neutral_omens | (no subject)

Entry tags:

ellie,
uriel

(no subject)

Date: June 5, 2000
Setting: Library
Status: Private (Uriel, Ellie -- Complete)
Summary: Uriel is worried.

Uriel walked through the corridors of the Manor, pondering several things. The one most pressing on her mind was Raphael's leaving. Although she could not feel the difference between Heaven and Earth that other angels experienced, she could understand that the healer would want to feel the Presence more strongl. It was his own decision to return, and she could do nothing but respect his choice. However, it caused her something of a problem.

Sure, Raphael had recommended an obstetrician in his letter, and she was sure the doctor was more than qualified to care for her -- otherwise Raphael wouldn't have even mentioned the name. However, she was quite doubtful about trusting a human doctor. How could she explain her almost complete lack of medical history? What would she say if she was asked something about her family's medical history -- or that of the child's father's? "I've no parents or siblings, so nothing bad there, but the father has had about every illness in existence"? And if the baby happened to have wings, how would she explain such a "deformation"?

Sighing, she rubbed her temples. She would have to figure that out sooner or later, but at the moment she didn't want to think about it any more. She needed something else to think about.

Therefore, she headed for the library. There she would surely find something to occupy herself with.

Uriel had unexpectedly ran into people upon entering the library too many times to let her guard down as she neared the door. Therefore she sensed the being inside before even entering. Deciding that she couldn't hide from everybody forever, though, she did open the door and stepped in.

Seeing the succubus in the library, Uriel recognized her as Ellie. Instantly she recalled the events of the Frigga Blot and sighed. If Ellie didn't know about her pregnancy for sure, she at least had very strong suspicions -- or had no brain to speak of, which Uriel sincerely doubted. Either way, Uriel had to ask her not to tell her information -- or suspicions -- to anybody. Although they would find out sooner or later, she didn't want to risk anything in the early stages of her pregnancy.

"Excuse me?" she thus said carefully. "Could I talk with you for a moment?"

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Ellie glanced up from the book she was reading--another crappy romance; honestly, she could have written much better. Maybe she should try--and frowned slightly.

"Sure," she said, gesturing to another chair. She hadn't exchanged any meaningful words with Uriel since the angel had come requesting access to Sugarplum, but Loki's comments the night of Frigga Blot had been kicking around the back of her head ever since. If the god had been implying what she thought he had, the Severer was potentially in for a world of hurt. "What's up?"

Uriel sat down, sighing a bit. She suspected this would not be easy.

"Let me go straight into the matter," she thus said, looking seriously at the succubus. "From what little I know of you, you don't seem stupid. And one would have to be a complete idiot not to get at least suspicious from all those comments that good-for-nothing brother-of-a-brother of mine threw around in the Frigga Blot."

Only partly conscious of doing so, she drew her feet up onto the chair she was sitting on, wrapping her arms around her knees. The next part meant taking quite a risk. However, if she told the succubus not to tell anybody about her suspicions, it would be as good as confirming them, so she could just as well be open about it. "To show that I want to be honest about this, I'll confirm your suspicions just in case you weren't certain already. Yes, I am pregnant."

After a momentary silence, she then asked, "What could I do to convince you not to tell anyone about this?"

Ellie set her book aside and stared at the archangel unblinking for a moment. Blessed angels, she thought, all the subtlety of an out-of-control freight train.

"That will cost you two things," she said levelly. "Tell me who the father is, and listen to an ugly little story. A cautionary tale, if you will."

"The father?" Uriel raised an eyebrow. "Only my brother knows that at the moment -- and no, it's not him. I do still have some kind of morals, despite the fact that I'm having an illegitimate child. Incest would be stretching those morals a bit too much."

She sighed. "I apparently have no choice but to tell you, though," she said quietly, "for I cannot let people know about my pregnancy before I'm absolutely unable to hide my condition. I must beg you not to tell this to anyone, either. Not that most people would even believe you, mind you..."

Drawing a deep breath, she said, "It's Pestilence. No, he doesn't know. And he must not find out." She gazed seriously at the succubus. "It's a complex little tale with quite some heartbreak involved, so I'd rather not recite the circumstances under which the conception took place. It was fully consensual, though, just in case you were wondering."

Resting her chin on her knees, she bit her lip, looking at Ellie. It went against her very nature to trust a demoness, especially in such an important matter, but she had no choice. She had to agree to Ellie's terms -- and hope that she had more sense of honour than most of her brethren. "You've got your information now. Do tell your tale, whatever it is."

Ellie's eyebrows shot up at the Horseman's name, and she quelled a bitter laugh as the angel spoke of heartbreak. As far as she knew, whatever the circumstances of their tryst, Pestilence was still alive. How a Horseman of the Apocalypse happened to get an angel up the duff, as John would so eloquently put it, was a questiont hat could wait.

"Once upon a time," she said without preamble, "there was an angel whose smile was like the sunrise, and whose eyes were pools of dew. He was a faithful servant of his Lord, strong in the Presence and filled with love for all His creatures.

"This angel had the ill luck to succumb to the the wiles of a demon--a succubus who foolishly thought to snare a member of the Host, thus greatly increasing her standing among her sisters. But her plan worked too well, for while it was in her nature to inspire lust, it was equally the angel's nature to inspire love. And so he did.

"When the succubus conceived, the two fled together, fearing for the saefty of their child, and the punishment that awaited them if their secret was discovered. They sought help from a human sorcerer--a good man in spite of himself," she smiled slightly, "and a champion of misfits. He found them a place where the child could be born, hidden from the eyes of Hell.

"What he did not know, or had forgotten, was that the greatest threat did not come from Hell."

Ellie's face twisted into an involuntary grimace. "And lo, it came to pass that in the city of London a child was born, a daughter who was an abomination in the eyes of Heaven. And a choir of angels appeared to herald the birth.

"They drove a flaming sword through the throat of the father, and he burned. And they took the child still unnamed from its mother, leaving her to bleed. And never from that day has the fate of the child been told."

She studied her clasped hands, not really wanting to see the angel's reaction to all this. "If I were you," she concluded softly, "I would take whatever steps were necessary to stop your good-for-nothing brother-of-a-brother from spilling the beans to anyone else, and I would not set foot outside the Manor for any reason whatsoever until after I'd delivered."

Uriel listened to Ellie's tale, deadly silent. She could tell that this was not just a story made up for cautioning; instead, this was a true tale -- Ellie's own tale, most probably.

Her eyes filled with tears that she could not stop, fear and sorrow fighting for the major vote in her heart. "How can such a thing happen?" she asked once Ellie had stopped speaking. "That's -- that's monstrous!"

She tried to wipe her tears away but they simply kept falling. "It was not His will that the angel was killed," she whispered. "The only punishment He ever commands upon any of his servants is the Fall -- I should know that. And nothing the angel did was worthy of that punishment."

She wanted to say more, but the words caught in her throat. Instead she now pressed her face against her knees and wept, the horror of the tale mixing with her own fears, making her unable to stop crying. If she'd before been distressed about the safety of herself and her child, now she was doubly so.

Before, she had only feared that demons might take advantage of her condition. Now she had come to know that her own brethren might actually be more of a thread.

Who could she trust anymore?

"Adam promised to keep us safe," she then murmured, more to reassure herself about that fact than to inform Ellie about it. "He promised to keep me and my child safe..."

"And I imagine he will. Look, Uriel, don't let it frighten you out of your wits," Ellie said, knowing she sounded cold, but she couldn't help it; her sympathy for the Severer could extend only so far. "That isn't why I told you. But for Someone's sake, be careful. I won't tell anyone else, you didn't need to bribe me for that. I have no desire to see the same thing happen again."

She paused. "And if you care about the Horseman at all, find a way to warn him. Since we don't know who gave the order, we don't know what line of logic or what precedent they're following. But whenever there has been an incident of this kind in the past," she was thinking now of the Nephandi as well, "it's always the father who's been punished."

Ellie could tell Uriel not to be frightened all she liked; the angel had been scared even before hearing Ellie's tale, and now she was even more so. She was going to be careful, yes; that she didn't need to be told.

Warn Pestilence? How? Sure, she did care about him -- she loved him, despite everything that had happened. However, how could she find a way to warn him so that he didn't know the warning came from her? She didn't even know where he was at the moment. She would have to find a way, though. It had been because of her own stupidity that she'd got pregnant, and there was no way she could allow Pestilence to get hurt because of her. This far she had only feared for herself and her child; now she also had to fear for the man she loved.

She was not feeling well, not at all. Rising to shaking legs, she murmured a quiet thanks to Ellie -- what she was thanking her for, she wasn't exactly sure. For promising to keep her secret, perhaps -- or for the "cautionary tale".

Then, not bothering to be polite enough to say anything upon her departure -- besides, her usual wishes of the Presence would probably have been a grave insult to the demoness -- she hurried out of the library and towards her room. As soon as she got there, she went to the bathroom, throwing up everything she had in her stomach. Once she was done being sick, she stayed kneeled on the bathroom floor, sobbing helplessly.

What was she going to do?

Ellie watched the archangel go in silence, and then picked up her book with a sigh, trying to find her place. Her mind wouldn't stay on the words.

Pregnant by a Horseman. Of all the idiotic mistakes an angel could make...and a habitually male angel, too. She shook her head tiredly. She felt vaguely sorry for Uriel, but she couldn't be sorry for having terrified her. Ellie had been frightened, too, fifteen years before; but as it had turned out, she hadn't been scared enough.

She wished she hadn't made a blanket promise not to tell anyone, though. John would want to know about this. He had his own reasons to resent the way she and Tali had been treated, though Ellie wasn't entirely sure she understood them, and he was also clever at coming up with ways to get people out of tight fixes. Maybe when she saw Uriel again she would drop the conjurer's name.

She tried not to think about the baby. Bitter envy would come all too easily if she dwelt on it for long, and that wouldn't be much help to anybody.

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