his death once again after it, just to be sure, but that was just how life went.)
And now this! And of all the angels it had to be the one he would have maybe expected the least and also wants to see the least. The one who has power over him like almost no one else. The one who almost raised him, then destroyed his world and sent him running. Good old big brother Michael. Who would have thought to see him of all people in Wyoming?
Michael has never liked to leave heaven, as far as Gabriel can remember. Even Lucifer left the garden more often, back then.
No, don´t go back there, don´t…
Damn.
"Michael, are you coming with us?" Gabriel is absolutely excited. Father has finally allowed them to go to earth and have a look. Well, it´s not like it´s his first time on earth, he and Lucifer have sneaked out of the garden a few times before and have had a good time before getting caught, but this is his first official time and that makes it something entirely else. There is so much he has only been able to see briefly till Lucifer dragged him on, reminding him that Father would get them sooner or later, so they had to see as much as possible, no time for details.
Really, earth doesn´t even have that many details at this point and only a few lower species inhabiting it. It is still very much in construction state and Father is having a hard time kick-starting evolution. But still, it´s something else than the garden, something new and exciting and Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel can´t wait for it to be shown to them. Raphael, usually the calmest of them all, has been nervous all morning, flapping his wings and fiddling, while trying to escape Lucifers attempts to tell him everything about earth.
"Just leave me alone, Lucifer", he is protesting right now. "I want to see it for myself" "You could have long seen it for yourself", Lucifer replies, clearly itching to tell someone, anyone, about earth. "Gabriel and I offered you to come with us more than once, not our fault you are so perfect and sticking to the rules" Raphaels wings flap in anger. "I am not. I just don´t do stupid, risky stuff and openly defying Fathers orders is stupid. One day you will go to far Lucifer, and then don´t say I didn´t warn you"
"Well, one day maybe, but not today", Lucifer replies lighthearted and smiles at Raphael, because these days none of them ever argues for long. And Raphael smiles back, because he hasn´t really meant what he said and it isn´t his character to see black. Moments later they are happily chattering about earth in a more general way, because Lucifer so clearly wants to talk about it and Raphael thinks that maybe a bit of general knowledge can´t hurt after all.
Gabriel has listened to that exchange with half an ear, while dancing around Michael, willing his oldest brother to look at him. Michael is holding some script Father has given him and is actually managing to read with his brothers fussing all around him, like only an older brother, who knows that if he doesn´t adapt he will never get anything done, can do. "Michael, come on let´s go!" The oldest archangel sighs and reluctantly puts down the script to face the youngest, who is barely able to hold still for a moment.
"Why don´t the three of you just go?", Michael says with a forced smile. "Show everything to Raphael, have a great day, maybe even get Father to explain some things to you. Meanwhile I can finally have a bit peace in the garden" Gabriel is struck. In his worldview back then, this is the absolute catastrophe.
"But Mike", he complains, falling back to the old nickname Michael not so secretly hates. "It was supposed to be a good day, a family day. All four of us. It won´t be the same if you don´t come" "It will be great", Michael replies firmly. "I can see earth later, it will be there for quite some time and it will be better for you not to have your worried big brother hanging around, warning you about everything"
Michael comes with them in the end. Really, it is the only way to keep Gabriel from crying out of disappointment, Raphael from staying in the garden out of loyalty and Lucifer from throwing a major tantrum. But the whole day while they fly around, excited by all the different landscapes that stretch beneath them, Michael is strangely withdrawn, barely smiling, wanting to return to the garden almost immediately. He stays with them, because he doesn´t want to leave his brothers alone, but the day isn´t remotely as funny as Gabriel imagined it to be and he is angry at Michael for days (a really long time for him back then) for ruining the mood.
It takes him years and many disillusions about his brother to realize that Michael is and has always been afraid of new things. If you can´t plan and foresee it, itis dangerous. Gabriel thinks that Michaels brothers are the expectation to this rule, till it becomes impossible to foresee Lucifer.
Gabriel forces himself to snap out of it. No use for cheesy trips down memory lane, he reminds himself. What has happened has happened and there is no turning back. Yes, Michael of all people being out of heaven is unusual and probably means that hell standing open is a bit of a bigger problem, but stuff like that happens. He ran… no, got away and everything is like it was before. No use to think about the past or Michael, because of a random chance meeting, that totally hasn´t thrown him of the rails.
Maybe Michael is still there.
No. Absolutely not, he scolds himself. He isn´t going down that road ever again. He thought about going back to heaven after Loki and he didn´t. He became the Trickster instead and that was it. End of story.
Really, he is the Trickster still. Why has he even allowed Gabriel to get sunlight? This has to be reversed as fast as possible. He is the Trickster and he´s out of chocolate bars. Time to do something about that, instead of uselessly mopping around.
The gulls aren´t pleased by his departure anymore than by his arrival.
It´s early morning in London and he settles down at a Starbucks that won´t open for another two hours. With the professional manner of someone having learned by trial and error and proud of having figured it out without too much damage, he gets himself an extra large Caramel Frappuccino with extra caramel and extra extra extra sugar, then starts raiding the chocolate supply. Outside people are passing by, none of them paying notice, all assuming that he has some right to be where he is, very practical those gullible people.
He adds some more sugar, then some more, then starts to wonder if eating the Frappuccino with a spoon would be a better idea than drinking it. He ends up doing it after the sugar rate has climbed to 50%.
So the Trickster sits at the counter, spooning down his coffee, absentmindedly doodling some wrong written names on unused coffee cups. Not one of his best pranks maybe, but he is only trying to calm down, not yet able to be creative. After half of the coffee-caramel-sugar-paste he gets a bit better, searching for the names of the Starbucks employees in the register, then making a best-of-wrong- spelled-versions for each name on one cup each, carefully arranging them on the counter. Maybe he should return later when the Starbucks is open, the first employee to arrive will have loads of nice nickname ideas presented to him for free… knowing humans this could get interesting.
The Trickster is contently checking over his work, that while it´s nothing special, is a good start for going back to normal, when Gabriel is back all of the sudden. And with him a very annoying voice sounding like Michael and telling him to finally grow up.
The first moment the voice is so real, Gabriel actually freezes. It isn´t impossible after all, that after their encounter only hours past, Michael has finally searched for him and found him.
He never searched for you. You didn´t want him to search for you. You threw him of, remember?
Damn that voice. Damn the past.
And there it is, like he feared from the moment he saw Michael. His most annoying memory. Fragmented and torn, yet always returning, always under the surface, boiling up at almost every reminder of heaven and the past.
Michael and Lucifer fighting, shouting, cursing each other.
Raphael trying to keep Gabriel away from it, Gabriel shouting, thrashing against Raphael and Raphael letting him go. (The question of how far it would have escalated between him and Raphael, if Raphael hadn´t let go, has never stopped tormenting him)
Gabriel reaching Michael and Lucifer, screaming, clinging to Michael, telling him to stop, telling both of them to stop.
Michael tossing him away like dirt, not caring, not even sparing a glance for his desperate little brother.
Lucifer begging.
Michael ignoring Lucifer.
Lucifer falling.
Michael cold as ice.
Raphael wrapping his arms around him, trying to shield him with his wings, when it is too late, far too late, all the damage already done and all that remains is a bloody, broken aftermath.
And Gabriel runs.
And doesn´t stop running.
Ever.
When the door opens and an annoyed Starbucks employee is faced with a mess, Gabriel is long gone, running like always.