Chapter Text
V1 loved Heaven.
Who wouldn’t? It was Heaven. Having tasted their destiny that had been supposedly set in stone- to kill all of Hell, to feast for as long as they could, then die a slow, painful death- this newer system had been… Comfortable.
Angels treated them with such unrealistic courtesy, the last remnant of man. A work of art, a tribute to the beauty of the Father. A machine of sense, of use, of purpose. After all, was it not V1 that had rejected Hell, and signed unwavering loyalty, in Gabriel’s absence?
They remembered it well. Heaven had been terrified of what fate might befall them, with their great protector absent. The machine had never met Gabriel, but knew that he was supposedly Heaven’s shining star, a trophy, the figurehead that made even the citizens of Hell tremble at the mention (in fact, they still did, some fifty years later). Like the Father, he had simply… Vanished.
Heaven had been in a desperate scramble to keep it under wraps. If Greed and Lust, having had their rebellions crushed by him, knew the keeper of Hell’s order was simply, undeniably gone, what would become of the holy? What would become of justice? What would become of Heaven?
Then V1 came along. Powerful. Revolutionary. And in a desperate attempt for safety, Heaven had offered to “sponsor” V1, should they keep Heaven safe and not harm its occupants.
The machine could tell the ranks of Heaven were fond of them, in a strange way. They were secure. Safe. Reliable. Just as Gabriel had been- though, they knew that people missed him. They noticed the sad glances at his visages so many shared. They had heard the conversations shared about him- about his beauty, his power, how warm and kind he was. Utter glory incarnate.
V1 couldn’t partake in any of this. After all, the most they had seen were some of his writings, a glance at his now marked off part of the Primum Mobile, and the beautiful stained windows of him that seemed to be in every other building.
Now, why was all of this relevant?
V1 was trying to make sense of all of it, really, as they stared down.
Fifty years, unseen.
Fifty years, unforgotten for his utter glory.
Fifty years, and his memory lives on, as no one could dare think he had chosen to abandon the people he had loved with his very being.
The machine had been sent to Hell that morning to look through all of Limbo. A completely usual maintenance check, which was a pleasantly calm task after beating down the Leviathan just earlier. The usual melody had been playing on an unseen piano, a sad tune meant to lull the occupants, but instead only making everything that much more melancholy.
A skull pedestal had stood in their way, as usual. They stopped by to read the book, written by a poor soul unknowing of Gabriel’s disappearance, as usual (what can they say? It’s a very interesting narrative). Everything had been the same, comforting pattern, like a well oiled process they were familiar enough with by this point to repeat.
The skull had been behind a bookshelf this time, an unseen sinner desperately attempting to hide the temptation away just for them to return every time and undo it. Saddening, but necessary for these souls. They fell short, and were punished accordingly. Justice is blind, after all.
The door opened, again revealing the beautiful glass panes, as their optic adjusted to take in the sudden darkness.
Darkness?
The room was usually well lit, leading to the next terminal. Instead, the room was awashed in a thick, bold black, the only light pouring in from glass. It had never been dark there before.
V1 pushed it all from their ever so easily distracted mind, focusing instead on a flashlight command (somewhat a flashlight. They just referred to it as that). The room came in high definition. After all, there wasn’t a reason to conserve resources and see everything pixelated- how spoiled they were by their dearest Heaven.
The machine stopped.
Something laid in the middle of the room, dark and… bleeding? They reached it within a moment, leaning down to look. It was definitely flesh, shaped like a human. It had a helmet, not much unlike Raphael or Michael. An angel? That didn’t make sense- the angels had such beautiful wings. They could be put away, surely, but…
V1 reached over to pull the head closer, for a proper look, and all processors buffed for just a moment.
They had seen this helmet design before, the cross being damning evidence.
A visage unforgotten, but melancholy all the same. A visage that covered an absurd amount of Heaven’s windows, a visage that all remembered and Hell dared not forget.
This was Gabriel, Heaven’s Mystery.