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"You'll have to try harder than that!" Gabriel taunted, sliding out of the way of V1's railcannon in a blink of blue light. The angel flew forward, his swords cutting through the air in vain attempts to hit the machine. V1 beeped in reply to Gabriel's assault. Though he couldn't understand it in a traditional sense, he could tell it was meant to be teasing. Gabriel couldn't stifle a laugh. How charming the little android could be sometimes.
The sensation of buckshot on his chest ripped him from his thoughts. The force was enough to knock him to the ground.
Ouch.
V1 bweeped, something Gabriel had learnt meant concern. It scuttled to the winded angel on all fours, crouching down and placing one of its blue hands softly on his chest.
Its hands felt like fire, even through his armor. Every gentle touch, every tender brush, every little bump set him alight. That sweet, concerned look in the machine's eye after it had just finished defeating him once again made his organs feel all mangled and twisted (more than they already were after a good fight).
"Ah… I'm fine, V1." he assured, finally managing to sit up after recovering from his thorough defeat. V1 whirred suspiciously, clearly unconvinced.
"It's… like before." Gabriel sighed. He stuttered a moment, trying to think of what exactly to say. But, the words didn't come.
The beginning of Gabriel's exile into Hell was… well, hellish. The agony of the light being severed from his body and the pain of being cast out of his home were almost too much for him to bear. There had even been a time he went to Heresy, ready to-… no, remembering such things will do no good.
The cherry on top was that machine's (who he later learned was named V1) relentless curiosity about himself. No matter which layer he fled to, he'd catch glimpses of the odd blue mechanism in the corners of his eyes. He finally managed to confront it in Lust, and… the rest is history. Instead of violence, the two chose peace. Eventually, they even chose cooperation. It's been here they've resided ever since, living with one another and doing whatever struck their fancy (most commonly, this was having some friendly sparring matches).
And, just like that, Gabriel’s loneliness had finally begun to fade; a loneliness that had permeated his entire existence.
"Beep!"
Gabriel was once again pulled from his thoughts, looking down at the little V1. It looked up at him, monoptic tilted in curiosity.
"I just… I feel like I have to hold back." Gabriel finally managed to explain. V1 rolled its narrowed monoptic dramatically.
"It's not because I'm scared I'll break you, V1." And it was true; Gabriel had tried his damnedest to break it not once, but twice, without success. V1's fans let out a quick puff of air as if to emulate a huff.
"Don't get cocky with me!" the angel teased, managing to pull a few robotic chirps of laughter from V1. Gabriel continued, "I think I finally figured out why… why I can't." His voice was low, nervous. V1 instantly perked up, beeping excitedly.
The angel shifted nervously beneath the machine's gaze. "It's… a ritual amongst angels. A dancing of swords. We-" He hissed in mental (and physical) agony beneath his breath,"we bare our hearts and bodies without shame or fear. We dance, we clash… we show our true selves and our unfettered combat prowess." A shaky sigh escaped him. “It's far too… intimate for me to be able to engage in fully."
For a moment, V1 simply stared at him; no beeps, no chirps, no monoptic blinks.
"Er… V1-?"
It beeped before swiveling its head to face a featureless crumbling wall behind the two. Suddenly, its yellow pseudo-eye flickered before projecting a video onto the wrecked architecture.
"V1!" Gabriel exclaimed. "How long have you been able to-?"
The little blue machine quickly cut him off with a finger waggle and a hushed, chastising beep.
The video showed V1 wandering through the Limbo layer; specifically, one of its many cathedrals. V1 finished placing a blue skull on one of three similarly blue pedestals, opening the locked door ahead of it. It wandered into a room with a reflective pool, moonlight being cast into the space through a large skylight in the ceiling. Suddenly, a machine that looked strikingly like V1 burst through one of the stained glass windows. V1 stopped, staring at the red android. It bowed, and-
"Beep!"
The video paused. Without moving its head, V1 pointed excitedly at the bowing figure.
The video continued. It showed the two robots fighting one another; the amount of dashes, gunfire, and punches from the two was nearly too much for Gabriel to keep track of. After a moment, V1 blinked and the projection stopped, its eye returning to normal. It looked at Gabriel, nearly vibrating with excitement (actually… it might have been vibrating). It pawed at Gabriel's armor and tapped its own blocky head frantically.
The message was clear.
Gabriel chuckled, "Yeah, something like that. I- oh-! " Before he could finish, V1 grabbed his hands and yanked him up onto his feet, helping him brush the dirt off his armor and fabrics.
After a few grumbles of begrudging thanks on behalf of Gabriel, V1 scurried to the opposite side of the courtyard where they had been sparring. It bowed like V1's copy did in the video recording. Then, it flared its bright yellow wings out in a dazzling show.
Gabriel could feel his breath catch in his throat. Was it really trying to-?
Without warning, V1 slid forward. But, it was different this time. It held itself with a certain… grace. It was poised and elegant, each motion fluid and emphasized.
With a flourished spin, it drew its blue railcannon from its wing, taking a dramatic brace pose before firing squarely into the angel. The force was enough to push him back, and it was only by luck he managed to stay on his feet.
Once he finally slid to a stop, he fell to his knee with a pained grunt. V1 simply watched, frozen in anticipation. Gabriel chuckled, which quickly turned into ecstatic laughter. His wings flared to a brilliant blue and gold. He rose from the ground, drawing Splendor and Justice from their sheaths with dramatic flare.
"Come on then, show me what you’re really capable of!”
Thrusting Splendor forward with flare, he teleported forward in a blur of blue light. He spun, with refinement to match that of a dancer, swinging the brilliant blades at the machine. V1 was too quick, though, rolling back out of the way of the swords (missing its wires by mere inches).
It fluidly stored the railcannon away before smoothly equipping the sharpshooter. It dipped, dashed, rolled, and leaped out of the way of Gabriel’s strikes as it cockily spun the revolver in its hand. It beeped and whirred in laughter, Gabriel unable to stop himself from doing the same.
Eventually, the machine leaped over the angel (with a flourished flip, of course), firing the gun at the precipice of its jump. The red beam of energy coursed through the angel's body once before bouncing off the ground and ripping through his body again. With a primal growl, he beared through the pain and teleported forward, striking out at V1. He slashed and struck with unabated strength and passion, nearly dancing as he turned and moved through the air and on the ground. Every movement was natural and fluid, his blades mere extensions of his body as he gracefully landed powerful hits on the machine’s thin blue plating.
A frustrated beep escaped V1 as it was unable to find a break in the angel’s flurry of attacks. Then, it spotted what it thought was an opening, swinging it’s knuckleblaster forward to try firing some buckshot in his side. But Gabriel grabbed its red arm before it could fire. V1's monoptic widened, and it chirped in dread.
"I'll show you true splendor! " Gabriel proclaimed in righteous ecstasy. With a mechanical yelp from the machine, Gabriel threw the tiny V1 into the sky. Spreading his glimmering wings, he quickly took flight to join the android in the air.
Before V1's gyros could restabilize, steel clashed with steel and Gabriel's swords further propelled the two skyward. V1, thinking quickly, fired its whiplash and attached itself to the angel's side and swung away before he could get in another attack.
“Not this time!” Gabriel jeered with glee, grabbing the whiplash’s rope. He tore it from his side, sickly crimson pouring from the gash. With a primal cry, he launched V1 even farther up into the heavens.
V1 was ready this time.
It equipped the blue railcannon, taking aim at the apex of its flight. Gabriel barely had time to gawk before plasma ripped through his body, briefly knocking him unconscious.
The two began to plummet to the ground.
He began to come to, feeling himself drop to the earth. That feeling of falling… a sensation Gabriel rarely let himself indulge in. Flying in Heaven was a business affair and nothing more. The pleasures of freefall were deemed childish and immature. The wind rushed past him, wrapping his body the way a parent swaddles their child.
A hand grabbed his wrist, followed by a curious chirp that was barely audible past the rushing air. Gabriel looked down at his hand blearily, then back to V1. It wasn't afraid, just… curious. Curious as it always was, its little head cocked in wonder. Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle. Did it know what it was doing? Probably not.
But Gabriel did.
He reached his hand out and grabbed the machine's free wrist. He wrapped his other arm around V1 and pulled it close as their bodies hurtled toward the ground. Helm and optic clunked together in an odd little kiss only understood by the pair.
They began to spin. Gabriel clung to V1 as it did the same to him. He pulled it closer still, monoptic and helmet clunking together as he nuzzled it. Gabriel couldn't help but laugh, and he could hear V1's giggling little chirps as well.
Unfortunately, gravity would end their fun sooner rather than later. As the couple sped to the earth, he looked down (or, more accurately, up) at the little blue machine in his arms. With an excited chirp, V1 let go of Gabriel and equipped its rocket launcher. Just before they crashed to the earth, it quickly fired off a rocket and grappled onto it, blasting down and then veering back upwards. Gabriel teleported to hover above the ground.
He could swear it taunted him as it rocketed off.
The angel burst into laughter, teleporting to catch up to V1. Flying alongside it was admittedly somewhat of a struggle, thanks to just how fast the machine was able to move on those rockets.
"You really think you can outpace the righteous hand of God?" Gabriel taunted, teleporting forward to be in front of the war machine (and, of course, looking back to make sure he got a reaction out of it). It flinched as if taken aback, before the shutters on its optics narrowed. A devilish, playful beep came from it before it re-equipped its rocket launcher and fired another rocket. Once again, it whiplashed the rocket and pulled itself forward onto the fresh rocket. It sped past Gabriel, wagging its finger as it flew by.
The two circled and spun around each other as they raced through the forgotten city. They dashed and darted between abandoned skyscrapers and crumbling towers, neck and neck in their daring race.
V1 had managed to pull ahead, turning back to beep a few playful jeers at the angel. When it turned to face forward again, it was hurtling towards a building. All it managed to do was squeak in fear before Gabriel teleported forward, essentially tackling it off the rocket. Teleporting away once more, the two managed to narrowly escape the explosion of the rocket meeting the spire.
Gabriel was panting raggedly, and V1's fans were nearly screaming from pseudo-adrenaline. Gabriel looked down at the little android tucked safely in his arms. He burst into laughter, followed shortly by V1's mechanical little chortles.
For a moment, the two merely held each other and laughed. They laughed and laughed until they could laugh no more.
Gabriel fluttered down to the roof of one of Lust's many buildings before letting V1 hop out of his arms. V1 simply turned right back around and tackled Gabriel in a hug. The two stumbled to the floor laughing and lazily wrestling each other, too exhausted to put in much effort.
Eventually, the two settled into laying next to each other. They were achingly close. So close, in fact, that Gabriel was willing to pull a trick or two to close the gap.
"Look," Gabriel pointed to a section of the sky, "there's Orion." Scooting close and gently taking V1's hand, he guided it to a cluster of three stars. They appeared in a perfect straight line. "Right there," he continued, "that's his belt."
The machine turned its monoptic to another cluster of stars, beeping curiously.
Gabriel chuckled. “That’s Perseus, and his lover Andromeda.” Once again, he guided their intertwined hands to the two groups of stars.
V1 beeped in a quizzical tone.
“The vain queen Cassiopeia,” he pointed to another nearby set of stars, “boasted that her daughter, Andromeda, was the most beautiful woman in the world; even more beautiful than the Nereids. This infuriated Poseidon, who sent the great sea beast Cetus,” he moved his and V1’s hands downwards to show it the constellation, “to destroy the queen's kingdom. The only thing that would appease the wrathful Cetus was for Cassiopeia and her husband to tie Andromeda to a stone for it to admire. But, the hero Perseus heard of this and slew the monster before taking Andromeda’s hand in marriage.”
V1 stared at it with wonder in its eye. It placed a finger on the other’s arm, gently tapping it.
Gabriel looked down. Despite the dim light, he could tell it was following a short but specific rhythm; two short taps, a long one, and then three short taps. It repeated them over and over, but he didn’t understand why.
He soon realized what the robot was doing - it was Morse code!
“Us?” he asked gently. “Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
V1 nodded. With its free hand, it pointed to the two celestial lovers, then back to itself and Gabriel.
Oh.
He chuckled softly. “We… are like Andromeda and Perseus, aren’t we?” he mumbled softly. V1 chirped excitedly, nodding in delight. “Well,” Gabriel continued, “it’s… touching to know that you think of me as your hero.”
V1 perked up, shaking its head and pointing to itself with another bweep.
Gabriel scoffed dramatically, “So, I’m not bold and heroic enough to be the mighty Perseus? Me, the righteous hand of the Father?”
V1 paused for a moment, then nodded.
Gabriel burst into laughter. “If you hadn’t thoroughly beat me earlier, I would put that to the test.”
The robot nuzzled up to him with a contented chirp, placing its optic in the space between the angel’s head and shoulder. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was obviously happy. And Gabriel was happy too. So the two lovers of legend sat beneath the stars of the forgotten city, their company being all the other needed.