Chapter Text
It's just one bullet. One bullet and you could save Mandela County—hell, the world from this distaster.
You can't find it in yourself to shoot such a beautiful creature. He's just too stunning to kill.
Every nerve ending in your body is screaming to pull the trigger, to hear the satisfying click of the lever and have it all be done. But you can't, and you don't think you ever will.
Your father was in the military before he died, and that left you for the mission. They recruited you with one task, and one task alone: kill the mastermind to the alternate invasion.
It was a hefty deal, but you felt that you could handle it. Why couldn't you? The thing was slaughtering thousands of people a day, and yet it was impossible.
Gabriel showed up in your room one day.
It was the middle of the night, pitch black and not a sound playing from anywhere. That was until you were awoken by the sound of staticy gibberish from somewhere in your room.
A grumble escaped your throat as you rolled over, slapping your hand onto your phone. Maybe your alarm had gone off early or something—a laugh.
It laughed at you.
Your eyes snapped open and you bolted upright, frantic to find the source. The glimmer of unproportionate eyes in the corner brought you to a hault. Well, you found it.
"What a curious thing," The voice was too melodic for something so deadly.
"Pay no mind to my visit, lamb. I'm only observing... just as you seem to be."
You couldn't even question it before it vanished with a blink of your eyes. You were left with your chest heaving and a sheen of sweat coating your skin.
You could have grabbed the gun. You could have shot him. Why didn't you? It's always sitting beside your bed, begging to be used.
It felt like torture, never knowing when Gabriel might show up again. Your eyes always caught the shine of the gun you were meant to use, the one meant to end it all.
They kept calling, asking if you had a sighting on the alternate angel. You always denied such things happening. Something in the back of your mind told you to deny ever seeing him, even a glimpse. Claim he might not even be real.
Gabriel knew what you told them. He always knows, of course he does. He just doesn't know why you do.
He can't fathom the idea of someone refusing to kill him. There had been so many encounters where at least one victim had tries to strike a blow, but it never worked. He was just too strong, too dominearing.
So, when the day came that he planned to converse with you for real this time, he knew you still would refuse to use that blasted gun.
A chill ran up your spine, the warm water from the sink no longer comforting your qualms. You had to set the bowl you were cleaning down into the sink to not drop it before turning off the faucet.
"Gaining the confidence yet, lamb?"
You whipped around and pressed your behind to the counter's edge.
In broad daylight, you should have been able to see him, but he managed to find the perfect, most shadowed part of your livingroom across from you to linger in.
"Maybe," You replied. "How would you know?"
It earned a dark chuckle from the 'angel' before you, yet his shoulders barely even moved in accordance to the sound.
"I told you before... I'm only observing. Not anymore, at least."
The way his voice didn't match his demeanor put a tension in your bones. It was as if he was trying to seem welcoming with his voice alone, but no part of his presense gave that vibe.
"Tell me, do you really intend on killing me?" His head tilted this time with genuine curiosity.
"I do."
"No you don't."
Goosebumps littered your skin and your hairs prickles yet again. Your heart hammered against your chest, like attempting to break free from it's constraints.
"Maybe it's just... not the right time, ever think of that?"
You inched slightly to the left in an attempt to get closer to the gun you left on the kitchen table, but the way Gabriel's entire body seemed to follow the movement forced you to cease in your tracks.
"You've had many 'right times', lamb. Yet you never seemed to seize the oppurtunity at your fingertips."
You could hear the ruffle of feathers from behind him, in either irritation or in a strange fascination. You didn't know how birds worked.
Any reason as to why you would, or did, have a gun at hand tried to surface in your mind. None seemed satisfactory.
"It's giving me a sense of safety."
"Who's to say I'm not the reason for your safety?"
The air in your lungs hitched at the revelation. It was like he speaking through clenched teeth just to get that out.
You startled as he moved forward slowly, not a footstep to be heard.
The lights from the kitchen cascaded over his from as he approached. His hair had a silver shimmer to it's strands, and he was as pale as a ghost.
Despite what people said, who witnessed him without death (what a miracle), he was... shockingly gorgeous. He had to lure in devout followers somehow, you supposed.
There was a lack of wings, even with the sound of feathers from earlier. The robes he adorned were magnificant as well, yet his eyes were a void of black.
Everything about Gabriel was jaw dropping, but his eyes gleamed in a different rhetoric.
"You will die if you shoot me, lamb. I would know."
As if shooting was still on your mind right now. You couldn't kill something this gorgeous. This... this alluring. It was like firing at a bird in the sky and watching it fall from grace.
Except this bird was more of a mutt than anything else.
"You won't kill me...?" You questioned him, gripping onto the countertop behind you.
The smile across his face seemed to stretch in a way that was inhuman enough to prove his distance form mortality.
"Death would have already found you if not for me, lamb."
You couldn't peel your eyes away from his gaze, the way he stared at you. It lacked a certain amount of malicious intent.
"How do I know you aren't lying?"
"Have you seen one of my dear alternates recently? At all, for that matter."
"Why does that matter?"
"It matters, lamb. They're killing your neighbors, are they not? Your coworkers, your pets, everyone... yet not you."
Gabriel had a point, and you hated it. How dare he be right... and ominously so.
"I'll continue watching, dear lamb. You'll know when I'm there... just know, it's for your safety."
Everything felt frigid, bone chilling cold, before he vanished without a trace.
The gun on your table seemed like a great acquaintance for the last few months, but not after that.
If he was telling the truth, then killing him meant killing yourself.
How could you kill something so beautiful, and something meant to keep you from death?
You couldn't. And you definitely won't for the sake of your own heartbeat.