Work Text:
The silence of Limbo was usually comforting. Today, it wasn't.
Gabriel sat on a crumbling stone ledge overlooking a ruined courtyard(?), elbows resting on his knees. Their twin swords lay carefully besides him, polished, despite everything. Old habits die hard. Or perhaps they didn't die at all.
V1 stood nearby, one foot resting ontop of a broken pillar. The machine was occupied with cleaning its revolvers, methodical as always. A piece of cloth — Gabriel still wonders where it got it from — passed over metal, the cylinder spinning. Another weapon checked, then another and another.
It was listening to him talk. Gabriel knew it.
"And another thing," Gabriel said, throwing a hand into the air. "The Council truly expected me to simply continue as if nothing bad happened."
V1 looked up briefly.
"They stripped me of the Father's Light. Cast judgement upon me. Condemned me." Gabriel scoffed. "I didn't feel like I had a choice. Or maybe that, that I did and it was all too much."
The machine tilted its head.
"I'm fine."
V1 gave a thumbs-up, pulling a snicker out of Gabriel.
"Really? That's your answer to my oh-so-heartfelt confession?"
Another thumbs-up.
"You're an insufferable machine."
The thumbs-up remained.
Gabriel rubbed their neck, scratching at his golden marks.
"You know, centuries ago, angels were respected. Feared. Revered," Gabriel said, looking solemnly.
V1 slowly lowered the thumb.
"Thank you."
The machine gave a tiny nod, and Gabriel smiled despite himself.
They spent enough time around V1 to understand its strange little language. A thumbs-up. A thumbs-down. A tilt of the head. A shrug. Small gestures that somehow conveyed more honesty than most conversations Gabriel ever had.
"Do you know what the worst part is?"
V1 looked at them.
"The Light," Gabriel said, his voice softening. "I miss it."
The confession hung in the air. The machine stopped cleaning.
"I did not appreciate it enough." Gabriel was staring at the distant ruins, his gaze somewhere far, far away. "It was always there," they continued, their fingers curled together. "A certainty."
The words felt strange leaving his mouth. He recognised the feeling as vulnerability, and, well, he wasn't a big fan of it.
"I never doubted myself before."
V1 quietly set one of its weapons aside.
"I never doubted anything."
Another weapon joined the first. Gabriel continued staring forward.
"Now, every day feels..." They paused. The sentence refused to finish, and the courtyard seemed larger suddenly. A shiver ran through them as silence pressed tight against their chest. He swallowed before continuing. "...empty."
He didn't say anything after that, and not because there wasn't more to say. No, there was far too much. Words crowded their throat until none of them could escape. He remembered it all; The Father’s Light, the Council, the war, the endless bloodshed.
The certainty that perhaps they deserved every punishment that had been inflicted upon them. Perhaps the Council had been right. Perhaps they truly had failed. Perhaps—
Gabriel's thoughts spiralled. Downward. Downward. Downward. Downward—
He didn't even realise he stopped speaking, didn't realise he was staring blankly at the ground, didn't realise V1 had crossed the distance between them. Only when something touched their shoulder did Gabriel jolt.
A cold, yet gentle, metallic hand rested against his bare skin. Gabriel’s breath caught; they weren't wearing their armour, no chestplate, no shoulder plating. They considered they didn't need it, not now.
Nothing between himself and the machine's touch.
Trust. The realisation hit them immediately. They trusted V1 enough to leave themselves exposed. Maybe, just maybe, the thought should have alarmed him. Instead, it gave him comfort, merely making his chest ache.
Gabriel almost pulled away. Almost. Yet somehow they couldn't bring themselves to move. The hand remained where it was. It felt steady, patient — it felt like it was waiting for him.
Gabriel slowly lifted their head, noticing that V1 was looking directly at them. Somehow, its expressionless face carried concern.
The machine extended its free hand. An offer, Gabriel realised. He stared at it, then, after a moment of hesitation, he accepted it.
Cold metal wrapped around their hand and pulled. Gabriel rose to their feet — only to freeze as V1 abruptly stepped forward and hugged him.
The angel's mind went completely blank. For several seconds, they simply stood there. Gabriel remained motionless as V1's arms wrapped around them carefully. There was something beautiful in it.
The machine felt cold, of course it did, Gabriel thought to himself. Metal, steel. It was a machine. And yet... the embrace itself felt unbearably warm, unbearably human.
Gabriel hadn't been held in a very long time. Angels didn't hug. Warriors didn't hug. Gabriel certainly did not hug.
Yet here they were.
Slowly, almost against their own will, their arms lifted. One settled against V1's back, while the other raised to hold its "neck". The machine remained still, allowing it.
Gabriel's grip tightened, but just a little. Their forehead lowered until it rested against V1's shoulder.
Neither of them moved, and minutes passed. Or perhaps hours. Gabriel couldn't tell, and for once, he didn't care. The silence no longer felt empty.
Eventually, they pulled back, slightly. Embarrassingly, he immediately missed the contact. The realisation made heat crawl up his neck.
Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, he thought.
Gabriel looked away, trying to calm down his racing heart. When he looked back, V1 was still watching them. Carefully, like someone approaching a distressed animal. The comparison offended Gabriel, and that was because it was mostly accurate.
"I am fine," they announced.
V1 tilted its head.
"I am."
The machine remained unconvinced, making Gabriel fold his arms.
"Pity is unnecessary. I do not wish to be pitied, machine."
V1 immediately gave a thumbs-down.
The response was so immediate that Gabriel nearly laughed, the tension in his shoulders lessening. Instead, they shook their head.
"You and I are very different creatures, machine."
He felt V1 considering it. Then it stepped forward again.
Before Gabriel could react, an arm slid around their waist and gently pulled them closer. Gabriel froze.
The machine was becoming alarmingly bold. He almost missed its aggressiveness, its forcefulness. He didn't like the way he felt so vulnerable and so cared for at the same time.
V1 looked, felt certain, as though it decided Gabriel belonged within arm's reach. The thought should have irritated them. It really should have. But no, instead, it made their pulse skip.
Gabriel placed a hand against the machine's side to steady themselves, the metal beneath his palm smooth and cool.
Slowly, V1 lifted its free hand. It gave Gabriel plenty of time to stop it.
He didn't.
The machine's fingers brushed against the side of Gabriel’s helmet, tracing familiar ridges, studying them. Curious. Gentle. Gabriel stared. Once more, the gesture felt too close to human. That affected him more than anything else. Weirdly enough, it wasn't the battles, it wasn't the countless hours together, it wasn't even the moment when the Father's Light was ripped from him.
It was this. A quiet touch, its simple desire to know, to understand.
Gabriel exhaled shakily. Maybe they should have stepped away. Maybe they should have remembered what they once were — an archangel, a servant of Heaven, a being of divine purpose.
But the Father's Light was gone. The certainty was gone. Standing here with V1, Gabriel found they didn't particularly care, not anymore.
The machine's thumb brushed lightly against the edge of their jaw(?). Gabriel closed his eyes just for a moment, and when they opened them again, V1 was still there. Waiting patiently.
Still annoyingly stubborn.
"You truly are a menace," Gabriel muttered.
V1 gave a thumbs-up, pulling a laugh — a real laugh — out of Gabriel. The sound echoed through the ruined courtyard.
V1 seemed pleased with itself, which, for some reason, made Gabriel laugh harder. The machine offered yet another thumbs-up.
"Do not get used to this," he said, gesturing inbetween them. "It's beneath me."
Thumbs-up.
"I am serious."
The thumbs-up didn't lower.
Gabriel groaned, and the machine's shoulders shook slightly, almost like silent laughter.
As Gabriel stood there, in its arms, warmth settling comfortably within their chest, he realised something. The empty feeling inside of him hadn't vanished, and neither did the grief. His doubts were also still there. But they had diminished. And for now, that was enough.
Gabriel was suddenly awoken from their daydreaming as V1's arms had lifted from his waist, and traveled to his wings. His, precious, and very much sensitive, wings.
A shudder ran through them, making their chest tighten.
"Machine..!" Gabriel mumbled, a surprised gasp leaving them. The touch was strange, unfamiliar, but it felt oddly nice. Gabriel tightened his arms around the machine. Every quick breath that he took filled him with embarrassment. For a moment, he couldn't belive that he was letting the machine do this.
The cold, precise movement of V1's metallic fingers sent a rush of heat straight through Gabriel. Yet, he didn't pull away, instead burying his face into the crook of V1's neck, the faint hum of the machine’s internal engine vibrating against his own chest.
V1 didn't stop. V1's glowing optic flared in the light, capturing every hitch in Gabriel’s breathing, every involuntary twitch of his sapphire wings. Every rub, every drag of V1's hands against them sent a shudder through him. Slowly, its cold digits stroked down on his feathers, smoothing out tensed plumages with unexpected, almost reverent gentleness.
Another gasp betrayed Gabriel, muffled against the cold plating of V1's shoulder. His body felt unusually heavy, yet the weight of the machine pinning him close was the only thing keeping him grounded.
"What... what are you doing to me?" Gabriel whispered, his voice echoing a raw, desperate vulnerability.
He didn't like how out of control he felt, but oh did it feel nice to be touched like this.
As V1’s metallic fingers continued to trace the sensitive base of his feathers, Gabriel’s eyes drifted to the exposed neck joints of the machine. There, nestled beneath a shifting plate of blue armor, a loose wire flickered. Both determination and stubbornness filled Gabriel, sparking through through the angel's initial embarrassment. After all, he was — was the Judge of Hell, not some pliable plaything.
Their hand rose, fingers steadying as he reached up and hooked two fingers firmly around the exposed cord, giving it a deliberate, teasing tug.
The reaction was instant. The fluid, stroking movements on Gabriel's wings seized up, slowing down. Deep within V1, a heavy, resonant whirring sound kicked up as the internal cooling fans suddenly spiked to maximum speed, trying to cool down the currently overheating machine.
Gabriel's lips parted in a breathless smile, his chest swelling with an intoxicating mixture of pride and awe. He shifted the power dynamic with a single touch.
Emboldened(is this a word?), Gabriel continued fondling with the wires beneath his fingers. He didn't pull hard enough to damage them, no, he couldn't risk something like that, but he manipulated the wires with slow, agonising pressure, rolling them between their fingers and tugging at them in rhythm with the machine’s processing.
Under their touc,h V1 began to overheat. The metallic plates beneath Gabriel’s hands grew hot, radiating a warmth that rivaled the machine's initial coldness. V1's optic flickered unevenly, casting frantic, erratic light across Gabriel's flushed face.
Every glitch(?), every strained whir of the fans, and every sudden shudder running through V1 mesmerised Gabriel entirely. He leaned in closer, captivated by the sincere, raw reactions he was forcing out of the machine.
The machine had completely frozen up, its motor functions temporarily locked by the intense internal heat. Yet, as V1 shuddered from the strain of overheating, its rigid, unmoving fingers hooked blindly into Gabriel's plumage. Every heavy tremor that racked the machine resulted in a sharp, accidental tug against the angel's highly sensitive wings.
Gabriel’s back arched instinctively, another ragged gasp ripped from their throat. The unpredictable friction of the cold metal snagging against his feathers was almost too much to bear. It sent a wild, chaotic electric current straight up their spine, melting away what little composure they had left.
"Ah— Machine...!" Gabriel choked out, his fingers tightening blindly around the loose wire in V1's neck as he rode out the wave of intense sensation.
His quick, embarrassed breathing fogged against V1’s chest plating. The sheer contrast was dizzying — he was actively overloading the most dangerous weapon in Hell, yet his own body was completely helpless against the involuntary, clumsy twitches of its failing grip.
V1 became incredibly hot, and the heat radiating from its metal armor felt almost like a living fever against Gabriel. It's wings began to shudder violently, fluttering in a chaotic, noisy blur as if desperately trying to vent(ඞ) all the hot air out.
Gabriel lay there perfectly still underneath the weight, his breathing heavy and uneven. Slowly, his racing heart began to calm down in the deep silence that now floated in the air. They didn't let go of the machine, and they didn't try to push it away. He just sank his head back into the crook of his neck, pulling V1 even closer and wrapping his arms and soft feathers tightly around the rigid, metal body.
They just laid there, holding eachother in a tight, quiet hug. V1's body was still giving off a powerful warmth that heated Gabriel through its armor, while the angel's large wings covered the machine like a protective blanket. Without any more words, they stayed stuck to eachother, letting time pass by while they simply held onto one another.