Post Chapter Ten - Gabriel (Patreon)

The memory was still there in a swirling mass in front of him. It was a memory he was not allowed to follow. That left Gabriel with the still, grey maze at his back and a lifetime of other people's thoughts roaming like ghosts all around him.

“It’s funny really.”

Gabriel was not a man who frightened easily. He prided himself in the ability to greet even the most heinous of situations with a stalwart face. Perhaps it was the silence that made the voice seem particularly loud this time. Or, maybe he was going soft.

When he turned, a man… woman? An individual was leaning against the wall. They had that look about them that shifted left to right, hinting at someone familiar while also dipping down into obscurity. Their arms were crossed before them and their black and silver robes brushed the ground, spiraling out in whorls of smoke that fogged the bottom half of the corridor.

“You’re Death.” It wasn’t so much of a question as a statement.

Death lifted their hand and wiggled their fingers. “Hello.”

Gabriel glanced back towards the swirling memory behind him, his heart racing as he tried to convince himself that jumping in there wouldn’t ruin everything they had planned. That Night would be able to keep the memory intact as he went and found them. Held them. Protected them from the end.

“Night isn’t dying,” Death said. “Not yet.”

Relief should have sagged across his shoulders as the assurance. The edge that marked each notch of tension when it came to Night, was still laced together in knotted lines against his spine. “I suppose I am, then.”

“Dunno,” Death shrugged. “I don’t reap your kind.”

“My kind?”

“Celestials. Your boss frowns on that.”

His boss. The Knowing, Gabriel supposed. Odd way to think of it considering he was not even of that realm any longer. “Why are you here then?”

Death nodded towards the memory. “Checking up on them. Typical friend thing, you know? Making sure they are eating enough. Sleeping enough. Drinking water. Not letting their slightly mad boyfriend trick them into believing they are a demon who deserves less love because of religious insecurities. The usual.”

Gabriel bristled. This Death persona, this friend, suddenly appeared far more like a man than anything else. Someone tall. Imposing. Eye alight with the knowledge that they could whisk Night away forever.

“I owe you no explanation,” Gabriel said. They had spoken of this. Gabriel was aware of what the madness did. He was aware of it far more than anyone else he surrounded himself with. The exception being maybe Reese. Who was this man to suggest he knew different? He never had to watch a father succumb to such a fate. He never felt the tendrils of madness brushing the edges of each thought. Each memory. He never had his family torn asunder for the sake of what? Making a choice? Deciding that the cog they were in the cosmic machine was useless? Suggesting even for one second that they think through this idea that they were elite simply because of their birth.

“Oh,” Death hissed. “That one hit home, didn’t it?”

Gabriel stumbled back until his spine aligned with the wall behind him. He didn’t know why he fell. The confusion of his existence here had always haunted him. He was the perfect soldier. He did not question. He followed the rules. He was the one that others modeled themselves after.

Yet, he was cast out. His wings were ripped from him and his blood mixed with the ocean. The scars of his back still had salt crusted across the faded lines.

“I don’t know what you are speaking of.”

Death pushed away from the wall, robes swirling around their feet. Gabriel could feel the cold breath of them through the cuffs of his pants. “Did you ever ask any of the ones that came down to whisper at you?” they asked. “Did you ask why you fell?”

“It does not matter why I feel. Only that I did.”

“Some would argue that doesn’t matter either but then again I have a different perspective on life than most.”

Gabriel took a step away, shifting to protect the memory behind him. “What do you want?”

“I already told you.”

“Clearly things are not fine,” he snapped. “We are stuck here. If you truly care about your friend, why have you not shown your face earlier and released us from this purgatory?”

“Qualifications for friendship, huh? I’m only worthy if I come in at the eleventh hour?” The laugh that escaped Death was actually one of amusement. There was something innately wrong about the idea that Death could find joy. “I have rules. I’m confined by them. Night knows this.”

“Night never speaks of you.”

Again with the laughter. “Probably not. There’s been a lot going on in that brain of theirs. You’ve taken up a big chunk. The lanterns have taken up another. I’m not a priority. Doesn’t bother me. When you are friends with a cosmic entity you have to understand the whims of fate a bit. And where you rank on the totem pole of life.”

“Priorities go both ways,” Gabriel sneered. Death should have been doing something. Anything. Instead, they were looming here in an alleyway, knowing full well that the Night Market was dying. That the world was going to be forever changed into an image that was unrecognizable. It was more important to mock Gabriel about his heritage than to step forward, he supposed.

“Just because I am not waving my arms around and saying ‘look at me, give me a medal’ doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything, little angel. I have a stake in this world, too, you know. Possibly a bigger one than you. If this world goes, I’m out of a job.”

“Let me try to find a reason to care,” he deadpanned.

Death’s hand came down on his shoulder. It was bone white, fingers curling down past his clavicle and reaching towards his heart. “You’re funny.”

Gabriel shrugged away. A fine imprint of Death’s hand still remained, the chill of it seeping beneath his skin. “If you are not going to help us get out of here, or help us with the lanterns, then leave,” he growled. “I am not here for your entertainment.”

“No, let’s face it. If I had the choice, you wouldn’t be here at all.”

Gabriel’s head snapped towards Death. There was a smile plastered on their face. One that was empathetic but threatening. The kind that snatched at someone's soul and ripped them from the mortal coil without even an ounce of regret.

“I will not be going with you today,” he told the being in front of him.

“No,” Death agreed. “You won’t. But Gabriel Caine? I nearly broke some rules for you. The only thing that stopped me was imagining the look of pain they would wear.  Don’t hurt my friend again, are we clear?”

Gabriel’s jaw tightened. Behind him, the memory was warm, reaching out in a swirling twist, like a spectral hand reaching out to him for ground. “Go.” Death would not be here when Night returned. He wouldn’t allow it.

With a sigh, the being fell back into a generic shape, flicking the shroud of their cowl up over their head and hiding everything but those piercing eyes.

“Have fun at the lanterns,” Death called out. “Tell Night hi for me.”

Gabriel wouldn’t. He watched Death go as the memory behind him pushed forward, leading Night back to his side. If he had his way, Death would not cast a shadow upon their door for a very long time.