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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[theoldgirl]

It surprises her to hear there's someone else involved in helping Gabriel, but she trusts him to have an idea of what's going on wherever he is in the waking world, and she is so relieved to know they won't have to worry about that particular facet of this ordeal that she completely misses the doubt behind his words.

His next admission is somewhat less surprising, but a lot more disconcerting. She'd gotten an inkling of other dreamscapes when they quickly switched through them before, but then she became too engrossed in his pain to completely formulate that realization. Now she understands that it must be almost impossible for him to let go of these other minds while he is straining so hard to hold onto himself, and... she can't really think of a way to help with that as well.

As soon as it occurs to her that she might not be able to escape either, his utter fear for himself and others shudders through her, again threatening to make her panic and bolt. But she refuses to allow his emotions to get a hold of her, and reminds herself that she has absolutely no intention of leaving him. They've reached a fairly stable combination of their efforts to contain his power, at least for the moment, and it will hold until he is released.

If he manages not to panic, that is. Somewhat wearily she shuffles over to his side and lets herself lean against him lightly, companionably providing something to lean on in return. Mindful of his wings, she places a hand atop his in the dirt. Obviously the important part of her use to him is her telepathic support, but a little physical comfort has never gone amiss, at least to those more entrenched in physicality than her, which Gabriel seems to be. "Then we shall wait," she assures him patiently, doing her best to mask her increasing exhaustion. Really, this wouldn't be so hard if this universe wasn't keeping her in a permanent state of tiredness to begin with. And if she was a few hundred years younger. But no matter. "And I will do what I can to pull the others out, if necessary."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel doesn't resist when she shuffles in closer. He's a little surprised by the gesture, but even so, he lifts his hand and clasps her hand to his.

"It shouldn't be long," he reassures her, though the worry still racing through him betrays his easy reassurance. He waits with her like this for a while, his body taut and waiting, holding back the tidal wave of his Grace. Meanwhile, he babbles, because it's too hard to focus on anything meaningful and too much to sit in silence.

He speaks low and with just enough precision to be comprehensible, "When I'm out, I'm going to bring you so much candy you're going to drown in it, you just wait. Or booze, or cake, or whatever it is that sentient time ships like to shove into their semi-corporeal mouths. Or...whatever it is you have. Ah-" His voice trails off for a moment, losing steam under the stain. He takes a deep breath, swallows, then continues. "Definitely any part of my anatomy. Part time loan on those. Though I have a feeling you'd...rather have the candy." He huffs out a pained gasp and his eyes close in concentration. Everything hurts, but especially his wings. It's so intense that it's as if they're being torn from his back.

The very idea of losing his wings makes him shudder and his stomach roil. Could that be a result of this? He hadn't even thought of that before now, but it's entirely possible that, if no one comes, the only way out of this alive might be to rip out his Grace and become human. He feels a surge of panic, deep seated and raw, before he remembers to contain it. As an exercise in concentration, he stretches out his wings, feeling the presence of each painful joint, the brush of feather against feather. They're painful, but they're still there. "They have..." He only brings his wings half of the way back from their stretch, forming an instinctive protective barrier around himself and the TARDIS. "Candy with booze too. And liquor that tastes like candy. Cake soaked in rum. It's delicious."

[theoldgirl]

His talk of candy brings a bemused smile to her tired face, though she soon realizes it's his way of expressing gratitude. And how did he know how much she likes sweet things? She certainly wasn't thinking about it. A lucky guess, perhaps, but now that he's going on about it she warms to the idea too. Besides, she's quite familiar with certain people's need to babble in the face of danger, so she listens gladly.

To be honest, the distraction is somewhat helpful to her too as the pain she's feeling through him gets worse. His shudder makes her tremble with exhaustion, a reaction she can't seem to stop entirely for some time. And the next surge of panic, more powerful than the ones before, force a small gasp from her throat as she struggles to resist the almost overwhelming urge to run. Curse her deeply rooted instinct for flight, as though she were a spooked beast of burden. In a physical expression of her own forced self-control, she draws her legs in close and entwines her fingers with his tightly, mirroring his taut bearing.

When she feels something large and soft brush against her shoulder, she lifts her head to watch his wings move behind them. She has no concept of beauty to apply to them, but she gets the clear impression that they're not just a part of his body, they're who he is, and through him she feels a profound sense of importance and attachment for them. Then his stream of words runs out, perhaps too weak to continue, and she turns back to look at him and pick up the conversation.

"I have been meaning to try every kind of sweets available, so your contribution will be greatly appreciated," she assures him with as much enthusiasm as she can muster through somewhat labored breaths. "When you bring them, you must come inside and let me show you my interior. I have..." She stops to lick dried lips and think on which rooms the Doctor likes to impress his companions with. "A swimming pool, and several libraries containing most of the literature ever written in my universe. There is a zeppelin hangar and a menagerie, with animals extinct on their own planets. A mountain range, a squash court..." She trails off, frowning vaguely as her concentration is dimmed by the weight of her tiredness. "No, no, I lost that one. Or will lose it? And where did I put the steeple chase? Entropy must have gotten to it..." While she speaks, she sinks against Gabriel's side more heavily, but her efforts to contain him are unfaltering. "Oh, you should see the hat wardrobe. My Doctor adores it. Spends hours trying them on. Amelia disapproves, of course."

[has_a_horn]

"Never met a girl with a zoo inside her before." He hums a sound in the back of his throat that in any other situation might have developed into a laugh. Now, though, he just waits, gripping onto her hand. He nods after a moment, finally letting his eyes shift open. He doesn't look up, but he knows that by now everything about the setting around them, save the ground stretching out into the distance, has disappeared. "That'd be good."

He's aware, now, of just how much this is taxing both of them, can feel her trembling against him in the effort. It seems like forever that they stay, holding in his Grace together. He slumps against her, and is just about to reassure her again that it won't be long, when he realizes that someone is trying to wake him up.

He doesn't move from his hunched position, but he does widen his eyes, a flare of hope lit amongst the pain and tension. "He's here. I...if you could hold on. Just a little longer. I'm not safe for him." He takes a deep breath, trying his best to ignore the pull of the room and the hand shaking him awake. "I'll let you go, then." He doesn't have time or the ability to explain in any more detail. He's thrumming with the desire to get out and get out now.

In the blink of an eye, he's gone, and a blank whiteness fills the empty dream space as the tension and pain builds to a crescendo.

A minute later, Gabriel releases his hold on her and all that she can sense of his emotions and pain vanish with it.