I just keep coming and coming with these cliffhangers, huh?

"Oh no, no, fuck - Gabriel!"

Michael's alarm spikes when Gabriel barely responds to the shake. His eyes don't open, and oh God, the reason Michael noticed him is because the entire area around him is lit up with the Grace bleeding from a chest wound that's severe enough to have painted the ground and what looks like both of Gabriel's arms red - did he try to stop it from bleeding, some futile attempt to heal himself in the middle of a fight, Michael's mind is too full of panic to even think about trying to figure out what must have happened.

Ne can always ask Gabriel.

Michael tells nemself that.

Michael winces when ne shoves nir arms under Gabriel, lifting up and Gabriel groans but Michael's already flying.

Ne lands unsteadily in the Hogwarts hospital wing, staggering and listing to one side because of nir bad leg. Michael's already shouting for Aziraphale, and Gabriel makes a high-pitched whine that Michael never wants to hear from any of nir siblings again.

Aziraphale's eyes go wide, and he yanks Gabriel's jacket off. Michael helps him magic the shirt off, put him on a bed, and the wound only looks worse in the stark light of Gabriel bleeding out of it. There's already blood everywhere, Michael can feel it drying in nir shirt, but that's not what ne's worried about.

Aziraphale barely puts his hands on the wound, trying to see how far it goes, but Gabriel screams.

Michael can feel the backlash of Grace, managing to stand nir ground just because of how weak it is. Aziraphale still goes flying backwards. Michael bends over Gabriel, cupping his face, trying to get through to him but there's no response beyond groans that hid strained Enochian pleas that Michael forces nemself not to listen to. Aziraphale picks himself out of the wreckage of the cabinet with shaky movements, brushing off glass shards and fixing his vessel.

Aziraphale can't do it, so healing falls to Michael. Ne dearly wishes Raphael was here, this has never been Michael's job, Michael just destroyed and then Raphael patched up nir siblings and everyone else was responsible for cleanup.

Please, please, let me do this right. Michael's desperate enough to pray again. If you're somewhere you can help me, Raphael, please.

Aziraphale can help hold Gabriel down, Gabriel expended himself so much with that wild flare of uncontrolled Grace that it's easy (too easy) to hold him down. Michael braces nemself, and pushes in to the wound.

The reaction is immediate. Gabriel's back arches (too grounded in the vessel, makes it that much harder-) and his true voice tears the hospital wing apart, windows shattering but Michael refuses to let nemself lose nir concentration because one misstep-

Gabriel begs nem in hoarse, mindless Enochian to stop, please and it takes all Michael has not to put nir hands over nir ears.

It takes far too long to finish, for Michael to press together and reattach the parts of Gabriel that have been rent apart, to patch what ne can't fix and pull back, leaving the wound still far too raw and open for nem to stomach, but at this point Michael's too drained to do much else.

Gabriel's lying on the bed, barely moving except for the hitch of his chest and the random spasms of his wings in response to whatever pain he's still feeling. There's sweat beading his skin and Michael can feel the stickiness of it when ne lays a hand on Gabriel's forehead.

Rest. It's the kindest thing ne can do for Gabriel right now - if he's unconscious, he won't be in pain. Any angel injured this badly before would have been given over to the other angels - the ones who took care of those too badly injured to heal. Michael shakes the thought away. Ne never would have let that happen to Gabriel.

But ne doesn't leave, either, simply sitting and waiting. It's a little silly to think that anything else could happen to Gabriel here, but Michael would rather be overcautious than not cautious enough.

Aziraphale had helped to fix nir leg, and then repaired the windows as if trying to find something to do that did not involve reminding himself of Gabriel's condition. He'd ducked out around sunset, probably to investigate Hogwarts's library.

Michael had tried to read something, to give nemself something to do, but it was too dark now to read and ne didn't have the power to relight the torches or the knowledge to do it manually. Ne'd settled for keeping eyes on Gabriel - his chest was rising and falling, which meant Gabriel still had the energy to keep a dead body acting like it was alive. That was good.

This was good. They would both make it out of this.

Gabriel shifts around midnight, attracting Michael's attention immediately. All he does is turn his head, but his wings curl up around him instead of slumping uselessly on the floor.

Michael is so intent on divining if he's about to wake that ne doesn't notice the presence behind nem.

"He'll be alright."

Michael shoots to nir feet and turns - or meant to, and would have if nir leg had not twisted in exactly the wrong direction. Michael makes to grab the chair to stop nemself from falling as hands - physical hands - catch nem.

"Sit down," their Parent says softly. "I shouldn't have startled you."

Michael only stares, allowing Them to push nem gently back into the chair and sit in the one next to nem. They cast a soft look at Gabriel, linking their hands in a contemplative manner. For some unfathomable reason, They have chosen to physically manifest Themself looking like Chuck Shurley.

"Can't you fix him?" That's the first thing ne says to Them. Michael inwardly curses nir human impulse, but holds nir metaphorical breath for the answer.

"You've done well," They say. "It will heal fine without my interference."

Michael doesn't say that it will heal faster and cause Gabriel less pain if They do interfere. Ne doesn't know what to say - what are They even doing here?

"You planned this," is what ends up coming out of nir mouth.

There's not a lot of light, but Michael can make out Their smile. "And it worked out," They say. "I'm glad you two reconciled."

"Is that why You put me here? Did You - put Gabriel in that vessel?" A part of Michael is wondering what the Hell ne's doing asking so many questions of Them, but the human part of Michael is burning with curiosity.

"Oh," They muse, "I arranged things, certainly. That vessel - well, something had to be done, I thought why not him?" Their eyes fix on Michael, an intensity that by far outweighs Dumbledore's x-ray gaze. "Haven't you guessed why I made you human, Michael?"

Michael thinks. Ne's thought about it before, of course.

"To learn what I did wrong."

Michael knows the moment ne says it that it's not the right answer. They don't sigh, not exactly, but Michael still slumps in nir chair before remembering exactly who ne's sitting in front of and making an effort to straighten.

"Don't blame yourself for all of that," They say. "I expected too much of you - expected that you would do as I had intended without actually remaining there to tell you what I wanted you to do."

"Does-"

"I am not coming back, Michael."

Michael slumps, again.

"Why not?" Nir voice sounds very small, even to nem.

This time, They do sigh, almost inaudibly. "If I could change that without changing a single other thing that happened," They began, "and don't interrupt, Michael, I may be omnipotent but I do obey the rules of My own universe, and time travel does not work that way. If...if I could change it, I would not leave without notice."

So it is not leaving that They regret. Michael swallows down nir disappointment.

"Why did You leave?"

"For the same reason I put you here."

Michael can't fathom how those things would be related. Being human and running Heaven are two entirely different things, but They are looking at nem expectantly and Michael scrambles to find an answer.

"Was..." ne begins slowly. "Is this about...You not being there to tell us what to do?" But that would mean- "That - You wanted me to-"

"Free will," They muse aloud. "A tricky subject, isn't it? And not one any of you like to broach." They pin Michael with a knowing look.

"We were created to serve You," Michael says weakly.

They sigh again, more going through the motions of it than actually meaning it. "After the Leviathan, I wanted Creations that would not be nearly so wild. I overdid it a bit, I admit. Humanity - there's a good balance there, between wildness and willingness to listen. With you..." Now They look almost regretful, and Michael instinctively wants to do what ne can to solve the problem that is causing that- "...Lucifer, really, was My mistake."

"Mistake?" Michael's shocked enough that ne can only parrot the word.

"Yes," They say, "mistake. Lucifer refused to listen, and I grew angry enough that I didn't look to see the consequences of My actions. Do you think, if I had not punished him so soundly, that your siblings might be more open to the idea of making their own decisions?"

The honest answer is yes, but that is not what Michael is thinking about.

Eyes softening, They lean forward. "I should not have made you do it," They say quietly. "Making you my instrument in casting Lucifer down wasn't kind to you."

It had to be done, Michael almost says, running on automatic. What ne does say is, "I wish You hadn't."

"Yes," They say, "So do I."

Michael is quiet for a long time. They do not push nem to speak, leaving the two of them in an almost companionable silence.

"Does Gabriel know?" Michael asks, after what seems but probably is not a long while.

"Yes," They tell nem. "I've spoken to him already."

Michael might have been jealous, once upon a time, that They had spoken to Gabriel and not nem first. Now, ne's just glad that ne doesn't have to tell Gabriel that ne heard from their Parent and he didn't. Ne glances at Gabriel, silent but no longer silent enough to be unsettling.

"He misses you," Michael says, and then, "we all do."

"Oh, Michael," They say, "I never left you completely."

There's the sensation of a brush of lips against nir forehead, and then Michael is alone again.

Ne takes several steadying breaths. The pain in nir leg is down to nearly nothing, other than a slight, dull twinge.

Michael knows that this is probably the last ne will see of Them for a long, long time. Ne takes the words to heart.

There is much of Heaven to fix, ne knows, and plenty who will benefit from hearing reassurance from Them.

Yay? Slight hint of stuff that comes after.