Gabriel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
impudentsongbird) wrote2012-08-20 08:38 pm
impudentsongbird) wrote2012-08-20 08:38 pm
Entry tags:
let me be the one you call / if you jump I'll break your fall
1 | into the breach
2 | finding skulduggery
3 | retreat to the tunnels
4 | into the cacophony
5 | sanctuary in the cathedral
6 | reuniting old friends
7 | kenspeckle's new patient
8 | holy water and disinfectant
9 | objecting to china sorrows
10 | the roadtrip
11 | baffling guild
12 | shenanigans at the safehouse
13 | reassuring fletcher
14 | valkyrie's intervention
15 | solomon's revelation
16 | visiting the edgleys
17 | recalled to the sanctuary
18 | guild's confusion
19 | gabe is busted
20 | the psychic tattoist
21 | envisioning the cacophony
22 | angel's first migraine
23 | the morning after
24 | china and solomon
25 | detectives' council of war
26 | china's foolishness
27 | the collector dethroned
28 | finding crux
29 | skulduggery's vileness revealed
30 | sorrows in aftermath
31 | finding equilibrium
32 | the devil's number
33 | at the carnival
34 | meeting authorities
35 | solomon's confession
36 | the stray soul
37 | sanguine unsettled
38 | solomon's choice
39 | a cowboy underground
40 | in scarab's basement
41 | striking midnight
42 | craven contested
43 | emergency services
44 | on your feet
45 | and don't stop moving
46 | easy recognition
47 | a deuce of an evening
48 | engines roaring
49 | compromising judgements
50 | solomon's conflict
51 | axis turning
52 | thinking circular
53 | blasting the past
54 | reviling vile
Book Five: Mortal Coil
55 | sanctuary unsanctified
56 | shudder unravelling
57 | catching an angel
58 | layering dimensions
59 | dead men meeting
60 | when it rains
61 | power plays
62 | sing on gold
63 | the valley of death
64 | grand aspersions
65 | no evil feared
66 | new days rising
67 | angelic neuroses
68 | step-brothers working
69 | the many sorrows of china
70 | peacefully wreathed
71 | tarnished gold
72 | the secret in darkness
73 | magical intent
74 | scars worth keeping
75 | benefits of a beau
76 | grand magery
77 | lighting the darkness
78 | old dogs and new tricks
79 | flouting traditions
80 | drawing lines
81 | brothers and sisters in arms
82 | channelling angels
83 | return of the carnies
84 | the death bringers
85 | meriting agelessness
86 | knick knack, paddy
87 | give a dog a bone
88 | americans propheteering
89 | the right side of honour
90 | tailored shocks
91 | hosting angels
92 | elders anonymous
93 | rediscovered strays
94 | changings and changelings
95 | a state of reflection
96 | adding hope
97 | the devil's truth
98 | dead mens' hospitality
99 | lives half lived
100 | next to godliness
101 | devilish plans
102 | beached angels
103 | lights of revelation
104 | heroes worshipped
105 | new devilries
106 | angels under the yoke
107 | brains frozen
108 | father, mother, daughter
109 | parental guidance recommended
110 | driven round the bend
111 | ongoing training
112 | privileged information
113 | reasonable men
114 | passing the buck
115 | gifting magicks
116 | strengths and weaknesses
117 | immaturity's perks
118 | priests and prophets
119 | scaling evil
120 | blowing covers
121 | marring an afternoon
122 | lie detection
123 | five-dimensional pain
124 | reliving nightmares
125 | taking stock
126 | sampling spices
127 | sleeping prophets lying
128 | rueful returns
129 | dead men reunion
130 | medically-approved hugs
The life of an angel was a contradiction in changes and stability. On one hand, they understood very well the way the cosmos was shaped by events within it. On the other, they stood at one step apart from it—or at least had, for a very long time, up until their Master's recent wager with Lucifer. Changes in the recent past had, even for angels, been fast and turbulent, but there were none that concerned Raphael more than Gabriel's abrupt reserve.
In the aftermath of the wager Gabriel had been almost the only one to know where their Lord was at any given time, a fact which had put the Archangel very firmly under Lucifer's radar. Raphael had joked that Gabriel ought to arm himself with more jokes or worse clothes to drive the fallen angel away; Michael had offered the peace of the Garden Coast. (Rafe thought his idea was better.)
Either way, even though their Master was fair hidden, every angel knew that they had only to ask Gabriel and the Archangel would pass on a message.
Then Gabriel had simply blipped off the radar himself. Poof! Gone! No one had noticed at first, because, well, they weren't exactly in constant connection. It was just when Raphael had taken a whim to seek out his younger brother that he'd noticed it, and let it be, because there was absolutely a reason for it. Gabe did not just off and vanish, except that once with his self-exile, and that didn’t count.
But when Gabriel had come back, he had been strangely agitated and yet close-mouthed. The younger Archangel had vanished off to wherever their Master was hidden for a long chat Raphael was dying to have listened into, and yet couldn't (but only partly because it would have been rude). Now he was here, floating among the stars and examining a black hole with unnerving intensity.
For a time Raphael watched without letting on that he was there, but eventually Gabriel spoke. “I’d rather you came to join me instead of lurking, brother.”
Absolutely refusing to feel chagrined, Raphael let himself manifest with an arm around Gabriel’s shoulders and ruffled the younger angel’s hair. Gabriel threw a fond, longsuffering glance up at him, but there was something in his eyes, something distracted and sharp, which indicated that Gabriel still wasn’t truly present. Raphael only wished he knew where the other Archangel was.
“Just wondering what you’re doin’ all the way out here,” he said teasingly. “There’s a party going on down there on Earth, Gabe.” There was always a party going on down on Earth. “You oughta be down there bobbin’ for apples and switching up party-hats!”
“I can’t,” Gabriel said quietly, with a sort of seriousness Raphael had, for all Gabriel’s literalness, rarely heard from him. So Raphael fell into the same seriousness, lost his playful accent, and spoke directly.
“Why not, brother? You’ve been reserved of late. I conf—I’m worried for you.”
For a very long time Gabriel said nothing and stared into the slow-turning swirl of the black hole. Raphael waited patiently, his arm still companionably across the other Archangel’s shoulders. Eventually Gabriel spoke. “Did you know, Raphael,” he said, “that the universe you see around you here isn’t the only one our Master has created?”
Raphael was so startled that he couldn’t answer. That wasn’t what he was imagining. He hadn’t been sure what he’d been imagining, but that wasn’t it. “I’m not sure what you mean, Gabriel,” he said after a moment. “Our Lord told me the story of Creation not all that long ago, and he never mentioned anything of the kind.”
Gabriel nodded. “He told me that story as well. And then He asked if I really wanted to know details.” He hesitated. “I … admit, I declined. It’s something He said—about faith. I decided I didn’t need to know details. But it’s true, nevertheless. Just beyond this …” The Archangel reached out his hand and touched that gossamer and unbreakable fabric that supported reality. “There are other universes, even with different versions of us.”
“Different versions of us?” Raphael repeated, appalled and uncertain and entirely confused. How could that be possible? What could their Master want with more than one of any of them? What was going on? Where had Gabriel gone in that time he’d vanished? Then something occurred to him and he smiled with relief. “This is a joke, right?”
Gabriel looked up at him and smiled back with such a gentle understanding that for a moment Raphael felt very small indeed. “No, Rafe. I’m not joking. It was a shock to me too. That isn’t the point, though.”
“Isn’t it?” Raphael asked, feeling as dazed as an angel possibly could, especially when he wasn’t even inhabiting an actual physical body.
“No.” Gabriel returned to watching the black hole intently. “I met some people from other realities. One of them is in a kind of Hell, and he very much does not deserve it. I promised him that, if I could, I would save him from it.”
Which did not in the least explain why Gabe was staring at a black hole, let alone a million other questions Raphael would have liked to ask and for which he couldn’t find the words. Finally he found one. “How?”
“First,” Gabriel said with a sort of tranquillity Raphael had heard in his brother’s voice a million times but never after delivering so turbulent a piece of news, “I’m going to jimmy open a crack in the door through this hole.”
Raphael stared at Gabe, and then at the black hole, and then back at Gabe. He opened his mouth to ask whether their Master knew he was planning this and then closed it, because that was a stupid question. He opened it again to query if Gabriel had asked whether he could go around lifting the sheets and then realised that was also a stupid question, because whether he had or not, their Master probably would have told him to do what he felt was best.
It was equally clear that Gabriel very much planned to go through with this, no matter what Raphael said, and really, did Raphael have the right to object? Surely if this carried a risk, their Master would have already forbidden Gabriel from making the attempt?
“I’ll come with,” Raphael said at last, and this time when Gabriel glanced back the younger Archangel’s expression was startled. A moment later that expression shifted into grateful apology.
“I’m sorry, Rafe, but I’m not entirely certain I’ll make it through, and we can hardly leave Michael here alone.” He grinned. “Did you see what he was wearing last festival day on the Garden Coast? He hasn’t moved out of the eighteenth century yet. How would he possibly handle the rest of the world?”
Raphael laughed out loud, warm but startled, and the sound of it rang through space. Gabriel chuckled quietly beside him, and for a few minutes there was just companionable humour that faded into an equally comfortable silence.
Still, Raphael had a lot of questions. How did Gabriel plan to find his friend, let alone the universe he was in? How was he going to get back? What would he do if he met another version of himself? Or, worse, Lucifer? Finally the Archangel just asked, “Have you figured out how to crack open the door?”
“I think so,” Gabriel said, considering the black hole. “Once I figured out what to look for. I wouldn’t have gotten even that far if it weren’t for some things our Master said.”
Which meant that, in some fashion, this expedition was sanctioned by their Master, Raphael translated, and something tense in him relaxed. “Something do to with this drain here, I’ll bet,” he said, falling into his casual accent once more. “Gonna rip out the kitchen sink, li’l brother?”
“Just to see what’s hiding underneath,” Gabriel said with a grin.
“I’ll try’n keep it open for ya,” Raphael promised, and Gabriel sent him a smile which lit up the very space around them with its brilliance.
“Thank you, Rafe,” he said, and straightened. Raphael took his arm away as Gabriel lifted his hands, not exactly stepping back so much as giving Gabriel space. The youngest Archangel didn’t often reveal his power, but it was always a sight to see, a song to hear, when he did.
As it was now. Gabriel’s voice started deep, lifted high, split and wove and became more melodies than one would think a single being could possibly sing at once. The sound of it made Raphael’s heart soar, made him want to fly and laugh. It was so deep, so light, so resonating that it was physical; it touched the slow turn of the black hole and made it, for just the briefest of moments, still. In that moment Gabriel sent a carefully-aimed bolt of energy into the heart of it.
It was the kind of sight Raphael hadn’t seen in thousands of years, a play of physics and metaphysics which he hadn’t thought possible, let alone imagined. There was an eruption in the centre of the black hole, where gravity was condensed; the cascade of energy plumed upward and was dragged back down as quick, a tear in the fabric of the reality not allowed the time to widen or become a danger.
Raphael didn’t even know Gabe had moved until the younger Archangel was gone, he was so busy staring in awe. With a start the Archangel stretched out his senses and just barely managed to catch a glimpse of his brother shooting toward the hole at speeds few angels could have achieved through such a gravity well. Raphael certainly couldn’t have.
How, he suddenly wondered, was he meant to keep that open if he didn’t even have the speed of thought to track Gabriel’s movements through it?
Desperately the Archangel cast about for something to jam in the door, as it were. There was some dark matter nearby and with a thought he fashioned it into a spear and pitched it toward the centre of the black hole. It struck just as Gabriel flitted through the crack nearly wholly collapsed in on itself; the star’s gravity caught it, pulled it in, and plugged the opening like a metaphysical sink.
Slowly Raphael made every part of himself relax. For good or ill, Gabe was gone on this quest of his, and now Raphael should probably go and round up some of their younger siblings to guard the area. Just in case.
into the breach | finding skulduggery | retreat to the tunnels | into the cacophony | sanctuary in the cathedral | reuniting old friends | kenspeckle's new patient | holy water and disinfectant | objecting to china sorrows | the roadtrip | baffling guild | shenanigans at the safehouse | reassuring fletcher | valkyrie's intervention | solomon's revelation | visiting the edgleys | recalled to the sanctuary | guild's confusion | gabe is busted | the psychic tattoist | envisioning the cacophony | angel's first migraine | the morning after | china and solomon | detectives' council of war | china's foolishness | the collector dethroned | finding crux | skulduggery's vileness revealed | sorrows in aftermath | finding equilibrium | the devil's number | at the carnival | meeting authorities | solomon's confession | the stray soul | sanguine unsettled | solomon's choice | a cowboy underground | in scarab's basement | striking midnight | craven contested | emergency services | on your feet | and don't stop moving | easy recognition | a deuce of an evening | engines roaring | compromising judgements | solomon's conflict | axis turning | thinking circular | blasting the past | reviling vile
sanctuary unsanctified | shudder unravelling | catching an angel | layering dimensions | dead men meeting | when it rains | power plays | sing on gold | the valley of death | grand aspersions | no evil feared | new days rising | angelic neuroses | step-brothers working | the many sorrows of china | peacefully wreathed | tarnished gold | the secret in darkness | magical intent | scars worth keeping | benefits of a beau | grand magery | lighting the darkness | old dogs and new tricks | flouting traditions | drawing lines | brothers and sisters in arms | channelling angels | return of the carnies | the death bringers | meriting agelessness | knick knack, paddy | give a dog a bone | americans propheteering | the right side of honour | tailored shocks | hosting angels | elders anonymous | rediscovered strays | changings and changelings | a state of reflection | adding hope | the devil's truth | dead mens' hospitality | lives half lived | next to godliness | devilish plans | beached angels | lights of revelation | heroes worshipped | new devilries | angels under the yoke | brains frozen | father, mother, daughter | parental guidance recommended | driven round the bend | ongoing training | privileged information | reasonable men | passing the buck | gifting magicks | strengths and weaknesses | immaturity's perks | priests and prophets | scaling evil | blowing covers | marring an afternoon | lie detection | five-dimensional pain | reliving nightmares | taking stock | sampling spices | sleeping prophets lying | rueful returns | dead men reunion | medically-approved hugs
no subject
Because Sanguine's 'offer' was utterly inconceivable. Not enough to even begin to enter Anton's mind as any kind of possibility. Anton didn't compromise his rules for his friends; the Texan was a fool if he thought Anton would compromise them for his enemies. "We need to bar as many of the windows and doors as possible." He was already surveying their surroundings, already regretting how heavily he had relied upon the wards as protection. No part of the hotel was truly defensible.
"Oh. By the way." Anton turned abruptly to Sanguine and without any warning at all let his fist fly at the cowboy's head. He didn't hold back, and the blow hit hard. "You are no longer a guest of this establishment."
~~~
Contrary to Valkyrie's sudden energy, Solomon went very still. The girl's words rang in his head. You didn't see Vile?
In Skulduggery Pleasant's soul? Lord Vile?
"Ah, Solomon."
High Priest Tenebrae's voice made Solomon turn, and immediately he wished he hadn't. Gripping his cane, the Necromancer bowed to his superior and then nodded to the man with him. It was far less of a gesture of respect than anyone else would have offered. He knew it. Tenebrae knew it, judging by the way his eyes narrowed.
No doubt Lord Vile did as well, but he never showed that he cared. Tenebrae nodded to the man. "Thank you, Lord Vile. You may go."
Without a word the armoured sorcerer turned and left, and Solomon watched him vanish in a gust of shadows, exhaling slowly. "You're being rude, Solomon," Tenebrae said in a fatherly tone, also gazing in the same direction.
"Forgive me, High Priest," Solomon murmured, appropriately contrite. Mostly.
"You still don't believe in him, do you?"
"I believe in his power."
But not as their saviour, he added silently. Lord Vile was using them as surely as they would use him. The difference was that he was too powerful to control. Sooner or later, probably sooner, he would decide they had nothing more to offer him and then only he knew what he'd do.
Tenebrae only nodded as if in thought, but then clapped a hand to Solomon's shoulder. "Have faith, Solomon. You'll see soon enough."
Someone was laughing. It took a moment for Solomon to realise that it was him. Even then, he didn't try to stop it. It wasn't a hysterical laugh, though there was an element of that. Mostly it was just ironic. Deeply amused, but bitterly ironic. All those little hints, all at once, had come together in his mind. The way Vile had never spoken. The way Vile had never shown his face. The way Vile had cared nothing for the tenets of their faith. His power.
The way Pleasant had known more about the Death Bringer than any non-Necromancer should have.
Skulduggery Pleasant was Lord Vile.
"Solomon."
... Ah. Solomon paused in the middle of perusing the wares on the market stand. It was a sunny day; most people wouldn't expect a Necromancer to be out on such a day. They thrived too much in shadow. Likewise, they wouldn't expect a Necromancer in such a crowd. Necromancers were solitary sorcerers of darkness, after all. And they were right. Necromancers were such people.
Solomon wasn't an ordinary Necromancer. Sunlight meant shadows. A lot of people cast a lot of shadows. That meant he had power where no one would expect any.
Except one man. Except this man.
Casually Solomon gave a tug on his sleeves, as if to straighten his coat, before turning properly to his companion with a smile and carefully modulated surprise in his tone. "Skulduggery. Fancy meeting you here. What should I get, do you think?" He waved a hand toward the cheeses on display. "The soft or the hard?"
Ordinarily, he would have expected Skulduggery to make some snide comment about the Temple being a monastic institution and shouldn't its clerics be barred from eating such rich foods? (It had been a long time since Solomon had bothered to adhere to such laws, and all because of the man before him.)
This wasn't ordinary, Solomon realised a split-second before Skulduggery's fist collided with his face. The Necromancer was flung back into the stall with a rattle of its timbre beams, and despite his surprise he managed to catch himself before falling completely. The stall-owner squawked and then abruptly fell silent, and Solomon couldn't help the grim smile. Another victim of Skulduggery Pleasant's Look. A little unsteadily Solomon pushed himself upright again, feeling his chin and the blood that trickled from his split lip.
"Stay away from my daughter." Skulduggery's voice was emotionless and it made the Necromancer's heart skip a beat. Despite himself Solomon laughed as he straightened, laughed something light that was almost amused but, underlying, was bitter. Bitter in a way only Skulduggery would notice. Even still, the Necromancer lifted his head and met Skulduggery's gaze squarely, brushing off his clothes.
"I've no idea what you mean," he lied smoothly, and knew it was useless even as he said it. Skulduggery's face had no expression. There was no trace of that genuine twinkle of amusement Solomon could still get from him, on occasion, when he got in a particularly good barb--even now, after everything. None of that now.
Skulduggery took a step forward, a casual step that was intimidating with its very grace and effortlessness. Solomon stood his ground, his back straight and grip on his cane loose. The stall-owner, and everyone around them, had no such courage. "You've been showing her things," Skulduggery said levelly. "You've been talking to her. Trying to get her to join your Temple."
There was no point in obfuscating. "She's got talent."
"My daughter," Skulduggery said with that quiet tone that heralded unprecedented disaster, "is not and never will be a Necromancer."
Solomon smiled, and it was tighter than he meant it to be. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you didn't like Necromancers. I thought we were friends, Skulduggery."
"We're not friends, Solomon."
It wasn't that it was unexpected, really. They hadn't really been friends for a long time, even though neither of them had spoken of it. It was just that there wasn't even a hint of sadness or regret in the Elemental's tone. No evidence at all that Skulduggery recognised what he'd done to Solomon, how'd he'd made things so much harder than they could have been. No sign that Skulduggery wished things could have been different.
Solomon's smile froze on his face and then fell off it, his expression turned flat and cold. "And if I should approach your daughter again?"
"I'll kill you." Stated simply. Unequivocally. As if they had never been friends at all.
"I see," Solomon said evenly. "And now?"
"And now you walk away relatively unhurt, Wreath. For old time's sake."
For several long moments they stood there and stared at each other, neither moving, each with a nimbus of tension and readiness about them. The world around them didn't exist. Nothing existed but this moment.
The first evidence. The first sign that Skulduggery had once cared at all, and it hurt. It reached into Solomon's chest and squeezed his heart tighter than he'd believed was possible any more. For a moment, he teetered on the brink of refusing. Teetered toward maintaining his pursuit of Skulduggery's daughter, in petty vengeance for everything the older sorcerer had wrought in him and then abandoned to him.
Except that Skulduggery had shown the sign. He had given some minor clue. Just once, at this, the end.
"For old time's sake," Solomon echoed softly. He inclined his head, spreading his hands still with his cane planted firmly on the ground in a mocking bow. "Until next time, Lord Pleasant."
Then Solomon Wreath strode away, his expression impassive and hand tight around the head of his cane, seeping with the icy, comforting chill of the only thing that hadn't abandoned him.
Abruptly Solomon's laughter died and he looked at Valkyrie. "Well," he said, and his voice was even because he could not process anything enough for it to be anything else. "I suppose redemption is possible after all. That, or Saint Gabriel is keeping his power in check." Or perhaps it was a bit of both. No wonder Pleasant had given up his family name. No wonder Saint Gabriel was so concerned for his welfare. Did the Archangel truly believe Pleasant, Lord Vile, could be saved?
And if so, did it change what Solomon thought of himself?