Subject: [OTL]: Love and Abbadon 3/3 (Sandman/? xo) Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 16:36:35 -0800 From: Anne Marsh DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Remiel and Duma belong to Gaiman and Vertigo, and the others... For now I'll just say they belong to a Mr. Smith... Love and Abbadon Pt.III- In which Remiel first returns to Duma, and in which a message is delivered. The angel landed, folding silver wings. He walked to a pensive Duma, to lay a comforting hand on the silken shoulder. Duma smiled, rising fluidly to his feet and moving into a brief embrace. His eyebrows begged the question. "No, Duma. Nothing is-- wrong. Not really. I am fine. Really." 'Then what?' asked the touch of a hand on his arm. "They are here. More former denizens of Heaven. Seperated. I have a message for one of them, when I go back that way." The hand dropped to Remiel's hip, somehow bringing forth further confessions. "A Seraph and a Grigori. Death and the Watcher. Yes, they are here." The tilt of Duma's head was more than enough to convey 'how?' "They became mortal and were killed." Another questioning look, and Remiel couldn't meet his eyes with the answer. "Bartleby killed him." Duma's hand tightened on Remiel's body, and he held the former angel of silence close for comfort. So he wasn't the only one bothered by it, affected this deeply. Duma's face pressed into the space between neck and shoulder, and Remiel felt, rather than saw, the next unspoken query. "The message? Loki still loves him." --//-- "Stop." Remiel held up a palm, and the demon obeyed, scurrying off. Bartleby raised his head, still weak. Always weak. The pain from his beating still pounded in his head. "Bartleby..." "Remiel..." He attempted a smile. He was met with failure. "I have a message for you. From Loki." "Loki..." His eyebrows knit with worry. "You mean Loki's here?" "Yes." "He doesn't deserve to be her." "He seems to feel that he does, but I'll tell him you disagree. I must give you the message, I promised him that I would. Though, I fear it will pain you to hear it." "What does he say?" Bartleby braced himself for the worst. For Loki's hatred and resentment. He knew it to be righteous, deserved, but he was glad it was Remiel bearing the message. To hear it from Loki's own lips would surely break his heart in two. "He says that he loves you." Remiel answered simply, moving onto his next charge before he could catch a response. And as the guarding angel disappeared, a smaller and smaller silver dot on a smog-coloured sky, Bartleby wept. How could words he wanted so badly to hear only serve to make his pain worse? --FIN-- PS- the answer to that question is like selling real estate. Location, location, location.