Chapter 81: The Throne
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Gabriel fulfills her purpose~
-x-X-x-
Heaven was made up of Seven ‘Floors’ for lack of a better word. Each ‘Floor’ was called Heaven in its own right, and technically none were supposed to be lesser or greater than any others. But… well, there were always differences. Nothing in reality was truly equal, no matter how much one might have wanted it to be so.
First Heaven was often termed the ‘foyer’ of Heaven. It was where their first lines of defense resided. If anyone wanted to visit Heaven, they would have to go through First Heaven. If anyone wanted to invade Heaven, they would also have to go through First Heaven.
Second Heaven, meanwhile, was a place filled with darkness said to have been there before God said ‘let there be Light’. It was in Second Heaven that Angels liked to observe the stars. It was also in Second Heaven that prisoners of the fallen angelic variety were kept. No doubt if Michael had had the power, he might have smote Issei down and spirited Gabriel back to Second Heaven in some vain attempt to ‘rehabilitate’ her after her Fall.
And then there was Third Heaven, the conventional form of Heaven that most mortals who still prayed to her Father believed in. Third Heaven was where the souls of the dearly departed who had earned Heaven found their eternal paradise.
On the other hand, Fourth Heaven would have been a little bit harder for most modern day Christians to stomach. Because Fourth Heaven was where the Garden of Eden and the original human experiment began. As far as humanity was concerned, the Garden of Eden had been a place on Earth. Perhaps because it was easier for them to accept that they were merely thrown out of a garden, rather than Heaven altogether.
Fifth Heaven was Azazel’s old stomping grounds, where he and his Grigori had originally gotten their start as a sanctioned organization that called themselves The Watchers of the Children of God. They kept an eye on Sacred Gear Users… and ultimately fell because of it. Even though Azazel and the original Grigori had all become Fallen Angels however, Fifth Heaven was still filled with research institutes and what not to this day.
Of course, if you got past the first five ‘floors’, you would reach Sixth Heaven. Known as ‘Zebel’, this was where Gabriel had resided with her brothers, her fellow Great Seraphs, for the past several hundred years. Sixth Heaven was where Gabriel had lived while she was blissfully ignorant of how Michael had restricted her. Thanks to his actions, her interest in humans had been completely stifled, leaving her ultimately disinterested in leaving Sixth Heaven.
Of course… it was also where they’d entered Heaven from. Why would Gabriel bother going through the first five layers of Heaven when the Sixth Floor had been her home for oh so long? Fallen she might be, but she was still her Father’s daughter… and she still had access to everything he’d wanted her to. Gabriel had to wonder about that. If she were Fallen… was she still supposed to be able to do the things she’d done? Shouldn’t her access have been revoked automatically by her Father’s Systems?
That it hadn’t been… well, it spoke of interesting foresight on God’s part. Because the alternative was that he’d somehow dropped the ball, and God never dropped the ball.
“We made it…”
Issei still sounds a little surprised by how easy it all was. Gabriel smiles as her beloved looks around himself, wide-eyed and in awe of what he’s seeing. She understands full well that he’s probably feeling a little overwhelmed right now. After all, it’s not every day that you get to see the place where God of the Bible lived.
This was Seventh Heaven. The final ‘floor’. Beyond Sixth Heaven, beyond everything else… this was where God had resided when he’d still been alive. It was also where he kept his ‘things’, meaning the Systems that allowed all of his creations and projects to continue functioning long after his death.
Her Father was never one for too much luxury or opulence, but his very nature was… grandiose in a way. Look at what he’d done. Look at all he’d created and tell Gabriel that he couldn’t be a BIT extravagant at times. Still, he preferred to spend his time and energy on others, not himself. By comparison to where they just came from, her Father’s floor of Heaven could almost be called plain… if one ignored all of the marble pillars and vaunted ceilings and beautiful golden filigree that his children had insisted on installing when they’d found out how plain their father’s rooms REALLY were.
Still, they weren’t here for sightseeing. They were here for one purpose and one purpose only… and it was sitting right across the room, almost innocuous in a way.
“Do you see it, Issei? The Throne?”
Blinking, Issei looks to where she’s gesturing and slowly nods. He seems nonplussed and Gabriel giggles as they begin to walk over to it. It doesn’t seem like much, truth be told. At first glance, it’s a beautifully carved wooden chair with a high back and seat that are both cushioned with plush royal purple fabric. Of course, it’s also so much more than that. This… this is the Throne of Heaven. The Throne of God. Through this Throne, her Father could do anything he wanted to.
“Are you ready, Beloved?”
Standing before the Throne, Gabriel looks to Issei and then glances back to where they came from. They’d slipped in through Sixth Heaven and made it all the way to Seventh Heaven before the alarms could be raised, but as they were entering this place, she’d begun to hear the sirens. Which meant that Uriel, the only remaining Great Seraph, already knew she was here.
And yet… he hadn’t come chasing after them. And that meant… that meant he didn’t have access. It seemed rather silly, but that was God’s design. Seventh Heaven was made to be impregnable. Its defense systems were ineffable, and thus impossible to circumvent… unless you were granted access by God himself.
Gabriel was, of course. As part of her quest to find a worthy successor, she needed to be able to enter Seventh Heaven with a mortal at her side. But only one mortal. Even Fallen, she knew this to her core. Only one mortal at a time was allowed to join her in Seventh Heaven. Those were the rules by which Gabriel could pass through the defenses of this place.
Would Michael have access too? She suspected he might. That was why she’d worked with Serafall and even Azazel to provide a distraction back on Earth. Of course, neither of them knew what she and Issei were truly after… in fact, Gabriel had purposefully misled them into thinking that she was merely trying to get her old things from her rooms in Sixth Heaven. The equivalent of returning to your place after a bad breakup while your old boyfriend was away… or at least, that was how Azazel had phrased it.
They’d been all too willing to help her out and hadn’t even questioned why Issei was going along with her as backup. She’d make up the deception to them later. When everything was done, one way or another.
“… I’m ready. Boost!”
Gabriel watches as Issei’s power doubles. Of course, he barely wastes a second before saying it again.
“Boost!”
His power doubles once more. Such an amazing ability, Boosted Gear. Oh sure, Gabriel was aware that it wasn’t invented by her Father. That the Boosted Gear and the Dividing Gear were both only possible because of the dragon souls used to make them. Boosting was Ddraig the Great Welsh’s power… a power that had been used for great destruction in the far distant past.
“Boost! Boost! BOOST!”
And yet… watching Issei exponentially increase his power with every boost he does, Gabriel can’t help but feel like this might have always been part of her Father’s plan. Even if Michael hadn’t done what he’d done, would she have ever really found someone among humanity who could have sat upon her Father’s Throne without the assistance of Boosted Gear?
… More than that, would any of Ddraig’s previous wielders have been worthy of this in the same way she felt Issei Hyoudou was?
“BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!”
There’s a sense of rightness to this moment, even as Issei’s power overwhelms her own for the first time since they met. He’d grown past her a few boosts back, actually, but only now does he completely eclipse her. Only now does she begin to feel like an ant standing next to a mountain as his mere presence towers over her.
A small smile spreads across her face, and she lets her eyes drift shut as she basks in the sensation.
“BOOST!”
Perhaps this was how it was always meant to be. Perhaps her brother was always supposed to betray her. Perhaps she was always supposed to be waylaid for all these years. Perhaps her Father’s plan had always ended here, with her and Issei together before his Throne.
“BOOST!”
Opening her eyes, Gabriel looks upon the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen. Such power. Such strength… and all in the hands of her beloved. Issei shakes with the amount of power he’s currently using. And takes a step towards the Throne of God. And then another. And another. Gabriel wishes she could help him, but she’s pretty sure that getting within a foot of him would vaporize her at this point.
All she can do is watch. All she can do is wait. Issei reaches her Father’s Throne… and all but lunges forward. His hands grab at the armrests, gripping what looks like wood. He squeezes down hard enough that if it was wood, it would have disintegrated outright in his grasp. But of course, the Throne of God remains intact.
Slowly, still holding onto all of that power, Issei turns around. Their eyes meet for a moment and Gabriel graces her beloved with a wide, adoring smile. It’s all she can offer him. She wishes she could give him more, but this is all she has. Fortunately, it is all Issei needs. He smiles back at her, a savage grin that shows his teeth grinding together and blood pouring from his gums.
Then… he slams himself down into her Father’s seat. He sits where God sat, upon the Throne of Heaven.
Gabriel watches with bated breath as Issei’s back goes ramrod straight. She watches as his head presses into the back of the chair, his eyes widening. She watches as he grips even harder at the armrests, his feet planted firmly on the ground.
As she’d told him, all he needed to do was sit down, take her Father’s Throne, and gain access to its power. Then, he would have the ability to maintain the strength his Boosted Gear was granting him right now… indefinitely.
However, there was one part of that that was decidedly easier said than done. The bit about ‘gaining access to its power’. Don’t get it twisted… if she didn’t think he could do it, Gabriel wouldn’t have suggested this course of action. But just because she believed with all her heart that Issei COULD manage the impossible, didn’t mean he would. There was every chance that-
“Gabriel. What have you done?”
Whipping around, her blackened wings come out immediately, spreading to either side as she shields Issei and the Throne from anything Michael might do. However, the Great Seraph doesn’t look like he’s going to launch an attack. Instead, he looks stricken.
“Sister… you… in your madness, you have cost your mortal lover his life. Why?”
Ah. That was why Michael wasn’t attacking. Because he’d arrived and seen Issei upon the Throne and assumed that the young man was already dead. To be fair, he would be correct ninety-nine percent of the time. Still, his assumption was born from a place of ignorance. Of arrogance. Straightening her back, lifting her head, and thrusting out her chin, Gabriel smiles a cold, mirthless smile.
“What have I done, Michael? Why… I’ve fulfilled my duty to our Father after all these years. I’ve done what you unknowingly stopped me from doing centuries ago when you crippled me. When you lobotomized me.”
She positively hisses out that last part. Michael looks saddened for a moment, before shaking his head.
“Gabriel… what are you even talking about?”
She opens her mouth to tell him all of it. To finally confess the truth of their Father’s last orders to her after all these years. Would he believe her? Would he decry her as ‘mad’ as he had mere moments before? Either way, at least the truth would finally be out there. And maybe, even if all of this failed, he would find himself thinking on her words in the centuries to come.
… But Gabriel never gets the chance to throw her last mission in her brother’s face. Because before she can get even a single word out, Issei’s overwhelming presence behind her simply… vanishes. Eyes widening in horror, heart dropping out of the bottom of her stomach, Gabriel whips around. She’s half-expecting to see a burnt out husk upon her Father’s Throne, just starting to flake away into so much dust right before her eyes.
What she gets instead is Issei’s smiling face as his eyes glow bright gold and his equally glowing body relaxes into the Throne. He chuckles at the look on her face, even as Gabriel and Michael both gawk at him. Only belatedly does Gabriel understand what she was feeling. It wasn’t Issei’s presence vanishing… but rather, it was his power harmonizing with the power around him. It was him becoming one with God’s System and with the Throne of Heaven. His presence hadn’t gone anywhere… it had simply grown so vast and so plentiful that Gabriel could no longer perceive it without looking for it.
“She’s talking about me succeeding your Father, Michael. She’s talking about a new God upon the Throne of Heaven.”
Issei’s voice booms out just like their father’s used to. Michael flinches back, his entire composure shattered in an instant.
“N-No… that’s not… that’s not possible.”
Puffing out her chest, Gabriel smirks as she interjects.
“Not just possible, brother… but always the plan. This was God’s last task for me before he died. To find the single mortal in all of humanity able to replace him. You nearly ruined it in your hubris, Michael. But even your failings could not stop God’s ineffable plan from coming to fruition in the end.”
Issei stands… but the power of the Throne stays with him. He is not as powerful as God himself necessarily, not yet anyways… but he has the potential to reach that point eventually. One day, he will fully step into the shoes he has just begun to fulfill.
“You have a decision to make, Michael.”
Gabriel tenses at that, waiting for Michael’s response.
[ ] Michael Falls... and flees Heaven - 17%
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