Work Text:
Sound asleep in your bed, you moaned and groaned, discomfort clear on your face. Nightmares plagued you that night, and tears welled under your eyelids as you continued to toss and turn. Your hands gripped your sheets tightly, and you ran the corners of your mind with danger at every turn.
In your mind, you were running in the city streets, without a soul in sight. You had been left alone fully, and you were running for your life from a plague that wished to swallow you whole as well. Alone, you could not help but scream for anyone to help you. Your friends were gone, and the one which you deeply longed for was long gone.
He was the first that you watched evaporate into the plague that chased you, and you still couldn't help but wish for his return. No matter how many times he had feigned his own death, something about watching him evaporate into the cloud had seemed so…finite. Why couldn't he have just snapped and gone far away from this plague, you were unaware. Everything was closing in on you, and now you were in it alone.
Helplessness filled yourself, and you were screaming for someone to help you, or even someone to just make it all go away. It had been silly as a hunter to think such, but you were scared. So, so scared. You screamed for him especially, though you had watched him die in front of you. At the top of your lungs, you screamed in prayer for him to come save you. You needed Gabriel back, by your side, in his safety. Never had you thought you needed his safety as you had as you ran.
You had always been someone to take care of yourself, but left alone, you realized what you needed. Your feelings, you had thought, had simply made you weak. As you ran, though, you realized how much of a lie that had been. You needed those feelings and you needed your family - and your love- though he would never know, swallowed by the cloud itself. Everyone was gone, and the city behind you was ready to swallow you whole. What if you had simply… What if’s wouldn’t save you from the cloud that followed far too close behind you.
Somehow you managed to stay away from the cloud of plague for this long, miles and miles, yet it was coming to a close. Your heart knew as your body kept moving, you were soon to perish. Death was creeping closer and closer to you, but you tried your hardest to keep moving.
You weren’t even sure what the cloud that followed you had been - simply a cloud that swallowed all you loved whole. No matter how fast you ran, no matter how much you began to tire, you continued on with the cloud so close behind you. Terror filled you, your nightmare engulfing you as you continued onwards, onwards, onwards…
Screaming. You could feel the way your tears burned your y/e/c hues, fell harshly down your cheeks as you ran, though you could not feel the wind that would whip through your hair in a normal situation. The air against your skin had been stagnant, before the cloud nearly swallowed you whole, you could feel reality begin to return to you.
A soothing hand on your back woke you from your nightmare, and tears could not be held back. They fell so fast as you listened to the barely audible voice shushing you, and felt a wave of calmness start to replace your whimpering cries. At that moment, you realized you were no longer running. You were safe in your bed, with a presence trying to calm you, a comforting hand against your skin, soft, sweet murmurs that slowly lulled you back to reality. In your bed, you were safe. You knew you were safe, but as reality slowly came back for you, you could still feel the lingering something from your dream.
Instead of wiping the tears from your eyes, you started to push yourself upward, but were insisted that you lay back down by the presence beside you. A gentle hand wiped away your tears, and in that moment you had realized that it was him. Silently, he crawled into bed next to you and wrapped his strong arms around you, whispering, “Shhh, Sugar, you're okay. I'm here to protect you. It was all just a bad dream.”
You cuddled close to him, and a light smile spread across your face. Though you could have mused far too much about how silly it had been to have the archangel save you from your nightmare, you felt safety in his arms. You whispered, “Thank you, Gabe.” Closing your eyes once more, you sunk into the safety of Gabriel's body, and felt complete for the first time in so very long. The words slipped from your lips, but you knew from your nightmare that it would be better for him to know than losing him before you could never say it. Your voice had been hardly above that of a whisper, a murmur to the wind as you sighed in contented bliss. “I…I love you. Have for a while now…such a long while.”
He chuckled against your warm body, and embraced you tighter, placing a kiss upon the top of your head. “I know, Sugar,” he whispered, the smile clear from his words, a chuckle as if he had known all along. If you were to think about it too hard, maybe he had known all along. Comfortable and sleepy, you hadn’t thought too much of it in his arms. Instead, you listened to his confession as it warmed your chest “I love you, too, Y/N. I always have.”
You felt your cheeks light up with the kind of blush that could be seen for miles, but as he spoke, you felt your sleepiness take over you and you drifted off to sleep in your archangel’s arms.