Work Text:
Somewhere in treachery, an archangel waits. Time slowly ticks, with every minute passing resulting in growing anxiety. If the machine took too long in fraud (given it is a mindfuck of a layer) then Gabriel won’t have time to fight it before dying, he’d be dead on the floor halfway through his big HATE monologue! Not to mention it was freezing,, like FREEZING freezing,, and Gabriel's open armour didn’t contribute much for warmth or cover.
Treachery was a desolate snowed over terrain, with little mountains or trees. Just snow for miles with small structures every now and again. The layer stayed in a constant snowing state with dark skies, a never-ending dusk. The angel had been sitting on a log he dug out, staring into the void as it stared back- Thinking, counting, calculating. A faint clock ticked in his mind, inching closer and closer until-
-SLAM-
Gabriel knew that sound all too well. He flared his golden wings up to prepare for his monologue but just as he turned around..
Nothing
Through the scratched armour and bruised skin, Gabriel had nothing to say. He just stood, staring at the machine as his golden hot wings melted snow around him. The machine only stared back, ready for combat. Gabriel thought maybe for a moment the machine may finally speak - something he found himself imagining when bored - but in the end, it was just a foolish hope. He kind of wished it would, even if just a word or two! He wanted to hear its 'voice'. He imagined it to be monotone, robotic, emotionless.
The silence lingered for longer than needed, the ambience of wind being the only music between them. Until- V1 dashed towards Gabriel, commencing the final fight in a flash. Gabriel stumbled at first, taken aback from the ruthlessness of the machine (I mean, he always did a long monologue to let it prepare beforehand, where was that when HE needed it???) but eventually, he steadied himself and fell into a mesmerising song of blood.
The fight was despairingly beautiful, a dance of pure hate, passion, ecstasy and bloodlust. A fight of desperation to live- something both the archangel and machine had in common now, swords slashing, spears flying, coins flipping and the sound of parries , the both had lost themselves in muscle memory and combat. It had been around an hour, Gabriel exhausting quickly and the clock quickening as the dance continued.
Then, Gabriel collapses mid-brawl. The machine was left confused, Gabriel's health wasn’t depleted yet so why was the fight over?
The angel sat in the snow, red blood staining the pure white as he keels over and stares into nothingness. His time was up. He hadn’t even been killed, just prolonged enough for fate to catch up to him.
The machine cautiously steps towards the angel, processing the ‘win’. Gabriel sat still, not even flinching when the machine had tapped him. V1 walks, hops and slides around, shooting into the sky and waiting for Gabriel yet- nothing happens. Finally, V1 steps in front of Gabe and inspects him. Gabriel kind of just lets it happen, there’s no point in fighting anymore when his death was already here.
Gabriel started to speak to the machine, in a tired, breathless voice.
“I thought- you would have killed me before this. I suppose I’m more resilient than I think, huh?”
V1 shifts its head and processes the words before it finally clicks. Gabriel's fate- the lord's light had been taken from him right? So.. if it calculated well enough between their fight in gluttony and here? He had……
…
5 more minutes.
Gabriel grabs the hand of the machine, and V1 beeps in panic before deciding the archangel couldn't be a threat in this state. Gabriel guides the feedbacker and other hand of the machine and grasps it into his own, balling them into a sort of prayer position.
“M-machine..” Gabriel stares at the steel plates, reading the engraved initials
“….V…1..?”
V1’s lights widened in shock- it hadn’t heard its name come from another’s mouth .. ever. All of the figures in hell that COULD speak always gave it titles like “ Creature of Steel “ or some other shit. It had never truly bothered V1 but hearing it’s designation (or well.. name..) come out of someones mouth, ESPECIALLY Gabriel of all people, was surreal in a way.. It had truly noticed how it yearned for people to know its name, for people to SAY its name and Gabriel had fulfilled this invisible yearning.. It was oddly comforting.
“I…. Enjoyed our fighting..”
NOW V1 was sure Gabriel might be actually out of his mind - given he was actively dying but STILL???
“Well- in a way I suppose… I.. had thought you were a mere.. object… something that I HATED .. with my life…”
“but… I suppose I realised after our second battle.. how much euphoria I got from our fights… that feeling deep within me.. not hate.. but…. Lo-“
Gabriel yelled in pain, falling onto his back and laying in the cold, cold snow. V1 responded by flaring its wings and grabbing Gabriel into its arms. Why was it doing this?? It didn’t particularly CARE about the angel.. (did it???) V1’s fans ran as it tried processing so much emotion and information, quickly warming up from over exhaustion.
Gabriel leaned into the machines chest, sitting up a bit. The warmth was .. nice… he hadn’t realised how freezing he was.. if he had frostbite, he couldn’t see it. The machine was so comforting to him.. he didn’t know why. He thought it couldn’t feel- that it was useless.
The angel curled its wings around the two to trap the heat between them- snow roaring through the field of white. V1 had processed and looked down to see Gabriel huddled into it. Its fans grew louder at this.
What was this feeling???? It couldn’t identify what such a complex emotion was - scrambling though databases , codes and files to locate it until Gabriel grew still.
V1 looked down at the angel as its wings grew a faded grey and vanished alongside its halo. The blood in the snow dulled and dried, as blood stopped rushing long ago. The machine felt Gabriel's skin, and how despite the hot metal of V1,, Gabriel remained cold and still.
The angel was dead.
And just as the machine heard the exit doors slowly slide open, with Gabriel tight in its arms it located the emotion it had been searching for.
Love.