foreigner's god WIP (part three)

Things pick up a lot after life begins in Creation. New assignments are handed out right away, a list of names already given, and Gabriel immediately makes sure to print out new files and send people out to hand notices to the angels who need them. Celestial bodies are to be created, the team to be headed by Lucifer; some organisms are to be ushered out from the ocean and onto the land, coaxed to grow and change and shift; landmasses and oceans are going to be shaped into different forms. 

Caphriel gets assigned to Celestial Bodies, specifically the Star Formation section. The angel is almost giddy with his excitement even when he’s trying not to show it. Dagiel, Eiael, and Haziel are assigned to Animals, although they’re supposed to be dispatched after the organisms that have already formed have been coaxed into their bigger iterations.

“Lucky,” Haziel says. 

“It’s not like you’re not going to see everything afterwards anyway,” Caphriel says.

“Yeah, but you get to see it before any of us,” Haziel says. “We’ll see everything after it’s made, not while it’s being made. Takes a bit of fun out of it, yeah?”

“A little,” Dagiel says. “Although is Caphriel really lucky when he’s not gonna see the healer for a while?”

“Shut up,” Caphriel immediately says.

Gabriel, from where he’s listening in on the conversation, laughs to himself. The healer had been dropping by frequently to check on Caphriel’s injury, although he hasn’t since it’s gotten better, so Caphriel had suspiciously started volunteering more for information dissemination. Not that Gabriel minds, since it makes his job easier.

Heaven’s almost done, and Creation is kicking off nicely. They’re keeping pace with their work despite it all, and not long from now, they’ll be able to finish everything and actually just relax. 

“Have you actually asked for his name, though?” Dagiel asks. “Awfully funny if you wanted to be friends and you never even asked for a name.”

“Of course I did,” Caphriel says. 

“What’s it, then?”

“...Aziraphael.”

Dagiel pauses. “If I didn’t know he was a healer, I sure do now.”

Gabriel blinks. He opens one of his drawers to find the letters from his siblings. Raphael had mentioned a fondness for one of his best angels. His best student, he’d said, not for any skill above all the rest but because he was always so much softer and kinder than all the others. Raphael knows that most of the angels have received their assignments simply because heaven needed them and not because they had any love for their craft, and that’s why some angels wrote reassignment requests, but one angel seemed to have a love for helping as much as Raphael does.

Caphriel had befriended Raphael’s protege. That’s nice.

“What about you, Haziel?” Caphriel nudges Haziel with a quick stretch of his wing.

“Ooh, this is news. You’ve made a friend too?” Dagiel turns in her seat to face her co-worker. “Who is it?”

“Lahabiel,” Haziel says. “He’s a healer. Pushed me out the way because he was on duty when we got into the accident at the construction site. He’s alright.”

“Good for you two, you get out of here sometimes,” Dagiel says.

“Come with us sometimes,” Caphriel says.

“And this entire place gets tanked without me,” she says, laughing.

“True, we’d be nowhere without your color coding.”

There’s a ring from the front door. Gabriel goes to get it, not wanting to have the others get their conversation disturbed. He waves Caphriel off when he starts to stand to get the letters.

There’s three. One from Lucifer, one from Michael, and the other with no name and only pristine gold lining on the edges of the envelope. The letter doesn’t have a single crease.

Gabriel hurries to his desk, putting the letters from his siblings aside. The other angels have noticed the almost-glow of the letter in his hand. The conversations around the office quieten to a hush as Gabriel opens the envelope.

It’s from Mother. A list of names of more angels - the last one they’re ever going to receive. There’s ten thousand angels on the list.

“Gabriel?” Dagiel asks.

“The - we’re complete,” Gabriel says. “All the angels have now been created.”

The office is silent for a moment. After a while, Caphriel gets up from his seat to knock on Eiael’s office, Dagiel laughs in delight.

“I thought we’d never get done,” she says, “But - we’re complete. All of us?”

“All of us. We’re all here,” Gabriel says. He doesn’t understand the excitement that’s building up in his chest right now. He doesn’t even know why he’s excited in the first place. He’d known that the angels would all be created eventually, but he’s actually happy to know they’re all here.

It’s the sense of closeness, he thinks. The sheer delight someone has when welcoming a new member into the family. It’s just love, pure and simple, and the joy of having everyone finally on board so they can all enjoy heaven together.

Eiael hurries out of their door, eyes wide. “All the angels are complete?”

“Yes,” Gabriel says, lifting the letter to show them. It doesn’t crease, still. “We’re all here. We’re complete.”

Eiael grins, slowly, but it’s blinding in its fullness. “Heaven is complete.”

“Well,” he says. “I wouldn’t say that, we still have our buildings yet to make.”

“Yes, but do you - do you feel that?” Eiael puts a hand on their chest, like they’re trying to point to something inside of the chest of their corporation. “It feels whole. It feels whole.”

Oh. He hadn’t been able to put a word to that.

Caphriel puts a hand to his own chest, realizing exactly what’s stirring inside. Heaven is complete, and Heaven is whole, and they can all feel it and it feels wonderful.

Gabriel smiles as he watches everyone realize what’s happening. This is how Heaven truly feels, this wholeness. This is home.

-

There is a new project to be made. It is called Earth. 

The department has thankfully already been ready with the rest of the assignments that have been handed out, so all that's left is filing them under a new cabinet labeled appropriately, making copies, and then posting everything on a bulletin board outside.

Everyone in the department - well, maybe even everyone in Heaven, save for the archangels - although Lucifer and all the angels assigned to Celestial Bodies are still putting the finishing touches on their stars - seem to have their own assignments. 

“Thank Her we're done, then,” Hannah says, as Eiael and the others get ready to meet the other angels assigned to animals. They don't exactly have a place to go to when they're not working, so the department has just been the default area for them to hang around even when they're doing nothing. 

“I can't believe we're actually done,” Dagiel says. 

“You sound bummed out,” Haziel says. “You should have just been assigned angel of paperwork.”

“She already is,” Caphriel says. He's on break since he's been given time to think about how he's going to make his first nebula. “Unofficially, but we decide what's official, so she's angel of paperwork.”

“I'd sign that,” Eiael says. Several angels in the office laugh. 

Hannah looks thoughtful for a moment. “Wait, do we?”

“Do we what?” Eiael asks. 

“Decide what's official or not,” she says. 

“We're the job department,” Caphriel says. “We sort of do.” He looks around, trying to see what everyone else thinks, but Haziel just shrugs and Dagiel just frowns as she thinks. 

Eiael turns to Gabriel's desk, which is unfortunately empty right now since the Archangels are having a meeting. 

“But do we, though? God gives us the assignments,” Hannah says. 

“If… that's the case,” Dagiel says. “Then why did we have to form the department in the first place?”

“We had to make some sort of system,” Haziel says. “Put order to chaos, and all that.”

“And if it was - “ Caphriel tries to find the word. “ - wrong, why did She not just tell us to stop?”

Hannah fidgets. A pinched look creeps on her face. 

“Hannah?” Eiael asks. “Are you okay?”

She takes a while to answer. But angels don't lie. Or, at least, the concept hadn't been invented yet. 

She says, “Just...worried.”

“She knows what She's doing, we just have to trust her,” Eiael says. “There's a reason we have this department, and there's a reason why She gives us these jobs on top of what we already do.”

“I do trust Her,” Hannah says. “It's just…”

Everyone waits. 

Hannah waves a hand. “Nevermind,” she says. 

“I think if we did something wrong, She'd just tell us so,” Caphriel says. “It's not Star Formation, we just have to talk.”

Haziel shoves his shoulder. He snickers. 

“Brag when you have to think about things like anatomy,” Haziel grumbles. 

“I do, just the anatomy of a star.”

Haziel huffs, and Caphriel laughs. Eiael just shakes their head and lets them be. Dagiel puts a comforting hand on Hannah's shoulder, squeezing gently. 

Later, they leave for Earth. Caphriel leaves when the bell tower rings and he hears Gabriel's voice resounding through Heaven, calling for all angels assigned to Celestial Bodies to gather. The department is a little quieter, and everything goes on the way it always does. 

Hannah sits in her seat, wringing her hands together. For the first time in the history of existence, anxiety is invented. 

-

Caphriel lands on a clear spot in the middle of the city square. They're having a quick meeting before they fly out back into space - and funny word, that, space, for a huge area of just...space - maybe from a change of plans from the Archangel meeting. 

Lucifer is standing by the fountain, a statue all on his own from how picturesque he constantly looks, all elegance and long, curling tresses that nearly reached his corporation's feet, not that the concept of statues and ‘picturesque’ has already been invented, although Caphriel will remember this scene randomly one day, when he is no longer called Caphriel, and laugh so hard he's lucky he doesn't need to breathe. 

He looks strangely… blank. Like he's lost in thought, and hasn't noticed that some angels have already gathered around him. Caphriel does not personally know Lucifer, and he’s only talked to him a few times for when he had questions, but he's always been warm and accommodating, exactly like his namesake. 

He looks cold, right now. 

After a while, he seems to snap out of whatever funk he's in, and he smiles, halo manifesting behind him, seeping through his corporation from how much warmth he's radiating. 

“Hello, everyone,” he calls out. “There's been some news as of late, so I'm going to have to pick some of you to help me create the stars in a specific part of space.”

Caphriel frowns. If there had been job designations, he would have heard about it.  Maybe it was an emergency? 

Lucifer, as if aware, ducks his head in apology. “I know this comes as a shock, as it's not in the bulletin, but this is urgent work. And it's - “ He pauses. “Mother commanded so.”

Oh. That's what the meeting had been. Caphriel pays just a bit more attention, the rest of the angels doing the same as well. 

“She told us that we are going to make stars for a very specific solar system,” he says. “In order foster life on Earth. And as everyone else already has their assignments, we have to be quick so they can continue with theirs.”

He claps his hands. “So. I'll pick some of you to accompany me, and everyone else will carry on as usual. I do apologize for everyone whose teams are short several members.”

Caphriel doesn't get picked, but that's fine. He's seen Earth, at least from afar, and he's actually quite proud that he gets to design a whole nebula and direct some of his brethren on which goes where.

He flies with his team when the meeting ajourns, and he gives them a quick rundown on what he wants. It's not quick work since they have to balance gravitational fields and everything, but it's fun. They scatter dust and light, gather some into belts and spread some out a little farther from each other. Caphriel wounds a strand of his hair around his finger and smears it into red dust across the darkness of the void, plucks a feather from his wing and sends it rocketing in a streak of light, a nameless phenomenon for now. 

Some of the colors they want are giving them trouble, so one of the angels suggests they borrow some of the pigments Michael's troops use, and they fly back to Heaven, which is a lot busier now than it used to be, although most angels are still out at work. 

He stops by Gabriel's department before they leave again. The office is emptier than usual, with only three angels at their desks.

“Hey, guys,” he greets. 

“Hey, Caphriel,” Daniel says. 

Caphriel glances at Gabriel's empty desk. “Where's Gabriel?”

“At another meeting, I think,” Daniel says.

Mother's probably giving more and more instructions, then, and with the department having too little people to work, they wouldn't be able to catch up enough to make paperwork, but hopefully, messages are still getting across fine. 

Knowing Gabriel, if all else fails, he’ll probably just pick up his trumpet again. 

Ah, well. Maybe Caphriel can see him next time. 

He makes sure to pass by the temple where the Archangels usually meet together as he heads back to work. Maybe he'll catch Gabriel as he's leaving, even just to ask how he is. Maybe he could remind him about the day off project so he could see Eiael and the others on Earth. 

He bumps into someone else rushing across city square. He almost gets knocked onto his feet, but luckily manages to find his footing. 

“Apologies,” he mumbles, and blinks as he stares at Lucifer. 

The closest Caphriel has ever seen the expression on his face is when Hannah had asked a weird question in the office a while ago. She'd pursed her lips, and her shoulders had been drawn up, and she was wringing her hands together. Lucifer has bunched up some of his robes in his hands, like he's trying to walk faster and make sure he's not going to trip, his jaw is tight, and his eyes look a little damp. 

Caphriel doesn't know what to call the expression. He doesn't even know what emotion the Archangel is feeling. 

“Oh, Caphriel.” Lucifer's expression smooths out. “Have you finished your nebula?”

“No, we just had a bit of trouble with the colors,” he says. “Thought to borrow some pigments from the construction guys.”

“Ah.” He nods, and then finds nothing else to fill the silence. 

“Have you finished your meeting?” Caphriel asks, awkward. 

“Yes,” Lucifer says. His tone is clipped. 

Caphriel wisely doesn't push. “Ah, okay. Have a - have a good day, then,” he says.

Lucifer sighs, not at Caphriel, but seemingly to himself. He smiles, as much as he can even though Caphriel can see he doesn't mean it (and why would he do that - why would anyone do that,  why would anyone try to convey something anything but the truth?) and inclines his head downward. “Thank you, Caphriel.”

He leaves, in a calmer pace than he had been before. Caphriel stares at him, not quite knowing what's just happened. 

He feels something terrible stirring inside him. He doesn't know where it's coming from. All he knows is that it's there and he doesn't like it. 

He flies off, hoping work will take his mind off things.