"You're already forgiven," Gabe answered simply, making his way slowly across the room using the furniture to help him. "You've been through a lot and I can't blame you for things that slip your mind. It isn't as if she really could have done anything to me." The Archangel smiled, warm and forgiving and a little rueful. "I'm sorry for losing my temper."
He made it to the wall near the door and glanced over his shoulder at the other two, his smile still wry. For a beat he didn't answer, debating how to answer, but finally said, "It's--related to what I said before, when Tanith asked if we had to follow orders. Humanity was raised on free will, Valkyrie. My siblings and I ... we weren't. We thought that disobedience meant damnation."
The Archangel looked away, back at Skul, and met the detective's gaze. "Not all that long ago, while Lucifer and my Master were locked into a wager with very unfair terms in Lucifer's favour, I disobeyed a direct command from my Master. Lucifer found out, and he harassed me with it unceasingly. There was a number of years when I believed so strongly that I'd Fall that I--that I almost did."
Gabriel chewed on his lip, just a bit, a habit he'd picked up at the Institute. He remembered those first few days he was there, the situation he'd been thrown into--where the patients were under threat of turning into the very kind of monsters he had barely escaped becoming. It had been salt in a recent wound. "It wasn't until later," he continued, "after the terms of the wager had been settled, that I found out that it didn't matter. The rules of the wager were such that my Master had always intended for us to choose for ourselves to disobey, so the wager might be won. Free will, for us, had to be earned, so that we ourselves could know for certain that we were worthy of having it. To have someone like Ms Sorrows attempt to steal that from me ..." He shook his head and didn't finish.
It had been unconscionable. It always was, of course, whether the target was angel or human, but it struck at the very heart of the lesson he'd learned. At the very heart of Creation. "Not even Lucifer would dare subvert free will," he said softly. "It's always been one of his limitations, that he can only take those who willingly choose him, and against my Master. Spells to make a person a puppet break that rule."
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He made it to the wall near the door and glanced over his shoulder at the other two, his smile still wry. For a beat he didn't answer, debating how to answer, but finally said, "It's--related to what I said before, when Tanith asked if we had to follow orders. Humanity was raised on free will, Valkyrie. My siblings and I ... we weren't. We thought that disobedience meant damnation."
The Archangel looked away, back at Skul, and met the detective's gaze. "Not all that long ago, while Lucifer and my Master were locked into a wager with very unfair terms in Lucifer's favour, I disobeyed a direct command from my Master. Lucifer found out, and he harassed me with it unceasingly. There was a number of years when I believed so strongly that I'd Fall that I--that I almost did."
Gabriel chewed on his lip, just a bit, a habit he'd picked up at the Institute. He remembered those first few days he was there, the situation he'd been thrown into--where the patients were under threat of turning into the very kind of monsters he had barely escaped becoming. It had been salt in a recent wound. "It wasn't until later," he continued, "after the terms of the wager had been settled, that I found out that it didn't matter. The rules of the wager were such that my Master had always intended for us to choose for ourselves to disobey, so the wager might be won. Free will, for us, had to be earned, so that we ourselves could know for certain that we were worthy of having it. To have someone like Ms Sorrows attempt to steal that from me ..." He shook his head and didn't finish.
It had been unconscionable. It always was, of course, whether the target was angel or human, but it struck at the very heart of the lesson he'd learned. At the very heart of Creation. "Not even Lucifer would dare subvert free will," he said softly. "It's always been one of his limitations, that he can only take those who willingly choose him, and against my Master. Spells to make a person a puppet break that rule."