Chapter 11
Gabriel
If the word “home” gave Gabriel warm fluttery feelings in his chest, he could just ignore that. The hot cocoa, however, could not be ignored.
“This is divine. Was it an upstairs or downstairs creation?” he asked, taking another sip. He may have been moaning in pleasure a bit, but Levi didn’t seem to mind.
“Not everything wonderful was created upstairs or downstairs. Humans make some truly beautiful things. We’ll have to do a concert, play, or art museum next. All human creations,” Levi answered, sipping his own cocoa.
They were sitting on the deck looking out over the ocean, the sun shining down on them, and Gabriel couldn’t help breathing out a sigh of contentment. This was ever so much better than the mountain debacle.
“I still don’t understand the allure of mountain climbing. It was cold. And it was messy. And it’s risky for humans. Really, why do they even bother?” Gabriel asked.
Levi shrugged, looking thoughtful. “Some people enjoy pushing their body to its limits. They feel proud of accomplishing something they didn’t think they could.
They can’t fly, either, so the view is amazing.
Some humans even enjoy the cold—surely they wouldn’t live in such cold places on Earth if that wasn’t true.
Most of all, though, I think it’s just the nature of humankind. ”
Gabriel stared out at the sea—vast, deep, and full of life.
He knew humans dove deep to explore that as well, despite all the risks it entailed.
Underwater truly was beautiful, so Gabriel understood the allure.
He thought mountains that weren’t so cold or had stunning views would be enjoyable to climb, and he could appreciate that some humans wanted the sense of accomplishment of doing it on their own.
But still, a freezing, dangerous mountaintop?
“It wasn’t even one of the most glorious natural wonders. It was beautiful, but there are other less dangerous yet beautiful sights,” Gabriel mused.
“It isn’t just about the beauty. Well, for some humans it is.
But for others… Mount Everest is the tallest peak in the world.
Some humans view everything as a challenge.
If there’s something to be conquered, they’ll conquer it.
Others feel that being at the highest point in the world is closer to god, and the hardship they face to get there seems to prove that to them.
Some humans are just ridiculously competitive, and they always want to be the best.” Levi shrugged.
“There are all different sorts of motivators, but most humans don’t climb Everest. Some people like to watch documentaries and movies and read books about other people who climbed the mountain, because they find that inspiring. Humans are very interesting.”
“Is that part of why you stayed topside so long?” Gabriel asked. He hadn’t really meant to ask, but the question just popped out.
“Possibly.” Levi thought for a moment before continuing.
“I do love humans and all of their creations. They are magnificent beings, and we’re all connected, after all.
Perhaps each one has a little of us in them, and we have a little of them in us.
We all come from the same place. They just have more freedom, and although some of them do horrible things with that freedom, some of them do amazing and impossible things with it. ”
Yes, Gabriel supposed Levi was right. Humans were their own unique and beautiful creation, but somewhere along the line, Gabriel had forgotten that fact.
Over time, delivering messages had become…
mundane. It was always his job, but perhaps he had lost some of the joy in his work.
Perhaps he had forgotten why he was bothering to deliver messages to begin with.
There were amazing humans. There always had been since the dawn of their creation. Some of them were remembered, but some of them… they had burned brightly, changed the world, and then been forgotten. But Gabriel remembered.
In remembering, he felt a bit inadequate next to the complexities of human kind. He wasn’t nearly as interesting. In fact, he was rather… boring. Buttoned up.
“What has you frowning?” Levi asked.
“I am just realizing that my existence is rather boring compared to many humans,” Gabriel admitted.
Levi put his cup down, walked over, took Gabriel’s cup and placed it down, and then crawled into the angel’s lap.
It was rather awkward, but also sort of nice.
He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, but Levi leaned in and gave him a kiss, and when he pulled away from the press of their lips and the gentle tangling of their tongues, he found his arms had acted quite without thought and wrapped themselves around the demon.
Levi leaned against Gabriel. “Buttons, you are not boring. You have seen things that no one else has seen. Yes, humans have accomplished amazing things, survived horrible times, and changed their very world. But, some of those things would not have been possible without someone cheering them on and guiding them from the sidelines. That’s you.
Divine intervention: helping humans since the beginning of time. ”
“I suppose so,” Gabriel admitted.
“I bet you can prove it. Art spans the ages. It is human created, but sometimes there’s divine intervention. Take me to see a piece that one of your messages somehow influenced.”
Gabriel thought for a moment, his arms still wrapped around Levi.
Of course he’d given messages to artists over the ages, sometimes having to do with their art, and sometimes not.
There were many pieces of art and literature that had changed the world because someone wanted a message delivered.
Still… one painting came to mind, and Gabriel couldn’t seem to think of anything else.
He unfolded his wings, wrapped them around them both, and transported them.
The museum was, of course, not empty, since this was one of the artist’s most famous works.
He kept both of them cloaked, however, and put them directly in front of the painting.
They were invisible, after all, so it wasn’t like they were blocking anyone’s view.
“Ah,” Levi commented. “I didn’t expect you to choose such a popular piece of art. Van Gogh’s The Starry Night is beautiful, though.”
Gabriel stared at the art, thinking back to the room at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. He could still get lost staring at the textured swirls and lines on the canvas. There was depth to the painting, both literally and figuratively.
“He considered it a failure, you know,” Gabriel told Levi, staring at the painting and smiling. “He would probably be pissed off that this is one of his most famous paintings. He’d have a lot to say about that.”
Levi was staring at him, not the painting. “You knew him well? You delivered a message that made him paint this?”
Gabriel shifted a bit, and he saw Levi raise his eyebrows out of the corner of his eye.
“Buttons, why are you fidgeting?”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Well, I was instructed to give Van Gogh a message. And I did! Of course I did! Word for word, read straight from the scroll, heavenly lights and everything. I even had some singing angels in the background for that one.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there,” Levi said, snuggling into Gabriel’s side.
Gabriel didn’t think before wrapping his arm around Levi this time. Well, he didn’t think much, anyway. The demon seemed to think that touching was transcendent, and Gabriel had to admit that he really did enjoy it.
“My sanctioned message was before the asylum. He was a fascinating man, though, and I was interested in his art. He was going to quit painting, you know. I waited and waited for a message to come in. I kept expecting it… but it didn’t come.
” Gabriel shrugged and blushed. “It isn’t against the rules, per se, and I didn’t actually do the whole angelic glory and singing choir and all that, anyway.
I just… whispered a bit of encouragement to him. That’s all.”
Levi was staring at him, and Gabriel couldn’t help a slight twitch.
“I can give messages, too, you know. I deliver messages from any afterlifer, and I am an afterlifer,” Gabriel defended.
Levi leaned up and kissed him again, then Gabriel enfolded them both in his wings and transported them back to Levi’s home.
Levi squeezed him tight before pulling away and going to sit down. Gabriel sighed. As much as he would like to continue doing things on their bucket list, he did have a job to do.
“I know that sigh. You’re thinking about work,” Levi accused, but he was smiling.
“Messages need to be delivered. I don’t expect you to—”
Levi cut him off. “We’re a partnership, remember? Of course I’ll help. It’s kind of fun to figure out unique ways to give them. Plus, now that I know we can give our own messages…” Levi winked as he trailed off.
Gabriel blushed, clearing his throat. “Yes, well, I don’t often do that sort of thing.”
“But sometimes you do. It was more than Van Gogh, wasn’t it?” Levi asked. “How many of them created something amazing? Or changed the world for the better?”
Gabriel blushed again, and Levi said, “Mmhmm, I thought so.”
“Well, they aren’t all successful messages.
From others or from me. Sometimes I try to be encouraging, but the humans end up really misunderstanding things.
Or they just do what they want, which is their right, after all.
Free will, you know.” Gabriel couldn’t help adding, “Henry certainly didn’t cooperate. ”
Yes, that one still rankled quite a bit.
“Henry?” Levi asked.
“The divorce wasn’t so bad, and organized religion was hoarding wealth, but really—the whole killing of the wives things got a little out of hand. That was not at all what anyone wanted to happen,” Gabriel grumbled.
Levi burst out laughing.
“And then there was Mary. Don’t even get me started on her.
For someone so religious, you’d think she’d take a message seriously and stop burning people alive.
For a good decade or two, you couldn’t have a fireplace in Limbo without someone being traumatized.
There were whole fireplace-free zones.” His message had been clearly understood, too—Mary just did what she wanted.
“You spoke to quite a lot of that royal family, it seems,” Levi stated.
“Elizabeth was by far the most pleasant to deliver to. She took messages seriously,” Gabriel responded.
Levi laughed again. “Oh, that was a lovely time. So many pirates. Although some of them were ‘official’ with letters from the queen, so I tried to keep my ship-eating to the really blackened souls.”
Gabriel smiled fondly at Levi—although he wasn’t sure when eating ships had become cute. Somehow, it had, though. He could just imagine Levi with some octopus or whale or something gleefully sinking ships. The smile faded, however, as Gabriel got back to thinking about work.
Levi seemed to sense his mood. “Come on over, Buttons, and we’ll sit down and look over the messages. Then maybe we’ll have time for another bucket list item later. We’ll get more done together, so I’m sure we can manage some free time.”
Gabriel did go and sit down, and they both took tablets and began going through the list. It did indeed go faster with someone working with him, and Gabriel found himself entertained and even laughing when they discussed some of them—Levi always had commentary on the phrasing.
Gabriel didn’t want to actually give the leadership team credit for doing anything right, but this partnership was turning out to be a rather wonderful experience.