Hello Darkness My Old Friend [Open to Multiple]

[has_a_horn]

The world is dark and there's a war in heaven. The blackness of the scene is deep, lit only by the graceful, inhuman figures of his brothers and sisters. They dance viciously, hands clasped around long silver blades, slashing as they turn and evade. They bleed light and die like a star going supernova. Gabriel stands trembling, watching. If it wasn't so horrible, it might be beautiful.

He's wearing the same vessel he has been wearing for so long now-

Briefly, the scene shifts. He's kneeling before this vessel, a hand cupping the slightly stubbled chin. He'll shave properly, when he takes it. The man smiles, nods. It looks so sincere.

Gabriel smiles back, in awe of him.

-except he can feel the weight of his wings, the power contained there, his own potential for destruction. Behind him, they sweep up at least twenty times his height, closed in and tight against each other, a gigantic extension of his own horrified posture. Next to any of the rest, he would look so small like he is now. Inconsequential. Still, they'll want him to join in, soon. Michael will come looking, or Lucifer. Enough will have died that he will be needed on one side or the other.

He wonders if this slaughter is really what God wanted, then chastises himself for thinking it. He should fight for heaven, for God. Another supernova lights up the black canvas. A triumphant shout echoes back to him along with a ghost of bright piercing pain. How can they deny the feeling that quakes through them with each death? Is he the only one?

He can't bring himself to take a single step forward. Instead, he drops to his knees and prays. The sounds of his prayers rend the air around him, harsh, beautiful, and useless. No one turns to him, and God isn't listening.

He searches for something, any feeling in the darkness that isn't this, isn't here. When he feels something, he pulls on it like a lifeline.

[[ooc: Gabriel has passed out following events that will be happening in this thread. He doesn't have control over his dreaming, and chances are he won't know he's dreaming most of the time, so expect horror, and expect him to take over the dream.]]

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[brink]

Gabriel's dream is like a lighthouse in the dark for Topher, uncommonly intense and painful. Not something he usually goes diving into, rather something he avoids, because it tends to mean trouble. Regular dreamers don't give off quite this noticable sensations, and he mostly stays away from people with dream powers, for fear they'd use them against him.

Still, it's a familiar dreamer, but before he can make up his mind, he feels violently drawn into it, and the feelings are overwhelming from up close. His physical self tumbles in unceremoniously, and he doesn't even have enough focus to disguise himself, though he realises quickly that there wouldn't be much point - he's visited this mind before.

Except last time, Gabriel's mind was rather more controlled. Not as traumatising. Topher has to fight hard to stop the horror and despair and pain from infecting him, and he isn't all that successful.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel stands and turns quickly, shifting immediately into a fighting stance, his bright blade dropping down into his hand. Only, when he turns and catches sight of a human, his expression drops in relief. This isn't one of his brothers or sisters, this is a human.

He sweeps his wings up over the human, almost impossibly large and blocking out the other angel's view of this human. Whoever this is, he shouldn't be here. If any of the others catch on to his presence there's a chance that he'll be scored out of heaven.

When he speaks, he cycles through languages searching for one that she will understand. Sumerian, Hewbrew, Old Norwegian - as he works through them, he gets more and more visibly anxious - each language that fails to reach him he throws aside with disgust. When he finally reaches modern English, the words come out in a hurried, confused rush. "You need to get out of here. It's not safe."

[brink]

Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo-stick, Topher just noticed the wings. Kind of hard not to, really, when they swoop up over him like that. Why does Gabriel have wings? Right. And now weird languages. Okay then.

"Gabriel, what's going on?" he asks, getting to his feet, visibly shaken by the dream. Well, not so much the dream as Gabriel and the state of his mind. Topher would try to use his powers to calm him down, but at the moment it's all he can do stop the dream from affecting himself and pulling him under. He's not so worried by the surroundings as by what could have happened to put Gabriel in such a state.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel startles back a step when the man says his name, unsure how this could be possible and wondering if it's a trick being played on him by one of his brothers.

"How do you know my name?" he asks, keeping his blade close at hand, ready to protect himself should this be an angel in disguise. "Are you a prophet?" He glances up at the battle fearfully before giving the man his attention once more. His voice raises and he doesn't wait for an answer to either question before asking another. "How did you come to Heaven?"

[brink]

Well, crap. They're in Heaven? Topher pushes it from his mind for the moment, trying to influence the dream, breathe more lucidity into it, but given how deep in the dream Gabriel is, it's not easy. He's also refusing to pay attention to anything that happens above.

As for actual actions visible to Gabriel, he lifts his hands in a nervous gesture of peace. "I just ended up here," he answers, which isn't entirely true, but then it's not like they're really in heaven. ...He thinks. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not a prophet."

Still, even in this rather intense situation, he can't help but be curious. He can sense that this isn't just wild imaginings - there's memory and deep-rooted emotions here. So, what, does this mean Gabriel's an angel? He's not sure he can even process that. But he tries to absorb what knowledge he can gain from the dream, trying to filter out the strongest emotions, trying to resist the waves of fear and misery that pervades the dream.

[has_a_horn]

"Who are you?" Gabriel repeats, but he doesn't have time to listen to the answer. A gigantic figure descends from above them and Gabriel turns, swiftly plunging his blade into the figure before it can attack. It's an instinctive move that has him stumbling back in horror as the figure explodes in a supernova of light. He's just killed one of his brothers. How can he ever come back from that?

He turns back to Topher and grabs a handful of his shirt. They need to get out of here right now. He pulls and the scene around them disappears, replaced by the clean lines of an upscale hotel lobby. Gabriel falls back into the carpet. His wings have transformed with the transition. Now, they seem more solid, distinctly avian and distinctly damaged.

Behind the booking counter, an insipid man smiles and says. "Loki, I see you've brought a friend. The meeting is already under way."

[brink]

Being temporarily open to the influences of the dream means Topher feels what Gabriel feels, quite strongly at that, and the horror fills him. He doesn't have time to pull himself out of it, before Gabriel is grabbing him and changing the setting.

Topher staggers and ends up on his knees, hands cluthed at his chest in an instinctual reaction to the pain and emotion that he's feeling - that Gabriel's feeling. He almost finds himself losing control, and has to pull himself together to remember that this isn't really happening, that it's still all in Gabriel's head.

He looks up when a voice speaks, then looks to his angel friend with a worried frown. "Gabriel..." he says anxiously. He should be trying to get Gabriel out of this, get him lucid again, but his mind is a lot stronger than Topher would've guessed, and he's not sure he'll have any real chance fighting against it. He can still leave, just wake up - as far as he can tell there's nothing holding him here. But he doesn't want to abandon Gabriel.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel pushes himself up with a great amount of difficulty. As he gets to his knees, he notices the scattered feathers around him and curses, stopping to pick them up and shove them into his inside jacket pocket. They could be used against him, and especially here. Finally, he stands, limbs protesting against the effort as he straightens himself up and faces the hallway that will take him to his brother.

This time, he won't be quick or smart enough to evade him. He knows this, but he starts walking anyway. "Stay here. Or get out, if you can." he says to Topher, heading towards the nearest hallway. He can already smell the blood. A few steps later, he's see's the first body part. Odin, he thinks. He remembers the fingers, square and callused over the years, because Odin had liked to see the result of his hard work rather than magic it away. The entire hallway it covered in blood, but he keeps walking through it anyway.

He wonders if Kali came to the meeting, if her remains are here among the rest, and the thought makes his stomach roil in protest. This isn't what should have happened. He should have been able to prevent this.

[brink]

Topher watches in confusion as Gabriel picks up the feathers. They're obviously of some importance. If Gabriel's really an angel, Topher can see why, though he doesn't really underestand how.

He obviously doesn't listen to Gabriel. It's his dream, so staying outside his range of perception is pointless. If this were real, it's more likely Topher would be out of here with his metaphorical tail between his legs ages ago, but he can't be killed or physically harmed here. Just as long as he keeps his wits about him. He makes another effort to block out the overwhelming feelings of the dream, and gets to his feet, following Gabriel.

The scene is pretty gruesome. It's made infinitely worse by the fact that Topher is fairly sure it's taken from memory.

whoops wrote a novel

[has_a_horn]

He flips a hand, and the double doors fling open to reveal another room speckled with blood. He'd tried to make a more forceful entrance, but he can't do that. Not this time. He lets his angel blade manifest and drop into his hand instinctively. He feels like vomiting. From where he stands, he can see Lucifer, his back turned away from the door, swiftly breaking Dean Winchester's neck. Kali's body lies on the floor, charred and mangled, as if she'd been burned alive. Somehow, he'd hoped she'd be the one to get out of this alive, that she'd prove once again that she's too good for anyone. But, no, not this time.

"Lucy, I'm home." He sets his jaw firmly, raises his blade and stands his ground. Lucifer turns around slowly, as if he knows that Gabriel doesn't have it in him to kill his brother. As if he knows.

"Oh, Gabriel," he says, shaking his head with mock sympathy, his bottom lip jutted out into a condescending pout. "I knew you were slumming, but just look at you. You look like you're molting." He makes a gesture to Gabriel's injured wings, and tilts his head, mocking. "You've spent too much time with humanity, little brother. It's rubbing off." He sneers and Gabriel squares his shoulders.

His wings ache deeply, and he is so deeply horrified and angry at his brother, but for the moment none of that shows. He looks up into the pale decaying face and remembers the beauty of Lucifer in Heaven, his humor and his unrivaled joy. He lets out a soft huff, but keeps his blade high and ready. "Lucifer, you are my brother and I love you, but you are a great big bag of dicks."

"Watch your tone." Lucifer begins to step forward, but Gabriel motions with his blade, cutting him off before he continues.

"Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth. Dad loved you best. More than Michael, more than me." He shifts his shoulder and winces as a shot of pain travels down his body. "Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it. So all this?" He gestures to the room splattered in blood, the hotel, the situation in general. "All this is just a great big temper tantrum."

Lucifer's voice never raises, but his face contorts in anger. "Who are you doing this for? Michael?"

"For them, Lucifer. For humanity." Lucifer circles around closer to him, and he backs into the room in response, keeping his distance. "Dad was right. They are better than us."

For the first time, Lucifer seems to break. "They are broken, flawed abortions! Is that what you want to become? Look at you, Gabriel. You're losing yourself."

"Damn right they're flawed." He takes a painful breath, sighs. "But a lot of them try. To do better. To forgive." Lucifer pulls back, horrified by what he's hearing. Gabriel knows that there's not a way that he can convince him of what's right, that this is only going to make things worse, but he has to say the words. "You wanna know what I want? I want you to take your head out of your ass and see the fucking light. I want us to be family again. But you know what? If my choices are becoming like you or becoming like them, I'll choose them. Every time."

But Lucifer isn't going to give him that choice. His face is sad because he's already decided on a course of action, already knows that he's going to kill his younger brother. "Brother, don't make me do this."

Gabriel tilts his head to the side, raises a challenging eyebrow, and waits for the inevitable attack. His voice is resigned. "Nobody makes us do anything."

"Gabriel." Lucifer steps forward and even his footsteps are soft spoken, barely registering at all in the echoing silence of the room. "I know you think you're doing the right thing, but I know where your heart truly lies." Lucifer's blade is out and planted deep in Gabriel's chest before he can think to move away.

Deep searing pain blossoms outward from his chest and he falls to his knees. Lucifer follows him down, cradling his head as if what he'd done is a mercy. He stares up into his brother's face, hurt and confused. Even now, he doesn't understand his motivations and his cruelty.

As he falls to the floor, Lucifer stands and turns. He walks gently over to Topher and reaches out to slowly brush the hair away from his eyes, then tilts his head a bit and smiles. His voice is all softness now, having lost any edge that it had during his conversation with Gabriel. "We're going to be such good friends, Sammy."

Gabriel screams as the blade tears him apart, and a white light fills the room until there is no room left at all. Instead of a hotel, they're now on an endless plain of sand. Gabriel pushes himself up onto his hands and knees, panting. Something bad is happening. Something he can't control. "What's happening?"

you don't see me complaining

[brink]

Topher is careful now not to have Gabriel's emotions rub off on him too strongly. He doesn't shut off completely - he doesn't think he'd be able to anyway, given how strong the influences of the dream are. Feelings and knowledge still seeps through, keeping him fairly well in the loop, even if the details of things often remain unclear.

It's not until a bit into the conversation that Topher realises which Lucifer this is. Granted, he's never believed in God, so bible history isn't exactly his forte. It's interesting how it's far more difficult for him to process this than it is to see his TV shows come to life. But after all, if one fiction is true in another one universe, why not this? After that, the conversation makes a strange amount of sense, but it's still just as difficult to swallow.

Topher starts when Gabriel is stabbed, even if they all saw it coming. The pain runs deeply through him as well, both the physical and the emotional one, and as hard as he tries to contain it, it nearly brings him to his knees as well.

When Lucifer approaches Topher, it's all he can do not to leave the dream entirely, to run and hide, but he remains, standing like a deer in headlights. The name Lucifer calls him by barely registers, and then there is no more Lucifer.

As soon as the new setting asserts itself, Topher takes a deep (imagined) breath, and tries to reorient himself. Okay. Nothing but sand, so there's only Gabriel to focus on.

He hurries to the angel's side, dropping to his knees next to him, carefully laying a hand on his shoulder, seeing a chance to maybe get through to him. "It's okay, Gabriel, it's not real."