Chapter Text
Gabriel had once been proud of his regeneration.
His body was able to bounce back from mortal wounds in a matter of a day given proper rest and prayer. It would take a feat of god to actually put his soul to rest. Perhaps a beheading would do it but no one had managed that quite yet.
He wished now though, that he was able to die like the mortals his father so deeply cared for. Gabriel yearned for the privilege to kneel over and simply no longer persist.
The Councilman above him twisted the blade embedded in his shoulder for his trouble. Gabriel could do nothing but wince. His back burned to the bone from the flaying he’d received and his wings were certainly broken. What was a stab wound on top of such agony?
Gabriel did not know where he was. The golden light of heaven’s halls was gone. He could only see the dark stone he was being dragged along. It smelled of the hells though. The air buzzed with the feral energy of the desecrated layers as the archangel was taken to whatever eternal punishment the council had deemed him so worthy of.
“Perhaps I will end up like Minos…” Gabriel distantly thought to himself. It would serve him right to be locked in some profane prison. He had banished a man he quite admired into one without question.
He just hoped it would be quiet when he got there.
His bumpy ride of being brutally toted around ended after an undetermined amount of time. Gabriel could hardly process the mossy white bricks of marble underneath him as the strong hand dragging his non-stabbed side dropped him. His cheek cracked against the pavement, but his eyes there seemed alright. The blade of Council Member Virtue was still embedded within him. He glanced up to see him looking at Council Member Justice, a tall lithe figure who’d carved the most scars onto Gabriel’s body over his years of failure. Justice cupped his hands and yelled forward to a place Gabriel couldn’t see.
“KING MINOS OF CRETE!” He calls into the budding darkness that is Gabriel’s peripheral. “I COME BEARING A GIFT!”
Gabriel’s heart stutters as a cold wave of shame flows down his body.
“Please Father,” he begs into the coldness where he could once feel his creator. “Please do not do this to me.”
The only response is Virtue pulling his blade from his flesh as Justice’s voice echoes.
After a minute or so of dreaded quiet, he starts again.
“KING MINOS OF CR-!”
“I hear thee,” cold and echoing, a voice that Gabriel used to dream about in his most shameful thoughts, pierces through the beginning of Justice’s yell. “One must have more patience. Now tell me why thy hast come to my ruined layer.”
Justice and Virtue step aside just enough for Gabriel to become visible from beyond their trailing robes.
“As I said, I have brought you a gift Minos of Crete,” Justice drawls as he crouches down and grabs Gabriel by his bloodied chin. “Gabriel has betrayed the will of god, and so to the hells he must go.”
With his head raised Gabriel’s many eyes can finally see Minos. Oh, how Gabriel wishes for death now more than ever. Minos is a prime soul now for no doubt. His flesh turned to a translucent alabaster, with nothing but a yawning void for a face. The flowers he once adorned himself with were nowhere to be seen. The only sense of familiarity was the dark purple toga strung over his shoulder. It fluttered softly in the wind as Minos clasped his hands behind his back.
“Why hath thou brought him here? Surly Pride consumes him.” Minos responds coldly.
Gabriel closes his eyes in shame as Justice chuckles and leans his masked face towards Gabriel’s.
“One would think it so.” The council member sneered as he moved his head side to side like a doll’s. “Alas, when we laid his soul bear we found his most hidden sin was the one of your domain. The Father’s truth cannot be lied to it seems.” Justice explained as he dropped Gabriel’s head onto the stone once more.
“So you would hath me deliver punishment onto him?” Minos inquires.
Gabriel wants to curl away from the sick satisfaction in Justice’s voice as he speaks once again.
“Yes,” he grins. “Show this whore every pleasure he wished to partake in and turn it into agony, or simply rend him apart for all I care,” Justice’s foot puts painful force on his head with a well-placed boot as he says it. “The council will not care if you snuff out his light.”
Gabriel feels the pressure against his head grow and grow as Minos doesn’t respond. The words sting. He had been called many things. Worthless, sinner, heretic, and murderer, but never before had he been labeled a whore. As the pressure from Justice’s boot feels as though it will shatter him, Minos peaks up.
“Very well, I shall take him.”
Gabriel can almost see the grin that no doubt spreads onto Justice’s face as he removes his foot. The fear hammering in his heart is worse though. He knows very well what Justice means when he tells Minos to “show him pleasures” and Gabriel is in no place to defend himself from such an action.
“May the Lord guide you,” Justice says before Gabriel dimly sees his shadowy outline start to diminish. Virtue follows suit having not said a word. He lays there immobile as two tormenters leave him with a third one. Minos’s heavy steps approach as Justice and Virtue disappear.
“Gabriel? Gabriel, can thou hearest me?” the king asks while he kneels down in front of Gabriel's shaking gaze. The angel is too injured and too scared to respond with more than labored breaths.
“Please father,” he begs internally. “Grant me mercy.”
Minos reaches a tentative hand out towards his face. Gabriel notices an albino snake curling around his arm. Its little red eyes stare at him as Minos wipes a smear of blood from his brow. His hand is large and the pads of his fingers are soft on the abused skin.
“Oh Gabriel what hast they done to thou?” he laments as he stares at the dark blue blood that stains his fingers. Gabriel wishes he drive his fist through his skull. There is no greater shame than being displayed how he is currently. Chest and back bared, no helm or shoes, he’s pitifully exposed.
Even so, the bereft contact sends a wave of pleasantness through Gabriel. He makes sure it is quickly replaced by vile disgust. He must resist whatever temptations he is offered. He must stay strong. He must stay pure for the Father’s light even if it no longer shines upon him.
He tries for a glare but ends up sputtering out a stream of gold and blue blood. Minos shakes his head.
“I shall retrieve assistance, Gabriel, prithee do not move thyself.” the Prime Soul says with such a gentle tone Gabriel is convinced it’s a lie.
Minos leaves and the angel wants to bite back that he could not move unless he was granted a minor miracle. Nothing comes from his mouth besides more blood as his visions swims.
Renegraton took energy, and as Minos frantically made his way back to the palace the child of the dead God fell unconscious. Truly forgotten by the heavens he’d served so loyally.