Fic: A History of Heaven (Gabriel/Various Angels, PG-13 for this chapter) Raphael’s Interlude
For full notes and other chapters, please see the Masterpost.
Notes: Sammael = Lucifer
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 1,764
Chapter Summary: Raphael and Gabriel are so very different from each other. This cannot possibly be a good thing!
This is the fifth and last Interlude chapter, set when the Archangels were kids themselves. Michael has just about hit 20-21 here, and Sammael is a late-mid teenager. Raphael and Gabriel are closer to 4 or 5.
RAPHAEL’S INTERLUDE
“Order is good and chaos is not. Breezes are gentle, and fire is hot. The sky goes above, and the ground goes below. These are just some of the things that I know.”
Raphael bounded across the stars in a galactic game of hopscotch, his little wings fluttering with every jump between solar systems. As he flew, he chanted a little rhyme he’d made up all on his own, the very first skipping song.
“Planets are solid, and stars give off light. Michael is strong, and Sammael bright. God is the greatest, wherever He go. These are just some of the things that I know.”
As far as rhymes went, it wasn’t the best. Raphael frowned a little to himself, landing on one foot on a mountain peak. He’d have to work on it. Next verse.
“I like the quiet, but Gabriel’s loud. He makes big messes, and Sammael is proud. I really don’t like it when he makes my winds blow. These are just some of the things that I know.”
Raphael landed hard on both feet on a tiny ice ball of a planet, his wings splayed out for balance. Despite his best efforts to stay up, he still toppled forward and threw out his hands to catch himself, but a strong arm wrapped around his waist and saved him before he could fall. “Whoa there, Raphael! Careful!”
“Michael!” Raphael wriggled around in Michael’s hold so he could face his big brother, beaming his joy up at the older angel. Michael was awesome. He was so big, and nice, and smart! He always looked out for Raphael, and he was always around to catch Raphael.
“What are you doing out here?” Michael wrapped his other arm around Raphael and lifted him completely off his feet. Raphael didn’t mind, flinging his arms around Michael’s neck and snuggling in close to his brother’s core. “You’re a long way from the others. I almost didn’t find you.”
“But you did. You always do.” Raphael brought his wings in to add to his embrace. “I love you, Michael.”
“I love you too, Raphael.” Raphael could feel Michael’s happiness playing through his grace and brushing over his wings. Michael always made him feel so adored. “Now, let’s go find Gabriel. Why don’t you play with him, instead of coming all the way out here on your own?”
“I don’t like to play with him,” Raphael admitted as Michael spread his giant wings to fly.
“No? Why not?”
“He’s wrong.” Raphael whispered the last word into Michael’s grace, so no one else could overhear him. “He’s just wrong.”
“Wrong?” Michael stopped flying on a warmer planet, setting Raphael down on a mountain so they could look eye to eye. “What’s so wrong about him?”
“Well!” Raphael couldn’t believe Michael was actually asking him! He’d wanted to tell someone for ages, but he never could think of a way to say it without sounding like a tattle-tale. “Gabriel can’t fly right!”
“Gabriel can fly,” Michael argued gently. “Now, at least.”
“He doesn’t fly right,” Raphael stressed, trying to figure out how he could explain Gabriel’s failings to Michael. Michael wasn’t Gabriel’s partner. He didn’t understand the way Raphael did. “See, look over there? If you want to fly there, to that mountain, you go voom.” Raphael slid his hands together, pushing one forward while pulling the other back, to indicate a straight, quick line. “And then you’re there! But Gabriel, he doesn’t do that! He goes all woobly woobly woobly.” Raphael wobbled his hands, zigzagging toward the other mountain peak. “See? It’s not right!”
Michael caught Raphael’s hands in both of his big ones. His grace was all lit up, like when he laughed, but Michael wasn’t laughing now. He was taking Raphael seriously. “But Gabriel does get to the other mountain eventually.”
“But that’s not right! Yeah, he’ll get there, eventually, but that’s not the right way to fly, so he doesn’t fly right. He’s wrong.”
“That’s not wrong, Raphael, that’s just different.”
Raphael folded his arms over his chest and let his grace tell Michael that he wasn’t convinced. “No. He’s wrong.”
Michael sat down beside Raphael, pulling him into his lap and wrapping him in his wings. “Okay, so Gabriel doesn’t fly very efficiently. How else is he wrong?”
“Every way!” Raphael flung his arms out wide. “He’s wrong in every single way, Michael!”
“That’s a lot of ways to be wrong.”
“But it’s true! Look.” Raphael picked up Michael’s hands in his. “This one’s me, and this one’s Gabriel. We’re opposites, just like hands.” Michael leaned his chin against the top of Raphael’s head and nodded. “That means if I’m right,” Raphael lifted Michael’s right hand, “then Gabriel has to be wrong.” He lifted Michael’s left hand. “If I fly right,” right hand, “then Gabriel flies wrong.” Left hand. “If I love God, then Gabriel must hate God. If I love you, then Gabriel must hate you! And if I love him…” Raphael frowned, looking at Michael’s left hand. “He hates me? Or he hates him? I don’t know that one.”
“You’re opposites, Raphael, but that doesn’t mean you’re completely different.” Michael’s voice was gentle as he drew both hands in, pressing them together like in prayer. “Look, see? Both hands are the same size, same shape. They both have the same number of fingers. They can both move the same, grip the same, tickle the same…”
Even with the half second warning of saying it, Raphael was still caught off guard as Michael suddenly tickled him, his fingers digging into Raphael’s pudgy spirit and making the little angel squeal in undignified laughter. Raphael toppled off the mountain, kicking his feet and giggling, but Michael caught him in his longest wing and pulled him back. “See, Raphael? Even though they’re opposite, they’re also the same. You and Gabriel are opposite and the same. You’re both little angels. You both have two big brothers and a twin. You both have the same number of wings and the same number of feathers. You both love Father, and you love all your brothers. These things aren’t opposite just because you and Gabriel are.”
“I guess…” Michael still wasn’t understanding. Raphael tucked his wings in as he let Michael cuddle him against his chest again.
“What else is wrong about Gabriel?” Michael brushed his fingers over Raphael’s head, gently petting him. Raphael closed his eyes, humming contentedly at the gesture.
“He can’t heal. Remember when he was swimming in that star, and he pulled me in too, and it hurt?” Raphael pulled back a little to make sure Michael remembered that very serious situation. “Gabriel couldn’t make it better at all. He just made it hurt more.”
“Well, that is a way you two are different,” Michael agreed. “But Sammael can’t heal very well either, and none of us can heal as well as you. Does that mean Sammael’s wrong, or I’m wrong?”
“No!” Raphael patted Michael’s arm, quick to reassure his brother that he wasn’t calling Michael wrong. “But you didn’t make it worse. Gabriel hurt me. That’s wrong.”
“You’ve hurt him too, Raphael.”
“But I always fixed him after! And I didn’t mean to!” Raphael drew away a little, hugging his wings around himself. He really hadn’t meant to trap Gabriel in that tornado and break his wing. Gabriel had just gotten in the way, like he always did. He never looked where he was going! He should have seen Raphael was playing with the winds!
“Raphael…”
Raphael peeked up over the edges of his wings as Michael pulled him close in another hug. “Does Gabriel hate me?”
“No! Of course he doesn’t hate you! Gabriel loves you, just like you love him!” Michael hesitated a moment. “You do love him, don’t you?”
Raphael nodded against Michael’s chest. “I do, but he… I dunno. Sometimes he scares me, Michael. He’s just so different!”
Michael rested his cheek against Raphael’s head, rocking his little brother gently in his lap. “Sammael is so very different from me too, Raphael, but it’s because he’s so different that I love him so much. Sammael isn’t me. We are different, and unique, and I can’t… I can’t not love that about him.”
“But Gabriel does things wrong. And he doesn’t listen when I tell him how to do things right. And even when he does listen, he still doesn’t do things right. And so then he messes everything up. And sometimes he gets hurt because he won’t do things right, or he hurts someone else, and I just…” Raphael tucked himself into a little ball. “I want him to do everything right so he doesn’t ever get hurt. I don’t like him getting hurt.”
“You are a good brother, then,” Michael said. “But maybe… maybe we should look at ways that Gabriel is just different and not try to change those. If he’s wrong, it’s okay to correct him, nicely, but if he’s just different, like with his flying, you should let him be different, so he can still be Gabriel, and not Raphael Number Two.”
“But what if he doesn’t like me? What if that’s a way we’re opposite?”
“What makes you think Gabriel doesn’t like you?” Michael asked, his voice gentle and soothing.
Raphael looked down at his hands. “He’s always playing with Sammael. He doesn’t ask me to play; he always asks Sammael. He always shows Sammael new things, and he always asks Sammael to tell him stories and teach him things.”
Michael was quiet for a while, just petting Raphael’s wings. “Raphael,” he finally said, “maybe that’s because Sammael doesn’t keep telling Gabriel that he’s wrong?”
“But he is!”
“It’s not very nice to always call someone wrong,” Michael pointed out. “Do you ever tell Gabriel when he’s right?”
“He’s never right,” Raphael insisted.
“What about when he’s different but not wrong?” Raphael looked away, not wanting to see Michael’s gentle rebuff. “Raphael?”
“I don’t tell him he’s not wrong-wrong,” Raphael huffed. “But-”
Michael lifted a finger, giving Raphael a look. “Why don’t you try doing that first? Stop telling Gabriel that he’s wrong, and start telling him when he does things right, or different but okay. And I’ll talk to him about asking you to play more. Do you think that will work? Think you can do that?”
“I guess…” Raphael folded his arms again, his grace moping around his spirit. “Do I haveta start now?”
Michael chuckled, picking Raphael up and standing again. “The sooner the better, Raphael. Let’s go find our brothers.”
Next...
Notes: Sammael = Lucifer
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 1,764
Chapter Summary: Raphael and Gabriel are so very different from each other. This cannot possibly be a good thing!
This is the fifth and last Interlude chapter, set when the Archangels were kids themselves. Michael has just about hit 20-21 here, and Sammael is a late-mid teenager. Raphael and Gabriel are closer to 4 or 5.
RAPHAEL’S INTERLUDE
“Order is good and chaos is not. Breezes are gentle, and fire is hot. The sky goes above, and the ground goes below. These are just some of the things that I know.”
Raphael bounded across the stars in a galactic game of hopscotch, his little wings fluttering with every jump between solar systems. As he flew, he chanted a little rhyme he’d made up all on his own, the very first skipping song.
“Planets are solid, and stars give off light. Michael is strong, and Sammael bright. God is the greatest, wherever He go. These are just some of the things that I know.”
As far as rhymes went, it wasn’t the best. Raphael frowned a little to himself, landing on one foot on a mountain peak. He’d have to work on it. Next verse.
“I like the quiet, but Gabriel’s loud. He makes big messes, and Sammael is proud. I really don’t like it when he makes my winds blow. These are just some of the things that I know.”
Raphael landed hard on both feet on a tiny ice ball of a planet, his wings splayed out for balance. Despite his best efforts to stay up, he still toppled forward and threw out his hands to catch himself, but a strong arm wrapped around his waist and saved him before he could fall. “Whoa there, Raphael! Careful!”
“Michael!” Raphael wriggled around in Michael’s hold so he could face his big brother, beaming his joy up at the older angel. Michael was awesome. He was so big, and nice, and smart! He always looked out for Raphael, and he was always around to catch Raphael.
“What are you doing out here?” Michael wrapped his other arm around Raphael and lifted him completely off his feet. Raphael didn’t mind, flinging his arms around Michael’s neck and snuggling in close to his brother’s core. “You’re a long way from the others. I almost didn’t find you.”
“But you did. You always do.” Raphael brought his wings in to add to his embrace. “I love you, Michael.”
“I love you too, Raphael.” Raphael could feel Michael’s happiness playing through his grace and brushing over his wings. Michael always made him feel so adored. “Now, let’s go find Gabriel. Why don’t you play with him, instead of coming all the way out here on your own?”
“I don’t like to play with him,” Raphael admitted as Michael spread his giant wings to fly.
“No? Why not?”
“He’s wrong.” Raphael whispered the last word into Michael’s grace, so no one else could overhear him. “He’s just wrong.”
“Wrong?” Michael stopped flying on a warmer planet, setting Raphael down on a mountain so they could look eye to eye. “What’s so wrong about him?”
“Well!” Raphael couldn’t believe Michael was actually asking him! He’d wanted to tell someone for ages, but he never could think of a way to say it without sounding like a tattle-tale. “Gabriel can’t fly right!”
“Gabriel can fly,” Michael argued gently. “Now, at least.”
“He doesn’t fly right,” Raphael stressed, trying to figure out how he could explain Gabriel’s failings to Michael. Michael wasn’t Gabriel’s partner. He didn’t understand the way Raphael did. “See, look over there? If you want to fly there, to that mountain, you go voom.” Raphael slid his hands together, pushing one forward while pulling the other back, to indicate a straight, quick line. “And then you’re there! But Gabriel, he doesn’t do that! He goes all woobly woobly woobly.” Raphael wobbled his hands, zigzagging toward the other mountain peak. “See? It’s not right!”
Michael caught Raphael’s hands in both of his big ones. His grace was all lit up, like when he laughed, but Michael wasn’t laughing now. He was taking Raphael seriously. “But Gabriel does get to the other mountain eventually.”
“But that’s not right! Yeah, he’ll get there, eventually, but that’s not the right way to fly, so he doesn’t fly right. He’s wrong.”
“That’s not wrong, Raphael, that’s just different.”
Raphael folded his arms over his chest and let his grace tell Michael that he wasn’t convinced. “No. He’s wrong.”
Michael sat down beside Raphael, pulling him into his lap and wrapping him in his wings. “Okay, so Gabriel doesn’t fly very efficiently. How else is he wrong?”
“Every way!” Raphael flung his arms out wide. “He’s wrong in every single way, Michael!”
“That’s a lot of ways to be wrong.”
“But it’s true! Look.” Raphael picked up Michael’s hands in his. “This one’s me, and this one’s Gabriel. We’re opposites, just like hands.” Michael leaned his chin against the top of Raphael’s head and nodded. “That means if I’m right,” Raphael lifted Michael’s right hand, “then Gabriel has to be wrong.” He lifted Michael’s left hand. “If I fly right,” right hand, “then Gabriel flies wrong.” Left hand. “If I love God, then Gabriel must hate God. If I love you, then Gabriel must hate you! And if I love him…” Raphael frowned, looking at Michael’s left hand. “He hates me? Or he hates him? I don’t know that one.”
“You’re opposites, Raphael, but that doesn’t mean you’re completely different.” Michael’s voice was gentle as he drew both hands in, pressing them together like in prayer. “Look, see? Both hands are the same size, same shape. They both have the same number of fingers. They can both move the same, grip the same, tickle the same…”
Even with the half second warning of saying it, Raphael was still caught off guard as Michael suddenly tickled him, his fingers digging into Raphael’s pudgy spirit and making the little angel squeal in undignified laughter. Raphael toppled off the mountain, kicking his feet and giggling, but Michael caught him in his longest wing and pulled him back. “See, Raphael? Even though they’re opposite, they’re also the same. You and Gabriel are opposite and the same. You’re both little angels. You both have two big brothers and a twin. You both have the same number of wings and the same number of feathers. You both love Father, and you love all your brothers. These things aren’t opposite just because you and Gabriel are.”
“I guess…” Michael still wasn’t understanding. Raphael tucked his wings in as he let Michael cuddle him against his chest again.
“What else is wrong about Gabriel?” Michael brushed his fingers over Raphael’s head, gently petting him. Raphael closed his eyes, humming contentedly at the gesture.
“He can’t heal. Remember when he was swimming in that star, and he pulled me in too, and it hurt?” Raphael pulled back a little to make sure Michael remembered that very serious situation. “Gabriel couldn’t make it better at all. He just made it hurt more.”
“Well, that is a way you two are different,” Michael agreed. “But Sammael can’t heal very well either, and none of us can heal as well as you. Does that mean Sammael’s wrong, or I’m wrong?”
“No!” Raphael patted Michael’s arm, quick to reassure his brother that he wasn’t calling Michael wrong. “But you didn’t make it worse. Gabriel hurt me. That’s wrong.”
“You’ve hurt him too, Raphael.”
“But I always fixed him after! And I didn’t mean to!” Raphael drew away a little, hugging his wings around himself. He really hadn’t meant to trap Gabriel in that tornado and break his wing. Gabriel had just gotten in the way, like he always did. He never looked where he was going! He should have seen Raphael was playing with the winds!
“Raphael…”
Raphael peeked up over the edges of his wings as Michael pulled him close in another hug. “Does Gabriel hate me?”
“No! Of course he doesn’t hate you! Gabriel loves you, just like you love him!” Michael hesitated a moment. “You do love him, don’t you?”
Raphael nodded against Michael’s chest. “I do, but he… I dunno. Sometimes he scares me, Michael. He’s just so different!”
Michael rested his cheek against Raphael’s head, rocking his little brother gently in his lap. “Sammael is so very different from me too, Raphael, but it’s because he’s so different that I love him so much. Sammael isn’t me. We are different, and unique, and I can’t… I can’t not love that about him.”
“But Gabriel does things wrong. And he doesn’t listen when I tell him how to do things right. And even when he does listen, he still doesn’t do things right. And so then he messes everything up. And sometimes he gets hurt because he won’t do things right, or he hurts someone else, and I just…” Raphael tucked himself into a little ball. “I want him to do everything right so he doesn’t ever get hurt. I don’t like him getting hurt.”
“You are a good brother, then,” Michael said. “But maybe… maybe we should look at ways that Gabriel is just different and not try to change those. If he’s wrong, it’s okay to correct him, nicely, but if he’s just different, like with his flying, you should let him be different, so he can still be Gabriel, and not Raphael Number Two.”
“But what if he doesn’t like me? What if that’s a way we’re opposite?”
“What makes you think Gabriel doesn’t like you?” Michael asked, his voice gentle and soothing.
Raphael looked down at his hands. “He’s always playing with Sammael. He doesn’t ask me to play; he always asks Sammael. He always shows Sammael new things, and he always asks Sammael to tell him stories and teach him things.”
Michael was quiet for a while, just petting Raphael’s wings. “Raphael,” he finally said, “maybe that’s because Sammael doesn’t keep telling Gabriel that he’s wrong?”
“But he is!”
“It’s not very nice to always call someone wrong,” Michael pointed out. “Do you ever tell Gabriel when he’s right?”
“He’s never right,” Raphael insisted.
“What about when he’s different but not wrong?” Raphael looked away, not wanting to see Michael’s gentle rebuff. “Raphael?”
“I don’t tell him he’s not wrong-wrong,” Raphael huffed. “But-”
Michael lifted a finger, giving Raphael a look. “Why don’t you try doing that first? Stop telling Gabriel that he’s wrong, and start telling him when he does things right, or different but okay. And I’ll talk to him about asking you to play more. Do you think that will work? Think you can do that?”
“I guess…” Raphael folded his arms again, his grace moping around his spirit. “Do I haveta start now?”
Michael chuckled, picking Raphael up and standing again. “The sooner the better, Raphael. Let’s go find our brothers.”
Next...