Archive of Our Own ^beta

The cool night air of the dead earth blew softly through the branches of scorched trees, an entire forest reduced to skeletons and ash only a year or two ago. At the very least, the stars were no longer hidden behind a thick layer of smoke, nor were they blocked by the lights of cities. The fires had their time to burn, and it seemed they had finally subsided.

V1 turned to look at the angel asleep and curled up in its arms, peaceful in spite of the tense air of everything that had happened previously. He was just as beautiful as the day it first saw him, depicted within a stained glass mural that glimmered radiantly in the artificial sunlight of Limbo. It had an appreciation for art, one that wasn't programmed into it originally, but had managed to become a part of the machine's character the longer it stayed in Hell, admiring the architecture and the murals depicting the great Judge of Hell, Gabriel.

It hadn't expected to meet him, but when it had, it realized he was just as pleasing to the eye as the artwork depicted him, if not even more so. He fought beautifully, too, an air of grace to every one of his moves, his swords dancing weightlessly in battle alongside him, gorgeous as ever and shining brightly, as though he himself were made of light. Perhaps he was, as he still seemed to glow dimly even in the dark of the night.

It brushed its thumb against the side of his helmet, just below the cross in the center, admiring him as it pressed the bottom of its optic against his forehead, the closest thing to a kiss it could give. It pulled Gabriel in closer before entering rest mode for the night, content in the closeness with its angel.

The two walked down the city streets, passing by destroyed cars and buildings previously leveled by the Earthmovers, shattered glass, corpses, and long-dead machines littering the ground as they walked. The angel hadn't been to the surface of the earth in over a millenia, and only being able to return after the entire world had fallen to nothing but ruins was disheartening, but at the same time, it left him free to explore to his heart's content.

The machine watched in adoration as he explored, lighting up whenever he found something that caught his eye. He would turn to ask the machine about whatever it was he had found, and it would give as best an answer as it could. Even when it didn't quite know exactly what something was, he seemed elated to hear its thoughts, either way.

Even with his face obscured, V1 could tell when he was smiling. It imagined just how gorgeous his smile could possibly be, knowing well by now that he only wore the helmet still because his face would be near incomprehensible to it. It wondered if he'd let it see him smile if it could convince him it could handle it.

It watched Gabriel perch upon the tower of a mostly destroyed cathedral, wings spread out behind him and catching the light in a crystalline kaleidoscope of colors, reflecting upon the ground in colorful spots that painted the dried and barren dirt with the beauty of an angel that had so graciously rewarded the earth with his presence.

He let out a sigh as he lifted his head to look up towards the heavens that had so cruelly kicked him out, and yet he seemed to ignore them, a loud and content laugh of pure joy at the freedom he had suddenly been granted blessing the machine's audials, his voice deep and soothing, a sound that seemed to come from all around V1 rather than from Gabriel himself. 

It admired him from below, sitting against a large rock with its elbow resting atop it, head held within its hand as it stared up at its angel, storing the recording in a special folder within its systems, a folder simply titled "Angel" that held nothing but recordings and photos of Gabriel.

It laughed with the angel, hand in hand as they swayed aimlessly, spinning and dancing almost drunkenly within the other's arms to an unheard tune. Gabriel had been humming, but he had gotten distracted dancing with the machine, one hand on its shoulder while the other lay intertwined with V1's, its other hand resting around Gabriel's neck while its final two hands rested on his waist.

The galaxy above was bright with brilliant purples and deep blues amidst a black sky, stars shimmering brightly and the moon, the first layer of Heaven, as Gabriel had told it, illuminating the clearing in which they danced in. It served only to make Gabriel appear more beautiful in the soft light, reflecting off of the golden inlays of his body and dancing across his pitch black skin, wings a gradient of blue and gold stained glass that shone brightly in the night.

The way he looked at it sent sparks flying within its chassis, a flutter in its transplanted heart that it had never felt before Gabriel entered its life. Never once had it felt so loved and cared for, and never once had it ever considered the idea of being religious, but when it looked at Gabriel, all it could do was worship him like a god. And if God himself had been present to witness it admit such a thing, it wouldn't care either way. God could judge it as much as he wanted, but nothing would change how it felt about Gabriel.

Radiant is Gabriel, for he is the light in my darkness, indeed.

The machine shook violently as its grip tightened against the handle of Splendor, hunched over as the top of its optic pressed against Gabriel's forehead, blood pooling below the two.

The angel had fallen limp in its grasp ages ago, and yet the machine couldn't find it in itself to move. It leaned in closer, the closest thing to a broken sob it could manage escaping its speakers as it did so. The blade was buried deep within Gabriel's stomach, having pierced through him with ease and leaving his body to cool rapidly in the harsh winds of Treachery's eternal blizzard.

Even as its joints began to freeze over, it refused to move. Hell had already been wiped out, anyways. What was next? Heaven? It couldn't even get to Heaven. Even if it could, what would it even do? Slaughter every angel in Gabriel's name? Even despite how badly it wanted to, it knew that Gabriel wouldn't approve. It knew Gabriel had loved his people, even in spite of what they did to him.

It knew that this was the best possible ending for him. That killing him had been merciful, that he had thanked it for doing so. It knew that if it hadn't, he would have just died slowly and painfully, that the light would have faded from him and he would have been left much colder than he was even now.

But it wasn't fair. It couldn't help but imagine how things could have been. What could have come after had Heaven not stripped him of his light. Had Heaven not sentenced him to death for daring to love.

And that was the worst part. That V1 knew that it had been the cause of this. Even if Gabriel had insisted it was a good thing, even if he had told V1 directly that he would have never known freedom if it hadn't been for it, it couldn't help but feel like it had done something horrible. That it had been the sole reason for his sentence. It couldn't shake the guilt of its own actions, at condemning such a beautiful creature to death by entering his life.

It had nowhere to go. No reason to continue. It could only be left to fester in its anger, its guilt, its  pain. It had taught Gabriel to be free, and in turn, Gabriel had taught it to love. To have that taken away was enough to break it in its entirety.

So it remained. Stationary. Letting the blizzard run its course, letting the ice and snow take over its grieving form. A piece of art in and of itself, forever lost to the endless expanse of eternity where no eyes could ever bear witness to such agonizing emotions of a machine who was far too sentient for its own good.

And Hell froze over.