Gabriel's human form at Landel's, and his disguise here over the past day, had perhaps worked a little too well. It hid his true identity as an angel so perfectly that even Skulduggery had forgotten how dangerous the rescue was, and how much of a toll it had taken on the Archangel. Putting on a smile and a joke to hide just how much pain there lay beneath it was a survival tactic he'd seen many times before. Archangels, it seemed, weren't so different from humans.

Gabe was hurting, and had been hurting, this entire time. Skulduggery only saw minor snippets of it when Gabe tried to push himself, and had otherwise ignored it. Would the metaphysical residue that vampires apparently left even be bothering Gabriel if he was still at full strength? How much was he silently suffering through for Skulduggery's sake? How much was he sacrificing in his own world, and here, for this?

It wasn't the first time Skulduggery had wondered, and the feeling didn't get any more pleasant with time. In fact, it had only gotten worse since discovering what Valkyrie and the others had been so close to doing themselves.

But he buried it and he moved on, just as he knew Gabriel would, because that was what they did. As innocent as Gabe could be, and as naive as he was about certain things, the weight of his years was evident if you just knew what to look for. And it was evident now. Archangels may not be God's warriors, but they knew strife and hardship, better than most could say. That was likely what brought out so much of Gabe's more innocent nature.

So Skulduggery didn't say anything, but the look that passed unconsciously over his face was a tumultuous mixture of guilt, understanding, and then something darker.

He slowly rounded a corner into a smaller hallway, limiting himself to Gabe's pace now. The main medical ward wasn't too far away from here; just one more turn and it would be the first door they saw. Assuming things hadn't changed in the last year.