Heaven On Their Minds von Indy (As fledgelings, Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer have a heart-to-heart) ================================================================================ Kapitel 1: Heaven On Their Minds -------------------------------- “You broke it.“ “Yes.” Gabriel looked up to his oh-so-picture-perfect brother through eyes so wide and innocent, Michael would have fallen for it - had he not known him for the little scumbag that he was. “You broke Pangaea.” “Oh for dad’s sake, Mikey, it’s not like you have never broken one of daddy’s things.” Michael blinked before replying. “No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t. And we’re not talking about a vase, Gabriel, we’re talking about the land, father needed a whole day to create; the only thing separating the waters!” Gabriel pouted and crossed his arms. A gesture that was on its best way to become a habit for the young archangel. “Lucy broke the light,” the firebrand with wings squealed on his other brother like he was talking about the weather. Which, by the way, was a mess because – well, somebody broke the light (and therefore the day) not so long ago. Anyway, Michael took the bait. He instantly seemed to forget about Gabriel’s little slip-up and focused on the older one of the two trouble-makers, like he always did. “He did what? How is that even possible?” “Gotta ask Luke,” Gabriel shrugged, arms still crossed and wings expanding a little in ease where they had been drawn together a little, fearing the reproval of his older brother. Not that he’d ever admit that. Or that he wasn’t used to Michael scolding him (which, to be fair, Gabriel usually had coming). The oldest and most well-behaved of “Chuck’s angels” sighed. “Where is he, anyway? I haven’t seen Lucifer around since… Must be days.” “Hard to tell without light, isn’t it?” Gabriel was a little too cheerful whenever he was talking about the parts of creation they broke. Michael’s response was merely a growl. _ “Lucifer, I know you’re in there. Come out,” Michael sighed – he’d keep on doing that quite a lot, if Gabriel and Lucifer didn’t learn to behave themselves. He was standing in front of one of the large heaps of bdellium at the shore of Pishon, one of the rivers that separated Eden from the rest of heaven. Lucifer usually hid here, when he had smashed something. It wasn’t like he did it on purpose, Michael knew. Little Luke was one, if not the most compassionate angel he’d ever known. But sometimes it felt like that poor little fledgling was dogged by bad luck. Only recently, he had tried to save one of their father’s creations – a diplodocus – from drowning. He wanted to help his father so bad, if there was trouble anywhere, he’d step in the breach without second thought. Thing is, when he pulled that poor dinosaur out of the ocean, he overdid it a little in his youthful euphoria. Since creation was still down to one creature only per species, in whose image the others would be modeled, the result was a rather shapeless pile of “dinosaur” with a veeeery long neck. Lucifer had definitely tugged too hard on the proto-diplodocus’ head in order to save its life. Well, Michael had sighed, maybe their father wouldn’t notice between all the stuff that was yet to be done, and the future specimen of the diplodocus would just happen to have a ridiculously lengthy throat. Although he highly doubted that something as absurd as that was to make it into the selection of beings to be reproduced and then ultimately released into the world. Then again, there was this so-called “platypus” that dad had let Gabriel build with the box of spare parts he hadn’t needed anymore. So there were far more crackbrained things out there, at the moment. Anyway, after that incident – even before Michael had found out (since all Gabriel did, was practice knotting when he saw the new version of the dinosaur) – Lucifer had buried himself in a heap of onyx from where the purl of the river drowned out his sobs while he tried to cry himself to oblivion. He loved his father so much, causing him trouble – or even worse, failing him like this – was the worst thing that could happen to that little blonde angel with the loyal eyes. So it hadn’t been hard to find Lucifer this time. Plus, today he was weeping so loudly, even Pishon couldn’t drown him out. “Lucifer, please come out and tell us what happened.” “Yeah, spill it, I’m curious how in heaven you managed to break something immaterial!” Michael kicked Gabriel into the hollow of his knee to shut him up. It worked. Two of his three golden wings on the right side fluttered hectically to keep him balanced. “Look,” the oldest negotiated. “If you tell us what happened, we can try to fix this before father notices. Amen?” When he heard the sniffling and the shuffling of stones, Michael knew he had won. Two red, puffy eyes peeked out of the bdellium. But something was… odd. “You’re… glowing,” Michael stated, clearly astonished as his younger brother stumbled into the open. Even Gabriel seemed to fumble for words. And he usually wasn’t aversive to using the very first ones that sprang to mind. When their dad had made little gold-wing here come to life, he had unmistakeably forgotten the brain-to-mouth-filter and therefore given him twice the appreciation for sweets any living being could possibly have. “Luke, man, you’re a torch,” said sweet-tooth finally brought out. “I broke the light,” Lucifer confessed meekly, keeping his head down. “We had no idea,” Gabriel deadpanned. “You mean this isn’t a super-long darkroom party? I was waiting for dad singing about how he wears his sunglasses at n-” “What Gabriel is trying to convey,” Michael interjected before that little lunkhead made things even worse. Although… Usually, Lucifer could handle a little squabbling with the smallest of the lot. It’s not like Michael didn’t know where it was all coming from, even if Gabriel shot his mouth off much more comfortably. “…is that we could imagine you might have damaged the day. Since it’s dark and you’re…” “Glowing like a Christmas tree,” Lucifer finished the sentence for him, when Michael had trailed off with a you-know-what-I-mean-motion of his right hand that was accompanied with a rather awkward wave of his top-right wing. For a proud and self-proclaimed adult angel, Mikey-boy had a lot of trouble keeping his limbs under control. A small smile crept on Lucifer’s lips. Michael was always trying to act all grown-up, just so he could take care of him when their father was ‘out’, while Michael himself was nothing more than a geeky, winged teenager who had to grow up far too fast. “Like a what?” “Oh, for dad’s sake,” Gabriel groaned in frustration before Lucifer could answer. “Lucy. Stop trying to make Christmas happen. It’s not going to happen!” Michael was evidently confused. “What is Christmas?” “It’s nothing,” Gabriel responded, quirking an eyebrow at Lucifer. “Luke’s failing to be a trendsetter. He thinks he can get dad’s new creations to worship our dear father like he does.” “Um, that sounds… nice,” Michael muttered. “Nuts,” Gabriel corrected him. “You mean ‘nuts’.” “Stop it!” Before Lucifer had a chance to chime in, the oldest used his big-brother-voice to end the conversation. That tone was pretty effective, to be honest. Lucifer could tell that he found the whole deal with his Christmas as stupid as Gabriel; and usually Michael would just say so. But not today. Not now, when his little brother had cried his eyes out all day – er… night (which was the whole problem, come to think of it). Michael, normally acting like a jerk around everyone, outright loved his brothers. Even if he’d never admit it, he’d do pretty much everything to keep them safe or to comfort Lucifer in situations like these. Because no matter how hard Lucifer tried, he always ended up clashing with his father’s expectations. And every time, Michael was there for him. One day, Lucifer decided, he’d make it all up to him. Be there for Mike. Help him out. Luke’s turn would come in time. After all, they were family and nothing could ever change that. “Anyway, you’re glowing. Would you care to elaborate on that?,” Michael reminded him in a voice that made it clear, he wouldn’t let Lucifer pretend he was okay and just forget about the whole thing. With a deep sigh, Lucifer began his confession: “So, day and night are supposed to alternate, right?” His brothers nodded. “And I noticed a couple of days ago that the light was fading faster and faster, the days getting shorter every time. I figured, either father must do something against it, or soon it would be all night. And since he was really busy – you know, he still has trouble placing everything in the land and choosing animals to reproduce. He even said, he needed some kind of island, if he really wanted to keep all those kinky critters Gabriel had made.” “Hey!!” The little blonde narrowed his eyes in indignation. “Just stating the facts. So, like I said, he was busy, so I figured, if I could handle it for him, that’d be… adjuvant.” “So you broke the light completely and made it all night,” Michael deadpanned and crossed his arms. “Not on purpose!” Lucifer pulled the best bitchface he could and stuck his tongue out at Michael, unconsciously mimicking his older brother’s gesture, crossing his arms, too. “I tried to keep the light there.” He pointed downwards at the earth. “Instead I accidentally… well, kept it here.” And with that he tugged a little at his wings which were now glowing like he was the day himself, not the wrecking ball of all that was good and holy. “So you were concerned about the days getting shorter,” Michael demanded. He was greeted with a short but sincere nod. Gabriel, that little dickhead, cackled like Michael’s strange dodo, or whatever that thing was called. “You do know that they’re supposed to do that, right?” “What? Why in heaven should they?” This time, Gabriel chimed in, though it was conceivably hard for him to talk through his own giggles. “It’s called seasons. Dad thought it would be a hit. Dunno why, I guess the guy works in mysterious ways or something.” “During winter, days are shorter and nights longer; vice versa in summer,” Michael explained. “So what’s this now?,” Gabriel tittered on. “Superwinter? Loseter?” If looks could kill, Lucifer would have disintegrated his little brother by now. “We fix it and father doesn’t have to know,” Michael suggested since he didn’t want their father to scold Lucifer for meddling with things he wasn’t supposed to touch, when all he got afterwards was a devasted little Luke. Looking at his brother’s reddened eyes told him that the thought of failing their father alone – again! – had been a more than sufficient punishment. Plus, he may have had a soft-spot for those two little, blonde dorks. “Sure we’ll just… save the day,” Gabriel proclaimed and then laughed some more about his stupid puns. Which were not that funny, really. “Too late,” Lucifer snuffled. “Adam already saw me, angelic candle and all.” “Who?,” Michael asked confused. “Adam. The human. The new guy up here in Eden,” Lucifer helped. “He reminds me a bit of you, actually.” “Does he now?” Gabriel lifted an eyebrow. “I thought he had more of a run-of-the-mill face. Someone you get to know and then forget about for years.” “Not if he reminds you of your brother.” “Especially if he reminds you of your brother.” “What kind of idiot would forget about his brother?!” “Anyway, can we get back to the topic on hand? This Adam saw you glow,” Michael reminded his siblings. “Don’t worry. As far as I know, we all look like an accumulation of light to the other creations.” “As long as they’re in heaven, we don’t,” Lucifer sighed in defeat. “And not from this distance, anyway. Not across all of Havilah.” “Oh,” Michael mouthed and Gabriel said at the same time. An uncomfortable silence filled the air before Michael began to speak again. “I have an idea.” He sat down at the edge of Heaven, on a bridge over Pishon that led from Havilah to nowhere and from where they could watch earth below – the water and the land (now broken into pieces, thanks to Gabriel!) – immersed in a neverending night. Michael motioned his brothers to join him and as they sat, Lucifer ignited the darkness like the light, their father had created for the night. (It had a name, but – as Gabriel put it – it sounded a lot like a deranged animal, especially when said twice. So that word was hopefully to be changed later and there was no reason to bother with learning it, yet.) Michael contemplated Lucifer, whom he had fostered and nurtured from a fledgeling to the walking, talking (and most notably luminescent) disaster he was now. He figured that all the creations their father had placed on earth yet, could marvel at the light he was emitting. Even from down there, if they’d just turn up their heads. “We can fix this,” Michael appeased silently, not looking at his beloved siblings anymore but into the peaceful night before and beneath them. “We can restore day. As far as I can tell, there is nothing that can make you stop shining, though.” “So dad will know,” Lucifer concluded, muttering under his breath and looking down at his hands, folded neatly in his lab, like he was praying. “Not necessarily,” Gabriel suddenly said. His voice was sincere for once. “I think I’ve got it! They,” he gestured carelessly down to earth, “have probably already seen you, yes. But!” He paused for dramatic effect and lifted a finger conspiratorially. “I could try and convince dad to make more night-lights. Smaller ones than that moo-thingy. They probably won’t be quite as bright as you are, brother dear, but still those dimwitted creatures down there will probably confuse them with you and everyone – including that Adam bloke – will think what they saw was just the first one of the new night-lights. How’s that sound?” Lucifer blinked. Gabriel was a pain in the ass and constantly heavenlarking around, but he came up with the best ideas of the three of them. “You’d really do that for me?” “If you shut up about the whole con to dad. Amen?,” Gabriel smirked, but his eyes smiled candidly while he waited for Lucifer to agree to his deal. “Amen,” the angel in the middle whispered. “Thanks.” And even though Gabriel wasn’t looking at him but down to earth without ostentation, Lucifer’s heart warmed a little bit when his younger brother awkwardly patted his arm. They sat there for what felt like for days (but since day was yet to be repaired who could really tell?) when Gabriel began to speak again: “I think I’ll call them stars. The night-lights. And since you’re probably the brightest and the last one, people will still see in the morning, they can call you ‘Morning Star’.” Although Gabriel was joking around, Lucifer said plainly “I’d like that” and he meant it. Gabriel cleared is throat, obviously trying to change the subject. “So, Michael, what do you think?” “I can’t help but think about what our father said,” the oldest decided to change the subject even further than Gabriel had intended to. “About not being able to keep the creations the three of us made. Because they didn’t fit in. And that he’d need another land, so they’re separated from the other creatures.” “Yupp,” Gabriel nodded, absentminded. “Lucy really exaggerated a bit. Those crocodile-things sure look nasty as hell. And certainly dumb!” “Says the angel who created a thing called ‘platypus’,” Lucifer hissed. “Hey, it’s cool, okay? It pretends to be a duck, but it’s not. It’s like the secret agent of animals.” “You can’t just take a mammal and make it lay eggs! That’s not how it works!” “Well, at least it’s not guzzling stones to stay under water!” Michael rolled his eyes. And here they go again. Fratricide is bad, he told himself. Fratricide is bad. Fratricide is- “Tell him his fucking platypus is too douchey to make it into the final selection of creations, Michael!” “If father doesn’t create another land, none of our creations will make it to reproduction,” Michael reminded them. Speaking of which… He squinted into the darkness. “Is that… an island?” Gabriel’s grin was a little too wide for this to be a mere coincidence. “I call it ‘Australia’.” “You broke Pangaea on purpose, didn’t you?” “Maybe?” “Gabriel,” Michael launched one of his infamous curtain lectures. “You can’t just do whatever you want to our father’s creations. Especially not-” “Oh come on, Mikey,” Gabriel protested. “It’s not that bad! There’s still the same amount of land down there, just… more evenly distributed.” “Evenly?” Michael snorted. “And what do you call that?” He pointed towards a rather huge plane that divided the water. “Oh that? That’s Eurasia. Nevermind. We can probably still split that in two.” If he hadn’t forgotten about it tomorrow, that is. Honestly, he couldn’t care less. It wasn’t about even distribution. It was about their own damn little island – and there it was. Australia was perfect. And if they couldn’t have that, he’d be sure to at least coax out something smaller for the three of them. Maybe that little thing next to Europe. They’d call it “Great Island” since it sure would be great with all its platypuses and crocodiles and kangaroos and all the fun stuff they had yet to create. But there was one thing nagging on his mind that made all the nice plans taste sour… “Please don’t tell dad,” he finally broke the silence. His father would be outraged to hear that Gabriel intentionally broke Pangaea. The young angel was used to trouble, but even he didn’t want to think about the consequences after having done something like that deliberately. “See, it’s not all that bad. And you’d get to keep your dodos, right?” Michael sighed in defeat. But he was smiling almost impalpably, Gabriel could tell from the change in his voice when he responded: “I am rather fond of the dodos.” “Yeah, we noticed,” Lucifer sneered and seesawed back and forth a little. “They’re pretty stupid though.” Now that Gabriel had put the idea in his head, he suddenly wanted the whole world (that was, the few creations that were already chosen and sat on earth by their father) to see him. Lucifer, the Morning Star. He liked the sound of that. “That dodo is probably not even going to be short-listed for reproduction with its birdbrain.” “Shut up!,” Michael snapped. “My dodo is going to outlive your stupid crocodiles and platypuses!” “Yeah, sure thing.” “Er, you… feathery angel-guys?,” a new voice suddenly mixed into the sibling-war. “What are you doing there? And why are you glowing like the moon?” All three of them flinched. “Shit!” They slowly turned their heads, knowing very well that they had been caught red-handed, when they finally realized their mistake: “We forgot Adam.” ------------ Bless the two brilliant posts which made me write this. I don’t know the bloggers who made them but I really hope they don’t mind. Check out Gabriel and the Platypus ( http://tealdragon.tumblr.com/post/54575479752/and-on-the-seventh-day-he-took-a-motrin-and-laid-down ) and Lucifer and the Dinosaur ( http://archangstels.tumblr.com/post/65776201154/why-not-lucifer-demanded-because-its-a ). If you happen to find this I LOVE YOUR POSTS! Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)