"Yes." Gabe's voice was a whisper and he didn't stop staring down at his hands as he spoke. It took everything in him not to twist his fingers together. He'd known that Skulduggery had killed a Faceless One. He'd known it not because Skul had told him, but because it was there, in his concerns, in his soul. Implicit, with how he'd returned.
The thing was, Skulduggery's soul saw it as a Faceless One. Until brought to light, recognised, the image was too hazy to recognise. But now it had been brought to light.
And Gabriel had recognised his brother.
Guziel. An angel of protection--a former angel of protection. It was ironic, beyond ironic, appropriate, that it was him that would make break Lord Vile's control over Skulduggery. Skul's worst enemy was himself.
"Back before, just after the Fall, after they were banished from Heaven, Lucifer and the others were at war. He's the most powerful of them alone, but he had to earn his place as their leader in Hell. And there were a lot of my siblings, very powerful siblings, who could have overthrown him. You'd have heard of them. The likes of Baal. Astarte. Belial. The princes of nations."
He closed his eyes, and couldn't help his voice from becoming raw. "They blamed Lucifer for their failure, so they fought for dominance. One day most of the princes were simply ... gone. We didn't feel them die, and Lucifer never bragged about how he'd gotten rid of them. They were just gone, and we never knew how."
Until now, when Gabriel could only wonder whether they had left of their own accord, accidentally broken through, or been thrown out. He suspected--hoped!--the former. Lucifer would surely have boasted and demanded explanations from their Lord if he had known about the other universes.
"I knew it the moment I landed in the city, in the other dimension. They were--twisted--insane beyond anything they'd been before. But it was them. I can't imagine how long they must have been in the Cacophony between worlds before they found one they could enter, to make them feel like--like that."
Gabriel's voice broke and he looked up at Skulduggery, his cheeks wet and raw grief in every line of his body. There was an awareness there too, a light of awareness in his eyes which said he knew exactly why Skulduggery was asking.
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The thing was, Skulduggery's soul saw it as a Faceless One. Until brought to light, recognised, the image was too hazy to recognise. But now it had been brought to light.
And Gabriel had recognised his brother.
Guziel. An angel of protection--a former angel of protection. It was ironic, beyond ironic, appropriate, that it was him that would make break Lord Vile's control over Skulduggery. Skul's worst enemy was himself.
"Back before, just after the Fall, after they were banished from Heaven, Lucifer and the others were at war. He's the most powerful of them alone, but he had to earn his place as their leader in Hell. And there were a lot of my siblings, very powerful siblings, who could have overthrown him. You'd have heard of them. The likes of Baal. Astarte. Belial. The princes of nations."
He closed his eyes, and couldn't help his voice from becoming raw. "They blamed Lucifer for their failure, so they fought for dominance. One day most of the princes were simply ... gone. We didn't feel them die, and Lucifer never bragged about how he'd gotten rid of them. They were just gone, and we never knew how."
Until now, when Gabriel could only wonder whether they had left of their own accord, accidentally broken through, or been thrown out. He suspected--hoped!--the former. Lucifer would surely have boasted and demanded explanations from their Lord if he had known about the other universes.
"I knew it the moment I landed in the city, in the other dimension. They were--twisted--insane beyond anything they'd been before. But it was them. I can't imagine how long they must have been in the Cacophony between worlds before they found one they could enter, to make them feel like--like that."
Gabriel's voice broke and he looked up at Skulduggery, his cheeks wet and raw grief in every line of his body. There was an awareness there too, a light of awareness in his eyes which said he knew exactly why Skulduggery was asking.