Drabble: Viator (Van Helsing, angelically)

[winter]

For shoiryu, who requested "Gabriel/Vladislaus... angelically!", a drabble and a half in 145 words. Plot point inspired by Hellblazer, though Hellblazer's Gabriel is a stuck-up git.


VIATOR (MESSENGER)

The first ray of sunlight falls on Gabriel's eyes, waking him. He sits up, reaches to the window. In his mind, memories.

The cold of the castle, the coarseness of the sheets are forgotten. Instead, he feels the brush of Raphael's wings, the heat of Michael's sword as they stood together. Watching the first light of the Word. Not looking at the empty place between Gabriel and Michael, where the brightest of them should have stood.

This is the way the sun shone over the ruins of Sodom. Over the bodies of the firstborn of Egypt. On the dark hair of a woman in Israel, when she smiled and cried at once, and Gabriel wanted to hug her, but he did not dare to.

For a moment, he remembers. Then Dracula's hands wrap around his shoulders, drawing him back into the darkness.

Gabriel falls gladly.

---

In other news, despite today's flood of posts, I have a headache the size of Gibraltar and 3 hours of Oracle Database administration ahead of me. Argh.

Comments

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

*squeeeeee*

[winter]

You like, then? :)

Tried to put in more Drac, but he took one look at me and muttered he doesn't do zombies. So all that's left of him are the disembodied hands ^_^

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Even if I don't get half the allusions in it^_^

[winter]

Hm, there aren't that many, are there? The Brightest one is of course Lucifer, and then we get a list of jobs Gabriel's done - Sodom is the sulphur rain on sinners thing, the Egypt is the last of the plagues, and the woman's Mary. It was Garth Ennis who first came up with the idea that a job description this varied is enough to drive any angel bonkers ;)

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I got Mary and Lucifer's allusions, but who's Ennis?^_^

[winter]

Ah right, I still haven't done that Hellblazer post :) Garth Ennis wrote one of the best runs of Hellblazer (issues 41 to 83) and in it he has this total git of an archangel Gabriel, who's having a little case of the doubts due to the conflicting demands of his job. Lovely little blasphemous thing, that.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I had thought of Gabriel as a Messenger, not really as a warrior. It wasn't until I saw Van Helsing that I heard the "Left Hand of God" line.

[guede-mazaka.livejournal.com]

*claps hands* Wow. I got two awesome VH drabbles in one day showing up on the flist.

[winter]

...come on. Where's the other one??? :D

[guede-mazaka.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've run across elefwin before--she writes...in a v. unconventional fashion, but she can paint a picture that regular prose or poetry can't capture. She wrote a bit here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/elefwin/243341.html).

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Gah! Such pretty imagery! GAH!

And I have such a weakness for films with angels or angelic/demonic reference. I'm collecting pretty angels to role-play and my other Gabriel would likely be testy if I took another...

[winter]

I'm quite afraid to ask who the other Gabriel is. The Prophecy version? ;)

I'm glad you liked my little vignette.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

It's actually the Gabriel from Constantine :D But I'm trying to resist a Constantine!mortalGabriel/Prophecy!Lucifer fi (which would allow for an ex-angel with family jewels). And if I brought Dogma's Metatron into the mix...

*randomly digs out the Gabriel icon*

[winter]

*squees*

*notices Vertigo!Lucifer's dark look and shuts up FAST*

Write it, please? :D

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I'll look into it ;) I've just got the image of Lucifer, Gabriel and the Metatron, all from different fandoms, sitting at a bar now. This would be the silly fic. The Luce/Gabe one would be dark and twisted and fun ;D

And out of curiosity, what's Vertigo?

[winter]

:D

Vertigo's the "adult" DC Comics imprint - the Lucifer there is the creation of Neil Gaiman, very Miltonian and rebelious and Loki-like <3 He appeared in Sandman and now has an ongoing title, Lucifer. The joke is that Hellblazer (the basis for Constantine) is also a Vertigo title, and the devil there (called Lucifer in the movie) is called the First of the Fallen to keep things separate. I wrote a vignette based on the comparisons of the movie and the comic, since other pertinent details were also changed (John Constantine's supposed to be an evil version of Sting for godssakes...)

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I'm terribly amused by the fact that joss Whedon based Rupert Giles on Constantine and freely admits that he's an AU of what Constantine could have been, if he'd gone down the dork road ;)