Inferno of God

11: In Which Gabriel Tries and Fails to Understand How to Treat Disease

Though neither of them had really expected it, Gabriel was still waiting at the shore when they returned, and happily assisted them in removing the boat from the water. When he saw Satan's limp body, he didn't panic, but simply stroked his hair and whispered a few comforting words, all of which seemed deeply unfitting for the man, and offered his home as a place for all of them to recover. He explained it was directly across the street from the home where they entered Heaven, and they gratefully accepted, then slung the demon over their shoulders to follow him on the walk.

It was a fine home, though no one present had the personality to say so aloud. The place was large, and beautifully furnished, yet quaint and simple, in a way, it was not dissimilar from the manor.

Satan was carried up to Gabriel's bedroom, where he slipped him into clean, warm robes, taking the time to make him comfortable in the bed. Je'sus and Adam were then given similar clothing, which, although horribly awkward and misshapen on their distinctly wingless bodies, was at least warm and dry. Afterwards, they were led down to the drawing room, where Gabriel took the time to set a fire, laboriously nursing it until it danced tall and excited in the fireplace.

"Tell me," Je'sus said slowly, watching him prod it with the poker, "why do you all use such old fashioned stuff?"

He laughed, as though changing to a more modern way of life was simply ridiculous, "Can you actually imagine us using all those funny little contraptions you humans make?"

"No, but I'm still interested."

Gabriel turned back to the fire and placed the poker back in its holder, staring into the flames silently. Gathering his thoughts "It's more for the pride aspect than anything else. Master God feels that celestial beings, such as dear Satan and I, should remain separate from mortals, and therefore, we mustn't use devices of their making."

"Does he also tell you to wear the robes?" Adam continued, picking the embroidery on his bodice.

"Yes, even the saved souls have to wear them."

"Gosh, do you guys do everything he asks of you?" Je'sus quickly corrected himself, realizing how rude his words could appear to someone raised as Gabriel was, "I mean, I'm a pretty obedient guy, but this feels a little excessive, don't you think?"

He digested the question, "I suppose, but I'm quite used to it, and unlike Satan, I never really had the courage or the will to rebel as he did." He sighed, "Well, at least nothing too horrible came of that."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Adam stood, looking almost personally insulted.

Je'sus stepped behind him and gripped his shoulder in case of an outburst, "let it go," whispered he, "it's probably just some kind of coping strategy, remember, he's probably in way more shock than we are," then as Adam took the time to collect himself, he did his best to distract Gabriel from the incident, "speaking of which, how about we go check on Satan, he seemed to be doing better after we got him warm."

And so they stepped upstairs, and although Adam had contained himself, he was still hesitant to follow them for fear of overcrowding the man, though he eventually agreed. Satan although his breathing was now steady, had obviously taken ill, thoroughly confusing Gabriel.

"How does something like this even happen? Illness is only supposed to happen to mortals." He turned to the boys for advice, which, and something about his helpless expression released Adam's anger.

"But it did, and I don't know if you remember anything from the last six thousand years, but right now, things are pretty bad, at least for those of us in Hell, and especially for this man who you've been calling your 'dear friend,' since we first met you, so stop denying it, and take a look at what's literally right in front of you," and without another word, he stormed out of the room, knocking over his chair in a singular satisfying, anger filled expression.

Gabriel propped it back up, and collapsed into it, tears shining in his uncanny, bright yellow eyes, "oh my," gasped he, "I have no idea what to do for something like this. He was always the strong one, you must know that, it's just so strange to see him under these circumstances." The last line seemed to contain a growl of anger, a sound which many mortals seem convinced angels are completely incapable of making. A rather stupid assumption, really, for if angels couldn't feel a full spectrum of emotions, it would only make Heaven unbearable for humans.

"It's okay," Je'sus said frantically, desperately trying to prevent the bout of sobbing he suspected was on its way, "Adam had a younger brother who used to get sick every other week, and Satan can't die, so we don't have anything to worry about."

He smiled a bit through the tears, "Fine then, what shall we do?"

"Well, I'll have Adam do a quick examination, and while that's going on, I will go to the kitchen to get some cold water, while you find us some rags, it may help bring his fever down, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you."

The period of Satan's illness was calm, and, like much of their experience caring for the rest of Hell's epidemic victims, quite boring. It soon became apparent that, in a way, Gabriel was perfectly aware of Satan and Baal's history, and his reactions had simply been a queer form of denial, as both Satan and Je'sus had predicted. Though the revelation only made things slightly less frustrating, it at least made Adam more willing to hold his temper.

The morning after first coming to Gabriel's house, Je'sus found a few medicinal plants while surveying the garden in front of Satan's house, and with their help, he was sitting up by the following week. The next day, he seemed almost recovered when Je'sus came to check on him. He was found sitting up in bed, reading a few sacred texts that Gabriel had left in the room for him. It was still terribly strange to see the man in such a vulnerable state, and he felt like he was invading Satan's privacy every time he coughed. Je'sus chose to ignore the feeling, as he had for the entirety of Satan's illness, and sat down beside the bed.

"Good morning Mr. Garci'a," he said hoarsely, looking up from a battered leather Qu'ran, "are you here to administer medicine?"

"No, I just came in to check on you."

"Ah, I see," he closed the book, and his tone shifted to something grave, "tell me, how has Hell been faring?"

"Not well, I'm afraid, there's hardly anyone left to do the necessary work."

He looked down, "Yes, I suspected as such. Could you please fetch Mr. Abelman and Gabriel? I'm afraid this conversation will require them to be present."

After they had been ushered into the room, Satan sat them down and announced that he had developed a plan to stop the epidemic. "Those plants you found, they need to be transported to Hell, I'm thinking we should create some sort of breeding program and then send over the results using a potion from God's private collection." He stared deeply at Adam and Jesus, "One of you humans should be sent back to Hell, and one should stay up here to prevent or remedy any possible emergency on either end."

"Cool," Adam raised his hand, "I'll go."

"Very well."

"What? Hold on." Gabriel stood, shaking his hands about wildly as he spoke, "We can't just steal something from Master God."

"Gabriel," Satan's eyes seemed to drill through the angel's head, "The worst that could happen, from the way I see it, is you being sent to Hell with the rest of us. Admittedly that predicament will be extremely painful both physically and mentally, you did, afterall, witness how it went for me, but at the very least you will be granted more personal freedom. If you have any other fears, please voice them, but even then, it is still your choice."

He began to pout like a child, "What if I'm sent to that lake?"

Adam chuckled, trying to mask his annoyance, "then we'll rescue you, of course."

At that he sighed exasperated, feeling thoroughly defeated, "Fine, I'll think about it, but if I were you, dear Satan I would really consider coming up with some sort of backup plan." Though to him, that answer was enough to hint that he would do it, even if it wasn't complete confirmation.