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Michael had loved humans from the time of their creation. He had been the first of the Heavenly Host to bow down before them and love them unconditionally and even now when God had turned his back on his creations for a second time, Michael still loved them. There were so many tiny beacons of hope among them, like Jeep, shining through the darkness like a scattering of stars across the tableau of this earthly universe. Tiny sparks that deserved to be nurtured, that could ignite back into flames.
Gabriel was right about one thing, he had always been the troublemaker, questioning God's word and bending it almost to the breaking point, but at this last command he could not bend. He could only break. So he had fallen to Earth, sliced the wings from his body and became mortal.
The child was never supposed to be born. Michael's order had been to smite the mother and the child within her but as soon as he saw her he knew he had made the right choice. Charlie. She was not perfect, none of them were, but she was strong and kind and he could feel the power of the child within her. And then there was Jeep, one of the tiny sparks in the darkness that had kept his hope alight for humanity when even God's love for them had faltered. He saw Jeep shining, with his light stronger than ever, but now Michael saw the others too. He saw the tiny spark almost hidden within each of them intensify. He saw Percy Walker sacrifice his life to save another. He saw Bob Hansom, Jeep's father, older and cynical with not much hope or love left for this world, still fight to his death to protect this small group of humans. He saw Kyle Williams charge into an ambush to save what he thought was a child as the Heavenly Host tested their weaknesses.
Weaknesses.
It was this weakness that Michael had always seen as strength even in the darkest of human wars. This willingness to put aside one's own safety, to risk one's own life to save another. This ultimate sacrifice that gave a glimmer of hope, that proved there was goodness in them. Even Audrey Anderson, a precocious child during her short life, seemingly so weak and selfish, had sacrificed herself to save the newborn child and his mother.
God had been watching, bringing Michael back from mortal death, back into his angelic form after Gabriel struck him down. In his true form, Michael knew Gabriel was no match for him in battle, but he stayed his hand at the last moment, refusing to end Gabriel's existence.
"I would not have shown you such mercy."
Michael smiled because this much was true. Gabriel had already delivered a fatal wound when Michael was in human form, showing him no mercy then, even though Michael had held him close to beseech him to let this be enough. To see that this extermination of mankind was not truly what God needed.
"I know. That's why you failed Him."
And Michael believed that with all of his being, his faith and love for mankind even stronger now from what he had witnessed in this small group of humans.
He watched as Gabriel flew off before reaching down to Jeep. The war wasn't over with the Heavenly Host possessing the bodies of humans, turning them into an army of the dead, but at least now there was a chance for redemption. A chance for the child to grow and lead mankind back into the light of God's grace. In the meantime, Michael was no longer welcome among the heavenly host but there were a few who, unlike Gabriel, might listen and fall into rank behind him to save mankind. A few who still saw that spark of good within God's creation.
As he rose into the sky a thought struck him. Perhaps Angels and Humans were not that much different after all.
END