God creates the Four Archangels and chooses Lucifer to bear the Mark. On the fateful day He deemed Lucifer a rebel, Michael refuses to hurt his brother and decides to help him. He transfers the Mark onto himself and when the Mark appears on his arm, it turns red. It begins to sting and Michael sneers at the glyph, irritated by the feeling. It felt like there were tiny beetles trying to burrow into him, so he made a tight fist and held it, making his hand tremble with his own force until the feeling began to simmer away. After another moment, the feeling was gone and the Mark dulled from a burning red to an ashy, defeated grey as he released his grip. Chary of the new nuisance attached to himself, Michael glared down at the godawful thing in a challenge for it to try to overpower and dominate him again; he would not be controlled by such a primal pest. He didn't feel anything as he continued sneering, but he lost his scowl when he saw the Mark shift color yet again, matching his own. Now, it was like the damned thing wasn't even there and he wondered if this was its way of signaling defeat.
Meanwhile, Lucifer instantly loses his burning, scarlet eyes. It's been a long time since anyone's seen Lucifer's eyes before he was corrupted by the Mark, but they are silver and cloudy like Heaven's skies. His Grace loses its scarlet hue as well and is replaced with a such saintly, delicate white, Michael was sure he's only seen the color on the wings of newly created Putto when the Cupids were still in charge of making them. Lucifer's wings get brighter, cleaner and fluffier, almost glimmering under Heaven's eternal light. All the Angels were spectating the event and were truly awestruck by the sight of Lucifer as he truly was, the Morning Star. Some of them got down in prostrate positions and began to praise Lucifer in Enochian while others were simply too overwhelmed by the sight that it rendered them helpless, unable to do anything more than sob.
"You have no idea how much better I feel now." He sighed in happiness. "There were some...very dark things going on in my head…"
Michael watched as his younger brother stared off and the fear creeping up in his eyes became more evident as the seconds passed, horrendous and scarring thoughts racing through Lucifer's mind.
"Lucifer?" He called, hoping to bring him out of the abyss.
"...I was going to hurt you...all of you...I wanted to destroy my home and my family…" He turned to his spectating Father. "And it was all because you put that damned Mark on me when I shouldn't have ever had it!"
"You're already in enough trouble as is, don't make more for yourself…" God warned.
"Did you not see what just happened?!" Lucifer yelled for all of Heaven to hear. And each and every one of the Angels were in attendance, witnesses to everying unfolding behind Gabriel and Raphael. "Michael made that evil thing back down and become dormant just by looking at it! It was corrupting my Grace and I couldn't control it, but Michael can, just like I told you! I would have done terrible things to my brothers and my home, all because you wanted a test subject for your experiment!"
"The Darkness cannot be released." Was God's reasoning and final word as He waved his hand in dismissal of the matter, but Lucifer would not back down.
"I am your son!" He cried out, not reminding his own Father that every single being within Heaven's populace was certain that he was the favored child because Lucifer did not believe it to be true. If anyone, Michael was clearly the golden child or even Gabriel for being gifted such beautiful wings. He was hoping to tap into hid Father's heart or whatever force compelled him to create all of them. "All I have ever done is try to get you to understand that I love you more than anything, Father! I admire all that you create and I strived to bring honor to our home by being a Commander of the Heavenly Host, but nothing I've ever done was enough for you! Why do you hate me?! You created me!"
"You are a rebel!" God's voice boomed like thunder and effectively scared all the Angels, but under the wings of their Commanders, they found that they had nothing to fear but fear itself; they would always be safe so long as they remained solitary. "You have tainted Heaven with your impurity and spread lies with your silver tongue for far too long! You are exiled!"
Lucifer looked to his brother and Michael stared at God for a second, then met his little brother's light eyes. Lucifer was right about everything. As Archangels, Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel and Raphael were never given what would be considered childhoods or a period of upbringing. They had to be mature enough to handle the Grace powering them and absolute to the core with an immovable mentality to see orders through to an end. Plans and directives had to be carried out immaculately and without fault, Heaven's masses had to be strictly trained and led or the Angels would spiral into chaos. Most importantly, Amara had to be locked away to ensure the longevity of any and all that have already or were destined to come into existence.
The Morning Star was also truthful in stating that his big brother was well-equipped to wrangle the Mark into compliance without so much as a second thought and the Darkness would never be released because Michael would never be corrupted by the Mark; he proved it to all of Heaven and God himself in a matter of moments. He would be the seal that kept the Darkness from consuming everything in Her abyss and besides his own demise, there was nothing he could phantom that could break his responsibility to creation in all its entirety.
All this made Michael...think.
It wasn't like when he was training the Angels and would know what their next move was or what stance he should shift into to deflect their attack or how he forced himself to make a habit of never thinking about Gabriel because as soon as his brother entered his thoughts, Gabriel would usually appear and take it upon himself to become the most pestiferous creature within the cosmos for no reason other than his own amusement at his eldest brother's expense.
His Father knew everything, knew which of His sons would be better suited to bear the Mark keeping the Darkness- His only sister- locked away. They all knew that Amara would destroy everything and consume them all in Her everlasting nihility, so keeping Her subdued was the only option for the survival of all. If God knew that...He had to know that Lucifer wasn't strong enough to carry such a burden and yet, He made the Morning Star do so anyway. He and his brothers knew that Lucifer was their Father's favorite, regardless of the fact that God's never said so Himself or what Lucifer perceived. If that were true, why He would want to turn Lucifer into something so sinister and dark? Why did it seem as though God wanted to corrupt Lucifer's purity?
"There is only one thing the universe demands and that is harmony, balance. It's very simple: Light needs Darkness and Darkness needs Light. If you take one away, the universe becomes unbalanced and spirals into its chaotic end. When my Light burns out and Death comes to take me to a state only I will know, something has to be the spark that continues to light the universe or else...everything will cease to exist. Everything will have been for nothing and life will have lost all definition."
Those were God's very words to Michael the second he was born and they were burned into his memory forevermore. He reasoned that each of his brothers had a special message from their Father as well, but none of them every spoke of such a thing.
Was he supposed to be the next Light...and Lucifer the next Darkness?
And did God...their Father...command it?
"I'm coming with you, Lucifer." Michael declared, making Lucifer turn to him in disbelief.
"Michael, you can't."
"I almost lost you once and I won't let it happen again." He disagreed and that was final as he laid his hands on both of Lucifer's shoulders, turning them to Heaven's Gates.
"You're rebelling...for me?"
"You are not a rebel. You are my brother and I'd do anything for you."
"Michael, you're making a terrible mistake siding with that Serpent." God called out. "He will make fire rain from the skies. He will bring death and war. He is dark. By your side, Lucifer will be responsible for your downfall. He is hissing in your ear and you mistake it for the songs of doves. If you care for him as much as you think you do, you'd know that the only way to save him is to slay him where he stands."
Michael stopped his stride and looked back at God, his eyes almost as sharp as his own sword. He never felt such a burning in his core that made him want to fiercely protect Lucifer than he did at that moment when their creator was disowning one of his own children, calling His favorite son a Serpent and vile. It was bad enough that Lucifer was still deemed a rebel and being exiled from Heaven, but this was similar to rubbing dirt in a wound.
The Prince of Warriors had his sights locked on God and noticed the surprise on His face, but he was blinded by a blur of white as one of Lucifer's wings came around him. Lucifer wanted to leave and didn't plan on looking back or making a grand exit, so Michael followed suit. Still stunned by everything that unfolded before their eyes, the masses of Angels and two remaining Archangels were watching the First Fallen Archangels make their way to the entrance of Heaven. Gabriel and Raphael's squadrons were looking to them as if awaiting orders and the brothers shared an uncertain glance. Gabriel set his eyes on his departing brothers, seeing their wings wrapped around each other, and decided what he was going to do. He flew up a few feet into the air and smiled down at Raph before zipping towards his elder brothers, crashing into them.
"Did you really think you could leave me behind? Me?" Gabriel smiled. "Come on, guys. I think we all know I'm the real bad egg of the family."
"I don't recall you being exiled from Heaven or deemed a rebel, Gabriel." Lucifer grunted as he pushed his younger brother off himself and Michael. "And you still fly like a fledgling."
"Yeah, well-" Gabriel grunted as he was cut off by an Angel flying into him. It was one from his squadron with familiar midnight-blue wings, dirty blond hair and a knack for pulling pranks as his Commander did. "Balthazar, so nice of you to join us!"
Before the Angel could speak, three more Angels from Gabriel's squadron crash-landed and that's when the Archangels realized that there was a wave of Angels- the entirety of Heaven's populace- flying full-speed towards them and Raphael was at the front, almost like a captain. It seemed as though Heaven's masses came to a united decision and it was that they wanted to follow the Archangels, the brothers who kept their family together, even if it meant that they would all be exiled to Earth or be deemed rebels.
"We are a family and this family stays together." Michael declared. "My brothers and I will welcome you wherever we go. We will never abandon or hurt you. We do not want to control your every thought and action. You are free to think, feel and express. You may live however you see fit and we will not tell you otherwise or punish you. My brothers and sisters, you are all beautiful and for far too long, your beauty has been confined. You are free."
The Angels cheered and began to sing songs of praise about the Archangels and their newfound freedom. They swarmed around the Four Archangels and lifted them into their embrace, carrying them to the entrance of Heaven with a trail of melodies behind them. God was left alone and noted the silence, the emptiness. All at once, His creations abandoned Him because they decided to do so. He was connected to every Angel and each of His sons, but now, he could no longer feel them.
They lost faith in their Father and were now immune to His word and command. They were free-thinkers now, just like the Humans, and not even God knew what they could create with the time and new environment they had.