𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𖥸 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨

00 | One Good Turn Deserves Another

♥︎ — EDITED — ♥︎

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Pain.

     Everyone could relate, right?

     Pain was a factor of life. Everyone knew pain. From the smallest ant to the largest elephant — all creatures knew of pain, of suffering.

     Even Gabriel knew pain. More pain than he had ever experienced. Merging with his spirit animal was a punishment for what he had done, for trying to alter what was never meant to be.

     He had always asked himself, why? Why couldn't he have a spirit animal? And then he was offered one, only with a single sip of death itself. The cougar was his, but deep in his mind he knew that she wasn't. They were forced into a curse, a bond that was never meant to be. And when the source of that curse faded away, so did the beautiful animal he once called his own.

     It was his fault. He doomed them to this fate. He had to live with the consequences of that choice for the rest of his life.

     All he could do was drown away his regrets by taking long walks, relishing the soaking of his garments as a result of the downpour.

     The sound of rain always brought his thoughts to ease, anyway.

     Taking in a deep breath of fresh, moist air, Gabriel strolled through the streets of Stetriol's capital. While he didn't always think it necessary to go walking through the city while it was storming, he needed some time to think. Being cooped up in the palace wasn't doing him any favors.

     He was sick of being trapped with the others of the Court. He needed fresh air. He needed time to think.

     He needed a release.

     Since the Devourer War had ended, leaving him without his spirit animal, Gabriel had taken to life as a member of Queen Asteria's Court of Stetriol. He was her third in command, the most responsible out of the other four and the one who ended up getting hurt the most due to him being the only one who was good at his job, even under a blood oath. In his years as a member of the court, he had been stabbed, kidnapped, burned, yelled at, and mocked for his choice. But he didn't care. He had made his choice, and he had to live with it forever.

     Well he should have been expecting the pain, after all, since the other three were incompetent at their job. Ciaran, Asteria’s second-in-command had always been all over the place and never really organized in whatever it was he did, despite being the head of them all and taking orders only from Her Majesty. Pythios was hardly around since he was their spy, always away and watching the land for his Queen, and Luca was always off-task and the one who got distracted the most since he was the youngest and not that much matured. Why the Queen appointed him into her court he had no idea. Why he had to teach the boy was beyond him. Him? Of everyone? Still, he had nodded and taken the job, not like he could resist if he wished to keep his sanity, or his ears.

     Asteria had always been too empathetic, too gentle. She ruled fairly, but did have a dark side hidden beneath that forced smile. All the constant orders of putting down those who were plotting rebellion never ceased to make his stomach turn.

     He could still hear the screams of the peasants who could have been innocent as he plunged his blade into their flesh, and ended their life just like that. It was a vicious cycle, one that sadly would never end.

     Gabriel liked to consider himself someone who wasn’t a monster. But this job . . . well it had a good job of proving him otherwise.

     It was beginning to rain even harder by now, thick gray clouds rumbling in the distance and soaking him even more as he continued on. He had shoved his scarred, tattooed hands into the warmth of his pockets and tilted his head to the cloudy sky to feel the cold whiplash of the rain. It regenerated him, calmed his nerves for certain and allowed him for once to be at peace. They said cats hated water, but Gabriel did not. The water was his escape. The water was his freedom.