Darker Angels

Tazzy, Miss Murder, DarkCrusnikMagician and KaieAithne: Thanks for the reviews. I sincerely appreciate them. Sorry, I tried to make this smutalicious but the boys went for sweet rather than salacious. *sigh* Sorry about that. I'll try to wrangle them into a bed soon.

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Abel made a small sound in the back of his throat and Gun pulled back suddenly. “What’s wrong?” he asked, one hand still buried in the depths of Abel’s silver hair.



“I don’t . . . I mean . . . I’m not . . .” Abel stammered, blushing furiously. “I’m not sure,” he said weakly. Not really wanting to reveal the other reason he had wanted to pull back because even in his own head it sounded ridiculous. Who in their right mind thought it was cheating when the person they felt they were cheating on was long dead? There was something that was not even remotely close to right about that thought. Then there was what Cain had said about his “thing” for redheads. Gun was a beautiful, wonderful person and Abel really wanted to be with him minus any hesitations or regrets. But there was still that lingering doubt as to whether he was truly seeing the other man or if all he noticed was the long red hair that was so like Lilith’s had been in the firelight.



Gun smiled a little at Abel, sensing the reasons for his discomfort. Not to mention the fact that he had just calmed down a bit from being *very* distraught. “That’s okay, Abel. We can take this however you like,” Gun said gently, putting an arm around him and settling back against the edge of the large wingback chair facing the fireplace.



Abel allowed himself to be pulled against Gun’s chest, setting his head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. It seemed like it had been forever since he’d been this close to someone else. As a general rule he tried to keep his distance in order to have the other person stay relatively safe, both from his enemies and from himself. At this point he really wasn’t sure who he considered the bigger threat. But Gun was wholly different from the Terrans he usually associated with. There was no fear in Gun of either Cain or the Rosenkreuz order. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself in any situation that might arise due to training, the fact he was an archangel’s earthly avatar (that still amazed Abel) and his parentage. He had been completely unfazed by Abel’s Crusnik form and even considered it beautiful simply because it was a part of him. This was nice, Abel thought. It had literally been centuries since he’d felt this at peace with himself and the world around him.



“Gun?”



“Hmm?” Gun said, his fingers sifting through Abel’s hair.



“Thank you.”



“For what, Abel?”



“This,” Abel said, burying his face into Gun’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”



“You have nothing to be sorry for, Abel,” Gun said, continuing to pet Abel’s hair. “Nothing at all.”





“Hey, kids, I have some news,” Reicher said, addressing Star, Skye, Circe and his husband.



“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Oracle asked.



Reicher shrugged. “It’s a thing.”



Oracle rolled his eyes. “No one could ever accuse you of clarity, my love.”



Reicher glared at him. “Very funny. I mean, it depends on your point of view.”



“Are you going to tell us what you found sometime tonight or do Skye and I have to get a vision of the consequences?” Oracle said testily.



“I need to fuck you more often, don’t I,” Reicher said, smiling. “You’d be less cranky.”



“Get on with it!”



“Okay, okay. Scheisse, Brad. I rolled through Abel’s head a little while ago and I’m not so sure I like what I’ve seen there.”



“Did you ask him if you could do a scan or did you just go in without his permission?” Skye asked, thinking she knew the answer and didn’t like it.



“He wants to do the horizontal bop with one of our sons, Skye. I’ll be damned if I’ll ask permission to go digging in his head.”



“Skye, how many centuries have you been trying to talk manners and morals into him?” Oracle said. “So, what did you find during this blatant invasion of privacy?”



“Maybe the reason he can never seem to beat Cain even though he’s technically stronger. He’s cut his Crusnik part almost completely.”



“So, what does that mean, Mater?” Circe asked.



“At full or close to it, he functions almost like a split personality. He feels that part of him is something unclean and can’t really bring himself to incorporate it. 02 recognizes Abel’s authority over him but just barely,” Reicher said.



“That would explain a lot,” Circe said. “It would probably be why 02 didn’t recognize any of us and only registered Seth as another Crusnik, not his sister.”



“I take it Cain has no such trouble with his Crusnik form,” Oracle said.



“No,” Circe said. “His Crusnik form has been fully integrated for as long as I’ve known him. That might be why it’s so much easier for Cain to shift in and out of forms than Abel.”



“I’d have to do a more thorough scan but it almost feels like 02 is a sentient being. Which would make a full integration harder even though it makes perfect sense for him to be that way.”



“Yes. That does make sense,” Oracle said thoughtfully. “If Abel has cut that part of himself off so completely and doesn’t want to recognize 02 as being a true piece of his consciousness it stands to reason that 02 would eventually start to function as a whole unto himself.”



“It gets worse,” Reicher said tersely. “It seems that Cain is also in Abel’s head. I’m not sure how long he’s been there or why but it’s definitely him.”



“Aw, fuck me runnin’,” Star said.



“Crude but appropriate sentiment,” Skye said.