WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BACKSHOTS. once again nothing graphic but please don't read at school or work.
V1’s phone buzzes once, twice. It doesn’t hear it the first time, too busy rubbing Gabriel’s primary feathers between its fingers, but the second time it happens V1 smacks him lightly on the back.
Between gasping breaths, Gabriel manages to get out the words, ‘I swear—if you stop—‘
He can’t see it from where he is but it wiggles a finger at him nonetheless, reaching at a strange angle to grab its phone.
A message from V2:
V2: Are the two of you in there
V1: yeah don’t come in
V1: unless… :)
V2: I don’t want to be scarred for life thank you
V2: Whenever you’re done come over to Mirage’s place we have something figured out
V2: Also tell him I said congratulations on getting railed again
V1 shuts off the phone and drops it onto the bed.
Gabriel’s wings flutter in irritation when it returns to him. ‘What did you find important enough,’ he says, ‘that you needed to interrupt—‘
It shuts him up by thrusting forward, forcing him face-down into his pillow. He cries out, scrabbling for purchase against the sheets.
‘Oh, God. More.’
V1 obliges, and he does not speak another coherent word for the rest of the morning.
~~~
Gabriel winces with every step he takes. V1 admires its handiwork, arms folded behind its head, playing a recording of someone whistling that only it can hear.
‘Damned machine,’ Gabriel says when they reach the stairs to Mirage’s room. ‘I can’t walk.’
‘Your fault.’
He swears at it and begins to drag himself up the stairs using the banister.
Mirage was lucky enough to get a room all to herself. V1 knocks on her door and V2 answers just as Gabriel collapses into a heap by the doorway.
V2 sticks her head out to look at him. ‘Woah. Uh. Come in.’
It takes V1 a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room. Thick cables carrying cooling fluid stretched from wall to wall, forming a canopy that kept out most of the ceiling light. Mirage is curled up in a corner of her room, knees drawn up to her chest, typing away on a laptop. Next to her on the floor, lap full of feathers, V2 carefully arranges multiple vials in a test tube holder, her flashlight turned up to the max.
The door shuts behind V1 and it hears Gabriel groan as he leans against the doorframe. V2 looks up and gives a small wave, but V1’s attention is caught by something on the bed.
‘Is that—’
‘Sobriety?’ Gabriel staggers forward, dropping to his knees next to the bed. ‘What are you doing to him?’
Sobriety’s multiple eyes are glassy and unfocused, the pale blue light emanating from his main body muted. His wings flutter shakily in recognition as he looks over at Gabriel, the frequency of his humming rising ever so slightly. Gabriel turns to V2. ‘Explain.’
‘I invited him here so we could compare the humming sound that Virtues make to the recording I got at the tower—the Earthmover,’ says Mirage, not taking her eyes off her screen. ‘The sound waves complement each other. Destructive interference.’
She chuckles to herself and continues typing. V2 picks a feather off her thigh.
‘That does not explain why he is… like this,’ says Gabriel.
‘That’d be the painkillers,’ says V2. V1 carefully steps over to the Virtue, and when it feels brave enough, it pokes him in the chains that encircle his main body. Sobriety’s orb turns bright red for a brief moment before returning to blue, his eyes slowly closing as he drifts off into sleep.
‘Hands off,’ says Gabriel sharply. V1 holds up its hands innocently. He continues, ‘What painkillers?’
‘We didn’t know if paracetamol would work on angels but it was worth a try,’ says V2, ‘then we remembered that angels don’t have mouths and I’m not sure if you do—do you?’ She does not wait for Gabriel to reply. ‘So intravenous it was—I think I went overboard on the morphine.’
Sobriety’s humming takes on a deeper tone, imitating snoring.
Gabriel looks slowly from V2 to Mirage.
‘I… Why?’
‘Figured you’d sleep better,’ says Mirage. A wire extends from her half-open chestplate, connecting to her computer.
‘For me?’ Despite his exhaustion, Gabriel sounds genuinely touched. ‘I truly don’t deserve it.’
V1 shoots him a look. He coughs and says, ‘Your concern is well appreciated. However, I must warn you that opioids do not work on divine beings.’
V2 groans and Mirage shakes her head. ‘Come on,’ says V2. ‘All that time wasted.’
‘Although,’ says Gabriel, ‘They do produce a calming effect.’
Mirage peers at Sobriety suspiciously. The Virtue is happily asleep.
She ends up shrugging and returning to her work. ‘Well, that’s one less thing to do. You can leave now.’
V2 gets to her feet with a loud creak and stands right behind Mirage to watch her work. V1 raises a hand.
‘Can I stay here?’
V2 gives it a look but Mirage shrugs. Using the wall as support, Gabriel walks over to Mirage’s desk. Mirage turns around to face her expectant audience.
‘Woah, uh. I’ve never had so many people watch me work before.’
‘What is that?’ asks Gabriel, jabbing his finger at the incomprehensible mass of squiggles on the screen.
‘Oh, that’s just all the audio tracks,’ says Mirage. ‘It could probably be neater but eh, it works.’
V1 takes the time to look around as she launches into an explanation, hands moving animatedly. Gabriel nods from time to time, trying to understand. V2 snaps her fingers at V1.
‘Thought about what you’re going to say in that song? The voicelines,’ she adds when V1 tilts its head.
‘I’ll figure something out. What did you record?’
‘Oh, you’ll see.’ She rubs her neck, seemingly embarrassed. ‘Or you’ll hear. She inserted it at timestamp thirteen-o-seven.’
‘What’d Mirage say?’
‘V2,’ says Mirage, a tone of warning in her voice.
‘You’ve got nothing to hide,’ says V2. ‘No, literally. She’s procrastinating hers.’
‘Shut the FUCK up,’ she hisses, but the wire connecting her to the computer stops her from moving.
‘What are you talking about?’
Mirage sighs and turns to Gabriel. ‘You didn’t check the group chat?’
Gabriel reaches for his phone but Mirage continues, ‘Never mind. I decided that I wanted each one of us to say something that I could put in the song. A little personal touch, you know? Wait.’ She narrows her eye. ‘You were there. You were there responding to me. You saw the messages. Did you forget?’
‘...No,’ Gabriel says, as if he even remembers, but Mirage’s attention is focused on her work.
‘And I… I do not know what to say for this,’ says Mirage. ‘I do not know why this is so difficult for me.’
V2 reaches out cautiously and pats her on the dejected shoulders. Mirage sighs again.
‘This is my art. It’s all me, putting another part of myself in here shouldn’t be so… Gabriel?’
Gabriel stands up straight. ‘I have something to say. Would you like to record now?’
Mirage all but dives for her mic, placed all the way at the very end of her desk. V2 moves her vials out of the way, giving Gabriel more space to stand. She looks at the sleeping Virtue on the bed.
‘No, keep him there,’ says Gabriel when V2 points to Sobriety and then to the door. ‘I do not wish to delay this any longer.’
Mirage hands him the mic and they hear him take a deep breath. Gabriel looks around, seeming lost, until his gaze lands on V1.
V1 takes a step out of the shadow, standing directly underneath the ceiling light.
Gabriel begins to speak.
‘Father above,’ he says, ‘I know we have not spoken in years.’
He does not stop looking at V1.
‘I no longer know Your Will. I do not know if You are still there. Everything I have done in Your name, I may as well have done while puppeteering Your… corpse. I am uncertain. Everything I knew… was it ever truly Yours?’
He inhales shakily before continuing. ‘But I must have an answer. And if I cannot get it from You, I will grasp at the threads You have given me, and I wish for Your glory to endure. Everything You have—or have not—taught me, I wish to preserve the kindness and abandon the cruelty. Perhaps You are a cruel God, but you are the same Father whose boundless light has nurtured me. This is my farewell. God, I want the same mercy for this world as you have once showed me.’
Gabriel falls silent.
‘Farewell, Father of mine.’
He hands the mic back to Mirage, who looks dumbstruck. V2 gets to her feet, hand outstretched, before saying haltingly, ‘Are you okay? That sounded…’
Mirage places her mic down and readjusts the cable connecting her to the laptop. She taps the spacebar once, deliberately, listening to the recorded clip with her head tilted.
V1 shuffles in place. Gabriel nods at it, then at V2.
‘If not for you—all of you—I do not think I would be feeling such relief. A truth long overdue. I owe you—‘
‘You owe us nothing.’ V1 takes a step closer to him.
Big mistake. The angel springs forward and draws V1 close to him in an embrace, his wings manifesting to envelop the two of them.
‘Is this the taste of freedom?’
V1 awkwardly pats him on the armoured back. He lets go of it after an uncomfortably long amount of time, then turns to V2.
V2 spreads her arms and lets Gabriel give her a hug as well, though this one is much shorter. She springs away after a while, rubbing her shoulders.
‘I’m good, thanks,’ says Mirage when Gabriel turns to her next. ‘I’m just glad you feel safe enough now.’
‘On that note,’ she continues, ‘you’ve given me an idea… I’m going to need you all to leave, though.’
‘Why?’ V2 says even as she moves towards the door.
‘Can’t trust myself to not break down with you guys here. You’ll hear it in the finished product anyway. Now, git.’ She half-heartedly gestures towards the exit.
Scooping up the sleeping Sobriety, Gabriel exits the room. V1 bows to Mirage before leaving and she chuckles to herself as the door closes behind them.
Sobriety lets out a long hum, like a snore. Gabriel carefully balances the Virtue in his arms. V2 looks up and down the darkened corridor, making sure no one is watching, before faking a cough.
‘What?’ says V1.
‘Still haven’t taken care of the punishment thing. His thing,’ she says, pointing at Gabriel.
‘I am right here,’ he says, somewhat sulkily. Sobriety’s wings flutter against his arms.
V2 turns to face him. ‘Are you going to die?’
‘Not if I can help it.’ He looks past the sleeping Virtue at V1. ‘If I, an archangel, can bleed…’
V1 perks up, connecting the dots. V2 seems lost.
‘Where are you going with this?’
‘It is in the nature of living things to fear death to a certain extent,’ says Gabriel, and V1 likes how he sounds here, authoritative and firm. ‘With few exceptions. So much so, that the threat of death is enough to get them to do anything…’
‘You’re going to threaten someone? Who—‘ V1 jabs her in the side with an elbow. ‘Oh.’
‘When I see you tonight, it will be with my divine light restored,’ says Gabriel.
‘Well, uh.’ V2 looks at a loss for words. ‘Good luck.’
Gabriel inclines his head at both machines and vanishes in a flash of light. The Virtue, left behind, floats in the air for a brief moment before landing soft as a feather on the ground and continuing to snore.
V2 is immediately upon V1.
‘He’s insane,’ she says, grabbing it by the shoulders and shaking it. ‘He’s going to kill his superiors? Him?’
‘He didn’t say he would kill them. Just a little bit of blackmail.’
‘Woah. He’s really changed.’
V2 looks over the railings of the corridor and into the distance, campus grounds illuminated by brilliant noon sun.
‘Good work,’ she says to V1.
V1 crosses its arms and hums to itself, proud.
world's end girlfriend likers wya
drop your shittiest music recommendations below i want to listen to them
also fun fact about me i'm ex christian and a lot of gabriel's monologue in here was drawn from my own interpretations/experiences. i wish i didn't have to leave the faith but in a place where most religious people are capital H Homophobic i want to distance myself from them so take this as wish fulfillment. redefining your faith to include yourself. not dimming your light for the sake of archaic rules. mercy and kindness above all. yknow