[M] A Reunion of Angels

The Angels words sat heavily in his chest because he knew that Achinoam was telling the truth, he wouldn't leave him alone to deal with everything on his own.

Belial was an independent person, he always had been, but even he knew when he couldn't cope on his own, he had tried for millennia to handle all the burden and it had left him emotionally crippled, unable to express himself, or feel what he wanted to feel for those close to him.

He gave his hand a squeeze in return, he really did appreciate it, Noam was probably the only person in existence that he could willingly accept help from.

"This may not be Heaven, but there is beauty here, if you look for it."

His words held a certain amount of fondness in them, Earth wasn't perfect, but it was better than his other option.

He led the Angel down the street until they reach a rather intimate restaurant, small but with an alfresco area overlooking the water.

He pulled the seat out for Achinoam and then sat down himself.

"There is beauty everywhere."

His eyes turned down to Belial. "Even Hell." A grin split across his features. "Hell had you and Lucifer."

Both were blindingly beautiful creatures no matter what habitat they were in.

A soft snort sounded when Belial pulled out his chair.

"I may have spent a long time alone, Lial, but I can pull out my own damned chair." Immediately his tone changed. He was not the old powerful Angel. He was just a man hanging out with a friend.

A decision he almost regretted when thunder sounded above him. He cringed, looking down. The sun was bright but the sudden sound couldn't be anything but thunder.

The Counsel didn't care what he did, but they were still monitoring his swearing. And warning him that he was going to get, excuse his poor choice of words, Hell when he returned to Heaven.

Belial chuckled and shook his head.
"Achinoam, always a charmer aren't you?"
He replied, a grin appearing on his lips, no matter what the situation he could find a way to lightening the mood.

"Way to ruin my attempt at being a gentleman."
He scoffed jokingly, laughing out as the thunder sounded, trust Heaven to have their Angels on a tight leash, even when they were on leave.

Belial looked up to the sky and smirk.
"Shut the fuck up."
One benefit of being damned to hell, no one gave a shit about what came out of his mouth, least of all, Heaven.

"I learned from the smoothest talker in Heaven." He arched a brow, lips quirking up at the Demon. Three guesses on who he learned it from and the first two didn't count.

Being able to lighten the mood was a skill of his. He could be serious; he could be playful; he could be smooth talking or he could be dangerous. He was good at finding a way to make the mood of a setting more tolerable.

"I wasn't going to make it easy for you, was I?"

His eyes narrowed when Belial swore without punishment.

He couldn't verbally swear...but there were a nice amount of rude gestures that he knew that he couldn't be punished for. One of which he showed Belial. He wasn't happy that Belial could swear and he couldn't.

His lips pulled into a devious smirk, Belial had a way with words when he wanted to charm someone, or convince them to do something.

"Smoothest talker in Heaven, Hell and on Earth."
He corrected with a chuckle, he had been in each of realms, a rarity for most.

His chuckle broke into a laugh as the Angel gave him quite a rude hand gesture.

"One of the small benefits of being a Demon, they can't dictate how I should behave.
Probably the only benefit to be honest, so don't look at me all scolding like that."

"I'll have to learn some more from you, try and catch up."

A large smirk pulled at his lips. "Perhaps even overtake you." He doubted he'd ever be a smoother talker than Belial. He was too rough around the edges to be able to smooth talk some people.

"Oh, pi-" He stopped mid word, eyes turning down to the table. No swearing. For ever swear he uttered, he just knew he'd get a nice punishment form the Counsel when he returned.

"Shall we get something to eat?"

"Good luck with that, while you were guarding the garden I was down here, living in sin and partaking in all manners of perversion, charming people in order to get my way.
You'll need more than a century of training to surpass me now."

He replied with a chuckle, being damned had it's perks, no one to dictate your actions to you and living in sin was a given, he could whore himself and drink himself into a stupor and nothing would happen.

His smirk widened as Noam stopped his sentence short, it seemed like so long ago that they were both being scolded for misbehaving up there, they had a knack for it, more so when they were together.

"We shall, before you waste away."
Belial signaled for a waitress who promptly brought them a menu each.

A purr sounded as he looked through the menu, eating at Italian restaurants was always so difficult, everything sounded good.

"I have a lot to learn, then, don't I?"

He had sinned. Many times. But never to the degree that Belial had been living his life since the Fall.

He had spent his time alone, occasionally looking down at humans wishing he was there; living as them. He didn't much like living in solitude with nothing but a sword by his side and the occasional Demon or Angel that he had to slaughter.

The two of them had been terrible while they had been together. If he remembered, the first Angels to sleep together while both the same gender. The Counsel had had a lot to say about that little venture.

Either way, they had had fun doing so and it definitely wasn't the last time they had done it.

He looked down at the menu for a moment before his eyes turned up to Belial. He didn't know what any of this was.

"Hopefully I don't rub off on you too much, you'll be in for some serious trouble when you head back if I do."

Belial smirked, the two of them had always been trouble when they were together, it was probably why the Counsel had them heading in opposite directions, Noam was on the path to becoming a Power and the other a Dominion.
A warrior and an officer, Achinoam would be out on the front line while Belial ordered around the lesser Angels, safe to say, their plan didn't work.

"Leviticus eighteen, twenty two."

He muttered with a smirk, they had always been rebellious, Belial was simply the one that had pushed it too far, but he had good reasons for doing so.

"Don't worry, I'll order for you if you want."
He added as the Angel looked up at him.

"I'm in for a lot of trouble anyway."

Already he had already sworn once. That was enough for a pretty nasty punishment. God knew what else he would be getting up to for the next century.

The man shrugged.

There were a hell of a lot worse things they had done than sleep with each other. He was surprised Father hadn't kicked them out way before Belial had talked of rebellion. They had done enough to get kicked out a hundred times over.

"If you wouldn't mind."

There was a lot he had to learn about this new place.

He didn't know enough about Earth.

Belial nodded, that much was certain, Achinoam had come to Earth to seek out a Demon that he should have slain, not embraced him and hung out like they did when they were young, he was in for a Hell of a lot of trouble.

"We never were very good at playing by the rules, it still surprises me that they let you become a Power after everything that we did."

Chances were over the last few millennia that Noam had behaved himself and now here they were, together again and undoubtedly going to end up doing many more sinful deeds.

"No problem."

Belial called over the waitress again and ordered a large selection of food, he'd let Noam try it all, see what sort of human food he enjoyed.

The woman returned soon after and placed the plates out in front of them.

Gnocchi, arancini, spaghetti and ravioli.

Typical Italian food, with Belial's help the Angel would quickly discover everything the world had to offer.

"We played by the rules just fine." His lips curled into a smirk. "We just played by our own rules rather than Father's."

Much to many people's disgust. Gabriel hadn't stopped bitching at him for not being the perfect Angel that he should have been. It was...annoying at times. But he could never resent the Archangel for it. Gabriel had been one of his closest friends.

"If it weren't for the fact that being a Power would separate us, they probably wouldn't have."

He had done very little to deserve the title of Power. If it wasn't for his potential to be a good warrior and the idea of separate him from his partner in crime, Achinoam would never have become a Power.

He eyed the plates set out on front of them silently. What were they? What did they taste of? What was in them?

"It's simply a shame that others did not see how valid our rules were."

Life would've been much easier if the Counsel didn't exist, but they had been very lenient with the two of them, they knew the power that both of them held and sort of straighten them out, so they could become an asset to Heaven.

Despite everything, Belial had no regrets, they had tried to rule over him and dictate who he should be. If he wanted to be intimate with Achinoam, they could not stop him, their disapproval hadn't stopped them before.

"Just try them, they're not toxic."
The Angel had a lot of learn, he held the wisdom and knowledge of Heaven, but here he knew about as much as an infant.

Belial picked up his fork and stabbed a ravioli, propping it into his mouth with a contented purr.

"That is false. Many liked our rules. And, though he did not admit it, Gabriel was fond of them himself."

He smirked and gave a little shrug. They had gotten to Father's favourite Messenger with their little rules. He saw that as a victory. Gabriel was the definition of virtuous. If he could be swayed by mere Angels in training then the rules of Heaven were not as perfect as they were led to believe.

"If I fall down dead on this Earth, Brother, you will be dealing with my wrath when I return for you," he chuckled as he speared an arancini on his fork. It looked good enough. And it smelled good.

He stared at it for a moment before biting into it.

He chewed slowly, giving a little nod. "It is good."

From what he knew from Angel's visits to Earth, they didn't have the ability to dislike food. Everything tasted good; they just had favourites among those. Things that they preferred eating.

"Really? Now that is news to me, good little Gabriel being swayed by a couple of delinquents."

The Demon chuckled, he never would've imagined that Gabriel could ever understand their actions, he had scolded them enough for misbehaving.

"Now now, Brother, when have I ever done anything that would likely lead to you being injured, let alone dying."

A small smirk appeared on his lips, there was countless times where Belial had led them into danger.

"I know, it is surprising how well some Human can create food, they are usual for some things."

"He does not say it but you can see it in his eyes. He gazed upon us with fondness as he spoke scolding words."

Among all of the Archangels he knew, Gabriel had been his favourite. He was his older brother figure; the one that set him right when he was led astray. Always there for him.

"We do not have enough time, Brother, to recount those times. The day descends quickly into night. We shall be here many days and nights to recount those ventures," he teased. The day was still strong; midday or just after. There were still hours before the sun would set.

But it would take more than a few hours to recount the times they had been injured in their plights.

"And even without you, I managed to nearly bring death upon myself many a time. Three of those times you would declare me in a state of madness for, I am sure." If nothing else about him, Belial would know of his near impossible goal to defeat an angel that ruled above them. An Angel that agitated him constantly. Jegudiel.

"Do not choke on what it is you eat for my victories are great and reckless."

His first defeat came little before Belial's departure, though he had never had the chance to tell his Brother of his victory. "First I felled Uriel in battle." His tongue passed over his lips. "And shortly after your Fall, Jegudiel fell to my sword."

Now for the one that would make Belial think him most insane. Uriel and Jegudiel had started as Powers such as himself. They were not as strong as the true three Archangels. It wasn't too shocking that they had been beaten.

"And finally I stood proud above Michael as he fell to my might." He had beaten him in battle; he who was equal to God. He had defeated the Commander of all Warriors in Heaven. Not without many scars and centuries of recovery. But he had done it. Stood above Michael with blood staining his robes red, his gold eyes glowed with the pride of his victory.

He had been named a Power above all else in Heaven.

"And I always thought that he resented me for leading you astray, he was always fondest for you but it was I that stole your affections."

Belial and Achinoam had been Brothers, and lovers, closer than any other beings in existence, there were many who were happy to see Belial fall, it had torn them apart and everyone's envy was quelled.

The Demon scoffed softly, grinning at his brother.

"Hardly my fault, you were all too willing to be led into temptation, plus you never could resist a fight, all I had to do was find one."

His cocked an eyebrow as the man spoke again, he had assumed that guarding the garden had been rather uneventful, he didn't think that Achinoam would continue in his reckless ways.

Belial's eyes widened in surprise, Uriel and Jegudiel were very strong, but looking at the Angel in front of him, his victory was not too much of a shock, he was a destined warrior.

The last name did have the Demon choking on his food, the defeat of Michael seemed like an impossible task and Achinoam would have been out of his mind to attempt such a thing.

"You defeated Michael."

He muttered in disbelief, his shock was evident from the expression on his face.

Belial held resentment for the Arch Angel, he had been the one who tore out his wings and thrown him into the pit.

But despite that he had never considered taking his revenge, it was more than likely that the Angel would kill him.

"You've lost your mind, Brother."
He shook his head, running his hands through his hair.

"He resented us both for going against Father's rule. But he was still fond of the two of us." Before the rebellion, none of the Angels could hate. Or rather, they believed they couldn't hate and that belief seemed true.

"My affections weren't something anyone could steal, Brother. They were given willingly to all who I deemed worthy of them."

Achinoam hadn't been monogamous. Monogamy was a useless human trait that the Angels had no need or want for. They did what they wanted when it came to their affections. Jealousy happened. But it was quickly resolved.

After he and Belial had done what they did, it had opened a flood of angels having sex with whomever they wanted. Multiple people at a time, male or female. None seemed to care.

"You would think Father's domain would be free of fighting," he mused as he speared a piece of ravioli and chewed it slowly. "The Angels were always ready for a fight." Always. Himself included.

He was probably the Angel that liked fighting the most.

"Do not choke on what it is you eat," he repeated with a roll of his eyes. "Perhaps I should have told you not to eat at all while you processed the news."

He nodded, his silver hair glinting in the low light. "I defeated Michael. I fought many in my time. I defeated Angels I never thought I could hold a token to. I wanted more. To come victor from fights out of my league."

His gold eyes strayed and be pursed his lips. "But when you are the strongest Power in Heaven, who do you fight? Other Elachim above than yourself." Elachim - the Angels that Father created. "I tried for the Archangels; Father's pride and Joy."

They had all been friends. Even after their defeat Uriel and Jegudiel had been friends with him. He had fought to prove his power not for malicious intent.

"But after defeating Father's favourite Warriors, who else could I fight? The Commander for his Warriors. The Angel equal to God. It was a plight of forty days." A holy number. There was a lot of Power used in that plight.

They fought for years on end. Neither took a break. Both with just their weapons and the Powers. Fight head on. Many injuries were caused. Much time was consumed.

He had been the victor. And yet his and Michael's kinship was intact.

"I did not have a mind to lose in the first place, Brother."

His eyes turned up to the sky and he sighed softly. "Michael and I will fight often when I return. I hope that I am not set in front of the Garden again and that I can use my time to fight and hone my skills." But he knew there was little chance. This meeting with Belial would be seen as an act against Father. If he wasn't stripped of his wings, he would be put into eternal servitude to stop him from doing anything that Father would not agree with.

"I know that better than most, Brother, but times were different back then, no one did what we did.

I am sure many of our kin saw our intimacy as an attempt by me to steal your virtue and your heart."

The Demon gave a soft chuckle, though they had both been as guilty as one another, the blame for being corruptive always fell on Belial, and they were wrong.

"I leave you alone for a few millennia and you manage to tear your way through Heavens ranks, besting even Michael of all people.

I'd accuse you of lying to me but I know you better than that, it's difficult for me to comprehend, I wish I could have been there to see you in your victory."

"Times were different but I was the same person then as I am now."

His lips quirked. "What virtue? I am perhaps the most corrupt Angel in Heaven. My virtue stands little now, Brother." He was not as virtuous as he had been on his creation. Far from it.

Achinoam's broad shoulders shrugged carelessly.

"And I would do once more. Life is not as fun there as it was when you resided there, Brother."

A soft chuckle sounded. "It would not have been a pretty sight. I looked like I had been torn apart by more than just Michael." He had been a complete mess. He still had many scars from that time. They littered his body, marring his pale skin.

"But now I have achieved goals way above my own, I find myself growing bored. At the risk of sounding rebellious, I wish to engage Father in battle. To try my hand against the very force that created me."

That was a death wish. Even more so than battling Michael had been.

"That use to be my claim to fame before I fell, the most corrupt Angel in Heaven, and now I am the poster boy for sin."

Belial smiled softly, stabbing an arancini and propping it into his mouth.
Living in sin was far more entertaining than being forced into servitude. He couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like if he had fallen with Achinoam by his side, perhaps it wouldn't have seemed like such a curse.

"Battling Father would be extremely foolish, if he can create you, he can destroy you, you would be signing your death warrant.

"Perhaps I am following in your footsteps, Brother."

He and Belial had been very similar when they had been residing in Heaven together, though Belial had been the calmer of the two; the smooth talker to Achinoam's sheer power and brute force.

He poked a gnocchi with his fork before stabbing it and bringing it to his lips.

"And that is why I have not acted on my wishes."

His lips pursed together. "If I did battle him, I would be damned to the fate of Death. I would be the first Angel to be killed rather than cast out..."

That sounded... He couldn't describe it. Terrible? Heartbreaking? Saddening. Exciting.

To be named the first of something was an honour for him. But to be named the first of something like that? He didn't know. It was a difficult thing to get his head around. It confused him.

"Oh, Brother, I have missed being able to sit around with you like this." He reached across the table to take Belial's hand, gripping it tightly.

"Now that is a frightening thought, I don't think this world can handle two of me."

There would definitely be a few people who would not be happy with that, or the fact that Achinoam was here.

He could almost imagine the look on Tony's and Aodh's faces, a Demon standing side by side with an angel.
They could not exorcise him now, Achinoam was still attached to the Holy power, he could stop them in a heartbeat.

"That is a sad thought, I'd never see you again."
He murmured, he hadn't thought he would see Noam again, but the possibility of it happening had kept his spirits up.

He gripped the man's hand in return.
"As have I, a century may not be long but I intend on making the most of what time we have."

"That I can believe. I said I was following in your footsteps, Brother, not becoming you. I wouldn't be able to cope with becoming you."

Belial was a very different person than Noam was. He could never act like Belial. He wasn't gentle enough. An odd thought, an Angel being rougher than a Demon, but nonetheless it was the truth.

"A thought neither of us should dwell on."

He smiled gently at the man. "All of Father's forced could not tear me away before the Century is over, Belial. We will spend this time together and any leave I have from now on in the millennia to come."

He enjoyed spending time with Belial. He wouldn't leave while he still had a chance to stay with him. Nor would he miss out on an opportunity to visit him.

Belial laughed softly, he couldn't imagine Achinoam acting like him, it was a disturbing thought to see the man so docile, despite everything the Demon was not a violent being, Achinoam was, he was a warrior to his very soul.

"You know I will eagerly await your visits, no matter how few they may be."

After the Counsel found out where Achinoam had gone on his leave they would put him back to work and the chances were that he would not see him again for quite some time, but Belial would wait for his brother's return.

He brought the Angel's hand to his mouth, kissing the top of it softly before giving it another squeeze.

"I love you, Noam."
He muttered softly, that much was obvious, he had always loved his Brother and now that he was near the Angel again, he could feel it also.