Work Text:
The air was cold when Beelzebub walked in, glass barring them contact with the killer.
It didn’t help make things any less oppressive. As soon as they stepped in the room, it felt almost suffocating, the air, chilled by the thermostat, gripping their throat with its cold touch and almost rattling the detective.
Gabriel sat on the opposite end of the table, his eyes watching as Beelzebub took a seat.
“We meet again, detective,” He purred, hands pressed together as they stared at him, their own expression guarded.
Beelzebub was unnerved, but they wouldn’t show it. The last thing the killer needed was something to use, something to get under the detective’s skin.
“Gabriel,” They said curtly.
“Now what brings you here?” He asked, unsmiling, though they could see the satisfaction glimmering in his eyes. The ghost of a smirk was on his lips, eyes quirked up in silent amusement. The light overhead flickered slightly, the glare casting a shadow over Gabriel and making him look more ominous.
They wouldn’t let that bother them. Despite how uneasy the serial killer made them feel, they wouldn’t let it get to them.
As if reading Beelzebub’s mind, Gabriel’s lips turned up into a smile. He leaned his head forward, chin resting on his fingers as he watched Beelzebub intently. “Well?”
“You’re in no position to look smug,” Beelzebub said, narrowing their eyes. “You’re the one in chains.”
“Only metaphorically,” Gabriel said, lifting up his hands, which were, in fact, not bound. He moved one forward, finger tapping the glass. Beelzebub nearly flinched at the sudden movement, though they kept their composure. There was glass. They’ll be fine.
Gabriel grinned.
“You’re in prison.”
“I wouldn’t call an asylum that,” Gabriel said in mock offense as he pouted. “That’s quite offensive, detective.”
“You are sick, you know that?”
“Only to the unworthy,” Gabriel said casually, leaning back on his seat and staring at Beelzebub with those piercing eyes that looked almost purple in the dim light. “Now, detective, why are you here?”
There was an irritated edge to his voice now. His patience was wearing thin.
Beelzebub leaned forward, trying not to feel the sense of unnerve that they had been feeling since they entered. “The bodies.”
Gabriel licked his lips, looking off to the side, brows furrowed in irritation. “Why does it always lead to that question?”
“Where are they?”
“You do realize I don’t have to tell you,” Gabriel said, lifting his head up from where he leaned it against the chair, eyes lazily glancing at Beelzebub. “I’m already in an asylum for the criminally insane, there’s really nothing you can do to make this worse.”
“I can remove your privileges.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed at that. “That wouldn’t be very nice of you, detective.”
“The bodies.”
Gabriel leaned back forward, scrutinizing Beelzebub’s stony face carefully. “I was under the assumption you already found them.”
“Stop avoiding the question.”
Gabriel smirked, his smile almost predatory as he flashed teeth. “Oh, but you already found them, didn’t you?”
Beelzebub felt something crawling on their spine. Unease, maybe? “Just answer the question.”
“Yes, you have,” Gabriel continued, ignoring Beelzebub. There was an almost childlike glee that shone in his eyes as he stared at them, nearing their distance as much as he could. His nose was nearly touching the glass as he grinned. “But you won’t admit it.”
“Gabriel—“
“First name basis. You must be getting desperate, Beelzebub,” He said. “But the thing is, you already found them. I know it, you know it. And now I’m wondering, why bother asking me? And I think you know the answer.”
Beelzebub didn’t vindicate him with a response.
“Because you refuse to realize that what I did wasn’t a crime,” He said. “They’re not dead, detective. You saw as much. All I did was—“
“—you’re sick,” Beelzebub hissed, eyes flashing with muted rage as they slammed a hand on the desk. “They were barely breathing by the time we got there.”
“They were perfectly fine,” Gabriel said. “See, you police officers, men of the law—you fail to see what I had done.”
“You were starving them!”
“Cleansing them,” Gabriel said smoothly. “Of their sins. Their defects. I was getting rid of what made them impure. Their humanity has tainted them, detective, and all I am doing is curing them of that. They are quite lucky, detective. Truly. To be offered to the Almighty like that... I am envious of their position. They get to die knowing they served the Lord.”
“You’re fucking disgusting,” Beelzebub spat, standing up. “How could you do something like that, you’re not doing the Lord’s work you’re fucking evil—“
Everything suddenly stilled. The air felt unbearable, more suffocatingly cold, Gabriel’s smile falling and Beelzebub’s heart racing even faster.
“I’m not evil,” Gabriel said quietly. He turned his head up, staring right into Beelzebub. “That is not what I am.”
They felt like he stared into their soul.
“Then what are you?” Beelzebub whispered.
“I’m the Archangel fucking Gabriel.”
He really was insane.