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Gabriel could not be said to be the most observant person; he would say this was because he was not a person, he was an angel, a being who had bigger things to focus on than whatever small detail someone was so caught up on. One detail he did notice though was that the demon he kept tabs on bought a building around the same time he had bought his. This wasn’t an odd occurrence, the demon had always liked having property of their own to return to; Gabriel supposed this was mainly because the demon couldn’t just live between monasteries as he had for most of history. By the time 1800 rolled around though the angel noted that devoting a life to religion was truly on the way out and so he had wanted a place to call his own. Truth be told though, the angel only knew the demon, Beelzebub, had also bought a house was because they had stopped by his building and told him as much; so it’s not so much that he noticed as that he bothered to note the occurrence. Gabe was glad that he had remembered to write down the address the demon had told him as it was on the other side of the bloody Thames, a rather far distance from his own residence; still it seemed only fair to stop by the demon's place since they had come to see him.
Bee’s house was not quite what Gabe would expect of a demon, although Bee often did not quite fit the mold he had in mind for a demon. It was a cozy little cottage with stone walls outlining a rather large plot of land. As Gabriel approached the gate he noticed that the demon he had come to see was outside so he announced his presence. “So, this is the place?” He walked through the gate, “Not quite what I had expected I guess.”
“What?” The demon said, a bit defensively. “This is the newest way humans are choosing to build their house.”
Beelzebub stood and dusted their hands off, they had been digging in the dirt Gabe could see now that he was closer; next to the hole was what looked to the angel like a branch.
“Besides, I have a feeling that this is going to continue to stay in fashion. All this area would be great for farming.” Bee gestured around toward the rather empty fields around them as they spoke. “ Beats that boring town of yours any day,” they smirked.
“Well it definitely is far enough from it,” the angel commented, “I thought that carriage ride would never end; never mind that my day is completely gone for this.”
“Who said you had to come?” Bee said with a playful edge to their voice. Gabe recognized the tone as one the demon used when they were trying to get a rise from him, and as always it worked.
“Well, it’s the principal of the matter,” he started, “You dropped by my library and told me you also bought a place, it would be rude of me not to return the favor. Besides, it is wise to have knowledge of your enemy's base of operation.”
Gabe knew he was red in the face even from such a brief rise, but he had added the last part rather breathlessly; whether it was to cover for the agreement he and the demon had or if he thought someone from Heaven might be listening into this conversation, he could not say. He could say that the amused look on Bee’s face was not helping him relax.
“Right… So, a library?” Beelzebub’s expression shifted to be more thoughtful as they continued, “That’s what you're going to do with it. Huh, a library in London.”
“What’s so odd about that?” Gabriel snapped, “Plenty of great civilizations have had them, and I’ve been starting a collection for some time now. I’m elevating London by filling my home with knowledge that could benefit humanity.”
“What an angelic response…” The demon got that smirk on their face again as they added, “Your delivery could use some work, as always.”
For once, Gabe did not take the bait, he had come here with somewhat of a purpose. He sighed, regaining the normal color of his face before starting the conversation again.
“What are you going to do with your place then?”
He asked it with genuine interest which seemed to throw Bee off the rhythm they had established earlier as they paused for a bit before responding.
“Well, the cottage is just going to be a house. Nothing to ‘elevate London’ like your library.”
Gabe knew the words made him sound silly, but it was the best way he had thought of defending his endeavor. He had earlier that month explained to his boss what his intentions were. The Supreme Archangel had seemed thrilled at the idea and had even miracled some books for Gabe to add to his collection on his behalf. Gabriel just could not shake the feeling that his boss was waiting for him to fail though and thus had thought the demon was expecting the same thing. Trying to distract himself from the resentment felt about that, the angel looked around. His eyes fell on the hole and the branch Bee had been messing with before he had arrived.
“What about the outside,” Gabe ventured, “Like that twig there.”
He gestured toward it as he spoke. Bee followed his hand and looked at the branch; now it seemed to be the demon’s turn to be upset.
“Twig?!?” Their face contorted as they growled, “That iz a cutting of a citron tree, one of the purezzt breeds I’ve come across.”
Gabriel had not meant for his comment to set off Beelzebub, but it was a knack the angel had to say exactly the wrong thing.
“How am I supposed to know that?” Gabe chose to dig his heels in. “It barely has leaves on it, Bee. It looks like every other branch on the side of the road.”
Another knack the angel had was to make things worse.
“Like every -ack-” The demon's face managed to twist even more at that comment. “Just any old branch? That cutting cost me £20 and I had to go to Asia to get the bloody thing!”
The angel was taken aback by that comment, why would a branch be so valuable, especially to Bee, who as far as Gabe knew didn’t eat like himself. He took a step back, not physically, and thought. Bee had said it was a citron branch, that name sounded familiar to him, but where in his life had he come across it. It came to him that a citron was an older plant, humans had long since come to know it as lemons, limes, or many other citrus fruits. Gabriel glanced beyond the hole and citron branch to look at the rest of Bee’s land. He actually found some plants there that he recognized. Cucumbers, creosote bush, and some ferns; all old species of plants that gave him a sense of familiarity. Then it hit him why.
“They are from The Garden?” He hadn’t really meant it as a question, but even though he had put the pieces together he couldn’t understand the picture they made.
Beelzebub dropped their eyes to the ground and responded in a voice that was almost unheard by Gabe.
“Yeah.”
They moved to return to planting the citron, seeming to not want to continue the conversation. The angel was not done with the conversation though.
“Why?”
This got no response so Gabe moved to stand in front of Bee and ask a more directed question.
“Why would you want to gather plants from Eden?”
The Bee did not look up from their task, handling the cutting with care Gabe didn’t think a demon should be capable of, but responded.
“They are perfect. She made them herself.”
A smile pulled at the demon's lips as they spoke. They left it at that while they finished their task; this time Gabe let the silence stand as he tried to work out why what Bee had just said mattered to them. They were a fallen angel, cast out by Her, shouldn’t they despise the plants She’d made?
The angel was so lost in thought he did not notice when Beelzebub stood and dusted themselves off once more. Only roused from his thoughts when they spoke again.
“Humans had to go and mess them up though, crossbreeding them to an almost unrecognizable state most of the time.”
That was a point Gabe could agree on, humans were always messing things up.
Bee continued, “She made them perfect and they weren’t happy with that. This citron, on top of being my newest edition, is also my most prized; even if you call it just a ‘twig’. The trees were always my favorite.”
A look of reminiscence passed over the demon’s face as they spoke and Gabe couldn’t help but think back to The Garden himself. It was a happier time for him, not that he didn’t enjoy Earth as it had come to be, but things were simple then; he had enjoyed many walks around The Garden himself and only half registered when Bee extended a similar offer.
“It’s not much yet, but like your library idea, it’s going to grow.” Beelzebub chuckled to themselves about the joke, and Gabe rolled his eyes. “Oh come on now, if you’re going to be like that I won’t show you around.”
They started their tour and Gabe had to admit the garden, for as sparse as it was, was almost able to take him back to Eden. There was a stone path they walked along and Bee would stop every now and then to gripe about what abomination the humans had turned that particular plant into. Gabe often added comments about how he liked what the plant had become, but they were in a more familiar teasing tone for them. The demon would always groan or lightly punch at the angel before snapping back with a remark of their own. As weird as the interaction would seem to an outside observer Gabriel really enjoyed spending time with Beelzebub like this. He didn’t know how to feel when the tour came to an end.
“That’s all I have for right now,” Bee was standing in front of the citron again, where the tour had started, “but I have plots ready for when I hunt down any new species.”
Gabriel knew what he was going to say was probably one of the worst things he could say, and yet he said it anyway, as he always did.
“What about the forbidden tree?”
Bee seemed like they had expected the question.
“Well, I don’t think it's forbidden anymore. That would be the centerpiece, just as it once was, but I’ve been having some difficulty tracking down reliable sources on it.” Their gaze had fallen to the ground again, though for once Gabe thought it wasn’t actually his fault for saying something wrong. “It seems like it’s a little too close to so many other apple varieties and I can’t just ask humans if they know where the once forbidden fruit ended up.”
“Another thing the humans ruined from the garden?” Gabe asked.
Bee gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Actually, it seems that one seems to be unchangeable for the most part. Regardless of what humans try to breed it into, it keeps its shape and general taste. Quite an impressive creation.” The demon's gaze shifted upward with the last statement and they shook their head in a dismissive way.
The angel followed Beelzebub's gaze and then remarked, “Oh goodness, where did the day go? I still have to get a carriage ride back to my library.”
It had ruined any mood they had going, but Gabe didn’t want to be stuck out in the country with the demon because they lost track of time. He gave a hasty good-bye and barely waited for Bee to get their own farewell before running off to catch a carriage. Gabriel had the long ride back into town to think about what Bee had said though; they were having issues tracking down the apple tree from Eden by asking humans, but Gabe doubted they had even thought of asking an angel.
Gabriel really started to second guess why he was even going to do this to himself, it wasn’t like he actually liked the demon, so why put himself through this torture to get them a tree. He at the least wasn’t going to make a special trip to Heaven to ask about the tree, they would ask too many questions he didn’t think he could answer without raising any red flags. Fortunately, or unfortunately given what it meant he had to do, he knew another way he could inquire about a tree from that long ago. His boss, the Supreme Archangel Aziraphale, would check in with him on a regular basis; usually Gabe liked to keep these interactions as brief as possible as he always felt demeaned by every word the Archangel spoke to him. For once though, his boss was not the most annoying one talking; that would be the voice in the back of his mind insisting that he ask about the tree. And so he did, just to shut the voice up, half interrupting the Archangels goodbye.
“Whatever happened to the tree from Eden?” It was a blunt but innocent question giving the lower ranking angle an out if he didn’t like the response he got.
“The what, dear?” The Archangel paused, caught off guard by the question; then, when the question actually got to his brain, he responded, “All of the trees from the garden were spread across the Earth for the humans to have. Although, they had to work to get to them unlike in the garden. Now, all the trees around us are descendants of those very trees. So I guess a concise answer to your question, dear boy, is ‘everywhere.’”
Aziraphale gestured around as he finished speaking with a smile on his face like he had in any way actually answered Gabriel’s question. Gabe rolled his eyes, he calmed himself by reasoning that his question had been a little vague, he tried phrasing it again.
“No, I meant The tree.”
His boss once again paused, thinking about his question this time.
“It became many different varieties of apple trees, dear boy. Quite a lovely fruit I think, and mostly unchanged from how it was. Almost any apple tree now is just about the same as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil since humans already have the knowledge it would just be like any apple derived from it.” The Archangel hesitated before adding, “Although, the taste is not quite the same.”
Gabriel thought that this answer was just as vague as the first answer, just more filed down. Though, the last addition Aziraphale had added was interesting; he had said the taste was different, implying that he had tasted not only the fruit from the garden but also a more modern day apple. This was odd as angels didn’t need to eat, but also he thought his boss was only ever on Earth to check up on him and he had never seen him eating anything. But, as confusing as that was, the voice in the back of Gabe’s mind kept egging him to press more for this tree. So he pressed further.
“What about the original tree, what happened to it?”
“Oh, long since dead I’m sure dear.” The Archangel responded in a much too cheery tone for Gabriels liking and then turned to leave as if that was that.
“Wait!” Gabe called out before he realized what he was doing, not hiding the frustration in his voice.
His hand also reacted without his knowledge and grabbed Aziraphale by the wrist. Aziraphale half jumped at the sudden contact and, just as quickly as Gabriel had reacted, pulled his hand away and drew in on himself even stepping backwards from the lesser angel. Once Gabriel regained his presence of mind he pulled his own hand back toward his side. The action had led to his boss now fully staring at him, at least he knew he had his attention; the entire conversation before had seemed like easy quick answers meant to appease. Gabe thought this was always how the Archangel spoke, somehow giving answers without really ever answering a question; at least not to Gabriel’s satisfaction. Now with his bosses full attention he asked the question he had been leading up to.
“I was wanting to see the original fruit. I mean modern apples are great and all, and maybe it’s nostalgia, but I’ve just been thinking of the garden recently and I don’t think I ever got that good a look at that tree.”
The last part was a lie, the angel had seen the tree that was off limits to the humans many times. It was right next to his gate and even if it wasn’t he and the other guardians had walked every square inch of that garden in the time they had been on watch. He had just felt that the statement would raise less suspicion as opposed to the real reason he was seeking out the tree. Aziraphale for his part relaxed a bit and looked to be thinking about the request, although it seemed the only thing the Archangel ever did was think, and he was also keeping some distance between himself and his subordinate. Gabe had made a mistake in not phrasing the last part as a question, a request could be denied. He was talking with his boss after all; if he had half the opinion of Gabriel that Gabriel had of him he was doubtlessly going to turn down the request. Even if he did have a way to grant the request the Gabe had proposed it wouldn’t help with his actual goal; the whole act now, think later thing was really shaping up to bite him in the ass. Finally, just when Gabriel was about to leave and forget the whole thing, his boss responded.
“Well, I do have a tree in my office. A cutting I made from the original tree. That would probably be the closest you could get to the original nowadays.”
As he spoke, Aziraphale lowered his hands to their usual spot, knitted together in front of him and put a rather forced looking smile on his face; not relaxing, but trying to look like he was. The offer was innocent, and said in a very placating tone, and if Gabriel had been actually looking for what he had said he was looking for it would have been perfect. As it stood, that was one of the last things Gabe wanted and he once again responded before he could fully think.
“No!”
It was a gut reaction to the idea of having to go up to Heaven and then be in his bosses office on top of that. Gabe was sure a shudder went through his body at the thought. The Archangel lost his fake composer at the sudden sharp response and flinched, taking another half step away from Gabriel. Paying half a mind to the reaction he realized that what he had said and altered his next sentence to try and lean towards his real goal.
“What I mean is, I want one I can have on Earth. That way if I ever want to be reminded of The Garden I can look at it.” He tried to play it off as nonchalant, but he knew that desperation had to be edging at his voice.
For once the Archangel did not pause before responding.
“That makes sense dear, of course you’d want your own, I have the one in my office for similar reasons you speak of. How about I give you a cutting from it?” Aziraphale once again forced a smile onto his face, he even moved back towards Gabriel, yet he still kept out of the angels reach. He was rushing his words in a way Gabe had never heard before and quickly added onto his offer. “It will take a bit of time to grow though. I could miracle it, or you could, I would grant you permission for it.”
Gabriel was shocked that he had actually got what he wanted from the Archangel; he had thought the answer would be a definite ‘no’, citing something along the lines of humans shouldn’t be so close to such a precious tree. Instead here he was gaping at his boss. He tried to recover his regular demeanor before answering.
“Uh, yeah,” he failed. “Just the cutting would be fine, I mean I am an immortal being, time really isn’t something I’m too worried about.” There was more of his regular tone in that last sentence.
“That’s wonderful dear boy,” his boss's voice had that annoying cheeriness again, “I’ll get that all sorted out when I get back to the office.”
Here the Archangel made a hesitant move to leave again, when he seemed satisfied that Gabriel was actually done talking to him and wasn’t going to stop him again he added, “I’ll be going now, things to do and all that. Until next time, dear.”
“Yeah,” Gabe responded in a tone that implied he was already dreading that meeting as he did every meeting, “next time.”
Gabriel was not sure the Archangel even heard his response though, as he had already started walking quickly off once he had half finished his own farewell. Gabe hoped that he would remember to get that cutting from his tree like he had promised; he didn’t think he could stand to ask about it again.
It took longer than Gabriel had thought it should for the cutting to arrive, although he was glad his boss did not want to hand deliver it. They showed up miraculously on his desk, as any letter from Heaven did, in a pure white envelope with neat golden writing on spelling out the angel’s name. He always thought that it was a bit silly since the letters always went directly to him and he was pretty sure the only person who ever saw them other than himself was the person who wrote them; in most cases, like this one, Aziraphale. His thoughts on the letter aside he had actually half forgotten about his request for a tree by this time and so when he opened the letter, expecting another request for some miracle work on Earth, he had to struggle to catch the cutting that materialized after the paper was unfolded.
The accompanying letter just had some basic directions for care, but Gabriel didn’t actually need that, and based on the gardening work he had seen the demon doing, he doubted they needed them either. He stared at the cutting for a good long while; it looked to him just like the other cutting in Bee’s garden had, a nondescript stick that could come from any tree. The only thing that helped him to believe this was even the right tree was that his boss had no reason to lie and give him a random tree, other than he was the Supreme Archangel and had no reason to care about a lowly principality like Gabriel. Though, throughout all his time of knowing the Archangel he had never deceived him, as far as he knew. On the other hand, Gabriel had been lying about his relationship with Beelzebub to his boss for centuries now and there was always the chance that he got wise and was just waiting to catch Gabriel in a lie. Maybe the Archangel had a charm on this branch and would see his underling gifting it to the demon he is supposed to despise and use it as damning evidence to sentence Gabriel to a worse fate than looking after humanity.
He knew his thoughts were stupid, if his boss knew about his arrangement he doubted this tree cutting was going to steer his fate one way or another. He reasoned that he already had the thing, he might as well give it to the demon he got it for, so he stood up from his desk and mentally prepared himself for the long ride over to Bee’s remote cottage. He also took care to put the cutting back into the letter so he didn’t have to worry about carrying it.
As Gabriel approached the house he had an uneasy feeling that he couldn’t quite place. He knew it was an emotion and not one he got often, although as far as he could remember it was always tied to Beelzebub in some way. He pushed the confusing emotion down as he walked through the gate. Bee was not outside in their garden today so Gabe walked to the front door of the cottage and knocked. He hoped the demon had the decency to be home, it was a long carriage ride over here after all.
There was no response after his first knock so he knocked again, more loud and insistent this time. Just as he was about to knock for a third time he heard the sound of half hurried footfalls from inside. After a moment more the door opened and Gabriel was greeted with a very annoyed looking demon in the doorway. The demon’s expression softened the lightest bit as they noticed who was standing in front of them.
“Gabriel, I wasn’t expecting you back anytime soon, what got an assignment from upstairs you want to hand off to me?”
The question was not unexpected, Gabe did not often visit so soon after his previous visit unless he had work. The question still rubbed him the wrong way for some reason.
“I don’t only visit you when I have a favor to ask of you. The last time I was here I was just seeing your new home.”
Bee seemed to bristle at the last word, but quickly recovered.
“And now you have, so why are you here this time?”
“I um…” The angel's confidence left him as he tried to state the purpose of his drop in.
The demon raised an eyebrow and waited for his response. Gabe cleared his throat and tried again.
“I came to give you a gift.”
It was a weak delivery that was half mumbled but it still reached the demon’s ears. Their expression changed, once again, to shock and or disbelief at the statement Gabe had just spoken.
“You, give me a gift?” Bee responded.
The response was about what Gabe thought he would get. Exchanging gifts was not something new between them, but Bee what right, Gabe was not often the one giving the gift in those scenarios. The reply that Gabriel said was his usual brand of not situationally appropriate.
“That’s fine if you don’t want it.”
“Hold on, I never said that.” The demon was obviously curious about what the angel was offering.
Now that Gabe knew he had Bee’s interest though he was going to see how long he could drag this out.
“Alright,” Gabriel’s tone was playful as he spoke, “how about you invite me in first? I didn’t get to see the inside of your cottage when I was here last.”
Rather than respond with words the demon extended an invitation inside by stepping back from the door and gesturing inside. Gabriel accepted and walked into the house. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he walked in; he had been inside Bee’s residence many times over the years and they had always felt the same. This one was no different. It was empty, barely the bare minimum of furniture in the kitchen and living room, which Gabe could see from where he was standing, he didn’t have to see the rest of the house to know it was in a similar state. Most of history this wasn’t odd as only the truly wealthy would have excess of anything, but here in the 19th century it was an odd choice, especially for such a cozy looking cottage.
“It’s very… you” Gabe remarked.
“Thanks?” Bee replied.
They moved to the kitchen while Gabriel stood and continued to take in the place. Gabe heard rustling in the kitchen as the demon gathered some things together then offered, “Would you like some tea? I have a blend from my garden.”
Gabe was not often one for consuming anything, whether it be food or drink, but he did have to admit the tea Bee was offering was rather tempting, that demon.
“If you’re making some anyway, sure.”
Beelzebub looked a little surprised by the response but a small smile slipped onto their face which made Gabriel’s stomach do a flip. The demon went about the task of making tea while they asked, “So about this gift?”
“Ah, that.” Gabe responded coyly.
“You don’t intend to keep me in suspense for your entire visit do you?”
“Maybe, patience is a virtue.”
“Says the least patience angel I’ve ever met.”
“Hey, in my defence, how many angels have you really met?”
“Touche.”
By this point Bee was adding their herb blend into their teapot. The aroma that started to fill the house was exquisite, a mixture of flowers and spices that reminded Gabriel of Heaven weirdly enough. Not the sterile pure white Heaven had become, but the early days before the war, comforting and welcoming as Her love once was; he wondered if Beelzebub got a similar feeling as they closed their eyes and took a deep inhale of the scent. He didn’t dare ask.
“Have you gotten any more plants for your garden?” He broke the silence.
“No,” Bee sighed, “kinda slow going that. I have a few leads and one pending sale I’m waiting for a letter back on, but nothing new in the ground since you were last here.”
“Ah, well that’s better than nothing I guess.”
“‘Spose.”
Bee moved to grab two mugs so Gabriel guessed the tea was almost ready. As they poured the tea into mugs and moved towards the table in the kitchen Gabe followed and continued the conversation.
“Well, I think my gift will put you in a better mood.”
“What’s wrong with my mood?” Bee seemed a bit offended by the statement. “My mood is always like this.”
Gabe knew they were right, so he tried rephrasing.
“I just meant it should make you happy. You’ll like it.”
To stop himself from rambling on he took a sip of tea. The flavor was somehow even better than the smell. It filled his body with warmth and it felt, he imagined, like a hug or being wrapped in Her grace. He was snapped out of his bliss when Bee responded to his previous statement.
“So now you’re claiming to know how something will make me feel? Puts a lot of pressure on this gift. What if I don’t like it?”
“You will.” Gabe rebutted too quickly.
“How do you know that?” Bee seemed like they were actually looking for an answer.
“Because you told me you wanted it last time we talked.” He snapped.
“I didn’t ask you for anything last time we talked.” Bee was raising their tone to match Gabriel’s.
“You said you wanted to get the original tree from The Garden.” Gabe was basically shouting at this point and he could feel his face changing color.
“There are 20 different trees from The Garden that I need for mine, what do you mean?” The demon’s expression seemed genuinely confused.
“The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you know, the tree.” He threw his hands up for emphasis.
“Yeah right, ha ha, funny joke Gabriel.” Despite their words their tone did not imply that they found it funny at all.
At this Gabe pulled out the envelope he had from Heaven. This caught the demon’s eye, they were familiar with the letters as they often swapped them when trading work as per their agreement.
“You aren’t joking are you?” Bee’s eyes were wide and quickly glancing between Gabe and the envelope.
“Well,” Gabe’s tone was level again and he took a sip of tea before continuing, “You said you weren’t having any l thought, they probably wouldn’t have checked with an angel. So… I asked my boss about it during our last meeting.”
Beelzebub was still staring at the letter in disbelief so Gabe continued opening the envelope as he spoke.
“He told me the original tree died a while ago,” Bee’s face fell with this statement. “But, he happened to have a tree in his office that was a cutting from the original tree. I told him I wanted one so I could remember The Garden and he, well.”
Rather than continue to explain with words he unfolded the letter and materialized the cutting inside once more. Gabe couldn’t help but smile at the expression that crossed Bee’s face as their eye landed on the branch in his hands. They shifted their gaze up to Gabriel, a look of doubt still behind their eyes.
“This had better not be some gag where you claim to give me the most sought after tree in my collection only to have it be some random branch from the side of the road Gariel.” There was a real threat behind the demon's tone and Gabe scrambled to defend himself from the accusation.
“Why would you even accuse me of such things? I’m an angel after all, we do not play jokes.”
“What about that time you tricked me into walking on consecrated ground?” Bee raised their eyebrow to accompany their question.
“That wasn’t a joke.” Gabe quickly responded to shield his reputation. “I really wasn’t sure abandoned churches still qualified as holy ground or not.”
The incident the Bee was referring to happened in Scotland about 100 years ago. Gabriel did not often travel, but Bee had invited him along to Scotland as they had a prolonged stay there for work. Gabe had remembered hearing of a beautiful church in the area and that it had been deserted for almost two centuries at this point. He thought that since the demon was always interested in seeing stuff that humans built they would enjoy the building. When they arrived the building was in a clear state of disrepair so Gabriel did not think to check for holiness before inviting Bee to walk around and get a closer look at the brickwork. He wondered why the demon hadn’t done their own check to make sure the ground was safe, but the outcome was the same regardless; Bee shrieked and tried to jump away from the ground, accidentally falling in the process and coming into contact with more of their skin on the holy ground. Gabriel rushed to help his demon when he realized what was happening but when they stopped writhing in agony Beelzebub pushed away from the angel and miracled themselves somewhere Gabe never knew to lick their wounds. They did not talk for at least 50 years after that, Gabriel couldn’t remember the exact number.
“So this is the real deal?” The demon was back to being in disbelief.
“Bee, I promise this is the apple tree from The Garden.” Gabriel had shifted to holding the branch in both of his hands having set the letter aside. He was about to offer the cutting to Beelzebub, but he thought more words were needed for a gift of this magnitude, so he continued. “And I promise that like our relationship this tree will grow with time. Even if it has rough conditions it will find the strength to continue to grow. Sometimes it will need no support, but other times it will need special care and I know you will always be able to give it exactly what it needs. This tree will bear fruit, just like our bond has come to. And I hope this tree will come to stand as proof of the relationship that we have.”
As he spoke he felt a familiar sensation, although being caught up in his words as he was, he couldn’t quite place it. Bee seemed to be soaking in his words looking at him rather than the plant. Their face had an expression Gabriel had only seen from them a few times and he hadn’t figured out what it meant when the demon wore it. It was similar to the way their face when they were going to say something to irritate the angel though, so he braced for the remark.
“Gabriel…” was all they said.
This gave the angel pause, but he had a pit in his stomach and thought he had said something wrong. He didn’t often, but being around Bee usually made him feel that he should change his words, so he tried.
“Well, by relationship I meant, arrangement, obviously and I just meant to say that-”
He was cut off by two hands coming into contact with his own. Gabe felt his face going red and looked down to see what the demon was doing. He realized that they were taking the branch from his hands; the contact must have been accidental. This should have made the angel feel relief, so why was that pit in his stomach back?
Bee was holding the cutting close to them looking the branch up and down, taking in every centimeter of the thing. While they were doing that Gabriel enjoyed some more of the delicious tea that had gone cold on the table; its flavor was not diminished in this state though and Gabe almost missed it when Bee’s gaze moved from the twig to meet his.
“T-th-thank you.” They cringed as they spoke these words and they were rushed.
Gabriel was shocked though, he knew it was actually painful for the demon to say such words. The gift must have meant a lot for Beelzebub to feel the need to thank the angel. He felt a smile tug at his face and his stomach drop even further as he responded.
“Of course.”
There was a silence between them as the few words lingered. Gabriel finished his drink with one last sip and was grateful to hear the demon start to speak as he set his mug down.
“I’d like to plant this right away.” They stood from the table and miracled on different clothes and materialized several gardening tools onto the table. “You’re welcome to watch, although it is rather boring.”
Gabe stood as well while he returned, “I think I’d at least like to see where you are going to plant it.”
Bee seemed surprised that the angel had not taken the excuse to leave. He had to admit it was his usual M.O. to leave any situation as soon as he could but he felt drawn to actually see the tree be planted in the ground.
“O-okay,” Bee said, turning to grab some tools from the table and adding, “would you like to help carry some supplies?”
“No.” It was blunt, but the angel did not like to get himself dirty.
“‘Course.” The demon said with an exasperated sigh.
They walked out to the garden mostly in silence, the only sound being their footsteps on the rocky pathway and the clinking of Bee’s haphazardly balanced tools. Gabe had been nice enough to get the door even if he was set in not handling the dirty tools. When they reached the spot Beelzebub had designated for the tree the demon simply opened their arms and let all of their supplies clatter onto the ground. The cutting, of course, was still held firmly, yet gently, in Bee’s hand. Gabe wondered why they had lugged all of the tools out there in the first place when they could have just miricaled them when they were at the plot of land, but he didn’t ask, he knew at this point the demon had their own way of doing things. Bee knelt down and began the slow process of digging a hole.
Gabriel shifted on his feet; he knew he had an out now, he didn’t have to stay for the whole process as he had now seen where the tree was going to go and he knew he would be by to see it in the future, but he couldn’t leave for some reason. He stood watching Bee digging and wondered if She had planted the plants in Eden in such a manner; it was a silly thought, but the demon looked strangely caring as they prepared the ground for cutting. When they had the cutting in their hand again about to plant it they spoke.
“This thing must have come straight from Heaven, it has a lot of holy energy on it. Almost burns, but in a kinda pleasant way.”
“Well it did come from the office of the Supreme Archangel.” Gabe responded causally.
Bee probably would have dropped the plant if they hadn’t just placed it in the ground as a jolt went through their body.
“Yeah, that must be it. Always forget your boss is the Supreme Archangel…”
“Well, yours is the High Duke of Hell, so we’re on even ground in that regard.”
“Right.” The demon shuddered with the reminder of their boss.
A brief silence followed as Bee replaced the dirt around the tree and then stood to admire their work, dusting themselves off as they did.
“There, all situated in its new home.” The demon looked proudly at the tree and turned to Gabriel, seeming to look for his approval.
“Uh, yeah, it is in the ground now.”
Beelzebub narrowed their gaze, clearing wishing that Gabe had said more than that.
“You’ll have more words to say about it when you see it grow, I remember it being quite the sight in The Garden.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” The angel glanced toward the sky, noticing the sun was in a much lower position than when they had first walked outside.
In a scene very similar to the last visit Gabriel gave a hurried goodbye before taking off to find a carriage back to town. Instead of a farewell all the demon did was laugh at the frantic nature of the angel as he left.