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Gabriel (fortitudo_dei) wrote in forgotten_gods,
@ 2009-05-11 18:13:00

Entry tags:

gabriel, michael, raphael

Who: Gabriel, Raphael and Michael (Post order)
Where: Central Park
When: Late Monday afternoon
What: A meeting of the brothers
Warnings: TBD

Gabriel was agitated; a ball of barely contained energy with a frown carved into a face that was usually so serenely smiling. Quick steps brought the archangel through the park to the determined meeting place, his cell phone held in one hand as he continued to check the small screen. His energy radiated, his presence easily known, as if he wanted to be found. As he reached the fountain he began to pace as his gaze shifted from the device to the area around him, and back down.

The rage was unlike him; merciful, usually. Serene and calm. But he could not help the way his blood boiled now. Not since he had felt the arrival of his brother in the city again. He had tried to run it off this morning, but to no avail. Snappy at lunch with his coworkers, he had spent most of his afternoon apologizing for his behavior. Now all he could do was wait.. wait, and try to wear a groove into the sidewalk with his pacing.

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healing_hand
2009-05-11 05:25 pm UTC (link)

Gabriel's phone call had been short and to the point. At the end of his shift, Raphael had gathered his belongings and hurried out of the hospital. The traffic between Bellevue Hospital and Central Park was as chaotic as expected at rush hour, and irritated as he already was, it wasn't helping. This wasn't like him. Usually, Raphael was the peaceful, starkly composed individual. Yet today he found himself more than once almost reaching for the car horn, impatient with the hopeless traffic. If he could just fly there, things would be so much easier.

So it was a rather frustrated angel that locked the car by the entrance of Central Park and made his way toward the meeting point. He knew the park well, but even if he didn't, directions would not be needed. Gabriel's position was quite clear, and Raphael had no doubt that his own angelic aura was quite louder than normal.

So it was Michael. He had been too swamped with work to bother with the presence until Gabriel had called, and then it had all clicked.

"Brother," he greeted simply upon arrival, a hand reaching for the other angel's shoulder. The tone was calm, despite the fiery anger that coursed through his veins. No more words were needed, they knew what they were about there.

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brokensword
2009-05-11 05:47 pm UTC (link)

Michael couldn't help but be anxious about this meeting.
Gabriel hadn't said much, but he could tell something was amiss and the sense of foreboding inside him only seemed to grow as approached. They weren't making any attempt to hide were they? They might've well have been glowing for how brightly their auras were shining. He was almost shocked people weren't falling to their knees as they walked past the two of them.

He tossed his cigarette into a bin as he strolled past it, figuring it might be better to show up looking half-way decent at least, considering how long he'd been missing-in-action.
He didn't really need to think about where he was walking. The two Archangels were in the same place now, and it basically a spotlight leading his way. With a sigh and rounded the corner to where they were waiting and found himself face-to-face with his brothers.

"Gabriel. Raphael," Michael lifted his hand in greeting and smiled faintly, glad to see the familiar faces of his family regardless of how unhappy the two of them appeared, "How are you?"

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fortitudo_dei
2009-05-11 05:54 pm UTC (link)

He gripped Raphael’s wrist as the other angel took his shoulder, meeting eyes with him for a moment before frowning again deeply. “He’s here.” The archangel turned to face the direction their brother would be coming from, tipping his head a little to crack his neck. He slowed his breathing, to channel away some of the irritation and keep himself from doing something he’d regret later when Michael came into sight.

His arms crossed over his chest then, and his eyes focused upon the archangel when he finally appeared. The wave was met with the arch of a blond eyebrow, and the smile with a stern look. He was displeased, to say the very least.

“Michael.” He shook his head a little, disapprovingly. It was quite clear how he was. Oh, where to start..

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healing_hand
2009-05-11 06:06 pm UTC (link)

The pose of the Angel of Medicine wasn't quite as aggressive, as he moved to stand at Gabriel's side. While his brother crossed arms in front of his chest, Raphael linked hands behind his back. His pale eyes were cautiously neutral, but the set of his jaw and position of shoulders denoted coldness.

He was as capable of war as of healing those injured, and his notion of righteousness had not changed from the beginning. This went beyond displeasing, it was disgusting, no matter how the angel schooled his face to a blankness devoid of emotion - the face of the healer, in the face of an injury that will take every ounce of his skill, when all his mind is focused on the subject.

Gabriel was the Herald, he would let him speak.

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brokensword
2009-05-11 06:33 pm UTC (link)

Michael stopped, facing the two Archangels. Not quite the welcome he'd hoped for, but it was probably one he deserved. Any man in his position would've quailed under the glare of his brothers, usually so calm and docile now blazing in front of him. But that wasn't what Michael was like. He stood tall and tipped his head slightly, lifting his hand to brush his hair from his eyes.

"Something bothering you brother?" He asked carefully, the Angel of combat unable to stop himself from instinctively taking a slightly aggressive stance. One hand in his pocket, the other free to fly under his jacket where his gun was hidden. Gun, not sword. You couldn't carry a sword around nowadays, not without attracting the very worst kind of attention.
It still didn't feel right, not having the comforting weight of the silver steel at his side.
Regardless of how he was holding himself, however, he knew, and they knew, that he wouldn't hurt them. Not ever.

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fortitudo_dei
2009-05-11 06:54 pm UTC (link)

His eyes squinted, beyond the anger, there was pain, not so easily masked despite how he tried. His head shook again and he exhaled a sigh. He wanted to rage, to violently tear the sin from his brother’s body. He wanted to judge and damn and condemn and yet, he is more disappointed than anything.

“What.. happened, brother? Why do you turn from The Light? We could feel your taint the second you stepped into the city..” The swirling emotion he felt now confronted with their corrupted brother thick on every word.

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healing_hand
2009-05-12 03:29 am UTC (link)

That taint revolted him, churned in his stomach. He had been sent to Earth to heal its inhabitants, to walk among men and see that they were righteous and kind, deserving of the Lord's grace. Raphael had seen the many faces of Man in his wanderings, and knew of their shades of gray. But that was for mortals, not for angels.

He spoke up, then. "There is no gray area, Michael. Not for us. Black and white only." His voice was not judgmental, yet it was so devoid of emotion it might as well be pronouncing a sentence.

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brokensword
2009-05-12 06:07 am UTC (link)

Michael hadn't anticipated it. Gabriel's words slid through whatever armour Michael had been preparing around himself, found his weakness instantly and he faltered. He looked between the two of them, no longer standing as tall as he had been seconds before.
"What?" He said incredulously, hurt evident in his voice, "You- How can you say that? I'm.. still me? I'm not turning away! How can you judge me so harshly?"

He took a deep breath. He couldn't accept what they were saying. What were they saying? Were they renouncing him?
"I did it for them," He said, searching to explain himself and the tarnish upon him. He didn't need to point. He was referring to humans, glancing sideways at a couple walking slowly across the grass together, no more aware of the Angels standing within meters than they were of the millions of insects moving around them at that very second.

"I did it for them. I had to. Surely you can see? How can you help sinners without understanding them?" He implored, perhaps a little irrationally, but he really hadn't prepared at all for this. He'd entertained the thoughts that they'd welcome his return, not rue it.

"It's not the same as it was before Gabriel, Raphael. We can't help people just by being what we are. How can they find help in something they do not even believe in anymore? I did it to help them. They see something in me they can relate to. They let me in. Can you not see my reasoning? I'm not turning from the Light! I would never-"

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fortitudo_dei
2009-05-12 10:29 am UTC (link)

Gabriel’s eyes softened as he gazed upon Michael; He was, after all, the angel of mercy, and how could he claim that if he did not have some when it came to his own brother? He was not renouncing him – that wasn’t in his power, nor was it for him to decide; that much was up to God.

Still, his head shook as Michael stammered on about trying to justify taking on the sin that he tried to combat.. that they all strived to combat. It wasn’t true, those words, clearly, as neither of the archangels he faced now had one lick of sin upon them. They were as pure as the day God had given life to them, and still managed to tend the flock.

“You can understand them without becoming one, dear brother. They don’t need to believe in us for us to effect their lives; the rest of us do it all the time. I work at a shelter for the homeless, Raphael here is a doctor, even Samael works with the Church.. Michael there are a million ways you can help them without.. resorting to.. to this..”

He could not keep the pained expression from his face, or the worry, the hurt from his words. The anger was there too, but Gabriel’s baser nature was taking over, and the gentle Strength had never though he would have to have this talk.. Not with Michael, of all of them.

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healing_hand
2009-05-12 12:01 pm UTC (link)

Raphael's expression continued neutral. It was all he could do not to glare at the angel opposite him - they strove so hard to help His children, and Michael resorted to excuses for what he should never do. There were few things that saddened the Archangel of Medicine more than those who purposefully injured their own selves for false reasons.

"The Lamb consorted with the darkest of souls without becoming one Himself. Courting your Fall because of mankind will never help them reach the Realm, Brother." Healing sometimes involved going through the muck to reach across to purity, and Raphael intended to see this wound purged. The taint in Michael physically pained him, the healer wanting to lay hands on it and draw it out. "We were sent to Earth to guide them and cherish them for what they are, not to judge nor to indulge in their actions. That is no true love of the flock."

Stark and to the point, ever the analyst. "Going elbows deep into sin to pull the mortals out does not allow us to sin." Michael, always the first to combat Satan, to abhor him, should never permit himself to accept sin to become part of him.

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brokensword
2009-05-12 05:23 pm UTC (link)

"I'm not falling!" Michael said sharply, a nerve well and truly hit by that and though his words were strong, he wasn't sure he believed them. That thought terrified him. He'd tasted what it was like to fall, but only for a moment. That moment had stayed with him. Unable to contain himself, he continued, his voice raised slightly, eyes blazing.

"What good does it do any more for you to work those ways?" He demanded, "you help those who are already searching for your help. You help those who arrive at your door to purge themselves and heal from their sins, but what good does it do? For every one you may heal ten more are lost. Don't you feel it brothers? The slow trickle of faith lost? It can't just be me!"

He was shaking slightly. He'd walked America, journeyed to cities, towns and wilderness. All he had found were traces of the new Gods and their mindless followers.
"They're finding new Gods to worship Brothers. New ways to erase their guilt and feel like they're not sinning and that they're purged," he practically spat the last few words, "what will you do when the lost sheep stop appearing at your doors? They won't seek help forever when the evils that are seeking them feel just as good and arrive to find them instead. What will you do then when they are all so deep in their own sins they can't even see you? Will you dive into the darkness to find them then brothers? Like I have? Would you be strong enough to bear it when no one has faith anymore?"

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healing_hand
2009-05-12 07:17 pm UTC (link)

[ooc: Changing posting order.]

"No matter where their faith heads to, we are here for them. They are all His children, Michael. Every last one of them. Some will be lost along the way, some do not follow His path, yet we of all beings remain His. In worshiping false gods the flock finds only damnation, yet we are here waiting with open arms. There is no one too far gone to welcome Him to their heart, and you know it." This was getting far too exasperating, but he stood firm - such was his way. Raphael would not raise his voice, nor did it gain any edge of the frustration and rage he was burning with. Still cold, still emotionless.

"Speak not those words, Brother. Judge not what my Brother and I have done, for in our own ways we have fought sin and damnation as strongly as you do." He would not tell of his own actions, the three gathered were well aware of those. "We are strong. Gabriel is His Strength, Michael." The tone was as close as Raphael would come to an exclamation, with the slightest emphasis on the warrior angel's name. "His Faith burns brightly in all of us. We are His warriors, His shining disciples. We do not falter, we do not hesitate. No matter what mortals do, it is our job to be there for them."

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fortitudo_dei
2009-05-12 07:29 pm UTC (link)

“And your words are no excuse for your behavior.” He paced away, his arms tensing from where they are still folded at his chest. “God does not need the flock, they need Him. That’s how it works. It is their own peril for them to turn their backs upon Him but they can be forgiven. It is never too late. But for us.. we get only one chance. Who are you to doubt the Father? You! Of all of us, Michael!”

He motioned toward the archangel who stood defending himself in front of his Brothers.

“You are the Sword! Have you so quickly forgotten your place? I know you love them, we all do, but the truth is, it is our job to protect them, to guard them, because we are better than them. Because He made us better than them.”

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brokensword
2009-05-13 05:58 pm UTC (link)

"I don't and will never doubt our Lord," Michael said without hesitation or tremble in his voice. He knew, without a doubt, that he couldn't turn. He couldn't imagine it. What could possibly drive him to giving into Satan, or becoming one of the fallen? He couldn't stop loving humans, no matter how, occasionally, he wished he could, "It's not the Almighty I doubt. It's... I.. have some doubt in mankind."
He sighed and ran his fingers though his hair, "I wish to protect them. To help them! I love them, even if they seem ready to abandon me and our Lord..."

He spread his arms slightly, "I haven't forgotten who I am. I am Michael, the Archangel, the Sword, Commander of the Army of God. I will never stop being who I am. I will never turn from God, nor will I turn from you brothers, even if you wish to turn for me. I will fight for you and them. I will always lift my sword when I am needed."

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healing_hand
2009-05-13 07:00 pm UTC (link)

Light brown eyes showed sadness. Didn't he see? Was Michael that blind, their beloved Brother?

"When you doubt them, you doubt Him. The Most High gave His children free will, they act of their own volition because he so permits. Besides, if you so claim to love the mortals, why the despise? Why call them sinners in such a despicable tone as you have done in your journal?" If there was any emotion woven in Raphael's voice, it was disappointment. The words were there, but the reasoning behind them was all wrong. "If you did not doubt Him, we would never have this conversation."

"You stop being who you are the moment you let yourself be tainted and do not fight it, Brother. You need to fight for yourself as well, for what you were in the beginning. You need to be loyal to your nature, not act like this."

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