Bad Omens (The Final Cut/Definitive Version)

Chapter 23

Gabriel stared out of his office window and down into the City of Heaven down below. It was a sea of endless white. He hated it. It made him miss colors all the more, especially the color of Eden's eyes and her flame red curls.

There was no laughter, no color, all of the other angels and the demons that were permitted to enter the premises always gave him cold looks. The only thing that was keeping him here was that he would be keeping Eden safe.

The Archangel sat back down at his desk and busied himself by skimming through paperwork. But within minutes, his thoughts drifted back to Eden yet again and his short time at South Downs.

"So, what's Heaven like? Papa always said it was an awful place, with no color, no camaraderie, watching the Sound of Music on an endless loop..."

Eden had asked him that when she showed him the garden. He had never seen so many colors in centuries. She even introduced him to the family of rabbits who had a burrow at the base of a bush.

He told her what it was like, and why he no longer wanted nothing to do with it. "After Armageddon failed, and your father's defied Heaven and Hell, I began to question everything. You father had a good point when he said that we we're supposed to be the good guys, but then demons kept coming and going...."

The Archangel paused then started again, "I...I became close with a demon named Beelzebub. We had been, what I had considered, close, for quite some time. I was trying to work up the courage to tell them how I felt. But they left me for someone else."

"Oh Gabe, I'm so sorry..." Eden had expressed her sympathy, yet another thing that no one had ever done for him.

"After that, I just came to terms with enduring a miserable existence until The Great War was launched again...then I met you..."

That was when Eden, with the help of Aziraphale, got out the biggest tartan blanket they could find and they set it on the grass so she and Gabriel could watch the sunset and he got his first true taste of heaven.

The memory made Gabriel's eyes sting with tears as he shoved the paperwork off of his desk as he held his head in his hands, sobbing, not caring if anyone heard him.

A few hours later, he had burned the infernal paperwork; he was almost relieved when Archangel Michael called him to his office.

As Gabriel walked down the white hallways, he realized that his fellow angels and the visiting demons were whispering to one another as he walked by, not at all concerned if he saw them or not.

"You wanted to see me Michael?" Gabriel said as he entered the office.

Michael was standing in front of her desk, and to Gabriel's disgust, so was Hastur. Sandalphon closed the door behind him as Michael replied, "We have some new from our associate Hastur concerning a certain....Abomination." The Archangels feminine features balked with disgust.

It took all of Gabriel's self control to not punch that arrogant cunt in his pompous face when he called Eden that horrid word.

Hastur seemed to have sensed Gabriel's rage and smirked.

"Yes, I do. My Lord has something quite special planned for the Champion." Hastur spat out the word like it was a bad taste in his mouth.

Hastur turned back to Michael, "My Lord requests for the Flaming Sword." Michael grabbed her office phone and called for someone to bring the sword.

"What does Satan need the sword for?" Gabriel asked as Sandolphon sneered at him.

Hastur turned to him and smiled wickedly, "Why do you think?"

"No..." Gabriel felt horror plunge into his gut as he turned back to Sandalphon. "You swore that no harm would come to her!"

"From Heaven...not Hell." Sandalphon chuckled as the office door swung open and in came Jehoel and Remiel, they seized Gabriel and he tried to struggle away from their iron grip as Michael said, "Archangel Gabriel, you are under arrest for treason against Heaven and the Almighty herself."

Right when Gabriel was about to break free and smite every single one of them, Sandalphon grabbed a vase from the nearby shelf and cracked it over the rouge Archangel's head.

Gabriel fell to the ground in a heap.

"Sandalphon, we've talked about this, stop using my favorite vase as a bludgeon!" Michael scolded as Jehoel and Remiel hauled Gabriel out of his office.

The Archangel woke with a groan. His head was pounding.

Gabriel then remembered what happened and he shot to his feet. He was in a solid white room and he rushed to the door....only to discover it was locked...