AN: And we are off to a great start. So many questions and so many chapters to answer them in. A quick thing I just want to say about when the siblings are speaking to each other just themselves, they are speaking Celestrial (their secret sibling language). I'm just not going to write it using bold italics because I fine a little silly when it's just them, but I will if someone else is involved in the scene where they can hear it but don't know what's being said. I hope that's not too confusing, but if it is, please say so and I'll make sure to change it. I'm pretty much basing it a little off how my sister and I growing up with speak danish to each other when we'd run into one another and not think about it since it was just our normal, even if our teachers or friends where standing next to us.
We weren't doing it to be jerks, it was just normal for us. Though sometimes it was fun to be able to talk about stuff in secret while the teachers we didn't like would loose their minds thinking we were shit talking them. Especially our Spanish Teacher in grade school because that woman should not have been a spanish teacher. She had fled from Cuba as a child and could remember being seperated from her parents so that three military pricks could scream at her for hours how she was a traitor to her people for traveling to the USA so she had a lot of trauma she put on us students. I remember her screaming at me a few times about not being able to roll my 'r's and how I wasn't applying myself to Spanish like I was my other classes. It was literally the only class I had in school where my parents couldn't help us with it so my dad had a very 'just do your best and get through the year' attitude about it. She even screamed at me once because my dad told her during a parent teacher meeting that 'look, the girls are better at Spanish then us. I get you want them to excel in this, but if they manage to pull a D+ in this, I'm gonna be happy'.
Seriously Señora Millors, I hope you got some help for your issues because you gave me seven years of PTSD when it comes to speaking Spanish.
Chapter TwoShould have stayed in the Office...
* * * A few moments ago * * *
In all the eons that Michael had lived, he thought he had seen it all. He has seen the creation of Eden as well as watched it fall to ruin with the aid of his own brother as well. He had witnessed the mortal on Earth try and reach heaven's gate with the Babylon Tower only to be thwarted when his father introduced languages upon the humans and struck it down. He had gone to the city of Sodom with his older brothers, Gabriel and Raphael to judge the city and mourned when mortal woman Gomorrah did not heed their warning not to look back at God's wrath as the city was rendered to nothing but ashes. He had seen his father test the humans for their loyalty to him time and time again; from Abraham to Isaac to Joseph and Moses, only to see few succeed while others disappointed.
He had watched as God sent their brother Yeshua to take mortal form and guide them, only for the ungrateful beast to turn upon him, crucify and murder him. True it created a religion in which morals and lessons were being passed down, but sometimes Michael wondered if it was a good thing.
And like all his siblings, Michael had witnessed their father's sorrow drive him into the greater levels for solitude, leaving his oldest brood to care for Heaven and all its winners and cherubs. The work of course had been immense and left many of them bitter to have their father's responsibilities foisted onto them.
Well, almost everyone. Sera seemed to thrive in the idea of keeping Heaven in check. She had always been a stickler to the rules.
It was probably why she had Lucifer always butted head's in his youth.
For Michael, his job had been to act as a messenger between everyone else and Father, all the while to stand ready to ring the bells of war when told. It was a job that was surprisingly filled with a lot of paperwork.
So everyday life was in general very monotonous as far as Michael was concerned.
That was until the day when Adam decided to throw a wrench into everything.
The day had started normal. Saint David had come by to get the good book of names with far more cheer than Michael wanted to deal with, and Sera had voiced her worry about Hell's Sinners uprising against them. There had been a myriad of other small and miscellaneous requests here and there when he heard the unmistakable voices of Philomena and Gabriel screaming in the hallways.
"ADAM! What in the name of Father is this?! Have you lost your mind?" Michael growled in annoyance as his quill jerked from his surprise, rendering the document he was working on useless. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"What?" Adam barked back, the First Man clearly annoyed about something. "It's not that big of a fucking-"
'Wait... do I hear crying?' Michael rubbed his exhausted eyes when he realized there was a fourth voice mixed in with the three. A young one if he was to guess from its cries.
"Not in front of the baby!" The sound of a smack followed by a 'Fuck was that for' told Michael that Philomena had most likely hit Adam in reprimand. Not surprising since she was the Saint of infants and youths. "And both of you stop yelling. I'm trying to calm her down."
"Whatever, just shut her up already," Adam growled. "Fucking little shit is loud as-"
"What's going on out here?" Michael finally demanded, stepping into the hall as he tiredly ran a hand through his hair to push his hair out of his eyes. "Adam, did you steal one of the Cherubs again? You know that Philomena doesn't-"
However, Michael froze in place as his eye fell onto the bundle in Philomena's arms as all though stood equally frozen before him.
"Adam... what... is that?"
There was a moment of silence as the trio stood frozen in place, none of them wanting to answer as the toddler in Philomena's arms seemed to calm.
"It's a fucking baby, Ditshit," Adam stated as if he was being asked what color the sky was. "The fuck it look like?"
"Yep.. should have procrastinated that meeting." Gabriel groaned as he watched the vein on Michael's head grow.
* * * Hazbin Hotel * * *
After what felt like a day but was in reality only an hour, Michael found himself glaring at the trio while the infant was seated on his desk with a curious expression. The whole process of extracting information had been like pulling teeth, especially as Adam kept avoiding giving straight answers. It didn't help either that Philomena seemed to be hyper-aware of the babe, her body tense and ready to spring into action whenever the girl moved an inch or garbled. Truthfully he was getting a migraine from all of this.
As far as he could tell from Adam's story, he had been 'visiting' Hell under Sera's orders, ensuring that neither Lucifer nor the Sinners were planning an uprising when he had 'stumbled' upon a 'sweet and innocent baby' being attack by vicious demons and had been compelled or some shit like that to save it. And that it was first a few moments ago that he had discovered the baby was a being from Hell herself.
It had taken Michael all of three seconds to call BS on the story except for Sera requesting a report on the happenings in Hell. Especially given her paranoia regarding Samael's silence. It usually meant their baby brother was up to something.
"So... you mean to tell me, Adam... that in all of the wisdom given to you when you bite into the Fruit of Wisdom, you never once, once, bothered to maybe question why a child who is clearly NOT HUMAN, is doing in Hell?" Michael growled, his seraphim form slowly taking form as several eyes angrily opened across his body. Philomena tried to sign for him to calm down, afraid he would scare the baby but Michael was far too irritated to care.
"... No. Not really," Adam kind of shrugged, treating the whole ordeal with the same urgency one would treat not restocking the fridge that milk. "Fuck man, she didn't look like she belonged okay?"
"Adam... is there a chance that perhaps you only chewed but never swallowed?" Michael groaned, smacking his hand against his forehead which earned him a squeal of delight from the toddler as she made small grabby hands at him. "Adam, get Sera here now. She's the one that has the most contact with... down there. Maybe she can help us figure out how to return her."
Adam stood still for a minute as Michael plopped down into his office chair, groaning at the idea of even more work being added to his already-growing pile. In honesty, he just wanted to sleep and shove the responsibility onto someone else, but it wasn't possible. Everyone had their important jobs, weighted down but assignments and duties so that they were all spread thin.
"Umm, Michael? I hate to break this to yah," Adam looked uncomfortable as he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "But Seras has a shit ton of meetings today. I'm not sure if I even can get a meeting with her today..."
Groaning loudly, Michael realized that it would probably be an hour or so before Adam could even see Sera. That was if they were lucky.
"Ga!"
A ting hand patted his head and Michael lifted it ever so slightly to find the baby was barely an inch from his face, her hand softly grasping a lock of his hair. He had to admit, he didn't know much about Sinners or Hellborns. He tended to avoid the subject as it was painful to think about... him being there. But he was pretty sure that from what he had heard they tended to be pretty violent even as babies.
So why wasn't she?
Rather than looking like she wanted to attack him, she seemed more... worried? Concerned? Michael wasn't exactly sure how empathetic a toddler could be, but she seemed to look at him with concern as she tried to pat his cheek again as softly as her small body could. Curious to see what she would do, Michael allowed her to grasp his face between her open palms, ready to jerk away should she suddenly attack him. Instead, he was met with a charming smile before she leaned forward and without warning, planted a loud and wet 'mwah!' kiss on his forehead.
It made Michael jerk away from the baby in surprise, taken back as she cooed confused at him before reaching for him again. It hadn't been an unpleasant experience, he had been kissed by Winners who were young children before though it had been millennia since he had been around them due to his work. But he did remember that the young Winners, especially the very small ones tended to give loud kisses to show they cared.
That and slightly drool too.
No, what had startled him was the way the toddler had done it. It was a lot like...
Unnerved, Michael quickly picked the baby up and passed her quickly to Philomena. He didn't want to think of the past. It hurt too much to remember the time when his brother was still with him. Besides, he had plenty of work that needed to get done so he didn't have any time to spare. Not for frivolous chit-chat, not for Adam's nonsense or mistakes, and certainly not for taking care of accidentally kidnapped Hellborns. No, he would need instead to see if they could return her as quickly as possible without causing a full-out war.
"Philomena, I'll entrust the child with you," Michael quickly delegated, ignoring the look of horror on the young woman's face. The toddler instantly started to whine, reaching for Michael as she let out several small calls for him. "I... I'm... I have work I need to do."
"Wait what? Hold on now. Sir?!" Philomena looked utterly lost as Michael all too quickly started to push her and Gabriel out of the door before shutting it firmly. "But I-" Philomena stared lost at the door, a sense of dread filling her being as she awkwardly shifted the heavy toddler in her arms and groaned. "What exactly am I supposed to do with you?"
* * * Hazbin Hotel * * *
The first thing both Philomena and Gabriel agreed upon was that they could not bring the baby down to the nursery. The whole incident of a Hellborn demon having been 'brought' up into Heaven had to be kept secret to avoid anyone panicking and thinking there was an uprising happening or the beginning whispers of a holy war in the making. True, it would have been preferable since the Nursery was willed with Winners and Angels who had actual experience in dealing with infants compared to the ancient pair but there was no guarantee that the workers would keep their lips sealed about it not to mention they weren't sure that the Hellborn wouldn't accidentally harm someone with a tantrum or not.
But it did put them in a rather unpleasant disposition. What were they going to do with the baby?
So far, Philomena had managed to corral the tiny tot in a corner of Gabriel's office by using a bunch of random books, tables, and chairs to mark out the area. They decided to use his office since it was the farthest away from everyone else, not to mention rarely used. In truth it was kind of surprising that Gabriel even had an office since he was always zipping out delivering messages here and there, so other than a few personal items scattered about the room, it looked fairly bare and abandoned.
Gabriel had at least the decency to look ashamed when Philomena pointed out the layer of visible dust that covered everything.
"Look I'm God's messenger, not Cleaner," Gabriel excused weakly as Philomena forced him to at least wipe most of the dust away. "So, what do we do with it?"
"Her." Mena corrected as she stood helplessly and watched the baby who looked confused between them.
"Sorry?"
"Her. She's a girl, not a thing and..." Mena explained before sitting down in a chair and looking utterly lost. "I... suppose we just watch her."
Gabriel blinked as he slowly noticed just how uncomfortable Philomena looked. It was odd considering he had seen her countless times dealing with the newborn cherubs and souls with ease every day. When Mena was working with the cherubs she always seemed calm and collected, informing them who they were to report to and what their purposes were. And when it came to the new souls, Philomena was always sweet and gentle, cupping her hands around the tiny orbs and speaking softly to them about how special they each were and what great things they might grow up to do someday.
She always looked like she knew what she was doing and yet now...
Now she just looked lost.
Not that Gabriel was any better. The last time he had been around a child this small was probably the day Father had tested Abraham with Issac, a test of loyalty that he was still questioning to this day. Ever since Samael's Fall, Father had seemed obsessed with testing humanity on their belief and their love for him, though Gabriel wasn't sure why. He had never asked.
None of them had. They never dared to.
Only Samael had ever really dared to.
* * * Hazbin Hotel * * *
As time ticked by slowly, Philomena joined Gabriel in cleaning up the office and organizing it. It was more interesting than watching the baby who just seemed to be staring at them and making small sounds. It had started with sweeping the inside of the enclosure where they had put the baby, ensuring it was clean and she wouldn't get dirtier by crawling about in the dust and grim. Then she moved on to the books on the shelves and helped Gabriel sort out what documents on his desk were and weren't important, which was a challenge of its own. Despite being God's messenger, it turned out Gabriel was an absolute disaster when she discovered he had no system for what was done and wasn't. But that was fine with Philomena because by helping Gabriel dust off it allowed Mena to avoid acknowledging the embarrassing truth.
That despite being the patron Saint of Infants and Children, she had no idea how to care for one.
She hadn't been near an actual child since she first set foot in Heaven and received her wings. Back then she had happily spent time with the youngest Winners and a few young Heaven-born angels, playing with them and learning how to fly. When she reminisced about it, she was pretty sure that those had been some of the most carefree days she had ever had before the Sera the High Seraphim announced for all of Heaven that Philomena was to be a patron Saint. It had been such an honor at the time as she was blessed with her own unique wings like Adam, marking her as special like the first man, and then...
Then she has been working nonstop ever since.
Of course, at first, she had tried to carve out time to revisit the younger souls and play with them as many of them had missed her and wrote to her. But as time passed she had less and less free time. The daily visits slowly turned to weekly, then monthly, then to a single day once a year before dwindling to a matter of a few hours if an hour at all.
Now when she thought about it, beyond a quick passing when she was called into a rare meeting, she hadn't been in the nursery for more than a handful of minutes in the last century.
Or was it more like millennia?
She wasn't even sure if she could recall the last time she had spoken properly to any of them beyond a soft smile and hello, much less received a letter from them. When had she fallen out of touch with younger souls?
Gabriel wasn't fairing better in his musings. At first, he had spent a good deal of time grumbling about why he even had the office. In the beginning, it had made sense as he was tasked to sort out messages between everyone as Earth started to develop, but he too had had enough free time to hang with his siblings and explore his interests. But then Eden had started and he had gotten more and more busy sending and delivering messages between his siblings and father. It had been an insanely busy time for all of them.
'As if we aren't still busy now,' He huffed as he flew to the top shelves of his office and gathered several pieces of paper. "Heavenly Father, how long have these been up here? I think these are some of my old worksheets from when I was a fledgling. So this is where I hid them..."
"Hey Gab?" Philomena called to him as she held out some crumbled old papers that had been stuffed behind some books. "What are these? They look like drawings."
Curious, Gabriel drifted down towards her and gasped. She wasn't wrong, they were drawing, crude ones that depicted a sort of family flying about with happy faces, some of them only showing one or two figures with odd little scribbles in gold at the bottom of the page. And yet, Gabriel could easily remember what each one of them depicted.
"Where did you find these?" Gabriel gapped as he took them from her, marveling at how the papyrus had kept despite their poor treatment. "I thought I lost these eons ago."
"They were stuck behind some books," Philomena stated as she flipped through some of the pages. "Are these... children drawing? Are they yours?"
"They were a gift from my little brother," Gabriel mused, taking them gently from her as if he were afraid that they would turn to dust the moment he touched them. "He used to draw these for all of us when he was little, especially after he learned to write."
Philomena looked amused as she studied the crud drawings before she smiled.
"You're little brother?" She flipped through a few of them before finding one that depicted two figures sitting under what looked like a night sky, both smiling as the smaller one seemed to be throwing balls of light above them. "I don't recognize the writing on it though."
"It's an ancient Celestial language. It's a language only us higher-level angels learn," Gabriel said absentmindedly as he studied the letters that were roughly scribbled on the page. He was so focused on reading it, that he missed the hurt look on Philomena's face. "I remember he had just learned how to write at the time. He was so proud about it, I didn't have the heart to tell him he spelled our names wrong."
Sir Michael did?" Philomena tried to see if she could read the language herself over his shoulder but it all just looked like scribbles.
"No. Sammy did," Gabriel mused as he looked at the picture again as he recalled the night Samael had depicted in his crude drawing. He even remembered the day Samael had shown up in his room, zooming about in color-smeared robes with a smile so bright it rivaled the sun and a flustered Sera calling after him. "He was so proud that night."
"That night?" Mena asked, curiously, wondering who 'Sammy' was.
*** Flashback ***
It had been well past the midnight hour when Gabriel finally had a moment to relax. Father had been busy with a new project and he had been slowly allowing each of his children to join in on its workings. It had started with Uriel, which was logical since he was the oldest of them and the wisest. And it was thanks to Uriel's insight that this project was going to be too much for just the two of them, that the jobs had slowly trickled down to their siblings, calling in each and every one of their specific skills to help form what their father was calling Eden. It hadn't been formed yet, it was still just a basic idea on papyrus, built on half-hearted sketches and hastily jotted notes that were mixed with an array of cross-out scratches and pointing arrows as ideas were scrapped, changed, or revisited.
It was fun but the talks were starting to get a little tedious. Especially since they were all also helping Sera with the twins.
With Michael, things were fairly easy. He was a good boy, eager to please those around him, and very cautious. Gabriel had teased him a few days ago about being Sera's shadow as he followed her closely all the time, something his oldest 'sister' had reprimanded him for as it made Mikey start crying. Gabriel had felt bad about that of course but come on. If the fledgling got any more attached to the seraphim, his hand would get stuck in her dress for eternity.
The same couldn't be said about Samael. Their youngest fledgling, the 'baby' of the family was always on the move and fearlessly curious to the point where it could be dangerous. And yet, Gabriel loved it. He loved that Samael was impatient to grow up and part take in everything that his older brothers and sisters were doing. He was eager to learn and explore, his only limitation being when Sera would catch him or when his seemingly boundless energy would just give out and he would fall asleep wherever he was. It was always fun to see what innocent mischief their baby brother would get into next.
Like now, as the little fledgling had snuck out of the Hatchery and was trying to sneak up behind him.
"You're supposed to be in bed right now, Sammy," Gabriel singsonged as he leaned back, enjoying the cool breeze that played with his long hair. Back then it used to reach his mid back before he realized how problematic it would get when he'd spend most of the day zipping about. "And off in dreamland. You know Sera's going to scold you if she finds out."
"You're not gonna tell are you?" Crawling out from his hiding spot in a lilac bush, Gabriel smiled softly as he looked at the tiny angel before him.
Despite being the same age as Michael, Samael was only half his twin's size, making him appear younger than four years old. He had bright blue eyes that shined with innocence and wonder and just a sparkle of untamed mischief which was only amplified by his chubby rosy cheeks that still retained a fair bit of baby fat. He was dressed in his nightshirt that was still too big for him, the robe reaching almost to his feet instead of his knees like it did Michael. Gabriel mentally laughed as he looked at the large woeful eyes that pleaded for him not to tell while his soft blond hair was filled with leaves and twigs, as were the six pure white wings that were still too large for his small form.
Sera said he would grow into them but it hadn't stopped Samael from trying to fly at every change he got.
"Gabriel~!" came the tiny pleaded whine as the tiny hands gripped his nightdress. "Serwa will yell at me!"
Gabriel had to pinch himself hard to keep from laughing. Samael had recently lost one of his baby teeth, so he had a slight lisp. Gabriel 'hmm'ed for a minute, pretending to think it over only for his baby brother to tackle him in a desperate plead for him to keep it a secret. Not that Gabriel could blame him. He was still on the receiving end of Sera's lectures sometimes and boy did she have that down to an art.
"Gabby, pwease?" Samael pleaded, his wings fluttering uncoordinated behind him as he begged. "Don't tell Serwa."
"Hmmm, okay," Gabriel finally relented. "But only if you promise tomorrow to focus on your letters. Sera's been complaining to Father about how you keep sneaking off during lessons."
"But they're borwing!" Samael whined as Gabriel shifted him around, settling the little angel in his lap, and started to preen his wings. Samael gave a tiny sigh of pleasure as he felt his brother gently brush his fingers through the long flight feathers, painfully aware of how sensitive the six limbs still were. "Why do I have to wearn them anyways?"
"Well, didn't you say just yesterday that you wanted to join all of us others in Father's meetings to help?" Gabriel gently asked as he worked out a few leaves and twigs from the feathers as well as straightening them. Samael hadn't learned yet how to care for his wings just yet but it was clear he had been trying. "How would you be able to help Father with us all if you can't read or write any notes for the meetings? There's a lot of work that involves reading you know."
"I can draw," Samael confidently, the child's logic sound in his own mind. Gabriel gave a soft laugh as he ruffled the soft locks on his head. "Pictures are bedder than borwing words."
"I suppose but you still have to write what your ideas are for others to understand them, Sammy," Gabriel explained as he continued his work. "We all have to share ideas after all and sometimes the meetings aren't long enough to discuss everything. Hence, we need to write reports to ensure we can inform each other of our desired endeavors." Samael leaned back to look confused at Gabriel, making the older brother chuckle as he explained. "Sometimes we have to read what each other's ideas are at same time. That's why it's important to learn how to read. Besides, don't you want to read the stories Uriel's been keeping in his office? I bet some of them are filled with embarrassing stories about him or Sera when they were little and you know he won't read those."
That seemed to get the little one's attention. Gabriel had learned early on with Samael that he could concentrate better when he had a goal in mind. As Samael weighed the pros and cons of 'suffering' through another of Sera's long lessons or Uriel's lectures, Gabriel calmly finished preening Samael's wings and started working the knots and leaves from his hair. It probably wouldn't stop Sera from noticing in the morning that Samael hadn't stayed in the nest like he was supposed to but at least it wouldn't be too obvious.
"Gabriel? Why is the sky so dwark?" After a long moment of silence, Samael's innocent voice gently whispered to him as Gabriel wrapped his own wings around the little one, shielding them both from the cold night wind. "It's normally blue."
"That's because the sun is resting," Gabriel explained, realizing that Samael was usually put to bed with Michael just before sunset. They had never seen the night sky beyond the bright blue color it normally was. Well, that wasn't true. They hadn't seen it since the day they were born and taken to the Aviary. "So there's no light in the sky. It helps us know that time has passed and that it's time to rest. Especially for little fledglings who need their sleep."
"Gabriel, stop! That tickles," Sammy giggled as Gabriel gave him a slight tickle to his sides. The two brothers laughed lightly with one another before Gabriel hugged Samael tightly to his chest, enjoying the time he was getting with their youngest. This was one of his favorite things to do after all, bonding with his siblings. Once Samael's giggles had calmed down a little, the tiny angel huffed in annoyance. "It's borwing though... and sad too."
"Hm?" What is?"
"The sky. The night sky is sad being all black. It looks lonely," Samael sighed as he looked up at the pitch-black nothingness. "It's sad looking. Why does Father put something there?"
Gabriel paused for a moment as he looked up at the sky as well. Sammy wasn't wrong, the sky did look lonely and sad being just a blanket of black that stretched as far as the eye could see. But Father hadn't given any mention to making any plans for it. Then again, Eden was taking up most of his focus at the moment.
"He probably hasn't thought about it yet. You know he's very busy after all," Gabriel answered, slowly rising to his feet. The hour was getting late and despite Samael's curious nature, the little one did need his rest. "Maybe if you get any ideas on what to fill the night sky with, you can tell Father with one of your drawings and letters. For now, though, I think it's time I get you back to bed before Sera finds you missing. We don't want her yelling at us, no?"
Spreading his own wings, Gabriel took to the skies with Samael safely tucked away in his arms. The fledgling was still staring into the night sky as they flew, the silence telling the older brother that he was deep in thought. After a few moments, a mischievous smile spread across Samael's face and he tugged on Gabriel's robes to get his attention.
"Hm? What is it, Sammy?" Gabriel asked, allowing himself to hang in the air as his baby brother looked excitedly around them.
"I know what to put in the night sky!" Sammy called out excitedly. Gabriel blinked as he looked into the impossibly bright blue eyes that sparkled with excitement. It was almost addictive being around Samael when he was like this, his excitement was just that infectious. "Wights!"
"Lights?" Gabriel asked curiously, his wings giving small tentative flaps to keep them air-born. "Like the sun? But then the night sky would be too bright, wouldn't it? How would we know when it's nighttime then?"
Samael giggled as he shook his head, his wings fluttering with excitement. Whatever his idea was, Sammy was practically vibrating with excitement.
"No, not big wights, wittle ones. Like me!"
"Fun-sized lights, huh?" Gabriel chuckled as he shook his head. "I can't imagine what that would look like."
Before he could stop him, Samael's wings started to flap with excitement, allowing his baby brother a rare moment of flight that had Gabriel panicking. They were pretty high up after all and while Heaven was a safe place, Samael could get hurt if he fell. Gabriel found himself fluttering beneath Sammy who was laughing loudly, his excitement overpowering his worry of anyone else catching him up past bedtime.
"Sammy!" Gabriel tried his best to not sound scared, his arms ready to grab his brother should he suddenly start to fall. "Samael be careful! What are you-"
Before Gabriel could stop him, Samael seemed to gather a spear of light in his hands. He knew Jophiel had been teaching him and Michael how to use their magic, but from what he could remember during their grooming sessions, their magic was still sporadic and very emotionally based. More than half of the time, neither of them had managed to summon it and when they did, the pair would lose focus and the magic would disappear.
But instead of popping like he was expecting, Samael seemed to squeal with excitement before he tossed the fairly large ball into the sky, the orb flying high for a minute before exploding into a spray of small sparkles that spread across the sky. Gabriel stared in awe as the light lingered for a minute, the tiny lights dancing across the sky, their twinkling light almost painfully bright against the black.
Gabriel was in absolute awe at its beauty.
It was almost soul-crushing when the lights started to fade and Samael started to falter in the air. Thankful, Gabriel awoke from his stupor just in time to grab his baby brother before he could fall far, not that the little one noticed it. Instead, he looked woefully at the black sky, pouting to see that his beautiful lights were gone and the night sky was empty once more.
"Awww... they didn't stay," Samael whined, tucking his head into Gabriel's shoulder to hide his disappointment. "My magic isn't stwrong enough."
Gabriel was still utterly shocked at what his baby brother had managed to do. He wasn't very old after all, in truth, it had only been two weeks since Sera was willing to allow the pair outside after Samael's numerous escape attempts with Michael in tow. The fact that he had managed to manifest even for a minute his idea was remarkable.
"That... that was beautiful Sammy," Gabriel assumed him, hugging the child close as he still felt dazed at the memory of the countless lights scattered across the night sky, each of them unique and beautiful in their own right. Now that they were gone... Gabriel had never noticed how empty the sky suddenly felt. "Don't worry, Sammy. When you're older, you're magic will be strong enough. I'm sure of it."
"Really?" Sammy looked curiously at him, his eyes a little teary as he wiped them in the sleeve of his sleeping robe. "You're sure?"
"Positive," Gabriel assured him, hugging the little one close. "You're going to do amazing things Samael. I just know it."
Samael smiled happily and hugged his brother back, giving a small yawn as most of his energy had been spent both with his impromptu flight and casting the light spell. It wasn't surprising it took a lot of energy out of the small body. He was only four years old after all, still an infant in the eyes of all of Heaven, even more so than his twin since he was smaller. And yet out of all their siblings, none of them were as imaginative as Samael was. It was almost like it was his special-
"SAMAEL!" The suddenly angry yell from Sera behind them nearly made Gabriel drop out of the sky in surprise. Turning around slowly, the two boys looked sheepishly at their sister who glared crossly at them. "What are you doing out of bed?! I tucked you in hours ago!"
"Hey Serwa." Samael greeted weakly with a tiny wave and tentative smile. Sera just gave him a disappointed glare that told the little fledgling that he was going to get an earful the moment they were alone.
"Don't you 'Hey Sera' me, Samael. I told you when it's bedtime, you're to stay in the nest," Sera scolded before turning her attention to Gabriel. "And you Gabriel, encouraging him to disobey the rules! You're spoiling him-"
"Hey, Samael?" Gabriel whispered softly to his brother, hugging him closer. The baby angel turned his head to look curiously at him. "Hold on tight. No matter what, don't let go okay?"
"Huh? Okay," Adjusting his grip, Samael hugged tighter onto Gabriel, his small hands grasping Gabriel's robes as tightly as they could. "Why? What are you gonna do?"
"Well, she wants to scold us right?" Gabriel whispered back, tightening his hold on Samael as Sera grumbled about disobedient youngsters and how Gabriel being fifteen centuries older should know better than to encourage bad behavior. Gabriel felt Samael nod against his neck. "Well, then she's going to have to catch us first."
Sera in the meantime, had let out a huff of irritation, mentally trying to think of how she would need to move Samael's schedule about come morning to ensure she wasn't going to deal with an over-exhausted child. If she was lucky, maybe she could make him fall asleep again as she returned him to the Aviary and tuck him in and he would only be a little bit off schedule.
"Alright, enough of this. Gabriel if you'll hand me-" Sera started to say as she held out her arms to take Samael from Gabriel when a gust of wind nearly knocked her over. Blinking in surprise, Sera stared in disbelief as Gabriel zoomed away as fast as his six wings would allow with a gleefully laughing Samael in his arms. She stared in shock for a second before her face flushed red hot as she gave chase. "GABRIEL YOU GET BACK HERE NOW!"
*** Flashback Ends ***
Gabriel chuckled a little as he recalled the memories. They had managed to avoid getting caught by Sera that night, but not by their Father who appeared out of seemingly nowhere and promptly scolded them for both being out so late.
Because fifteen centuries did not make Gabriel old enough to not have a bedtime as well.
But the night did have a positive effect on Samael. For one, despite the lecture and dressing down, they both suffered the next morning in front of everyone, Samael did focus on his lessons a lot more than he had before. Sure, it wasn't perfect, he was still little after all, and even a good child like Michael got distracted after a little while, but for Samael to actually try his hardest to finish his school work, or at least most of it, and that was an improvement. And what was the first thing Samael did when he had mastered a handful of the Celestial letters?
He drew a picture of them the night he had tried for the first time to create the stars with their names written 'GAYBERAL AND SAMEE'.
And boy, had Raph and Azrael teased him for eons calling him 'Gay briel' because of it, and while Gabriel had hated it, he had loved the picture Samael had gifted him. It had been the first of many and with each new drawing, Gabriel got to see Samael's skills in writing and drawing improve.
"He was so proud when he gave this to me," Gabriel smiled as he traced the letters once more, the fond memory also bringing a heavy sense of loss with it. He was starting to remember why he had hidden the pictures away again. They hurt to look at, to recall a happier time when they all were together. "Said he had spent hours trying to remember the right letters just to show me."
"Was this when the stars were made?" Mena asked, noticing how Gabriel's usual smile faltered a little before he set the drawings safely down on his desk instead of hiding them away once more.
"No, Sammy wasn't strong enough at the time to make them stay, but it was the start of them," Gabriel laughed. "He obsessed with the idea for years until he was strong enough to create the first one with Michael. They were both so excited when they did it and soon we all joined in creating the cosmos that with our own little twists and takes on it. Sammy kept talking about it for days before Father declared that there were enough stars."
Philomena nodded her head as if she understood what he was referring to but in honesty, it was impossible for her to. This had happened so long ago, it was before humanity was even a concept. For Philomena, there had always been the stars in the night sky along with the moon and its many phases. So the idea of accepting a completely blank night sky was just unimaginable for her just as the idea of being mortal was for the Heavenborn.
Mena contemplated asking who this 'Sammy' was, the name unfamiliar to her from any of her scripture readings. Of course, it had been a long time since she had last looked at any of the holy texts, her work being far more important to her now, not to mention she was already a Winner so there wasn't any test for her to fulfill anymore. She had proven herself to be a Godly woman, even more so than most.
And it looked like the subject regarding this Sammy was one best left alone.
"Hey, that might be an idea," Gabriel suddenly seemed to brighten a little, the melancholy that had marked his face before disappearing unnaturally fast. Like he had just shoved it down and locked it away behind his smile. "Coloring, I mean. With the baby. Kids like coloring right?"
"I... suppose so," Mena weakly agreed, unsure as to whether or not it was a good idea.
"Perfect, that's what we'll do. What do you say little one? How about I find us some papyrus and colored ink and we can all-" Gabriel cheerfully asked with a clap of his hands as he turned around to look directly at the makeshift baby pen. "... umm, Mena? Where's the baby?"
AN: I think we need to discuss how to be responsible for a baby Gabriel. You too Philomena. You can't just leave a baby alone. Specially when it's our curious little Charlie. But don't worry, she's perfectly okay.
Again, thank you all for your reviews, they really make me so happy. I saw someone sugguest that baby Charlie and Emma should met each other which is an adorable idea but at the moment I honestly can imagine how that scene should play out because right now, the last thing any of them want is for people to know Adam kidnapped a Hellborn child (And worry not, that story is coming up in more ways than one).