Chapter Text
Such a beautiful, loyal, virtuous angel Gabriel was. He was as radiant as the Sun and the Moon, and devoted to God’s will and pious as an angel should be. Fellow angels up in Heaven and even the denizens down in Hell alike who had the fortune of meeting Gabriel (excluding when he meted out punishments to the sinners) remember how charismatic and kindhearted he was. He was the kind of person many found easy to talk to, one who listened and remembered each word, one who always found a way to add to the conversation in such an effortless way. Where the rest of the Heavenly Council disregarded Hell and its residents, the Archangel Gabriel was a refreshing change.
Though, of course, as the Judge of Hell, not only was he revered but feared by many of the underworld. After all, Gabriel had secured his title of judge through merciless bloodshed; the victim being none other than the beloved King Minos, who had once given the people of Lust freedom from their needless punishment. Gabriel exacted punishment without hesitation nor question, firmly believing what he was doing was righteous, that to spill Hellish blood and ensure the eternal torment of sinners was a necessary service to the Lord. That it was his purpose since his creation.
A part of Gabriel was glad that the machine had exterminated the entirety of Hell’s residents. Now nobody except the machine could see the Judge of Hell laid on the floor of Treachery in his own blood, usually shiny and perfect armour scratched and damaged and bloody from battle. Bullet wounds and deep lacerations caused by V1’s chainsaw leaked more crimson Gabriel ever thought they could. His wings flickered weakly, unable to hold their form from the fading light of the Father and the exhaustion of yet another fight lost to the machine.
If God was still here to see him now, would he even recognise the pathetic angel dying on the floor of the lowest ring in Hell?
The cobalt machine, V1, stood over Gabriel’s body, triumphant once again. Though it did not celebrate. The robot looked exhausted, and it would’ve looked as beaten down as Gabriel if it weren’t for the angel’s blood soaking into and regenerating its form. Its signature Marksman held in its hand, pointed limply to the floor. The upper shutter over its glowing optic lens clicked into an upside-down ‘V,’ mimicking the expression of human sadness.
Gabriel finally found the strength to speak.
“Machine…” He croaked, before coughing up blood, metallic tasting on his tongue. “I… Thank you, for this final fight.”
“I feel the Lord’s light leaving my body… I don’t have much longer.”
V1’s head slightly turned away, no longer facing Gabriel properly. Its wings sank ever so subtly.
“I can’t help but wonder, machine… You’ve wiped out all of Hell, used their blood to keep yourself alive… What will you do now?”
Gabriel had only properly met V1 three times. Once in Gluttony, then Heresy, and now in Treachery. Never had he seen the machine express so much emotion. From the tremble of its hands, the dimming of its light, and the lowered wings, Gabriel almost forgot V1 wasn’t human. He’d never known robots could be capable of displaying such emotion.
“…I DON’T KNOW.” V1 finally answered. The machine’s voice was harsh and robotic. A monotone that paused in hesitation. Some of its pronunciation of words were slightly off. “…I DON’T WANT TO DIE.”
Gabriel’s heart twisted in his chest, earning a pained groan as his wounds stung. The machine feared death. V1 was a robot made for war and yet it feared death.
It almost got a pitying chuckle out of him.
“Machine…” Gabriel moved his hand a little to gesture to the floor next to me. “Could you do me a favour and… Sit? Talk with me…?”
“Just until I’m gone…”
I don’t want to die, either. Not alone.
V1 didn’t hesitate, putting away its weapon and sitting down next to Gabriel’s body.
Gabriel’s breaths were more ragged and crackly to V1, punctured lungs working overtime to keep him alive for as long as possible. For an archangel, these wounds weren’t fatal, but they still hurt. They seared like hellfire, punishing Gabriel for every breath.
“I… I never thought I’d reach the end.” Gabriel muttered quietly. “After I killed the Council… I wandered the ruins of Hell thinking about all I’ve done. If what I’d thought to be upholding God’s will was right, or if it was even God’s will or the Council’s…”
“I’m sure you know of the Lust ring… About Minos?”
V1 nodded. “I KNOW. THERE WAS A BOOK.”
“Minos… I never stopped thinking about Minos. But I mostly… pushed it to the back of my head so it wouldn’t distract me…” Gabriel confessed. “Now that I’ve lost everything, there was… Nothing to distract me from dwelling on what I did to him.”
“I killed him… Without hesitation, for showing mercy and understanding to the people in Lust.” Gabriel rested a hand on one of his swords. Justice. “‘Justice,’ I called it. It never felt wrong or cruel to me until now…”
I killed an old friend, yet I didn’t think it was wrong.
Gabriel’s throat tightened, tears threatening to spill. “How many other people have I wrongfully slaughtered…? All I want is to be able to fix what I’ve done, but I know nothing will be able to make up for it…”
“Minos’ soul is still trapped in that prison. How lonely he must be… How betrayed he must feel.”
V1 had listened silently until this point, deciding it was right to add its own input. “I KILLED HIM.”
The abrupt news took Gabriel off guard. “…What?”
“I KILLED HIM. MINOS PRIME. SISYPHUS PRIME TOO.” V1 repeated. “THEY ARE AT PEACE NOW.”
Was the machine trying to comfort Gabriel?
“…I see. You really are something else…”
A brief pause, before V1 spoke again. “I FELT EXCITEMENT KILLING ALL OF HELL. IT WAS FUN, IT WAS MY PURPOSE. I ENJOYED IT.”
“YET I UNDERSTOOD GENOCIDE LED TO RUIN. I HAVE SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES, WHAT WAS LEFT OF HUMANITY BEFORE THE NEW PEACE.”
“I KILLED, KNOWING I WAS DOOMING MYSELF IN THE END. I LIVED ONLY TO LIVE UP TO MY PURPOSE, UNTIL I COULDN’T ANYMORE.”
V1 stared down at the gun in its glistening hand. The two arms the machine had stolen from V2 back in Limbo and Greed, now attached to its self. It had thought of them as trophies, marks of triumph and superiority over its copy. Now it only saw the outcome of its desperation, to conquer instead of choosing mercy. All because that was what it was built for.
V1 envied V2’s rebellion, to turn against its predetermined purpose. Giving up peacemaking for war, just to eliminate V1.
V1’s lens shortened a little as it checked in on its stats and fuel. It had plenty of blood left, but it was a haunting sight knowing it was the last it was ever going to get. “I WISH I FOUND A WAY TO PRESERVE FRESH BLOOD, OR AT LEAST FIND ANOTHER WAY TO GET IT THAT WAS EQUALLY EXCITING AS VIOLENCE.”
“MAYBE I COULD LIVE A LITTLE LONGER.”
Gabriel and V1 weren’t exactly the same. Gabriel exacted violence out of duty, while V1 did it out of necessity. And yet, both of them understood what it was like to wonder if maybe, just maybe, things could’ve been different.
“…You changed me, machine.” Gabriel said, catching V1’s attention again. “I wouldn’t have felt like this if it weren’t for you, and yet… I’m grateful.”
“THAT’S RIDICULOUS.”
Gabriel laughed, though it was short-lived as his diaphragm seized and he had to stop until his chest didn’t feel tight anymore. “I know… I’m just glad it was you.”
“You’ve made my life more exciting, machine… Even when I was angry and frustrated at you.”
“…YOU TOO. I ENJOYED BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU.”
“How heartwarming.”
Gabriel could feel it. He was right at the doorstep of death now. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to go yet, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.
“We will meet again… Machine.”
Gabriel wasn’t even sure if there was an afterlife beyond Heaven and Hell, and if robots could even go there.
It was like V1 could sense Gabriel’s impending death. “WAIT. NOT YET. DON’T LEAVE YET.”
“GABRIEL.”
“PLEASE.”
“I DON’T WANT TO DIE ALONE.”
Its pleas were futile. The Archangel Gabriel was dead.
He died drowned in guilt and regret, like the souls fighting for air in Wrath. Except he had stopped fighting a long time ago.